Today I checked out 野柳 (Yehliu), an area about an hour or so outside of Taibei ^^ It’s famous for its geological rock formations, especially for a rock that looks like a queen’s head (女王头). I was super-nervous that I was going to miss the bus stop, but luckily there were a bunch of Chinese tourists who wanted to get off there too!
The rocks were pretty spectacular and the scenery was really pretty!
So, of course, I took a picture with the typical asian peace signage ^^
Afterward, I took the bus back to the Taipei bus station and was intrigued by the architecture of a building down the street. Upon further investigation it turned out to be the National Taiwan Museum (國立臺灣博物館) and they were having a special exhibit on the Kingdom of Chu, complete with a really kickass sword from back in the day. I was totally moved by it. I’m ready to become an old-school Chinese king and brandish all my assorted crossbows, swords, etc.
To top off the day, I took a trip over to 西門町 ~ Ximen ~ and stopped at a movie theater! I was hoping to see The Tourist, but apparently it doesn’t come out until the 10th! So, I decided to see the documentary 被遺忘的時光 (The Long Goodbye). It’s a really touching look at the lives of people with Alzheimers. I’m not gonna lie, I cried multiple times.
It really makes you think about what’s precious in life and while it’s so horrible that the people in the documentary can no longer remember who they married or who their children are, it makes you really contemplate that perhaps then the best thing to do is to just help make them happy and ease their frustration. I mean, I’m no stranger to forgetting words in Chinese or Korean and hitting my head on my desk, but it doesn’t often happen to me in English, so I can imagine how completely nuts I would go if I couldn’t express anything I wanted to. I’d so blow my top. And it kills me to think that all the experiences I accumulated and knowledge, I’d lose it. I guess, like they said in the movie, the only blessing is, you really don’t realize it.
