Taipei
So let's see, where did I leave off... Wednesday we got up all set to see the sights in the town of Narita, we got ready, had breakfast, checked out, left our luggage at the front desk and proceeded out the front door. We made it about a block and realized we were crazy. It was raining so hard it felt like a monsoon. In less than five minutes, we were soaked through from head to toe. We ran back to the hotel and waited for the bus the the airport. Our flight wasn't leaving until 6:30 pm, so we had a lot of time to kill. There are tons of stores and restaurants, and even an origami museum/ store. We roamed around and ate, then we went downstairs from our gate, under 23 through 26 and hung out.. While down there we saw on the news a story about how bad the weather had been that day in Tokyo and Narita and how some places had even lost power, so I didn't feel so bad about wimping out of our walk. We got into Taipei about 10:00 pm and a friend of Judy's picked us up and brought us to our hotel. That was over and above being nice to us!
Yesterday we did a tour of Taipei. Another of Judy's friends met us in the lobby of the hotel ( Tokyo International Hotel) and took us all around the city. We took a bus to the subway and then took the subway to the gondola. What a huge gondola! I think it had 4 stops up the mountain and we took it all the way to the top. It has a really nice view and tons of tea houses at the top. We spent some time up there and had ice cream and tea looking down the side of the mountain... Breathtaking! Then back on the train and we went to the Father of China's memorial. It reminded me of the Lincoln Memorial in DC. The grounds are beautiful, it has a large garden in front and there was a festival going on when we were there. From there we walked over to Taipei 101. This was at one point the tallest building in Asia, now I think Singapore has that honor. We had dinner with Judy's friend's family at a restaurant that is know for it's dumplings... It was great and there is a huge window so we could watch them making the dumplings. 8 pushes with the roller to make the dough flat then stuff them and 18 folds in the dumpling. Everyone is very precise. Again I went to bed exhausted, but Bubba, Judy and Lynne went out for foot massages. Lynne's feet hurt and Judy has bruises.... Does that sound like fun?
Today we took a private van to an old gold mining town and a place called 9 families. It was very interesting. The mine has not been in use for decades, but they have a mining museum, so it is very interesting. One of the signs said that during WWII the Japanese used British POW's to mine the gold under torturous conditions. Yet another sad fact from that war. The 9 families town was built when the Emperor visited. There are traditional Japanese style houses on the property and of course wonderful views of the ocean. Of course the day was also full of lots of food. I'm not sure how many times we ate again today, and the day ended with Judy's friends and an enormous table full of Taiwanese foods. We ate and ate and ate. All in all, it was a great trip, and hopefully we will come back again!
Yesterday we did a tour of Taipei. Another of Judy's friends met us in the lobby of the hotel ( Tokyo International Hotel) and took us all around the city. We took a bus to the subway and then took the subway to the gondola. What a huge gondola! I think it had 4 stops up the mountain and we took it all the way to the top. It has a really nice view and tons of tea houses at the top. We spent some time up there and had ice cream and tea looking down the side of the mountain... Breathtaking! Then back on the train and we went to the Father of China's memorial. It reminded me of the Lincoln Memorial in DC. The grounds are beautiful, it has a large garden in front and there was a festival going on when we were there. From there we walked over to Taipei 101. This was at one point the tallest building in Asia, now I think Singapore has that honor. We had dinner with Judy's friend's family at a restaurant that is know for it's dumplings... It was great and there is a huge window so we could watch them making the dumplings. 8 pushes with the roller to make the dough flat then stuff them and 18 folds in the dumpling. Everyone is very precise. Again I went to bed exhausted, but Bubba, Judy and Lynne went out for foot massages. Lynne's feet hurt and Judy has bruises.... Does that sound like fun?
Today we took a private van to an old gold mining town and a place called 9 families. It was very interesting. The mine has not been in use for decades, but they have a mining museum, so it is very interesting. One of the signs said that during WWII the Japanese used British POW's to mine the gold under torturous conditions. Yet another sad fact from that war. The 9 families town was built when the Emperor visited. There are traditional Japanese style houses on the property and of course wonderful views of the ocean. Of course the day was also full of lots of food. I'm not sure how many times we ate again today, and the day ended with Judy's friends and an enormous table full of Taiwanese foods. We ate and ate and ate. All in all, it was a great trip, and hopefully we will come back again!
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