went to the majestic Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (國立中正紀念堂) in the morning, just in time to see the change of guards ceremony...it was really formal, but their creative drill patterns are definitely worth looking out for...there is also a museum dedicated to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) where you get to learn about his life and how he became the 1st president of Taiwan...the whole compound is actually very big and includes the National Theatre (國家戲劇院) and National Concert Hall (國家音樂廳) with a gigantic square in the middle of the 3 buildings...there were many students and teenagers around the complex too...some practising their dance routines while others perfecting their Chinese calligraphy...then headed to the awesome Taipei 101...standing at incredible height of 509m, it is the tallest building in the world then and was built to resemble a stalk of bamboo...walked around, some window shopping and had a light breakfast there...mainly branded stuffs there...so not for a poor man like me =/...stopped by at the Sun-Yet-Sen Memorial Hall (國立國父紀念館) and a art gallery that was on-going there before going to SOGO to help my friend buy some stuffs...but it was closed due to a fire that broke out the day before...zzzzzzzz...how unlucky i can get!...went to Shilin Night Market in the late evening and spent almost like 4 hrs there lol...shopping and eating...bought lots of clothings =p...tried 考香雞排...tasted just as nice as 炸香雞排 or maybe even better...check out lots of pet shops there too...and the American Shorthair cats really caught my eyes...they are really cute and active haha...really wish i could have one at home...went back to the hostel and chatted with the owner whom we call Xu 小姐...she told me there was actually a 6.1 scale earthquake early morning that day...strangely i didn't felt it...damn...maybe i was in the MRT or something...we also talked about traveling around the world and stuffs...and she really has good knowledge about the different countries since she probably had met countless foreigners from all over the world...really a wonderful woman she is!
Gate of Great Centrality and Perfect Uprightness (大中至正), front entrance to the big square compound of C.K.S. Memorial
outside of the majestic C.K.S. Memorial Hall
there is a total of 89 steps, which symbolises the age of Chiang Kai-shek when he died
inside of C.K.S. Memorial Hall where you can see a big bronze sculpture of the man himself
the 3 main themes of the Chinese characters at the back are Ethics, Democracy and Science
view of the big compound from the top
here come the smartly-dressed guards
changing of guards ceremony
performing some fancy stunts with their rifles
Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world then
Taipei 101 as seen from Sun-Yat-Sen Memorial
Sun-Yat-Sen, the father of modern China
cute American Shorthair!!!
