Experiences

Martyrs' Shrine, Taipei was built in honor of about 330,000 men who had sacrificed their lives while trying to overthrow the Ching Dynasty. military officer on guard at the entrance the officers marched in.. until they reached the Shrine.. then they turned around and did some performance with their rifles. super reflection.. a short clip of their performance Actually it was their ceremonial changing of the guards..

The National Palace Museum is an art museum in Taipei. It is the national museum of the Republic of China and has a permanent collection of over 677,687 pieces of ancient Chinese artifacts and artworks, making it one of the largest in the world. Our tour guide led us to the museum and showed us some of the things in display. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures. Anyway, I found these two pictures from wikipedia. The "Jadeite Cabbage" is a piece of jadeite carved into the shape of a cabbage head, and with a close look at the naked eye, a large and a small grasshopper will appear camouflaged in the leaves. The ruffled semi-translucent leaves attached is due to the masterful combination of various natural colour of the jade to recreate the colour variations of a real cabbage. The "Meat-shaped Stone", a piece of jasper, a form of agate, the strata of which are cleverly used to create a likeness of a piece of pork cooked in soy sauce.The dyed and textured...

Can you spot the "dragon and tiger pagodas"? This temple faces directly opposite the dragon and tiger pagodas. view of the pagodas from afar front view of the pagodas the entrance at the dragon's mouth the exit at the tiger's mouth Our tour guide told us to enter the dragon's mouth and come out from the tiger's mouth. Instead, we entered the dragon's mouth and climbed up its pagoda. Initially, I just climbed up the first floor but I couldn't get a good view from there. So, I climbed further up and I was glad that I did it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have witnessed such beautiful view from atop. view fr the top front of the dragon's pagoda view from the top right side of the dragon's pagoda Finally, we hurriedly ran down the steps of the pagoda. When we exited from the tiger's mouth, our tour guide was already waiting and asked jokingly, "Did I ask you to climb up?"

Isn't it amazing to see a colorful statue of Hsuan Tien Shangti? the steps towards it.. the spacious pathway.. so gigantic.. looking away from Hsuan Tien Shangti.. Actually we just walked past it. We wanted to see the dragon and tiger pagodas which were just a short distance away.

How I wish I could see these flowers everyday! lovely pink blended in red soft texture of the petals yellow with some shade of orange

After much admiration of the Buddhas at Fo Quang Shan, we made an exit. It was interesting to be able to see more statues along the exit. we were walking towards the exit just amazed at the different poses of the statues more statues view of the temple cute statues this tiger statue looks fierce and ready to pounce At the sides of the exit were Chinese writings biding us goodbye and hoping to see us again. After a short wait, our bus came and we left the place with a feeling of satisfaction.

Fo Guang Shan ( Buddha's Light Mountain) is an international Chinese Mahayana Buddhist monastic order based in Taiwan, and one of the largest Buddhist organizations. the map the entrance cute Buddha statues far view of the standing Buddha The standing Buddha represents the 36 metre high (132 ft) statue of Amitabha Buddha on the monastery grounds. Kuan Yin bronze figures lining along the pathway of the temple there are 72 bronze figures altogether The Four Verses of Fo Guang Shan May palms in every world be joined in kindness, compassion, joy and generosity. May all beings find security in friendship, peace and loving care. May calm and mindful practice give rise to deep patience and equanimity. May we give rise to spacious hearts and humble thoughts of gratitude. the standing Buddha "May the Buddha's Light shine upon the ten directions. May the Dharma stream continuously flow towards the five great continents." wikipedia the temple

When we reached the Dream Mall, we immediately proceeded to look for Sony. It was a sheer luck as this Sony section was just near the entrance. Quickly we looked out for a salesperson. We approached this particular guy. He seemed very concerned and kind when he learned of our misfortune. He immediately got hold of a new Sony camera charger and opened it to see if it fitted my battery. Gosh! It fitted. As we were only allowed a mere 35 minutes at this mall, I had to make do. So while waiting for my battery to be charged, we went window-shopping. When the time came, we went to collect my battery and expected him to say a price. Surprisingly, he said, "It's free! No problem". I felt that my world was saved and this good samaritan had made my utmost mission accomplished. Thanking him, we quickly got out of the mall as our bus would be waiting for us anytime. Regrettably, I did not even ask for his name. Well, should he ever come across this post, I would like to say a very wa...