Eleven Years Behind

I just got back from Taiwan, a whirlwind trip of 8 days where I tried to jam-pack an entire culture into everything I did, which has left me in a daze.

I arrived in Taipei to neither hustle nor bustle, and after 15 minutes of struggle, I finally found an English-speaking cab driver to take me to an overpriced hotel. After looking in Lonely Planet (which was sufficient, but not nearly as helpful as the one for Vietnam), I made a list of destinations.

* Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial - built in honor of the former dictator and leader of the KMT, who revamped the education system and infrastructure while biding his time to fight against the Communists in mainland China (say THAT 5 times fast!). Everything was huge, reminiscent of Communist structures...but not.

The gate to the entrance.

The memorial from afar. Unfortunately, it was undergoing renovation and I couldn't go inside. Bummer.

Boy chasing pigeons

An artist sketching the Memorial's gardens.

Overall, it was impressive, though I am disappointed that I couldn't go inside anything. The garden was lovely.

* Longshan Temple - a multi-denominational temple, with lots of impressive ornate dragons. The temple is open to the general public, but I felt very disrespectful. Imagine people came to your place of worship and took pictures of you trying to worship. I tried to stay out of the way as much as possible.

It was hard to get a good picture at night, while trying to be invisible.

* Snake Alley - the name for Taipei Hwahsi Tourist Night Market. Its nickname comes from the few shops that have real snakes that are used for their blood (mixed with a liquor for virility). There's much more, though. There is an overabundance of food (some questionable, others delectable), jewelry, sex shops, clothing, electronics, etc. There isn't nearly enough time to see everything.

These were all over the walls of the covered area.

Jewelry.

Live snakes. We would later see the unpleasant sight of the man skinning them. Disturbing.

Dried squid.

A man had this little creature as a pet and he let me feed it a cherry on my arm. I look really frightening in this picture.

People playing arcade games.

Very fresh seafood.

Lots of food.

I enjoyed Snake Alley...a nice girl I met, Eve, and I had dinner for about $6. Delicious!

* National Palace Museum - this museum has the most extensive collection of Chinese art than any other in the world. It's a bit overwhelming, seeing something that is over 6,000 years old. And seeing lots of it. Apparently, all of the artwork was held in the Forbidden City in Beijing.

A girl blowing bubbles near Shilin Station.

The grounds of the Museum.

Stairs leading up.

Trashcan.

The museum was overall impressive, but after about an hour, it got to be overwhelming.

* Taipei 101 - billed as the tallest building IN THE WORLD (up until a week ago, that is...Dubai has one that is a mere 4 meters higher...dang), it also has the fastest elevator in the world. The observation deck is on the 89th floor and costs $450NT ($15US)...for $100NT more, you can climb up and go to the outdoor observation deck on the 91st floor. Impressive.

From a couple blocks away.

View of Taipei from inside.

View from outside.

I'm bummed I didn't get to it a week and a half earlier...but still, now I've been in the 2nd highest building in the world...

There were other fun sights around Taipei, stumbled upon en route.

View from the subway, called the MRT.

Inside the Hello Kitty store...trinkets galore.

Graffiti near Shilin Station.

A row of blind people giving serious massages outside of Longshan Temple.

This was in a small neighborhood near Taipei 101.

Giant chess set on the corner.

Polite, eh?

Typical Taipei Street.

...to be continued in Kaohsiung!