Taiwan - Day 1

Etsuko and I are on a 5 day vacation to Taiwan. We're mostly visiting places around Taipei.

Since our flight to Taiwan left really early in the morning our holiday actually started last night as we slept at Hanada airport. There weren't enough trains in the early morning to allow us enough time to check in before our flight leaves. I got a good sleep but Etsuko didn't.

Flying out of Japan we got a good look at Mt Fuji in the early morning sun.



Mt Fuji from 30,000 feet



We arrived in Taiwan to what the locals called a very cold day but comapred to Tokyo 10 degrees C was a warm and welcome change.

Without much of a plan we just wandered the streets near our hotel. One thing that becomes very obvious very quickly is just how popular scooters are here. In Japan these would all be bicycles.




Scooters, Taipei - Taiwan



We soon found ourselves at Xing Tain Temple. I'm not sure what they were all lined up for but we just walked on in. I think they wanted candles or incense.





Xing Tain Temple, Taipei – Taiwan



Main gate Xing Tain



Later that day we found ourselves at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. Those who know their Chinese history will know he lost the civil war with the Chinese Communist Party in 1948 and retreated to Taiwan taking most of China's art treasures with him.




Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall



Statue of Chiang Kai-shek himself



Taiwanese Honour Guard,

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

In the late afternoon, the sun broke through the clouds, showering the National Concert Hall with what photographers call sweet light.



National Concert Hall, Taipei - Taiwan

 

After that we headed back to our hotel stopping along the way for some dinner. One surprising thing I found in Taiwan is that most older Taiwanese speak good Japanese. I never really used English in Taiwan. When I needed to communicate with the locals I spoke Japanese to them.