Around fifteen minutes later we arrived at the Royal Palace Museum. This museum holds all the artefacts brought to Taiwan from the Forbidden City in Beijing, China.
The tour of the museum was really nice but because it was Saturday and really busy, we were rushed through some of the exhibitions. The best part of the tour for me was the calligraphy and the carved ornaments made from jade and ivory, the design was so intricate and it was very fascinating how they achieved the finished item. Outside the museum, it was time to take some photographs and each group from each country were given their national flag and posed for the picture.
The next stop was lunch at an amazing Taiwanese hotpot restaurant. Taiwanese hotpot is an individual pot in which you chose your own ingredients and it all arrives in a soup and the rice is unlimited. There are several dips you can chose from or you can customise your dip by mixing sauces together.
After lunch it was onwards to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, which is an open area with four buildings, the main gate, a library, a museum and the memorial hall. At the memorial hall you walk up 89 steps (to represent Chiang Kai-Sheks’ age when he died) to the main hall where there is a statue with a guard mounting ceremony at regular intervals.
The new group of friends hung around and relaxed, took pictures and left to go to Longshan Temple, a Buddhist Temple in the city which is a place where you go to pray to the gods to ask for help. When we were there, we witnessed a ceremony to mark the end of the Ghost Festival. A beautiful ceremony where the entire group of people chant until the Buddhist Monk decides it is time to stop.
On the way to Taipei 101 we made a stop to try some shaved ice with Mango and milk. A very refreshing taste, which makes you want more and more.
We arrived at Taipei 101 and I must say that it is quite a spectacle. You come straight out of the MRT Station at the foot of the building to witness its architectural glory. When we arrived at the viewing gallery, the sun was about to set so we had a great view of the city with the sunset. Taipei 101 has many special features, for example, the fastest elevator in the world, taking only 30 seconds to get to the viewing gallery.
That was the end of the tour and finally dinnertime. It was a really good insight to the city. Thank you Kevin and the VOIS team. It was a fantastic day and I would like to see more if the VOIS team arranged it.