Passenger Rail: The train from Taipei’s Main Station to
Keelung took about 50 minutes and cost 41 Taiwanese dollars. That’s less than a dollar a minute: in USD, maybe 3 cents a mile. The journey ended right on the harbor, which
had a huge cruise ship (Superstar
Aquarius) in port. I tried to figure
out who was on board, but the language barrier got the better of me. In the end, I concluded that it was
experiencing some down time in Keelung. Had
I gotten the more expensive room-with-a-view at my hotel, I could have watched
it more closely. Indeed, my hotel was
called the Harbor View, but I had none.
I got the cheapest room (1950 TD); it had a window that was a few feet
from a wall opposite. Still, the hotel
was a treasure: modern décor, big bed, clean,
free breakfast, friendly staff. It did
not seem to be crowded. At any one time,
there could be four young folks behind the desk in the lobby waiting to serve their
guests. I had to think about how
contrary this was to the United States, where every effort is made to get rid
of jobs. We Americans do everything we
can to replace labor with technology; then we complain about high unemployment. Is that the sign of an economy that
works? Or do the smiling faces behind
the desk at the Harbor View reveal an economy that really works.
Food City: One of the first messages I saw (in a language
I could read!) upon arrival in Keelung was a sign that offered up a
nickname: “Food City”. In my walk around the city center on Sunday
afternoon and evening, I saw why. The
street in front of Dian Ji Temple came to life with food vendors and, by
evening, it was a crowd scene. So were
the nearby cross-streets. This was the Miaokou
(“temple entrance”) Night Market, maybe the best in Taiwan. If it is seafood you want, as a snack or a
meal, here you can count on it being fresh.
Octopus arms (severed from the body and complete with suckers) were
ready to grill and eat from a stick like a popsicle. I didn’t try them. What I did was spend about an hour fressing
(that’s a Pennsylvania Dutch-ism that means something like snacking). Here is what I had: (1) three small sausages (intestines filled
with sweet pig parts, grilled, and served in a bag with garlic cloves), (2)
four eggs (quail-sized, fried, and served on a stick with pepper), (3)
corn-on-the-cob (lathered with a sweet and spicy sauce and grilled on a
rotisserie until tough [!] and served on a stick), (4) orange juice
(fresh-squeezed; not common in Taiwan), and (5) iced tea (oolong, sweet, with
lemon and ice). Not everyone was eating
on the go, however. Some took a seat on
stools and benches around the grills and crock pots to get various fish, pork,
chicken, noodle, rice, and tofu dishes usually served in a bowl. I should mention one other indigenous snack I
had a bite of in the mountains: blood
pudding on a stick rolled in peanut flour.
It looks like a ‘fudge-sicle’ and is a very popular pick-me-up. 
American Movie,
Taiwan Connection: Right beside the
Keelung Cultural Center and the McDonald’s is a Showtime cinema into which I
strode to ask a question: “Are any of
the movies in English?” “Which one would
you like to see,” she asked. “The Bourne Legacy,” responded I
immediately. “English, yes,” came the
response. I would return later to buy a
ticket and take my seat. 8:10 pm was
showtime at Showtime. I thought I would
miss Jason Bourne, but I really didn’t.
In fact, this may be my favorite of the Bourne thrillers. It is action filled, but it also offers one worrisome
vision of a future that most of us would not like to see. Like the other entries in the franchise, Legacy is a portrait of time-space
convergence. Its tentacles embrace the
world. It ranges from Reston, Virginia (coincidentally,
Edward Norton’s real home town) and ends in the Philippine Sea, with stops in
the Alaska wilderness, Washington, Bangkok, and Manila, in between. I hope it was filmed on location because the
geo[cinemato]graphy was great. Alas, no
scenes from Taiwan, but there is a connection.
Genetically-enhanced and remorseless Larx-03 is played by Louis Ozawa Changchien, who has a Taiwanese
father.
