Day 1
So on the first day i tried for about a mile and a half to get a photo of this woman carrying her two kids on her motor scooter, which is the preferred method of transportation in this crowded part of the world. In our land of safety seats, seat belts, helmet laws, etc. here is a mom barreling down main street with her kids hanging onto her like koala bears! i got the shot and declared it an instant classic -- a once in a lifetime shot! by the end of the day my enthusiasm wanted as this occurance is rather common. it's still attention getting to see though ....
Our first stop was at a magnificent palace where we watched a changing of the guard, similar to buckingham palace's version. the weather is hot and humid -- exactly what we expected and prepared for. i am glad i lived four and a half years on the east coast, so i am accustomed to this weather. it's definitely something that takes some adjustment.
I am travelling with six other students, five of them fellow MBA-ers and one undergrad about to finish. The undergrad, eric, is american and the others are international students. Taka is from Japan, Ann and Poom from Thailand, Nikki is from Vietnam and Johnny, our host, is from Taiwan. I didn't know any of them prior to the trip, and everyone else did, so I am still getting to know everyone and am probably a lot more quiet than any of you would believe!
After the palace tour we had our first authentic Taiwanese lunch. They basically eat family style at a big round table with a big huge Lazy Susan in the middle. Everyone gets a rice bowl and soup spoon and the various dishes are placed in the midde of the table and you fill your bowl with rice first, then you just kind of swivel the lazy susan around until you find the dish you want. serving spoons aren't really used, so you just dig into the dish with your chopsticks and load up your bowl. if you want more of something, you still just dig in with your chopsticks. no one cares about double dipping -- it's great! it actually takes some getting used to, but it's really great!
Oh, and when they serve fish, they serve the whole fish -- head, tail, fins. I have seen this done before and usually you just eat around those parts -- but not here! Johnny says they believe the tail is good for you and gives you strength, since the fish is always moving its tail, it must be strong. He also says the head is good, because eating something else's head will make you smart -- since you are eating their head. Eyes and all, which supposedly are good. I'll take his word for it.
After lunch we headed to our first temple. This was my first experience at a Buddhist temple, so Johnny and our tour guide Peter explained how to pray. We took some incense sticks and faced the Buddah statue and bowed three times. The first time you tell Buddah your name. The second bow you tell him where you are from and the third bow you tell him what your wish or prayer is. Then you drop the incense stick in the smoldering caldron of ashed and hope it stands up straight.
Another thing you can do is take two wooden chips, one side is flat and one side is rounded. You hold the chips in your hands, bow your head and pray to Buddah, then drop the chips on the ground. If they land one side face up and one side face down, Buddah will grant your wish. You then walk over to this big jar of many sticks and pick one out. There will be a number on it, and you grab the fortune that has your number on it to see how Buddah will respond! Each number has a different response, some can be very good, others can be less favorable ...
I really like all of the activities ..... it's very active and participatory! It really made going to church fun! And i got a fortune with a lucky number! (14)
We visited chang-kei sheck's memorial hall after this, which is blue and white. Blue is used for emperors, and the blue and white in this hall was selected to represent the sky and clouds or the heavens.
Our final activity of the evening was a trip to the night market. There are outdoor markets all over taiwan that really don't come alive until well after dark. The idea is that with people working all day, they really don't have time to go to the markets during the day, so they have them at night! It's a great idea and it's one of my favorite things. Of course, it's also an opportunity to do two of my favorite things: shop and shop for food.
There are some very interesting foods here to get used to. I look like a total tourist dork taking photos of all the interesting stuff i see, like duck necks, BBQ squid on a stick, grilled pigeon, etc. but i really don't care. I am a tourist and with the blonde hair and blue eyes i'm really not going to blend in, so why try? they're going to stare at me anyway, they might as well stare at me taking photos of their interesting eats! I think one of my favorite photo galleries to put together will be the Food of Taiwan one.
Our first stop was at a magnificent palace where we watched a changing of the guard, similar to buckingham palace's version. the weather is hot and humid -- exactly what we expected and prepared for. i am glad i lived four and a half years on the east coast, so i am accustomed to this weather. it's definitely something that takes some adjustment.
I am travelling with six other students, five of them fellow MBA-ers and one undergrad about to finish. The undergrad, eric, is american and the others are international students. Taka is from Japan, Ann and Poom from Thailand, Nikki is from Vietnam and Johnny, our host, is from Taiwan. I didn't know any of them prior to the trip, and everyone else did, so I am still getting to know everyone and am probably a lot more quiet than any of you would believe!
After the palace tour we had our first authentic Taiwanese lunch. They basically eat family style at a big round table with a big huge Lazy Susan in the middle. Everyone gets a rice bowl and soup spoon and the various dishes are placed in the midde of the table and you fill your bowl with rice first, then you just kind of swivel the lazy susan around until you find the dish you want. serving spoons aren't really used, so you just dig into the dish with your chopsticks and load up your bowl. if you want more of something, you still just dig in with your chopsticks. no one cares about double dipping -- it's great! it actually takes some getting used to, but it's really great!
Oh, and when they serve fish, they serve the whole fish -- head, tail, fins. I have seen this done before and usually you just eat around those parts -- but not here! Johnny says they believe the tail is good for you and gives you strength, since the fish is always moving its tail, it must be strong. He also says the head is good, because eating something else's head will make you smart -- since you are eating their head. Eyes and all, which supposedly are good. I'll take his word for it.
After lunch we headed to our first temple. This was my first experience at a Buddhist temple, so Johnny and our tour guide Peter explained how to pray. We took some incense sticks and faced the Buddah statue and bowed three times. The first time you tell Buddah your name. The second bow you tell him where you are from and the third bow you tell him what your wish or prayer is. Then you drop the incense stick in the smoldering caldron of ashed and hope it stands up straight.
Another thing you can do is take two wooden chips, one side is flat and one side is rounded. You hold the chips in your hands, bow your head and pray to Buddah, then drop the chips on the ground. If they land one side face up and one side face down, Buddah will grant your wish. You then walk over to this big jar of many sticks and pick one out. There will be a number on it, and you grab the fortune that has your number on it to see how Buddah will respond! Each number has a different response, some can be very good, others can be less favorable ...
I really like all of the activities ..... it's very active and participatory! It really made going to church fun! And i got a fortune with a lucky number! (14)
We visited chang-kei sheck's memorial hall after this, which is blue and white. Blue is used for emperors, and the blue and white in this hall was selected to represent the sky and clouds or the heavens.
Our final activity of the evening was a trip to the night market. There are outdoor markets all over taiwan that really don't come alive until well after dark. The idea is that with people working all day, they really don't have time to go to the markets during the day, so they have them at night! It's a great idea and it's one of my favorite things. Of course, it's also an opportunity to do two of my favorite things: shop and shop for food.
There are some very interesting foods here to get used to. I look like a total tourist dork taking photos of all the interesting stuff i see, like duck necks, BBQ squid on a stick, grilled pigeon, etc. but i really don't care. I am a tourist and with the blonde hair and blue eyes i'm really not going to blend in, so why try? they're going to stare at me anyway, they might as well stare at me taking photos of their interesting eats! I think one of my favorite photo galleries to put together will be the Food of Taiwan one.
posted by christine at 5:03 AM
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