National Palace Museum 國立故宮博物院

The second day in Taiwan was another rainy day so we all headed to the National Palace Museum. The museum contains over 600,000 pieces of ancient Chinese artifacts and artwork. Click here for a virtual tour of some of the galleries. There is much to see throughout the three floors of the large museum. When we went, it was so crowded that we saw more people than exhibits!

A very small portion of the tour groups that had come to the museum that day!

We started with a free tour but quickly decided we wanted to go at our own pace and went off on our own.  Unfortunately we were unable to take pictures inside the museum.

Walking from the street to the museum grounds

just past the gate, headed toward the museum

The beautiful path we walked from the street to the museum entrance

taken from in front of the building on the side of the museum, looking toward the main building

I don't know who this statue is of

When we finished touring the museum it had just stopped raining so we walked around the small garden area next to the museum and ate lunch. The garden has a very minimal fee to enter, but is free with a museum ticket which cost NTD $250 (around $8 USD). You can also purchase a discounted combination ticket for other museums as well as to the Taipei 101 Observatory (though you may be only be able to purchase that at the observatory ticket counter).

The reason the bridge to the gazebo is crooked is because it was believed that evil spirits can only walk in a straight line

The fish were literally jumping out of the water to catch the food being thrown at them!

We next headed to Beitou to visit the Thermal Valley and relax at some hot springs. Pictures coming soon..
Read the summary of our first few days in Taiwan here!

National Palace Museum  國立故宮博物院
Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Transportation: Bus
Cost: NTD $250
Website: www.npm.gov.tw/en/

Getting Started in Taiwan

I don't have time for the full happenings over our flight and the past 2 days here in Taiwan, but I will give you a quick overview.

After a short stopover in Japan, we finally landed in Taiwan late Tuesday night so there was no time to do anything other than get settled in and get some sleep.

Wednesday was raining the entire day so we went to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, which in addition to being a memorial to Sun Yat-sen for being the first President and Founder of The Republic of China (Taiwan), it is a museum as well.
Every hour there is a changing of the guards by his statue located inside the building.

We went through the area fairly quick until we came to one of the special exhibit rooms showcasing embroidery. Besides having gorgeous embroidered patterns (no photos allowed), there was an embroidery arts-&-crafts area set up. You had to sign up a few days in advance, however since many people did not come because of the rain we were able to join!

The rest of the afternoon we were busy picking up another friend and getting her settled in and then falling asleep before we even realized.

Thursday was another rainy day so we all headed to the National Palace Museum.

We started off with a tour but quickly decided we wanted to go at our own pace and went off on our own. When we finished touring the museum it had just stopped raining so we walked around the small garden area next to the museum and ate lunch.

After the National Palace Museum we headed toward the Beitou area which is full of natural hot springs. It was so amazing to be there and feel the warmth coming from the springs. We also stepped into the small Hot Springs Museum which was built by the Japanese as bathhouse.

 We continued down the road to the Beitou Thermal Valley, otherwise known as Hell Valley.

As it was getting dark, we went to Shilin Night Market and walked around. We also chanced upon one of the toilet themed restaurants called Modern Toilet. The seats are toilets and the tables are bathtubs and they may even serve the food in mini toilet bowls!

That pretty much concludes our first few days. We are looking forward to the nicer weather that is coming. Stay tuned!

More pictures of the National Palace Museum here!