3rd August – Good morning from Taipei. We arrived around 3 pm yesterday and after a quick check-in, Juliet Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs officer took us to the Palace Museum. Juliet was born and lived in Jakarta, so she spoke Bahasa Indonesian. YB Hassan, YB Jugah and I were most delighted to be hosted in a mix of English and Indonesian.
The Palace Museum is relatively small but the treasures on display are absolutely incredible. Being ethnically Chinese, it is hard to explain the waves of different emotions watching these treasures. Pride, appreciation, wonder, beauty; whatever the history, I am just glad that the bulk of the Imperial treasures are intact. The collection here surpasses by many, many leaps and bounds, the Chinese artefacts in museums in the West. It is a very good thing that these treasures were not appropriated by the colonisers. After that, Juliet took us to dinner for halal Chinese food and then to visit Taipei 101.
This morning we are visiting environmental experts from the government. Then at lunch, our Indo-Pacific conference will officially start.
