The Cake is a Lie

The story behind the title is two fold.

First, I think it's a phrase from the video game Portal. 

Next, I picked it because I always thought the famous Meat Stone in the National Palace Museum was a piece of cake. Lies! It's actually carved and dyed to look like a piece of meat.

We couldn't take any pictures inside the museum, which was a shame.

Here's a shot of the Meat stone from online

Before the National Palace Museum we learned about Formosan Aborigines. Our guide spoke great English and told entertaining stories. One was that once a girl was newly married and wanted to get her husband a new set of tools. She put the old tools out in the trash and got him a nicer set. But when he didn't come back home the next day, she was worried. Turns out that leaving hunting gear outside the door was equivalent to her kicking him out. Whoops.

 There were many inventions in the museum from knifes to slate houses to gauged earrings that serve as little containers. It was also incredible to think about a society where everything is cultivated, grown, cleaned, sewn, built, etc. within a village.

Very different from the Midwestern suburb that I'm from.

Back to the National Palace Museum! Although today was a hard day on both my feet and bladder (my body seems to have a 2 hour limit for holding liquids), this was by far my favorite museum. The craftsmanship behind each piece was incredible. I really wish we could have taken some pictures inside. But that just goes to show you how much they're trying to preserve the pieces. Most of the 690,000 pieces come from mainland China, during the time when the communist party was destroying art Fahrenheit 451 style. 

One of my favorite pieces was a piece of carved ivory. It was a sphere on top with tiny spheres inside it. Sixteen to be exact. Some artists can get up to sixty layers. Other exhibits included stone wear, ceramics and scrolls. If you are ever in Taiwan, please please take the time to visit! I'd even go again, so I could spend more time. I'm a pretty slow museum goer...meeeeh.

Here's another famous piece - Jadite Cabbage

In the gift shop they made key chain, magnet, postcard, basically every kind of version of this. 

Late night meant a stop at the night market (Shilin) for dinner and shopping! Yea! 

Either Taiwanese teenagers like to dress up to go shopping or they all have really great style. I'll try to get some shots later. The clothing is similar to the states, but suspenders, hats, stockings and man bags are more popular. Food is amazing and it's better to go with friends. That way you can all try a little of everything. The most exotic thing I saw was pig's blood soup. I stuck with some seafood and veggie buns.

Exhibit A: Vico (from HK) working the man bag

Doesn't he look good though? Wearing some new clothes from the night market.

He says a bag is as convenient as a backpack, but is cooler because it doesn't touch your back.