Lunar New Year 旧正月 Day 4

Day 4 of our Lunar New Year holiday started with Amber visiting her grandparents and uncle in order to receive her hungpao (hongbao) 紅包, red paper bags containing money as gifts, given out at this time of year to children. Fortunately, at this age, Amber is too young to know the importance of receiving money. Unfortunately, that ignorance won't last forever

アンバーは祖父母とおじさんからお年玉をもらった。

　

After collecting the cash, we took pity on my mother-in-law (her daughter-in-law doesn't like to cook, and Pamela's poor mom had been getting by on instant noodles the past couple of days), and invited her along with us to have lunch. Leaving Fengyuan (Fongyuan) 豊原 and heading north, we stopped to eat in the town of Tachia (Dajia) 大甲. Outside the restaurant there was a long line of traffic going into town, no doubt to visit Chenlan Temple 鎮瀾宮, the most famous temple in Taiwan dedicated to Matsu (Mazu) 媽祖, the Taoist goddess of the sea, and the most popular religious icon among Taiwanese. Luckily for us, we were headed out of town.

大甲という町に交通渋滞があった。

After leaving Tajia, we drove further north to Tunghsiao (Tongsiao) 通霄. According to a monthly travel magazine put out by 7-11 Taiwan, Tunghsiao still has a Japanese Shinto shrine. From past experience, I figured that our destination was going to be a big disappointment, but it turned out to be the real deal. At one time, there were 68 Shinto shrines in Taiwan, but almost all have disappeared. Most have been converted into Taoist temples or Martyrs Shrines for ROC soldiers (or into a cafe/restaurant), but the entire compound of the Tunghsiao Shrine (built in 1937) 通霄神社 remains intact. This Japanophile was feeling blessed by the 神!

通霄神社の写真

　

The view from the shrine 神社からの眺め

An old Japanese-style house at the foot of the shrine falling to ruins. Inside the abandoned home was the kind of photograph usually displayed at funerals. The character "i" 義 was spray-painted on the wall. 義 has several meanings, but Pamela thinks in this case it's referring to "justice" and "righteousness". To me, it was kind of creepy.

廃家

　

The main torii (Shinto shrine archway) 鳥居...　

...and the offerings to the gods left behind by the three courteous young people sitting on the steps.

Next to the torii is what looks like the main office of the shrine 社務所

Looking up from the torii

Where does one park their car in Taiwan? Anywhere one damn well pleases! (This isn't ours, by the way). Obviously not a whole lot of respect was being shown at this shrine. Later, I saw a small kid break one of the glass panes on a stone lantern.

There were no shinto trappings inside. This building, in fact, looks suspiciously "Chinese" (notice the KMT-like sun symbol on the roof).

What's left of the hall of worship 拝殿跡
　

Next door to the shrine, at the top of the steps, was an example of a well-maintained old Taiwanese house

Behind Tunghsiao Shrine, a road led up to a lookout spot atop a hill. Here's the view of Tunghsiao on the way up...

...and the views from the top 丘の上からの眺め

　　　

This hill, called Hutoushan 虎頭山, played an important role in the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War. The Russian fleet was sighted from here, and the Imperial Japanese Navy was alerted, leading to the Japanese victory at the Battle of Tsushima 対馬海戦. A memorial to the signal corps was built afterwards, but the Kuomintang (KMT) replaced it with this "Taiwan Retrocession" monument. According to a plaque nearby, the local government is attempting to restore the original memorial to show what actually happened here.

After leaving Hutoushan, we stopped in at a roadside Taoist temple, best described as tacky. Good taste wasn't a consideration when it came to planning this place of worship.

On the way home, we had dinner in Yuanlin 園林 at a restaurant that can only be described as a "kaiten shabu-shabu" 回転しゃぶしゃぶ. For a set price of NT198 ($6 or ￥720), you're given a bowl of hot broth. The things to put in the broth (meat and seafood) are placed on rotating conveyor belts that move around the restaurant, to be removed by customers as the food passes by. Vegetables and other things are available at a salad bar. What a brilliant concept!

回転しゃぶしゃぶ屋

　　

Amber was fascinated by the rotating goodies

I was interested in the Ramones T-shirt worn by one of the waitresses. Alas, she didn't even know the names on her clothing referred to one of the most seminal bands of our time.

Hey ho! Let's go!

P.S. Grilled sausage + a clove of garlic = crazy delicious!

