Third Stop: Taipei, Taiwan

May 16 (Wednesday)

We flew to Taipei on Cathay Pacific (& spent almost an hour in the fabulous Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge... though I was flying coach, Gary's AA status got us in... :-) and arrived at the Taipei airport a little before 2 p.m. A car was waiting to take us to the Shangri-La Far Eastern Plaza Hotel and we arrived at the hotel about 45 minutes later. We were amazed when we were met and escorted to the 33rd floor (Horizon Club level), room# 3312 and checked-in inside our room.

Taipei 101 is the tallest building in the world but also reputedly has the fastest elevator in the world...

The room is a beautiful corner room with three picture windows in the main room and another one over the tub in the huge bathroom. There was a bottle of Shiraz and some fresh fruit also, we're not used to this kind of luxury but it's very nice.

We have a great view of Taipei 101 (the tallest building in the world... 101 stories tall!) from the room. As the sun went down, it was fascinating to watch the lights come on though there is no comparison to Hong Kong in that department.

We met two very nice men from Gary's work (one from Taipei & the other from Hong Kong) for dinner. We were driven to Taipei 101 (which not only is the tallest building in the world but also reputedly has the fastest elevator in the world... and I believe it!) and had dinner at the fabulous Shin Yen 101, which is located on the 85th floor (yes, that's 85, when you look down it's like you're up in an airplane). It is a Taiwanese style food restaurant. Luckily we were with a local man and he knew what we might like. We ended up with seven or eight courses (I lost track... ). The food was amazing and the conversation very pleasant.

http://www.taiwanfun.com/north/taipei/dining/0705/0705ShinYen101.htm

P.S. I checked online and it really is the fastest elevator in the world, see:

http://www.primidi.com/2004/12/17.html "the Guinness Book of Records has certified the elevators' specifications. These elevators, built by Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp. (TELC), can move 24 passengers up at a speed of 1,010 meters per minute (about 60 km/h), or down a little bit slower at only 600 meters per minute (about 36 km/h). Going up 382 meters inside this 508-meter-high building will take you only 39 seconds using these elevators. And don't worry about 'ear popping': these elevators include new technologies, such as a pressure control system. "

May 17 (Thursday)

Breakfast this morning was in the hotel's Yi Cafe, a buffet style restaurant with one of the widest selections of any breakfast buffet I've ever seen.

After Gary took off for work, I got a selection of tours offered from the concierge and settled on the afternoon Taipei City Tour. A little after 1 p.m., a small bus picked me up. It was almost like having a private tour because there was only one other customer, a nice lady from Singapore, and the tour guide, Chen and her driver, Sam. Our first stop was the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall and the beautiful gardens around it....unfortunately the actual part of the hall which houses the huge statue of him was closed for some type of cleaning but we enjoyed the park around the hall.

Next was a quick stop at a Chinese Buddhist Temple. I was able to get some pictures (I was borrowing Gary's camera as mine is broken) of the interesting & detailed carvings outside.... then it was on to the Handicraft Center, which seems to be obligatory on any tour. We enjoyed some oolong tea at different strengths and jasmine flower tea. I purchased some tea to bring home.

Our next stop was the Martyr's Shrine (War Memorial) which was timed for three o'clock so we could watch the changing of the guard. It is very amusing to watch people trying to make the guards change their expression or to move... after this it was on to our last stop and the main stop of the afternoon, the National Palace Museum for one hour. This is not enough time to see the museum but Gary & I will return on Saturday for a more thorough look. Chen gave us a good background on the different dynasties in Chinese history and we saw a few of the exhibits including the very famous Jadeite Cabbage from the Ch'ing Dynasty Palace. It is a beautiful rendition of a bokchoy cabbage made from one piece of jade that is both green and white.... As there is no photography allowed, here is a link: http://www.npm.gov.tw/en/collection/selections_02.htm?docno=867&catno=16&pageno=2 There is also a special exhibit of items from the British Museum which we will see on Saturday.

We spent a few minutes in the gardens outside before heading back. The gift shop will to be visited on our return visit... :-)..... Once back at the hotel, Gary & I headed up to the Horizon Club's lounge for a glass of wine and some snacks.

Reservations were set at the Marco Polo Restaurant, a nice Italian restaurant on the 38th floor, for 7p.m. When we arrived they sat us at a prime spot next to the window with a great view of Taipei 101. The service here was very good and we were impressed that they had a nice Seghesio zinfandel on the wine list. On one of our last visits to the Napa/Sonoma area, we stopped there and joined their Wine Club. I had a wonderful seafood salad, we split a gnochi with gorganzola sauce, & my main entree was a mixed grill plate with a small lamb chop, one large prawn & a small filet of beef..... we were then informed that we were sitting at the very special "Proposal Table".... Gary informed her that it had been over 30 years... :-)

We decided to take advantage of the roof top pool and jacuzzi after dinner. We also got a great picture of Taipei 101 from the 43rd floor where the pool is located.

