Friday

A late slow morning. We wandered over to Paul’s apartment and hung out until we were able to say hello to Harry via Skype. He was supposed to be around at 9:00 but wasn’t found until 11:00. Aah, the life of a college student.

We finally got our act together to go out for lunch at the local Chinese schmorgasboard. This was a collection of many different colors, textures and tastes that is particular to Chinese society. I didn’t recognize some of the foods, but took some of what seemed most interesting. I didn’t take the tofu, but Ann and Ellen and Paul did. There were various chicken dishes, veggies, and meats. Probably the best was the broccoli. Also included was the rice, soup, tea and desert. Supposedly they were supposed to weigh it, but the lady eyeballed the plate and gave a price. Who was I to argue for $2 per person???

After lunch we took the Metro to the Chiang Kai Shek memorial. Chiang was, in Paul’s words, “the greatest loser of the 20th century”. The square surrounding it was huge; one of the largest open place I’ve seen. The memorial itself is at one end, and 2 huge buildings, the National Theater and National Symphony Hall were flanking the sides. The architecture of the theater and symphony were traditional Chinese, with red roofs and golden ornamentation. The memorial was white with a blue roof, and an opening reminiscent of Lincoln.

We got to the memorial and up the hundred stairs in time for the changing of the guard. This was a ceremony similar to Arlington or London, with the peculiar Chinese way of stepping and strutting in their military precision.

The memorial, as I said, was reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial. Chiang sitting there in a large hall. There was some writing on the sides, but otherwise very stark. Downstairs, there was an exhibit to his life and works, mostly consisting of pictures of his childhood, his early military career, his association with Sun Yat Sen, and the glorious re-taking of Formosa from the Japanese at the end of WW2. Then it jumps from 1949 to 1968 with no mention of any of the events in between. Hmmmmm. The reproduction of his desk and office with him there in wax reminded me of the Truman library with the Oval Office reproduction and it reminded Ann of Ben Gurion’s office in Sde Boker.

We went back to rest, and were going to go with Paul to the Night Market for dinner, but the BBC called him for an interview with Owen Bennett Jones about GastroDiplomacy. So we went and left Paul. It was a moderate disaster for both. The night market was like many others, but with unrecognizable foods and smells. The worst was the “Stinky Tofu”, which really did. We did manage to eat some waffle-like things stuffed with beans, custard and other goodies. A Taiwanese couple we met who was explaining to us offered some of their spicy chicken feet. I was able to get in one bite but couldn’t swallow. Luckily I was able to turn around before I spit it out. We finally ate an omelet type thing that didn’t look to have anything non-edible in it. Ellen found something that looked like a spring-roll but she had to convince them to only put the veggies in without the pork.

We got back to Paul only to find out that his interview got scrapped in the middle due to “technical difficulties” with the Skype or any kind of audio connection with London. He was VERY frustrated that he hadn’t spent the evening with us and couldn’t even get the publicity in either.

Teary good-byes to Paul & Ellen as we left. Ann marveled over and over how taken in she had been about the surprise. We probably won’t see Paul for a year or so as he wanders through Malaysia and gets to South Africa in January. He might need to come home this spring for a Fulbright interview, if he gets that far in the process. We’ll see….