Wow....and I thought India knew how to do hospitality!

Now I've thought for a while that the Indians had the best hospitality in the world but think I have been mistaken. Of course no one has offered to bath my feet yet (which does happen in India) but I have been treated to a foot message at a message parlor and been invited to spend next weekend with my friend and her family. I think it's a good trade off. Seriously though the people here are so genuinely friendly here that it's taken me completely off guard. I got on the wrong bus the day before yesterday with out realizing it and when the people on the bus saw me looking lost and confused they started asking me where I wanted to go and had the bus driver stop and get me on the right bus line. And that's only one example. When I was at the Wisteria teahouse the day after I arrived the girl that was sitting across from me with her friends apologized to me because she thought that she was being too loud and gave me her e-mail address. We met up the day before yesterday for tea and she has been showing me around Taipei ever since, her name is Li(Lee). She has even invited me to come and spend next weekend with her and her family, seems that they have a habit of taking in wayward travelers. I think I have been very fortunate to make such a good friend so soon after coming here!
Here are some pictures from the national palace museum, unfortunatly, though not unexpectedly, I could not take pictures inside.


















These are traditional Chinese lion statues that you all over the place in China and Taiwan, these ones were particularly nice. They are always presented in pairs like this. The one on the right with the ball under it's paw is the male and the one on the left has a lion cub under it's paw and is the female.










The museum not only has one of the larger collections of Chinese art and history but also one of the best in the world. One of the best parts is their massive collection from the Qing dynasty most of it relics from the imperial court. The Qing dynasty was in power from the early 1600s all the way up to nationalist revolution in 1911, it was the last Chinese dynasty. The Qing emporers created their own court workshop to create works of art exclusivly for the Qing imperial court. Most of the things at the museum from the Qing era were excesivily lavish and opulent. Perhaps this had something to do with why the qing dynasty was over through by the Chinese people?
Well I'm really tired now I wish I could write more as I've been doing lots of other things like going to night markets and going tea shopping, but alas it will have to wait until tomorrow.

再見！
-Nate