A Great Day (hike) and a Tough Night

A Great Day (hike) and a Tough Night

By Peter

Wild Flowers Along the Trail

Last weekend I snuck off on a half-day hike/trail run while Ashley, Perrin, and Carly were off on a bicycle ride to a local temple.  I get such pleasure from hiking, both with family and friends, and, as was the case on this hike, alone.   As my time was limited, I kept the hike very local and accessed the trail via the MRT (subway) and a 10-minute taxi-ride.  The trail is popular because it runs along a stream and passes by a small temple that is literally built into a cliff.  The stream cascades gently next to the temple enhancing the view (and the slipperiness of the steps!).  Apparently, after a heavy rain, the stream transforms into a gushing waterfall and turns the usually tranquil temple environment into a scene of wild movement and energy: like the small brooks around Norwich during Irene!

銀河洞 "Silver Stream Cave" Temple

After passing by the small temple, the main trail takes the hiker quickly to a series of tea plantations that reside on the outskirts of Taipei.  The trail is, in typical Taiwan fashion, paved with steps most of the way but a small offshoot from the main trail promised a wilder, less manicured hike.  I promptly took the smaller trail to see where it would take me and, as is often the case when I take the “one less traveled by,” was rewarded with a fantastic hiking experience full of views and interesting jungle scenes.  I quickly lost track of time and neglected to stop for a rest until I was more than an hour out and standing on a small peak called “Number 16 Peak.”  It was only at this time that I realized that in my haste to get onto the trail, I had neglected to actually bring the water bottle that I had filled for the hike.  I made a mental note to share a laugh with Perrin and Carly after the hike since, as they will confirm, I am a fanatic about being hydrated.   Whenever one of them complains about pretty much anything, I ask them if they have had enough water. 

Another two hours and 8 miles later, I finally descended through the tea plantations in Muzha where I was able to purchase a couple bottles of water and hail a taxi to take me back to the MRT and finally home.  I was pleased, and somewhat amazed, that I seemed to suffer no negative impact from going too long without water and made a mental note not to be such a stickler with the kids about their daily intake of water in the future.

Fast forward to that evening...

The headache began around 10pm and by 10:30pm I was in bed and in agony.  The shakes began around an hour later, which commenced an internal debate between the adults of the family on whether or not to go to the hospital.  Given my condition, it was really a one-sided debate and it struck us later how frightening it is to be sick and vulnerable in a different country with a different language.  Our Chinese has improved considerably since we arrived seven weeks ago, but we would still be pretty much illiterate in a Taiwanese hospital.  A small sampling of the questions we asked ourselves included: What hospital should we go to?  Should we call the doctor on call at White River Family Practice?  When do we wake up the kids so that they can come to the hospital with us?  It’s now 1:00am, should we wake up the neighbor?  Again, Ashley was asking these questions, I was pretty much useless and both embarrassed and frightened by my condition.

We ended up calling a doctor in the US affiliated with the medical evacuation insurance we purchased prior to our departure.  They felt I should go to the hospital and recommended two hospitals in Taipei – advice that we ignored but appreciated nonetheless. Instead I crawled back into bed and waited it out, hopeful that I was just suffering from dehydration and not something like Meningitis or Dengue Fever.

Thankfully, after a few hours, my condition improved a bit and by morning I was exhausted but feeling semi-human again. 

The take-away?  Being a fanatic about hydration might not be a bad thing after all!

View From the Temple
 (still waiting for enlightenment!)

Tian Hou Temple, Western Taipei

By Ashley

Temples in Taipei abound.  Some are famous, massive, heavily populated and used as social centers. Tu Di temples, mini-temples that dot the countryside and city, are places where neighborhoods can offer thanks to the local area's particular gods.  Other temples are tucked away in alleys, visited by dedicated locals and are more serene.  The Tian Ho Temple near Xi Men Ding (the old western gate to Taipei) is one of these.  Ximen Ding is known as the hot spot for both the young, hip crowd and the gay and lesbian crowd and is a fun, crazy place to go at night.  TianHo Temple is hidden amidst the storefronts of Ximen Ding and stands in contrast to the bustling neighborhood, offering a bit of refuge from the frenetic tempo on the streets outside its gate.

