Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall
Entry Gate of the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall
Interesting facts about Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall
Big tourist attraction - a lot of folks on the grounds
Statue of President Chiang
Interesting Taipei Zoo Sign
Maokong Gondola
Passing over a lush, green forest
Busy streets at top of mountain
One of the many tea houses at the peak
A hazy view of Taipei 101 building in late afternoon
I rode back in a glass-bottom gondola - really neat
My hotel - Cosmos Hotel Taipei
Street view right out the door of my hotel
I started the day at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. This is a national monument erected in memory of Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China. The Memorial Hall is white with 4 sides. The roof is blue and octagonal, a shape that picks up the symbolism of the number 8, a number traditionally associated in Asia with abundance and good fortune. Two sets of stairs, each with 89 steps to represent Chiang's age at the time of his death, lead to the main entrance. The ground level of the memorial houses a library and museum. The upper level contains the main hall, in which a large statue of Chiang Kai-shek is located. The monument reminds me of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.
After a couple hours walking the grounds and sweating through my T-shirt (high heat indexes today), I decided to go to a new area in the city and take a gondola ride. I took the metro to the Taipei Zoo. A short walking distance from the zoo was the Maokong Gondola. This was pretty cool. The gondola ride was 30 minutes to the top of the mountain. It passed over a green, lush forest. It was impressive to see the sites. At the top, a number of shops and restaurants were located. It's a great place to stop for a drink and take in the views. The skies were a bit hazy today - but you could still see the dominance of the Taipei 101 building standing tall in the background.
I did more walking around the city areas and just taking it all in. I was much more efficient today with my metro stops. The city really is easy to get around. Just don't eat/drink on the metro or anywhere near the metro. I was eating a handful of cashews while waiting at the metro stop for the next train. One of the security folks rushed over to me. He put his arms in the form of a cross - and said something while pointing to my cashews. I need to be careful on this front -- after this incident, I've been noticing signs indicating that you could get as high as a 5K fine for eating on metros. I guess I was lucky to get the warning.
A few other interesting things abut Taiwan. Taiwan has the lowest birthrate in the world. Garbage trucks play music (kind of like the ice cream truck - to let people know to bring out the garbage), it's roughly the size of Belgium, and Wi-Fi is everywhere (I noticed this when I was able to get on Wi-Fi while waiting to go to the observation deck of Taipei 101 -- the city government of Taipei recently declared that everyone should have access to the internet in any public spaces - Wi-Fi has been
introduced throughout the city).
Back to the hotel around 8pm. Getting organized tonight. Tomorrow I fly to the Philippines for the weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment