oh, kaohsiung!

with the generous hospitality of sharon and her family, i've managed to stay in tainan for a whole week now, instead of the two or three days i'd been planning on. what a lovely week it's been!

yesterday was a holiday, so the two sisters had off from work and wanted to make a mini-vacation of it. an early rising and quick breakfast, and we found ourselves in the southern town of kaohsiung by ten AM. stepping out of the car into the bright sunlight and pleasantly warm breeze, i soon had given my sunglasses more face-time than they've seen this entire trip; my pale legs, meanwhile, were enjoying only their second day in shorts since i arrived six weeks ago.

we began our kaohsiung vacation with a walk around lotus pond, a man-made lake in the past notable for the way it perfectly reflects the beautiful temples that dot its shores. within the past year, however, with the city chosen as the host for the 2009 world games, the pond has been drained in order to make "improvements", so we were confronted with a lunar-like landscape--mounds of gray silt--with the disturbing addition of dead fish and garbage. still intoxicated by the summer weather, and a little off-put by the surreal manifestation of city planning, we quickly moved on to exploring those many temples around the "pond." with each, i grew more and more astonished at the craftsmanship, the artistry, and the strength of people's beliefs. buddhist, confucian, taoist; i was struck by how much reverence is embodied in the attention to detail, in the attempt to make everything perfect and right. a temple's holiness, the closeness of its connection to the higher spirits, is evidenced by how well-worn it is, the ceiling and pillars darkened by incense smoke over the centuries, the floor worn and the kneelers creased from person after person coming to worship. temples are the center of a neighborhood's civic life, public commons that are practical and familiar but at the same time feel incredibly sacred and special, and i find myself so intrigued and pleased that a single space can embody all of that.

later in the morning, we took a quick ferry ride across the kaohsiung harbor to cijin island, a narrow stretch of land protecting the world's fourth or fifth largest port. we first walked down "seafood street" ogling the fresh, fresh seafood on display, and soon found ourselves enjoying an incredibly delicious lunch of noodles and sauteed greens with shrimp and clams, capped off with a couple of glasses of guava juice and orange slices. next we wandered along the shore--a long, sandy beach, with rocky outcroppings that reminded me of the oregon coast--and climbed up to an old lighthouse perched on one of the cliffs above. quite a view from up there! after taking the ferry back and hiking up a bluff back on the main island, we wound down the afternoon with tea and cake at an old british consulate building constructed during the dutch settlement, way back when. facing the vast pacific ocean, i tried to grasp that it was only water between us and my pacific northwest home, and as soon as the sun set in that direction, we hopped back in the car for the drive home.

last night, sharon and i explored the local night market, and like past night market visits, i found my stomach soon full of the most random assortment of foods. it's like going to a party and sampling from the buffet table, only with an abundance of items that you've never tasted or even heard of before (squid dumplings? smoked plum candy? apple juice tea?). my tastebuds were soon overwhelmed by the excitement (and the MSG). i loaded up on local candies to bring back to the states and called it an evening.

today, i accompanied sharon to the school she works at, and after catching breakfast with her (another new taste: an omelette rolled in a dumpling wrapper) i wandered the city alone for a while. a little window shopping, a few more gifts to bring home, and a delightful half-hour passed browsing the chinese and japanese fashion magazines at the college bookstore. and... my first successful solo experience ordering a meal from one of the small, family-owned sidewalk restaurants. while i've navigated other food venues successfully on my own these past couple weeks, these little restaurants pose more of a challenge: no menu or english, no pictures to point at or items to select from, just me and my minuscule catalogue of mandarin words and phrases. but--voila! sweet potato greens sauteed with garlic, dry noodles with tangy bean curd sauce, and the owner treated me to soup to finish it off. i felt brave and exhilarated.

more road running and a day with the girls

after finishing my last blog posting on friday evening, i packed up my bags to take a quick trip down to tainan for the "ancient capital city marathon" held on sunday. while registration for all of the big races was closed, there was a free 3K open to anyone held towards the end of the morning that i intended to run in.

