Julia and I planned to sleep in a bit since we hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before. Around 9:30 really loud music started playing. We got out of bed threw on some clothes and went to investigate what was going on. A parade was taking place right outside our house and was the second part of yesterday's sacrificial festival. The parade is to take the gods to the next town.
During the parade the guy from yesterday yet again performs his ritual where the Taiwanese gods take over his body. Again he displays his courage and bravery by hitting himself in the back with a sword. To start the street parade everyone steps over money (fake) which is supposed to be the gods. This is to bring everyone wealth and fortune. The rest of the parade was filled with music and dragon dancing. I was even lucky enough to walk the dragon in the parade for a moment.
After the ceremony we headed into town to go to a dance performance Julia's classmates were performing. Julia goes to the second best, all girls school in Taiwan. Its a very wealthy school that even has a pool! The performance was a little slutty but good. Julia was utterly shocked since she had hardly ever seen the girls out of uniform with makeup on. Apparently their shy and composed personalities have been shattered.
We took the metro from Julia's school to the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall. There we got a spectacular view of Taipei 101 which is the second tallest building in the world. At the memorial hall I got photo bombed by an older lady. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her slowly moving towards me. At the end though she was pushed right up against me. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard in my life. Right after that we got asked by a mother if it was alright if she could get a picture of us with her daughters. And outside we were yet against asked if we could have our photo taken.
In the memorial hall they have two guards that stand on watch. They are positioned there for an hour at a time and must stay completely still. At the end of the hour two more guards come in to switch positions. Before they switch they perform a march together which is both a big attraction for locals and foreigners.
For dinner Julia, Lucie, and I went to the Modern Toilet. For those of you who have not heard about this restaurant I will give you a brief description. You sit on toilet seats and eat off a bathtub table. Your food and drinks come in a toilet and you get ice cream in the shape of a piece of shit. If you ever get a chance to go I 100% recommend it. It is so cool.
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