On hindsight, going to the National Palace Museum on a Saturday was a really really really bad idea. I thought we could just show up for the Chinese guided tour but the places were all taken when we arrived. Buying the tickets was a breeze but once you enter the museum, it was just filled with tourists everywhere. I actually told CS that we've been to British Museum, Louvre etc and I don't feel that there are that many tourists in those museums. Perhaps those museums are a lot bigger so it doesn't feel as crowded. The National Palace Museum was packed with independent tourists (of course I'm one of them) and those in tour groups. It was honestly a bit of a nightmare, I'm not sure if going on a weekday would have been better but well there I was on a weekend so what can we do.
While we were there, there was an exhibition of artefacts from the Vatican. We've been to the Vatican Museum before but the exhibits inside Vatican Museum was mostly art pieces collected by the various Popes, whereas this exhibition in Taipei was to show the regalia and vestments that the various popes have used before. I'm not Catholic but I did attend a convent primary school so I found the items on display quite fascinating. While we were there I saw a few Catholic nuns, I think for them it must be their one chance to get so close to the Pope since no pope has ever and perhaps will never visit Taiwan.
We were in Taipei during Qing Ming Festival so there was a special exhibition of 清明上河 which was quite fascinating. The original version was on display alongside the Qing inspired ones. It was intriguing to see the fakes as well and for some reason I always thought fakes were a relatively recent thing but apparently way back in Song dynasty there was already a flourishing business in fakes.
The museum is really quite small but it had a very good collection of artefacts and objects to see. There was an entire room filled with Chinese paintings and another one with Chinese calligraphy. I haven't touched Chinese calligraphy since I was a kid and actually really hated it when I was made to practise it but now that I'm older I have an appreciation for it. I had fun trying to decipher the characters and obviously I couldn't recognise all the characters. Apparently the museum has such a big collection they opened a new museum in Tainan so that more of the artefacts can be displayed and also to allow residents in the south easy access to displays. This however meant that when I was there the famous jadeite cabbage was on display in the Southern branch since it just opened recently. Just my luck. This also means I have to make another trip next time just to stare at the cabbage.
After spending almost half a day at the museum, we decided to go to Yongkang Street to fill our tummies. The place is a lot easier to find compared to 10 years ago with signs at the MRT telling you which way to go. There was plenty of food stalls and we bought my favourite 蔥鬱餅 at a stall which had a long queue. Being Singaporean, we just had to queue when we saw a long line! Other than that we didn't actually eat that much, I think just being older meant our stomachs have shrunk. I also made a booboo while ordering Yakult bubble tea by mispronouncing the character, the staff gave me a funny look, lol.
After walking for a bit, we reached Shida Market. It's catered more to the university crowd so the vibe was younger and more hip. The market is a lot smaller compared to Raohe and since we weren't really in the mood to eat or shop, we walked around for a short while and then left. I think if you are quite young, the items there would have been quite suitable but since we were quite a fair bit older than the university students it didn't really appeal to us.
We were in Taipei during Qing Ming Festival so there was a special exhibition of 清明上河 which was quite fascinating. The original version was on display alongside the Qing inspired ones. It was intriguing to see the fakes as well and for some reason I always thought fakes were a relatively recent thing but apparently way back in Song dynasty there was already a flourishing business in fakes.
The museum is really quite small but it had a very good collection of artefacts and objects to see. There was an entire room filled with Chinese paintings and another one with Chinese calligraphy. I haven't touched Chinese calligraphy since I was a kid and actually really hated it when I was made to practise it but now that I'm older I have an appreciation for it. I had fun trying to decipher the characters and obviously I couldn't recognise all the characters. Apparently the museum has such a big collection they opened a new museum in Tainan so that more of the artefacts can be displayed and also to allow residents in the south easy access to displays. This however meant that when I was there the famous jadeite cabbage was on display in the Southern branch since it just opened recently. Just my luck. This also means I have to make another trip next time just to stare at the cabbage.
After spending almost half a day at the museum, we decided to go to Yongkang Street to fill our tummies. The place is a lot easier to find compared to 10 years ago with signs at the MRT telling you which way to go. There was plenty of food stalls and we bought my favourite 蔥鬱餅 at a stall which had a long queue. Being Singaporean, we just had to queue when we saw a long line! Other than that we didn't actually eat that much, I think just being older meant our stomachs have shrunk. I also made a booboo while ordering Yakult bubble tea by mispronouncing the character, the staff gave me a funny look, lol.
My favourite snack in Taiwan
After walking for a bit, we reached Shida Market. It's catered more to the university crowd so the vibe was younger and more hip. The market is a lot smaller compared to Raohe and since we weren't really in the mood to eat or shop, we walked around for a short while and then left. I think if you are quite young, the items there would have been quite suitable but since we were quite a fair bit older than the university students it didn't really appeal to us.
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