Last Days

I feel like I haven't done anything in the last few days except saying goodbyes and going to the post office to send the millions of items that don't fit in my suitcase! Not very fun...

第最後課 The Last Class

Just had my last class at the Mandarin Training Center. I think I'm going to cry!

Yummy Japanese sushi things

I'm pretty sure this is Vietnamese style pigs ears and mushrooms

好漂亮！My classmate made these!

Yuenan

KTV (Again!)

I'm so beyond addicted to KTV! For my last Chinese Corner class ever, we were able to go to KTV which was amazing.

I'm a bit sad to be leaving this group :(

動物園，貓空 The Zoo and MaoKong Gondala

Finally went to the zoo today! Yay!

They have a really exciting section called the Insectarium which had about a million bugs and butterflies all flying through the air. That was great.

Monkeys are my favouriteee :)

The Australian animals area was a bit depressing really. I'm not sure if I was imagining it, but I'm pretty sure all the animals were looking very bored and like they'd rather be walking around Alma Park Zoo instead of being stared at by Taiwanese people.

This emu didn't respond to any of the people yelling 'NI HAO' at him, but I said 'HEY MATE' and he casually strolled over.

The giraffes were impressive, but their enclosure was really small and had an electric fence around it, which made me really uneasy.

Afterwards, I took a ride on the Maokong Gondala. It was a bit anti-climatic really. If I'd gone on a clearer day (haha, what a joke, there is no such thing in Taipei) then I'm sure it would have been nicer. As it was, I could see 101 in the distance and just a whole bunch of boring stuff...

淡水 Danshui

It was sunny today, so after class I went to Danshui (also sometimes known as Tamsui if you happen to be the lunatic who romanised Taiwan's place names).

A 'small' ice cream

Alethia University - the first Western uni in Taiwan

Hongmao (Red hair) Fort

The old British consular building

Lunch

日月潭 Sun Moon Lake

On Saturday we went to Sun Moon Lake which is the biggest body of water in Taiwan. It's very pretty!

On the ferry - slightly seasick 

GONDALA... Veryyyyy high!

三義 Sanyi

On Saturday I woke up super early to go with a lovely group of people to Sanyi. We caught the train there, and then spent the day riding moped-motorbike things around the countryside.

Claire, Sarah, Tim, Max, me and Sarah

We stopped at a wood carving museum

Sanyi is famous for wood carving

LUNCH

Longteng Bridge (Destroyed by an earthquake in 1935) 

We arrived in Taizhong after 9pm, quickly had something to eat and then headed to our hostel.

國立故宮博物院 National Palace Museum

I finally managed to go to the National Palace Museum today! The whole area was very scenic and peaceful.

The most interesting part of the experience for me was knowing the historical background about how Taiwan came into possession of all the thousands of pieces on display in the museum. China maintains that the items were stolen, but the R.O.C. states that they probably would have been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution if they weren't moved. With that in my brain, it definitely seemed that the emphasis is very much on "Hi China, look at this giant collection that we have preserved despite every effort to the contrary" rather than "Isn't this a nice painting".

Chinese Corner

Chinese corner is run by a local church once a week to help students practise their Chinese. It is basically exactly like eCommunity (English Community) except now I'm on the other side, learning instead of teaching... Which is absolutely great.

Last night we played an interesting board game. Not sure I completely understood it, but it was fun.

Flowers and Fine Art

After class I caught the MRT to Yuanshan station. I think this is one of my favourite places in Taipei! From one place you can see the mountains, Taipei 101, the Grand Hotel and a wonderful flower park.

 I really wanted to go to the Story House, but it was closed today. So instead I settled for the Fine Arts Museum.

Afterwards I went to Ximen. I walked past a movie theatre and there was a sign that said they were showing 'Beauty and the Beast' in 3D. I could not resist! It was lovely.