Taipei, Taiwan
Today(March 26) we arrived in Taipei after a 3 hour flight. Harlan and I are jumping around a lot! Taiwan (which is an island) was once part of China but it became an independent country around 60 years ago because it didn’t want to live under Communist rule. I won’t go into the whole history, it gets a bit complicated.

We just got into our hotel after having a meal with our hosts….Some of our meals are quite elaborate. We sit at a big round table which has a gigantic turntable on it. Different dishes are placed on the turntable and each guest helps themselves to whatever they want. The dishes just keep coming. Some nights we have been offered at least 25 different things! There were some interesting dishes tonight. Jelly fish and octopus!
March 27

Harlan was at a conference today so I went exploring by myself. It was a very grey, humid and warm day They have a very modern and easy to use subway system (in English). Here are some pictures of my day. I just wandered. This building is call Taipei 101. It was the tallest building in the world for a while.













It is the year of the Ox in Asia and the city has been decorated with different sculptures of cows all over the place. Here are a few of my favorites.








These photos are taken right near the place we were staying.












One interesting sight was seeing rice paddies. Here are a couple of pictures of rice growing. Driving in from the airport, I could see lots of rice paddies in people’s backyards. It reminded me of the backyard gardens I see in Maine. Only we don’t grow rice!









By the way, I have manage to learn to say thank you in Mandarin.....or an acceptable version of it. In the three places we have visited, ‘thank you’ has been pronounced just a little different in each one. I wander around muttering "thank you" in Mandarin under my breath to practice. People probably think I am a bit nutty.

March 28
Harlan and I are on our way to Beijing again! We will only be there this afternoon and tomorrow. Another very quick trip!

Last night we had another huge meal at a restaurant. Here are some pictures that a friend took..yummy yummy food.
Fish with Red Sauce
Some of our friends, notice the turntable in the middle.
Noodles

After our very filling meal, we went to one of the night markets in Taipei. They are stores and market stalls that open in the early evening and stay open until late at night. One of the women who lives in Taipei says that she often stops by a night market on her way home from work to pick up something for dinner or to do some shopping. They have everything: small appliances, bags, shoes, fans, games, clothing, snacks!


Some of the food is interesting. There are restaurants that let you pick out what meat or fish that you want cooked. Chickens, ducks, rabbits, turtles, squid and snakes! But there are also lots of restaurants that have noodles, dumplings, fried chicken and typical Taiwanese dishes.






SNAKES!
Squid


After we left that markets we pass by an amazing temple. It was almost ready to close for the night but we got to go in. Here are some photos in a slideshow that Kaitlyn took. In the daytime, the tables are covered with offerings of food. The temple is in the middle of the city but it has a very peaceful feeling and was a lovely place to finish our evening in.