Taiwan

Welcome back! Let's talk about Taiwan now or Formosa as it was named by the Portuguese navigators that first discovered it. I arrived there on the 9th of December and left on the 14th. I stayed in Taipei, the capital, though I also briefly visited the nearby city of Beitou.
Taiwan is a very interesting country. Firstly, it's a bit hard to know if it even is a country, as China claims it to be part if its territory, even though it's quite independent. Second it has influences from both China and Japan (who also controlled the territory), which makes it quite interesting culturally and historically.
My father knew people here too, and they were nice enough to provide me with a good hotel, where I stayed. I also had someone who drove me around, which was quite nice.
In Taiwan I visited Taipei 101, the 3rd tallest tower in the world and the one with the fastest elevators, and also the World Trade Center and commercial areas around it. I also visited a Buddhist temple, a botanical garden, and a night market, where I got to try some snake soup (which seemed to have the taste of chicken and the texture of fish, at least in my opinion).

Taipei 101

The temple

Snake soup

Lake at the botanical garden

I visited museums too, of course, such as the National Palace Museum (with many expositions ranging from jade sculptures to calligraphy exhibitions), the National History Museum (with different historical artifacts), and the Taiwan Science Education Scenter (with a lot of interactive exhibitions covering most areas of science).

The National Palace Museum

Buddha statue at the National History Museum

Heat powered ferris wheel at the Science Education Center

As I said before, I also went to Beitou, a place with a lot of natural hot springs, where I went to a traditional Japanese bath. It was quite nice, and I will definitely go to one of them when I'm in Japan.