Breakfast was another extravaganza of flavors and textures; each carefully explained in the multi-page menu. Before departing we did a bit of walking around The One hotel’s grounds. They are as well designed and immaculate as the building.
Danny met us for our final day before returning to Taipei. Leaving the hotel, we passed by tea plantations. I was surprised by how short the plants were. When I’d seen tea growing before the plants were quite tall. Taiwan tea grows on short bushes.
Our first stop was in Taiwan’s high-tech center. As Danny expressed it, Taiwan’s Silicon Valley. Taiwan is well known for computer chips. Taiwan has accounted for more than 60 per cent of global semiconductor production and around 90 per cent of the high-performance chips used in the graphics processing units (GPUs).
They also make loads of other cutting-edge technology, as we learned in the Science Park Exploration Museum. It appeared to be funded by the tech companies, since each display prominently listed the name of the company that developed the technology. In addition to chips, there was a lot of bio/medical and imaging tech. BTW, the tech area now spreads into two cities because they were running out of space.
From there, we went to an area known for something very different from tech. Our first destination was Yingge Ceramic Street, in the Yingge area of New Taipei City. When I read about it, I was excited as it is described as Taiwan’s premier pedestrian alley for ceramics. Its origins are a 200-year‐old pottery tradition, and the best of the country’s ceramics are there. However, when we arrived the first thing we saw was a Starbucks. That was followed by a large store filled with stalls selling inexpensive, mass produced ceramics and tourist doodads. I was unimpressed.
I spotted one small shop across the street and headed over. That shop was filled with magnificent teapots by master craftspeople. We spent a long time there. At first, I admired the work on display, asking a lot of questions about what I was seeing. Then selecting a small teapot to bring home (unfortunately not the one I really wanted, that was way out of my price range). Danny told me the proprietor was impressed that I knew so much about ceramics. He prepared tea for us (using the same method we’d seen Ivy use during our cooking class).
When Danny saw my enthusiasm for ceramics, he suggested we go to the ceramics museum. I was delighted. The New Taipei City Yingge Ceramic Museum is large and has fantastic exhibits. We spent a couple of hours looking at the exhibits, which include everything from industrial uses to structural tiles, and mostly fine art ceramics dating back a few centuries to the current day. We even got a chance to decorate vases.
Back at the hotel, we said goodbye to Danny. We then rested for several hours before heading out to the Ningxia Night Market. Night markets are a must see in Taipei. After dark, an ordinary street is transformed into a pedestrian mall featuring many dozens of food stalls. Unlike most restaurants which are only open for dinner between 5 and 8pm, the night markets are active until about midnight.
The scene is lively. I had as much fun people watching and looking at what the stalls were offering as I did sampling foods. Among the other things we tried were fried crispy milk, skewers of lamb and beef, papaya milk, avocado juice, boiled egg and squid topped with crispy fish chips, kumquat lemon juice, broiled squid, and sweet potato balls. It was all delicious. We did pass on a fewer of the (to us) stranger foods like chicken ass, German pork feet, boneless chicken feet, green bean shaved ice, spicy duck blood curd, churro hot dogs, and elastic fish skin. I was interest in exploded egg yolk taro until I read the warning: “It is recommended you be careful about the eggs coming out when you take your first bite.”