"Auspicious" Road

A long-time family friend of the co-director of the program responsible for this wonderful scholarship took us to a road dedicated entirely to the coming of the Chinese New Year. By "Us" I mean Cheryl Choy, the administrator of the program, Domenico Napoletani, her husband and a research professional in Applied Mathematics, and myself. The road was PACKED with individuals looking to collect auspicious items to bring them luck in the new year.

 Within the market we found many specialty meats that you would never think of eating (specially me as a vegetarian!) but were apparently quite delicious, as well as assorted candies, grains, nuts, fungus, teas, and many many other sorts of snacks and specialty food & drink items. The marketing techniques of these small stalls were quite interesting. A couple of the stalls had hired young men to sit and direct traffic into the store with orange vests, and we watched in amazement as 90% of the crowd complied with their requests.

From Left to Right: Domenico, family friend of the director, and myself. The man that brought us to the market was one of the most amazing human beings I have ever met. I had never felt such a strong sense of distress in the language barrier as I did being unable to communicate him, as just being in his presence was very calming. His overwhelming sincerity, kindness, and genuine concern created a projection that left all of us feeling very uplifted just in his presence.

 An old temple on the road known for the presence of the matchmaker deities within. I was told that people come from all over the area to pray to these deities although they are present in other temples, this temple is widely known for their activity. I was glad to have already done my informational research on the deities present at Longshan Temple as it gave me a basis of background information while I was at this temple.

 This is one of the braziers that are often present at the temple. Often Jade Emperor is present at the temples as the "god of the gods" one usually offers a prayer to him before continuing on to pray to another god. One can also pray to Jade Emperor to make another deity answer your prayers if they seem to be ignoring you, as he has power supreme in that realm. I was upset that I was unable to determine if this was his brazier or not. Patrons will purchase incense sticks from the temple, then pray and spike them stick-down into the brazier to create a never ending stream of incense smoke.

An assortment of highly esteemed FUNGI!

A particular fruit that is not allowed in
Longshan Temple because it looks like one of the
Deity's Head and insulting to him.

Research Update

The time of my stay here in Taiwan has come to a close and looking back on the journey I have found a shift in the methods I approach my research with. I spent the 3 days after my last post conducting my research within the temple. I found there to be a slight language barrier while communicating within the temple and resorted to collecting information, then going back to the hostel and using the generous help of many of the researchers in Taiwan, as well as my own analysis to determine what was going on within the temple.
Through these methods I was able to determine the significance of each action that I observed people performing in the temple. I also learned about each deity, their history, what they are prayed to about, as well as particular do and don'ts of the temple. I also learned about the role of the temple economically on the surrounding area, and concluded that little to no social interaction occurs between locals within the temple, only tourists. These are just a few of the things I learned! More to come in a cohesive manner upon the completion of my paper. I was extremely thankful to all of the help and hospitality I received from Professor Heylen, Fabian, Yvonne (for translating), Professor Wong, and many others who helped me unquestioningly in my research.

3 days, 2 missed posts, and a new perspective later

Roasted nut snack, came with a
 tool to break nuts open and eat
 fleshy insides

After resting up from an early New Year's Sadhana (4 am yoga & meditation), I journeyed out with two members of Ramadasa Ashram for dinner and exploration of the local area. We had dinner at a vegetarian pasta restaurant and I was again reminded of the different concepts they have of each dish. My pasta was a ball of noodles with some cabbage, shredded nuts, carrots, and other veggies on top. The meal wasn't bad, it was more just an unusual taste coupled with a small portion that left me feeling slightly unsatisfied. 

We finished dinner and headed to a large book store called Eslite. The book store wasn't as large as I was used to, even though it was supposed to be the largest in Taiwan, however there was a wide selection of specialty books. They may have only had 15 cooking books, but many types of specialty meals were represented on the shelf. 

Slightly later in the night I made my way over to The Cat's Pajamas, a hostel where I am staying the remainder of my trip. It was there I met Yvonne, a woman from Hong Kong who I tagged along with for a few days in the exploration of some of the jewels Taiwan has to offer.

 The next day we set out to explore the Blue (Nangang and Banqiao) line of the MRT station. The first stop we explored was the Ximen station, home to the Red House, a cultural and historical center in the local area. On most days you can find markets surrounding the center with shopkeepers looking to share their wares with potential buyers, and trick the unwary. Sadly the market doesn't open on Monday's and we were unable to see how the surrounding area functioned around this historical building.

 The next stop on our line was Sun Yat Sen Memorial, a building dedicated to Dr. Sun Yat Sen. The name of the building in Chinese translates to "National Father of the Nation Memorial." Inside were great works of art, as well as a huge statue of Dr Sun Yat Sen sitting in his chair. The statue was guarded by two members of the guard. Every hour a guard change would occur with a strange, highly touristy ritual of gun presenting, kick-dancing and other strange motions. I took a video of the proceedings which I will link at the bottom of the post...but in all honestly it was one of the most boring things I had seen in awhile.

