First stop

The main motivation was to come visit the "ku kung" 古宫 (Taiwan National Palace museum) which houses an astounding 650,000 artefacts removed from palaces in China when the kuo ming tang fled to Taiwan. It is said to have one of the most magnificent museum collections in the world.

One of the most popular pieces is the cabbage jade which the craftsman had ingeniously carved to have the white part of the jade to form the stem of the cabbage while the green part of jade becomes the leaves. The other amazing piece is a jasper rock that resembles a small tender slab of moist and layered pork belly. *slurp*

My favourite section is the curios which make up many of the Imperial toys. In Taiwan, many of the items are kept in its original set such as the Emperor's puzzle boxes fitted with miniatures, I am told those kept in China museums have had theirs taken apart and dispatched to different specialised departments, as a result some of the exhibits there have lost some context.

The really exquite ones are the miniature carvings such as this olive nut (actual size) that made into a small boat holding eight people with animated mannerisms. The bottom of the boat is also carved with 300 characters.

However, above all these items, the one I love most is this set of ivory boxes which have lattice patterns cut into them to form grid-like lace openwork on all its sides. The biggest of this box is perhaps only one inch by half inch, yet it fits 7 other smaller similar boxes (like russian dolls), plus long tiny delicate chains of ivory that ties each cover to its box. Exquisite beyond belief. Most people gasp the first time they lay their eyes on this. Unfortunately, photography is prohibited and I am unable to take away a snap for keepsake and no other pictures of this are in their guidebooks.

You have to be here to see for yourself that these are actually made-made, for it is impossible not to marvel that they are not made by the heavens.