Taiwan—Taipei 2016-10-26

It is last two days for me in Taiwan.  Today was a family day.

I went to Lotung (羅東) to meet my uncle and aunts.  The quickest way from Taipei to Lotung is by bus.  However, I wanted to check out the Jimi Square (幾米公園) at Yilan Train Station (宜蘭火車站).  Jimi Square is a cute child-like theme park. Thus, I took train.

After visited Jimi Park, I took local slow train from Yilan to Lotung.  The weather today was beautiful, and the view from the train was amazing beautiful.  Oh, I forgot to mention that the windows of the local slow train were much cleaner than the high speed train.

Taiwan—Taipei 2016-10-25

Today was a national holiday, Taiwan Retrocession Day (臺灣光復節).

The restoration of Taiwan took place on Oct. 25, 1945 in accordance with the war aim of the Allied powers against Japan in the Cairo Declaration of 1943, which was confirmed by the Potsdam Declaration of 1945.

I decided to go to The National Palace Museum (故宮博物院) to celebrate Taiwan Retrocession Day.  The National Palace Museum has a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of ancient Chinese imperial artifacts and artworks, and the collection encompasses over 10,000 years of Chinese history from the Neolithic age to the late Qing Dynasty.

A favorite exhibit is that of the incredible walnut shell carvings.

Taiwan—Taipei 2016-10-24

I am slowing down my visit in Taiwan.  Basically, my plan for the remaining of my visit is to meet my friends everyday. Today, I was from one tea house to another with my friends.  

Taiwan has many different kinds of tea houses.  Some of them were tea restaurants, some of them were just drinking teas.

My friend, her family members, her friend, and I went to a tea restaurant at Maokong (貓空) for lunch today. 

The literal translation of Maokong is cat empty, or no cat. Maokong is actually the Madarinization of the original Taiwanese word, which referred to the topography.

Maokong used to be the largest tea growing area of ​​Taipei. There are many footpaths which have been used to transport tea. Now, it is a popular place for tea and viewing the city of Taipei.

Maokong has many tea restaurants.  We went in a tea restaurant and had a lunch.  

After we had lunch at Maokong, we came back to Taipei. Then, we went to a tea house which my friend is a tea master of the tea house.  We learned and tasted many different kinds of teas.

Taiwan—Taipei 2016-10-23

My vacation is almost finished.  Morning,  I went to Kakka Cultural Park to look for birds.  I did not find the bird named, Muller's Barbet (五色鳥), that I was looking for.  However, I saw the bird named, Japanese White-eye, that I was looking for last year.

After bird watching, I went to a bookstore called Kingstone (金石堂)  to check some books.  Kingstone was established in 1984.  Traditional bookstores in Taiwan were wall-to-wall bookshelves in parallel aisles.  Kingstone has more open design with "main route" and "sub-route" displays to attract customers.  I visit the bookstore every time I am in Taiwan.  There are so many cute stuff and books.  I had to run away. Otherwise, I would buy everything I saw.

Before I traveled to Taiwan, I researched on website and found a cafe called Minimal Cafe.  The Cafe is a cafe, also a place houses half-way cats.  I went Minimal Cafe for lunch.  It was packed.  The food was okay, but cats were cute.

After lunch, I walked to the former residence of a renowned educator, Laing Shih-Chiu.  The residence is near the place that I stay in Taipei.