Halloween: Taiwan Style

Of the American holidays there are few that I regard with less interest than Halloween. That is to say when I lived in America I was more excited to see Columbus Day on the calendar than I was Halloween. There are various reasons for this, but the main one is that Halloween isn't celebrating or commemorating anything. The irony of my apathy of course is that for some reason, those who are in authority at the school we work at regard Halloween as something very important.

Does Taiwan celebrate Halloween? No. But Hess Language school does. Why? It isn't clear except that the "holiday" has an attachment to the United States and the myth is that it is in fact a very important holiday state-side. So, instead of dedicating just one evening to the Halloween "tradition" (whatever that may be for you) we were required to teach on it for a week. That's right, one week of English teaching on ghosts, monsters, bats, skeletons, and whatever else will fit appropriately on a Kindergarten flashcard--culminated by an event (replacing classes) on Friday--the actual day of Halloween.

It is important to point out, that I have particularly strong feelings about these events because I had to plan the big event for the whole Kindergarten on Friday. In hindsight, this sounds like more than it was because, the duties of running the event fell on all the English teachers and not just me.

The week of Halloween was a blur of language games, the Halloween Song (which song is that you may be wondering...), and overly elaborate craft projects geared towards decorating the hallways with the kids' artwork. All of these things went off without a hitch and the event day arrived.

Without too much needless detail the event was to last for two and a half hours. The opening of the day would be a "fashion show" of all the kids in their costumes, followed by trick or treating and games. The children arrived that morning decked out in whatever their parents could buy or make (most of them...some didn't have any costume) and Halloween was on.

This is Winnie...part of my (Luke's) Kangaroo class.

This is Kelly...part of Katie's Rabbit class and yes she is a little unicorn!
The costume show was more amusing for the teachers than the students. There were too many of us crammed in a tiny hallway, but it was a good time all the same.


Things moved forward from there rather smoothly. But the day wouldn't have been right without some true Taiwan moments:

An example was the Trick or Treating. This was supposed to take place at 3 different businesses just down the block from the school. One of the Chinese teachers assured me that this would only take each class about ten minutes and so everyone would have plenty of time for the games. So we set out in the hot early morning sun (90 plus degrees and 90 plus humidity) toward our first stop: Starbucks.

For this to be a true Taiwan experience there had to be something unusually dangerous going on. In this case, the building next to ours was being remodeled. In Taiwan they don't use cones, or ropes or anything you would normally find in the U.S. Instead they like to use a "walk at your own risk through a construction site" policy.
Excuse me while I move my tractor off the road (which I was blocking) and off the sidewalk (as the kids were walking toward it) and into this recently destroyed area.

Don't mind the broken bricks...shards of rocks and metal spikes...
Yay we made it 100 hundred feet to Starbucks!

Another major distinctive of Taiwan is the real lack of places to walk. If it is just Katie and I making our way to 7-11 that is one thing. We can watch for scooters (they drive on the sidewalks, through covered markets or anywhere they can fit) for just the two of us...but watching for almost 60 little kids was a bit stressful.

Oh yeah...another tractor actually tearing up the road. They stopped for a minute to watch us as we walked by...

So ten minutes took forty-five, but it was worth it. The children loved Trick or Treating and just looking awesome in their costumes.


At the end of the day we were exhausted but we felt like the event as a whole was a success. There was merriment, much candy, and laughs all around. So that being said...happy halloween from Taiwan!

Don't Mind If I Guandu

After leaving Jiufen, we weren't quite ready to get back to Jubei and call it a weekend just yet. So, we eagerly consulted our guide book for places around Taipei that we could visit.

The last stop on the MRT (Taipei's subway) is Danshui, a lovely, little place that we've been to before and done a previous post about. A couple stops before that was apparently a town (or suburb) called Guandu that was supposed to have the oldest temple in Taiwan, built in 1661!

