圓山密道念天地之悠悠
Do you know there’s a secret tunnel under The Grand Hotel Taipei? This article is a brief note about my sentimental visit in Dec 2022.
你知道台北的圓山大飯店有個傳聞中的「圓山密道」嗎？本篇文章是2022/12到圓山西密道多愁善感的紀錄。
Half-day tour at The Grand Hotel Taipei
You may have heard from the news or movies that setting up a secret tunnel for any country’s president or leader is a must so that the leader can quickly move to a safe place and resume operation, shall there be a war.
In 2019 the well-known The Grand Hotel Taipei opened up its secret tunnel to the public, which used to be the escape route of Taiwan’s former president Chiang Kai-Shek. The hotel recently added the tunnel exit in the tour after its 50 years of closure.
As a fan of the spy thriller, the Arsène Lupin novels, and the underground base, how can I miss the opportunity to explore a secret tunnel!?
In addition to the tour, I also booked an English afternoon tea set at the hotel’s Garden Café. I planned to have a relaxing tea time after the tour. I struggled to wear either comfy pants for the slide in the tunnel or a beautiful dress to eat gracefully. As it turned out, that was an unnecessary worry; allow me to explain later.
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Sneak Peak at the West Secret Tunnel
The tour of the West Secret Tunnel is open from 2019 to 2024, which includes the introduction of the tunnel and the hotel itself. The tour lasts for 70 mins, and you will get an audio player when checking in.
There’re two secret tunnels in The Grand Hotel, and I visited the West Secret Tunnel. I recommend making the booking in advance as it’s popular on weekends.
The tunnel is short (speaking from someone who experienced the super-long underground shelter subway in Moscow), with a bit steep stairs. As for the most-anticipated slide, it turned out that we were forbidden to give it a go! That disappointed me, as I meant to find the missing reporter!
Having said that, I was excited to see the newly-open tunnel exit. The swirling trees are a natural curtain, just like the Ghibli animation Castle in the Sky‘s lookalike Temple of Ta Prohm of Angkor Wat. Neither the designer nor the possible tunnel user can ever imagine that things can change so much after more than six decades. The neighbourhood of the exit is now at the city centre, where people come and go and never notice such a historical site.
It made me feel sentimental. For decades, people almost forgot the fear and nerves caused by war, and these facilities are supposed to be the weekend getaway for the offspring. Nevertheless, the sense of stability seems to be shaken these days. Let’s hope that history will be on our side.
The exploration of the West Secret Tunnel finished in 15 mins. Are there other fun facts about the East Secret Tunnel, as it was designed for government and foreign officials back in the day? I wonder. One day I may visit it too.
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The Design that Transcends Time
The next stop was to learn the genius design of the hotel. There is the “Well of the Plum”, which accumulates the essence of dragon and phoenix, the marble lambs that represent good fortune are a perfect match with the red columns, the ancient coin made of room key became a coin wall, the famous golden dragon with its surrounding wishing pool, etc. Thanks to architect Yang Cho-Cheng, the man who also designed the well-known Chiang Kai Shel Memorial Hall; these masterpieces transcend time and still look stylish after 70 years.
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Restaurents in The Grand Hotel
My final review is on the restaurant.
The highly-expected afternoon tea at the Garden Café was not as good as I thought. Not only because we didn’t dine in a garden but also because my supposedly relaxing afternoon was somehow ruined by the noisy rehearsal of a Christmas event and the 50-min wait for pastries. Hope The Grand Hotel will improve its service quality to match its reputation.
Meanwhile, I later discovered that my afternoon tea set in Dec 2022 was with a chrysanthemum theme, making all the dessert favour quite unusual. The fusion-style would be an impressive selling point, and I recommend ordering the tea that matches that season’s theme. The only drawback is that there’s only one type of dessert in this set for two. It would be so much better if I have more than one bite of scone.
The restaurant that I recommend is the Yuan Yuan Restaurant. The menu is similar to Din Tai Fung; the Chinese dim sum was a delight to the tongue, stewed beef noodle soup was a yummy choice, and the rich-favoured red bean cake, which is my must-have at Din Tai Fung, was also a must-have of former president Chiang Kai-shek’s wife.
Nowadays, The Grand Hotel no longer serves only celebrities and government officials. Given I only had time for a few anecdotes and design stories during the packed 70-min tour, I expect the 70-year-old (as in 2022) Grand Hotel to transform gradually. And one day, it can mix tradition with innovation and eventually launch new features that can brow my mind when I visit again.
Hope you like my introduction of the Secret Tunnel of The Grand Hotel.
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圓山大飯店半日遊
大家可能從新聞或電影或多或少知道不管是中西方哪國的總統或國家領導人，都應該安排了一條秘密通道，如果不幸發生戰爭就可以迅速移轉到安全的地方指揮大局。
最近我才知道原來蔣前總統過去的逃生路線「圓山密道」其實早在2019年就對外開放了，最近密道的「出口」也在塵封50年後終於敞開大門供民眾參觀。身為諜報片、亞森羅蘋，跟秘密基地的愛好者，怎麼能錯過這個一探究竟的機會呢！？
為了這個密道行程我還特別訂了圓山大飯店「花園咖啡廳」的英式下午茶套餐，盤算著走完密道就要來個悠哉的貴婦下午茶，出門前還糾結一翻，想穿牛仔褲體驗密道裡的溜滑梯，又想美美地吃下午茶，結果一切是我多慮了，計劃趕不上變化，讓我稍後說明。
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開箱圓山西密道
密道行程的完整名稱是【尋祕圓山，密境之光】西密道導覽文化之旅，目前開放到2024年底，不知道之後會不會再延長，當天志工會帶團進行為時70分鐘密道加飯店導覽的行程，報到時會發導覽用的子母機連地下室的密道都聽得很清楚 (所以還無法無視導覽志工的催促)。
圓山大飯店其實有兩個密道，這天造訪的是西密道，建議事先預約，假日非常熱門。密道本身不長(經歷過莫斯科走到懷疑人生的防空地鐵後覺得這實在是小case)，但是有一段有點小抖的樓梯，而好期待的溜滑梯到了現場才發現不～能～爬！！覺得好失望，我可是很想找到消失的記者呢(來由出自這段影片)！
話雖如此，看到密道盡頭新開放的出口還是蠻開心的，盤根錯節的樹木形成天然的屏障，讓人聯想到神似動畫宮崎駿天空之城的吳哥窟塔普倫寺(Ta Prohm)，不論是密道的設計者或原本可能的使用者想必都無法想像，超過一甲子的歲月早已物換星移，附近車水馬龍，人來人往渾然不知有這樣的存在。
想想還是惆悵的，過去數十年人們早已淡忘對戰爭的緊張與恐懼，因時代而生的設施本應只會是後代假日休閒的去處，然而在近年來似乎又不這麼確定了，暫且希望History will be on our side。
本次西密道探訪在15分鐘內完成，另外還有一個要預約特定高價餐點才能一窺究竟的東密道是當年規劃給政要及外賓們使用的，不知道那兒還有什麼秘密，希望日後也有機會去探險。
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超越時空的設計
參觀完密道接著就是認識飯店處處巧思的設計啦，聚焦龍鳳呈祥的「梅花藻井」、象徵福氣的大理石扶燈跟僅此一家的「圓山紅」圓柱相印生輝、過去當做房間鑰匙的貨布(古錢幣)牌退役後成了一道貨布牆、還有那著名的「百年金龍」跟無心插柳的許願池，七十年前楊卓成(也是中正紀念堂的建築師)的大師之作超越了時空，放在現代還是這麼的設計感十足。
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半日遊餐點推薦
最後來小評一下餐點吧。
期待已久的花園咖啡廳下午茶人算不如天算，沒有在花園喝茶不說，竟然被我遇上了隔壁大廳進行聖誕節目的預演，想像中悠哉的英式下午茶就在兩個多小時惱人的高分貝(麥可風測試跟點燈)^n中落幕，跟餐廳人員反應後也完全沒有改善。而在有訂位的情形下竟然等了足足50分鐘三層架的點心們才上桌，跟我想像中的圓山飯店高品質服務實在是相去甚遠，希望他們之後會改善。
另外2022/12月這天吃的下午茶事後才發現是秋菊入味的主題，因此甜點口味有點特殊，以fusion角度來看是用心的，建議大家選擇飲品時也可以考量下午茶主題口味去做搭配。最後還是要提雙人份套餐每種甜點只給一樣實在讓選擇障礙的顧客很困擾，而且司康(Scone)只給小小一口真是太不滿足了。
在此必須說飯店另外有一間「圓苑餐廳」倒是很推薦，餐點選擇跟鼎泰豐相似度很高，中式茶餐廳不可少的湯包煎餃等小點表現不俗、清燉牛肉麵看似簡單卻表現驚艷，還有口感比鼎泰豐更豐富的紅豆鬆糕是必點原來，它可是當年蔣夫人的指定菜色。
寫在最後。圓山大飯店現今已不再是遙不可及政商名流杯觥交錯的場所，本次紮實的70分鐘導覽只來得及聽幾則名人軼事及設計介紹，期待今年(2022年)邁入70歲的圓山大飯店能繼續在傳統與變革中緩緩前進，帶著歷史的痕跡推出新花樣，讓我有機會再訪時能享受不一樣的驚喜！
希望你喜歡這篇圓山密道半日遊的介紹，如果對我的文章有任何疑問或想法歡迎在下方留言。有什麼悄悄話想說的話，可以透過 email 聯絡我喔～ 歡迎追蹤，我的其他旅遊心得在這裡。
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