Editor's note: Nowadays, the number of mainland tourists visiting Taiwan has dropped sharply. Taiwanese tourism practitioners say that "business this year is colder than winter" - but who can blame this? This reminds me of my visit to Taiwan at the invitation of the Taiwan Tourism Association in 2014. If you had gone to Taiwan at that time, I believe you would love Taiwan to death. So travel as early as possible!
"Knock every door in the distance"
- Notes on Taiwan
This is my second time coming to Taiwan. Different from the strong love I felt the first time, this time I feel something new.
Taipei is not my home
I like Taipei. The lively atmosphere of this city allows everyone to breathe normally. But when I chatted with taxi drivers, they had a lot of complaints. The driver who took us from the Palace Museum repeatedly said that he had not been inside the Palace Museum for 10 years because it was full of mainlanders and it was noisy and messy, making it impossible to quietly appreciate a national treasure. From my two experiences in the Forbidden City, it was not only noisy, but also congested, and I rarely saw locals, especially young people.
Young people in Taipei all go to Huashan Cultural and Creative Park. Huashan was originally a winery. Later, it was preserved through various efforts during the major demolition and became a cultural and creative industrial park. Various cultural exhibitions, literary and art exchange activities and the sale of cultural products are endless here, and creativity is constant. When I went there this time, it was the "Chinese Reading Festival" jointly held by Huashan and Kaohsiung Pier 2 Cultural and Creative Park. Well-known Taiwanese writers and poets gathered here. There were so many lectures and forums that I couldn't bear to leave after spending an afternoon there. Understand the purpose of the activity: see, the most beautiful voice of Chinese.
Most of the people who come to Huashan are young people, college and middle school students, young lovers, or couples pushing strollers. The men are sunny and handsome, and the girls are fashionable and beautiful. When I left Huashan, I passed by the parking lot and saw many popular models from Ford, Volvo and Volkswagen, which were completely different from the old models from Toyota and Honda that we saw on the streets of Taipei. This is really a place where young people in Taipei like to hang out, with a strong youthful atmosphere.
Unlike Huashan, Bali Left Bank is a resting place in the city, or to put it more popularly, it is a place where literary and artistic young people like to drink coffee and relax. Located on the left bank of the Tamsui River, in the distance is the river's mouth. The lawns, cycling sermons and various sculptures are open to the public. You can ride, sit in a cafe, and overlook the distance - these are not the main points. , here you can spend a weekend vacation leisurely like a citizen. I like the details that are integrated into local life. It makes me feel that I am not traveling, but living.
Shopping in Ximending, experiencing cultural and creative industries in Huashan, and being a local on Bali Left Bank all reminded me time and again that Taipei is not my home. Hu Shi, a native of Anhui, probably thought the same way when he was in Taiwan.
When I went to Nangang, I planned to visit Hu Shi’s tomb. After taking the bus to Hu Shi Park Station, I walked up the stone steps and soon saw Hu Shi’s tomb. The entire cemetery is simple and solemn, but not cold, just like Hu Shi’s people. Mildness feels the same. After a brief walk around, we went down the mountain and came to the Academia Sinica across the road. Because it was a Saturday, the hospital was quiet and no one was there. After searching for a long time, we saw an ordinary bungalow with a sign on the roadside: Hu Shi Memorial Hall. After entering, there happened to be a few mainland university professors visiting. There was a dedicated person in the museum to give an explanation. I had never seen anything like this before. I watched and listened to the explanation at the same time. The instructor knew Hu Shi better than all the visitors here and was full of affection for Hu Shi. Probably more than all of us.
The Hu Shi Memorial Hall is connected to Hu Shi's former residence. The memorial hall mainly gives us a comprehensive understanding of Hu Shi through texts, pictures and some physical objects. The former residence was the place where Hu Shi lived from the time he returned to Taiwan in 1958 to his death in 1962. It was Hu Shi's last temporary "home". After entering the door, there is a restaurant. On both sides of the restaurant are bookshelves, full of books. According to reports, they are all books that Hu Jin has read in recent years. Many of the books also have various slips of paper. Next to the restaurant is the living room. The sofa, coffee table, pillows and ashtray on the coffee table are all items from that time. 50 years later, they are as brilliant as new.In the cabinet next to the sofa, there were several bottles of unfinished wine, as well as empty wine glasses and coffee cups. Beyond is the study room, bedroom and bathroom. Hu Shi didn't like reading in the study room because the windows of the study room had several horizontal cement pillars. Hu Shi said it was like a prison. He preferred to read at the dining table, because he could see the mountains of Nangang when he looked up from there. The bathroom facilities in the bathroom are very advanced and were specially purchased from the United States. The bed in the bedroom was narrow and short, a typical single bed - Hu Shi looked like he was about to leave at any time.
Now, from downtown Taipei to Nangang Academia Sinica, you need to transfer to the MRT and then take a bus, which is not convenient. You can imagine what it was like 50 years ago. At that time, this place was undoubtedly a "penal colony" far away from the central city.