arriving in tainan on saturday, i made my way to ani's uncle's apartment to make myself at home, only to discover that i was missing one of the two keys necessary to get into the apartment. a phone call to one of my taipei "aunties" and i soon found myself crashing at the lovely home of twinky and santiago (who were mentioned in a previous posting) and enjoying their generous hospitality. the next morning, santiago gave me a lift to the start of the race, and walking into the quiet yet bustling registration area i immediately had that familiar race-morning feeling: there's something about being in my running shoes, with the dark grey early morning skies above me and trampled sidewalk grass beneath my feet that makes me feel right at home. and typically, a little nervous for the race ahead--but not so much, of course, for this race.

waiting in line to get my free number and safety pins, an elderly gentleman approached me, all smiles, and asked me in broken english if i would be running the 3K. i said yes, which made his smile grow wider, and he even clapped a bit. it turned out, from what i could gather, that he was one of the "old guard" members of the taiwanese road running club which had organized the race (as well as the one i ran with ani and matt earlier in the trip). he was so happy that a foreigner was in tainan to run that he wanted to get a picture with me, and then presented me with a gift of a beautiful silk scarf with a drawing of the main building of tainan's public university on it. a very sweet gift, which he insisted on immediately tying around my neck. ultimately, when the race started a little while later, then, i found myself running in what i consider to be a more typical taiwanese running outfit than my usual garb: t-shirt and shorts, but with the addition of a scarf around my neck and a backpack (carrying warmer clothes, water, camera, sunscreen, map of tainan, borrowed cellphone, etc. etc.) strapped securely to my back. my first race with a backpack. and a scarf, for that matter.

the outfit ended up not being too important because, unless i missed a turn somewhere, the race was definitely not 3K in length. and no one really seemed to care. i was only confused because we had been running for just ten minutes when we turned the corner, and lo-and-behold, there was the starting line. when we crossed it, everyone started walking off the course. this is one of those moments when i really felt like a foreigner. where was everyone going? we were just getting started! i briefly considered that somehow during my travels, without running more than a few times and even spending a whole week sitting on my butt, i had managed to become so fit that without even feeling it i had been on track to pace a 17 minute 5K. ha!

after thoroughly stretching from such rigorous exertion, i waited patiently at the finish line to see the first marathoners come through. at just about 2 hours, 18 minutes (incredible) a kenyan runner named bernard mutai--defending champion of last year's race--finished the 26.2 mile course and he was the picture of strength and grace as he cruised past the line. the win netted him the first place prize of $500,000 NT, or about 15,000 US dollars (pretty good hourly wage!). about 45 minutes later, the first female came through, a very petite asian woman--but i wasn't able to catch her name. she also took home $500,000 NT.

later that day, twinky and i explored a few local wonders in taiwan: the confucius temple (beautiful), the 60-year-old lily fruit shop (perfect slices of lantern fruit and fresh squeezed OJ), and a famous fujianese meatball shop. we ended up at one of twinky's personal favorites in the city, the shih kong mitsukoshi department store, where we perused the shoe section with such diligence that i felt i was in the presence of a master shopper. i ended the day with the purchase, unexpectedly, of a pair of yellow high heels-- trust me, they're cute!

yesterday i enjoyed the surreal experience of watching the oscars, live, over breakfast. it was quite enjoyable to curl up on the couch and witness that whole hollywood-world from across the ocean. and when twinky returned from her morning grocery shopping, we got to debate the best outfits of the evening, and identify our shared taste in men ("very handsome" she would say... "yes, yes, very handsome!" i would agree). we spent the afternoon in the harbor town of anping, enjoying more local cuisine favorites and walking the narrow pedestrian streets. we met the owners of a 100-year-old preserved fruit store, still in its original occupation-era building, and took home dried and pickled plums, and some sort of pickled red root vegetable that i wasn't able to catch the name of... but the taste had me sold.

at this shop, looking at a picture of the family back in the early 1900's, i couldn't help but overlay my newly acquired knowledge of taiwanese history over the history of the business. back when the shop opened, the japanese occupation had just begun. amidst that uncertainty, they opened the shop and it has remained in the same location, and under the same family ownership, to this day. they even use some of the same large preserving containers. it's amazing, in the swirl of so many different forms of taiwan, to see something so constant. this thought also crossed my mind the day before, at the fruit shop twinky took me to: it was opened in 1947, the same year as the 2.28 massacre. amidst all of the fear gripping the country as its own government executed civilians, a family opened a fruit shop on a busy corner in tainan; there i was, over 60 years later, enjoying their famed products on a sunny sunday afternoon.

today, i spent the day with sharon and viola, nieces of twinky and santiago, ages 29 and 27. we had a nice girls' day out: lunch and a movie ("enchanted", the disney fairy tale, of course) and then a walk through the small town they live in outside of tainan. last night, their parents took all of us to the "solar city" lantern festival, which was absolutely amazing, a taiwanese tradition of paper lanterns in all shapes and sizes and colors. quite the visual experience, witnessed with corn-on-the-cob in one hand and a "taiwan beer" purchased for me by sharon and viola's dad in the other. i felt like one of the crowd, and it was perfect.

quiet and noisy

it's been about a week since we returned from the meditation retreat. since arriving back in taipei last thursday evening, i've been ticking off the well-known sights of the city, and recovering--if that is the appropriate word--from our week at the mountain.

what can i say about the retreat? wow. or whoa. it was comparable in many ways to the week-long bicycle ride that i did with my dad, mei-yen, and fran a couple of years ago: long, solemn stretches trying to "pay no attention" to the discomfort in my body and mind, interspersed with eating and sleeping. but in many other ways, the week was incomparable to anything i've experienced before, and i found it most of the time to be an incredibly difficult week. but for all the reasons it was difficult, i am incredibly glad to have participated.

in order to maximize the effectiveness of the meditation practice, the retreat limited our sensory input and output: no speaking, very few things to listen to, simple food and water, a beautiful but austere setting in the mountains. within the first few sessions of meditating, my mind had run out of the data it needed to fuel its typical pattern of hashing out my surroundings, reviewing recent interactions, etc. it was like silt settling in still water, and it uncovered a second layer of thoughts that only sporadically make their way to the surface: very old memories, songs and phrases, lingering feelings, faces and scenes. more sitting, and my mind began to loosen its grasp on those thoughts, too. for brief moments, my mind was still and it was incredibly peaceful.

without the energy spent on talking and overthinking things like i usually do, all that energy was pent up inside me and, towards the middle of the week, i felt more and more like a cauldron, ready to overflow. sitting with correct posture, that energy started to move quickly through my body, and sometimes my teeth would chatter or i would suddenly realize that i was swaying. but the heat created felt good--it kept me warm and made it so much easier to sit with my legs tightly crossed for hours on end. in fact, the times when i wasn't sitting well-- too distracted or something similar-- my legs never warmed up and attempting to stand up would remind me of this fully. when i sat still, and relaxed, i really enjoyed my time sitting and looked forward to getting back on the cushion. when i was tense, or having trouble, the sitting was like an endless hillclimb.

because of the unique characteristics of my body--very hot, in chinese medicine terms--i was restricted to a diet of steamed veggies and rice during the week. not used to this new arrangement, my body protested via a wicked, but quickly passing, head cold and general feelings of weakness and discomfort on and off throughout the week. i spent the fourth day sleeping, after the most magical meal of cold medicine, hot soup and toast. waking up, it was a new world: my head was clear and i felt stronger than i had all week. the women at my dinner table, watching these various states unfold before their eyes, were incredibly kind and never let me do a dish all week. even though we were silent, and the language barrier prevented them from fully understanding my whispered commentary to my translator (i did get to speak a little bit!), i felt their compassion and it was much appreciated. at the end of the retreat, after we were able to speak again, many of them approached me, and in very broken english told me they had daughters my age. and could i give my email address so their daughters can write me to practice english?

i could write more about the retreat (maybe i will in upcoming posts) but i want to mention a bit about my adventures this week, here in taipei. lonely planet guide in hand, i've been making my way to the some of the most interesting and well-known parts of the city, and it's been incredibly enjoyable. i love riding the crowded, yet orderly, subway; getting food from street vendors when i can figure out what they're selling and how to order it; and ultimately seeing how taiwan became the place it is today.

a few sites of note, all relating to taiwanese political history.

1) the former estate of the president/dictator chiang kai-shek. sprawling gardens and paths, and a huge home, at the edge of taipei, one of fifteen of his estates. for fifty years, taiwan was under martial law, and this was the man at the helm, holding fast to his vision of returning to the mainland and restoring china to its full glory. the gardens are now maintained as a park, and i enjoyed smelling the many varieties of roses on the beautiful grounds, but felt odd walking around a place with such troublesome history. a highlight was discovering a small path up the hillside behind the estate, where i happened upon a white cement sanctuary built to honor the president's mother. from the top of the sanctuary you could see much of taipei, with none of the noise of the bustling city below, and a little translated sign mentioned that this is where the president often came to contemplate and brainstorm.

2) another place irrevocably tied to the former president, the chiang kai-shek memorial plaza, now called the "democracy memorial." ani and i visited at night a couple weeks ago, but i wanted to come back during daylight to walk up the eighty-nine steps (one for every year of the president's life) to the enormous, gentle-giant statue of him in a cavernous hall. the monument was erected to the prez just a few years after his death (early 1990's i, think) and by now, his name and other mention of him have been removed from the building and displays. but he still sits, facing china, looking very benevolent and wise--which is not really the way anyone i have spoken to remembers him, of course. i enjoyed all of the displays they've added to the hall which document, in photographs, taiwan's realization of a democratic election and the end of martial law. the pictures of people marching boldly together, carrying signs with slogans of hope and justice, were quite inspiring and i had the feeling that taiwan still holds democracy as a very precious commodity. certainly nothing to be taken for granted.

3) the 2.28 memorial museum. soon after the japanese returned taiwan to china in the late 1940s (japan had occupied the country from the turn of the century) conflict erupted as china attempted to reexert its authority over the island. beginning on february 28, 1947 the government massacred tens of thousands of taiwanese civilians, mostly well-educated and politically active men, virtually eliminating the professional class of doctors, lawyers, businessmen, local politicians, etc. the massacres marked the beginning of what is referred to as the "white terror" --the suppression of any political opposition, martial law and oppressive government tactics carried out by the KMT (chiang kai-shek's party)--which lasted another half century. wikipedia cites that over 140,000 taiwanese were jailed or murdered all together during this time period. the museum chronicles the japanese occupation and the events of 2.28, and with the help of an elderly volunteer who graciously dug up an english audio guide for me to use, i wandered the museum for much longer than i expected to, captivated by this history.

the next day, having dinner with locals, i brought up my visit to the museum and was rewarded with an earful about the ensuing martial law and taiwan's current relationship with china. all were in favor of an independent taiwan, and had many tales to tell of the barriers that prevent taiwan from asserting its independence, and the many reasons that china continues to have interest in keeping the island under its control.

today my explorations did not touch on politics or history: a drive up to yang ming mountain to ogle at the flower blossoms and verdant surroundings, then a visit to a water lily farm (i got my boots all muddy searching for perfectly sculpted lilies, my idea of a lovely afternoon), dinner, and a long drive home through taipei traffic.

more soon, i swear!

happy chinese new year! xin nian kuai le!

we just returned from a festive evening ringing in the chinese new year. outside the apartment here in tainan, i can hear the sporadic booms of fireworks. next to the computer, little red envelopes collected throughout the evening, filled with gifts of cash from the "grown-ups" in attendance.

i'll have to write later about our mountain and taipei travels last week.... yesterday, ani and i took the high speed rail down to tainan from taipei. it was a little expensive (around 40 dollars) but what a nice ride! big, cozy seats, wide windows for watching the countryside zoom past; an enjoyable ride from one end of the country to the other in under two hours. upon arriving, we were greeted with blue skies and comfortably warm weather--a nice change of pace from the northwest-esque weather of taipei. dinner at the apartment, and then matt took us to his favorite local bar for karaoke and drinks.

we karaoke'd in much different style than i am used to. there were screens behind the bar, and big wireless microphones that got passed around from one patron to another. we handed song selections to the owner of the bar, ming li, and then sang our songs, sitting at the bar, facing the bartenders. it made for a bit more anonymity, freeing me up to sing such classics as WHAM's "wake me up before you go-go," the always-popular "sweet caroline," and, of course, "billie jean." ming li made us her infamous long island ice tea--and me, having not had a single drink in maybe a month or more, foolishly was entranced by the lemony goodness of said beverage... drank two, and found myself drunk. but luckily, not too drunk to forget the memories of taiwanese businessmen belting out love songs and singing back-up during my musical numbers ("the kid is not my son!" one guy sang loudly during "billie jean"). when i get back to taipei, i'll be sure to upload a picture giving evidence to the mayhem.

