Tachia (Dajia) 大甲

We were planning on spending the day with Steve and his family in Tachia, a small town north of Fengyuan famous in Taiwan for Chenlan (Jhenlan) Temple and its Tachia Matsu (Mazu) icon. Unfortunately, Steve's children appeared to be coming down with colds, so we ended up going to Tachia by ourselves.

今日大甲とういう町に行った。写真を見てください。

On the way to Tachia, we stopped in Houli (后里 こうり) to have some lunch and buy some drinks at a Sinon (Hsingnung/Singnong) Supermarket 興農スーパー. Here's a photo from the alcohol section, showing Taiwan's beer of choice, the cleverly named "Taiwan Beer". It tastes very similar to Budweiser. 'Nuff said.

台湾ビール

Our first stop in Tachia was to Jihnan (Rihnan) Station, built in 1922.
１９２２年に建てられた日南駅。　

　

From the train station it was on to Tiehchen (Tiejhen) Mountain. Tiehchen is a small mountain that stands alone above Tachia. On the top are several small parks and a Martyr's Shrine, among other things, plus some great views.

One park had a statue of Taiwan's dictator of choice, Chiang Kai-shek. Normally Chiang is depicted sitting in a chair, Lincoln-style. Here he's riding a noble steed.

In Taiwan, if more than five people congregate in a public place for more than five minutes, vendors show up and a market breaks out. Nothing like food stalls and carnival games to enhance that feel-good Sunday in the park experience. I shouldn't complain, however. The sausages tasted good, and there were no karaoke machines, thank god. Go Kings!

公園にある市場　

Last stop was downtown Tachia, where we visited the temple and had dinner. The Matsu statue here is the focus of one of Taiwan's largest festivals. Every spring on the occasion of the goddess Matsu's birthday, the statue is taken to visit another Matsu at Fengtien (Fongtian) Temple 奉天宮 in Hsinkang (Singang) 新港. The round-trip pilgrimage takes eight days, covers 280 kilometers and visits about 60 temples along the way. Even at 6:30 on a Sunday evening, the temple was crowded with worshipers. 

Souvenir snacks for sale near the temple 大甲のみやげ

The most popular woman in Tachia

Life 生物

The date on the calendar may have read Veterans Day, but it felt more like spring, at least while the sun was up. Going for a walk in the hills near Chung-cheng (Jhong-jheng) Park this afternoon, signs of life were everywhere.

今日は１１月１１日だけど春のような日だった。中正公園の近い山道にいろいろな生物がたくさん見えた。

A crab that was some distance away from the nearest source of water カに:
　

Fly ハエ:
　

A small river near my apartment building アパートの近くにある小川:
　

My apartment complex, looming like a fortress over the rice fields　
要さいのようなアパート:
　

Amber, the reason for my being. Pamela has posted a lot of pictures of Amber on this website 見てください:
　

Every day is a lazy Saturday for our cat Chiou-chiou 球球 (タマちゃん):

This evening we went to the local department store in Fengyuan to do some shopping 今晩豊原のデパートに買い物に行った。Amber, as usual, found herself the center of attention from the store clerks:

We ate dinner at the food court in the store's basement, at the politically incorrect "The Red Man Teppanyaki":

Another example of Japanese in action. The Japanese at the bottom reads "Okashiyaki" おかしやき, from a stand selling Osaka-sytle grilled cakes (according to the Chinese):

More Japanese 日本語

Another example of Japanese used in advertising in Taiwan, from a pet store in Fengyuan:

At the top of the sign the word "Inuya" is written in roman letters, followed by the same word いぬや in the hiragana script. "Inuya" literally translates as "dog house", but would be used to refer to a store selling dogs, and/or canine-related items.

Japanese 日本語

Here in Taiwan, if you want to make your product or service look more attractive, you might try using Japanese in your advertising. For many Taiwanese, Japan is the standard by which things are measured, and the source of all that is cool. I'll be keeping my eyes open to record examples of just what I mean. 

Like this billboard for Seiko watches in downtown Fengyuan:

In the upper left is written "誘う　ダイヤモンド", "Sasou" 誘う meaning "to tempt, lure, entice or invite", while "Daiyamondo" ダイヤモンド is the Japanese word for "diamond". At the bottom it says (in roman letters) "Kirameki", which means "a glitter, a sparkle, a flash or twinkling". Which all makes sense when selling a Lukia watch. It also makes sense if you can read and understand Japanese. But the only thing in Chinese on the sign is in the upper center: "Paotao Chungpiao (Baodao Jhongbiao)" or "Paotao Clocks and Watches", the name of the shop.

I didn't notice until after posting this picture that directly below the billboard is an advertisement for a pachinko parlor, with the Japanese word パチンコ partially visible. So much for keeping my eyes open. There's a good reason why I never joined the police force.

Spicy figurines

In the supermarket last night, I was surprised to find a machine dispensing betel-nut girl figurines. There are five of them in the series, and I had previously bought two until my source, a machine in front of the local Blockbuster video store, was replaced. So last night I inserted 120 NT, and added a new one to my collection. Here she is:

Here are the other two:

On a completely different note, I went to the dentist today for a check-up. According to the sign outside the building, the clinic was on the 4th floor. However, the sign next to the elevator door said it was on the 5th floor. The confusion was cleared up when I went inside and looked at the panel

Of course. As in Japan, in Chinese the word for "4", which is "ssu" ("sih"), is also a homonym for "death". And so the fourth floor disappears, and bad luck is avoided. It must have worked, because my teeth are fine.

Birthday 誕生日

One of Pamela's brothers-in-law turned 60 this weekend. Actually, he's only 59, but according to the way the Chinese count age, you are already a year old at the time you are born. And 60 being an auspicious age, a big celebration was in order. Which meant we went to Pamela's hometown today, Hsiluo (Siluo 西螺) in Yunlin 雲林 County, to join in the festivities.

今日パメラの義兄の６０番めの誕生日だった。その年は台湾に奇瑞の年なのでパーティーを開いた。わたしたちは雲林県の西螺町に行った。西螺「シールオ」はパメラの古里だ。

A picture of my neighborhood,taken as we were getting ready to leave this morning. Notice the lack of sunlight.

神岡の近所　

Pamela with some of her relatives: her mother and two sisters, plus the birthday boy, along with two of her nieces.

パメラの家族　

Here we are with one of Pamela's nephews, and his wife and daughter.
パメラのおいの家族

The home of the brother-in-law and the second oldest sister. It's a new house and very spacious inside.

ぼくの義姉の家

In true Taiwanese fashion, everyone headed off to a local restaurant for a feast. Social gatherings in Taiwan often involve banquets like these, with a lot of dishes to be sampled. However, what becomes of the leftovers? It seems such a waste if it just gets thrown out after the diners have left. And why do they give you so much wasabi with your sashimi?

レストランに誕生日の宴会

On the way back to the house after lunch, we drove through one of Hsiluo's tourist "attractions", a street of old Western-style buildings. It's nice to see they're not just museum pieces. After all, one of them is a betel-nut shop.

西螺延平路「シールオイｴンピｲンルー」

On the way back to Fengyuan, Pamela took me to see a local historical site, the Hsiluo Chenwen (Siluo Jhenwun) School. Originally a school for poetry studies established in 1813, the present building dates from 1892.

西螺振文院

Next door to the school is a Taoist temple where Pamela used to do her homework on the weekends when she was an elementary school student.

寺

Back in Fengyuan, we did some shopping at a local supermarket, where I came across this item. It's some kind of children's game, but I doubt the estates of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are aware of its existence. Amber became aware of Lhasa Beer, the Dalai Lama's brew of choice.