When I visited Tian Ho Temple on Tuesday, I almost walked right past the entrance as it was squashed in between contemporary storefronts hawking tacky sweaters and fake bags.  Once I did enter however, the wildness and noise of the streets dropped away and a small oasis of religion welcomed me.  Peter and I had visited Long Shan Temple, one of Taipei's biggest and most famous, and loved it for its noise and bustle, but Tian Ho appealed as a place where I might actually be able to learn about the traditions practiced in a Buddhist Temple.

The main altar at Tian Hou Temple - Matzu, the goddess that protects fishermen and many others here in Taiwan, is at the center.  Unfortunately, you cannot see her jet-black face in this photo.

some of the various gods

I am an advocate of asking questions and here in Taipei, people are always willing to oblige with answers. Since I was on my own and had time, I thought I would see how much I could find out about the routines we have seen in ever temple we have visited.  At a table selling packages of offerings, I asked if there were someone who spoke English who might be able to tell me about the temple.  I can ask most of my questions using Chinese, but when the answers I get involve vocabulary specific to something like temples, I don't do so well, so English in this case would be better.  The man replied that there was such a woman but that she wasn't available, so I decided to just go with it and purchase the packet of goods and offerings and ask as I went along.  I am not an active Christian, but I do believe in the power of prayer and am as happy to pray to Buddha as to the version of God I grew up with, so I paid my NTD50 ($1.50) and purchased a packet that included 6 sticks of incense, 2 red candles and 3 versions of paper "money."  When the man who sold me the packet realized I was heading out completely clueless to pray in his temple, he very kindly and using simple enough Chinese, told me the basics of the routine and sent me on my way. 

As I lit my two red candles and set them on spikes with a prayer, the English speaking volunteer suddenly appeared, described the remainder of the necessary routine and provided me with a book describing the temple in English.  

One begins by lighting two candles and setting each one on a spike with a prayer for someone in your life.  I decided that with Chinese New Year approaching, I would ask the Tian Ho gods for blessings for my many family members, living and dead.

First light two candles

After lighting the candles, one lights all the incense sticks at once and heads to urn number one to make a prayer.  Each urn is in front of a small altar that has its own special god.  Every time one approaches a new altar, one must introduce oneself to the new god, telling him or her one's name and home town before asking the god for a blessing.  After praying, one then sticks an incense stick into the sand and ashes in the urn in front of the altar, and moves on to the next.

Urn number 6.  You can see the incense sticks glowing slightly

After praying at each of the six altars and leaving an incense stick in each urn, one heads back to the main altar, kneels and prays to the main god, in this case, Matzu.  

The main altar can be seen behind this urn

Finally, one takes the paper "money" and heads to the furnace to burn it and send wished to heaven.  At the small table to the side of the furnace, I encountered a woman who quietly told me that I must fold every paper in half before throwing the whole lot into the fire with one last prayer.  She was patiently folding stacks and stacks of money, and while I did, indeed, fold my stack, I felt the guilty relief of only having bought one stack and so not having to spend a inordinate amount of time at the folding table.  

The furnace where money is burnt, bringing one's prayers up to the gods

My "money"  before I began folding it

My prayers being sent up

After having visited many temples without an idea of the meaning of the various rituals, it felt good to finally have a handle of some of the trappings of the Buddhist and Taoists traditions.  Now I just have to buff up on the beliefs behind them!  More on that later.

Perrin's Restaurant Reviews

Click on the link at the right side of the page to view the beginning of Perrin's Restaurant Reviews.

Snake Boarding on Sunday

By Carly

“Ashley!!  Carly!!  It’s time to go!!”

“Oh darn!!!”  Ashley picked up the snake board and we started to walk to lunch.  As we were walking, I started to think about all Ashley and I had done in the last two hours at Da’an Park, the biggest park in Taipei.

      Ashley is a girl that my mom met when she came to Taipei to find an apartment in November.  My mom was trying to set up a city bike account and Ashley and her dad saw her and asked if she needed help.  Ashley’s dad’s name is William.  William lived in Texas for three years, so he is fluent in English.  Ashley lives near us and is a few months younger than I am so my mom got his e-mail so my family could meet with her family again.  And I am glad we did!

