Taiwan, Day 12: Taipei Botannical Gardens, Dinner, & Movie

Today we lounged around in the morning and I believe that we had either stuff we had bought previously or bread-based food that Tammy's grandmother got before we got up. The bread that is made here is pretty good. There are little bakeries everywhere and they can generically be classified as salty or sweet. I think my favorite is an almond croissant that is delectable.

We ate lunch at home and then headed out to see the Botannical Gardens. We didn't really know what to do today, so I just picked someplace close and we went. Our only limitation was that we had to be back for dinner by 6:00PM. I honestly didn't think it was going to take as long as it did... we got back at 5:45PM.

We took the MRT to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial exit and started walking. On the way, we saw the Postal Museum (which we didn't go into... who wants to read about Postal history?) and the National History Museum. At this point we were hot and sweaty, so we stopped in the History Museum just for the A/C. The highlight of the museum for me was the water color paintings. There were some pretty awesome ones.

After we left the museum, we headed to the Gardens and then home. Dinner was good; family style with lots of dishes. After dinner, Tammy's aunt offered to take us to Warner Village so we could see a movie. We went, were amazed by the amount of Green Lantern stuff, walked around, saw Priest (which was pretty awful), and took a taxi home.

This is Warner Village at night. This cineplex has 18 screens that span two seperate buildings. Attached to it are a shopping center and a food court. I swear... Taiwan *loves* it's shopping. There are so many malls... and they're all nice!! There are food courts everywhere!! I digress. Surrounding this behemoth is another shopping complex that is probably the biggest mall I've ever seen. It encompasses eight separate buildings.

Apparently Taipei 101 is lit up at night with each day of the week corresponding to a different color.

The escalator up to the movie theater.

Tammy's grandmother's living room. This is taken from the front door. You can see the lit up bedroom in the back. That was our room...

Vegetable dumplings.

The whole spread from dinner. My two favorites were the one on the far right and the one in the back.

Minced meatball soup.

... the lit up room in the back. That's me!

One of my two favorite dishes from dinner. The egg is covering an assortment of pork, tofu, vegetables, and cellophane noodles.

Cabbage, peanuts, and vinegar. Pretty good.

This was a new dish that Tammy's aunt had not tried. She didn't really like it, but I thought it was great. Very spicy.

The ladies, looking food.

Mohr dumplings!!

The trip back from the Botanical Gardens. How can this face go from this...

... to this? It's like it's made of clay.

The Amazonian lilies with the National History Museum in the background.

Indigenous plantlife to Taiwan. Exciting isn't it?

Getting creative on the MRT.

Our A/C stop a.k.a. National History Museum.

Shot of the lily pads from the Museum window (2F)

The Qizhang MRT stop. I became very familiar with this place. Hell, every time we went we got 8NT$.

This is just an amazing drink.

Me. Exploring the Botanical Gardens.

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.

This amazing dragon was intricately carved out of red coral gemstone. There was a ton of this stuff up in Taipei 101 and damn it was all awesome.

Another snack that we purchased in the Underground Mall. Just like the donut... this looked better than it tasted.

Best. Picture. Ever. I'm kind of a big deal in Taiwan. This awesome market/grocery store is in the basement of Taipei 101.

Taipei 101 from street level.

Mi fen, 1000 year old eggs, and some leafy green vegetable. Trust me, 1000 year old eggs are HORRIBLE.

This amazing device, made by Raid, kills mosquitoes like a beast.

I took this picture for Devon. This is a gigantic geode filled with amethyst.

This is a video I made of these crazy Koi fish that we fed outside of the National Palace Museum.