Lunar New Year 旧正月 Day 3

Looking at a map of Fengyuan (Fongyuan) 豊原, one thing that immediately stands out is Yuanhuan Road, aka the "Circle Road". One could call this road Fengyuan's Yamanote Line 山手線. Most of the city, including the train station 豊原駅, the bus station 豊原バスターミナル and the Pacific Department Store 太平洋デパート, lie within the circle. With nothing but time on my hands this Lunar New Year vacation, this morning I decided to walk the length of Yuanhuan Road, going in a clockwise direction from the local Blockbuster Video store. 80 minutes and 7200 steps later, I can state with confidence that the circle road is never going to be mentioned in any guidebooks. Nevertheless, I did take a few pictures of things I found interesting.

"Kenko katei no mise" 健康家庭の店. I'm not sure what the healthy home shop is selling as it was closed for the Chinese New Year, but it does have a simple, yet cute mascot, Baron-chan バロンちゃん.

Another example of Japanese (or Japanese English in this case), レーシング (with "Racing" below in English) on the sign for a scooter shop

A Taoist temple 道観 on the busy intersection of Yuanhuan and Chungshan (Jhongshan) Roads, hidden behind some large billboards

The Taichung (Taijhong) County 台中県 Assembly Hall. Fengyuan is the seat of Taichung County.

An interesting blend of concrete and corrugated metal

In the early evening, we drove to the Mitsukoshi Department Store 三越デパート in Taichung to buy a jacket to replace my Seattle Mariners one that was stolen from my scooter a couple of weeks ago. We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant called Temari 手鞠 (the name of a traditional Japanese handball game), in the Food Court on the 11th floor. The nice thing about this place is that the menu is in Japanese as well as Chinese, very helpful considering Chinese names for Japanese dishes are very difficult to work out. I ordered a fried foods set consisting of とんかつ、エビフライ、コロッケ and チキン, and ended up regretting it before the I had finished the meal.

Too much oil on that plate for my sensitive stomach. And as is too often the case with Japanese food in Taiwan, it was tasteless. Bland. For some reason, Taiwanese cooks hesitate to add much salt to Japanese dishes here, with the result being the food is too light-tasting (I have one student who prefers Taiwanese-style Japanese food, claiming the food she ate in Hokkaido 北海道 was too salty!). Some of my other complaints about 日本料理 in Taiwan: they give you way too much wasabi わさび here (to cover the lack of taste, no doubt), and sashimi 刺身 is almost always served half-frozen. But this is Taiwan after all. If I want to eat real (delicious) Japanese food, I'll have to wait until my next visit to Nippon.

The evening ended on a fun note, as Amber really enjoyed playing with the balloons in the children's play area on the 6th floor. Despite being the youngest and smallest one there, our little one was fearless in the face of the balloon onslaught.

Lunar New Year 旧正月 Days 1 and 2

The Lunar New Year is here, and it's time to say "Hsinnien k'uaile (Sinnian kuaile) 新年快楽. It's also time to say farewell to the Year of the Dog 戌年 and welcome in the Year of the Boar 亥年. The eve of the Lunar New Year is a very important time in Taiwan, when family members gather for a traditional meal. For Amber, Pamela and myself, it's the perfect time to get away for a short spell before the roads are clogged with traffic, and all the sightseeing spots are overrun with hordes of people.

This year we chose to spend the Lunar New Year's eve (Saturday, Feb. 17) in Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 にしげつたん 「リーユエタン」, the largest freshwater lake in Taiwan. My Japanese guidebook to Taiwan has this to say about Sun Moon Lake: 台湾八景のひとつで台中の東南約４０ｋｍに位置するダム湖。４つの村の境界に位置し、周囲約３３ｋｍ、水深３０ｍ、総面積は約７９３へクタール。また原住民族のサオ族の文化でも知られている。

We stayed in the aboriginal village of Itashao (Yidashao). We had a late lunch there first before checking in to our hotel. The room charge for one night was about NT2400 ($73/￥8690), and included breakfast and one free sightseeing boat ride for two adults. We even had a partial view of the lake. Not bad considering the price went up to well over NT3000 ($90/￥10,860) starting from New Year's Day (Sunday, Feb. 18).

After checking in, we went down to the waterfront in Itashao, just in time to catch our ride on the sightseeing boat. It rained intermittently on Saturday, but the temperature was surprisingly warm and muggy, considering it's only the middle of February.

The boat made two stops. At the first one, we had 20 minutes to walk up a short flight of steps to visit Hsuankuang (Syuanguang) Temple 玄光寺. According to the Lonely Planet Taiwan guide, this temple holds the remains of a monk immortalized in a novel called "Journey to the West", a book of which I know nothing about. The temple was pleasing to look at, and the view of Sun Moon Lake was nice.

