Day 24 - Visiting The Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum, The Long Walk South In Taiwan
Day 24 - Visiting The Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum, The Long Walk South In Taiwan
Today was National Day, a major holiday in Taiwan.
We had booked two nights in the city of Beigang, and now we had a choice to make.
Either we would walk to our next hotel, located only 14 kilometers south of Beigang, and then return to Beigang for the night, or we would spend the day sightseeing.
We decided that since we had spent yesterday seeing most of the sights of Beigang, we would walk today.
As we stepped out of the hotel in the morning, we were greeted by cool, pleasant air and we were delighted to see some clouds.
But by 8:30 in the morning, the temperatures had reached 90 degrees, and the sun was shining bright and warm.
The plan that I had made for today was to walk in reverse.
Instead of walking from Beigang to Taibao city, we would take a bus to Taibao city, visit the National Museum and then walk back to Beigang.
That way we would not have to rely on the return bus schedule, and we’d be free to walk as late as we wanted.
The National Museum is the southern branch of the amazing National Museum in Taipei, which houses treasures and art from centuries ago.
We have great memories of the day we spent in the National Museum in Taipei, exploring the art, sitting in front of the glorious gardens, eating vegetarian dim sum dishes with pots of high mountain tea.
We bought art books there to use as inspiration for my paintings and as souvenirs.
This southern branch is a modern architectural museum situated inside a vast landscape of gardens, lakes teeming with fish and black geese, and lawns covered with sculptures.
Inside, there is a huge amount of space equally devoted to blank walls, big elevations of glass, and exhibition spaces.
We arrived by 10 am, and went to the museum cafe to see if we could get something to eat, as we hadn’t eaten any breakfast.
We chose the vegetarian hot-pot but were told that food would only be served after 11 am.
We went to look at the exhibits until then.
When we returned to the cafe, it was packed full of people already enjoying their hot pots.
The waitress said that we must wait as there were so many people in line and many had already made reservations, because it was a holiday and they were very busy.
Normally, I would just accept her explanation.
After all, like Jules said, it was just a hot pot, but I really wanted to try it here and we hadn’t brought any food with us.
I insisted and the waitress said that she would ask a couple who were sitting at a table for six, if they would be willing to share their table.
They said yes, and we sat on the other side of the table and enjoyed a delicious vegetarian hot pot with a variety of fresh mushrooms, vegetables and a chestnut jelly, which was delicious.
We spent about four hours in the museum, enjoying the exhibitions devoted to the Ryukyu islands, the tea ceremony throughout Asia, painting in Calligraphy, Buddhist sculpture and artifacts and Textiles of Asia.
Everything was curated beautifully, with great attention to detail.
Because it was a national holiday, the museum was packed with young families and tour groups. When we had finished seeing the exhibits, it was already too late to make the walk back.
We decided that we would do the walk tomorrow morning after we checked out of the hotel in Beigang.
We caught a bus back and walked to the Starbucks in Beigang.
At night, we enjoyed the cool breeze as we walked to the nearby laundromat to do our laundry.
Maybe autumn will arrive after all…
It would be so nice to feel cold….
In our room, we ate a simple dinner of the bread that we had bought in the museum, with fresh avocado and tea.
With love,
Tali
Today’s Stats:
Steps - 8,031
Daily Distance - 5 km.
Total Distance To Date - 355 km
