Food and ancient artifacts

Scooters, everywhere you look!

We continue to have a fun time here. Mom was commenting on all of the scooters -- this is far and away the most common way Taipei residents get around, and scooters are everywhere. I hope you can see that the scooters parked along this street just go on and on and on. You'll see children riding on the floorboards between a parent's feet, people carrying huge packs, all sorts of things -- I really liked having a scooter at home, but wouldn't dream of trying to ride one here.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a great day for food. Robert and Jenny Torng, who run the program here in Taipei, invited us to lunch. I've worked with Robert and Jenny since I first started coming to Taiwan, and I have always enjoyed their company. They took us to a very nice Italian restaurant -- or to be more accurate, I'd say a very nice Italian restaurant that caters primarily to Chinese people. The foods were familiar, but with just a little twist. The Caesar salad was not quite what I was used to -- it had no lemon juice or parmesan cheese, and the egg was soft-boiled. It was delicious, but not what I would have expected when I ordered a Caesar salad. Mom had a risotto with asparagus and corn, and the pasta with beef that I had was absolutely Asian-influenced in its seasoning. Excellent again, but different. The restaurant was inside a mall that is part of a Japanese chain of malls, and had a wonderful view into a Japanese garden inside the mall. We enjoyed the time with Jenny and Robert, and hope we'll see them again while we're here.

Making dumplings at Din Tai Fung.

For dinner, some of the students had invited us to go to one of the most famous restaurants in Taipei -- Din Tai Fung. They do dumplings, mostly, and I had almost forgotten how good they are. We watched the dumplings being made, and were amazed at the speed and precision. Each dumpling is made by hand, and it is an impressive process to watch, especially since there are so many people in line and ordering dumplings at all hours of day and night. It was a pleasure to have the students meet Mom, and to get to know Alan, Paul, and Pauline a little better.


After dinner, it was time for class, so Mom had to take the subway (MRT) back to the hotel on her own. I wanted to take a picture of her venturing off on her own for the first time in Taipei, but she moved so swiftly and confidently through the subway station that she was gone before I could get the camera out!

Gardens around the National Palace Museum

One of the NPM buildings

Today our plan had been to go to the National Palace Museum, and then in the evening to go to Danshui, which is right on the water, and is a beautiful place to spend an evening. The rains came down HARD while we were at the museum, so we aren't so sure about going to an outdoor area for the evening -- we'll try to fit that in later on in the trip. But the museum was great, as it always is. Such a beautiful location -- great architecture in the midst of so much green.

"Meat stone"

The National Palace Museum houses the collections of the emperors of China, along with many other wonderful treasures. Many of the items in the collection were taken from the Forbidden City, where the Chinese emperors lived, by Chiang Kai-Shek, who is referred to as a thief by the Chinese. Of course, had the items remained in China, they would largely have been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, so I think it is good that they are here. There are several amazing things to see, including wonderful jade objects going back to 4000 BC and before. One of the "featured items" is a piece of jasper that is said to look like a piece of pork (yes, I know, it seems odd), and Mom and I argued over whether it really does look like meat or not. What do you think?  We also saw calligraphy, and talked about how calligraphy and hand-writing are not seen in the West as art forms in the way that they are here.

Me and Mom and Confucius, hanging out in Taipei

One of the fun things was to get a picture taken with Mom at the same statue of Confucius where I was photographed on my first visit to Taipei. Strangely, I seem smaller back then, especially around the middle. Must be a trick of the camera.
We spent more time at the museum that we expected, we were enjoying it so much, so we did not make it to the SuHo paper museum today. Perhaps tomorrow.
We miss everyone, and hope we are missed in return!