Leaving the Taipei Mosque I took a bus back to the metro then went north to the Confucius and Baoan Temples which are both by Yuanshan station. First was the Confucius Temple. This is a normal buddhist style temple seen all over korea or the rest of asia. It was on the flight path to the domestic airport and there was a large school party who practiced saying hello to me. The front entrance was different as they had coloured artwork placed on a mirror, and other ...

A short walk over from the Martyrs Shrine was the Grand Hotel, which is otherwise awkward to get to. I wanted to go quickly and be downtown for noontime. The hotel is on top of a cliff and I can always see it from the red line but it is the centre of two stops overlooking a river so not easy to get to. Eventually I found a staircase to go up to the main access road. This is the distinctive landmark hotel of Taipei. It is a highrise pagoda style building with red ...

This morning I had an early start as I had a lot to get thru again and with time deadlines. I left at 8 and started at the bakery again. I bought a multi grain loaf for 40 TWD ($1.25) and a honey french toast for 22 TWD (.75 cents). The first destination was the National Palace Museum. This is reached by bus from either of two metro lines. I was told my 5 day tourist pass only works on certain buses. The station and bus line the booklet suggested meant I would ha...

I was now tired of walking all morning and wanted to take it easy so thought this would be a good time to take the gondola. The gondola is the end of a subway line in the south end of the city so I could sit and ride the subway all the way there. You have to take the blue line across from downtown to the brown line, then take the brown line in the direction of Taipei Zoo which is the last stop. Also the brown line is an elevated driverless monorail so good for si...

Leaving the National Museum I walked thru a parrot market till I came to the Longshan Temple. These are elaborately decorated temples with many painted carvings and figures all across the roof. The temple was full of worshippers and overpowering with the scent of incense sticks which they held as they bowed forward in prayer gestures. There were also plates of flower petals which can be used during prayers. Then I took the metro one station over to get to the Pre...