It’s been way too long since I’ve written! Things have been busy. The weather is cooling off which is a very nice thing! I am no longer sweating all the time. The temperature has been in the lower 70’s during the day and the 60’s at night. You would think some of these people were in the Arctic because of how they dress though. Everywhere I see people in full winter clothing, winter coat and all. It’s pretty ridiculous. I think it’s not about them actually being cold, but having an excuse to wear different clothing.
Last weekend I went to a little town about one hour outside the city called Jiufen. It’s in the mountains and also right on the northeast coast. A long time ago it was a very small town with very few people, but when gold was discovered there in the late 1800s the population increased and by the 1930’s was known as “Little Shanghai.” For many years the town supplied gold to the Japanese empire. Now it’s a pretty touristy town with old teahouse and narrow streets and alleys. We were going to hike the main mountain in the town, Mount Jilong, but the weather was very rainy, so we decided against that. There’s a very long alleyway, Jishan Street, filled with shops, food stalls, and teahouses. It was so crowded due to the rain (because the street is somewhat enclosed). But the shops were really cool. We went to the Jiufen teahouse for traditional tea. The woman who served us was really nice and also explained how they make the tea, etc. The teahouse itself was really quaint and pretty and the courtyard of the teahouse had amazing views of the water. When we were doing in Jiufen we walked to the next town over, Jinguashi, which was about 2km down the road. It also has amazing views of the water. By the time we finally reached the town it was getting dark, so we didn’t get to see the Golden Waterfall. I really want to go back to both towns, however. The area was one of best places I’ve been to so far. Of course I posted photos and they’re in my album called “Jiufen & Jinguashi.”
Yesterday I went on a hike up the Tienmu Trail which is in the ritzy part of town, north of downtown. There are some teahouses at the top, so we had dinner at one of them. The place we ate at was so nice and had some fabulous views of the city. The food was also excellent. My photos didn’t come out too well because it was dark, but I’ve posted some in my “Around Taipei” album.
My school has decorated a lot for Halloween. And I get the vibe that dressing up is encouraged. Apparently teachers are already supposed to dress up at the end of this week since the kids don't all come to class on the actual day of Halloween. So I'm off to a costume shop with a co-worker friend tomorrow to try to find something. It's not really my cup of tea, but I don't want to be the anti-fun teacher and hopefully it can double as my costume for when I got out for Halloween on Saturday night! Pictures of Halloween at school to follow in the near future I'm sure. In the meantime take a look at the pictures I've added.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Happy Double Tenth Day!
October 10 (10/10) is Taiwan’s National Day. So I had yet another day off yesterday. We got last Saturday off, too, for another typhoon (the other typhoons have been kind of lame, but this one was really bad). Anyway, everyone has the day off on 10/10 and they celebrate it kind of like our July 4 with fireworks, etc. Some military planes have been flying over our apartment in the past few weeks (waking me up at 7am, I might add) practicing for the air show. So yesterday at 10am they all flew over. I was only able to get one okay photo. And last night as I was walking through the city we saw the fireworks show start.
For the day off some friends and I went to a town half an hour south of the city, Yingge (pronounced Inga), which is famous for ceramics. We also visited the next town over, Sansia, famous for the Tzushr temple. Yingge has a really nice and very modern ceramics museum. In fact, the ceramics festival is going on this month in the town so that was interesting to see, as well. The museum had some amazing pieces and was really interesting to walk through (and luckily all the information was in English, too.) Other than the museum we just did a lot of walking around the town. It has stores and stores and stores of ceramics. The best place was Yingge Old Street ,which despite it’s name was pretty modern and clean. That’s where most of the ceramics stores were. I got a set of beautiful plates for $9US!! (I keep saying I’m going to be SO cheap when I get back to the US!) I also bought a couple of really pretty vases for $3US each. My roommate got a beautiful tea set for just $18US. I think I am going to have to make it back there before my year is over!
