Thank 神!

Back on the 26th of February, we paid a visit to my wife's hometown of Siluo 西螺, in Yún​lín County 雲林縣. While we were there, we stopped by the Guǎngfú Temple 廣福宮, a local Matsu 媽祖 house of worship, where Pamela asked the gods to grant a certain request of ours. Apparently, the goddess and her allies looked favorably upon my wife's plea, and so this afternoon we paid a second visit to Siluo to thank the deities for their benevolence. First stop once off the freeway and in the town was at a small shop selling mochi 餅, a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice which is known in Taiwan as 米麻:

Armed with four bags of mochi, we drove over to the temple, and proceeded to do the rounds of the various altars on the three floors. The mochi was left as an offering (but picked up later on our way out), incense sticks were burned and thanks were proffered. The ritualized xiè​xie's 謝謝 were completed with the act of  burning "ghost money":

Gratitude having been expressed, and with my wife's relatives all busy doing something or other, we left Siluo and headed for home. 

 Central Siluo

However, seeing as it wasn't yet 5 o'clock and the three of us were starting to get hungry, we pulled off the freeway in Taichung 台中 and made a beeline for the city's most well-known night market in Féngjiǎ 逢甲文華夜市. Night markets in Taiwan are most definitely not for the claustrophobic, and Wénhuá Road and its surrounding lanes were no exception:

As you would do in Rome, we snacked:

Shrimp fried in batter, with curry sauce and cheese

Guà​bāo 刈包, "a Taiwan specialty, similar to a hamburger"

Tofu fries

Mǐgāo 米糕 and ròugēng soup 肉羹

My daughter's favorite bite of the evening, fried banana

Food isn't the only thing on offer at night markets. In Féngjiǎ there are plenty of stalls selling clothing. I just hope Amber will have a better sense of fashion when she grows up:

Being cute takes guts

226: C'mon, gods, gimme a break

February 26, a date that rings of some historical importance in Japan (see February 26 Incident 二・二六事件), but here in Taiwan it's only the second day of an almost-four day weekend. Last night we received a call from one of my sisters-in-law in my wife's hometown of Siluo 西螺 that they had finally succeeded in trapping our semi-feral black cat Happy in a cage (see this blog entry for the background info). So today we drove south for the hour-long drive into (pan-)green land to retrieve our elusive feline. The result, however, was the same as last time. Even though Happy was in a cage, he literally wouldn't budge, clinging to the bars...er, I mean sides with all his might. When Pamela at last succeeded in getting him to let go, he scratched her arm, which in turn caused her to release him, whereupon, in a flash, he shot out of the cage and ran under the same hiding place as before. And to the best of my knowledge he's still there. I'm beginning to think we should leave him there.

So we left home empty-handed, but not before my wife suggested we first stop at the Guǎngfú Temple 廣福宮  in Siluo to do a bit of praying. Pamela isn't the most devout of Taiwanese when it comes to religious and spiritual matters, and I probably know almost as much about the arcane rituals of Taoism 道教 as she does. However, there is a matter of great importance that needs to be brought to a favorable conclusion within the next several months, and my wife felt it important enough to beseech the gods. Whether it was successful or not will have to be seen. 

Preparing the incense sticks 香

The main altar of the temple. Worshiping Taoist-style involves visiting the various altars located throughout the temple (three floors, in this case), praying to the different gods and leaving incense sticks all about.

 The view from the top floor

Not all of the sub-altars were ornately decorated

Pamela prepares to toss a pair of throwing blocks. Called buă-buēi in the local Taiwanese dialect 台語, their purpose is to interpret the gods' answer to a question asked of the worshiper. According to The Rough Guide to Taiwan:

If one (block) lands flat-side up and the other opposite, this is taken to be positive - this needs to happen three times in a row for the believer to be sure the deity is in agreement. If any other combination comes up before the third positive, the believer must start all over again. If both blocks fall round side up, this is taken as a negative, while both landing round side down is the "laughing" response, meaning that you must rephrase the question.

This explains why it took my wife a long time to complete the ritual. It also explains why Amber looks bored in the above photo. In the end, Pamela felt that the gods were not sure how to answer her question.

The front of the temple

Amber poses in front of a banyan tree outside the temple

Going down to Hicksville

Hicks.

