No job is to big, as long as it's in Beitou
Beitou (北投) has a few idiosyncrasies that make life here interesting. One is the bike service that ferries people around the immediate environs for a paltry NT$40.
Affectionately dubbed the Limited Special Delivery (限時專送) by locals, it is in a little nook on Gongguan Rd (公館路) across the road from Beitou Market, near where the hill of Wenquan Rd (溫泉路) begins.
The generally 50-plus-year-old gents who man the bikes will take you a bit further afield for a slightly higher fare, though I’ve not quite sussed the system – if any – behind the increments. I’ve also not established how far afield they are willing to venture, though I’ve been told the boundaries of the district are about the limit.
I don’t know of any similar services – certainly not in Taipei or my home county of Miaoli (苗栗), but I suspect there might be something along these lines down south. I’ve heard that these kinds of bike taxis used to be more common back in the day. Perhaps Beitou’s awkward, seesawing layout has something to do with why this service survived here.
I occasionally jump on the back of a bike when I’m a rush to get to the hot spring before the end of a session (if I miss it, I have to wait another half an hour) or on a sweltering afternoon when my son is whingeing about walking. From observation, I’d say the large part of these guys’ trade comes from elderly women going from place to place – particularly those carrying their shopping back from market.
If you’re in the Beitou or Xinbeitou (新北投) area and are in a hurry or just fancy pretending you’re in Southeast Asia, give the lads a call. The digits are in the photo.
Fascinating! I had no idea such a service existed. Nothing like it down in my neighborhood I believe. Amidst all the shiny new MRT lines and grande Frappuccinos and whatnot, this is a nice reminder that Taipei still has its quirks as you say. Must make a trip to Beitou to see these guys.
Yeah, well put Jake. Let me know if you’re in the area!
Yes, by all means, when coming to Beitou, one should try these “Motorbike Service” – Limited Special Delivery (限時專送), and head up the winding mountain roads to one of the hot spring bath houses, hotels. It’s unique, and It’s a Legacy of Old Beitou, through “intervention by foreign influences”.
It’s the only legalized motorbike “public transportation” Institution, the only one in Taipei, but for all of Taiwan (according to verified news and reference sources).
Local people and historians said the service started during the Japanese Era in the 1940s. Hot springs, bath houses, plus the mountain and forest scenery made Beitou a favourite place for Japanese officials, soldiers, intellectual class, and business men – for R&R: rest and recreation, entertainment, music, fine food, alcohol drinking, hospitality services, and gradually developing into a thriving “Pleasures of the Night” industry.
Later when Chiang Kai-Shek and his KMT troops took over Taiwan (upon the defeat by Mao’s Red Army in the Chinese Civil War), Beitou’s hotspring-entertainment-sex tourism suffered a down time, but was allowed to continue (catering to the rich and the powerful of KMT government, replacement of above-mentioned, “Japanese” for “Chinese and Taiwanese” officials, soldiers, and business men).
The real Heyday of Beitou’s boom time, and for the Special Delivery of motorbikes, was in the late-1950s and throughout 1960s. It was the Americans – the Korean War and the Vietnam War – which brought on a huge U.S. military presence in Taiwan, including U.S. military adviser groups, air force bases, logistics supply depots, and marine port bases.
It’s a fact that Beitou was one of very few places in Taiwan with legalized prostitution, under Chiang Kai-Shek and the KMT in the bad old days, when it was the top government priority to keep Americans happy… keeping the regime alive with aides by the U.S. and American military protection.
Taipei’s Beitou’s famous reputation for “sex tourism” made it to become one of the favourite destinations for American soldiers on their brief week-long ship-out R&R time (along with Tokyo, Bangkok, and Manila) during the Vietnam War in the 1960s.
The Legacy of Southeast Asia “Sex Tourism Industry” (catering to American Soldiers on R&R during Vietnam War) is still very much alive and well to this day.
Ask old Beitou residents, many will recall the 1960s fondly – the Motorbike Special Delivery trade was in its busiest days.
You will read some old news or articles, people recalling how the Beitou motorbikes were busy all night long, ferrying the “Shiao Jei”s – escort girls, bar hostess, massage parlor masseuses, ladies of the night, to the various bath houses, hotels, and music halls throughout Beitou. But the customers – Americans and locals, also use the motorbike service for the expedient transportation to their evening of pleasure encounter.
The mountain contours, steep climbs, and the winding roads made the Beitou Motorbike Special Delivery a necessity for the area’s hospitality and sex tourism industry, in matching the needs of these establishments and the pleasure-seeking customers.
Though business has declined somewhat since the 1960s, and now the motorbike service are mainly used by locals, and no longer by American G.I.s or sex tourism clienteles.
However, the foreigners’ influence on Beitou’s development of hospitality and sex tourism industry should not be forgotten…..
Hey JB, Just in case you and anyone reading the article and comments are wondering how I knew these…. Well, I’m an old Taipei-hand, I knew about them from first-hand experience.
I grew up in Taipei in the heady days of 1960′s when Americans (with their military installations, facilities, and many services catering their needs) had a heavy presence in the city.
Beitou’s hotsprings-music entertainment-hospitality industries were quite famous already then.
Pretty well everyone in Taipei at that time, even the kids, also knew and heard about the prostitution-sex tourism in Beitou, and that “Motorbike Special Delivery” was the way to get around, especially during the busy night-time pleasure hours. You hear about these things, people talked about it, and you can read news stories about it in the papers.
You can say that Beitou’s “Motorbike Special Delivery” was very much a part of Taipei living in the old days. I have seen them busy in action back then.
From our year 2012′s perspective, it maybe quaint, odd out of place. But, keep in mind that cars were not that common in Taipei in the 1960s (only the government officials, some business tycoons, and the Americans had cars then), and buses / public transportation were not so extensive in the old days.
So when masses of people go to Beitou and Yangmingshan area for a weekend outing / sightseeing (a favourite pastime for Taipei residents, even in the 1960s), the Beitou “Motorbike Special Delivery” was good business for everyone involved.
It’s definitely a venerable Institution of Old Taipei, worthy of keeping it alive and going strong.
- Pan Addaboy
Thanks for the background Addaboy. I knew about Beitou’s sordid history. Shame there are no “pleasures of the night” to be had these days, especially given your – some might say obsessive – interest in them.
I read that – during the Japanese era, at least – a lot of the gals were your own dear pingpu sisters, doubtless coerced into this life of vice by the wicked “dwarf pirates”, domestic comfort women, as it were.
As you say, the coloniser was simply replaced with a new one, courtesy of his Imperialist American sponsor! I can just see CCK’s minions and their American boozing pals cackling with glee on the back of the Express, winding their way into the sulphur-soaked foothills on their way to a night of finest local PLEASURE!!
The James.
Everybody to the know that the foreigners are very shameless and like to have the sexy with Taiwanese women. Taiwanese guys not to the choice to do that, we’re very traditional.
I recomendation the foreign guys not to the take the motorbike taxis or meet the Taiwanese girls. Instead, I reccomend them to go to the 2/28 park late at night if they want to make the Taiwanese friends, they will the to the be very popular!