Taiwan 2024 (1/7) – Going Home for Spring Break

We spent this year’s spring break in Taiwan.

It was kinda overdue as we hadn’t been back to visit my parents in five years. Throughout their lifetime, Xuan and Ting had seen more of Singapore and Thailand than they had Taiwan. It was a bit awkward to be proud world travelers while our kids weren’t familiar with my own home town.

Always wanting to maximize our vacation time away from home, I tend to have this mental block against staying in one place for more than a few days. Booking 8 full days in Taipei felt unusual for sure. But once we got there, we found ourselves occupied with all sorts of stuff to do, even without much of a schedule or intentional tourism. It was nice to be home. It was a change of pace from the norms of domestic American places, but not as stimulating as truly foreign countries. It was comfortable being where I grew up and where my parents still lived.

There was certain confusion like, watching the uniformed students getting out of school, I thought of them as underclassmen at my alma mater and felt a strong sense of closeness, even though they were barely older than my children. I don’t know if other immigrants experience the same disconnect when they return home, but it was like my point of view around the city had partially stuck in my 15-year-old self. It was especially strange because my purchasing power had increased 100 fold since then, and we could easily afford what I used to consider inaccessible. It was like resuming a saved video game while turning on the cheat mode.

The visit wasn’t focused on any tourist activities, but we did do some:

Museum 50 Cafe

This was the most special among all sorts of cafes that we visited, a mini museum of knickknacks from the 50s (Republic of China dating; 1960s in the Gregorian calendar). Super cute, though the strong vibes of nostalgia for Japanese colonialism wasn’t my cup of coffee. They sold a gimmicky animal 3D latte art, which I thought was crafty work of foam but turned out to be just some marshmallow figurines.

Taipei 101

We took a walk in the mall just because we were in the neighborhood and it wasn’t time for dinner yet. It was incredibly crowded.

大稻埕 Da Dao Cheng

A key part of the historic Taipei known throughout my childhood for the dry foods that people bought for New Year, this neighborhood was now a major tourist destination filled with souvenir stores and expensive dessert shops. I had hopes to explore it thoroughly but a massive rainstorm altered our plans.

故宮博物院 National Palace Museum

The #1 museum of art and culture in Taiwan, with many national treasures of Chinese heritage. It was smaller than I remembered, which was fine as it allowed us to see everything that we cared to see. The kids both engaged well, and Xuan was particularly intrigued because she had recently drawn this museum from a photo for a school project.

Old Home

While most of my childhood happened around 永康街 Yong Kang Street, I do have some memory fragments from the 撫遠街 Fu Yuan Street home that my parents briefly owned: the steakhouse where 5-year-old me fell in love with steak, the name of my first bus route, the long and narrow alleys, the flood prevention wall at the end of the block, the devastating flood, etc. I asked Ba and Ma to take us there for a visit.

The door to our old apartment building happened to be open so we had a chance to sneak into its stairwell. The flood prevention wall had been moved but we were able to spend some time beyond it like I remembered happening once before. The park I used to play in was closed for maintenance, but Xuan and Ting got to enjoy a kickass playground in a newer park nearby.

Waves of emotions struck as I stepped through this quiet neighborhood. It had been almost 40 years since I set foot here but certain images remained unchanged. I also got to hear Ba fill in a lot of details that I had not previously known… apparently we had only lived here for less than 3 years, from when I was 2 to 5. And Ba brought 2-year-old me to the public swimming pool, still around now, where I nearly managed to drown myself. The breakfast shop that we used to eat at on Sundays was still there, as was the steakhouse.

Gundam Base

Really just a toy store, but I wanted the kids to get acquainted with Gundam before our Japan trip, and it was nice to see my old hangout neighborhood of 光華商場 Guang Hua Shopping Center again.

貓空纜車 Mao Kong Gondola

This visit was notable as one tourist activity in Taipei that I had never done before. My parents probably thought we were super lame to just ride the cable car up the mountain and then immediately back down, without spending time or having a meal at its destination of Mao Kong. We got to experience the fascinating glass-bottom cable car, and I was impressed by how long the ride was (almost 45 minutes each way).