That what she called them. Hicks. Apparently, if you live south of the Jhuoshuei River 濁水溪 and support the opposition Democratic Progressive Party 民進黨, that makes you "an unsophisticated provincial person", as Merriam-Webster defines the word "hick". "She" is the anonymous commenter who's been peppering a recent post of mine with contradictory messages that appear to reveal a proud Běn​shěng​rén 本省人 (one whose family was living in Taiwan prior to the end of the Chinese Civil War 國共內戰 in 1949) who nonetheless seems to be a supporter of the Kuomintang 國民黨, a political party the roots of which lie in China and not Taiwan. The KMT favors the eventual "reunification" of Taiwan with the "Mainland", and during its long oppressive rule following its defeat at the hands of Mao Zedong's Communists, was responsible for the imprisonment, torture and deaths of tens of thousands of Anon's fellow countrymen (and women). In this respect, she is far from alone. Many residents of this island are proud of their distinct identity, as well as their economic and political achievements, yet continue to support the KMT, thus putting those accomplishments in possible jeopardy. I'd always assumed the KMT's support came from the maxim that all politics are local, and that if your local KMT pol continually brought the bacon home to your constituency, you would keep voting for him or her in every election, regardless of what that might mean to Taiwan's future status. But in Anon's case, she actually seems to believe in the goodness of the KMT's heart, that all on this island are treated as equals under the banner of Chinese Nationalism.

Even Caucasians. Though she still hasn't clarified what role a white boy like myself has to play in the conception that is Greater China.

Her choice of the put-down "hicks" in describing southern voters who support the DPP is a curious one, for I'm under the impression that Běn​shěng​rén such as Anon have been called as much by those who consider themselves to be Superior Mainlanders. It seems there is some kind of identity crisis going on here, but I won't proceed any further. Despite Anon's belief that Taiwan is a peaceful, harmonious society under the KMT, ethnicity issues are a dangerous minefield that a non-citizen such as myself should think twice about stepping in.

But that word "hick" still bothers me. I suppose that's because my wife's family lives south of the Jhuoshuei River, in the town of Siluo 西螺 in Yún​lín County 雲林縣. The area is a strong bastion of support for the DPP, but to best of my knowledge (for I've learned the hard way not to discuss Taiwanese politics with my wife) my in-laws side with the KMT. The reasons have to do with the family's complex background, which I won't go into here, but which I assume isn't at all unusual in Taiwan. Yet I'm probably correct in thinking that most of their friends and neighbors vote Green (meaning for the DPP), which would make them "hicks" in Anon's eyes. I guess we can go further, then, and draw the conclusion that a township such as Siluo must be a "Hicksville".

So tonight I'd like to tell you that we drove down to Hicksville this afternoon to visit my wife's sisters, and to pick up our two cats, Happy and Momo, who had been left in the care of my older sister-in-law while we were in the U.S. last month. We were able to get Momo in the pet carrier for the drive back to Fēng​yuán 豐原, but the semi-feral Happy was a different matter. Try as everyone might, it proved impossible to catch him, and when we left around 5pm he was still hiding under an old cabinet on the first floor. Knowing Happy, he'll probably stay there for a couple of days (if not longer), only venturing out when the coast is clear to eat some food and go to the bathroom.

Downtown Hicksville on a very hazy day. This Sunday was apparently an important one in the local religious calendar, for all day long we could hear the sounds of gongs and drums, as well as firecrackers and fireworks going off, as the "hicks" celebrated. Driving around central Siluo, it seemed as if every corner we turned we would run into a procession of Taoist "hicks". Amber spent much of the time with her fingers plugged into her ears. 

Ghosts are not supernatural beings. They are, in fact, the result of what happens when you attempt to take photographs through the windshield of a moving car.

A grave oversight 清明節

By a coincidence in the calendar, Easter and Tom Sweeping Day fell on a Sunday and a Monday, respectively, this year, resulting in a three-day weekend. For those not in the know, Tomb Sweeping Day is the occasion on which Taiwanese descend on cemeteries en masse in order to tidy up the graves of their ancestors. Seeing as many people are genuinely scared of going to graveyards, for most folks this is the only time of the year to visit the dear departed. As you might imagine, there is a lot of cleaning up to do, with 365 days' worth of weeds to be pulled up and burned, and the fires sometimes getting out of control. Getting down and dirty isn't my idea of spending a restful holiday, but fortunately for me, Tomb Sweeping Day is one local custom I've been exempted from. My father-in-law's ancestors are all buried in China, and having gotten married, my wife is now out of her family, and therefore not obliged to tend to her mother's deceased relatives.

