Taipei was great. I was very happy to see palm trees lining the streets as there is a severe lack of trees going on in this city, unless you're at a park. Did lots of exploring and wandering around the city and seeing family. The subway and bus system was pretty simple even with my absence of Chinese skills and their tourist guidebooks are good. Through pointing and a calculator, I managed to go shopping very well (of course, I'm sure I could do that in any country). At one of the night markets, I found myself following a lady who offered Louis Vuitton bags to her "warehouse" which involved going down an alley or two, up some stairs, and finally entering this room with wall to wall LV. If only it wasn't so expensive, it would've been great. Came home with enough VCDs to keep me busy for a considerable amount of time. Tip: go on a rainy day when there aren't many other customers, then prices drop like Montreal winter temperatures!
The weather was kinda crappy the first and last days, but I still saw lots - Temples, of course, and memorials and we spent a day at Yehliou, which is this beach with volcanic rock formations "said to have been carved by the Sea God." Ended the week with a visit to a restaurant up in the mountains, where we couldn't read the menu, so we ended up ordering some things that we might not have ordered had we known what we were ordering. On the way back though, we accidently made a wrong turn and in the process of backing down, managed to slip off the road a little and the car starts leaning. Yay for rainstorms and slippery mountain roads. But thanks to a few carfuls of people, we pushed the car back as Dad maneuvered. Not quite the way the night had been planned. But all is okay and I made it back in one piece. If you ever fly Cathay Pacific, eat BEFORE you get on the plane. Their meal fare leaves something to be desired and you kinda regret eating it after. Good dessert though, and that's important. Overall an excellent trip, more pictures on the way when I get the rest of them developed! Sorry I'm only in one - that's what happens when you go exploring on your own.
Pictures from Taipei
(a)
(b) 
(c) 
(d) 
(e) 
(f) 
(g) 
(h) 
(i)
(j) 
(k) 
(l) 
(m) 
(a) Me in the rocks at Yehliou - they're all at least a foot taller than me, to give you some idea of how big they are
(b) This looks like I stopped off on another planet. It's one of the rocks there, listed on the postcards as the "Crescent Moon"
(c) The most famous of all the rocks: The Queen. It's image is on buildings and stuff all over the town
(d) The entrance to Lungshan Temple. There had to be at least one temple picture up here - it's Asia
(e) Ok, even though the picture didn't turn out the way I wanted to, it was great because this guy's hat said "Public Enemy No. 1" on it. He looks intimidating...right.
(f) The inner shrine at Lungshan Temple
(g) Outside of the temple, next to the street, is this big waterfall. Not what you'd expect in the middle of the city!
(h) The greeting at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. They don't even say this at temples! But he's so important, there are strict rules at the place
(i) The Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. It's MASSIVE. I think I was standing about a hundred feet away in order to make it fit into one picture
(j) The inside of the dome in the memorial - the sun from Taiwan's flag
(k) I happened to come for the changing of the guards. They have just flipped their guns around with one hand and then are tossing them back and forth to each other, using only one hand. There is also a bayonet at the end of the guns, makes me nervous thinking about it!
(l) Some of Madame Chiang's painting
(m) The entrance to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall. And then I got spoken to for taking pictures so I had to put my camera away
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