Can I at least get an A for Effort?

This Sunday found me on the losing end of a power struggle with my mother-in-law over who would get to be with Amber. Off my daughter went with my wife and her grandmother to visit my mother-in-law's brother (would that be Amber's great uncle?) in Hsiluo 西螺, so I decided to utilize the unexpected free hours to do some walking. I had found a website detailing a country walk just outside of T'aichung 台中, so I rode off on my scooter this morning to Changhua 彰化. It took more than an hour to get there, but I found Sun Moon Farm, the start of the trail, without any trouble. The plan was to walk for a couple of hours (or eight kilometers/five miles) to reach Pakuashan 八卦山 and its famous-in-Taiwan big Buddha statue, and then return for a four-hour, 16-kilometer (10-mile) round trip. Unfortunately, things didn't quite go as planned. Though the website claimed the route was well-marked, there were actually only a few brown-colored signs indicating the way to go. At one junction, I noticed there was a painted picture of a bicycle (the road is also a bike path) with an arrow pointing to the right, so that was the way I went. This turned out to be a mistake, as the way came down out of the hills and into the suburbs of Changhua, whereupon all indications of the bicycle route disappeared, with Pakuashan being nowhere in sight. It didn't take long to realize that I had gone off track, so I reversed course and made the long walk back uphill to the junction. Continuing straight this time, I soon caught site of Pakuashan, and the backside of the 大仏, far off in the distance. However, it was getting late in the afternoon, and facing a long ride through Taichung before getting back to Fengyuan 豐原, I reluctantly turned around and walked back to my parked scooter. Despite not reaching the goal, I still was able to get in 3.5 hours of steady walking in good weather through some nice scenery, with the solitude only occasionally disturbed by a passing car, pickup or scooter (there were also a few dogs to deal with, but it's amazing what effect carrying a large stick had on them!). Pakuashan's Buddha isn't going anywhere, so I'll try this again some other weekend, hopefully with better bearings!

This red bridge had to be crossed going into and out of Changhua County 彰化縣:

The road passed by several old houses. The one in the photo on the left has been converted into a tea house. If only more traditional homes could look like this! Most, however, are more like the ones in the picture on the right:

A couple of self-portraits taken along the way:

Parts of the route were well-shaded, while other sections were more exposed:

I should have known I had ventured off-course when this was the sight that greeted me as I came down from the hills!:

More sightseeing in Taichū

Despite the glorious sunny weather, I opted to spend the early afternoon today doing a little of that ol' tourist thang in downtown T'aichung (next Tuesday I plan on hitting the trails in Tak'eng). I began by visiting the city's Confucius Temple, located on the corner of Shuangshih and Lihsing Roads.

What it lacks in history (it was only finished in 1976), Taiwan's second-largest house of Confucian worship makes up for in appearance. The architecture is impressive without being overwhelming, and the grounds offer a quiet respite from the noise and commotion of central Taichung (my wife and I even had some of our wedding photographs taken there). The complex is comprised of two large buildings. First up is the Tach'eng Hall 大成門, which houses the Confucius tablet. Unlike Buddhist and Taoist temples with their numerous god statues, there are no representations of the great sage in Confucius shrines - idolatry is verboten:

The other notable building is in the back, the Ch'ungsheng Hall, which commemorates Confucius' ancestors in the form of more tablets:

Every September 28 a ceremony is held at the shrine to honor Confucius' birthday. I've never attended because it takes place before six o'clock in the morning! Besides, I don't think Confucius himself would have approved of such things. It says something about the human condition that a figure noted for his common sense adages ends up becoming the object of quasi-religious/superstitious rites and rituals.

Next door to the Confucius Temple is Taichung's Martyrs' Shrine, formerly a shrine to Japanese soldiers and now a memorial for those who died fighting under the flag of the Republic of China 中華民國. The main hall is only open on Sundays and national holidays, and usually the rest of the grounds is closed as well, but today, for reasons unknown, it was possible to walk inside, through the main gate and up to the front hall:

From the Martyrs' Shrine, I walked north, and after paying a visit to a Catholic church (I'm an equal-opportunity tourist when it comes to visiting religious establishments), soon came to Paochueh Temple, home to the 27 meter (89-foot)-high gold-painted statue of Milefo or Putai, the Laughing Buddha.