Being out of the family doesn't mean Pamela is ostracized, and so we decided to spend the holiday by visiting her relatives in her hometown of Hsiluo 西螺. Leaving our home on Sunday morning and picking up my mother-in-law en route, we eschewed the presumably crowded freeways and made for Hsiluo by way of highways and county roads. It took a little longer to get there, of course, but driving on the back roads not only avoided the traffic jams, but really made me appreciate just how breathtakingly ugly the smaller cities and towns on Taiwan's west coast truly are!

In contrast to the architectural eyesores we passed on the way there (and back again the following day), upon arrival in Hsiluo, we paid a visit to my wife's junior high school. Without a doubt, Tungnan Junior High 東南國中 has to be the most attractive school of secondary education I've ever laid eyes upon. Hilton D. Bell Junior High School in Garden Grove, CA, certainly wasn't landscaped with carp-filled ponds and flower gardens:

Following that pleasant surprise, we drove into downtown Hsiluo to visit the "sights". First up was Fuhsing Temple 福興宮, dating from 1717 and one of the stops on the annual gangster-controlled Tachia Matsu Pilgrimage:

(The weather was continually overcast and hazy this weekend, which might explain the lousy colors of the pictures I've posted here)

Next up was Yanp'ing Old Street 延平路. There are those poor souls who, having resided in Taiwan for far too long, insist that Hsiluo is a Hidden Gem because of the old buildings here, and even my Japanese-language guidebook lists it as a tourist sight...

美しいレリーフを施した洋館などが現在も商店などとして使われている。特に、非対称な曲線美を残す延平路７２～７６号の「鐘楼」と、レリーフが美しい建興路２４６号の「佳聲唱片行」は見ものである。

（地球の歩き方台湾’０５～’０６）

...but unless you're a serious student of architecture, or need to stop in Hsiluo for the night while on the way to somewhere else and have some time to kill, there is no reason to go out of your way to pay a visit. There are only a handful of structures, none of which are particularly beautiful or outstanding (despite what the Japanese guide says), but at least they still function as real businesses and homes, and not as souvenir shops or tea houses catering to the tourist trade, as has been the case in too many of Taiwan's other Old Streets. Things could change, however - in an ominous sign, work was being done to the sidewalk on one stretch of the street. The Liong Choan building pictured below dates from 1935:

For Pamela, the real reason to visit the downtown area was to buy some Chienpao 煎包 - "cabbage cake" is how my significant other describes it. The blue truck that makes and sells them is always swarming with customers, and it takes a while for your order to get filled. Amber took this photo of me killing time with a green tea while Pamela stood around and patiently waited for her number to be called:

What does one do on a Sunday night in an urban township like Hsiluo? Go to the night market, of course, which is what we did after dinner, guided by one of my sisters-in-law. The market was far larger than any of the ones here in Fengyuan 豐原, and Amber enjoyed the rides and games. After a while, though, I got a little tired of the constant collisions of elbows, and it was with some relief that we made our way back to Pamela's sister's house, where we spent the night.

We had a somewhat fitful night, due to Amber's coughing (she has a slight cold), constant shifting of positions (at one point her feet found their way onto my throat) and habit of gnashing her teeth while sleeping. None of this was the fault of the house, of course, the interior of which is one of the nicest I've ever seen in Taiwan. Spacious rooms, wood flooring, even a tastefully done rock garden - my sister-in-law's house certainly puts our all-too-typical Taiwanese apartment of white tile floors and dirty white walls to shame.

After eating out for breakfast, we paid a couple of social calls to some of Pamela's relatives. We first visited a couple of her cousins, who live in an old, traditional house:

Then it was off to an uncle's home, where we had lunch, and Amber had a lot of fun taking the family's hyperactive poodle Pudding for a walk past the rice fields:

And that was how we spent our Tomb Sweeping Day weekend. Pamela's relatives are, without exception, extremely nice people who went out of their way to make us feel welcome. I'm proud to be related to them.

Sunday odds & ends

The plan today was to drive down to T'ainan 台南, where there is a decent beach, and let Amber try out her new pail and shovel, but the rain that fell intermittently all day forced a postponement. It's still warm (and humid), so I'm hoping we can try again next weekend.