      My dad, William, Ashley and I had decided to meet at a little park that was near Ashley’s apartment.  After playing at that park for a bit, we walked to Da’an Park.  We brought games, a jump rope and a snake board.  When we arrived at Da’an Park, we jumped rope over to a playground.  We looked around and saw a basketball court.  Peerrrrrrfect!  The cement was great because it was so smooth.  “Whoever gets there first gets to do the snake board first!!” we shouted.

      O.K.  I have said snake board twice, so for you people who don’t know what it is, I must explain.  A snake board is a long, skinny object that has two platforms for each of your feet with a bar attaching the platforms.  The bar is there so you can wiggle each platform different ways.  It has that ability because wiggling the platforms pushes the snake board forward so you don’t have to push it with your foot like you do with a skateboard.  There is only one wheel on the bottom of each platform.  Believe it or not, the wheels are roller blade wheels!

  

      We hurried to the basketball court.  “Yes!  I win!”  Ashley had just stepped onto the basketball court before me and she started to snake board easily around the court.  When it was finally my turn, I put my right foot on the snake board and started to push it along with my other foot, which is how you start it.  Then I quickly placed my left foot onto the back platform and wiggled my feet different ways to keep myself moving.  I could feel the wind and drops of rain against my face.  It felt refreshing because it was so hot out.  Two seconds of that wonderful experience and … whump.  I fell again and again.  But I was determined to keep trying!

      After two hours of snake boarding, I could finally go all the way down one side of the basketball court and turn by leaning forward or backward.  Then I would fall off.

“Carly, do you like pizza?” asked Ashley.

“Yes.  Why?”

“We’re going to a pizza place for lunch.”

After lunch, Ashley’s parents had meetings, so we said goodbye and then Ashley’s dad said, “Next time, we should go to karaoke.”  

 Our street

Dogs of Taipei

by Perrin, Carly and Ashley

People love their dogs in Taipei.  Check out these interesting specimens.  More to come!

Xin Xiang Shi Cheng

By Carly

My sister and I have a Chinese tutor named Shu Wen who comes twice a week in the afternoon.  She is really fun and we do lots of great things with her.  For example, we go to restaurants with her, cafes and shop for fruit and food in markets. But on Thursday the 24^th, we did something different with her.

Shu Wen wrote directions on a piece of paper in Chinese and also in Bo Po Mo Fo, a different style of Chinese writing that my sister and I can read, for going to an unknown destination.  Perrin and I had to read the Bo Po Mo Fo and Shu Wen would translate it into English.  The first instruction was to get onto the metro to go to the right stop, which was 13 stops from where we were.  We hopped on the metro after watching “Metro Cares for You” about 5 times on the TV screen above the platform.  We arrived at our metro stop about 20 minutes later.  We looked at the directions again.  “#8: walk down the little street to crosswalk.”  Clop, clop, clop.  We walked to the crosswalk.  Clop, clop, click, click, clop.  People in high heels and all sorts of different shoes walked past.  When we were once again on the sidewalk, we read,  “#9: turn right and walk 20 paces, then turn left.”  O.K.  Let’s go!  We turned right, walked 20 paces, 1,2,3…then turned left.  OK. Now what?  “#10: walk 10 more paces.”  “#11: walk into the building and tell the security that you want to go to the 2^nd floor.”  Three minutes later, “jingle, jingle, click,” Shu Wen had just taken out her keys and unlocked a door in the 2^nd floor hallway. 

The room turned out to be an art studio that belonged to Shu Wen’s mom.  Shu Wen decided to bring us because Chinese New Year is approaching on February 10, and it is traditional to write characters to celebrate.  We were there for about 3 ½ hours writing a traditional kind of Chinese character with ink.  These characters are   called calligraphy.  I wrote four characters on red paper.  Here they are: 心想事成 (xin xiang shi cheng).  They mean to have one’s wishes come true.  I also wrote the character for spring (春 chun).  The characters are written on red paper because it is good luck.  We wrote on red paper because red is a traditional color in China and the Chinese use it for Chinese New Year.

      Next time we go to the studio we might make stuffed animals and I am looking forward to going again.