There And Back Again: Taiwan, Day 7: National Palace Museum & Tapei 101

We started off the morning with eggs and toast prepared by Tammy's grandmother. We got ready and were out the door by 9:30AM. We stopped at the corner market on the way to the MRT station and picked up bottled drinks because of how incredibly hot it was going to be and boarded the train to the National Palace Museum. Now the great thing about corner markets is that they are *everywhere*. 7 Eleven's are the most dominant, followed closely by OK! Marts (which we think is supposed to be Circle K, but who knows... ).

Tammy and I were on our own today which was a welcome change of pace. It felt like we were really tourists and on vacation. I had a backpack full of water, a book on Taiwan /w maps, and she had the camera. We took the MRT the furthest north we had yet and had to catch a bus to the museum. Some of the museum was a tad dry (the bronze age of China) and some was downright boring (the writings... I couldn't read them!), but the jade and ivory carvings were amazing. I wish I had been able to take pictures of them, but it was not allowed. These carvings were so intricate. I can only imagine the level of skill, dedication, and patience required.

After we left the museum, we headed over to the Garden that is also on the grounds. Now this garden has a name, but we'll call this it, "The Garden of Perpetual Perspiration", since that's what it was at the time. For some reason I thought I should wear a button down shirt... and well I removed that once we hit this garden. It was *very* humid. It's around this time that we discovered how hungry we were so on the way to our next destination we stopped at Taipei Main Station and explored/ate lunch at the Underground Mall. We tried little things here and their, but, for reasons I will touch on later, decided on McDonald's.

After lunch, we headed over to Taipei 101. I'll talk more on this below. After Taipei 101, we headed home and discovered that we'd been gone all day and were just in time for dinner!

This is just one example of how awesome the translations and English are in Taiwan. Pratcher, this one is for you.

Typical suburban street outside of Taipei. Even in the suburbs the streets are lined with storefronts.

This is at the National Palace Museum. This was only one of several buildings. I think the security guard in the background is making sure that the white guy doesn't do anything drastic.

These lion/dog statues are everywhere. These and Chinese dragons are awesome.

The building Tammy's grandmother, Aunt, and two cousins live in.

We sat on the steps up to the National Palace Museum and they were *scorching* hot.

The Garden of Perpetual Perspiration.

This is a Guqin. I'm trying to channel my inner Kung Fu Hustle. If you haven't seen this movie... go rent/buy/steal it and do yourself a favor. Great movie.

This looked/sounded better than it actually ended up being. Those are dried strawberries and it was filled with a strawberry creme, but the donut itself was not very cake-like or donut like.

View from the front entrance of the National Palace Museum.

We ended up eating lunch at McDonald's and I regretted it. Tammy had been telling me forever that the apple pies at McDonald's in Taiwan were so good because they were deep fried instead of baked. Also, there is this marketing campaign going on (and it could be going on in the State's too... ) where you can get a glass in the shape of a Coke can. We went for both... but it turns out that you have to get a Big Mac combo and supersize it in order to get the glass. I normally don't like Big Macs, but let me tell you... this Big Mac was *horrible*. However, the apple pie was good and we got the glass...

89th floor observatory of Taipei 101.

660 metric ton tuned mass damper. This is what keeps Taipei 101 from swaying in the wind. It also protects it from earthquakes and tsunamis. This works by effectively cancelling out movement. When the building starts to move, the damper moves, but opposite the building which cancels out the motion. Think sine waves and inverse sine waves.