Taiwan Trip Day 9 (museum, wufenpu, raohe night market,ningxianightmarket)

March 21, 2014

Taiwan Trip Day 9 (museum, wufenpu, raohe night market,ningxianightmarket)

6 March was a rainy day. From the moment we woke up, it was raining. hahah by the time we took the below photo, it was 12:16pm (ignore my timing, Im using korean timing here thus an hour faster) We had got up not long ago, just washed and dressed up, now it was time to go out for brunch.

we went to 麥而美胖子早餐店 again as I really like the 蛋饼

麥而美胖子早餐店

台北市成都路119號

We ordered 2 sets of 蛋饼 this time

Lets tuck in!

NExt we took the MRT train to Yuan Shan Station (Red line)

Yuan Shan Station

This is where Taipei Expo Park 花博公園is located.

Taipei Expo Park is a multifunctional Park

The park was the venue for the Taipei International Flora Exposition in 2010-2011

Maji Maji 集食行樂

I thought this is quite a popular place for pre wedding shoots especially when it is a wet day. There were like 2 couples having their shoot there that day.

The below photo was taken in the outdoor styled toilet.

The shops in this area are all tastefully decorated with a class of its own. However, there isn't many people on a weekday. We weren't sure how the stalls here can survive.

Yet another couple taking their pre wedding photos here.

There are many interesting sculptures along our way to the fine arts museum.

Even though it was drizzling, we continued with our photo taking. N the camera person would go under the rain.

Finally, we are nearing our destination.

臺北市立美術館 Taipei Fine Arts Museum

Mr Cheong with one of the exhibits : Ghosts pounding the wall aka 鬼打墙

The entrance ticket costs us NT30 each which we thought was quite cheap. The main exhibition on that day was Xu Bing: A Retrospective, It is Asia’s first large-scale solo exhibition of international contemporary artist Xu Bing

He is a Chinese-born artist who has resides in the United States since 1990. He currently resides in Beijing where he serves as the president of the Central Academy of Fine ARts. HE is most known for his printmaking skills and installations pieces, as well as his creative artistic use of language, words and text and how they have affected our understanding of the world.

Initially we could not understand why he was known as a genius when we first saw his work. the first piece of work which we saw was the below.

Name of the exhibit :

Background story

Initially to us, it is just something messy and made of dried hay/grass etc. but later we discovered something. Shall come back to this later.

Next was a book from the sky aka

天书

We managed to 'stalk' a guide who was explaining to a Caucasian and heard her explanation. Which was so much better than the iaudio which Mr Cheong had rented but could not really understand.

Q: What exactly is 天书?

Ans: It is a large installation featuring precisely laid out rows of books and hanging scrolls with written "Chinese" texts.

Q: What is so special about 天书?

Ans: It challenges our very approach to language because of the unique nature of the text written on the paper.

Xu Bing designed and printed over 4000 characters that looked like Chinese but were completely meaningless according to standard Mandarin. Xu Bing infuses his work with meaning by stirring confusion and discomfort in his audience, mostly due to the fact that the Chinese characters used in these texts are not 'real' characters.

Tobacco Project

Working with former graduate students from Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts, Xu Bing also created the template for a large installation piece that forms the climax of the exhibition: a tiger-skin rug made from approximately half a million cigarettes standing on end, with either filter or tip up to make an alternating pattern of orange and white.

Watch more about the behind the scene of Xu Bing's Tobacco project here

Square Word Calligraphy

Square Word Calligraphy is a new kind of writing, almost a code, designed by Xu Bing. At first glance it appears to be Chinese characters, but in fact it is a new way of rendering English.

The idea of inventing this new form of writing came to Xu Bing when he observed the attitude of awe and respect with which non-Asians regard Chinese calligraphy. Intrigued, he sought to create a work that would demystify calligraphy, and reward the Westerner's engagement.

For Square Word Calligraphy, Xu Bing designed a system whereby English words are written in the format of a square, so as to resemble Chinese characters.
He created a set of two books, An Introduction to Square Word Calligraphy and Square Word Calligraphy Red Line Tracing Book, to teach his new form of writing.

Personally I didnt thinkt that this invention was fantastic as this was how HanGuk is created as well

But we were having a great time listening to the 'teacher' who was introducing and teaching us about the way to read the characters and later to have a hands-on session on the calligraphy. This was actually the very first time for both Mr Cheong and I. We have never tried calligraphy prior to this.

Now back to

Background story

Xu Bing uses unusual materials in order to create a deceptively typical Chinese Scroll Painting.

When seen from behind, like what I have mentioned earlier, it is just mess....

However, from the front, the piece very much resembles a traditional Shan Shui (Landscape) scroll painting, with images of mountains, trees, and rivers.

We were surprised to find that the beautiful "painting" is in fact created by using the shapes and shadows of random natural plant debris. It was amazing!

Once again, Xu Bing challenges his audience's basic assumptions and shows them that everything is not always as it first seems.

Taipei Fine Arts Museum

181, Zhongshan N. Road, Sec. 3

Taipei, Taiwan

The trip to Taipei Fine Arts Museum was indeed an eye opener for us.

三口鮮肉丸子

By then we were hungry and we went to this shop which is near to the MRT station

You can choose the types of noodles to go with.. and it will come with 2 different types of meat balls. 1 will be the milk yam meat ball, the veg meatball and the mushroom meat ball

I especially like the milk yam meatball. However, I would say it is quite expensive for the Taiwanese standard.

After the meal. we proceeded to

五分埔時尚購物通 (Wufenpu Clothes Market)

Wufenpu is the largest commercial zone focusing on clothing in Taiwan. There are around 1,000 shops selling different types of clothes, as well as shoes, bags and jewelry in part of them, in a tiny area close to half of CKS memorial hall in size.

We took the MRT train to Houshanpi Station, Exit 1 (Wufenpu Commercial Zone) and walk north along Jhongpo N. Rd. to the intersection of Jhongpo N. Rd. and Yongji Rd.

There wasnt many people as it was still raining. Also since the clothes here cant be tried, we didnt buy many things.

Some of the Jms dresses which may be of interest for bride to be can also be found there.

From Wufenpu, we walked to Raohe night market

饒河街觀光夜市 Raohe St. Night Market

Raohe night market is one of the oldest night markets in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan.

It is located on Raohe Street, near Songshan Station, and is about 600 meters long

And again due to the rain, many of the stalls were not opened :( disappointed..

We tried to get some food from the available stalls though there werent many choices left.

We came upon a japanese celebrity who was shooting a eateries show. She was at the same stall for the yam balls. We admired how she can act high on her own...really professional