The other stop we made was at Lalu Island, the small speck of land behind Pamela and Amber in the photograph above. There used to be more to the island, but much of it disappeared in the Chi Chi Earthquake 集集大地震 of Sept. 21, 1999.

The last thing we did on Saturday before turning in was to drive to Shuishe (Shueishe) Village 水社村 on the other side of Sun Moon Lake. There's a nice boardwalk path called the Hanpi (Hanbi) Hiking Trail, which we took a stroll on for about a kilometer in one direction, passing sightseeing boats, and hotels that are too expensive for our meager budget.

Before checking out the night view from Meihe Garden 梅荷園 ("heavenly" according to the Taiwan LP guide; "misty" according to me on this overcast evening), we had dinner at a greasy spoon, Taiwanese-style. Food at resorts like Sun Moon Lake tend to be overpriced, with doesn't leave much too many culinary options for those traveling relatively-cheaply. It was mainly fried rice and fried noodles for us, with Taiwan Beer to wash everything down.

I guess there's more than one way to spell the name of the lake.

Today (Sunday) was glorious. The weather forecast had called for rain, but instead the temperature was hot enough for short-sleeves, and the sun shone for most of the day. Amber and I went for an early-morning stroll after breakfast...

...then all of three of us went down to the waterfront before leaving Itashao. Amber didn't care much for the local aboriginal headwear.

(According to the Chinese written on the sign, it's "No Peddling").

First stop this morning was the Tzuen (Cihen) Pagoda 慈恩塔「ツｲーエンタｱ」, built by the dictator Chiang Kai-shek 蔣介石 to honor his mother. It was a 570-meter walk up from the parking lot, but the path was gentle. In fact it was no problem at all for the woman wearing a leather mini skirt, fishnet stockings and high heels. Too bad I couldn't get a picture of her.

From my Japanese guidebook: 最上部がちょうど海抜１０００ｍ

The views from the top of the tower were tremendous. Sun Moon Lake was a fantastic sight, but the scenery was magnificent from every direction.

Chiang really loved his mother. It's a shame he didn't have the same feelings of affection for the Taiwanese people.

From the Tzuen Pagoda, it was on to Hsuanchuang (Syuangjhuang) Temple, a large Buddhist temple with (surprise!) good views of the lake.

Inside the main building was this interesting fortune vending machine. It features what can be best described as a Chinese-style shinto shrine. The figurine also seems to be a strange blend of Chinese and Japanese. If you insert a coin, she will retrieve a small scroll from the small shrine in the back, and deposit it into the offering box in the front, from which it drops down to a small tray at the bottom, to be picked up by the purchaser.

Next to the altar...

...was a sign written in Chinese, Japanese and English. The English is very direct. The Japanese says "Houki wo tatakanaide kudasai" ほうきをたたかないで下さい

I guess this sounds too much like "Please don't hit the broom" because someone has placed a small sticker over the Japanese that reads "Butsugu ni sawaranaide kudasai" 仏具にさわらないで下さい. "Please don't touch the Buddhist altar equipment" makes much more sense, doesn't it?

From the front of the temple the lake can be seen, while from the back, you can see the Tzuen Pagoda through the trees.

The obligatory view of Sun Moon Lake, looking towards Lalu Island and Shuishe Village

By this time, the New Year crowds were starting to descend upon Sun Moon Lake, so it was time to for us to leave. We stopped for lunch in the extremely ordinary-looking (for Taiwan) town of Shuili (Shueili) 水里, where a set meal consisting of a bowl of shredded chicken on rice, vegetables, tofu and soup could be had for the princely sum of NT60 (that's $1.80 or 220円). At last, a break from the fried rice/noodles!

The only traffic jam we encountered on the way home was near the town of Chichi (Jiji) 集集, where there was some kind of railroad festival going on. By backtracking south for a few kilometers, and then getting on the freeway heading north, we were able to get around that obstacle, and make it home by late afternoon.

For the remainder of the Lunar New Year break (I'll be back at work on Monday the 26th), we have no special plans. We'll probably take Amber out to a park a couple of times, and we may also go for a drive or two, but not to anywhere too far away from Fengyuan (Fongyuan) 豊原. If the weather holds up, no doubt I'll also be going for walks in Chung-cheng (Jhong-jheng) Park 中正公園 and/or Takeng (Dakeng) 大抗.

Kunghsi fats'ai (Gongsi facai) 恭喜發財 - "Congratulations and be prosperous!"