waking up late, with a headache, i took refuge on the couch before getting ready for the new year's festivities. we celebrated at the family home of one of uncle doug's associates, santiago, who--along with his dynamo wife, twinky--lavished us with generous hospitality. we started dinner with a plate of steamed spinach, kept whole (root and all). we each had to take one plant and put it in our mouths in one fell swoop, no chewing before we got the whole thing in. the chinese character for spinach is a homonym for life (or long, can't remember), so it's tradition to eat spinach this way to ensure a long, prosperous life and a good new year. the rest of the meal was amazing, noodles and fresh shrimp and sauteed vegetables.

afterwards we retired to the living room, where andrea was asked to serve ceremony-style, a 100-year old puer tea. valued at 200,000 taiwanese dollars for the whole brick (6000+ american dollars!!!), the tea was a beautiful amber color and had a smooth, roasted taste to it. andrea performed expertly, winning compliments from the group for her preparation of the tea and her knowledge of how to appropriately serve it. the red envelopes found their way into our pockets as we sat there, a very traditional new year's gift for unmarried young ones. we left the evening, then, with satisfied bellies and heavy pockets, the auspicious beginning of a prosperous and full new year.

tomorrow morning we head to a buddhist temple in the central mountains where we'll be participating in a weeklong meditation retreat. i'm a little nervous to meditate for an entire week, to not speak for a week, but the anxiety is less than the excitement i feel about participating in such an intentional and reflective experience. upon coming down from the mountains i'll make sure to back up a bit and write about last week's travels.

on garbage collection

the garbage trucks here play a pretty little waltz, very close to sounding like an ice-cream truck soundtrack from the states, and drive slowly through the streets to pick up people's garbage. when the sound gets close, people run out of their homes, garbage bags in hand, and throw them in the truck. last week, we had the pleasure of witnessing the ensuing chaos as the garbage truck came around the corner of the street we were on while walking through tainan. kids were running down the street like the truck WAS selling ice cream, only they had big bags in hand and were presumably doing their chores.

the song played over the truck loudspeakers is so ever-present that you swear you can hear it playing faintly on some far-off street even when it really isn't. and it's so catchy that it can easily get stuck in your head, and there you are, humming the garbage theme song while riding the subway, or taking a shower.

back to the blog

busy travels and no internet have kept the blog quiet this past week, but ani and i arrived back in tainan this afternoon so i find myself now, feet up on the coffee table, computer on lap, ready to recount our adventures.

i've been keeping a little travel journal, making it possible to go all the way back to last monday and fill in the details... after posting my last blog entry, andrea and i took a walking tour of some of tainan's temples. there are so many temples here, confucian, taoist, buddhist, and most all of them are incredibly ornate and colorful. of all the temples we visited that day, we spent the most time at the large temple honoring the sea goddess matsu. we wandered the multiple chambers of the temple, filled with rich woods, gold statues, and ancient plaster reliefs left over from the temple's previous life as a king's palace. because of the proximity to the new year, the temple was bustling with neighborhood patrons, painting signs and hanging decorations. many people were also lighting incense, saying prayers for the year ahead; fortune-seekers tossed small crescent-shaped wood pieces on the ground (the clink-clank of the wood was the predominant noise inside), looking for answers in the patterns.

a highlight of the day was that we successfully ordered our own meal at one of the small menu-less restaurants on our path. the owner of the restaurant humored our pointing and poor pronunciation, and we were presented with a perfectly simple meal of sweet potato greens (we're addicted!), baked tofu, and baifan (white rice). especially exciting for me was the addition of a sliced tea egg, basically a hard-boiled egg stewed in tea and five-spice broth. mmm. better tasting than the description allows.

after lunch, we happened upon a wiry old man hand-making tatami mats and were mesmerized by his speed, the strength of his hands, and the precision of his work as he sliced and wove. his wife, noticing our interest, brought chairs out for us to sit on. we sat quietly in the city dusk, completly absorbed in the rhythm of his work. a few more temples after that, a big seafood dinner, and then the first of our introductory buddhism courses preparing us for the upcoming meditation retreat to close the day.