One good thing about the wet weather is the cleaner air that results. I went up onto the roof of our apartment building to take these pictures and video of the surrounding factories, mountains and rice fields:

 

It can't be made out in the above video, but the high-speed train 台灣高鐵 tracks can be seen in the distance. The government was recently forced to take over the management of the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation in order to prevent it from going under. Similar measures are being considered for Kaohsiung's 高雄 subway system 高雄捷運. Combined with the closure of the Maok'ung gondola 貓空纜車 and the operational difficulties of T'aipei's recently opened Neihu MRT line 文湖線, it hasn't been a good 12 months for Taiwan's big-ticket transportation projects. If only that money had been spent on delivering clean drinking water from the taps, and toilet systems that can handle waste paper...

We did end up driving down south today, only not as far as T'ainan. Instead, we paid a visit to my wife's hometown of Hsiluo 西螺, in Yunlin County 雲林縣, in order to collect a cat. The feline in question, Momo, used to belong to Pamela's niece (and Amber's cousin) Dolphin (you know you've been in Taiwan too long when someone chooses "Dolphin" as an English name, and you accept it without making any wisecracks). It seems Dolphin has a dermatological problem that can be aggravated by sleeping with a cat, so we offered to take Momo off her hands. Before picking up Momo, we stopped to have a look at Hsiluo's claim to Formosan fame, the Japanese-started and American money-finished (but Kuomintang 中國國民黨-claimed) Hsiluo Bridge 西螺大橋:

Next to the entrance to the bridge was a small park that had an artificial water channel popular with the local kids. It may have been disappointing not to have gone to the beach, but at least Amber had a chance to splash around and get thoroughly soaked:

After locating some dry clothes for Amber, courtesy of one of my sisters-in-law, we collected Momo and returned home. I would've taken a photo of the new addition to the household, except that he's been hiding ever since we got back. Our other cat, Happy, isn't living up to his name, and is currently cowering (or sulking?) under our bed. I guess it's going to take a while for the two to get used to each other's presence. If you're curious as to what Momo looks like, follow this link to my daughter's blog, where there are several pictures she took of him a few months ago.

Rinnai Shrine 林内神社

On a day when only relatives had any physical contact with my daughter, we visited my wife's side of the family in her hometown of Xiluo 西螺 in Yunlin County 雲林縣. On the way we stopped off in the nearby township of Linnei 林內 to visit one of the few remaining Shintō shrines 神社 in Taiwan (or what's left of it, anyway). The shrine isn't too hard to find - just follow the signs pointing to Linnei Park, and you will soon come across a large torii 鳥居 spanning the road:

A Chinese-style roof has been added to the top, and it now bears the name of the park in Chinese characters, but there is no mistaking the familiar shape of a shrine gate.

Up the road from the large torii is a small set of stairs leading to a smaller torii, and flanked by two stone lanterns:

Beyond the second torii is another pair of large stone lanterns. Close by is Lin Chung Elementary School, which has a display with some interesting photographs of the shrine during its brief existence:

Rinnai-jinja was built in 1940 in what was then the Toroku District 斗六郡 of Tainan Prefecture 台南州. It enshrined Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa 北白川宮能久親王, the tutelary deity 鎮護の神 of Taiwan; the Three Kami Deities of Cultivation 開拓三神, Ōkunitama no Mikoto 大国魂命, Ōnamuchi no Mikoto 大己貴命 and Sukunahikona no Mikoto 少彦名命; and Toyōke no Ōmikami 豊受大神. Don't worry, this won't be on the test.

Past the second set of lanterns and the elementary school is a long staircase, at the top of which stands a Taoist temple where the main shrine building once looked out over the plains below:

While Pamela took one look at the stairs and decided to stay with my mother-in-law by the car, Amber didn't flinch. Not only did she make it to the top without running out of steam, she even continued for a bit along one of the walking trails that continue up past the temple:

The views from the top were limited by the rainy conditions, but the park appears to be well laid-out, and a good place for a stroll. On the way down, I noticed a building that seemed to incorporate a torii into its design:

Once back in the car, we left Linnei Park and drove on to Xiluo, where we spent the rest of the afternoon with Pamela's two sisters and their families. On the way home, we drove across the Xiluo Bridge 西螺大橋, another relic from the Japanese period. Construction initially began in 1937, had to be suspended with the onset of World War II, and was ultimately finished after the war in 1952 with the help of American foreign aid:

Traffic was moving pretty slowly on the freeway, but at least we had a great sunset to compensate:

Unless you're friend or family, hands off!