Taiwan
August 9, 2008 10:47 am HolidaysI had yet another weekend break last week. This time, I visited my old classmate/ex-flatmate from university, Penny, in her home country of Taiwan. I stayed at her aunt’s place, who I must say is one of the nicest person I’ve ever met. Their whole family was very welcoming and went to a lot of trouble to show me around Taipei. It was actually very interesting to learn about the history of Taiwan. In fact, Asia in general is full of stories. Here I am outside the National Palace Museum - with all the treasures from China.
I spent almost all the time in Taipei, but got the chance to go to Danshui, near the coast and hiking around Yangmingshan. I saw the so called “Milk lake” because it’s white from the sulfur coming from the ground.
I tried some bamboo soup up there and a there was a warning for fellow hikers:
Food was a big part of my trip. I’m not sure I was ever hungry. On the left we have the usual delicacies (chicken feet - eek!) and on the right is something that was advertised as “Pizza”. It looked more like some bread or pancake but it was surprisingly very tasty.
And of course, I had to visit Taipei 101. The world’s tallest building (509.2m) with the world’s fastest elevator (1010m/min). I got to see the huge, 600 tonne, tuned mass damper at the center of the building which reduces tremors from earthquakes and typhoons that are pretty common in Taiwan.
LOL - I only just noticed the “Refugee Room”. I wonder what they’re for?
This is the view from the 91st floor. There were fireworks in the distance. Apparantly, people aren’t allowed to take backpacks up there now because some American guy managed to jump off the roof with a parachute a few weeks back, despite the high fencing.
Again, it was a short trip and perhaps about 10 degrees C hotter than I would like - that’s one thing I won’t miss about Asia once I go home. I didn’t realise that I’d be flying on the Hello Kitty themed Eva Air plane, even when my boarding pass looked like this:
I only realised when Hello Kitty was in my dinner and Hello Kitty strawberry ice cream. When I got off the plane, I saw Hello Kitty and friends were painted all over it! Wish I took a picture now.
More photos on Flickr: Taiwan