Danielle Alio

Today we got the opportunity to tour Taipei with Father Joyalito and visit important landmarks in Taiwan’s history. Two memorials we visited were the the Sun Yat Sen Memorial and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial.

Both of these memorials have Honor Guards present 24/7 who are specially selected from the military. What I mean by specially selected is that they all must look as identical (weight, height, skin color, etc.) as possible because they march in perfect formation. Both of these memorials look very similar to the US Lincol Memorial in that they are huge statue of each man sitting on a chair.

After we visited the memorial, we went to a restaurant to try Peking Duck. One of the foods I tried there was a rice cake filled with a certain type of red bean and then rolled in seaseme seeds. It is viewed as a dessert because it is very sweet. We then went to visit the Taipei 101 building (one of the tallest in the world).

We also got to experience the underground subway and underground subway malls. It is amazing how clean everything looks and how efficient the underground system (trains and the stores) seem to run. Yesterday, we actually had the opportunity to try a knife massage in the underground of the main trainstation. It lasted about 20 minutes and looked like the masseuse was preparing the customer to be cooked (pictures coming soon). I was scared to try it at first but eventually did it. It actually felt good and it was a great way to experience a famous Asian massage.

In the evening we attended a mass said by Father Paul and it was said in Mandarin. I think this was my first time attending a mass in another language but it is amazing how one can still understand what is going on. It was a great experience and we felt very welcomed by the congregation.

For the past few nights we got to experience the night markets in Taipei. They are very crowded with all kinds of stores, massage places, food stands, etc. The walk ways were crowded with both people and mopeds trying to zoom by. We all got foot massages at the market which felt amazing after walking so much. We also visited snake ally where people can buy snakes to eat. It is said to be good for you but that wan’t enough for me to try it.

We are now finished with our time in Taiwan and we are on our way to Seoul, Korea. Taiwan is amazing and I’m so grateful to have had the chance to meet some really great people who now have a special place in my heart. ♥ To see pictures of our journey visit the Explore My Mission Blog.