My father and I saw the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre perform at the National Theatre...I found the program very modern and unexpected, more like performance art with spoken word than dance.

National Theatre of Taipei
The theatre is part of the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, a huge park in Taipei. We took the students to visit on an afternoon field trip.

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall
Ching Ming Day was during our trip, so I had a brief respite from the kids. My father and I visited relatives in Taichung, in central Taiwan. My cousin took us to a restaurant where each table was in its own structure, connected by walkways and surrounded by koi ponds. She said the restaurants in Taichung are known more for their decor and ambiance than for their food.

Feeding the koi after lunch
We saw many interesting and cute restaurants as we walked along a park near the art museum, where I also spied these stone benches that look like eclairs!

Eclairs dot the park
After returning north to Taipei, I went to see Taipei 101, currently the tallest building in the world. It was a grey foggy day, so I did not go to the top. A student told me each night of the week the building lights up different colors, like a rainbow. So I looked each night, and it does!

Taipei 101, sans spire
During a break in the rain, we went to Danshui with my aunt. The town runs along the Danshui River, with lots of tasty goodies and big crowds of people. We took the ferry across the river to Bali, where there were many fishing boats.

Boats along the Danshui River
The sun was setting when we took the ferry back to Danshui.

The witching hour
The students had a field trip to Yang Ming Shan National Park. Unfortunately it was a windy, rainy day. We saw several calla lily plantations.

Yang Ming Shan
The children also visited the National Palace Museum and the park next to it. I saw very little of the collection as I was chaperoning students. Next time, perhaps...

Blue roofed-buildings are the museum
There is so much more to do and see in Taiwan...this visit definitely made me want to go back again. And of course, there's the food!