8. Martyr's Shrine

This was a lucky choice on our part- we only went because it was close to the Grand Hotel and free, but it turned out to be amazing. This shrine was erected to honour fallen soldiers who had fought for Taiwan's freedom. The scale was impressive in itself, but the real magic happens once an hour when the guards march from the gate to the shrine to change places, and then back again. I say march, which wrongly implies speed. These guys have an elaborate step (lift arm, raise knee, lower arm, drop foot, drag other foot's toe along the ground) which means they take 10 minutes to do 2 minutes of walking. Note the lines running down the cement in the picture: it's from years of marching soldiers dragging their shiny black boots towards the main building.