Taiwan 2.1: A return to Taiwan, a short first day

This is my first trip where it is just Miles and I.  I chose to return to Taiwan, as I had only touched the surface on my first time over.  Since Hong Kong is not too far away, we will hop on over there for the last week.

We had a 6 hour flight to San Francisco and then a 14 hour flight to Taipei.  It ended up not being too bad for me, as I slept for the entire first trip and half of the second.  We didn't arrive in Taipei until 7:00 at night.  I chose Ximending, pronounced "she-mending," because I felt that Miles would enjoy the lively atmosphere.  On our way to the hotel Miles was impressed.  It was a good way to start the trip.  We woke up at 7:00 AM the next morning and left for the day.

We had plans to meet my childhood friend Andrew, for "breakfast," but it wasn't until later in the morning, so we began by walking to nearby 2/28 Peace Memorial Park.  We walked throughout the park, stopping to see a memorial, an exercise area, and something resembling a temple.  2/28 sounded familar, so I knew it was about a massacre.  I looked it up and it took place after Japan handed over Taiwan to China following the aftermath of World War II.  While protesting the Chinese government's handling of Taiwan, people were gunned down in the thousands and it led to a period where people were disappeared during the night.  It set Taiwan down the path toward independence.  This park commemorated the incident.

Miles did some exercising while I made a phone call.



We left the park, made a right at Taipei Main Station, and continued on toward the breakfast meetup.

I remembered liking the style of Taipei Main Station during my first visit.

Once I reached the place, I looked again at the text and realized that we had arrived an hour earlier than we were supposed to, at 10 rather than 11.  I needed to pick up tickets at Taipei Main Station, but first needed the paperwork in order to pick them up, so we took the subway back to the hotel, grabbed the papers, and returned.

Andrew chose a place that would serve a traditional Chinese breakfast.  It consisted of a soy milk concoction, noodles with eggs, and a fried bread stick sandwiched in between more bread.  Miles tried the noodles without success and decided to try the fried bread.  Andrew remarked to him that it was "snake skin" and Miles immediately dropped the bread onto the tray.  I couldn't stop laughing.  He ended up liking it so much that we picked him up a second.

Andrew had other business for the day, so Miles and I took the subway toward Lungshan Temple.  First we stopped at a restored historical block, but there really wasn't much to see there.  The temple itself was pretty incredible, luckily.  Miles was immediately annoyed at all of the incense.




I loved this engraving on the wall, while Miles was repulsed:



We took the subway back to Taipei Main Station, exchanged our paperwork for tickets, and then began a walk to another area of Taipei with a small temple and an old street.  First, we walked underground through a mall to a nearby station, avoiding the traffic above ground, and then went west, leaving the underground.

The street and temple weren't that interesting, but we did come across an amazing wall mural.



We walked south back to our hotel and arrived at 4:30 PM.  I was exhausted, so I took a nap, followed by a short period being awake, and then went to bed for the night.  Miles was good, so stayed up til 10.