Upon leaving the Taipei Guest House, directly down the large avenue is the president's office building. My friend remarked that twice she had been inside, and this shocked me as I figured there is no way they'd ever let visitors inside. The guards armed with assault rifles, patrolling the perimeter day and night, always seemed to give off an air of unwelcomeness.
I went back to the building we just left and asked one of the guides if the president's office building is open for visitors today and to my surprise they said yes. So off I went.
As you can probably tell, this building was also built by the Japanese, and served as the office of the Governor-General (see two days ago post for what this was) until after WWII and was converted to the presidents office.
Before going in, you had to show your ID, have your bag searched, and go through a metal detector. None of which is required in any other place in Taiwan (well except for the airport). Inside we are allowed to see a few rooms, then there is one level that is full of rooms that have historical items that are tied to either the building's history, or the history of Taiwan's presidents.
One such piece is pretty amazing. You will be quite surprised when you see it tomorrow.
