Man, oh man...wish I could go back home! There's no place like it. Wafting scents of stinky tofu admist dirt lined streets, juxtaposed with gleaming towers and shopping malls. Oh, do I remember Cashbox KTV, nightmarkets, noodle stands, and street vendor supplied scallion pancakes with sesame seeds. Enveloped by sticky, humid summer night air and chugging sugarcane juice or licking red bean icees to chill out. Can't wait to go back sometime soon...it's been way too long. =)
NY Times Travel Pick: Taipei
WHY GO NOW In the last few years, Taipei — the sprawling metropolis of 2.6 million that is the capital of Taiwan — has leapt into modernity with a panache that puts the casino moguls of Macao and the skyscraper-erectors of Shanghai to shame.
It's not just the hardware — the tallest building in the world (for now), Wi-Fi coverage over more than half the city and a speedy and expanding subway system — that is sophisticated. The people, too, embody all the complexities of a country that is at once forward-looking and historically aware, internationally plugged in but diplomatically isolated, and as multiculturally hybrid (influences include China, Japan and the United States) as it is full of hometown pride.
That pride has generated what may be Taipei's most vibrant cultural movement. It's called "tai-ke," a phrase that originally meant "redneck" but has now come to encompass a youth-focused lifestyle that celebrates both the déclassé (flip-flops, Long Life cigarettes) and the haute (Gucci, Macallan).
But tai ke is just one subculture among many in Taipei — there are jazz fans and gay-rights activists, bohemians and aborigines, calligraphers and computer geeks — and whatever the group identity, the motto generally is: Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow ... we'll do it all over again.
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