Made in Taiwan 02

Day 4

After getting somewhat accustomed to my new surroundings, I was feeling a little more comfortable in my new environment. I had extensively explored the area around my hotel, finding all sorts of interesting things.

Waking up early, still feeling the effects of the jetlag, I had set off for a walk up Roosevelt road. Breakfast was found shortly after from a roadside vendor selling fried eggs inside some sort of crispy pancake thing. He called it a “dan bing”, something I will definitely be going back for again. Finding a step, I wolfed it down, savouring every bite of the rich umami flavour of the slightly spicy sauce covering the perfectly cooked fried egg before washing it down with an iced coffee bought from the seven-eleven next door.

Ten minutes up the road, I stumbled across a marvellous sight. A huge temple-like complex called Chiang Kai Shek memorial hall. I had been trying to read up online about some of the history of Taiwan over the last few days, learning about how after the Chinese civil war in the forties, the ruling party headed up by Chiang Kai Shek, had fled the mainland to escape Mao and his communist regime sweeping through the country.

I now found myself wandering around his memorial, a huge white round structure with a large bronze statue guarded by two statuesque soldiers in full uniform. The grounds surrounding the hall were extensive and filled with exquisite gardens and pathways to explore. I also found out that the other buildings in the complex were often frequented by musicians playing music concerts and world-famous artists displaying their art, it was quite the find, I would definitely be back.

Mid-morning, I returned to my hotel room to take a cold shower and freshen up before going to view what I hoped would be my new home. I had been looking online for local properties to rent and had come across what looked like the perfect place. It was a rooftop apartment with what looked like a large outside patio area, the rent was affordable and after exchanging a few emails with the landlord, who spoke really good English, he had agreed to show me around that afternoon.

===================================================================

Mr Wang turned out to be a friendly old Taiwanese gentleman who had spent a few years in London in his thirties. He asked me a lot of questions about why I had come to Taiwan and about my family. 

He must have liked my answers because after learning about the family business and my mission to master his language, he was more than happy to let me stay in his property, he even agreed to drop the listed rent price with very little haggling. My new landlord did insist that I stump up two months’ rent upfront though and put down a further month’s rent as a deposit, but with the money my father had lent me to get set up, that wasn’t going to be a problem. I had found my new home.

I informed the hotel that evening, that I would be checking out the next day and spent the rest of the evening exploring Shi-Da night market, wandering amongst the crowds and sampling some of the mysterious food on offer.

Day 6

Waking up in my new apartment in the Gong-Guan region of Taipei city, I jumped out of bed, my jetlag had finally subsided, and I was ready for more exploring.

After a quick shower, I skipped down the five flights of stairs to the street below, there was no lift in the old building, one of the downsides of renting an old building but at least I'd be keeping fit. My plan for the day was to wander over and check out Tai-Da university, where I would be studying Chinese for the next year of my life. The course didn’t start for another week or so but with the campus only a five-minute walk from my new digs, I was curious to see what it looked like.

I stopped off for breakfast in a local breakfast shop, where a smiley old lady cooked me up a “pa-gan san-ming-zi”, the Taiwanese version of a bacon sandwich. 

Stood around with everyone staring at the only white guy in the place, It all felt so surreal being in a foreign Asian country, as the old woman in front of the hot plate blabbered on at me in Chinese even though she must have known I didn’t speak a word. 

I couldn't wait to start picking up a few words but as I was realising, a smile and a nod of agreement went a long way with the locals here who were an amazingly friendly and helpful bunch of people.

I didn’t get very far into the university, stopped on the gate by a guard who asked me what my business there was. I told him I was going to be a student there but with no university ID and with the school still closed for the summer, I was sent packing. At least I got to see the place and it definitely left an impression. The complex was filled with large red brick buildings with Japanese architecture. It definitely looked grand, and I wondered if I was going to fit in in such a place.

===================================================================

I returned to my new apartment early evening, tired after a long day of walking around, having discovered Da-An park and spending a few hours walking around and relaxing in its peaceful environment, a little oasis in the middle of the city amongst all the hustle and bustle.

At the top of the stairs, I took out my keys to open the door that let me through into my outside patio area, my actual apartment door was separate as the building had been built as its own structure atop the roof. I later found it was quite common for landlords who owned the top floor of a building to build these types of structures in the late nineties, they were illegal as they were constructed without the proper planning permission, but it seemed to be some sort of loophole in the system, where no new ones were allowed to be built but the one's already there were allowed to remain.

Opening the door, I was hit with the strong smell of marijuana. Confused I closed the door and rounded the corner to see where the strong pungent smell was coming from. That’s where I met Jamal for the first time. A tall muscular mixed-race man with no top on.

It was a surprise, to say the least, I mean I knew moving in, that my home on the roof had been divided into two separate apartments, most likely to get twice the rent, but I just hadn’t realised my new neighbour was another foreigner.

I must off looked like quite the fool, stood there with a stupid look slapped on my face as Jamal turned around to look me up and down.

(See image 02)

The instant he saw me, a huge smile appeared across his face before he quickly introduced himself and asked me to join him on the patio. We ended up spending the whole evening chatting and getting to know each other where I quickly took a liking to his quick wit and laid back attitude.

Jamal as it turned out was also from England, the city of Brighton on the south coast, but he hadn’t been home in quite some time. He had been in the country for almost ten years playing basketball for the Taipei team once upon a time, that was before a knee injury had convinced him to quit. With the money he had made from playing, he had decided to stay in the country, liking the Taiwanese lifestyle and all it had to offer.

As the sun was setting over the rectangular blocky buildings of the city, Jamal cracked open a can of Taiwan beer, which I had just run out to purchase from the Familymart down the street.

Placing the beer next to the leg of his plastic chair, he reached into his shorts pocket and took out a tin. I watched a little shocked, not sure how to react as he wrenched open the lid, took out a little green bag and started to roll up a spliff.

Like an idiot, I asked him if it was legal. I remember seeing the smile appear on his face before he made a joke about how nice it would be if it was. He then continued to roll up as he informed me that, in fact, it was very illegal in Taiwan and if caught, even in possession, you could be prosecuted and given jail time. Jamal, being the character that he was, just laughed at my reaction to the news, saying that as a foreigner, he would be deported at most, and he wouldn’t mind checking out Thailand if that ever happened.

After taking a few drags, filling the air with the potent smell of weed, Jamal passed the spliff my way. I’m not sure why but I accepted it. I had never taken any sort of drugs before in my life, perhaps it was the new environment or the fact I was making a new friend, something I had always struggled to do back home.

Inhaling a large drag, I started to cough my guts up, leaning forward to catch my breath, “Woah, easy, dude”, Jamal said, reaching over to take back the joint, laughing at me in the process.

After recovering from my coughing fit, Jamal passed the spliff back over. I took another hit, this time inhaling the thick smoke much more slowly. 

My actions that evening were completely out of character for me, but something changed in me that night as I sat with Jamal on the roof, a calmness washed over me.  For the first time in my life, I felt at peace with myself and the world, I felt alive.

That night would be the first of many nights sat out on the patio, smoking, and hanging out with Jamal as I started to fall in love with my new life and the city of Taipei.