Day 2

Friday night was a lot of fun. We had a quick dinner at a Vegetarian restaurant near the hotel. I got bibimbap, a Korean dish involving rice, veggies, and spices cooked and served in a little iron pot. We also had some noodle soup and a vegetable soup with rice. Both the noodle soup and veggie soup had great mushrooms and the veggie soup had taro in it. We drank barley tea and eat quickly so we wouldn't miss our tour.

Afterwards we went on an evening tour of Taipei. Oops! It turned out the first stop on the tour was dinner at a Mongolian hotpot/ barbecue place so we ate dinner twice that night! Next we went to Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world. From the bottom it looked like someone had stacked giant Chinese food containers. From the top the view was spectacular: bustling Taipei below us, glowing like a Christmas tree, rolling out to the black night of the forests surrounding her.

From there we went to a night market adorned with souvenir shops, street food, massage parlors, and people selling snakes as food. We ended the tour at the majestic Longshan Temple. Built in the early 1700's, the temple is a living center of Daoism in Taiwan. Exquisitely carved gods, dragons, and religious symbols decorate wooden panels covered with gold leaf. Dozens of stone columns decorated with human and dragon images support the temple.

Saturday I woke up early and went for a little walk. The city was alive and fresh in the morning and I ended up in a courtyard by some old municipal buildings where old men were doing their morning exercises. I did some stretches and kicks, whereupon I noticed a terrible pain in my back, either caused by over-exertion and/or the 19 hour flight. It talk 24 hours to fully go away.

For breakfast, my parents and I went to Dante Cafe where I had a bagel, juice, and coffee, but for lunch I had something more Asian - a bowl of noodles, tea eggs, and Chinese donut. We spent a good amount of time exploring the neighborhood looking for a place to buy cell phones and SIM cards.

After lunch, we want on an afternoon tour of Taipei with a hilarious tour guide and two foreign couples, one Dutch and one Japanese. This is interesting as both Holland and Japan were former colonial powers in Taiwan. The tour guide was funny and talked a lot about Taiwan's people, culture, and history. First we briefly visited a memorial to soldiers who died in the 1911 Chinese revolution, World War II, and the Chinese Civil War. We visited another lovely Daoist temple also adorned with lovely carvings, columns, and painted doors.

Next stop was the National Palace Museum. Filled with art taken from China by Jiang Jieshi in the 1940's (many claim the art would have been destroyed in the Cultural Revolution had this not happened), the museum holds the most extensive collection of Chinese art in the world. Jade carved to look like lettuce, a large Bronze Buddha, calligraphy, Jade discs from thousands of years ago, and ceramic pottery - the collection was truly amazing. One of my favorite pieces was a Tang Dynasty sculpture of a large heavy-set woman with big fat puffy cheeks - the symbol of beauty in Tang Dynasty China.

We ended our tour with a trip to the Jiang Jieshi memorial hall, which looked very grand and remarkably similar to the Lincoln Memorial. The large Bronze Generalissimo looked content sitting in his chair starring out across the strait towards China. Mom asked the tour guide what he thought of Jiang. "You know many people say he was a dictator, but he also kept the island safe from Communist China... I think many people just see him as a figure head, his son who built up the country - we respect him a lot more."

For dinner we went to a food court in a nearby mall where not surprisingly I ate bibimbap. Exhausted, I fell asleep shortly thereafter. In the morning, I did some stretches for my back that my mom had taught me. Then we set out on a walk. We came to the 228 Memorial Peace Park. The palm tree lined park is complete with sparrows, ducks, pigeons, flowers, ponds, sculptures, a large towering statue, pagodas with busts of historical figures in them, and an outdoor concert space. We saw and imitated the simple exercises we saw senior citizens doing and watched some of them doing Taiji, a slow moving internal martial art. The park was built to honor the dead of the brutal 228 massacre where Chinese soldiers massacred tens of thousands of Taiwanese civilians during the 1940's. The park is beautiful and calm. Could never imagine the Mainland government building anything like this near Tiananmen Square.

Looking forward to another tour tonight. Tomorrow we will go look for apartments.

Pictures: View of the hills from National Palace Museum, Daoist Temple, Ball that keeps Taipei 101 Balanced, View from the top of Taipei 101, View from the foot of Taipei 101.