Crap museums.

---

Melissa is covering Ron's classes today so I'm left to amuse myself. It's been a while since I did any sight-seeing so I pick up the Rough Guide for some inspiration. It tells me that Gongguan has a night market. Even though it's only mid-afternoon I think it might be worth checking out. It's right down in the south of the city, a part i've not been to yet. Now, when I was in Korea I noticed that they seemed to specialise in rather crap museums. I'm thinking of such yawn-inducing venues as the Geoje Fishing museum and the Jeju museum of paper dolls, and since my experience at the almost empty Beitou Hot Springs Museum, I've had a nagging suspicion that the Taiwanese also quite lap up this sort of cultural crap. So you can imagine my delight when within minutes of exiting Gongguan station I came across the The Museum of Drinking Water. Not only is it a crap musuem it's even a continuation of the aquatic theme I noted in Beitou. At this point I'm actually quite pleased that Melissa isn't here as she'd never have let me go inside. Even I contemplate giving it a miss but curiosity gets the better of me. I pay my $50NT and go in. I enter the first and only exhibition hall almost holding my breath with anticipation and there it is. Clean Water Pump No 1. Could it get any better? What's next? Yes it's Clean Water Pump No 2. I'm thrilled. The line goes all the way up to Clean Water Pump No 6. I'm feeling positively narcoleptic. This is shaping up to be quite easily the worst museum I have ever visited. Having seen enough of the pumps I exit the hall to discover that there is actually a pleasant looking walk you can do up to the top of the hill where there is an enormous old water tank overlooking the city. The tank is of no interest to me but I hope there might be some sort of a view. There are signs telling me to keep to the path because "snacks are active". I don't see any snacks, active or otherwise but there is a view of sorts at the top although it's largely ruined by the motorway.
As I walk back down I notice that there is what appears to be a calendar shoot going on. There are some really attractive models being photographed with the museum as a backdrop. I feign interest in the water pumps again and enjoy the best view the museum has to offer for a moment. Now, while I'm sniggering at the crapness of the museum the Taiwanese are absolutely loving it. They're arriving by the busload. Why? Their interest appears to be sincere, surely they can't all be cynical crap museum hunters like me. I can't even pretend to understand it but I will say this: Please please, if you come to Taipei you must take some time out of your schedule to visit what is without a doubt the crappest museum I have been to so far. It really is worth so much more than the $50 NT entrance. Also you must let me know if you can find a museum that trumps this one for crapness.

---

Photos

Magnificently dull.
Can you think of a crapper one?

Water pump.
I could look at these all day.

Calendar shoot
More interesting than the pumps.

Comments

[joan]

haha. i love the title of your post. i was sort of tricked to visit that "museum" and it really is pretty much a waste of time.

[Forts]

Hi. Yeah it was fantastically uninteresting. BTW I credited your food blog in an earlier post. It was like a bible for us when we first arrived. Keep up the good work.

[Don]

more crap
There's a Museum of Cakes and Pastry near where I live in Shilin -- signposted from Exit 1 of the metro station. I've never been bored enough to check it out. And if you're serious about crap museums you probably need to track down the Museum of Fishballs (yuwan bowuguan) in Danshui which deserves legendary status if it's for real. I saw a photo of it on a blog once.

[Chris]

Bizarre museums
There are many bizarre museums in Taiwan, and I'm sure some are crappy while others are fascinating for their tackiness. There's the Dried Bonito Museum, the Sons of Sanzhi Museum, Taiwan Salt Museum, the Postal Museum, the Crab Museum, ...

[Forts]

Salt museum sounds great. The crab museum sounds downright intriguing.