100 days of taiwan

I was really curious the other day about how many weeks/days we have left and calculated that we had only 100 days before we say goodbye to this place. when the time you have left is put into a context of mere days, you begin to think of all the things you want to see or do before time runs out. while i've done a pretty good job of covering most of the sights, scenes and places there are to see, there are a few which i haven't seen or done. and some which deserve another look.

Taipei 101 - while i have visited, eaten at, shopped and taken many pictures of this magnificent feat of architecture, i have ashamedly never been up past the 4th floor. i have always had the very best intentions of going, but you need a really clear night on which to see...chinese new year would have been an ideal time, too bad i didn't think of it sooner. i am going to go before i leave, most likely at night as i've heard it's something else. it's one of the landmarks that you cn see from almost anywhere in the city, especially at night. in fact, i think taipei looks its best when seen at night...it seems to really come alive with every major building or sight lit up.

national palace museum -I think the next one on my list would have to this place. it has one of the most comprehensive and largest collections of chinese artifacts in the world and is only a 10-minute taxi ride away. yet something has held me back from going. it's not that i don't like museums, on the contrary i enjoy them. the problem is that until recently, the npm didn't have its information in english, making the viewing a little boring to us english-only readers. most museums have the title in english, but the description in chinese. my typical reaction is "look. it's a pot." and then walking on to the next exhibit. i speak from experience as during the first few months after we arrived, we visited a lot of museums.

kenting, southern taiwan - by far one of my top three favourite places in the country, along with jioufen and sun/moon lake. i would love to go back to all of these places, but i think i will only have time for one and kenting wins, hands down. spring scream is coming up so i plan to enjoy myself as much as possible in this hedonistic paradise. the best part about kenting is that it feels like you've taken off to a new country when in fact you've only traveled 400 km's. awesome. i cannot wait to get down there in just a few weeks.
Chiang Kai-shek Memoria Hall, Taipei - lastly, there is one place in taipei which i love more than any other place, and that is CKS. it was the first sight that leesh and i took in. it was pouring rain, cold and we had little money, but we ventured out on the mrt. it was the tail end of lantern festival and we were impressed and continue to be so. when ever i drive by it, i always look to see what's going on. it's massive and i know it stands for a man who was a dictator, but that doesn't detract from it being a nice national monument. but that may change, because of politicians jumping on a new bandwagon. the believe that he was a tyrant and that this monument should be called taiwan democracy hall...also, they've removed the statues so it's a good thing i got to see it when i did.

these are just a few of the places i need to see for the first time or a few more. and that's the least of my worries, because trying to cram in sightseeing simultaneously trying to save money and maximize hang out time with friends is a fine tightrope to walk. i just hope it's not too jobs to juggle.