We decided on Guandu and after a quick transfer and a bite to eat at the Taipei Main Station we were on our way. Something that we've noticed that's true about Taiwan is that you never know what you're going to get. The sign could say "resort" and you get a mattress on the floor and ants on the wall. The picture could show what you think is meat but instead you get brown jelly cubes. Now, our guide book said that this temple wasn't supposed to look "very impressive" from the street so we weren't expecting much, but this is what we saw as we approached...
I feel like they were wrong, don't you? This wasn't just a temple, it was an entire temple complex, complete with tunnels, a park and balconies overlooking the adjacent river scene. To get an idea of just how many buildings were in this complex, here is a picture from an upper floor of the main building, looking out at the surrounding rooftops.
The main temple was a-mazing. The intricate detail in the carving was unreal. I took a quick picture because I didn't want to disturb the worshippers and it really doesn't even come close to displaying what all the carving looked like. But maybe you can at least get an idea...
There were also domed ceilings that were carved and painted and had these enormous chandeliers. In addition to all the carving and detail the temple buildings were filled with sculpture and art.
After wandering around inside, we headed up to a park that overlooked the temple complex and the nearby river.
After enjoying some peace and quiet up here we decided to head down in to one of the tunnels that our guide book had talked about and see what we could see.
We emerged out of the tunnel and were in another area of worship with a fifteen foot high, many-armed, golden Buddha, surrounded by attendants and looking very serene in spite of the many weapons he was holding in his hands.
At this point we had spent quite a lot of time in the temple complex and decided to take a relaxing stroll down by the river. It was a Sunday so there were plenty of people who had the same idea. Eventually our feet tired and we looked for a place to sit. Having put down our bags, we started peacefully surveying the river and its boardwalk when all of a sudden I see Luke's head start to bob up and down, then I hear it...the tinny, metal sound of a lyre being beaten by an elderly Chinese woman. Yes, that's right. A lyre. She is dressed all in black even though it's 100 degrees out, Ray-Bans on and belting out some kind of Chinese opera into her cordless mic that hooked around her ear, a la Britney Spears. Here is a bad video of it. I wish it was better but I didn't want her to know I was video-taping her. This went on for at least 45 minutes before we decided to go. Wow...we really did not want to get back to JuBei. ; )

Jiufen: Taiwan Paradox

Being Westerners living in Taiwan, Katie and I are at a unique vantage point to see certain points of aesthetic collision. That is to say Taiwan has provided us with some interesting insights into things that can truly be categorized as Yin and Yang.

This weekend we made a trip up north to a very small town called "Jiufen." We found the town in our tour book sometime back but neglected going because of our larger and more zealous trip to Green Island. But after getting a taste for some of what the more "out of the way" places had to offer we started asking around about this Jiufen place. To our surprise and delight a friend raved to us about how beautiful the town was and that it truly was worth a trip.

So after a quick and chaotic first week back of teaching, Katie and I were up early on Saturday to catch the fast train to Taipei. We switched trains without trouble and made our way north to the town of Reufang. We could already tell it was going to be beautiful as we caught glimpses of the jagged coastline and tall misty peaks straight out of a Chinese painting. From the train we hailed a taxi and made our way toward our destination.

So...why Jiufen? The town is famous for its location, being built into the jagged north coastline, its tea (many famous teahouses line the streets), and its preservation of a simpler way of life. All this to say...it is a picture of the way life used to be before Taiwan became infused with the Modernization steriod.

The road was narrow and green. Katie and I laughed as our taxi driver made some close call passes of slower cars (buses usually and that should have been a hint) and after a few minutes we were let off on a small street in the middle of perhaps the prettiest town we have ever seen in Taiwan. It is built directly into the coast (Katie said it reminded her of the Amalfi Coastline in Italy), with a view of a huge bay, jagged rocks, blue/green water, a large volcanic island...and then I was almost hit by a bus.

Then another bus came...and another bus...Katie and I tried to get off the road (it was barely two lanes) but there was no sidewalk. The sun was intense, so we began to sweat buckets as we walked quickly up the steep hill looking for a place to sit and get our bearings. This was no easy task. Taxis honked and raced past us down the hill to bring more people up from the train, buses whirrled by, billowing exhuast into our faces...then after a rather startling beeping sound, their doors would open producing large numbers of Taiwanese tourists. The road was so small in fact that Katie and I had to push our way through the lines of people, dodge cars, buses, taxis, and scooters (with several near misses) for quite a few minutes before we managed to climb the hill.

With a sigh we found that the hotel we were looking for was at the very bottom of the hill we had just climbed and therefore we needed to wade through the mess of exhaust, people and cars again (all caught at that single choke point).

