This morning I went on a Half-day tour of Taipei. It was just me and two other tourists, with a driver and our tour guide, in a little minivan type vehicle. The tour started at a traditional Buddhist temple, with some very colorful decorations:
Then we went to the Martyrs' Shrine, and watched the changing of the guards ceremony. I got most of that on tape. Here is a shot of the shrine site after the crowd had dispersed a bit:
We got to spend an hour inside the National Palace Museum, but we were not allowed to take photos or video inside. Here's a shot of the outside of the building:
There were some very interesting things inside. The most famous is a large piece of jade that is carved to look like a cabbage plant with a grasshopper on top. The museum has a website, so you can see what it looks like here:
http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh96/Dazzling/
Last stop was Chiang-Kai-shek Memorial Hall, commemorating a former Taiwan leader. He died when he was 89, so their monument to him has 89 steps:
Inside, there's a statue of him seated, similar to the one of Lincoln:
Of course we made an obligatory stop for Tiawanese oolong tea in a gift shop, and were encouraged to do some shopping... As we got back in the van to return to the hotel, the tour guide asked if we would be interested in having Mongolian BBQ for lunch, because he knew a good place. I jumped at the opportunity, and the Dutch couple that was with us agreed too. We had a great meal there! I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Mongolian grills we have in Raleigh are actually very authentic, at least they are very similar to those in this part of the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment