National Palace Museum 国立故宫博物院

Sweet morning rise and shine! Morning in Taipei was super refreshing. Maybe that's because we're in vacation mood but the air is clean, and by 7am the sun is high up and people are getting busy. So did we and after breakfast, we headed to the first stop for the day: National Palace Museum.

The real Chinese spirit begins. The architectural style of the museum was Chinese palace and it was built to house the treasures of the ancient dynasties of China. We're not going to elaborate on how the treasures got here because you can read that from the link attached. But what we're going to share with you is the tour experience.

The museum is a very popular attraction in Taiwan and it expects millions of visitors especially during peak periods thus it is designed in a way very different from museums you see in Singapore. They have a huge foyer at the entrance of the museum where many many groups of tours wait for their guides to get them ready. The foyer has a very grand look with a statue of the Father. The Father we mention here does not belong to the religion but the Father of the country, or the founder, first president Mr Sun Yat-Sen. Similar to how we respect our country by singing the national anthem every morning while we were students, the Taiwanese expresses their love and respect for their founder generously. A Chinese idiom says that we should 饮水思源 which means we should remember where our roots begin. Stepping in Taiwan gave us a magnifying glance to how people can exhibit patriotism. The example we saw in the foyer was just a formal expression.

Unfortunately, for the exhibits that we saw inside the museum, we're unable to take pictures of them. But it was pretty inspiring art as we saw how the ancient artists in the past utilizes the luxury of time to create masterpieces, each carry a story of their own. When we describe a piece as crafty, not only does it refer to the skills and aesthetics is displays, but also the little scheming mind of the craftsmen as during their time, most of the pieces were done to please the emperor and in order to impress the emperor who has seen many extraordinary objects in his life, they had to come out with the "extraterrestrial".

Some must see pieces with mind-blowing stories are:
Jadeite Cabbage with Insects
Handled Ivory Openwork Container
Carved Olive-stone Boat
Link: http://www.npm.gov.tw/en/collection/selections_01.htm


Each display section is carefully designed to enhance the exhibits like for example, strategic lightings were made for the jade and ivory artifacts to showcase their translucent traits. And for the paintings that were horizontally-challenged, it was showcased with the support of digital screens to magnify and animate what's 2D and motionless. This made the whole journey come to life and demolishes the traditional thinking that museum exhibits could be lifeless and boring. It is no wonder why Taiwanese have a fondness of exploring the arts and cultures about almost everything!

Taiwan also has a very special culture when it comes to touring. More prominent for locals than for foreigners, this culture requires one to collect stamps as proof of having visited a place/event so to keep as souvenir or collection hobby. Some Taiwanese have this habit of bringing a personal notebook with them everywhere they go so that whenever they come to a stamping opportunity, they can never miss it. (Picture: Our very first stamp in Taiwan on a fresh white page >.<)


The following is a video taken at an open area within the site. The "100" you see mid-way through the video was actually a installation to celebrate the 100th year of centennial of the Republic of China. The place we were standing on was a common area for visitors to take pictures of the exterior of the museum along with the bonus of the superb background mountains.





Link to the National Palace Museum: http://www.npm.gov.tw/en/home.htm

Thamsui Old Street 淡水老街

When the night has come~ When the land is dark~
Just as long, as you stand, in Taipei~
You'll be fed.

Just kidding. What I meant is when you're in Taipei, the night is forever young. Unlike the western countries, though the sun is down, people still work! Our friendly hardworking Taiwanese aunties and uncles line up along the streets with their tuckshops and store outlets selling Taiwan delicacies like Guan Dong Zhu 关东煮 and vacum sealed Tie Dan 铁蛋. These are just some must-tries when you go to Taiwan.

We spent most our time there buying prepaid cards for our mobiles since it was our very first night so we didn't get to try much of the food but the experience was great. It's different from how people squeeze pass one another during the day while trying to rush to work, different from how people gather at a place to celebrate an event (i.e. Chinatown during the Chinese New Year) but it feels like people coming together to feel the atmosphere of hospitality potential from humanity. Maybe it's a Chinese thing, we like to get together and get "heated up". It's a kind of 热血精神 to be enthusiastic and warm-blooded when it comes to bonding together.

There, we had our first bubble tea from a simple shop and it turned out to be better than anything I've ever tried in Singapore! The Q-ness of the pearls were just right and the texture of the milk tea was excellent! Even the pudding was so smooth it "swims" down your throat! Love it!

