While I was in Taipei 101, I met a Taiwanese girl who was showing a guy from mainland China around. They were curious about where I was from and I found out they were going on the same train line that I was going to take to get to the National Palace Museum. They were happy to show me how the MRT works, because I had no idea how at that point and was more than a little nervous about taking it.
I told them about my plan to go to the Palace Museum on Saturday because admission is free from 5 - 8:00 PM. The girl had to head back to her apartment in Taipei, but the guy was very interested in going with me because he had no idea about the museum deal. He was nice enough to show me how to use the buses in town as well.
I would post pics of the Palace Museum, but sadly, I don't seem to have any but one. ._. It could be because it was raining at the time and I didn't want to get my camera wet while trying to take pictures of the outside. They didn't allow any cameras inside, so that's why there are no pics of the art. Me and Leo (the one from Taipei 101) met a couple more people who were going into the museum at the same time we were, so that was nice. They even got me an audio tour in English! There are lots of gorgeous things in the museum and I would definitely recommend going if anyone is in the Taipei area. But in case you aren't exactly in a situation where you can hop on a plane and trek to this side of the world, I'm sure you can look up some of the exhibits.
Here's a view of the gates outside of the museum, with the museum waaayyy in the back.
They had lots of historical documents, treaties and stuff with Russia and America and Europe. I was rather proud of the fact that I recognized some of the documents from a class that I took at SIUE! But some of the art was stuff I'd never even imagined! They had a boat carved into a tiny peach core! Or some kind of fruit core. They had a magnifying glass they could look through to see the details. There were also rocks carved to look like pork and cabbage. Not to mention all the amazing pottery.
On Sunday I went to find the Taipei Temple and church building because they have an English speaking ward and I wanted to see general conference. It took me a while to actually find the building and it was a pain to find it in the rain, but I got there just in time for lunch, so all was good. :) Unfortunately, at that point, I had forgotten my camera at the first hostel I stayed at, so I had to go back and get it and never had a chance to go back and get a pic of the temple. I'm sure you could look it up on the internet and find much better pictures than anything I could take, though.
Also over the weekend, I went to Fisherman's Wharf on a suggestion from one of my tutoring students. It's basically a harbor resort where they have mini-cruises and a huge strip mall full of food. I think they were having a wedding at the time, because they were cleaning up after a dance and a party room where the happy couple were still taking pictures. The big reason I went to the wharf was so I could see the sky view tower, though. It was called Lover's Tower. (Awww.) Here are a couple of pictures of the Tower's sign and the bottom of the platform as it is rising with passengers. The bottom was covered with lights and pictures. At least they supply you with entertainment while you wait.
Monday was a national holiday, so I went to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial so I could see the parade and the show that they were having. The actual ceremony was at 2:30 and I got there at about 11:30, so I spent some time wandering and exploring the gardens. There were quite a few people already gathering on the steps of the buildings prepping to see the ceremony. I thought about sitting, but then I got bored, so I decided to go to the memorial building and see the giant statue of Chiang Kai Shek. It reminds me a lot of the Abraham Lincoln statue in Washington D.C.
The ceiling of the memorial hall.
These are pretty fancy wastebaskets.
Also inside were a couple of guards who act like the guardsmen at Buckingham Palace in England. They stand really still for an hour and then they have a Changing of the Guard ceremony. I was able to see one of the ceremonies and it was really interesting! I can't say I envy them for standing there on such a hot, humid day, though.
So of course when I got back to the square for the show, I chose the wrong side to sit on. All of exhibitions and actors were going to the other side. But from what I could see, the had martial arts demonstrations, a secret service team demonstrating some of the maneuvers they do, and a bunch of mostly naked men doing yoga. Definitely some of the fine points of Taiwan, I should say, haha.
Here's a view of the gardens around the memorial.
This was in one of the streets by the memorial park. They were preparing for the parade and for people with parachutes to come down. This year was the 100th year anniversary of Taiwan, so they went all out with their parade and aerial shows. They had helicopters and military jets flying over the city. A couple even let out colored smoke. I ran into a couple of guys from England with a Taiwanese guide on the street. They were trying to figure out what time the parades were, so I tailed them for a bit before I wound up at the memorial park.
The security guards all looked so serious.
So that's about all I did on Monday. The rest of my day was filled with more wandering around the city mall and then hunkering down in the train station to finish my student evaluations for the next day. The inside of the trains here are really comfortable and beautiful if you get the express lines. Here's a view from the seat I was in on the way back to Hualien.
No comments:
Post a Comment