Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Da Vinci Exhibit

Today I went to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall [中正紀念堂] for the first time, and it was very impressive in the same way that nationally significant sites in most nations are. It evokes the feel of the National Mall in Washington, or Tiananmen Square in Beijing, or Buckingham Palace in London. It is a very patriotic place for Taiwan.

The Hall itself is the blue-roofed building pictured above, with the stairs leading into a room that contains a statue of Chiang Kai-shek, an early leader of the Nationalist Kuomintang Party in China [國民黨]. The KMT fought with the Chinese Communist Party for decades, eventually being expelled from mainland China and settling in Taiwan.




The surrounding area is also very beautiful, as it contains two orange-roofed buildings (used as theatres) facing eachother and a large gate.



However, as much as I am fascinated with politics and the political history of Taiwan and China, I did not visit just to see the patriotic sights. I was actually there to see an exhibit on da Vinci, which has been running for months but concluded today. Unfortunately, due to museum rules, there are no pictures of the museum itself.

It was a very interesting exhibit. Interestingly, it didn't focus on da Vinci as the painter everyone knows him as, though there was a section which showed high-resolution photographs of the Mona Lisa and it had reproductions of such famous paintings as The Last Supper and Virgin of the Rocks. The main focus of the exhibit was da Vinci as the inventor. The exhibit showed pictures of his sketches and had built models based on these sketches. Unfortunately, there were far too many people there...but as I'm in East Asia I really should expect that by now!

After the exhibit I returned to campus to bake cookies for the international food sale that's been going on this week. While I had to make the cookies in a toaster oven (again), I think they turned out fairly well and judging by their previous popularity I expect that this batch will also sell out.

Taipei Zoo and Hookah Cafe

Yesterday I went to Taipei Zoo with one of my gay friends! It was a lot of fun, though the weather was a little bit too warm and sunny for me. The Taipei Zoo is located very near NCCU, and also near Maokong (the cable car works again! But more on that when I actually go in a couple days), so it makes for a very convenient excursion.

We went to the gate to buy tickets, but for some reason they wouldn't sell me a reduced-fare student ticket because, even though I am a student, I am not a "real" student because I study Chinese. Strange. So instead I got to go through the gate and swipe my Taipei Public Transit "Student Easycard" for entry, where I was still charged the reduced student price. Apparently I was enough of a student for the computer :-P.

Our first destination was the Koala Exhibition, where there were a couple of koala bears. Pretty neat, I guess. They weren't moving, though, so for all we knew they could have just put stuffed koalas in the trees and claimed they were real. Then we saw the pandas! Every child's favorite animal (other than the beloved totoro, of course). There were only two, and they were also sleeping.


Panda. Sleeping. How exactly are they useful again?

We stopped by the "Panda Shop", a souvenir shop full of everything panda that could be imagined. There were panda hats, pillows, keychains, sweaters, chairs, and of course giant stuffed pands. And what zoo trip would be complete without hearing Phil Collins' "You'll Be in My Heart", the main promotional song from Disney's Tarzan, playing in a souvenir shop?

We then saw the nocturnal animal hall where we saw one of the rarest and most special animals in the world. That's right, the raccoon. Because raccoons aren't native to Taiwan, most Taiwanese don't know that, in the United States, they're dirty garbage-eating rodents. After this was the tropical animal area. Then the African animal area, complete with lionesses, rhinoceroses, impalas, and various primates.


Our nearest animal relatives!

One of the other exciting attractions is, of course, the elephant. These two elephants put on quite a show for all the spectators, though. While elephant 1 was eating, elephant 2 reached between 1's legs and rubbed back and forth, eliciting laughter among the (mostly female Taiwanese) audience. Such sublime majestic creatures, these!


Bad, naughty elephants.

We decided to go to the reptile and amphibian house as our final stop, then returned to campus. Then: hot pot, my perennial favorite food here! I've already been to about 5 or 6 different hot pot places and the one near NCCU is by far the best. So needless to say, I was quite pleased to return to "Shabu-sen", as it is called [しゃぶ鮮]. Nearly two hours later we returned to the dorm.

