Taipei part 1

I have to admit, my first impressions of Taipei were not exactly positive. First, I was cranky after not getting enough sleep on the trans-Pacific flight, thanks to several babies who seemed to cry sequentially and twinging teeth (more about that later). Second, I was kind of nervous about meeting at least two sets of relatives I had never seen before (or at least not in the past decade), although thankfully Aunt Karen and Uncle Peter would be there to help me keep the family tree straight. Third, I was dismayed to be landing in the middle of a driving rain, knowing full well that I did not have an umbrella or even anything with a hood.

Things got a little better in the waiting area, where I met Aunt Karen/Uncle Peter, and this made me laugh out loud:

Persimmon-head?

First stop was the Howard Plaza, where Aunt Karen and Uncle Peter were staying, so I could drop off my luggage temporarily in their room. We went out for breakfast at a place proclaiming itself to be the "Soy Milk King" (豆 將 大 王), which lived up to its name with fresh, warm, lightly sweetened milk that went well with my sesame bun/fried dough stick (燒 餅 油 條). We then visited the primary school that all three Lin siblings had attended, which was now over 100 years old (they had an anniversary celebration last year).

Breakfast =D

The front entrance of the primary school

Class was in session so we couldn't look around inside, but Aunt Karen told me that some of her former teachers were still alive, albeit retired, which is pretty impressive. We walked around the outside of the complex, which was quite large considering how crowded Taipei is, with enough room in the middle for basketball courts, playgrounds, and other common areas for recess/gym class.

Next stop was Dad's old secondary school, conveniently just a few blocks away from the Howard Plaza. We accidentally went to the back entrance first, but the rotating gate was chained shut, so we had to walk back around the block to the front. Back in the day, the school was one of the best in Taipei, especially because of its association with National Taiwan University (Taida), but it was for boys only. I don't know how highly-ranked the school is now, but it's gone co-ed, and it was another massive complex with multiple courtyards, basketball courts, a small track and soccer field, etc.

What seemed to be the main courtyard - the topiary on both sides spell out HSNU, presumably an acronym for High School of National University or something like that

After a brief trip to move my luggage to my hostel (The Cat's Pajamas), we headed for the National Palace Museum, one of the must-see places in Taipei. Simply put, this museum has one of the most extensive collections of Chinese art and artifacts, with less than 10% of the collection usually on display. One of the curators estimated that it would take 12 years for someone to see everything! In particular, we wanted to see a special exhibit on the Yongzheng Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, which discussed his 13-year reign but also his important influence on the fine arts at the time, as he was a great patron of painting, calligraphy, and fine ceramics. Unfortunately, the museum completely forbids photos of anything, so the advertisement below was the best I could do:

Walking up toward the museum

Poster for the special exhibit

We left as the museum was closing down around 5:30...since we hadn't eaten a proper lunch, we stopped by the Shilin (士 林) Night Market to browse the famous Taiwanese snack stalls. Aunt Karen and I sampled what might be considered the Taiwanese version of a burrito: meat, cooked veggies, chopped peanuts, hot sauce, and various other things wrapped in a thin tortilla. Aunt Karen also briefly contemplated getting stinky tofu (you could smell that cart from at least 20 feet away), but opted against it because the smallest serving size was twelve pieces and she only wanted to try one or two.

Makings of Taiwanese "burritos"

*holds nose*

By now, I was really jetlag-tired, so we split up and headed back to our separate accommodations. I hung out in the common area for a while chatting to other travelers staying at the Cat's Pajamas, and now I'm going to sleep!