Hello! Today is the third day of our stay in Taipei and we begin our day with a nice sunny weather. We visited the Chiang Kai-Shek Shilin Residence Park and the National Palace Museum in the morning. In the afternoon, we had our friendly match at Ta Kuan Junior High School before proceeding to our final destination – The Shilin Night Market.
Chiang Kai-Shek Shilin Residence Park
To kick start our day, we went to a well-known park in Taipei filled with fresh air and beautiful greenery. This park has a collection of flowers and is very special at this time of the year due to the presence of different species of chrysanthemum from all over the world. We were able to witness magnificent views from mountain tops to the riverside. In addition, we were also introduced to the history of this area, formerly the residence of Chiang Kai Shek and Madame Chiang. Chiang Kai Shek planted many tall trees surrounding his residence to prevent assassins from spotting the place and subsequently attacking him.
National Palace Museum
The National Palace Museum was originally established as the Palace Museum in Beijing's Forbidden City but was later expanded and removed to Taipei in 1965. It is currently a major guardian of the Chinese artifacts and Chinese cultural items in Taiwan. It displays the world’s greatest and rarest collection of traditional Chinese art crafts and historical documents and these priceless treasures include ancient Chinese paintings and archeological ornaments, ceramics, jade and scriptures. There are more than 70000 items on display and many of them originated from Beijing’s Forbidden City. The national palace museum truly reflects the rich cultural heritage of Chinese civilization and ancient Chinese culture.
After our visit to the museum, we have learnt much valuable historic information which cannot be found in our history textbook, such as the extraction of jade. When extracting jade, it is a matter of luck, because not the entire rock will be filled with jade. Even though the surface may already be lined with jade, but the inside of the rock may not be completely filled with it. Hence it is a matter of luck and dependent on our courage to take up the bet. Furthermore, this visit made us realize the importance of preserving our past for the benefit of the future generations. This is because understanding the rich history of a country will enable us to develop a stronger sense of belonging in our country.
Ta Kuan Junior High School
It is a local high school in Taipei and we played some friendly games with their Girls’ Volleyball Team. We started by joining in their various warm-up exercises. The players were very friendly and they willingly paired with us to teach us some of these exercises. During our short breaks in between exercises, we exchanged conversations with one another and we managed to find out more about their lifestyle in school as well as the number of academic and training hours per week. It was through such interaction that we got to know each other better and thus new friendships were forged. We began our match soon after the warm-up activities. Some of the players may be younger than us, but they were a strong team for us. We played a total of 3 sets but did not manage to win any of the sets.
The scores were: 1st set: 13-25, 2nd set: 22-25 and third set 23-25.
We might be disappointed with the results but were able to get over it very quickly. Most importantly, we felt that it was a good and meaningful play because we have learnt a lot about ourselves from today’s game. In the first set, we had a shaky start as we were still adapting to the new playing environment such as the cold weather and the new court. However, we managed to improve on our scores and catch up in the subsequent sets. Through this game, we learned the importance of being flexible in our playing styles so that we can adapt to different new game situations effectively. The games also reflected the importance of perseverance as we could still be struggling after our 1st set without this imperative value in us. We have another match with Ta Kuan Junior High School again tomorrow and hopefully we are able to improve on our weaknesses and take down at least a set!
Shilin Night Market
The Shilin Night Market is very popular night spot amongst locals and tourists. It contains mostly food vendors and shops selling other nonfood items such as clothing. It was definitely an experience to remember as Singapore does not have such cool night markets. We get to observe how the street vendors operate and were able to practice the art of bargaining here! The food was extremely good, especially the famous chicken cutlet, the bubble milk tea and the mango snow ice. Such a venue is rarely available in Singapore hence it was an eye-opening experience for all of us.
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