But my day was not complete! It turns out that my beloved flame dame is not leaving until midnight tonight (Friday), so she suggested a trip to a hookah cafe. Most of you in Chapel Hill probably already know what hookah is, but for those of you who don't, it is tobacco that has been flavored, often with honey and fruit. It is smoked through a tube, which draws the smoke through some water, thus filtering it and making the smoke less irritating. I had never smoked a hookah before, so I thought it would be interesting to try it, and it was really neat. Before we left the hookah cafe, I was already able to blow smoke rings (like the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland), causing my flame dame to be quite jealous. And that ends my yesterday. More news and pictures soon!

Exploring Taipei

My last post was on Wednesday. As always, I have been trying my best to fill up my time with either exploring, interactions with Taiwanese people, or both. I'm starting to have a somewhat more regular (though still rather small) group of Taiwanese friends, and it's great to hang out with them so often.

On Wednesday (after writing this), I went to Jhongli [中壢] with my flame dame and we met some of her friends there. They were all really friendly and we ate at a hot pot place that was quite tasty. Overall I had quite an enjoyable time. Plus, I bought a white belt!


Taipei Train Station, waiting for the train to Jhongli.


Holding our train tickets. Not that you can read them from the picture.

On Thursday, we had our language class (including a Chinese test) followed by CIEE class. A guest lecturer came in and spoke to us about 228 (remember that? If not, go back to my 228 entry and look now :-P) as well as the status quo between Taiwan and China. Interesting stuff, and he had an interesting teaching style. Plus, many of the relevant events occurred at Jinmen Island [金門島] (also known as Quemoy), which is a highly disputed area due to its extreme proximity to mainland China, specifically the city of Xiamen [厦门]. For those of you who don't know, Xiamen is the city where I spent my last semester. Thus, if Taipei is my "Taiwanese hometown", then Xiamen is most definitely my "mainland Chinese hometown". It is somewhat surreal to think of my two study abroad destinations as at war, as little as 60 years ago.

After CIEE class I headed down to meet a couple of my Taiwanese friends, and we went to eat at a place which had some form of mixed soup and thick noodles. It was pretty good, but not my favorite thing ever. After that we went to Gongguan [公管], a part of Taipei City which contains National Taiwan University (Taida [台大] for short) as well as a side-street with several gay cafes and shops. We went to a gay cafe, ordered caffeinated drinks, and talked for a while. After that we walked around Taida, which has a really beautiful campus and lots of the flowers were in bloom. The two friends I was with eventually got into an extremely heated argument about Taiwan's independence, so the remainder of the night was somewhat less comfortable.

Today (Saturday) was fun as well. My flame dame and I went to a buffet place which, considering it was a buffet, had really decent food, and then headed to the Jianguo Flower Market [建國花市]. This market is similar to a farmer's market in the United States, except that virtually everything sold is related to flowers or plants. It was really beautiful and we drank some tea. Next to the flower market is a jade market, which operates on a similar idea; virtually everything sold is related to stone, whether it be carvings, bracelets and necklaces, or teapots. I bought a cool necklace that is made of glass shaped into a snake, inside the glass are gold and black patterns (I was born in the Year of the Snake), and a square red stone calligraphy seal (I think it is carnelian but I'm not sure). I really enjoyed haggling over the price! I got the $700 seal for only $600! (Yes, I know I was probably still ripped off, but bargaining can be a lot of fun).

After that we found our way to a barbecue place [燒烤], which was all-you-can-eat, and devoured just about everything on our table. Finally, we headed back to the dorms after a long (and rewarding?) day.

Also, there's a karaoke competition for the Chinese Language department. Me and one of the other guys in the CIEE program hope to participate, but we were looking for a girl to join our singing team. My Chinese teacher has repeatedly suggested that I should dress in drag and sing the female part (and I haven't even come out to the class yet). Apparently she thinks I'd make a very pretty girl. O_o. I found it really amusing and I thought readers might as well. Also, I'm sort of contemplating the idea, after all it could be fun!

Late Night Blog Update

This post may be brief (at least for now) until I add to it later. After all, it is 1:30 AM here as I'm writing this. But for now, a brief description of the past five days and some photos!

On Friday I had classes, then went with my grrlfriend to a club to meet bunches of foreigners. It was a lot of fun because I met lots of people and had my fair share of alcohol. I'm told that I become British when I get drunk. Also there was a dancing pole and I managed to hang upside down from it briefly! I expect the pictures to be up on Facebook soon. Then when I apply for jobs I will regretfully untag them.

Saturday was a lazy day. I slept in really late and stayed in my room much of the day. It wasn't that I had a hangover (I drink so much water and soda that I am never dehydrated or hung over), just that going out to bars is rather draining and I was sore from the pole dancing. I had my first Taiwanese ramen. It was just as good as mainland Chinese ramen!

On Sunday I went to a movie with a couple of the other Americans and one of the Taiwanese "ambassadors" in a theatre near Taipei 101. I didn't realise that the movie we were going to was a football movie :-\ but it wasn't too bad for all that. After the movie I was ravenous (having not eaten yet), and I actually managed to find gyros/kabobs! They were amazing, especially since I had been craving them for the past week. Then, well fed, we went to a tea shop in Taipei 101's mall. It was really nice and I got many opportunities to practice my Chinese.

The past two days have been so-so. My class is still rather too easy for me, but soon there is a free Taiwanese (Min-nan) language class, so I'm excited about that!

Oh also regarding food: yesterday the grrlfriend and I ate at a hot-pot place called Shabu-shabu. It's pretty much the most amazing thing ever. Hot pot is already delicious, but at this place you pay a mere $8 or $9 USD (290 NT) and you get all-you-can-eat meat, veggie/mushroom/noodle/other add-ins and sauces, Haagen-daaz ice cream, and access to a soda fountain. So pretty fantastic. Then today the group ate at a Thai restaurant for a "Chinese language dinner", where everyone was supposed to only speak Chinese. The food was good, but our table didn't get to order enough so a couple of us went to another restaurant afterwards which has really good fried noodles.

Hopefully there will be more excitement to come, and possibly more updates on this post!


Taipei 101 during the day. It was cloudy, so the top of the tower is not visible.


The Falun Gong marching. I don't know much about the Falun Gong, mainly because this religion is banned in mainland China (where I spent my last semester). But anyway, there was a long parade of people dressed in yellow, holding signs and playing drums.


Taipei 101 at night. The lights are purple, since we visited on a Sunday. The tower changes the color of its lights depending on the day of the week (ROYGBIV starting on Monday).

Taipei, Day 2: Rainy Day

Today marks my second day in Taipei, and the last day that I'm going to be counting. After all, I will be here for a long time. I know what you're thinking: how is Ryan going to come up with titles for his blog entries without his standard "Day #: Description" to fall back on? I guess I'll just have to be creative.

Today I went out for a little bit with my Swedish roommate. We visited some electronics malls (Taipei is famous for those) and had some la mian [拉面]. Unfortunately, the weather here has gotten no better since yesterday, so I did not feel up to any exciting journeys to any picturesque places. Sorry! There will be plenty of time for those in the future, and I have all the places I want to see marked on a map.

Impressions: Taipei has proven to be infinitely more Western and Japanese influenced than I had imagined. Many restaurants and stores have some signs in Japanese kana, and more than once I heard Japanese being spoken by salespeople. As for the Western influence: I found milk. Taiwanese seem to love the stuff. In fact, our hostel is located next to a "Taiwan Milk King" restaurant/milkateria. Additionally, there are numerous pastry shops and bakeries here, which is something I really didn't see very often in Xiamen.

Prices: As I have said before, prices in Taipei are between those of Xiamen and those in the United States. A good benchmark I like to use is the price of bottled sodas. Here's a little list comparing them.

Chapel Hill, N.C., USA: $1.00
Xiamen, China: 3 yuan = $0.44
Tokyo, Japan: 150 yen = $1.66
Taipei, Taiwan: 25 TD = $0.78

So at least when it comes to my favorite bottled drinks, my first impression was correct! Yay! Food seems to be similar. A meal here (including a drink) costs from 100 Taiwan Dollars, or about $3. In the US, I think I usually spend at least $5.

Speaking of food, I think it's no secret that I LOVE Chinese food. And by that I mean the real stuff, not the watered-down-for-Americans version at 35 Chinese or PF Changs (which are still good occasionally). This evening I had my first actual Chinese meal, stir-fried cabbage in a brown sauce and corn-and-carrot dumplings. Delicious! And all that food cost a mere 80 TD!

Note on currency: Taiwan uses the Taiwan dollar, and the current exchange rate is 1 USD = 32.055 TWD. Not an easy number to do mental math with :-\