I'd say my second day in Taipei was half food and half sightseeing, which is why I've separated this into two blog posts. Our original plan, as is always the case, was jampacked with many stops that were nearly all cancelled out due to my (and my friend's) pathetic stamina as well as the depressingly cold and rainy weather. However, I still believe our trip was quite a fruitful one, filled with just as much rest as walking, which is fine by me because it gave my feet a break and I felt a lot more energy to enjoy the places I did manage to go.
The first stop after brunch was the Lin Family Mansion and Garden, a once-private wealthy residence that dates back to the 18th century. The garden is a ten-minute walk from Fuzhong station and houses beautiful examples of traditional Chinese architecture as well as an abundance of plants placed strategically and harmoniously alongside the buildings. Half the place was under construction when we went, and we couldn't avoid the drizzle that had been accompanying us all day, but nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed the beauty and peacefulness (more so because there were only a handful of people there that day due to such unfavorable conditions). Oh, and entrance is free!
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| Follow the cow |
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| An entryway into some marketplace that leads to the Garden |
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| I suppose this is how they kept out trespassers back in the day. |
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| The unpretty side nobody wants to take a picture of, lol! |
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| The most majestic tree roots I've ever laid eyes on |
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| The surrounding view is sadly not as beautiful as the inside. |
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| Can't leave a place without a selfie, amirite? |
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| Taken on the way back to the station |
Next we made a short stop at Lungshan Temple, which is only a few stops away by subway station on the same blue line. The station name is Lungshan Temple, so it's easy enough to find. Apparently, it's one of the oldest temples in the country! But truth be told, we were not so particularly interested, and our feet were already tired from walking around the garden. Sorry, can't help being so weak.
So I took a few photos just to say I'd been there, and we left in about 5 minutes.
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| I'm no expert in photography, so to take this photo I set my camera to "waterfall mode" - can you believe they even have that? And I gotta admit, it looks better here than in real life! I didn't have a tripod with me so I set it on a stone like the one seen in the bottom left part of ths photo. |
Then we made our way to Jumane Cafe, which was dealt with in the food post, before heading to the National Palace Museum.
As mentioned in the other post, there
was an entrance fee contrary to what I read online, and to get there we had to take a bus for 15 NT. If you get off Shilin station and ask the info guy, he'll give you a slip of paper with a list of buses you can take. You can't miss it because there are usually a bunch of people waiting in line to go. We took the R30, if I remember correctly, which was 8 stops away by bus. I know this because some Taiwanese old lady started talking to us while I was peering at the stops trying to figure out how long we'd take, and miraculously I was able to understand most of what she was saying, even with my disastrously poor Chinese skills! She said the museum was 8 stops and roughly 15 minutes away, and even pointed out buildings as we passed by and briefly explained their history like a true local. It was my first real Chinese conversation in Taiwan, and the elation I felt after I got off was out of this world, haha.
Well, to be honest, that was the highlight of my day, as the museum wasn't so interesting either. It looked quite grand from the entrance:
But what can I say? I'm being honest here; ancient artifacts just aren't my thing. I think I enjoy more contemporary history, and didn't do much research beforehand so didn't know what to expect. It was cold, first of all, and it was evening too, meaning slowly nearing my bedtime. The place was enormous so we couldn't cover everything, and instead we briskly walked by the parts that seemed slightly more interesting, made what remarks we could to make the visit more entertaining for ourselves (though I'm sure anyone serious about Chinese history would think we were either stupid or crazy), then took the bus back to Shilin station. Here's a photo I took just because it looked sort of cool.
Shilin Night Market was only one subway stop away, and there I bought a cheap fleece sweater because I was freezing, and then we went to dinner, which is in the
FOOD episode!
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