No illness is good illness - Taipei, Take 2

I was planning on writing a new post yesterday about our second day in Taipei, but I was just too weak. I have to admit it: I'm pretty sick. I think this is the first time I have been really ill at the beginning of a trip, but I am really not doing very well. Despite promptly removing the moth balls from our hostel room and not cranking the AC (it is the wall AC/heater unit-type we use in Japan that can dry out your throat), the room we were staying in didn't have great circulation and I think it made things worse. I'm going to see a doctor in India tomorrow, but for now, it literally just feels like I am allergic to... everything. Is it possible to be allergic to a country?

Before I tell you everything that we have been doing, however, let me assure you I've been taking care to sit down when I can and we cut out plans to see the National Palace Museum yesterday (which is a bummer because it's the largest collection of Chinese art in the world and supposed to be pretty good) to go back to the hostel and nap for a while.

The Tastes

My friend Hong left at 4am to catch her flight to India (we're doing the same tomorrow), but Kel and I still hung out with the guy we had met the day before, JJ. He is from the US but living in Korea, and our bunkmate from the hostel, Will, also chose to come with. Super nice guys.

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We all stayed in bed pretty late, but decided to grab breakfast together on the way to Longshau Temple. Breakfast ended up being random food from a bazaar we passed through, but if you ask me, it was better. I sort of feel bad for Kelly because I cannot help but ooze excitement for a lot of the things I discovered on my previous trips to mainland China, but haven't seen for a while, like real dumplings (they're a little different in Japan and America - and don't come in a plastic bag with chopsticks and sauce poured over them) or a hunk meat that you just tear apart with your fingers (also comes in a plastic bag).

The Sights

Longshau Temple was beautiful, but we were apparently a day late for a big Buddhist festival that had come the day before. The temple is large and colorful. When you walk in, there is a big waterful to the right and in the next inner-square, the main temple area, are tables and tables of offerings, anything from fruit to fancy candies and homemade meals. In the back of the temple are pillars of candles that hold the names of worshippers who have made donations to the temple. Another back corner houses an area where women can pray for love and marriage. Towards the front of the temple, I saw one woman talking out loud with her eyes closed, her hands firmly grasping two stones. She would then throw the stones, look at them, pick them up and then do it all again. I watched her do it three times before Will told me she was asking her ancestors for help and advice. Based on how the stone fall (flat or round side up), she would get an answer (sort of like a one-way telephone from the heavens). It reminded me of a Magic Eight Ball, but I watched the woman for a while, wondering what important matters she was tending to... she looked pretty focused.

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After the temple, we watched a fountain show that a random police officer in street clothes told us about then hopped a subway (again, the MRT ROCKS) to see the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (中正紀念堂), recently renamed the "National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall." The main building is very grandious in it's own rite, but it is sort of showcased by the National Theatre Hall and National Concert Hall on either side of the main enterance (through a large gate, of course), both of which were under construction and flanked with scaffolding. The grounds around the Memorial Hall are nice (with an open space a lot like the Red Square in Beijing). It was much too late in the day to for us to witness martial arts, but we played around for a while, making friends with the small children chasing bubbles and frisbees and temporarily being shutterbugs (funny how many jumping photos one needs to take to get four people in the air!).

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With half a day left before us, we headed over to the Taipei Confucious Temple. I honesly don't know that I've been in a Confucious temple before, but most of the structure was under scaffolding (again!), so I don't know that I can say I've seen much even now. One cool thing I learned, however, is that the doors on all Confucious temples have elevated bottom sections that you have to step over. Sort of like a little step at the bottom of the door. That way, you are always in a slight bowing position when you walk in (bending over), and thus all visitors automatically enter in a position of respect. Hmm... how clever.

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After the temple, we walked through the Zhongshan Park and wanted to check out this famous hot-pot place overlooking the arts park (if Lonley Planet says it's good, I'll usually try it), but the place we wanted was closed, so we hit up a random little diner before heading back to the hotel for a nap.
Back In Action

After a few hours rest, we headed out again, this time back to a place we'd already been: Taipei 101.... currently the world's tallest building! The tower had been closed the day before, so it was exciting to actually go up it this time. It was also fun to explore the area around the bottom of the temple, which included a lantern display and a lit-up exhibition of figures going through the story of the bible (at first I thought it was just the Passion, but they really tried to cover it all... even added a fake little church at the end).

The Taipei 101 is actually known as the Taipei International Financial Center, although nobody calls it by it's actual name. You enter the 101-floor skyscraper, currently the tallest building in the world, through the 5th floor of an attached shopping mall. When I first saw the tower, lit up on our first night, it reminded me of something out of Gothem. It's actually very beautiful and I guess it was designed to resemble bamboo rising from the earth (symbolic for it's fast growth and flexibility). The lines for the tower weren't bad, and as soon as you take the world's fastest elevators to the top, you come out in an open, reception/lounge-type area. The layout viewing deck of the tower really reminded me of the other great towers I have seen, especially the Pearl Tower in Shanghai and the Seoul Tower in Korea (The Eiffel and Tokyo tower were maybe a bit different) and, as expected, the windows were labeled with what directions (N/S/E/W) you were looking at and what the scenes were below. I have observed that Asian cities take great pride in their "night scenes" (for good reason in most cases - Hong Kong from Victoria Peak is spectacular!) and I think this city probably lived up to it's name. The deck was also dotted with small shops. I sent a postcard home and JJ bought a certificate saying he had visited the world's tallest building. We had the option of going to an outdoor balcony, too, which JJ did, but it was cold and I didn't think it was the best idea with my health situation. I saw the video JJ took, though... the wind was deafening!

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After a little while at the tower, we decided to descend. I took the opportunity to visit the mall's Mango (a European clothing store I used to like in Oslo, but haven't seen in a while) and food court for a bite to eat. We were going to check out some of the night markets (the biggest was ironically across from Modern Toilet), but weren't too impressed with the selection and unwillingness of the vendors to bargain, so we just did walk through before heading back to the hostel... and to bed.
We're On Our Way to India

So yeah, fun-filled, adventure-packed day. I have to cut this short since Kel and I are hopping an early flight (literally... we have to leave at 4:30am!), but I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be able to get some good meds in India and kick whatever illness I have. We might have another night in Taipei on the way back to Japan (if we don't spend the night at/near the airport), but even without it, I am definately glad we stopped and think we got a good introduction to this multi-cultural and interesting place. The south of the island looks beautiful, so if I ever come back, it'll probably be to see another face of Taiwan.