So we actually took a well deserved rest today and decided to go to Taichung (pronounced Taijung) for the day. We thought the museum of fine art would be a good place to go, but finding it was a little challenging. Taipei was super tourist friendly with MRT and bus maps in English. Taichung? Not so much! Google maps is pretty good at telling you which buses to take, but not so good with what time the bus will arrive or how long it will take.
We had a lazy morning and got out of DaJia on the 10:30 154 bus, which took about an hour to get to Taichung. This was a huge improvement in the 168 which we took last Thursday to do some syllabus specific training. That bus took around 2 hours to get there! On the way there we saw some Christmas decorations!! What the...!! Apparently Christmas never dies in Taiwan! I asked a kid in class last week what the big winter holiday was in Taiwan, expecting "Chinese New Year" as the answer. I got Christmas!
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| Christmas in March...really?! |
We then had to find the bus stop for the 56 bus which would take us to the museum, except it was a few blocks down from the train station. So we walked down the road past a market and eventually saw some buses at a stop. But there was no 56 on the signs so we decided we were at the wrong stop and facing the wrong direction. We crossed the road and went to another stop just in time to catch the correct bus.
There was a mother with two young kids who got on at the same stop. We smiled at the kids and said hello. The little girl was super shy and wouldn't look away from her mom's jersey. Random comment to make, you say? Perhaps. Google had told me that it would take us 7 stops to get to the museum... it lied. At about stop 10, we got off the bus to get our bearings. We had gotten a tourist map at the train station which we whipped it out only to find that we were about 5 blocks away from the museum! We started to walk. It seems like you get the best feel for a city that way. Taichung is another big city. But seems to have wider spaces than Taipei. That is my impression from my first few hours in the city, perhaps it will change.
It took us 20 minutes or so to find the cultural centre which was adjacent to the museum. We asked some directions and got pointed to the museum. The photos below are from the gardens surrounding the museum, which seems to double as a park for families to come and have a fun Sunday afternoon. As we walked toward the museum entrance, guess who we saw! The lady with the shy little girl! We had gotten off the bus a few stops early. Oh well, we are certainly getting our exercise.
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| Some cool looking calligraphy...translations anyone? |
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| Renalda next to a voluptuous sculpture |
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Write and Draw in the Fine Arts Museum
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| The rose cafe - beautiful roses hanging from the ceiling |
The museum itself was quite nice. Entrance was free and there were a lot of pictures and art works, although many of the galleries were empty. There was some very nice senior high school art depicting Chinese New Year. Saying farewell to the Dragon and welcoming in the Year of the Horse.
Mostly it feels like the art on display was quite peaceful. Although one piece I remember, which was a critique of the USA, was entitled something like "The good and the bad." It had images of the Apolo re-entry vehicle and doctors performing surgery with a mushroom cloud in the background and war ravaged landscapes all around. Very thoughtful.
Another piece which took me back home looked like a landscape out of the little Karoo. It looked like a sunset, with a mountain in the foreground which was dark blue and the last sunlight shining on another range in the background painting it bright pink. Renalda and I both stopped and said "Wow!"
There was a paid exhibit, but at the moment we are still living on saved money so we will rather keep the more expensive outings for when we have a salary.
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| Lunch at the musuem - lamb curry combo about R70 to share yummy |
Finally we looked for a late lunch and found the museum restaurant. We shared a lamb curry combo meal, which was super tasty with the ever present "quing tsai."
We then headed home slowly and took a 168 which we have now vowed never to do again as it is SOOO slow. We will do the train from now on. It feels like Taichung is actually very far away, when it is probably only 30km, but getting there by public transport takes forever.
And now after a rest we are ready for week 3 at Hess. Let's hope it will be an easier one!
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