Lovey Dovey @ 情人大桥

A short hour away from the airport later, we had a huge dinner at a simple family restaurant and headed to the infamous Couple Bridge at the Thamsui Fisherman Wharf 淡水渔人码头. The night was breezy and you could see city lights on the two sides of the bridge with good acoustic music playing in the background~~~

There is a legend to this bridge that if a couple, each take a stand at the two sides of the bridge, close their eyes and begin to walk towards their opposite side, and reaches his/her partner on the bridge, their love will last a lifetime. Well, while we were there, we don't see any couples doing that but that's probably because that place was flooded by so many couples! Not only that, there were also families who brought along the young and the old and gathered around the place to enjoy the night view and breeze.

The walking surface of the bridge was covered in old-school small little square tiles which is seen commonly across the architectures and buildings of Taipei but it is the lighting that gave the bridge all the plus points.One side of the bridge was actually pretty similar to Singapore's Clarke Quay where there were seafood houses and pubs. Along the river, there were boats playing music and carrying tourists for a sweet off-land experience.

Walking around, I saw some street artists who simply set up a little corner with a chair and some drawings and begin making business by offering to draw portraits of tourists. It's kind of romantic because it reminds you of how couples in dramas visit sensual places like this and brings home a piece of drawing that embodies the memory of that day.

Airport Under Construction

It was a pity that when we reached the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, it was under construction. Mostly what we see were dimmed yellowish fluorescent lights and white dashboards.

Once we came out from the gate, all you see are paper signs pasted on construction boards to direct you to the check out station. Its a very different feel. You don't get to overwhelm yourself with the sense that you're foreign land. But once you get out of the airport and you see the outdoors, the first word I can think of Taiwan is "History".

You really get a big shout out at you that Taiwan is many many years older than Singapore and now Singapore just seems like a little baby. Taiwan being the Grandpa. The airport is located out of town so during our journey to our hotel, all we see were untidy fields with tall weeds trying to grow out of boundaries, houses far apart from one another that looks like the kind you can imagine when your parents share kampong stories to you. Well, besides the fact that they're not built from straws but bricks and cement.

To visit the website of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, here's the link:
http://www.taoyuan-airport.com/english/Publish.jsp?cnid=100150

Hong Kong International Airport

So we had to transfer plane at Hong Kong. With only a half-hour interval, we tried to walk around the transit. It's a pity we can't get to see the trademark ceiling of the airport. Yes, I mean the typical scene in Hong Kong dramas. But nevertheless, the airport was a great place.

First off, the symbols you see around the airport are very much different as the ones you see in Singapore. Look at the exit sign in the picture above, left side, green. "He" is running away from what appears to be fire. Maybe that's the Hong Kong people's way of differentiating the Exit-Man from the Green-Man you see on traffic lights but I'd like to throw in a little cheeky question: "So where is the exit for flood if its not an exit for fire?"

Anyways, moving on to facilities. Since our transfer flight was a short period away, we didn't get to use much facilities around the airport. The toilets were pretty small considering there only two cubicles from the one I entered(which was right beside the gate upon arrival). Then there were some really sweet and useful facilities too. there were computer stations near every departure gate so it was my very first time trying to use universal keyboard and mouse. Thanks to that, I got the chance to pop by my Facebook for a short status update.

One cultural shock for me was the presence of a smoking area within the transit. More like a smoking cabin with an average of 10 adults choking in. No offence to smokers but I hardly imagine it possible to survive through a 5 min smoke break when the inside is almost like the scene of a fire outbreak. The "cabin" was located beside the moving sidewalks and there were more than one so every time we passed by one "cabin" I can feel my lungs squealing inside me. The doors don't even have to be open!

Maybe I was being over-reacting but besides my unpleasant experience on the moving sidewalks, the airport was a lovely place! The announcements made for departing planes come in so many different languages that I forgotten how many there were. English, Cantonese, Japanese...Mandarin? So part of the joy in the airport for me was to try speaking Cantonese after we all got Cantonese poisoned into our brains by the repeating announcement calls for departure.

With that, off we went to Taipei. Finally!
Link to Hong Kong International Airport: http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/index.html

In the Beginning

It all started when our lecturers introduced a travel trip to Taiwan as an option for our year-end break. After we got enough students to sign up, we packed our luggage and we're all set and ready to go for the 6-Day Taiwan experience.

This picture was taken before we had to turn off all electronic devices on the airplane. It was a drizzling morning but as soon as we reached the sky, all you could see were bright white clouds. So with a happy spirit, Au Revoir Singapore!

Well, this plane wasn't going to bring us straight to Taiwan. Our journey takes a break at the Hong Kong International Airport... ...