I spent the past 2 days in Taipei shopping, visiting the National Palace Museum and eating with my cousin. We took the MRT (their subway system), which is high-tech, modern, clean and efficient, around the city. You can use your cell phone in the tunnels (wish we could do that in NYC!). People actually line up to board the train and eating, drinking and chewing gum is not allowed in the stations or on the train, something that everyone takes very seriously. The respect they show for their city and its subway system is apparent.
The department stores and malls here are amazing and beautiful. We visited 6 or 7 in all, including the one in Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world at the moment. We started out at the Pacific SOGO, their newest department store, which makes Saks look shabby. Just about every brand you find in the U.S. can be found here, and there are a lot of British and French boutique labels that I have never heard of. The clothes are all ultra feminine and cute. We ate at this famous soup dumpling restaurant called Din Tai Fung inside the food court there. Even the food court was ridiculously nice - nothing like the ones in the malls/department stores in NYC. They sell chocolates, cakes and snacks of all kinds in addition to cooked food. Would have taken more pictures, but in many places (especially restaurants), pictures are not allowed.
The National Palace Museum, which just reopened last year, was amazing. The building is constructed to mimic the look of the Forbidden City in China where most of the artwork is from originally. The collection that is housed here was moved around China multiple times during WWII, when the Japanese invaded, and the Chinese civil war that followed for 40 years before it finally made it to Taiwan. Hundreds of thousands of pieces of priceless artwork were moved via literally all modes of transportation, including by raft (I couldn't believe it until I saw the pictures). The amazing thing is, not a single piece of artwork was damaged during this process, which is incredible considering the sheer volume, the quantity of porcelain involved, the number of times they had to move everything and the length of time it took to accomplish it all.
We visited Danshui, which is north of Taipei by the water, in the afternoon. We didn't go to the wharf, but did walk up and down some of the little streets that were packed with people. Vendors were selling all sorts of things from food to clothing to toys. There are even games set up. Everything is basically set up right on the street. It was noisy, chaotic but fun. We ate shaved ice since it was so hot. The shaved ice is amazing - wish we had this at home! Next, we drove to Bali, which is on the other side of the water from Danshui. There's a bike lane that stretches many miles and a boardwalk right by the water. You can rent multi-person bikes and these funny looking things that remind me of tricycles - but for multiple people to bike by the water. We ended up not doing this (again because it is so hot) but we walked around. We were originally planning to go to the night market at Shilin but it was late and we had to take the train home. But many more opportunities to go to night markets here. They're all over the place.
The one grip I have about Taiwan is the weather. It is unbearably hot and humid almost constantly. I don't know how people survived here pre-air conditioning! It makes even simple things like walking outside feel really hard. All the women carry around sun umbrellas (in fact, you can rent an umbrella at the Forbidden City when you are visiting) because the sun is so strong and they are obsessed with having pale skin. Although I think the umbrellas look silly, I feel like I should start using one. I did, however, purchase my first hat ever. It's a start!
Oh, and one last thing. I love the fact that the little man in their pedestrian lights starts to walk faster and faster as the time counts down. He starts to run when you have approximately 10 seconds left. It makes me laugh every single time.
Next stop - Singapore. Leaving this afternoon.
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