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My Taiwan Adventure
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Day 6 - A sense of history
Today I went out to Lukong a small town by the ocean. Though I didn't actually manage to make it to the coastline or even catch a glimpse of it, I did have an enjoyable day travelling. The bus ride was a short 30 minutes from ChangHua. I was assisted by a very helpful bus driver who was on his break in getting my ticket from the vending machine. Soon I hope to know the system well enough to use the machine on my own, but since it is all in Chinese it is nice to have a little help. The ride was fairly uneventful, a lady tried to chat to me and I tried to chat to her... it ended up in laughter. I knew enough to say "shir" when she asked about "buxiban." Roughly translated I said Yes when she asked if I was associated with and English "cram" school. (Cram schools are after school classes held at private, for profit, institutions.) I'm getting used to this sort of encounter... those who can not speak English seem to want to, and I'm carrying this "precious" gift of knowledge with me as my birthright.
I wandered about Lukong on my own, a phrase book, camera, and the lonely planet guide my constant companions. Lukong was originally an isolated town, they didn't want roads or a rail line in their town. As a result much of the town has been "preserved" according to the guidebooks. Funny how a town that wanted to be isolated is now a tourist mecca. I can not say that things were grossly overpriced as I do not know that much about costs here yet. However, the town has many English guide signs and just about everyone said "hello." There were also maps all over the town - though I only saw one in English. The signs are great... they point one in the right direction but the entrances to things are rarely marked. So, when you're looking for a temple and you don't know that the temple is really that construction area over on the left... you'll walk right by it.
Most of the day I just picked a street or alley and lost myself in the town, always going in somewhat the right direction. I spent some time head scratching over where I was and then voila... I'd pop out a back alley and find myself at some attraction listed in my lonely planet book (thanks Ryan) and be "found" again. In some of the town it just plain helped to watch the location of the sun as very few streets here actually run in straight lines. I even managed to find my way back to the bus station at the end of the day - just in time for sunset. Or what passes as sunset... reportedly they're quite beautiful, but they happen so fast I haven't been able to catch one as yet. Maybe after I'm not busy running for a familiar landmark before it turns dark!
Things that I saw include the half wall well. Which really amused me because of the painted arrow on the wall - almost like somebody saying, "Really this IS the main attraction. We aren't kidding." Initially I wasn't going to even take a picture of it, but the arrow was just too attractive to pass by.
To be fair at a different angle there is a sign in both English & Chinese (YAY!) that explains that the well was built by a rich family and they decided to be nice and share it with the poor people so graciously put half of it on the outside of their compound. One assumes the other half of the well is still on the inside of the still locked compound?
Lukang is also known as a temple town... there are many of them, so many that I'm now looking for familiar things on the temple... carved tigers on the left and dragons on the left in the entry way. I found out tonight that looking into a temple not of your own religion is bad luck. If that's the case I'm bad luck city!
The little lady in the gardening hat (See picture below) is part of a cleaning crew that keeps the outside courtyard to this temple clean. You'll also notice in the top left a smiley face sign that belongs to the convenience store located in the inner temple courtyard. One wonders why the Taiwan people don't knock down some of the abandoned buildings and but their stores there rather than in a temple? 3 reasons: Location, Location, Location!
Taking photos without somebody walking through them is a challenge in Taiwan.
Oh, another thing that puzzles me:
Was there no space to build an apartment building more than one unit wide?
These 1x4's and 1x5's are all over what I've seen of Taiwan. Just an oddity for your amusement.
What else did I see? A lantern shop and a fan shop where paper goodies are created from scratch. As well as there was a woodworking place where they create little 4 foot by 6 foot approx. temple/alters for the front entrance of your house. Watching them work on the tiny little details with a bandsaw was really interesting. I also took a trip down "old market road" in Lukang which has now turned into some tourist mecca - thanks to the Lonely Planet series of guidebooks that allow every nut with a backpack (inclding me) to commercialize quaint places. Incidentally it's the first place I've seen with postcards... a sure sign in Taiwan that you've entered a Western influenced area.
I also saw 9 turns alley/lane - according to the signs in the alley, a natural creation by early settlers to block wind from the northeast and according to the guide book designed to baffle potential invaders. It's enough to make me wonder who's creating history now?
New things (mostly food) I tried:
Poffertches (puff pastry) filled with fish and topped with mayo & kelp. Individually fried in a special little pan with rounded cups. Nice people there taught me "35" in Chinese.
Sasparilla from a vending machine. It's just like rootbeer only sweeter (like most things here)
I purchased some tangerines (pretty close to a western orange but, you guessed it, sweeter) and had brought some tomatoes with me for snacking. Cherry tomatoes here are really flavourful and inexpensive.
Last but not least: Taking the bus completely on my own. And thanks to the bus ride, I was able to spot the ChangHua SDA church... just down the street from a school I think I know how to walk to. *l* The sign was in English "yay."
Learning to say "How much is it" & "I don't understand" in Chinese.
Phrase books and dictionaries are wonderful, but the folk here don't stand around long enough for you to look things up... *l* I'll catch on eventually or I won't... it's too easy to rely on actions rather than words. I can understand why so many of the foreigners here just get frustrated with learning the language. It makes life harder in isolation though. Perhaps I'd be more motivated if there weren't a half dozen people here that I can talk too.
I don't have a plan for Thursday... maybe go after that cell phone I keep muttering about.
