Taiwan trip and GlobalTiC Award 2013 (Day 2) Part 4

淡水, Danshui, or Tamshui, is north of Taipei, and is at the end of the red line in the MRT system. In the last trip, I went only to the 'Laojie', or Old Street, to eat, and stroll about, watching the sunset. This time, I researched a little more about the attractions, and found little pockets of treasure here and there.

The first thing we did was buy the 'tiedan', or iron eggs, at Laojie. They are black in colour and chewy, very fragrant. There is a choice between quail eggs and chicken eggs, and I chose the quail eggs. Out of the packet, they are rubbery, and all the eggs are stuck together. I had to remind myself of the cholesterol that comes with eggs, unlike a certain cousin of mine, who can finish a packet of some 20 quail eggs in a day... We also bought grilled squid and boiled little squid to munch on. 

We didn't resume the rest of Laojie, but went walking about in search of an old building inside a university. The journey took some 15 minutes, uphill, through a more busy part of Danshui in terms of cars. We walked the statue of MacKay. We also bought 'Taiyang bing' for my cousin, along with some nougats, form a bakery. Dad was saying that this had better be worth the walk, and he was pretty sure that Mom and I had plotted this to get him to exercise. Haha. All the calories we put in during lunch and last night were all burned off.

Finally, up on a hill, we reached a beautiful university called Aletheia University. Very few people on campus today, so it was quiet and peaceful. Its buildings had a sort of Spanish-Sino architecture. Inside, the garden wasn't big but still nice, had this autumn feel to it. The building I had really wanted to see was facing the gates (large, grey arches), and is called Oxford College. It's built using red bricks, and is primarily Chinese architecture but with some Western influences, especially in the windows. 

Oxford College, Aletheia University

At this time, the sun was about to set, which meant our time there was about up. Downhill we went, back to Laojie. We walked past Fort San Domingo, which we will reserve for another day. Dad's objective is to capture the sunset at the end of Laojie, where some people were fishing. Beautiful scenery, beautiful pictures, and cool weather (it was already evening). 

We too pictures till it was dark. Laojie was lit up, and busy with hungry people. We drank 'aiyu' to cool down. There was reclaimed land, which wasn't there a few years ago. 

It was late, and we were tired. We took the metro back to out hotel. The duo resorted to looking for more food at the Ningxia market later in the night. 

Cheers

zhusun

Taiwan trip and GlobalTiC Award 2013 (Day 2) Part 3

The next thing on the list were temples! One of my favourite places to visit when in any country, even back home. Temples, or any place of worship, offer a wealth of artistry and breathtaking architecture.

After lunch, we took the metro and stopped at Yuanshan Station. It was already afternoon, and just imagine the intensity of the sun's rays. It was scorching hot - I am exaggerating - and the air was so humid, sweat stuck to our skin like positive and negative poles of two magnets. Luckily, I brought a cap, but Dad just refused to wear one, even though he was squinting his eyes to tightly.

The walk to the Confucius Temple would take, as according to a very friendly lady at the tourist information counter at the station, about 10 minutes on foot. So we did go on foot, under the sun (I will stress on this a lot). It felt like a pilgrimage of some sort. Although it sounds uncomfortable, it was pretty fun, walking under the sun like that.

We found out that the Confucius Temple was closed, as Monday is the rest day. On top of that, many other temples were closed as well, except for Baoan Temple. Dismayed as we were, we came here to see a temple, and that was what we were going to do.

We walked past many mechanic shops, a whole block of them actually. When we arrived at our destination, we thought the whole temple was closed, but then found that Baoan Temple was open, just opposite from where we stood. The place that was closed for a while was actually some sort of garden.

The Baoan Temple is different from the temples in, say, Beijing, as it has more Southern Chinese style architecture. This means more colour, more animate figures on the roof, and swallow tail roof ends; Northern Chinese style architecture is less so, if you refer to pictures of buildings in Beijing, you would know what I'm talking about. (Here are two pictures of two different temples for a comparison)

Baoan Temple, Taipei

Lama Temple, Beijing

There were some murals, beautiful carvings, porcelain sculptures (the core of the sculpture could be cement but is decorated with colourful porcelain), figures of the deities, incense, flowers, and devotees praying. 'Baoan' means to ensure safety, peace, health. So generally people come here to pray for those qualities in their lives. For example, a pregnant woman can pray for the safe delivery of her baby.

There weren't many people and was peaceful. It was the same for the garden opposite, opened again at 3, if I remember correctly. There was a large dragon, covered in porcelain scales, spouting water from its mighty mouth. The effect of the porcelain chips is lifelike, very beautiful. Opposite the main entrance there was a wall with a mural, also in porcelain chips. It was quiet, and the shade provided much relief from direct sunlight.

The Confucius Temple, which is Baoan Temple's neighbour, was closed, and a group of tourists were caught in the same situation as us, of having to cross this out of our list and save for, hopefully, another trip. Which left Dad and I to walk to the other side of the Yuanshan Station where a Naruto exhibition was being held. Here's a neat trick, if you haven't tried it already. It's really straightforward. Act interested, stand at the door of the exhibition centre, and feel the blast of cool air blow from above. I refer specifically to the door because of the powerful blast of the air cond. (I think it's a way to keep hot air out).

On the way back to the station form the temple, we stopped at a 7 Eleven to have beer, a much needed beer. We shared a can. most satisfying.

We weren't interested in Naruto, so we headed back to Yuanshan station to get to our most important stop, Danshui.

