Our foray into Taipei started with a couple of museums as they’re a great way to learn about the locality, they can be very interesting, and they are a good way to stay out of the heat. First off, we headed to the Taiwan National Museum, with a very low entry fee which we were told also got us entry into the Taiwan Land Bank just across the road.
The building of the Taiwan National Museum is full of splendour, built for the purpose of the museum. It told a great history of the indigenous of the Taiwan island, the Japanese who took over the island, right up to the modern day. It’s quite an interesting story that the Taiwanese see themselves as independent, although not recognised internationally, but the Chinese still see them as part of their territory. Even though some of what we read in China, the Chinese certainly see Taiwan as part of their territories, like Hong Kong and Macau, but the Taiwanese are having a bar of it.
The Taiwan Land Bank is housed in the old Land Bank of Taiwan, hence the name it’s been given. We weren’t quite sure what we would find here, but the first part and last part reflected on the time this building was built and run by the Taiwan Land Bank. First off we had a walk through the old vault of the bank, with an incredibly thick door. The exhibits in the vault reflected in the growing Taipei and how the bank grew as the island became a trading post.
It then ran well into a natural history museum, and did an excellent job of that also. The displays were as good as bigger museums we’ve visited, just on a smaller scale. It was a popular museum, but not packed with visitors. We spent a good time around this museum before heading out for our next activity for the day.
