Week 4

Ok this is a few weeks old now but we will see how my memory goes, probably going to save to you from reading too much dribble.

Saturday morning brought some gorgeous weather, the first that we had really seen since arriving, warm and sunny yeah, this is what i was looking for.So making the most of the weather it is time to get the some culture, first stop Longshan Temple...

Longshan Temple was built in the 1700's and I think it is a Guanyin Temple. I discovered that Chinese religion gets a lot more complicated than Buddhism,and it at times seams a little unclear at times that even the locals know all the differences. Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism all interweaved with local customs and twists. Dropping to two red crescent shaped blocks to see which way they fall and determine the answer to your questions. Think 2-up, where heads = yes, tails = no and mix try again.

After a morning of checking out some of the local area, I caught up with some lovely girls - Katherine & Aegina, who are friends / work colleagues (in Taipei they are friends) of Anthony's.The girls had decided to take me to Danshui which is a port town at the mouth of the Dunshui River. It is an old port town and is famous for its Fort (Spanish Built), it sunsets and seafood! We caught the MRT, which was typically Taiwanese efficiency. However on arriving at Dunshui, it appeared that all of Taipei were celebrating the return of the sunny weather and were walking the very busy promenade up the river. We found a quiet little corner in a cafe and grabbed a coffee, and watched more and more people walk past.

The crowds got too much for us so we headed back into town, for dinner. The girls took to an amazing book shop Eslite just north of 101, I can't believe I had walked past it several times and didn't realise it was there. This place is a 6 story bookshop, with several restaurants , a small shopping centre and it is open 24hrs!!! Guess where I am heading next time either a typhoon or insomnia strikes!!! And the food is pretty good as well.

On Sunday the weather was stunning again, so after an early morning run (well I a have to do something with all that food that I have been eating.) I then jumped on the wonderfully efficientMRT (train system) and headed to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. This striking octagonal white hall with a vivid blue roof (think the colours of Greece and the architecture of China), was built in the early 80's to commemorate the life of Chiang Kai-Shek, who as a onetime dictator of Taiwan and former leader of the Kuomintang (KMT), (these are the guys that Mao threw out of China when he formed communist China ).Not surprisingly this place is viewed of by the locals in a very mixed ways, Chiang Kai-Shek is viewed by some in good light as he freed Taiwan from a harsh Japanese rule, and held off Communist China while overseeing some pretty swift economic development (this is place in the 80's that produced almost everything electronic and supplied us girls with all our hello kitty products (actually it still does) but his own rule was well it wasn't democratic...

The Memorial Hall is massive, the gates make for a dramatic view of the hall and two each side of the large central courtyard is the National Theatre and National Concert Hall, all surrounded by some pretty lovely gardens.

Now I have more food stories, but that might need to wait for the next update...