On the last weekend of July, a few friends and I decided to visit one of the must-sees: the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial. It was a relatively clear day, so the huge plaza looked gorgeous against the sky, and I distinctly remember wishing that I’d brought a bike (not that I think you were allowed to bike in the memorial, anyway). Inside the main building was a Lincoln Memorial-like statue of Chiang Kai-Shek himself, and we were able to catch the last changing of the guard of the day.
There was some kind of performance going on in the plaza that day, and someone was blasting their speakers in the main square below, so the guards’ performances got punctuated with booming bass. It had been a long time since I’d been to a memorial of comparable scale–the last time might’ve been the Washington Monument several years back, or the Forbidden City before that.
The day also happened to be the Qixi Festival, Chinese Valentine’s Day, so once it grew darker we headed to the Dadaocheng riverside for a beautiful fireworks’ display, almost as if making up for missing the Fourth of July. No pictures, unfortunately, since I find fireworks always underwhelming from phone photos.
The next day, I needed to get some work done, so in the morning I headed to the Taipei Artist Village with my textbooks. It was a fun cultural spot, the kind that I imagine are particular to big cities, so I took my time. Also, I’d lost my EasyCard that day, so getting there on foot was a massive pain and I was in no hurry to leave.
I’d found a nice little cafe in the villa beforehand, and it was pretty busy when I went in. Eventually, though, a window spot cleared up, and I was able to do my work with a charming view and some tasty refreshments.
Didn’t expect to see a Great Gatsby mural in Taiwan!
Hakka tea and Mentaiko toasted bread
The view from the cafe