Here is a map of the Taipei MRT routes so you have an idea.
click for a better image: http://www.ite.ntnu.edu.tw/~icte2009/images/MRT.jpg
XINSHENG PARK (新生公園)
In XinSheng Park, there is supposed to be a maze cut from trees/bushes. At first, LJue and I had trouble finding it, and thought that the maze was cut from 6 inch bushes, and didn't understand the "woolaa" about the maze in the park. and so we walked it to "get to the center" (we totally could have jumped to the middle. LoL). we finally found the real maze and went inside.... and then the buzzing began. i didn't want to be bitten anymore (if you didn't know, i get really bad infections from insect bites, it's weird, i know). so we decided to try to leave the maze ASAP (good luck! right?). instead, LJue found the center of the maze
weird lion? mosiac thing
we finally found a way out. on our way out, we realized that not only did we not exit through the exit, we didn't enter through the entrance. haha. its ok though, we made it out alive.here's a wood carved map of the maze. the center was the 6 inch bush maze, which wasn't the real maze, the surrounding is the real maze.
the entrance/exit is on the bottle left cornerWe chilled by the park benches under the trees because the breeze was so relaxing and it was so hot outside. LJue was used to it, since her lab is outdoors, mine on the otherhand, even though we have like 18 computer running in a little room, there is still AC. LJue kept laughing at me throughout the day, cause I would walk into stores just for the AC =) hehe.
they have interesting patterns carved on their tables. its for chinese chess? i think.
anyways, I thought their tables were cool cause they were made up of block stone/marble.Taipei Fine Arts Museum (台北市立美術館)
next, we wandered over to Taipei Fine Arts Museum. It was ok I guess. Since I am not a museum person, it wasn't all that exciting, but it just seemed like I could not leave Taipei saying I have never been to one of its museum. They had art work displayed by several artists. wasn't my type of "pretty" art work. I did find it interesting that they sectioned off parts of the museum to be "18 and older." Let's just leave with " there were some pretty graphic art." My eyes are no longer virgin.
I got in trouble with security, not once, not twice, but 3 times!!!. The first time, I took a picture of a drawing because I saw someone else do it too and I didn't know you couldn't. opps. (I got caught, the person didn't.) I would post it, but I don't want to get sued. The second time, I stepped over the line. They have lines drawn on the floor so that people cannot get too close to the work of arts to prevent damange. I knew the lines exsisted, but I didn't remember at one point and accidentally stepped on it. opps again. The last time, I took my water bottle out of my backpack because I was really thirsty and wanted some water. It was the same security guard that "yell" at the first two times. triple opps. she probably thinks that I am a trouble maker. which I am not. ok, maybe I am. but still I didn't do any of the 3 intentionally to make her mad or to test my luck. anywho, since we couldn't take pictures inside the museum, here is some pictures of the outside.
maybe I should use an umbrella for the sun too...nah!
i thought it was weird how this sign was closer to the story house than the museum itself
funny story: when LJue and I first got there, we bought tickets for the museum, but we were able to walk around in the museum and they never collected it. We thought it was weird, but assumed that it was probably by honor system. kinda odd, but ok. So we started from the top (3rd) floor of the museum and made our way down/through the museum from there. On the way through the museum, we ran into SPiras and she told us that the ticket was only for the exihibition downstairs, which was pretty small. She also told us that it was not so exciting. I decided to see if I could get a refund. (haha. way to be cheap!) So I walked up to the counter where I bought it and asked the lady for a refund. The lady was confused, she could not figure out why I would want a refund, so then I told her, "I don't have time to see the exhibit." (LoL) and she was like "huh? you could come back another day then" I then replied, "I don't plan to come back here?" So after like a 5 min. back and forth of me convincing her that "I didn't have time," she finally refunded my ticket (I saved 250NT!) and then I asked her to refund LJue's as well. (Earlier, LJue was able to buy a student ticket (200NT) because she had her UCSD student ID card. I didn't bring mine to Taiwan because my mom told me it owuld be one less thing to lose. Yes and no. Some places will give you a student fare for an international student ID, some won't. I wish I had mine though)Taipei Story House (台北故事館)
So we walk over to Taipei Story House instead, and since the tickets were much cheaper, (50NT for adult and 30NT for student), we decided to go inside. Actually, we were going to go into Taipei Story House before we hit the museum because it was much smaller, but a sign on the ticketing window said that tickets would be at the discounted rate of 30NT if we bought the museum ticket. On our way over to the museum, I was thinking, dang it! we just returned the museum ticket, we should have done that after we bought the Taipei Story House ticket. oh well. So I get to the ticketing window and ask the lady for 2 student tickets, and she asked me for 2 student IDs, which I didn't have. I told her that "I forgot it today" and she was like, "a student MRT Easy card also works." Score! (unfortunately, the student MRT easycard does not work in all locations =( ) We proceeded into the gate and decided to explore the outside of th Story House before we headed inside. This place made me feel like it was Alice in Wonderland... only in chinese. When it was time to enter the Story House, I could not find my ticket! After frantically searching for it for 5 minutes, th ticket collector at the door just told me to go inside. HAHA. i technically didn't even have to buy a ticket to enter. Somewhere inside the story house, I found my ticket. (really, I did buy one). The souvenier shop was at the end of the Story House trail, it was SO small! (But then, everything in Taiwan is small compared to the US, including people. hah)
I think the kid adds a nice effect to the picture. lOl
NingXia Night Market (寧夏夜市)
It was around 1400 when we left the story house and decide to trek our way to NingXia Night Market. We stopped at shops on the way (for the AC, of course). There was one bakery with the cutest and most perfectest confections/dessert you would ever see. LJue and I tried to take pictures of it, but the employees didn't let us =(. We would have bought some if it wasn't so expensive.
Right when we thought that we would not be able to find it (2 hrs or so had passed at this point), this sign appear in front of us.
Usually, night markets are hard to find, until it's night time. To those of you who have not been to TW before, the streets look super super different at night. It's crazy. Though the food stands were almost all set up, LJue and I could not eat yet. Why you ask? You may have heard that the best way to eat is to get in line at a stand where there is already is a line. the longer the better. (who in their right mind would do that? LoL) Since it was an hour and a half before people would start showing up at the night market (18oo), we decided to stroll. But after walking for so many hours, (our journey started at 0930), our feet were sore. Hence, we began a search for chairs. Two things I have noticed in Taiwan, there are very few chairs and very few trash cans (but you don't really see trash on the streets >.0?). We saw two guys sit down at a dumpling stand, and we thought that they were just sitting there and didn't order anything, so we decided to sit down as well. Turns out, they did order something for dinner. Ohwell!
do you think I can collect all the night market signs?
NingXia was not a very big night market, so we decided to head back home fairly early. When we got to Zhongshan Station (中山站), I found the metro mall! The metro mall connected Zhongshan Station and Taipei Main station. Cool beans! If we got on the metro at Zhongshan station, that would have been 6 stops to Gongguan station (公館站),, which meant that our fare would have been more expeinsive. But since Taipei Main Station is exactly 5 stops from Gongguan, it would cost us the cheapest fare.我写了太多
>.<
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