Taiwan

Friday, September 27, 2013

Again we opted to eat breakfast at the hotel and then headed to our last destination.  We took the train to Xinwuri and then from there bought tickets on the HSRT to Taipei.  While we were at the train station waiting to board the HSRT to Taipei I called Visa to find out about our credit card.  There had been several large charges on it that definitely were not ours.  Visa had caught it and put a hold on the card.  We cancelled the card but that meant we were without it for the rest of the trip.  If Paul had not been with us we probably would have been in bad shape.  Paul had come more prepared with cash than we had.  We just presumed you could use the Visa almost everywhere.  In Taiwan, they do not accept credit cards in most places.  Cash is what is used.  Paul came to our rescue and carried us financially the rest of the trip.

We arrived in Taipei, and knew that we had booked a hotel within walking distance of the metro.  It was nice because it was so close.  We were staying at the Ulysses Hotel.  Like the others, check in time was 3:00 p.m. and we were not able to get in to our rooms.  Left our luggage and headed out.  And again Travis internet on his phone stopped working.  Something about Taipei.  He called Verizon and this time they were able to get it working for him.

Pink Pepto Bismol Ulysses Hotel

We met up with Henry and then to the mall.  It was a typical mall with a food court on the lower levels.  The old people opted to eat at Subway's the younger two decided to eat at Smash Burgers.  Travis had only been to Taipei when the missionaries would attend the temple.  It was not in his mission, so there were several things that he wanted to see and do, mostly museums.  Henry would say that we were doing the boring stuff.

We bought metro cards to make it easier to get around and then headed to the National Palace Museum in the township of Wai-shuang-xi, area of Shih-lin, Taipei.  This museum houses over 600,000 of the most precious objects from The Republic of China.    It houses the most prestige's Chinese items of art and culture in the world.  It was a Friday so we didn't think it would be to crowded.  We were wrong.  It was a Friday but it was also free day at the museum.  That was a bonus.  It is a 3 story building with a teahouse on the 4th floor and the rest the museum.  It was definitely worth seeing.  We spent hours. No pictures were allowed on the inside.

Entrance to Museum

View as we left

We met up with another friend at the metro station, Trevor.  We had met Trevor the day before just on the street in Yuanlin.  He was heading home from school while we were trying to get directions to the restaurant.  Travis, Henry, and Trevor wanted to hang out for the night so they got us back to the hotel and the three of them headed out.  We opted for KFC for dinner.  For whatever reason this was the hardest day.  Exhaustion had set in.

We were a little surprised by the rooms we had at the hotel.  They were very small with a unique bathroom set up. 

Beds face the bathroom door

Bed very close to ground. A little hard to get off in morning.

Bathroom Door

Shower head on the wall

There was a pull down curtain we used over the bathroom door which did give a little more privacy.  The entire bathroom would be wet after a shower.