This was one of the first places I ever visited in Taiwan, and I was impressed at the time. With each successive visit, the feeling diminishes, and not because I'm familiar with the statue. When I first came here in 1998, Milefo stood alone, and his impressive bulk could be seen from far down the street as you approached the temple, looking out over the walls. Over the years, however, Paochueh Temple has apparently adopted the theory that bigger is better. The statue now sits in the shadows of a larger hall built next door, and Milefo can't be seen until you are almost at the temple itself. But even worse, the pleasant main hall, dating from 1928, which also used to stand alone, is now in the finishing touches of being swallowed up by a mammoth "outer shell". Whereas the Confucius Temple preserves a fine sense of aesthetics, Paochueh Temple seemingly wants to destroy what made it so unique in the first place:

Paochueh Temple is on the itinerary of virtually every Japanese tour group that visits Taichung (though I didn't see any while I was there this afternoon), and not just for the obvious reason. To the left as you enter the temple through the main gate, next to the remembrance hall, is a small pavilion dedicated to those Taiwanese who died during the Second World War while fighting for the Japanese. There is also a stele nearby that, according to my Rough Guide to Taiwan, has an epitaph written on it by none other than Lee Tung-hui 李登輝, a former president of the ROC. Lee's brother was killed during the war while serving in the Imperial Japanese Navy 大日本帝国海軍:

There are a couple of other war-related memorials on the temple grounds, which serve to highlight the differences between Taiwanese and Koreans over their feelings towards their former colonial masters - it's unlikely you would find anything like these in South Korea!

Should you find yourself with a few hours to spare in central Taichung, you ought to pay a visit to the Confucius Temple, the Martyrs' Shrine (if it's open!) and Paochueh Temple. There are plenty of photo opportunities, and if you go to these places on a weekday, you'll probably have them all to yourself. 楽しみになるだろう。

In the news

I'm not ashamed to admit to being a Japanophile, but my interest in that country and its culture has never extended to anime アニメ and manga 漫画. Truth is I've never seen what all the excitement has been about (though I was impressed with "Akira" アキラ, and I can appreciate the genius of Hayao Miyazaki 宮崎駿). The younger generation in Taiwan, on the other hand, laps up all of the cartoons and comic books it can get its hands on, and now, according to the following article from Japan Today ("Realize Mobile delivers Japanese e-comics in Taiwan"), more sources of Japanese pop culture are about to be procured:

"Realize Mobile Communications, a Softbank ソフトバンク group company, has started to deliver Japanese comic titles to Far EasTone Telecommunications, the major mobile operator in Taiwan. Realize Mobile will deliver the well-known Japanese comics 'ONE PIECE', 'NARUTO' ナルト, 'DRAGON BALL' ドラゴンボール, 'DEATH NOTE', 'HANA-YORI DANGO' 花より男子 from Shūeisha 集英社, and 'HAPPY MANIA' ハッピーマニア from Shōdensha 祥伝社, among others. It is the first mobile bookstore delivering Japanese titles in Taiwan...Realize Mobile hopes to deliver mobile e-comics to other operators in Taiwan, and to provide the service to other areas in Asia, including China."

Now that this is finished, I'll get back to watching old clips from "Speed Racer" マッハGoGoGo, "Gigantor"　鉄人２８号 and "Kimba the White Lion" ジャングル大帝, among others, on YouTube.

Take me out to the ball game - 野球, Taiwan-style

Leaving things to the last minute, as usual. Last week, we went to the beach for the first time this year on what turned out to be probably the last hot day of the year. Today, we took in our first baseball game of the 2009 Chinese Professional Baseball League 中華職業棒球大聯盟 season, which not so coincidentally was also the next-to-last scheduled regular-season game to be played in T'aichung 台中 this season. "Better late than never" seems to be the Kaminoge family motto!

Following lunch at a downtown Japanese restaurant called 三木 (Miki)...

 

...and a long delay in finding a parking spot, we arrived at the old Taichung Baseball Field 台中棒球場 in the top of the second inning to find the Brother Elephants and the hometown Sinon Bulls tied 2-2. Why the Bulls continue to play there, and not at the newer, more modern Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, is a mystery to me. Though it dates from 1935, we're not talking Fenway Park or Wrigley Field here. Instead, the Taichung Baseball Field is more reminiscent of those 1930's WPA-built stadiums still used by Appalachian League Rookie-level teams. The seats are too small, sight-lines are blocked in places, and the whole edifice reeks of decaying utilitarian concrete (plus the hot dogs were awful). Still, you're never far from the action on the field, and the crowd, though small this afternoon, was in a good mood.

I was there to support the local Bulls (and Amber also said she liked the team in white, Sinon, better than the team in yellow, Brother), but my wife has always been a fan of the T'aipei 台北-based Elephants, and so we sat along the third-base line with the other Brother supporters. Baseball games in Taiwan are similar to those in Japan in that there are organized cheering sections, but here they assemble along the first-base (home) and third-base (visitor) sides of the diamond, unlike the Japanese 応援団, which sit on opposite sides of the outfield bleachers. Amber asked us to buy her an Elephants noisemaker, and proceeded to start exploring its sonic capabilities.

