Today was full of a lot of touristy goodness! We got an early start and went to the Palace Museum in Taipei. The museum was pretty cool and we had a very animated tour guide that spoke clear English. My favorite part was seeing the silk tapestries from the Sung Dynasty. They were beautiful and looked almost like they had been painted. At the end of the tour, we bought a couple typical gift shop gifts and headed to our next destination - Lung-Shan Temple. Unfortunately I do not know much about Buddhism, so I enjoyed watching the prayers and worship and learning as much as I could from the little pamphlet I received.
Then it was Dragon Boat Festival Time!! The festival is celebrated on the 5th day of the lunar month and is one of the major Chinese holidays. The weather was ideal for enjoying an outdoor festival. The boat races were similar to crew races in America but there were some major differences, obvi. The coxswain coordinated the strokes by beating a giant drum and there was also a person perched on the front of the boat whose job was to grab their designated flag as they crossed the finish line. The boats were very colorful and ornate and had a giant dragon head on the front. There was also food, music, and games, just like you would expect at any other festival. Unfortunately the food did not consist of caramel apples, hotdogs, or funnel cakes. A nice dinner and a stroll through the night market ended our wonderful day.
I just want to say how much I've enjoyed the group I'm with. There are only eleven of us on the trip and it is the perfect number - there are not so many people that people begin to form cliques. We do everything together and everyone is so friendly. We've truly formed a great bond and I know these are friends that I will always keep in touch with.
My goal was to be in bed 13 min ago so I'm signing off. Good night to all! Or should I say good morning...
