Taipei

I arrived in Taipei yesterday after an inexplicable delay for an hour and a half in Hong Kong. But at least China Airlines' GFML didn't include a bun...that's your cue to start taking notes, Air China. Anyway, I started by exploring Ximending, a very trendy area in the Wanhua District from the Japenese era. The pedestrian streets are crowded with street performers, food stalls, graffiti, cinemas, and thousands of young Taiwanese.


At night I walked through 2-28 Peace Park, just a few blocks from my hotel. The park is a memorial for the 2-28 Rebellion. In 1947, the government had just made the sale of tobacco a gov't monopoly. On February 28th, a day after a widow was flogged by police for selling cigarettes on the street, angry protesters gathered outside of government buildings in Taipei. Military police began shooting into the streets and killed several Taiwanese citizens.


The next morning, I went to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. You walk up a huge flight of stairs and then there's a statue of the man at the top...sort of like the Lincoln Memorial.


Next I went to the National Palace Museum, which features over 600,000 pieces of Chinese art, including some amazing ivory, bronze and jade carvings. Unfortunately no photos allowed inside. But here's a picture of the museum...


I went to Taipei 101 in the afternoon, a huge international financial centre that was the tallest building in the world when it first opened in 2004.



In addition to an 89th floor observatory, the building also features a gigantic shopping mall on its first 5 floors as well as the most impressive food court I have ever seen. There were easily 100 different restaurants with cuisines from around the world, and many, many gluten-free options. If I'm ever homeless, I am taking refuge in the Taipei 101 food court. Done and done.

Location:Lane 5, Section 1, ZhòngQìng South Rd,Jhongjheng District,Taiwan