Taipei (part 2)

(continued from last post)

Enough about tall buildings - can you tell I'm a real estate guy?

I was almost run over several times by mopeds! Apparently, it's the best way to get around Taipei. They swerve in and out of traffic, go through stoplights when other cars are stopped, and if the roads are really jammed, the mopeds use the sidewalks. Here's a picture of a typical side street:


And another...


One of the nights I went out to the Shilin Night Market. It's the largest night market in Taiwan and I'd say one of the largest in all of Asia (at least compared to the other cities in Asia I've been to). This place was huge! Streets upon streets, block after block of vendors selling mostly crap (food, trinkets, clothes, shoes, handbags, sunglasses, etc.) until 2-3am. Unlike the other night markets I've been to, this one was also full of carnival type games so there were a ton of teenage kids walking around. What the heck are teenage kids doing out at 2am? I took a couple of pictures, but none of them came out very well - wrong camera setting. Here's one that sort of shows a "typical street"


A couple of people have sent me emails asking me if I'm going to any cultural/historical sites as well. I have been going, but they're not that exciting. For example, here are a couple of "touristy" places I visited in Taipei:

A monument to the guy that started the PF Chang's restaurant chain:





(Okay, not really the guy that started PF Chang's - he's actually a very important figure in Taiwan's history: "Chiang Kai-shek" - the former president of the R.O.C. and a very influential leader in Taiwan's history.)

Here's a picture of The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall - a tribute to the guy that invented Yahtzee:


(Okay, you got me again, he is the founding father of the Republic of China...but I'm sure he liked to play Yahtzee!)

A temple:


So yes, I am visiting historical and cultural locations as well, I just haven't been blogging about them.

Overall, I wasn't that impressed with Taipei but like I said in my previous posts, I have seen a lot of Asian culture in the last few months so I'm a little burned out on it. I arrived in Singapore late last night and had a good day walking around Singapore today. I'll leave that for my next post, but my first impression of Singapore is that it has very little in common with my previous destinations. While I've only been here a day, this could be my favorite spot so far!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:LínSēn North Rd 671 Jhongshan District Taipei City 104 Taiwan