My last day of purpose

Usually when I travel, I would have seen everything I'd planned to by now. But I did go out of town two days. So on Wednesday I covered the last few places I'd prioritized.
The rain was supposed to come by 9am, and then it was 2pm, so I got more time dry than I had expected.
My first stop was the Confucius Temple.

This temple, like others I have seen, have a main building in the middle, but also halls and structures (gates) surrounding it. At the front gate, inside, there were men singing. One asked if I was American. I said yes. He proceeded to hum (not really humming, more like da-da-dumming) 'You Are My Sunshine.' I thanked him (what else does one say?) and went to check out what was beyond the front gate.

There was a pond with turtles, including these, hanging out. I don't want to anthropomorphize too much, but a couple of the big ones appeared to be looking at me rather judgmentally. Maybe it's because I'm an agnostic running around Taipei taking pictures of temples. Speaking of which:

These ceilings are amazing!!! I didn't go back inside because I felt weird being sung to. But in general, this temple had fewer people praying so I felt more comfortable being all touristy.
The Bao'an Temple was a couple of blocks away. It was more active here so I was less blatant about my picture-taking.

According to Lonely Planet, this temple got a Unesco Asia-Pacific Heritage award for its restoration and revival of temple rites and festivities. In case you were wondering, because I was, Unesco is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. According to Wikipedia, "Its declared purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration in education, sciences, and culture in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter." It occurs to me, I could spend an hour on one temple. These structures are quite complex and there are pamphlets that describe all the elements. I did not spend a lot of time here. I don't know how much of that is because it's a place of worship and I'm not worshipping. It is likely because I was overwhelmed with all the things to see.

 But again, look at the detailing on the roof:

That should conclude my mishandling of religious sites of worship.

My last museum was the Fine Arts Museum, which I found was in the Expo Park. I didn't spend time in the park but there was a lot of food and teenagers practicing a dance routine. Wikipedia says it's "multifunctional.' The museum is next to Taipei House, which I considered visiting to learn about Taipei history. This is the museum:

Again, there was an exhibit based on sound. There were a lot of dark spaces and headphones.

I have to say, I liked a lot of the exhibits. But at this point, I was a little museum'ed out. This morning I threw away all the booklets and pamphlets about the exhibits because they will take up too much room in my scrapbook. But here is a bit of what I saw.

I was there for close to two hours. It had started to rain. And rather than run around, all hungry and cranky, looking for a special restaurant, I ate at the museum cafe, which was perfectly fine. I did not go to Taipei House.

After lunch I headed to the Taipei Main Station because there are two malls attached to it and I was sure I could find Taipei (not Taiwan) souvenirs. I was wrong. Or I decided, after one mall, Taiwan will have to do.

Lonely Planet recommended Cafe Macho, which it turns out is around the corner from the vegan restaurant I've been frequenting. 

I got lemon cake and coffee with Bailey's in it. I did some writing, which has not been going well for months now. 

After an hour or so I returned to my hotel room to blog. I stopped in the middle determined to find this Thai restaurant by the Red House I had not been able to find last week. I found it! Actually I had to get help. This restaurant is just one business among all the bars behind the Red House, so I understand how I didn't realize it was there.

The food was yummy. The rain stopped. 

I returned to my room to complete my blog post. On the way back, I encountered a snail, which is the biggest I have ever seen. I stopped a guy, who was looking at his phone, from stepping on it (in his flip-flops.)

You can't tell how big is is from the picture but the shell was probably 3-4 inches long.  

Speaking of phones, people are on their phones A LOT here. Maybe I notice it more because I am more watchful of my surroundings, but it looks like almost everyone is on their phone.

Right now it's Thursday morning. I think I have correctly checked in for my flight tomorrow. It's raining. Actually, right now it looks like it let up. During breakfast it was pouring. 

I have little planned for my day. I hope to get a couple of good meals in. The type of shoes I'm wearing get soggy in the rain, which is unpleasant. There is a chain of book store called Eslite; they are all over the place. But some are special. I plan to go to the one that's open 24hours. I hope it has a cafe. And journals. 

I'll write my final post later. I wake up early tomorrow to take the MRT to the airport. I hope it's not pouring when I do.