Dec. 6: Sun Yat-Sen and Chiang Kai-Shek Memorials

Yesterday, we visited two of the most important memorial’s regarding modern Taiwanese history: the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial and the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial.

First we stopped at the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial which is fairly close to Dandrich’s parent’s apartment. Sun Yat-Sen is revered in both Taiwan and China. He is often called the Father of Modern China. In 1912 Sun Yat-Sen established the Republic of China after ending centuries of dynasty rule.

The memorial has a distinctive yellow roof that can be recognized from blocks away. Walking through the main entrance one meets a large statue of Sun Yat-Sen. The memorial hall also holds exhibits on painting and calligraphy. Surrounding the hall are beautiful gardens full of additional sculptures of Sun Yat-Sen.

Chiang Kai-Shek helped the allied powers defeat Japan during World War II, who until that time occupied Taiwan. After Japan’s defeat Taiwan was returned to the Republic of China. At this time, Chiang Kai-Shek was the nationalist leader of the Republic of China after Sun Yat-Sen’s death in 1925. He fought against the encroaching Communist party in China. However, eventually in 1949 Mao Zedong declared the People’s Republic of China and Chiang Kai-Shek along with his army and many other nationalists fled to Taiwan. Chiang Kai-Shek vowed to one day recapture mainland China. This is the reason for the modern day strain between China and Taiwan.

The Chiang Kai-Shek memorial seems even more impressive than the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial. The memorial hall is much taller and sits atop a large series of steps. Sitting in front of the hall are two beautiful buildings; the National Theater and the National Concert Hall. Inside the memorial hall is a huge statue of Chiang Kai-Shek. Underneath the steps to the memorial is a very nice exhibit full of Chiang Kai-Shek memorabilia that traces the history of China and Taiwan during his life.

Last time I visited the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial the memorial hall was closed by Taiwan’s Green Party. The Green Party, whose base mostly consists of those living on the island before Chiang Kai-Shek and other Nationalists retreated here, does not revere Chiang Kai-Shek in the same manner as the rest of the Taiwanese. They view him more as a cruel dictator. Luckily, since 2007 they have opened the hall back up to visitors.

As a snack we ate an interesting dish. The base of the bowl was shaved ice covered with a brown sugar sauce covered with a jello made from grass. On top of the jello were sugared green peas, lotus seeds, and bubbles from bubble tea. This is especially popular in the humid summer months as a refreshing snack.

First Day in Taipei

Today was our first full day in Taiwan. We walked around Taipei for a while in the early afternoon to get some exercise after sitting on a plane for the entire previous day. Later, we drove north of the City of Taipei to Xinbei County. First we stopped at the National Taiwan University of the Arts.

The school sits on the side of a mountain so the campus is much hillier than back at Ohio State. Being an art school there were some pretty cool statues scattered around. Also, there was a water buffalo grazing in one of the courtyards. Yeah, not sure about how to explain that.

After this, we headed over to Danshui which is an area around the Danshuei River near where it opens up to the ocean. The area is pretty and full of restaurants and such to attract visitors.

We ate at a Japanese-style restaurant where you barbeque your own food on a little grill right at the table. For up to two hours the waitress will bring you unlimited amounts of food to cook. They bring you all kinds of different foods: chicken, beef, pork, several kinds of fish, lamb, bacon, green peppers, onions, and blood cake, which is rice formed with blood. The blood cake is often hailed as Taiwan’s weirdest food. I tried some, and it didn’t taste too bad, but all the same, knowing what it was made it hard for me to eat more than a bit or two. I was most surprised by how good the fish tasted. It didn’t have a ‘fishy’ taste at all. I also really enjoyed the lamb which tasted similar to the beef but a little drier. 

The best part about the meal was that even though we ate a lot of food (we only lasted one hour instead of two) I didn’t feel ‘stuffed’ the way you do after eating at most restaurants back home. Our dinner had very few, if any, carbs so it was a filling, yet healthy and light meal. It’s also a lot of fun to grill your own food. At this point it was dark so we walked around and took some pretty pictures of the area at night before heading home.

As we were walking back to the car we passed by this:

Which Dandrich told me is something like a campaign headquarters for a Taiwanese politician. In Taiwan there are two parties nicknamed the green party and the blue party. The major difference in policies stems from the relationship with China. The green party favors full independence and autonomy from China while the blue party favors unification with China on Taiwan’s terms. I am not sure who the person is or even what party it is for but I thought it was interesting all the same. 

Leaving on a Jet Plane

After twenty-six hours in transit, Dandrich and I finally arrived in Taipei last night. It was a long twenty-six hours. Thursday we stayed at a hotel at the Detroit Airport since our flight left from there at six o'clock in the morning on Friday. The hotel was nice but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures while we were there.


Our first flight was from Detroit to Houston. I had to sit by an ogre-looking woman whose shirt only covered half of her bulging beer-gut. At least this was only a three-hour flight. The Houston Airport, which is named after President Bush, was not my favorite airport. Dandrich and I each ate a pasta salad there but the food options were severely limited. 

Waiting at the Houston Airport

After that we had a fourteen hour flight to Tokyo. This time we were blessed by the airplane gods as the overly tall guy who was supposed to seat beside us was moved elsewhere to accommodate his huge size, meaning we got spread out over three seats for the entire flight. Nevertheless the flight was long and I was happy to get off the plane and walk around for little bit. 

During our layover in Tokyo we ate some sushi that was delicious before boarding our final flight to Taiwan. This flight was only four hours but it felt the longest I suppose since we were so close to getting to our destination. I was so relieved to finally get to Taiwan and meet Dandrich's parents at the airport. We snacked on a cake once we got back to the apartment that had a frozen apple and fruit slushie in the middle. It was pretty good. 

I'm pretty excited because I've almost completely adjusted to jet lag already. I woke up this morning around 9:30 am which is about when I normally wake up at home. This means you can look for more updates to come quickly! 

Announcement: December Plans

Hey all! Tomorrow, I will be leaving for the rest of the year, which is really only a month at this point. Where will I be going? That's a great question. And the answer is . . . drum roll please . . . Taiwan. I have been to Taiwan once before, but this time I hope to try more of the food and culture. The first time I went, several years ago, I was shocked by the completely different cuisine and I didn't try as much as I would have liked, looking back on things now. I plan on implementing a rule I learned from my Girl Scout days: To try at least three bites of everything.


We have some excursions planned and we'll undoubtedly have many unplanned adventures as well. I will have lots of exciting posts while I am away so check back often! I have posted a few of my favorite pictures from my last trip to Taiwan to whet your appetite while I spend the next three days in transit.