Back aboard the coolness of the coaster van, Eileen took the microphone and proceeded to tell the tour group the next destination. "We will now be going to the Xing Tian Temple. You may relax for a little while as we travel there."
Bella closed her eyes. When she opened them, Eileen was leading the tour group out of the coaster van and onto a street. Bella filed out as well. On the street, she saw a row of three colorful phone booths. She quickly snapped a photo of that. It made her smile. Back home in Cebu, these things were virtually non-existent.
Inside the temple, Bella noticed that just in front of the red walls, this place of worship was decorated with evenly spaced-out topiaries.
Eileen gathered the group and said that they had free roam of the temple for about fifteen minutes. She pointed to a round stone behind her and encouraged everyone to rub it as it was said to bring great wealth. Bella waited for her turn and rubbed that smooth stone too. She was by no means Chinese but hey, When in Rome right? Or in this case, when in Taiwan...
She then made her way to the center of the temple where seated dragons guarded the front door. It was a thick and heavy looking red door with golden bulbs arranged along its façade. Taking out her tripod, she positioned it to capture the angle that she wanted and removed the clicker. Bella then posed freely, taking as many pictures as she could.
She thought for a moment how steady the tripod was here versus how wobbly it was back at the memorial. Maybe that place was just too windy.
"You've really figured out this solo traveler thing." Eileen praised, as she approached Bella.
Bella looked at her and gave her a weak smile. Eileen then left to check on the other tourists. Once the fifteen minutes were up, Bella joined Eileen near the temple's exit. They piled back into the coaster van once the tour group was complete.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, our next stop is the Martyr's Shrine where we will be watching their changing of the guards. If traffic permits, we should be able to see it from the start." Eileen said into the microphone. As Bella closed her eyes, she understood why Eileen seemed to be in a rush thus far. "Parts of our tour were time-sensitive." Nodding silently to herself, "I get it now." The Martyr's Shrine area, just like the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial grounds, were expansive as well.
Eileen led the group to the main building but Bella and one other Filipino family, the one of three, chose to break away and stayed behind.
"Ayaw nyo po bang manood dun sa changing of the guards?", (Don't you want to go see the changing of the guards?) Bella asked the mom while speaking in Tagalog, the Philippines' national language. She had heard the couple conversing in Tagalog on board the coaster and knew they were from somewhere in Luzon.
The mom pointed to her daughter, a toddler no older than two years old. "Di sya mapakali" (She's getting restless.) She replied, also in Tagalog. "Mas mabuti nang nakakapaglaro sya" (Best to let her run around the grounds for now.) Her husband nodded in agreement.
"Sige po. Magpipicture lang ako." (Okay thenI'll be around, taking some pictures.) Bella told her. "Pakisabi na lang po pag aalis na tayo. (Please let me know if we're leaving.) The couple nodded. "Okay po."
Bella then went off on her own, snapping pictures and taking everything in. She posed on the stone benches flanked on the sides by what Bella could only describe as hollowed out bookends with red flowers planted in them. Behind her, the Flag of Taiwan stood proudly. In another set of pictures, the main building had imposing mountains of green in the background.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
After a few minutes, she noticed some marching happening from the main building towards the main gate. A small group of people, which included Eileen and the rest of the tour group, followed behind.
"At least I got to see a little bit of that." Bella thought to herself.
In no time at all, they had all gone back into the coaster van. Once again, Eileen spoke into the microphone and said that this time they were headed for the National Palace Museum. At this, Bella's ears perked up. History was one of her favorite topics and she was looking forward to this next stop. At the entrance of the museum, Eileen handed them some battery packs and earphones. She then turned her tour group over to a man named Justin who was the official museum tour guide.
Justin asked everyone to follow him room by room, floor by floor, expertly explaining the history and nature behind each highlighted piece. Some of these displays were truly a sight to behold. There were carvings of men on horseback, pottery, helmets and intricately designed bowls among other things.
The star of the museum was a lettuce carved from jade but Bella also thought that the meat-shaped stone was a star in its own right.
Bella took it all in. She could spend an entire free day here. It was all so stunning.
Before she knew it, the museum tour was over and everyone was returning their battery packs. They left the museum and climbed onto the coaster van. Eileen's voice came loudly into the microphone and said, "Our last stop is the Grand Hotel. It is the only five-star hotel in Taiwan." Bella's eyes closed of their own volition after that. She did not notice how tired she was.
"C'mon girl! One last stop. You can do it." She cheered herself on.
Minutes later, the coaster van was greeted by a majestic looking three-archway structure. It signaled the entrance to the hotel. The entrance reminded Bella of the five-archway white structure at the Chiang Kai-shek memorial.
Once inside, Bella felt like she was in a movie set. As opulent as the outside was, the lobby was so much more captivating.
The lobby center was spacious and covered in a thick red carpet. On each side, both on the left and right, huge red columns seemed to hold the roof high. There was also a wide staircase covered in a red carpet. At the foot of the staircase was a round table with a vase of violet flowers in the center. The flowers looked like a flowing fountain but instead of water, it was flowing flowers. Overhead, hanging lanterns clothed the lobby's lightbulbs.
The lobby was full of people. Certainly, a number of them were tourists in a tour group much like herself.
Sometime later, Eileen came to gather the group back together.
Back in the coaster van, Eileen took the microphone for the last time and said, "This is the end of our tour. We hope you enjoyed the tourist spots we visited today. Thank you for choosing Klook. We will be returning each of you to your hotels now."
Bella closed her eyes as she eased into her seat. One by one, each group got off at their hotel.
By 5:15pm, Bella was leaving the coaster van herself. She thanked Eileen and the driver, Jim. Waving to the remaining people in the van, the three sets of couples, she walked to her hotel and into the lobby.