 From the Memorial Hall we walked to Taipei 101, Taipei's largest tower. Inside the tower we took the fastest elevator in the world to the 91st of the 101 floors

A pregnant looking tree I saw on the way
to Taipei 101.

and got to see the landscape of Taipei. The city wasn't as impressive to me as the vast mountains covering

 the flank of Taipei. Inside the tower there was also an exhibition of Taiwanese Coral and other precious stones. These two photos don't do the coral justice. There were many beautiful pieces with the most intricate of detailed carvings. They obviously tried to sell the coral alongside these amazing pieces and I couldn't help but wish I knew where the coral came from in the city to buy it at a reasonable price.

 From Taipei 101 we made our way with a friend of hers graciously guiding us to the "Taipei Story House." Sadly this, along with the nearby art museum and flower exhibition were close on Mondays.

From Taipei 101 we continued on to Chiang Kei-Shek Memorial Hall, a beautiful area made up of 3 separate, monstrous structures. An ornate gate served as the entrance to "Freedom Square." The square was bordered on three different sides by the rest of the memorial. On the right was a theater building (orange roofed building pictured below), to the left an opera house and concert hall. Straight ahead was the Memorial Building with a statue of Chiang Kei-Shek himself and another guard with ritualistic changing patterns and methods. Of all the buildings I had seen during my stay, these and the Sun-Yat Sen had been my favorite. Their terraced roofs and particular architecture couple with their enormous size was quite a site to behold.

 From C.K.S. we continued on to the Shilin Night Market. This is one of the many night markets Taiwan is famous for. Being in these markets reminded me of Chor Bazaar in India, most things are extremely cheap, and many knockoffs are present but it makes you wonder about how quickly the goods will deteriorate. I saw ties for $2 a piece and felt tempted for a minute, then decided they would probably fall apart just as quickly. The more famous part of the night markets are the snacks and food. Many Taiwanese locals and tourists alike will come and have a snack or dinner. Many of the snacks I saw made me happy to be  vegetarian and after trudging from shop to shop for awhile I returned to the hostel and was grateful to be going to sleep after a long day.

 

 The next day Yvonne and I headed off to the area surrounding Taipei to a sleepy town in the mountains. Within the town we walked up and down a famous street that had been featured in a very well know (but completely unknown to me) Chinese film. There were many shops for me to find souvenirs and other little fun things and despite the miserable rain persisting through the entire day I enjoyed myself.

In the night we traveled to another night market out in the other city and most of the shops seemed to be similar to the ones represented in the first market. I got to try some fruit on a stick with caramelized sugar coating it which was quite good, although rather sweet. Once again at the day's end my legs were glad for the rest and a warm bed. 

Since the start of my travels and original Longshan post I have learned a lot more about my research and plan to post about it tomorrow--stay tuned!

Happy New Year! --新年快樂!!

After my exploration of the city I decided to take a "quick nap" before New Years. I ended up sleeping a full 7 hour cycle and waking up at 11:00 pm, thoroughly ruining my chances of creating a non jet-lagged sleep cycle. I woke up and quickly made my way to the roof of the apartment because I was told that I was too late to make it to Taipei 101 for the celebrations. When I got to the roof I looked down at the streets and saw thousands of Taipei residents packing the streets moving together towards Taipei 101, a looming beacon of lights standing above the other buildings. I decided that I wouldn't miss out on the celebrations from not trying and made my way down to the ground floor, and into the crowd.

The entire city shut down as residents funneled from all different locations to centralize under the tower and usher in the New Year. After about 20 minutes of walking I made it to the base of Taipei 101 where I saw a big stage surrounding by floating advertisements from big companies, a multi-story image of a phone with a countdown to the New Year, and many many excited faces lighting up for a new start. I had the chance to see a couple performances before the countdown started including a Drum Ceremony and some speeches from people that looked important, but as it was all in Mandarin I kind of just nodded my head and pretended I agreed. I also saw what looked like the Asian version of Justin Bieber come up on the stage to the gasping of a surprised audience. I got a good laugh as he received more applause and cheering then the important looking (probably political) figure that came and gave a speech before the close of the ceremony.
Afterwards there was a massive countdown in Mandarin and a fantastic fireworks show started on the drop of the New Year. I managed to video tape the fireworks show but you will have to bear with be because for some reason I decided to turn the camera twice real quick and forgot that it doesn't stay straight. Oh well. Happy New Year Everyone!

Racing against Jet....lag.

                                                                  After getting some much needed sleep after arriving in Taipei I set out to eat and explore Lung-shan Temple (Longshan). A friend in the Ramadasa Ashram was kind enough to show me to a small vegetarian restaurant. I noticed from walking around in my immediate neighborhood that (at least in this area) the Taiwanese are much more health conscious than we are in America. I saw an abundance of health food stores, and it goes on to the point where many (about 50% of the people I saw) people wear surgical masks when walking around to not spread or be affected by germs. At the health food restaurant I got Shenkeng Tofu Hot Pot. The dish was Shenkeng Tofu with mushrooms I had never seen before, strange sprouts, egg noodles, cabbage etc. While eating it I couldn't help but think of all the things the strange mushrooms looked like and I decided your imagination can be a dangerous thing while trying new food. I was definitely thankful my friend had taught me how to say "I am a vegetarian" (Or Chet Tsu - Completely the wrong way to spell it, but the way I pronounce it).

