Cycle Taiwan Day 2 - Taipei It was a wet day no cycling but a city walk about.

The rain has dampened our plan to ride together with the local Brommies it was called off and we were very disappointed. Many friends told us that we have visited Taiwan at a wrong time. Nevertheless we opted for an alternative plan. We found out that Taiwan people are very friendly and helpful. The lady in black tee shirt took the liberty to show us an eatery place in the early morning despite she was going to work on a different route.

We had a typical Taiwanese breakfast where I had a bun with pork, bits of deep fried cake and a cup of local red tea.

Our first breakfast in Taiwan.

Taipei Tianhou Temple (台北天后宮) during the day with a narrow front at Chengdu Road.

Fong Da Coffee 蜂大咖啡. Established in 1956, Fong Da is located in the popular Ximending area and operates as a cafe, roastery and retail front for quality coffee beans. It is particularly famous for introducing iced coffee to the people of Taipei. We were here to meet our local friend, no ride but we shall have coffee instead.

Sampling the coffee and biscuits at Fong Da Coffee. Frankly speaking I prefer our Malaysian kopi "O" kosong kaw .... hehehe.

With Pei-Hsuan in front of Fong Da Coffee. We chat over coffee and we hope we can still ride again on our return leg. Till then we shall see each other again.

Ximen Station is near where we were staying and off we went on a walking exploration in Taipei.

Inside of Ximen Station where we will be frequenting it during this trip.

Here we were at the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (中正紀念堂), a landmark and tourist attraction erected in memory of Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China. It is located in Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan.

The Memorial Hall is white with four sides. The roof is blue and octagonal, a shape that picks up the symbolism of the number eight, a number traditionally associated in Asia with abundance and good fortune. Two sets of white stairs, each with 89 steps to represent Chiang's age at the time of his death, lead to the main entrance. The ground level of the memorial houses a library and museum documenting Chiang Kai-shek's life and career and exhibits related to Republic of China-era Chinese history, and Taiwan's history and development. The upper level contains the main hall, in which a large statue of Chiang Kai-shek is located, and where a guard mounting ceremony takes place in regular intervals.

This Guard of Honour is from the navy in blue. Every four months the guarding will take turn. Maybe next will be the army then air force and back to the navy. Army wears green uniform, navy wears black in summer and white in winter, and the air force wears blue.

The crowd gathered around the main hall witnessing the changing of guards as the highlight of the visit.

Our next itinerary was Taipei 101, we took Taipei Metro there from National Chang Kai-shek Memorial Hall which is nearly 5km away.

Before that we visited Taipei World Trade Exhibition Center for an exhibition of Taipei International Photography and Media Equipment.

Our first lunch at 101 Taipei Food Court. It was crowded and getting a table was tough. There is a lot of food to eat and you just don't know what to decide.

After the lunch we took a walk enjoying the landscape of Taipei and passed by Taipei City Hall Building.

GUNDAM docks at Uni-President Department Store Taipei.

A visit to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (國父紀念館), learning a bit of history of this great man.

As for dinner we chose a food outlet next to Family Mart near the place we stayed at Emei Street. The cans of beer were from Family Mart. We find it very odd that most eatery shops do not sell drinks and have to bring in your own.

Still feeling not satisfied with our dinner we stopped by another shop for Mee Sua (Rice Vermicelli) with pig intestine. It is the same as the popular Ah Zhong Mee Sua but over here we got a place to sit and eat. We hope that the weather for tomorrow will be good as we will start off with our tour. The news and weather forecast seen in the TV is rather discouraging. We shall see our faith. Good Night!