Taipei, Taiwan

My second stop of my trip to Asia was the northern Taiwan city of Taipei. Nestled between five mountain ranges, the city sits in a basin and is transected by four rivers. Of course, with the mountains there are tunnels and with the rivers there are bridges…resembling my hometown of Pittsburgh.
That is where the similarity ends. Taipei is densely populated making land extremely precious. As a result, they build up.  The new highway is high above the other roads and most of the new construction is tall….like Taipei 101 which I believe gets its name because it is 101 stories tall. Mixed in with these modern architectural wonders are the historical sites and evidence of their Chinese culture.

For example, the National Palace Museum houses numerous Chinese artifacts such as jade carvings. Most of the carvings take on the form of an animal or plant such as the famous Jadeite cabbage, one of the most popular and impressive pieces in the museum. I was stunned to see jade earrings and a tubular jade necklace dating back to 6000 B.C. I also learned that Chinese calligraphy was a form of artistic expression using the same fundamentals as painting.  Another exhibit A Garland of Treasures featured a group of small but precious artifacts such as curio boxes called the "toy chests of the emperor" used in the daily life of the imperial court.

The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall was completed in 1980 to honor the former President. The large blue and white monument is impressive in stature. Inside is a sculpture of the leader, flanked by two guards. We arrived just in time to watch the ceremonial changing of the guards.

On the memorial's grounds known as Freedom Plaza are the National Theater and National Concert Hall, both built in the Chinese style. The three structures form an enormous plaza and public recreation space with Chinese gardens. My host recalled visiting the gardens as a child to feed the fish in the pond.

The day wasn't complete until we visited one of the Night Markets. The markets offer a huge variety of snacks sold cheaply from stalls, some of which have been in business for decades. It is also a chance for the children to play pinball for a chance to win a stuffed animal or to scoop fish from a plastic fish pond. I loved everything about the Ning Xia Night Market since I had never seen anything like it before. The street is closed to vehicles and filled with vendors and their customized food carts where they grill, steam, fry and even dip fresh fruit into melted sugar. I happily tried the veggie spring roll and pork dumplings, but wasn't brave enough to sample the stinky tofu or barbeque squid.

 

 



Night Market with Caleb, Abe, Sue, Albert, Grace and Cindy