May 18 (Friday)

After breakfast, I joined another tour at 8 a.m. It was with the same tour company as yesterday, Huei Fong Travel Service, http://www.hftravel.com.tw/index.asp but with a different tour guide, Tony. We were in the same sized bus (seven plus driver & tour guide) and there was only a nice couple from Malaysia (staying at the same hotel as we are) & me as customers. It was the same personal service and very informal as the guide was very open to any questions and the english spoken was very understandable, a big plus.

The tour today was the Northern Coast Tour. After being picked up, we drove north through a series of tunnels drilled through the very mountainous area. It was beautiful, rugged & covered with forests. I noticed a lot of tree fern growing wild in the forest. After going through the mountains we were at the northeastern coastline and coming into Keelung City. We observed the Keelung Harbor, fairly small compared to what I've seen lately but very important in this region.

Today's weather was not sunny (so not hot), not windy, & not rainy... Tony informed us that this was as good as it gets here because much of the time it is raining on the northern coast. He also said that we are getting close to typhoon season, and that there is one forming now in the Pacific that might arrive in the next 5-7 days.

Before we left Keelung, we made a quick stop at the giant Buddha for some pictures and then headed further along the coastline through some small fishing villages. Our final destination was the small, quiet fishing village of Yehlia and the Yehlia Geopark, an area of unusual natural formations of sandstone with limestone texture rocks which have been sculpted through time by wind and sea erosion. This process has left interesting pillar and mushroom shaped formations. Many of them have fanciful names such as the Queen's Head (the most famous, shaped like Queen Nefertiti), Fairy's Shoe, Candle, Stone Heart, Bean Curd, Dragon Head,....... There is also an area with Yehliu, a spiny plant that grows here naturally and for what the area is named. I was able to get a few pictures but my bad camera luck continued and the camera's battery died just before we reached Queen's Head so I didn't get a picture of that one. See the attached link if you are curious: http://www.taiwan.com.au/Envtra/North/Taipei/report05.html

As we walked out of the Geopark area there was an section with vendors selling mainly dried fish of different types and giving samples out. My favorite was the dried cuttlefish strips-- very good. I also tried several other fish and the octopus.

After returning to the hotel in Taipei, within a hour or so it started to rain. We hoped it would stop in time so we could check out a couple of the night markets in the area. Unfortunately, it didn't so after Gary returned from his work, we took advantage of the food & drink in the Horizon Lounge and watched one of the dvds we had purchased in Hong Kong.

May 19 (Saturday)

After a leisurely start, we caught a taxi and headed for the National Palace Museum. It is raining today so it's a nice thing that we had already planned an indoor activity. After ticket purchase of 160 NT$ ( 5 US$) each, we spent a couple of hours enjoying the varied displays. The museum is set up with the oldest items on the 3rd floor (some of the oldest items date from 6200 B.C.) and newer items on the second. The first floor contains rare books, historical documents and religious sculptural artwork.

We went to the 4th floor to the San-hsi-t'ang Teahouse for some tea and a quick lunch. It was very pleasant as there was a lady playing relaxing music on a classic Chinese string instrument called a Guzheng http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guzheng .... we headed down to the gift shop for a few purchases... and then headed over to the special exhibit from the British Museum. Unfortunately, there was a giant line to get in (plus it was raining) so we decided to pass. At that moment a couple of girls of about 12-14 years caught up with us and asked if we would mind being interviewed. As it was obviously a class assignment, Gary said ok and the group of seven or eight girls interview him on camera... asking where he was from, how he found out about the museum, his impressions, etc.

After taking a few pictures we caught a taxi to the Martyrs Shrine as we wanted some more pictures. Because it was raining, the actual changing of the guard was a little different but they still put on a good show. From there we caught another taxi back to the hotel. We weren't in much of a mood to go out for dinner so we took advantage of the snacks and drinks that were available at the Horizon Club and then caught another taxi to the famous Shilin "Tourist" Night Market..... I put the quotes there only because that is how it is identified on the map but in the hordes of people there, we didn't notice any tourists. It was probably more crowded than usual because it was a Saturday night and it appeared that many people were getting their dinner going from cart to cart. There were also many games set up in addition to sales of almost anything you could want.....it went on for many blocks in every directions and though we were there for an hour and a half, I'm sure we did not see even half of it! Amazing!

Unfortunately, our time here is over and we will leave the hotel in the morning with our flight leaving Taiwan at 10:00 a.m.(Sunday), with a three hour layover in Tokyo, we will then fly on JAL to San Francisco arriving at 10:45 a.m. on Sunday morning......