Tour of Taipei - Day Three

Yesterday morning started off with a trip to the Martyr's Shrine. The shrine memorializes Taiwan's fallen heroes of the revolutionary war against Japan. The complex is, of course, beautiful but the big draw is the changing of the guard. Just like Buckingham Palace, the guards stand motionless in full military regalia and change positions every hour. We arrived five minutes before the ceremony. There were a couple hundred tourists at the gate. We watched the soldiers march from the main building to the gate and then wandered around taking pictures. Five minutes after the ceremony we realized that we were pretty much the only ones still there!!! Short attention span the Taiwanese have! Great for taking pictures!


I'm posting a day late as after yesterday's whirlwind tour of Taiepei left us tired and ready to chill at the hotel. We've spent the morning getting the diaper bag and gifts ready for tomorrow (!!!!!!!!!!!) and catching up on news and emails from home.









Next we headed for the Chinese Performing Arts school. We don't know why but there were only about ten people in the audience - us and five or so other caucasians (one of which was some kind of diplomat judging from the black town car with Taiwanese flags on the hood, so we had front row seats.

The first show was performed by the students of the acrobatic school. All I can say is WOW!!!! Very much like Cirque du Soleil with an Asian flair. They were fantastic and Emma literally made a scene jumping up and down and yelling AWESOME!!! and COOL!! Throughout the show. She put on just as much of a show as the performers. After the show, Mr. Yeh was beaming. He threw her up in the air and then gave her high fives!!

After that we were given a behind the scenes tour of the opera. Basically every detail of the makeup and costume is meaningful and cues the audience to the characters rank in and job in society. It was intriguing and we were excited to see the opera. Once the show started, the intrigue turned to a combination of confusion and disbelief. Let's just say that the costumes and make up are really cool. The singing (think cats mating) and "music" (think five toddlers in the kitchen - four with pots and pans - one with a weird horn). My scientific observations find that 70% of caucasians plugged their ears at some point in the show. And, since I make up 10% of those that didn't, I can say that at least 10% would have done so if they weren't afraid to be rude. I only got one picture while we were there because they didn't allow photography. I played dumb & got one fired off :)




Next we were in for a treat! When we had our meeting on Sunday to schedule our week, I had asked Mr. Yeh to take us to a famous dumpling restaurant. This was before our interpreter (doorman) intervened to help us out. I was sure he hadn't understood my request so I had dropped the idea. How excited was I when we drove up to Din Tai Fung!!!! This place is very popular and waits can be as long as an hour and a half. Once again Mr. Yeh did his magic and were in within 20 minutes. This place is the BOMB!!! We've decided we are making AT LEAST one more trip there before we leave.








After our lunch we swung by the Grand Hotel. A big, palacious hotel built to host dignitaries and celebrities. In fact, it has only been in recent years that "normal" folk could stay there. There was a jewelry show there and I got a good deal on some gifts so I was pleased as punch.





Our last stop of the day was the National Palace Museum. When Taiwan split from China Taiwan got (or stole - don't know which) 99% of the art/sculpture/writings. By this point we were pretty tired so we just caught the highlights. Among them the "Mona Lisa" of the museum the Jade Cabbage and the Meat Stone. Don't ask me. No pictures allowed here so this will have to do: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Palace_Museum

We then headed home so Tami and Ralph could get ready for their big day (they should be meeting their daughter Anna right about now!!!!) On our way, Mr. Yeh handed me his cell phone. It was our contact at the adoption agency. She asked what we would like to do today since Mr. Yeh would be escorting Tami and Ralph. She said "Would you like to have Mr. Yeh's associate take you to the zoo? Or would you like to take the high speed train? Or would you like to spend the day at the hospital?" I blurted out "Did you say hospital?" She started laughing so hard she couldn't breathe! She couldn't stop and I couldn't stop. She just kept saying "I'm so embarassed!" Everyone in the van was wondering how the word hospital was so funny. When she finally caught her breath she said she meant "hotel". THAT was a good first meeting with the agency director :P

The rest of the evening was spent winding down and eating at one the restaurants in the hotel. (Who knew a jicama salad would have no jicama??) We also arranged to have the staff bring Emma a piece of cheesecake with a lit candle singing Happy Birthday. Believe it or not, they actually did a pretty good rendition despite their heavy accents :) So now Emma has celebrated her birthday - what - three times????

I'll post a brief update this evening. We're going to take a cab & try to catch some of the sights we've missed due to Emma's (and our) jet lag.

Tomorrow's the BIG day... we can't wait!!!!!!!