As we head out to the Far East, Tom is wishing he could fly us there himself. Maybe next time!
First stop- Taipei, Taiwan; a beautiful and extremely organized city, as you can see by this intersection. Traffic stops in all 4 directions and then the pedestrians have at it, heading out on the diag. It’s usually much more crowded since this is, after all, China. I think they were at the Olympics.
Thumbs Up!
It’s a jungle out there. This was blocking my way along the sidewalk, as I made my way to the Mall. I was undaunted.
Taipei 101
Still the tallest building in the world, until Dubai finishes their venture. What is cool about this building is that it is full of Chinese symbolism. Each cube in the tower represents a gold ingot, there are 8 of these ingots, and 8 floors within each ingot. 8 = success. A rise in success means rising to a higher floor in the building; there are 4 coins on each side of the building at floor 40; and on and on. This building not only symbolizes the success of a city transitioning into the 21st century, it symbolizes their culture.
Onto Hong Kong….our first view of Hong Kong- this is not from the airplane; it’s from our hotel room! Best room ever. We would have had great memories if we had never left this room! Plus, we are pretty hooked on the “LOST” TV series and we were working our way through Season 1 at that time. Some tourists we are…
Okay, we finally left our room….just so we could have some sushi and wow, was it every cheap, like a sixth of the normal cost. So Tom was feeling adventurous and even tried the green tea. The hot water came out of spigots plumbed into every table alongside bottomless canisters of powdered green tea. So now, we are energized and ready to explore.
Thankfully, the Chinese work hard to keep the American tourists alive.
And welcome us....
Bruce Lee was even giving lessons near Kowloon Bay. For free.
Hong Kong is a city of lights and laser shows.
and awesomely huge Rubik’s cubes......
The market bazaars were bizarre and an intriguing cultural phenomenon:
The Bird Garden is in actuality an outdoor bird warehouse selling vast quantities of beautiful song birds. The quality of the song from a man's bird distinguishes the man himself.
And the goldfish Markets. Too bad we weren’t able to get photos of some of the fish that looked human, complete with eyes, nose and mouth. The shop keeper practically pounced on us. Those little guys just have to have been the inspiration for Finding Nemo.
and I guess this is where you go when the heat gets unbearable and you need a midday rest?