 After finishing my Hot Pot I found the nearest MRT station and rode to the Longshan Temple stop. When I got off the metro I followed signs for Longshan Temple and was sent through an underground shopping complex. Near the temple they sold all kinds of precious stones and crafts. I explored the market and found a section that was partitioned off from the rest with beautiful artwork hung up around the borders. The prices ranged from 10,000-100,000 NTD ($300-$3,000 USD), but the pieces were very well done originals. I tried to find information about the artist but was unable to pin down the source of these paintings.

 

After leaving the market I came to Longshan temple. The temple was a huge complex with  broad gated entryway. Within the temple was beautiful waterfalls and coy ponds with fountains. I found the crowd at the temple to be very interesting. Most of the people looked the same as the first 50 people you would see on the street. There wasn't an over prevalence of religious garb, or healthy and holistic looking individuals. They were just......people. The atmosphere was quite beautiful. As soon as I entered the temple I smelled incense quite heavily and soon realized why. Part of the ritual at the temple was each individual bought  a couple sticks of incense and lit them on an assigned trough.

After lighting the incense patrons walked through the temple to different braziers lit with bigger flames. At these braziers they circle and held the incense over their heads. There were many of these stations with one central altar with Buddha on it in the temple. The crowd I saw there ranged from families, to the elderly, to a girl's sports team coming for good fortune, to a couple trendy-teens. The temple's pathway was a full circuit around the perimeter of the temple that people walked with their incense as it burned out. Upon reaching the end there was a more centralized area to pray. After sending my own prayer I headed back to the Ashram to nap in preparation for New Year's Eve at Taipei 101.

Trains, Planes, and Buses....Oh my!!

 I arrived in Tokyo, Japan after about 22 hours of travel. I spent the duration of my layover exploring the interesting experiences the airport had to offer. I stopped in the main airport sushi bar and met Jeff, an American who had spent the last four years in a small province in mainland China studying traditional Kung Fu and Daoist principles. Jeff explained to me that his master believed that the road to their training was to become Daoist doctors, not to necessarily help others (although that is an excellent reason in of itself), but to be health conscious about what they put into their bodies. He talked to me about what kinds of foods he eats at what time of the year to promote health and wellness. I was curious as to his plan to stay strong in his practice when he moved back to the states because through personal experience I know that it is one thing to be motivated in the location that you are receiving this great and unique experience, but it is another to be able to bring it back and keep a strong practice while reintegrating into U.S. culture.

Another store that I found in the Tokyo Airport was lined wall-to-wall with Origami paper, books, models of figures fighting and farming, as well as picture frames with Origami figures inside of the frame. Seeing this I immediately thought back to my early time in India where I had been very interested in the art of Origami, and I used it to stay connected to my life at home. Inside the store I also found sculptures, chopsticks, and fans with very intricate details. There was an artist in the store with her own kiosk of personal artwork including Kimonos and Japanese-specific figures. 

I also had the pleasure of meeting a troupe of Education majors from (some University in) Washington State, as well as their facilitator. They were also flying to Taipei as a mandatory part of their education program. The program required them to have an intercultural teaching experience as part of their education degree (I know, what a PHENOMENAL idea) and one of the available programs was a partnership the facilitator's son had developed with a couple of the school systems in Taipei.

I spent awhile talking with the facilitator who was very interested in the research that I was doing and asked to meet up later on while I was in the country to have me talk about what I was learning to their group. I agreed with the stipulation that in two weeks I am in no way going to be any semblance of an expert, but hopefully will have been able to whet my appetite. I feel that a strong advantage that will aid me in my research is the graceful help being offered to me by Professor Ann Heylen, and Professor Wang of NTNU who are, and have been studying this topic for a much longer duration in Taipei. 

I landed in Taiwan at about 10:45 pm and while going through customs asked the lady working there her opinion of taking the bus or the taxi. She told me that the taxi was expensive, but a sure thing but if I felt comfortable taking the bus it was much less expensive. Although my eyes hurt and I was ready to get some sleep I decided to take the adventure of the bus. I showed the address of the place I needed to go to one of the bus kiosks within the airport and the lady kindly directed me to the correct station. While waiting for the bus I met a Taiwan native who had left the country 30 years ago to get a PhD in America, then decided to stay and work there. We talked for close to two hours while we waited for the bus, and on the way to our respective stops. We finally made it to my stop and walking down the main road until I found the address I was looking for was relatively easy! I finally made it to Ramadasa Ashram at about 1:30 am and was very happy to get a much needed shower and place to sleep.

Today I woke up and looked outside of my window to see the view a 12th floor apartment gets and was very interested in the architectural differences here. I am staying in an apartment, within an apartment where to get to my room I take a small lift within the apartment that makes a lot of noise and feels pretty rickety. My bathroom is an outdoor patio overlooking the city and while at first it was a new concept, I really like the idea. Today I plan to head to Longshan temple and practice using the MRT station. Later on a member of the community offered to show me some local vegetarian restaurants, and I plan to spend New Years at Taipei 101.