It wasn't a good contest for Elephants fans. Soon after we arrived, Sinon scored seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to break the game wide open. Brother's pitcher, an American import named Mike Smith (formerly of the Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins), was nailed for nine runs before finally being removed. To my surprise, Amber was able to follow the score by looking at the scoreboard - not bad for someone still more than three months shy of her fourth birthday. I contented myself with a Blue Girl beer.

At the end, the scoreline read: Sinon Bulls 11 runs, 17 hits and 2 errors; Brother Elephants 5 runs, 8 hits and 3 errors. Despite all the run-scoring, the game was over in a brisk 2 hours and 42 minutes. Professional baseball in Taiwan will never be confused with the major leagues, let alone Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball 日本野球機構, and it's had to deal with far too many cases of match-fixing and gambling, but a day at the ballpark can be a lot of fun, and at NT250 ($7.75/￥700) for a ticket, it's certainly affordable. If the Bulls can move into the newer stadium, which has plenty of parking and is only a short drive from our home, perhaps we'll take Amber out to the ballgame more often next year.

 

UPDATE

Here's the report of the game from the Taipei Times:

"Seven big runs in the fourth by the Sinon Bulls erased an early deficit as they topped the Brother Elephants 11-5 at the Taichung Municipal Baseball Stadium on Sunday to deal the slumping Elephants their fifth straight loss. Starter Lin Keh-chien was the biggest beneficiary of the seven-run fourth as it gave the rookie a 7-3 lead, allowing manager Hsu Sheng-ming to keep him in the game long enough for his 10th win of the season despite Lin giving up back-to-back homers in the first. Cheng Da-hong, Chen Chih-wei and Wilton Veras (formerly of the Boston Red Sox) connected for three hits each to account for seven of the Bulls’ 11 runs."

End of the Season?

I love going to the beach, which makes it all the more inexplicable that until today, we hadn't made any trips this year to the sand and surf despite the fact we live on a relatively small island (we did try to go last week, but the rain took care of that plan). So, with the weather still hot in the daytime but noticeably starting to cool in the evenings, we made our first, and most likely last, visit to the seaside in 2009.

On this sunny Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋節 holiday, we drove for almost three hours (including time spent in a traffic jam just outside of T'aichung 台中, and a stop for lunch) to the beach of our choice, Mashakou in T'ainan County 台南縣, only to find it...closed. This didn't seem to bother my wife much, as she, like many Taiwanese (especially females), fears the sun and any hint of darkened skin (in my next life I'm going to marry either an Australian, a Hawaiian, an Okinawan or a Southern Californian - someone who actually enjoys the beach, and isn't afraid to set foot in the ocean). Seeing the disappointment on the faces of her husband and child, however, she quickly suggested driving through T'ainan city 台南市 to get to what is called "Golden Beach", which we finally reached shortly before 2:30 in the afternoon.

Golden Beach turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The sand was full of shells, much to Amber's delight, and the water was almost pristine by Taiwanese west coast standards, much to my delight. There was a lot of driftwood piled up in places (due to Typhoon Morakot 颱風莫拉克, I wonder?), but for the most part, the sand was devoid of garbage. Best of all, it wasn't crowded, with most people there belonging to what turned out to be the Taiwan Kitesurfing Center (as I learned from talking with a fellow Californian, Joe from Redondo Beach, who told me he had lived in Tainan for 19 years before moving to T'antzu 潭子, next door to us in Fengyuan 豐原, three weeks ago):

While Pamela did her best to hide from the sun, I spent the better part of two hours swimming in the Taiwan Strait 台灣海峽. Amber, meanwhile, had a blast looking for seashells, digging in the sand with her new pail and shovel and, finally, for about 30 minutes before we packed everything up to leave, joining me in the water in order to play in the waves (which were pretty small). Seeing the joy on her face was enough to make the long drive there worthwhile. It wasn't until we were walking back to the car around 5 o'clock that I noticed the big sign informing one and all, in both Chinese and English, that swimming was not allowed at Golden Beach!

So my only dip in the ocean for 2009 turned out to be an illegal one. I'll take breaking the law in this manner with my daughter anytime to sitting around a hot, smoky grill on the side of a busy road with a bunch of Taiwan Beer drinkin', Long Life cigarette smokin' おじさん. Happy Moon Festival y'all!

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.

You know you are in Asia when...

...you take your daughter for a walk up a steep mountain road in order to have a picnic and play hide-and-seek at a Buddhist temple, and it all seems perfectly natural.