Taipei is not my home! How I wish my home could be like this, with a proper arrangement for various fates.
The mountains are like floating clouds and the grasslands are like wind
In Taipei, you must experience day and night in Yangmingshan.
The last time I came to Yangmingshan in Taipei, I went down the mountain after seeing the Zhongshan Tower and passed the former residence of Lin Yutang on the roadside. It was an encounter beyond expectations. Lin Yutang's former residence is a living building. In addition to the humane architectural furnishings, more importantly, Lin Yutang's former residence has a tea restaurant where you can have lunch or drink a cup of coffee. Then, you can go down the stone steps and pay homage to Lin Yutang's tomb.
This time, thanks to the convenience of driving by our friends in Taipei, we went up to Yangmingshan after dinner and overlooked the night view of Taipei from the back entrance of the Cultural University. In addition to the night view of Taipei, there are also many student couples from the Cultural University, which is also a youthful scenery. After seeing the "rooftop" restaurant there, we regretted not having dinner here. This restaurant has an absolutely modern architecture and furnishings. In addition to the exquisite meals, it is a great way to accompany the meal and drink under the Taipei night sky. Authentic taste.
Liushishi Mountain, hundreds of kilometers away from Yangmingshan, is another scene. We took the Taiwan Railway Ziqiang Express from Taipei to Yuli, and then transferred to a bus from Yuli to go up the mountain. Liushishi Mountain is known as "Little Switzerland". From a distance, you can see the longitudinal valleys between mountains, fields and alleys, and the high mountains are full of lawns and daylily flowers. In autumn, golden yellow and grass green alternate, creating a unique beauty.
After coming down from the mountain, we went to Luye Gaotai, which is an open grassland that looks like a small grassland at first glance. The main attractions here are hot air balloons and gliders, which are completely different types of tourism from surrounding areas. In the music of "Eastern Rift Valley", watching the hot air balloon take off, even if you are not in the hot air balloon, just watching from a distance is still joyful. The host would introduce the hot-air balloon instructor at one moment, make fun of the tourists running around, and tell jokes. His voice was rich and magnetic, which was impressive.
In Luye Gaotai, my favorite song is the song "Eastern Longitudinal Valley of Flowers". Although it is a song from a scenic spot, it is fresh and natural. Liushi Mountain and Luye Gaotai both belong to the Huadong Rift Valley National Tourist Scenic Area. The so-called Huadong Rift Valley is where the central mountain range and the coastal mountain range are separated and juxtaposed, forming a large open impact plain in the middle, with many terraces mixed in.
From a travel perspective, the East Rift Valley may be the most futuristic place in Taiwan.
The Pacific wind has been blowing
I took the Taiwan Railway to Luodong Station. The train ran along the coast, and the Pacific Ocean was right outside the window. Although the windows and doors were closed, I could still see the Pacific wind blowing - on the sea The waves kept crashing on the rocks.
From Taitung to Hualien to Yilan, because they are all on the east coast, they are immersed in the wind of the Pacific Ocean all year round. The air, scenery and human feelings are fresher, more spacious and more sophisticated than other places. Every stone will be rounded and diluted by the wind and waves of the Pacific Ocean over the years, not to mention the soil and the people who stand on it.
Going north along the Pacific Ocean, our first stop was on the shore of Bisili. Here are the "Girls and Dogs" cartoons designed by the Jimmy team. There are 11 cartoons painted directly on the wall, blending in with the tribal architecture. The girls in the paintings all have their backs to us, and only the dogs have different, cunning and cute postures.Among the 11 paintings, one was once daubed by a drunkard, but the grandmother next door repainted one by herself, no less than Jimmy's team. Looking for these comics in the tribe is like looking for a "way out."
Everyone is looking for a way out, but they forget the joy of childhood. Continuing north along the coastline, we arrived in Yilan. At the Yilan International Children's Play Festival, we watched the children experience the water park, experienced sailing ourselves, and rented a car to ride along the Dongshan River. Under the setting sun, watching the sailing boats coming and going by the river, with the mountains in the distance looking like dark blue, is heartbreakingly beautiful.
No matter how beautiful the scenery is, we can only pass by it. On the way back to Taipei from Yilan, we stopped by a seaside road with no village or shop, because there was a white building there, which was a cafe called: Yang Bean Cafe. The coffee is delicious and the scenery is more beautiful. This place is like the seaside where Andy finally landed in "The Shawshank Redemption". It is a destination where life and death can be taken care of.
After passing Yangdouzi, on the northern coast, I saw another cafe called: Looking at the mountains is small and looking at the sea is big. I didn’t go in, so I can’t comment on the coffee and meals. But this name is worthy of the Pacific wind that never stops day and night.
We always miss the distant place in our hometown, and doubt the distant place in the distant place.
I think the reason why the distance is far away is not because of the distance, but because there are countless houses in the streets and alleys. Those houses have countless doors, and there are countless people behind each door. Each person has countless stories and emotions. If there are not After knocking on all the doors of distant places, how can we dare to comment on distant places so easily?
