6/23: National Palace Museum and Keelung Jioufen Historical Township

No more lecture days! We learned so much that will be incredibly useful for writing our lesson plans for Towson University, but it’s nice to have a whole day to explore now. 

Today’s breakfast was extremely disappointing, so we ended up at the amazing 7-eleven again. I got onigiri, a small triangle of rice with chicken wrapped in seaweed It’s not sushi but it’s sushi-like. It’s so good I’ve gotten a bunch of them now, they’re a great little breakfast or snack. 

The day really began with our tour guide Michelle. She’s amazing…guide, translator, bad ass negotiator, everything a good tour guide should be. We started at the National Palace Museum. This is full of items from the Forbidden City in China. When the Revolution happened, the Republic of China government allowed the Emperor to stay in the City with his family. After many years of living there, they realized he was selling off items to fund his lifestyle, so they confiscated them and turned the City into what it is today. When the ROC government fled after being kicked out and went to Taiwan, they brought a lot of it with them. This allowed a lot of historical artifacts to survive the Cultural Revolution that may not have otherwise. 

The first pictures are the view outside. This country is so amazing, the mountains are everywhere and are so lush and green. 

This photo is right after walking out to the patio and my camera lens was fogged. Every time I spent outside it’s like glasses and instantly fogs, but I didn’t know it was when I took the shot. I kind of like it though. 

This is basically the same shot with an un-fogged lens to show the difference. 

This is the museum itself. It’s made to look like a traditional Chinese building but is made of concrete. It makes temperature control a little easier. Many of the artifacts are paper, silk, and other very delicate things so they are rotated frequently and are tightly protected. 

I always love looking at the designs on the roof ridges of Asian style buildings. The colors are very different from what I saw in Korea, but the little statues are similar. Different animals, but similar placement. They’re so cute. 

This is a porcelain vase. Porcelain is baked in the kiln at a higher temperature which somehow makes it stronger and thinner than other pottery. China is well known for producing it through history. 

This is a tiger (maybe painted by someone who has never seen one up close before 🤷‍♀️) but I kind of love it. It’s so questionable but