Long story short, we found lodging at a rather peculiar spot called, "The Jiufen Kite Muesem," dropped off our very heavy bags and made our way toward the street of famous tea houses. We settled for one quickly and found ourselves seated on a patio, drinking phenominal lemon tea mixed with lemonade looking over the gorgeous coast.

We sat for a while and began to consider what we had just witnessed. This town was beautiful. We were perched up next to a quite steep, dramatic mountain with stunning views. The streets were beautiful...some were only steps, others were cobblestones winding their way through the small houses toward the top of the hill. But then there were the crowds...and the buses. It occurred to us that there is a difference in the way we perceive "vacation" and the way Taiwanese do. We like space, quiet, and simplicity. The Taiwanese seek the same things, only they like to bring everyone they know along with them.

They love tour buses. In fact, I feel like that statement might not paint a strong enough picture of the Taiwanese affinity toward mass transit vehicles. This tiny town was never without several buses roaring up its roads during the day. The town had two main streets, perhaps a kilometer long...and there were always buses stopping and going. Each busload brought on more people...more people to enjoy the peace, quiet and simplicity of the place. At the heart of this there is a cultural motivation that makes sense: In Taiwan, relationships and especially family are of penultimate importance. A vacation means going to be with the ones you love. So...a day trip to Juifen will include everybody...everybody.

Another point we noticed was what we saw as a clash of asthetic choices. Here is an example:


This is another view from our hotel...
..and that is the parking lot marring the otherwise beautiful view.

So these points aside, we did enjoy Jiufen. We left the teahouse and found ourselves wandering through a cobblestone street that was just one massive market. During the day it was crammed with people...almost to the point in some sections that Katie and I had to hold hands or we would be separated by the shifting bodies.

The market was a cacophany of sounds, smells and sights that made us laugh or gag at every turn. We loved wandering through that market...in fact after all was said and done we went there three different times!
Wanna eat a slimy, see-through raw meat filled with nuts, powder and red beans? Yeah we don't know what that is either...but they look worse in person.
Here it is at night when all the buses left...
Yes that is Katie with a sword...and she is awesome.
This was a local artist we met who did calligraphy and Chinese painting with her fingers. We bought one of her pieces and she gave us two more! Three pieces of original art for $9.00 US!
Once we made our way through the market we went back down the meandering steps of the famous tea house road. The most famous tea house here is named "City of Sadness":
"City of Sadness" is also the name of a very famous Taiwanese movie shot here in Juifen some years ago. The movie was a celebration of the simple life and the simple love for tea. It was one of the main reasons the city became a tourist destination.

Another feature of the town beyond the shopping and eating was the large mountain jutting out just to the north.
There was a trail leading up the mountain dotted with pagodas and we saw that once you made your way to the top you could see the ocean from both sides. After some hiking through the town we began to make our way up the mountain in the hopes that we could catch the sunset. The "trail" was actually a series of stairs that was...very unforgiving...
This was a very, very small part...
Still going...

Needless to say it was a tough climb. Sadly, the clouds began to move in before we could reach the top so we did not take any pictures of the other coast line. But here are some shots that we took:

We noted that the hillside above the town was dominated by graves that actually looked quite interesting from above. These were all at the top of the hill--which is prime real estate. This is a quick example of how much value is placed on ancestors...even when they die they are set above the rest.

We scrambled down the hill in the dark and came across another interesting aesthetic choice: Cafe Bus!
Is that a van on the side of the road (note the red line "sidewalk")? Yes it is...in fact it is a dirty, broken down, rusted van with flat tires turned into a cafe. Turning a bus into a cafe? Cool idea...at least wash it and maybe use a bus instead of a rusty van...or just give the van a fresh coat of non-puke colored paint. We are just throwing out ideas here.

Like every town in Taiwan this one was dotted with beautiful and unique temples. When we first arrived in town this temple was the only place we could find to stop and rest:



Here are a couple of the inside...

The temples in Jiufen only added to its charm. They stick out from the rest of the town adding a distinctly Taiwanese feel to its horizon.
Our sleep in the Kite Museum was quite comfortable and we woke up feeling refreshed. We considered taking another stab at the mountain, but there were still lingering clouds and to be honest our legs hurt. So we hailed a cab and made our way back toward Taipei, not quite ready to head home yet...