I spent several hours at the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial in Taipei on a very hot and sticky Saturday morning. Dr. Sun is widely looked up to as the leader who started the series of revolutions that led to the formation of Taiwan.
There is a permanent honour guard at the memorial. The guards stand completely still for an hour then, on the hour, there is an ornate ceremony during which two replacements take over. The changing of the guard involves a lot of precision marching, gun twirling, stamping on the ground and some shouting. It’s fascinating to watch. What’s even more fascinating is that each guard has a full-time caretaker whose job it is to make sure that the guard looks his best during his hour on post. The caretaker will straighten the guard’s uniform after the ceremony then periodically check and mop sweat from his brow during the hour on guard.
If you happen to be in Taipei, the memorial is easy to find from the MRT (underground/subway) and is well worth a visit, especially if you can be there at the top of the hour to watch the guard changing.