taipei // chiang kai-shek memorial hall

depending on who you are and where you are from, your opinion of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek may vary wildly. but I think we can all agree that his memorial hall is pretty darn impressive. and the National Theatre and Concert Hall [orange-roofed buildings] and surrounding gardens... beautiful.

we visited on a hot and gloomy monday. the gardens and hallways surrounding the concert hall were filled with musicians practicing, the sounds carried across the plaza to give us a soundtrack to stroll to. we climbed and sweat our way to the top of the memorial. we went in to check out the statue and were pleasantly surprised to discover that inside the hall there are several air-conditioned exhibitions.

the one we decided to visit was called the Candy Queen's Kingdom - all kinds of artwork and landmarks and animals and even a giant castle were built out of candy by [an apparently famous] candy artist, Jackie Sorkin.

no relation to Aaron Sorkin, as far as I know.

we drooled over checked out the candy creations, bought some souvenirs and drank some water before leaving the ac. and then we hopped the mrt to our next Taipei sightseeing destination.