A beautiful night in Taipei.

Yesterday after studio, we took this incredible charter bus 5 hours to Taipei. Each of us had our own lazy boy sized massage chair, which reclined most of the way back, along with a small flat screen tv! I slept most of the way, and the further North we traveled, it seems, the worse and worse the smog/pollution got.

Today we explored the sights of Taipei-- The Chang Kai-Shek Memorial, the 228 Memorial and the Grand Hotel.

A statue from outside the 228 memorial that I found pretty interesting.

There were these adorable little children walking barefoot on this river stone path. They are used for reflexology treatment and are tremendously challenging to walk on. These kids were pros.

Tonight, I was fortunate enough to spend a few hours out of quarantine of the group, and visit downtown Taipei with John. John's hotel is absolutely amazing. He has access to the Grand Member room where we had free alcohol, great brie/cheddar and other decadent snacks. He has the most stellar view of Taipei 101 (2nd tallest building in the World). Later, we grabbed some starbucks and he showed be around this great high-end mall beneath 101. Prada, Fendi, Gucci, Tiffanys, Dior... you name it, they had it. Not that I can afford any of that anyway, but it is always fun to look :)

The night was so refreshing to be alone with him, in such a beautiful city. It felt like we were on vacation, except for my 11 o'clock curfew [lame].

In the blink of an eye, 10:30 arrived and we took a cab back to my not to fabulous, $15 US/night hostel. We said goodnight and hopefully will get to see eachother again tomorrow.

Here are some of the city sights.

The view from John's hotel room....

A Human Statue.

Lights recognizing those who built Taipei 101