When we (finally) found a taxi in Yingge we went over to Sansia. The Lonely Planet guide told us that if you visit just one temple in all of Taiwan, you should visit the Tzushr temple. At first glance we weren’t too impressed. The outside is kind of lame (not so colorful, maybe it’s just dirty, I don’t know) and the inside was much like Longshan Temple here in the city, except Longshan is bigger and brighter. So we were trying to figure out why the LP guide had steered us in that direction. (For my non-world traveling friends: The Lonely Planet guidebooks are, hands down, the best guidebooks ever and I buy one for every place I visit and they’ve never done me wrong.) We soon realized the reason they make such a big deal about it is for all of the traditional and very intricate carving and relief. It was amazing! All of the pillars have really beautiful carvings of birds, flowers, etc. The temple was originally built in 1769 and has been rebuilt three times. The last time was under the supervision of Professor Li Mei-shu, a Western-trained painter. You can see this and everything I’ve mentioned in this post on my photo site, of course!
We had another earthquake today at 11am. It was 5.5 on the scale and it’s center was near Taipei. I was sitting at my computer and definitely felt it! No damage or anything though so not too big of a deal, although there were some news reports about it. (I never thought I’d say an earthquake wasn’t a big deal!) So for those who are keeping track, it’s 3 typhoons and 2 earthquakes so far. Can’t believe it’s been 2 months already. Time is flying by! I keep forgetting to mention this in my posts but I’m learning a very tiny bit more Chinese. I now know how to count to 10, ask how much something costs, ask where something is, and some other really random words here and there. And it’s really exciting when someone actually understands me!
For the day off some friends and I went to a town half an hour south of the city, Yingge (pronounced Inga), which is famous for ceramics. We also visited the next town over, Sansia, famous for the Tzushr temple. Yingge has a really nice and very modern ceramics museum. In fact, the ceramics festival is going on this month in the town so that was interesting to see, as well. The museum had some amazing pieces and was really interesting to walk through (and luckily all the information was in English, too.) Other than the museum we just did a lot of walking around the town. It has stores and stores and stores of ceramics. The best place was Yingge Old Street ,which despite it’s name was pretty modern and clean. That’s where most of the ceramics stores were. I got a set of beautiful plates for $9US!! (I keep saying I’m going to be SO cheap when I get back to the US!) I also bought a couple of really pretty vases for $3US each. My roommate got a beautiful tea set for just $18US. I think I am going to have to make it back there before my year is over!
When we (finally) found a taxi in Yingge we went over to Sansia. The Lonely Planet guide told us that if you visit just one temple in all of Taiwan, you should visit the Tzushr temple. At first glance we weren’t too impressed. The outside is kind of lame (not so colorful, maybe it’s just dirty, I don’t know) and the inside was much like Longshan Temple here in the city, except Longshan is bigger and brighter. So we were trying to figure out why the LP guide had steered us in that direction. (For my non-world traveling friends: The Lonely Planet guidebooks are, hands down, the best guidebooks ever and I buy one for every place I visit and they’ve never done me wrong.) We soon realized the reason they make such a big deal about it is for all of the traditional and very intricate carving and relief. It was amazing! All of the pillars have really beautiful carvings of birds, flowers, etc. The temple was originally built in 1769 and has been rebuilt three times. The last time was under the supervision of Professor Li Mei-shu, a Western-trained painter. You can see this and everything I’ve mentioned in this post on my photo site, of course!
We had another earthquake today at 11am. It was 5.5 on the scale and it’s center was near Taipei. I was sitting at my computer and definitely felt it! No damage or anything though so not too big of a deal, although there were some news reports about it. (I never thought I’d say an earthquake wasn’t a big deal!) So for those who are keeping track, it’s 3 typhoons and 2 earthquakes so far. Can’t believe it’s been 2 months already. Time is flying by! I keep forgetting to mention this in my posts but I’m learning a very tiny bit more Chinese. I now know how to count to 10, ask how much something costs, ask where something is, and some other really random words here and there. And it’s really exciting when someone actually understands me!
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