Ah, Taiwan

Ah, Taiwan. Who can forget the jumble of shops and scooters and people that make up this quirky island?

Returning to Taiwan for me is like a dream come true. Not the ‘I’m going to Disney World’ sort of dream come true, but the ‘I swear I’ve seen this place in my dreams’ sort of dream come true. My memories of Taiwan have always had a sort of fuzziness to them, as if they were from another life rather than just six or seven years ago. Today, walking the streets of Hsinchu as I had so many times before, those fuzzy memories began coming back in high definition.

It’s funny though what I do remember and what I don’t. Like how just up that street that bears to the right not far from the train station you’ll find a skateboard shop run by a foreigner. (He’s still there). But ask me where my old apartment was or how to get there and I couldn’t tell you. Odd.

Today I took Jenny and Maeli to one of my favorite places in Hsinchu, the Chenghuang Temple. From the street you can only see its tiled roof. Food stalls and small shops form a maze that twists through covered alleys. Past the shops is the temple entrance, part stone courtyard part food court. Here a dozen or two food vendors have setup shop selling rice noodles and meatball soup for which Hsinchu is famous. We enjoyed our meal of the local specialties sitting just outside the temple, the smell of incense mixing with that of our meal.

I’m not sure how long we’ll be here in Hsinchu but it’s already been quite an experience.