Taiwan’s National Palace Museum

This museum housed a comprehensive look at Qing furniture, religious sculpture, masterpieces of jade, bronze items, ceramics, painting and calligraphy. The museum was well documented and covered several floors. It was easy to overlook which direction to wander as sometimes I felt like I was in a maze.

Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines

I only became aware of Taiwan’s aboriginal people in Thermal Valley when I entered the Ketagalan Cultural Centre. It documented the Ketagalan people’s decline after the Han Chinese came to the island in the 17^thcentury, but there was little in the way of traditional artifacts, so I was eager to visit Shilin’s museum.

A slice of tranquility away from the roar of traffic

Shilin was the nicest district in Taipei I visited. Perhaps it was because Chaing Kai-Shek’s once lived in  the area. I wandered the vibrant streets from the MRT station and arrived at Shuangxi Park that offered a retreat from the traffic that pounded the main thoroughfare.

Taipei’s Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall

I entered through a thirty metre high archway. The grandeur of the twenty-five hectare park with the National Concert Hall on one side and the National Theatre on the other side of a wide path to the memorial, made it was clear that Chiang Kai-Shek was revered beyond all others.

Gongguan Night Market

Taipei’s Gongguan Night Market was not a huge market, but it was the closest to my hotel and I’d missed the experience in Seoul because I’d only stayed in South Korea’s capital a couple of nights.

Xinbeitou and Thermal Valley

Thermal Valley conjured up images of bubbling pools with the smell of sulphur wafting along the valley. Once I left Xinbentou Station, I followed a well-maintained pathway by a stream searching for my imagined Thermal Valley.

High above Taipei City

On the edge of Taipei City I sailed up Maokong Mountain on the Maokong Gondola. As soon as I got to the top I heard a passenger in the cabin before mine go straight to the ticket counter and ask for a ticket to head back down again. I shook my head. Were they only interested in the ride? There was an entire mountain to explore.

Tamsui’s historic road?

Zhongshang Road claimed to have a number of “old” sites. Apart from Fuyou Temple, I didn’t see much that resembled Tamsui’s old history. In fact, Tamsui, part of New Taipei City, shone with newness while many of Taipei’s buildings needed a pressure washer.

A reserve that should have been preserved

When I caught a train to Tamsui, my eyes followed a trail running parallel to the tracks that continued all the way to the last MRT station. On the journey I spotted so many pieces of garbage it seemed like someone had tipped a box of never-ending litter along the route.

Gaundu’s Kuan-du Temple

Built in 1661 during the Tsing Dynasty, Kaun-du Temple was Taiwan’s oldest temple worshiping the Heavenly Saintly Mother. This explained why both in the Lingxiao Treasure and Taisui Halls, female monks stood before idols pounding drums and singing prayers to the sound of tinkering cymbals while incense smoked through the huge interiors.