Shilin and Danshui

Good morning everyone. It is bright and early on a Monday morning, back at school for the week and I am very very tired! But I have had a fun weekend so I will tell you all about it.
On Friday night I went to a birthday party for Boris, a member of AIESEC CCLC. He cooked lots of food for us to try and I got home very late. Happy Birthday Boris :)

I was tired on Saturday morning so I accidentally slept in a bit but afterward I went to a meeting at the school and met the Scouts, the parents and the Leaders. They played games and activities; I joined in one of the activities, which was fun. Afterwards I travelled on the metro with Paulina to the National Palace Museum. It is in an area which is very beautiful, with green mountains and the weather was nice so there was blue sky and the sun (which made me very happy)! The Museum has so many things so we were there all afternoon. I liked the paintings the best, they are so delicate and the attention to detail is so painstaking; you can tell the artist spent years completing the work. Also some of the paintings are very long and give insight into the way of life for all people in that era that you might not otherwise see. I also liked the ivory carvings and statues made during the Qing and Han Dynasties, they were very intricate.

Afterwards Paulina and I went to Shilin Market, which was absolutely jam-packed with people. There were so many people there was no room on the street for cars or buses and there was no space to look at anything. It was a crazy, crazy place. But I had a very nice drink made of papaya and milk.

On Sunday I went to Danshui with Paulina and Bella. It was beautiful weather again, sunny and warm and it made me sooooooo happy... maybe you may have guessed that I don't really like winter! :)

Danshui is a beautiful place; the landscape made me think of a miniature Hong Kong crossed with a miniature San Francisco. First we went for lunch at the Red Castle, it is a beautiful old red brick building built in 1899. Lunch was tasty; I had a massive chicken and salad sandwich and some pumpkin soup. Afterwards we took some photos on the balcony; but by then fog had rolled in, obscuring the view. The fog came in so fast, this is why it reminded me of San Francisco. We then visited Fort San Domingo, first built by the Spanish and then taken control of by the Dutch. The British had control until after World War Two. Nearby is the British Consular Residence, which is the same style as the Red Castle. Both were surrounded by very nice grounds and gardens. We took some great photos...especially with some statues in the old prison at the Fort :)
We also saw the old hospital of George Mackay, who brought western medicine to Taiwan.

Following this we took the ferry to Fishermans Wharf, where we walked across the bridge and then ate a dish that is made in Danshui, called a-gei. It is rice noodles in a big fish ball. It was tasty and I was able to use the chopsticks pretty well to eat it! We visited the nightmarket in Danshui afterwards, which wasn't anywhere near as crowded as Shilin, and Bella bought a rubber chicken that makes a very loud noise. Bella I hope it is effective! And I ate one of my favourite things in Taiwan: the strawberries on a stick covered with a sugar glaze. Mmmmmm.

When we got back to Taipei i was pretty tired but I had a good day!

P.S. Oh and on Saturday before I went to the Museum Paulina introduced me to a wonderful place where you can have brunch called LaGuardia. I had an excellent tuna salad roll and there are bagels and subs with all different fillings. It was so so nice, i thought I would share my happiness with the tuna salad roll with everyone :)

P.P.S. I know there are a lot of photos but I really wanted to put more on!! Plus they are all out of order so the first photo is actually me and Paulina on the ferry in Danshui.