Taipei, Shanghai, Zurich Day 3 – Site Seeing

“Taiwan is the bastard rape child of China and Japan.”

On Saturday I was up very early and worked online until my daughter woke up around 9:30.  I walked over to pick her up and saw her apartment, where she lives with four other students, including their Italian landlord.

 

 

We went out for breakfast at the “Dante Coffee” restaurant that serves Western style brunch and coffee.  I had eggs and salad; Elisheva ate carbs.

 

 

 

Then we headed towards the tourist attractions down town, including

• the Taiwan city hall,
• the convention center,
• Sun Yat-Sen memorial,
• Taipai-101 building, and
• The parks / gardens

Rain from the typhoon was quite heavy all day long but at the same time it was warm and muggy so I was constantly putting on and taking off my rain poncho.  Elisheva and the locals carry big umbrellas.  We took the subway, which was quite crowded in the afternoon but was relatively light on commuters in the morning as we set out.

There is a nice mall below the Sun Yat-Sen memorial complex where we went shopping to avoid the rain and walk indoors.

 

The shops had very interesting wares that reflect the tastes, sensibilities, and culture of the locals.  There are many Japanese elements and influences in the fashion and culture.  There are also, of course, mainland Chinese themes.  And Taiwan maintains its unique elements of Western (Dutch/European/US) culture as well.  The mixture of cultures, moirés, customs, attitudes, art, style, fashion is fascinating.  I am very happy I came.

 

They had cool golf-umbrellas that have Japanese Katana handles and I was very tempted to get the “Tanto” style (smaller) one; however they are expensive and poor quality so I decided to order one online instead.

 

Eventually we left the mall and went to the Sun Yat-Sen memorial and gardens.  We walked the grounds outside first since it was not raining as badly, then went inside to see the exhibits.

More pictures here.

Then we headed over to the the Taiwan-101 tower, which was the tallest building in the world in 1985 and had the fastest elevator in the world until recently.

We took the tour, which is disappointing because they hype, market, and hard-sell to the tourists so much.  But the views were pretty good.  See photos here.

Then we had a “hot pot” (spicy!) big vegan lunch, after which we strolled around a little and then headed home.

Next up: Dinner and the Taipei night life.