Maybe find a job. I'm having a hard time just being unemployed with no future plans or routine. It's disturbing at best. Parts of me want to travel, other parts are way too scared and just want a place to call home, buy the cute little plant I saw and nest. However, I'm pretty certain I've seen most of ChangHua that interests me, unless I plan on settling here. Maybe my backpack and I should hit the road. I've nothing to fear but fear itself.
((HUGS))
Love T. Destiny
I wandered about Lukong on my own, a phrase book, camera, and the lonely planet guide my constant companions. Lukong was originally an isolated town, they didn't want roads or a rail line in their town. As a result much of the town has been "preserved" according to the guidebooks. Funny how a town that wanted to be isolated is now a tourist mecca. I can not say that things were grossly overpriced as I do not know that much about costs here yet. However, the town has many English guide signs and just about everyone said "hello." There were also maps all over the town - though I only saw one in English. The signs are great... they point one in the right direction but the entrances to things are rarely marked. So, when you're looking for a temple and you don't know that the temple is really that construction area over on the left... you'll walk right by it.
Most of the day I just picked a street or alley and lost myself in the town, always going in somewhat the right direction. I spent some time head scratching over where I was and then voila... I'd pop out a back alley and find myself at some attraction listed in my lonely planet book (thanks Ryan) and be "found" again. In some of the town it just plain helped to watch the location of the sun as very few streets here actually run in straight lines. I even managed to find my way back to the bus station at the end of the day - just in time for sunset. Or what passes as sunset... reportedly they're quite beautiful, but they happen so fast I haven't been able to catch one as yet. Maybe after I'm not busy running for a familiar landmark before it turns dark!
Things that I saw include the half wall well. Which really amused me because of the painted arrow on the wall - almost like somebody saying, "Really this IS the main attraction. We aren't kidding." Initially I wasn't going to even take a picture of it, but the arrow was just too attractive to pass by.
To be fair at a different angle there is a sign in both English & Chinese (YAY!) that explains that the well was built by a rich family and they decided to be nice and share it with the poor people so graciously put half of it on the outside of their compound. One assumes the other half of the well is still on the inside of the still locked compound?
Lukang is also known as a temple town... there are many of them, so many that I'm now looking for familiar things on the temple... carved tigers on the left and dragons on the left in the entry way. I found out tonight that looking into a temple not of your own religion is bad luck. If that's the case I'm bad luck city!
The little lady in the gardening hat (See picture below) is part of a cleaning crew that keeps the outside courtyard to this temple clean. You'll also notice in the top left a smiley face sign that belongs to the convenience store located in the inner temple courtyard. One wonders why the Taiwan people don't knock down some of the abandoned buildings and but their stores there rather than in a temple? 3 reasons: Location, Location, Location!
Taking photos without somebody walking through them is a challenge in Taiwan.
Oh, another thing that puzzles me:
Was there no space to build an apartment building more than one unit wide?
These 1x4's and 1x5's are all over what I've seen of Taiwan. Just an oddity for your amusement.
What else did I see? A lantern shop and a fan shop where paper goodies are created from scratch. As well as there was a woodworking place where they create little 4 foot by 6 foot approx. temple/alters for the front entrance of your house. Watching them work on the tiny little details with a bandsaw was really interesting. I also took a trip down "old market road" in Lukang which has now turned into some tourist mecca - thanks to the Lonely Planet series of guidebooks that allow every nut with a backpack (inclding me) to commercialize quaint places. Incidentally it's the first place I've seen with postcards... a sure sign in Taiwan that you've entered a Western influenced area.
I also saw 9 turns alley/lane - according to the signs in the alley, a natural creation by early settlers to block wind from the northeast and according to the guide book designed to baffle potential invaders. It's enough to make me wonder who's creating history now?
New things (mostly food) I tried:
Poffertches (puff pastry) filled with fish and topped with mayo & kelp. Individually fried in a special little pan with rounded cups. Nice people there taught me "35" in Chinese.
Sasparilla from a vending machine. It's just like rootbeer only sweeter (like most things here)
I purchased some tangerines (pretty close to a western orange but, you guessed it, sweeter) and had brought some tomatoes with me for snacking. Cherry tomatoes here are really flavourful and inexpensive.
Last but not least: Taking the bus completely on my own. And thanks to the bus ride, I was able to spot the ChangHua SDA church... just down the street from a school I think I know how to walk to. *l* The sign was in English "yay."
Learning to say "How much is it" & "I don't understand" in Chinese.
Phrase books and dictionaries are wonderful, but the folk here don't stand around long enough for you to look things up... *l* I'll catch on eventually or I won't... it's too easy to rely on actions rather than words. I can understand why so many of the foreigners here just get frustrated with learning the language. It makes life harder in isolation though. Perhaps I'd be more motivated if there weren't a half dozen people here that I can talk too.
I don't have a plan for Thursday... maybe go after that cell phone I keep muttering about.
Maybe find a job. I'm having a hard time just being unemployed with no future plans or routine. It's disturbing at best. Parts of me want to travel, other parts are way too scared and just want a place to call home, buy the cute little plant I saw and nest. However, I'm pretty certain I've seen most of ChangHua that interests me, unless I plan on settling here. Maybe my backpack and I should hit the road. I've nothing to fear but fear itself.
((HUGS))
Love T. Destiny
Posted by T. Destiny in Taiwan at 7:44 PM 
