Fruit market and calligraphy exhibition

In the morning we walked to the flower market, just opposite the jade market I visited last week.

Some European food for sale, interesting to see prosciutto, salami and mortadella from Italy, and Iberico from Spain.

Lots of flowers but also wood carvings, tableware, exotic (for me) fruits.

Afterward, it was time to head back to the Sun Yat-Sen memorial for the calligraphy exhibition we heard about would be taking place today.

As we arrive we are welcomed by a lively scene of families, elderly people, some with their carers,

A whole huge room of the memorial is reserved for this event.
first children, then high school students followed by professors and finally masters. It is amazing to see all this talent pooled together to honor and perpetuate the ancient art of Chinese calligraphy.

At 5 o'clock sharp the staff start packing everything up, seats tables...

As I see some blank paper, a brush and an inkpot that have not been packed away yet, I call my wife and she paints my Chinese name on a white scroll in beautiful calligraphy!

In addition to local calligraphers, there are many participants from Japan and the United States.

As we are about to leave we met Mr. Zheng, a slim and tall Chinese who was born in Malaysia but emigrated to California in 1980. He is an active member of the American Association for calligraphy...

His main hobby however is painting and he's also been performing Peking opera for over 30 years.

His brother lives in London, his sister in Australia but his 98-years-old mother is still in Malaysia. They try to get all together with her as often as possible!

Before parting ways he wants to take a picture together, then the official photographer of the event comes up and wants to shoot us too, what an honor!

CKS Memorial and stroll around Taipei

CKS Memorial

Visit to an important landmark of the city of Taipei, whatever you think of the history behind the man.

The most obviously awesome sight is the change of the guard in front of the huge statue of CKS sitting between flags of the Republic of China. It takes over ten minutes for the procedure to complete, and there always are lots of people watching.

A highly controversial man he was: the museum takes you through the various phases of his life, from a traditional Chinese background to world leader dealing with Churchill and Roosevelt.

His father died when he was very young and he grew up attached to his mother.

He was married off to his first wife at age 14! Much later he met Soong Meili, the woman of his life..... but still had a concubine in traditional Chinese royal fashion!

CKS car

The exhibition lavishes praise on him but I would not say there is a
cult of personality. his political and military failures and defeats are also covered in text and photos.

There are other art exhibitions in the mausoleum, one about Andy Worhol and another by YawaiMeika, a young (born 1990) lady painter who belongs to an aboriginal tribe in Taiwan.

We also try our luck at the concert hall and theater but there is not much going on, the next concert is in a week's time! perhaps because of the New year celebrations, oh well.

A pleasant walk around the mausoleum, lots of people walking around, children playing, elderly watching on wheelchairs, it is a weekend family day out despite a cloudy and windy day. Many exotic plants, the grapefruit flowers gift us the most intense scent of the afternoon.

Lunch at a simple but friendly eatery just outside the memorial complex, Steamed chicken, pork intestines. Shared formica tables, paper napkins and metal chopsticks which I don't really like, too slippery. I later noticed packs of single-use wooden chopsticks but they are for takeout clients. As I was thinking to ask for permission to use them a Deliveroo driver came by to pick up an order.

pork intestines

On the way to the hotel, past lots of lit paper balloons for CNY,  a well-deserved foot and body massage, a popular feature of central Taipei, 1200 ntd, 1 hour foot and 1 hour body.