Our day started out wonderfully with a snooze in to 10 a.m. Then we we were off to tour Taipei’s cultural hotspots: Palace Museum, Fine Arts Museum, Aboriginal Museum, etc. Only one problem: the major museums are closed on Mondays. Of course we found this out upon arrival at the first museum! Our alternate plan was to visit the restored ancient buildings near the airport. Another bust! It was closed as the park is being readied for the 2010 International Flora Show and had a construction fence encircling it. (One thinks that in any other city, the cab driver would have known about the closures! Not the case here.) Anyways Plan C was to visit the Confucius Temple and its neighbouring Buddhist Temple. You guessed it: Confucius say, he who closed Mondays, not open. However, and quite surprisingly, the Buddhist temple was going strong and we were able to visit, joining many others in hoping for continued luck in our lives and on the the world Tour. We also visited the changing of the guard ceremony at the Martyr Shrine that honours those lost in wars since and including the 11 revolution attempts to create the Republic of China (ending the last warlord dynasty) through WWII and finally to the lost to Communism afterwards. We then went for a walk through the daytime shops of downtown Taiwan and then headed over to the American Country Club for a swim and late lunch. (As Ryan would say much later in the trip, Taiwan was the best spot in Asia – influenced by the Club and its tennis, pool and ping-pong mixed with excellent food and inexpensive drinks and mostly, because Anita and James participated in all of the activities, making the stops there so memorable. Oh, and James can do a 1080 (3 rotations) off the diving board!). Later, we went for Sushi in a trendy restaurant and then moved on to the Snake Market. Wow! Live snakes, rats, animals, all mixed in with your normal market stuff of DVD videos, computer games, clothes, sandals and sports outlet stores (Nike, Adidas, Puma and others).
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