Wandering Taiwan...

 

good afternoon!

 

how has your day been so far?

 

mine's been good...i've just got home from a whole morning of coffeeing with friends

and then lunching with friends too.

isn't it amazing that good company just fills up those empty corners of your soul

and life feels full of goodness again!

 

i've been wandering amongst my holiday snaps again too

&

this week we're off to the 'national palace museum' in taipei.

 

 

 

i couldn't take photos inside the museum...

probably not even inside the cafe there, but i did.

the main exhibition there at the time was made up of chinese artifacts

that had been taken out of china during a revolution and stored in taiwan.

it was fascinating as some of these items were three thousand years old and more.

 

 

 

to me there was a distinct likeness to artifacts i've seen in books from the incas of south america,

other pieces looked as though they had influences from the south pacific...

well probably it was the other way around,

the south pacific islanders were influenced by the chinese!

have a look at the designs under the eaves on this building,
think they look very similar to a south pacific style...

 

 

 

other exhibits, including the totem pole on the front lawn seemed to have an american indian feel in the design.

 

 

i was surprised at the amount of space and bush around taipei...
in my ignorance i had thought it was a vast concrete jungle,
but there was pristine bush clad hills all over the country
and beautiful gardens everywhere around taipei.

 

 on a different day we took a gondola ride up and down some of the hills around taipei,
it ended up in a tea growing area where we had something to eat and a drink
before coming back again...
if it was earlier and warmer it would have been wonderful to stop off at the zoo there as well,
but it was winter and the day was closing in on us.

mid way through looking at the exhibits
we stopped for lunch...

in the background you can see the neatly wrapped sandwiches.
the cakes were beautifully presented and delicious.
for the two of us...and including an extra set of sandwiches each,
it worked out at about $15..very inexpensive by australian standards.

by the time we left at about 5pm, most of the crowd was leaving too.
the huge front foyer was crowded and tour buses, brightly painted in lime, purple, red and blue, with lacy curtains and fanciful stickers on the windows...even 'hello kitty' themed,
 lined up along the kerb outside.
the buses only stopped for a few minutes while japanese, chinese and taiwanese tourists got on
and then left.
more than a hundred would have pulled up one by one as we waited for my son to pick us up.

next time
i think we'll visit sun moon lake!


naturally Carol xox


p.s...don't forget to visit 'christina lowry designs'  to sign up this week for the christmas ornament swap.