I took a photo of the wing of the plane as we were waiting to take off to Taiwan. We were surprised at our hotel with the news that we all got to have our own rooms! This was great news for pratically everyone (accept for Dyllis who was looking forward to rooming with Robin) as we were all just exhausted. I was sooo happy, I cannot tell you how grateful I am for us getting private rooms for our whole stay in Taiwan..WONDERFUL! We saw the changing of the guard at The Martyr's Shrine and I believe this is known as the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial. I learned he is also known as "Jiang Jieshi" is Mandarin. Also, that his portrait hung over the gates of The Forbidden City before it was replaced by Mao's portrait. Jiang Jieshi was known to walk around town in simple, plain white clothing and was a very down to earth guy who valued Chinese Culture. I will add more about our other visits on this day later.

I was surprised to see a dinosaur exhibit at the memorial! I think I was expecting the entire place to be a tribute to CKS, so having a Dali exhibit there was also a little weird at first. I was sad that the Dali exhibit had closed for the day, but I spent some time with Aileen looking at an exhibit on upcoming operas. It appeared The Monkey King was on the slate for the season.

The upcoming operas for some reason made me think of the dramas I used to go to at the Buddhist Temple each year when I lived in San Francisco. I remember the plays each year continued a cycle of stories about a character named Peony. There were beautiful costumes and lots of pageantry. I think I would have liked to stick around to see Chinese legend operas.

We were able to see two different – but equally impressive – versions of the changing of the guard. One was at the outside memorial (the one that looked like a traditional temple), and the other was inside the memorial hall.

In the memorial hall, the top floor was the massive, somber statue. It was a good place to reflect on Taiwan’s history. Downstairs, however, was a strange mix of exhibits – from Dali to dinosaurs. Considering that the “life of…” exhibit is now out of living memory for many people, I suppose that’s an effective way to bring in new, younger visitors. A few children scrambled through the "life of..." section, trying to find the stamp pads to mark their visitors' brochures. In this spot, the people watching became as interesting as the historic site itself.
edited by alevel on 9/25/2013
edited by alevel on 9/25/2013