Throughly Modern...
One of the odd dichotomies about Taiwan is that it is a mixture of west and east. It is a thoroughly modern city: traffic, skyscrapers, buses, those obnoxious little motorcycles, a very clean subway that has magnetic credit cards, western clothing, etc. But it is still very Chinese in attitude. There are public classes in Tai Chi in the parks, the museums have the upraised roof edges of traditional Chinese architecture, the food is all healthy...
Taipei 101 is the world's tallest skyscraper, here on this little island. (unless you want to count the pinnacles, then the Sears Tower beats it by 19 meters). It is loaded with very upscale shops, business offices, the world's fastest elevator, the world's largest New Year's Eve Countdown clock. It will withstand an earthquakes of over 7.0 and super typhoons. Very Modern! And there is traditional symbolism in the tower: it was inspired by the bamboo plant, and the top 64 floors are 8 sets of 8 floors -- 8 being an auspiscious number in Chinese culture.
I like this building!
And the souvenirs we sought? Traditional Chinese clothing, conical straw hats, jade necklaces, traditional tea sets. Which no one ever wears. (but they do use the traditional tea sets). I wonder if we don't have an unconscious attitude here in the US that you can't really be modern unless you are American. (Which is an interesting adjective in itself, since Canadians, Mexicans, and people from Latin and South America are also Americans. But I digress.)
You can get anything you want in Taipei: Gucci (and other similar fashions way outside my budget!), $5 t-shirts, fine Jewelry, cheap jewelry, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Starbucks (YES!), green tea, black tea, wheat tea, handpicked high mountain oolong tea (way outstide my budget also), wonderful food, food on the street (not recommended by our hosts!), karaoke, Doritos, rice candy, cars with a video view of what is behind them, flat screen TVs, chopsticks made of whatever material you want, western silverware ("A real fork!" we cried at a restaurant on day 6), books in English, books in Chinese, Books in English and Chinese, books in French, dried mushrooms in 55 gallon sacks, dried fruit (ditto on the sacks), dried meat, dried sea cucumber (looking vaguely obscene), in fact dried anything, cheap jade, expensive jade, modern art, traditional art, very expensive glass artwork, geodes, foot massages, whole body massages, commemorative stamps with whole books explaining a set of 5 stamps, silk, brocade, cotton, polyester, rayon, twill, wool...
Taipei is a very modern city, but you could never mistake it for any city in the US. Even if the signs were all in English.
posted by Marion @ 9:44 PM
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