Taipei Day 3 | Hakka Cultural Centre, Change of Guards

August 01, 2013

After the 2 busy days in Taipei, my plan was to take the day slow, I planned for us to go to the Hakka Cultural Park, something I guess I wanted to know about my dialect, and turns out, they didn't open on Mondays! I did my research clearly and I obviously knew all these details about museum openings, but I guess I missed it out when I did last minute changes to my itinerary. We did however, roam around the outdoor park, took some silly photographs, and decided to call it quits. 

Directions to get there: 
Take the MRT to Taipower Building Station
1. Get off the train and follow the signs, it leads you straight to the entrance of the museum.
2. From Exit No. 5, walk towards Shida Road to the intersection of Tingzhou Road, Section 3 (four-minute walk). The park can be reached via the underground walkway.
Just some pagoda, and good wishes hung surrounding it (mostly for good grades)
No idea why there was a scarecrow, maybe the farming heritage?..
Growing up in a city and away from the heritage, we tend to lose track of our roots.

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed that the museum was closed, and a little disappointed in myself that I made the changes in the itinerary and missed out the detail. Then again, it was a relaxing and nice walk in the park, there was hardly anyone there.

The rest of the day, we didn't follow the itinerary AT AL. The boyfriend was reading TripAdvisor some time during our trip and he said that people recommended to check out the change of guard at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall which happens every hourly. The place was GINORMOUS, the gardens were huge and we reached there 20 minutes before the change of guard. Checking it out from TripAdvisor, no one mentioned where the exact location was and we walked up and down the huge grounds for 15 minutes looking blur and lost.
The main hall (just for photo reference)
We finally asked around and decided to just try the main hall, climbed up the steps in a mere 5 minutes under the insane sun and got there just before the whole parade started (after which we realised there was a lift that would have brought us up).
So, the parade was interesting for the first 5 minutes (personal preference), after which I got a little restless. The place was insanely humid, I was perspiring like mad, and the whole change of guard took about 15 minutes in total. Although I did find the precision drill interesting, the muggy summer made me slightly frustrated. It was an eye-opener because the whole drill was done without any music, unlike Singapore's change-of-guard at the Istana.

Towards the end, we left, this time taking the lift down. And we met them at the lobby! Snapped more pictures and left the place.

We weren't really interested in what the museum held, but there were 3 buildings in total, the Main Hall being the one in the centre, and the others, I'm not even sure what was inside. This though, really would have been a better attraction to visit during winter or autumn. Also, just a little FYI, it is not just at the CKS that they have the change-of-guards, practically anywhere which has this large statue has guards. There is a place near the cityhall/Taipei 101 that has the change-of-guards too!

Links to my previous posts on Taipei:
Taipei Day 1: Taipei Zoo
Taipei Day 2: Yangmingshan , Beitou, Tamsui

Just so you know, my trip was no sponsored, but fully paid by myself, partially supported by my boyfriend. Also, took this long trip because it's my final long trip before I get a full-time job, and a graduation present for myself for putting through the 4 years of University.

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