things to do and see in taipei

a week in taipei is not enough. fortunately, we had an unexpected additional weekend to fill with extremely tall buildings, ornate architecture, and curious snacks. i spent my first morning running in da'an park, a block from the howard international house, aka home. at 6:30 a.m., the park was filling up with other joggers, large groups of dance enthusiasts (salsa? shania? who knew.), a couple of t'ai chi and other martial arts crews, and power walkers conscientiously staying to the right. during the week, we took the mrt (taipei's subway) all over the place. interesting observations about the mrt: it is one long continuous car linked by flexible joints, people line up along painted lines to wait (and they don't push!), and there are clear barriers that slide open when the train arrives. also, the bathrooms are clean and not scary.

one of my very favorite excursions was longshan temple, a buddhist temple built during the qing dynasty. it is unbelievably ornate, carved with dragons, gods, goddesses, trees, lions, and so on...we were there on a festival day, so the air was thick with incense and buddhist chanting. it was an amazing feeling to navigate the interior of the temple, feeling nearly invisible alongside devoted worshippers, tourists, and piles of fruit, tea, and orchid blossoms. a completely reverent experience.

during our marooned-by-typhoon weekend, we also hiked over to taipei 101, the tallest completed building in the world. the lower levels consist of super posh stores, vegas-style restaurants, and a well-known food court. outside, there were numerous trees knocked over by the typhoon-- hence the professional tree righter-upper.

chiang kai-shek memorial hall was massive and quite a tribute.

in a heavy rain, john from minneapolis and i climbed chiang's 89 steps (1 for each year of his life) and paid respects to the late president and his everlasting contributions to the entire world.

other things i enjoyed about taipei: the 7/11's with their endless cans of taiwan beer and tea eggs, the massive scooter gangs, and the hercules beetle education center (which we mistook for a pet store).