Today we went to the Taipei Temple. Its a beautiful temple on the outside. Sadly we weren't able to see the inside because they didn't have enough people to help us. Luckily we get to go back tomorrow. Here are some pictures in the meantime:
First glimpse of the temple behind a gas station
The church next to the temple
After the temple, we met an L.D.S woman who showed us around the church building and the bookstore that were next door. She then showed us where the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial was. On the way there she kept buying us a bunch of traditional Taiwanese food. We ate spicy noodles, red bean soup, and a fried bread dipped in bean milk. The fried bread in the bean milk was really delicious.
We then walked around the CKS Memorial for a while. Its a really pretty park. We also watched the changing of the guard at the top of the CKS memorial building
a fun tree
Chiang Kai Shek statue
changing of the guard. It was really funny to watch because some of their salutes looked like dance moves
We tried to find the National Museum of History with no luck :(It was raining (and had been raining all day) so we decided to head back to our Hostel and watch a movie and do a little bit of homework.
For dinner we went to a restaurant called Modern Toilet. Yes, you read that correctly. It is a themed restaurant and the funniest restaurant I have ever seen or heard about. They serve their food in toilet and squatter shaped dishes. hahaha It was quite the place. The tables were mad out of bathtubs and sinks and the seats were actual toilets. The wall directions were also decorated with bathroom tile and shower heads. At first I was disgusted at the thought of eating out of a toilet shaped bowl, but it wasn't bad at all. My favorite part was the ice cream that was served in a squatter :) I guess they have quite a few themed restaurants throughout Taipei. We heard there was a hospital type one where you eat off of surgical looking tables and bedpans and would like to try it out if possible. The Modern Toilet had very good food. I would eat there again for sure!
the front of the restaurant
The tables and chairs
Dinner is served
Yum!!
Dessert
So after the delicious dinner, we went out and shopped and hung around town. It was a lot of fun. We found so pretty interesting things. Here is one of the items that we saw
This is a backpack with brown and pink leopard, a pig face, lace, and a heart that has Elmo and Toy story figurines in it :) Very stylish
Thursday June 3rd
Well, today was my last non-traveling day in Taiwan. I can't believe we're already going home! My how time flies. Its going to be weird going home because I will leave Taiwan at about 4:50 pm on Friday and arrive in the states at 1:25 pm that same Friday.
So our last day in Taiwan was spent well. We went back to the Taipei temple and performed baptisms by proxy. The temple President kept asking us if it would be too much to do 20 names and we of course said it wouldn't be a problem. I told the temple President we could each do 50 names if he wanted but he wouldn't take my offer :) I think we each could have done 50 names easily (I have done it before) but I don't think the man baptizing would have held up.
After the temple the girls went to the church building next door while we waited for Kris. We were shown and seated in a conference room in one of the upper floors. While we waited in a conference room we began talking to one of the elderly missionary couples who were in the temple. We soon come to find out that this couple is over the church's public affairs for Taiwan. Therefore, they asked us if they could sort of interview us for a story. The fun thing is, is that they will submit the story to the public affairs office in Hong Kong and if the story gets chosen it will go in the Deseret News. Otherwise, I believe we will be able to find the article on the internet sometime in the future.
So after that fun and unexpected adventure, we went to the Taipei Zoo!! This was a very beautiful zoo, as most things here in Taiwan are. Everything was so green and the walkways were so gorgeous. The best thing was is that it only cost $2 American dollars to go in! The downside (if you consider this to be a downside) to the trip was that it was raining most of the time. I personally enjoyed it and thought it added to the beauty of the zoo. We saw a bunch pf animals (of course). My favorite ones were the hippos of course... but the Koala and Panda exhibits were a close second.
Koala!!
The beautiful, green pathways
An awesome looking flower along the pathway
A hedgehog that I liked
A sloth
Me and the elephants
The large crate that transfers elephants
Me trying to be look like a giraffe... My neck just couldn't quite match up to theirs
We saw these delicious crepe at one of the food stores in the zoo. It was so delicious and so worth it!!
Me getting eaten by my friend the hippopotamus... I just found out today that Hippos can swim in concrete
After the zoo, we headed over to Taipei 101. We couldn't even think of leaving Taiwan without seeing that up close :) We wanted to actually go up to the top, but decided against it because it was too expensive and none of us have that much money left since its that last day. We just walked around for a little bit instead.
Taipei 101 from afar
Taipei 101 a little closer up
The indoor mall inside Taipei 101
We were pretty worn out after all of these adventures, so we went home, ate dinner, did some last minute shopping, and packed.We tried to eat all of our favorite foods today and I got everything I wanted except for Mango Niu Nai (Niu Nai means milk).
Here is another dessert that I had today... both of them had bananas and chocolate syrup... yum! The dessert in the picture is Mien Mien ice (milky shaved ice) with toppings
This has been such an AMAZING trip!! I have learned a ton and have come to love the Taiwanese people so much. I will miss the people here and their constant generosity and loving hearts. I will also miss the fresh fruit and delicious food. We were told today that coming to Taiwan will ruin fruit for the rest of your life because it never tastes as good as it does here.... such a bummer! Well, I guess that just means I will have to come back! :P
Zia Jian!!!
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