Taipei Weekend

In February, to celebrate the completion of Principles of Parallel Programming, we decided to go out for Chinese food. So, we dashed off to Taipei for a few days. Going to Taiwan meant we could also see the Palace Treasures, removed from Beijings's Forbidden City in 1949. Treasures There were many amazing pieces in the National Palace Museum. Unfortunately photos were not allowed, but our hotel had this lovely reproduction of one of the lacquer vases. The layering of the red on top of the black lacquer followed by the intricate carving to reveal the black layer again, was a positively stunning technique that was used on many different pieces. At the Academe Sinica university is the Museum of History and Philology. This is an unadvertised and much less visited site (we were the only people there) that should not be missed. It has amazing treasures elegantly displayed . Among them were these oracle bones. In ancient times people predicted the future by carving questions on a tortoise shell and then heating it until it cracked. The cracks revealed the answers. Oracle bones display the earliest known writing. x Another interesting piece of writing at the Museum of History and Philology reminded us of the French saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Temples The temples in Taipei are numerous, multi-religious, and very well attended. Smoke from incense filled the air and there was a busy hum of activity. x Many people brought orchids as offerings, which we enjoyed very much. They also brought food, especially fruit, for the monks to enjoy. Away from the hustle and bustle, the Longshan Temple has waterfalls and this clever dragon fountain for contemplation. Lantern Festival We arrived in Taipei just in time for the annual Lantern Festival. These lanterns are big! They are made by stretching paper over wire frames and lighting them from within using many small lights. The whole area around the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Plaza glowed in multi-colors like this ski lift. These frogs represented an endangered Taiwan frog (Rhacophorus taipeianus). Note: the lantern frogs are 1.5 meters (4.5 ft) in length. We assume the real-life frog is smaller! Food x The squid restaurant across from the Longshan Temple is typical of Taipei's multitude of little eateries. The kitchen is open to the street and the expediter (left) runs the operation with military precision. The cooks, the staff, the customers (probably even the squid) were under her direction. Despite all the great restaurants, most of Taipei seems to get its dinner at the night markets. We happily joined the crowd. There are lots of shopping opportunities, but we couldn't focus on anything but the multitude of food stalls. x A local specialty translates as "stinky tofu" (left). It is a fermented tofu dish that is not nearly as bad as the name suggests. Our favorite, though, was definitely the quail egg balls that were skewered, smeared with secret sauce and sprinkled with black pepper. There were some great looking vegetable choices, too, but we were on vacation! Forget the veggies! Go for more quail egg skewers! So, how was it going to Taiwan for Chinese food? Great! An hour after returning home we were ready to go back!