Yesterday I took a taxi ride to Shilin in the morning to the National Palace Museum and then again in the evening I took the subway to the Shilin Night Market. The museum was built in 1965 in memory of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the liberator and founder of modern China. He helped overcome the feudalistic system China was so accustomed to for thousands of years and paved the way for unification of its many governments and people based on democratic ideology. The museum is fascinating and rich with artifacts , four floors of ceramics, jade, curios, paintings, calligraphy, bronze pieces, and a special Tibetan exhibit.
Coincidentely, China is currently celebrating the 50th anniversary of Tibetan liberation(from who? their own people?) and plan to built a monument in front of the sacred Potala Palace. The museum was actually a comfort for not only provided rich cultural information about Chinese history but also provided a refuge from the sweltering humid conditions outside. After three or so hours checking out the displays and then taking a gander at the adjacent garden and another building of Buddha art I decided to return to the hotel for a cool down.
I later took a walk to exchange some traveler's checks but could find no bank to accept them. Finally I had to walk over to Chungshan Road to the Taipei Bank and after careful scrutiny and examination they reluctantly allow the exchange. My hotel would exchange U.S. currency but not American Express traveler's checks. Best advice next time is to deposit expenses into your credit card or simply carry cash. Now that I had a pocket of local currency it was time to spent it.
I quickly familiarized myself with the subway system and heading to the other night markets which were setting up as it was late afternoon. I rode the ditie (subway) over to Kungkuan which is located near Taiwan University. I bought some sushi which was sold in individual pieces (NT$20); (sea urchin roe),(freshwater eel), and swordfish was okay but quick and convenient as I walked over to the next market called Shihta where I had some fish balls and liver on a stick(really not too bad). It was the ultimate challenge test when I took the subway again and had to cross three different subway lines and modifying my ticket in the process. I successfully headed over to the Liu Chang Li station of the brown line(each line is color-coded) and walked up to the Tunghua Market passing the huge Taipei Metro Mall on the way. Tunghua was like the others with food hawkers, clothes hawkers, cheap watch sellers, and even the handicapped individuals selling lottery tickets.
Next on the itinerary was the best and biggest of them all; The Shihlin Market just north of Taipei proper with the usual hawkers but in gigantic proportions and one of the streets even had an outdoor games area lined up on of the sides set-up carnival style with prizes awarded as an incentive to play. I bought some gifts, some food to take back to the hotel with me and a few Taiwan beers.
The next day I had booked a half day trip to the nearest port city Kee Lung. We stopped by the Chiang Kai Shek memorial park for a glimpse of the harbor and it was a clear day. I was told that it has rained two hundred days out this year already. It rains so much here that most of the walkways are covered and in fact the statue of Chang Kai Shek which sits near the central area has him wearing a raincoat. We proceeded to drive through the main section of town while our tour guide told us about our next destination; the Queen's Head. This area nearby consists of natural stone formations such as the Queen's head, the beehive, and Marlin's peak. Me and the other tour guest, a Tokyo fellow walked down to the stone area passing Ocean park(a theme park with performing sea animals) and a small market which specialized in youyi (dried squid).
One of my quests on this trip was looking for attractive girls and when we finally spotted one we asked to take a picture with her. She shyly declined as me and Shoji stood there frustratingly with cameras in hand. Nevertheless, the view of the ocean and the clean air was quite refreshingly different from Taipei's pot of smog stew. The trip concluded with a visit to a handicraft store where bargaining was flatly ignored. Needless to say we jumped back into the van headed back to our prospective hotels passing my the exotically huge Grand Hotel sitting like a palace overlooking Taipei located between Taipei and Shilin. Shoji is having dinner there tonight with a blind date and was tickled to relate it to us. Rooms there are costly at a whopping nt$6000 a night.
During the course of my trip I was confronted with many contradictions to my preconceived ideas of what China would be like. I considered my perceptions based on television, movies, books and hearsay to weigh heavily on reality. I was almost completely wrong. China is much more modern that I had anticipated and the people were, for the most part, warm and friendly unlike those I am accustomed to here in the United States. As China is poised to join the World Trade Organization later this year and receive the visit by President Bush to participate in an Economic Summit in Beijing in November, China is braced to undergo changes like never before; to improve trade and economic relations, to modernize its technology and foreign relations to keep up with its global partners, and to create a haven for foreign investors as well as foreign institutions for the first time since the Boxer Rebellion and Opium Wars era when China fought to keep foreigners out. They now welcome such foreign enterprises. It was, however, the human experience and contact with the common folk that made my study trip worthwhile; to share meals with everyday people, engage conversation and make new friends. This was what made my dream come true.
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