This was the first day we were spending in Taipei city proper, so I was filled with anticipation, eager to finally get to know the city better. We had breakfast at our hotel as usual, where we downed a few bowls of porridge with appetite-whetting minced meat. I found it interesting that they added berries to their milk, though there was no noticeable change in the flavour of the milk. 
Our first stop for the day was Chiang Kai-Shek's memorial hall. What better way to start our tour in Taipei than visiting the monument dedicated to the nation's first president (as claimed in the museum in the compound). Even before actually getting there, the Chiang Kai-Shek train station was beautifully furnished. They had those signages which were like mini memorial gates. Also saw some interesting local art pieces of students lining the underground alley of the train station leading to the exit.
It was as huge as the size of 4 olympic size football fields I think... we had to take several minutes to walk from one end to another. There were 4 main buildings there, the main entrance held with 2 majestic pillars, 2 museums (had no idea what was displayed since we didn't check them out because they were closed) and the main attraction... a long flight of stairs leading up into this enclosed hut-shaped like building with a statue of Chiang Kai-Shek sitting in a chair and overseeing the entire compound (similar to the statue of Abraham Lincoln). 
There were guard of honors paying their respects to the founding father (though after that day our Taiwanese friend told us that Sun Yat Sen was the founding father... puzzling) which reminded me of the guards at our Istana House. We were fortunate to catch the changing of guards, thanks to one of the tour guide informing her group about it, which was performed every hour and I filmed most of it down. Frankly, there wasn't anything much to see... they marched differently from Singapore's MP's in that they lifted this thighs higher and they did do a couple of stunts with their guns. Apart from that, nothing too interesting. But was an eye-opener needless to say. 
Yq saw her friend there and was told that there was also a museum downstairs. We took our way there, but didn't spend too much time as our next destination, the National Palace Museum would be closing at 5pm and it was of a higher priority. We had to take a train down to Shilin station where we got on a local bus which sent us there (there were lotsa signs informing us of which bus and where to take it from).
When we did finally get there, the skies started to get dark. The front view of the museum made it look like a play house (like a toy house with the dull colors and 2D-like setting) but the interior did make it feel more grand. The lobby was similar to that of hotel lobbies and there were so many tour groups around that made it feel super tourisy. We couldn't bring our bags in (had to deposit them in a locker) if they were too big and we couldn't take any photos inside. The tickets were selling at around $25NT (not that cheap) but we thought it would be a great experience to check out the national treasures. Well.... honesty speaking... it wasn't that great. The experience was refreshing, but I couldn't quite appreciate the "values" of the treasures. They looked old, ancient and "everyday" like. If you were to sell them to me, I might not even buy them. As much as I would like to pretend to appreciate those treasures, they looked mediocre to me. But the highlight of the museum, the jade cabbage and the stone meat were indeed well worth the trip down. The intricacy of the carvings and the designs left me in awe. Both of us were enjoying and taking mental photos of it when there was a mother and daughter who went up to the cabbage... and the mother said, "This is the famous jade cabbage." The daughter said, "mei she mo ma.." The mother agreed... and they left... only 5 seconds after checking it out... "Woohooo!!! Classss--iccc!!"
Spent about 4hours there, but only had time to check out the main exhibition area. There was another building there, which they called it the exhibition hall II but heard from the cleaner what was displayed there was yet another wide array of treasures, not from Taiwan but from other parts of the world. Didn't quite interest us so we stayed at the main exhibition area and spent more time there. If you were to really go around and read the descriptions one by one, or even wait for the free commentary tours around the musuem, you will not be able to cover the entire museum in a single day. There were 4 levels in the main exhibition area, which featured different eras of the dynasties and its treasures. Heard from my friend that the mountain behind the museum was used to store the treasures so at any one time, we only get to see a small percentage of the treasures... There were also 2 cafeterias, but sold only light snacks, where we ate toasts and cheesecake at 1 of them.
When the entire museum was about to close, we went down to the lobby where the only shop was still open, the main souvenir shop. Jalaned around there and took our time as by then, there were torrential rains outside the museum and we wanted to buy time hoping the rain would have subsided.... but it didn't. When the entire museum close shop, we were seeking refuge outside at the bus-stop, which thankfully, was sheltered right until the very step you take up onto the bus.
Returned to Shilin station and headed down to Danshui as it seemed the whole of Taipei had a storm. Danshui was a station pretty far away from Shilin so we tried our luck. Initially, we wanted to head down to Shilin night market but the weather made us change our plans. Fortunately, Danshui wasn't raining when we got there, but it eventually did. Thankfully, we did snap a couple of beautiful sunset shots before the thundercloud was cast over the skies of Danshui.
Sought shelter at a nearby food stall where we bought the famous Tie Dan (metal egg) and tried out some samplings of the Yu Su (fish crackers). When the rain subsided, we checked out the streets which was pretty much like a night market, all in search of yet another famous food of Danshui, Ah Ma Suan Mei Tang. We asked around but was led around in circles by unreliable directions... until we came to a tiny "tan" set-up by an artist. We did our portraits there, and our minds were poisoned by his warpped theories.... told us that the Ah Ma Suan Mei Tang stall was checked by health authorities and found to contain an unhealthy level of preservatives... and that the tie dans were similar to that blah blah blah.. bottomline was, he told us the food sold at the entire stretch of street which was along the riverside was all unhealthy and would decrease our lifespan.
Recommended another street just across the train station which he claimed sold nicer and healthier food. Coming from someone who has been staying there for 2 years (as he claimed), we trusted his sources and so decided to check out that street. Unfortunately we didn't manage to find the foods he recommended so we settled for other snacks we thought looked good, one of which was the Ruo Bao. And it was one of the best ruo baos we've eaten in Taiwan so far. Spent some time looking around before eventually heading back to our hotel once again... to rest for the night and prepare ourselves for tomorrow's next trip... Shihfen!!
To sum it up:
Ratings for the day: 3/5
- Chiang Kai-Shek memorial hall a must-see attraction for its grandeur
- National Palace Museum is well worth the trip down but might not be that interesting because its quite a read (not much food there so get some snacks or fill your stomach before going there)
- Danshui's food isn't as fantastic as what the guides claim, but the Ruo Bao was one of the few which stole our hearts
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