The Day That Wouldn't End

We touched down in Taipei at 5:30, breezed through customs and soon all six of us were in a van headed toward the San Want Hotel in the Da’an District, our home for the next 4 nights. The hotel is 2 blocks from Tracy's parents apartment and we were to be guests at their place for dinner that evening. 

Our Hotel, Sun Want Hotel

Peter wisely booked one room the night before our arrival so we were able to hang out with Tracy's parents, relax and wash up before heading out for breakfast and a busy day sightseeing. We had our first Taiwanese food experience at breakfast. We went to a great, old cafe across the street from Tracy's elementary school. We each had a bowl of hot soy milk, and shared the other dishes; a sliced omelet, dumplings and many other dishes I couldn't name. It was a great experience and it felt very exotic!

Next, we walked around the school to the National Dr Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.

Dr Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

This is a large building with a great entrance hall and museum dedicated to the father of Taiwan. Surrounding the Hall are many acres of gardens. This is a popular tourist destination for Chinese tourists and the buses stop each hour to drop off visitors to view the changing of the guard inside the hall. The guard changing ceremony is very elaborate and unique with many slow, deliberate movements. It last for 15 minutes and I can't imagine memorizing and performing such an elaborate ceremony. Very interesting.

Something about this statue of Sun Yat-sen looks familiar....(I'm thinking of you, Abe Lincoln Memorial)

(From there, we took a walk around the neighborhood and wound up at a great department store where we took a break and had some coffees. The store had a huge book section which was neat. Apparently it's a popular destination with the Chinese visitors, who are able to pick up books they don't otherwise see. They also has a cool electronics section with phones unlike anything we're seeing at home.

By this time we were exhausted, so we dragged ourselves back to the hotel where we were finally able to check into our individual rooms. Nap time commenced. At 6pm we took a brief walk to Tracy's family home for a wonderful dinner. Tracy's brother and fiancée are also in town from Boston for the wedding celebration. 

Paul and Pearl are lovely people and great and generous hosts. They fed us well with great Chinese dishes including, ribs, sweet and sour pork, broccoli, sweet cucumbers, dumplings, bean curd, beef and more. Paul likes the men to drink scotch. I'm not much of a scotch drinker but there was no getting out of it. Oh, and he enjoys pouring scotch as well... Suffice it to say, we had a wonderful time. Just past 9:00 we had to excuse ourselves and head back to the hotel. The travel experience was really taking its tole. Once back in our room, Diane and I pretty much collapsed into a much needed deep sleep. Of course, time change being what it is, I was up around 6am Thursday morning. And then we began our second day...