Day 3: 11/21/23 - Probably too much walking if we're being honest
Taipei's north gate, one of the four gates remaining from the 1884 wall that surrounded the city.
Ornate dragons on the roof of the Longshan temple. Originally built in 1738, it has been destroyed by natural disasters and accidental bombings. If all the parts are replaced, is it still the ship of Theseus?
An attendant adjusts the uniform of a guard in the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial main hall. After an elaborate 10 minute changing of the guard ceremony, they stand motionless for the remainder of the hour. We didn't even see a blink.
The original Din Tai Fung location (only does take out, but sit down at a location around the corner!)
Probably too much walking if we're being honest
Despite now being on the opposite side of the globe (not quite, https://www.geodatos.net/en/antipodes/united-states/saint-paul) our internal clocks were still expecting nasal a's and uff da's. We woke up at 7 am (5 pm), had breakfast (dinner) at 8:30 am (6:30 pm), and hit the streets by 9:30 am (7:30 pm). We started with a personal history tour: seeing some old haunts of Karen's when she taught here many moons ago. We continued on, catching a couple of sections of what long ago was the wall that surrounded Taipei. We continued towards the Longshan temple, but were distracted by the national botanical gardens. Despite our proximity to our original destination, we decided to head back to the hotel for a break, our jet lag beginning to catch up to us.
We took the metro (which is lovely) directly back to the Longshan temple. Walked back through the botanical gardens (yes, they are that good). Walked to the Chiang-Kai Shek memorial, and ended our day at Din Tai Fung. Returning to the hotel by 6:30 pm (4:30 am), we boldly envisioned a night of swimming and drinks at the bar, which became drink at the bar.
Malayan night heron in a small park we walked through. So many new birds!
Frog payphone, no further explanation required
Woo public transit!
More detail of Longshan temple roof.