(To be continued)

Cheers
Zhusun

Taiwan trip and GlobalTiC Award 2013 (Day 2) Part 2

Next stop was a street about 8 minutes walk from the Lin Family Garden. It's called 茶館街, 'cha guan jie', and literally translates into, 'tea house street'. On the map in the Metro, I told Dad that this would be a promising place to look for tea. I could not have been more deceived by a name.

There was not a single tea shop in sight - not that we walked the whole street, but we got the point after observing that all the shops and stalls were selling food, or toys, or clothes, or souvenirs. Despite being a disappointment in being unexpected, it was actually really interesting. The 'Street' is actually composed of a a few lanes. We walked through one lane and all the shops and stalls were selling food and clothes, displaying braised pig's heads, blood cakes, whole chickens. We came across a stall selling toys at a junction, and Dad almost bought a toy car. I almost went on board to buy a set of small army vehicles but decided I already have one set at home, sleeping in some container.

It was already nearly lunchtime, and seeing we were in the company of a wealth of choices of Taiwanese food, we lunch was to be had there, in what I now translate, 茶館街, into 'food shops street'. We had one of my favourite dishes, beef noodles! The soup was brown and very fragrant, noodles were 'Q' or springy, and beef slices were beautifully decorated with a maze of tendon. The taste was heightened with slated veg.

While eating we watched news on the t.v.. The news reporter was expounding on a meteorological matter, called weather. In the weather reports I've seen, the reporter raps out the words out and we're off the weather report before its allocated time is used up. But this weather report was very informational, and long. Sunny Taipei, 2 days down the road, would be rainy and faced with a possibility of being hit by a typhoon. I was beginning to worry; Dad was excited.

For now, it remained sunny clear skied. After lunch we walked to the metro and this time, we walked to the nearer one called 'Fuahong station'. Out next stop was in Datong district.

(To be continued)

Cheers
zhusun

Taiwan trip and GlobalTiC Award 2013 (Day 2) Part 1

Dad and I were up early for the day-tour ahead. We packed our stomachs with a heavy breakfast - braised minced pork noodles with lots of vegetables. The staff are really friendly and again, were more than pleasantly surprised when we spoke to them in Tai-yi. 

Lin Family Garden

The first spot was a recommendation by one of the hostel staff, the Lin Family Mansion and Garden, or 'Banqiao Lin jia', 板橋林家. Also known as Lin Family Garden, 林家花園, or Lin Ben-yuan Garden. Located in Banqiao,  It was a long way from where we were staying so we used the very efficient MRT service. The trains are almost always on time, the trains are clean, and the people are pleasant. The fares are reasonable as well. 

We stopped at Banqiao Station. Referring to the map, we had two destination to go to, one was the mansion and the other was a street whose name sounded promising to tea buyers. It would be a long walk to the courtyard mansion, under the glaring sun, whose heat bit the skin. It reminded me of the Melbourne summer, only in Melbourne, there was intermittent cool breeze and the air was drier. The air in Taipei was humid and it makes sweat stick to your body. Uncomfortable, but something you get used to after a while, and you have to commit yourself to not think about it. Later on we discovered that we could have stopped at Fuzhong Station, which was much nearer to the mansion compared to Banqiao Station. 

Anyway, at first, we tried walking there ourselves, but soon got confused by the landmarks and the confusing roads. I tried asking for directions but the persons either did not know or they spoke too quickly for me to understand - even after asking them to slow down. We thought of taking the bus but none that were going to our destination were at the bus bay. In the end, after basking in the white sun, we decided to take a taxi that was so conveniently parked across the bus station. The taxi trip - albeit being a dangerous one, swerving around corners and breaking just in time for a woman on a bicycle to ride past, unscarred - was about 8 minutes and cost only NT$80.

Entrance was free. It's closed on the first Monday of every month. The courtyard house was impressive. Although I've seen more magnificent structures from the same era elsewhere, the estate was still a delight to explore, having its own character and history. One can only wonder how life would have been like behind these walls so many years ago. It cost a few hundred teals of silver to build back in the mid 1800s by a rich and influential family. It was restored to its original state a few years ago. Some parts are open to public.

It is a typical Chinese courtyard house, composed of many sections, with high walls, trees, brick paths, and gardens neatly trimmed, a large bird cage (occupied), and even a pond holding koi fish and carp. There were many arches and I especially enjoyed taking photos of them, they are like a door to another dimension. Bamboo line the paths, some were thin and tall, and a special variety was short and plump, called the swollen bamboo. The entrance was a long walkway, complete with speakers projecting bird sounds into the quiet air. It was serene until a noisy family came to disturb the peace. Of course, it was a popular tourist attraction, what was I expecting?

There were many buildings but I don't know the functions they served. There was one particular building with many glass windows. Many of the walls had bat or butterfly motifs, some had scrolls, and some had different fruit. I especially liked the gardens. One garden had a small hill, made of tone, with a stone garden set at the top. An ideal place to discuss poetry and sip tea on a cool spring's day, or a good sun bathe on a hot summer's day. Another garden had the pond I spoke of. There were water lilies in blossom, bright pink or purple. The pond was bordered by walk ways and high walls, made into a square, with a gazebo extending from one side of the wall. One part of the walk way was made to resemble a miniature bridge. A local family was picnicking at the gazebo, enjoying the cool shade I guess.

There was a peculiar structure in a more secluded part of the complex. Like many of the other buildings, this one has a very nice-sounding name. It's called the Moon Tide Water Pavilion, 'Yue bo shui xie', 月波水榭. It is built in the middle of a pond, in a double caltrop shape, witha little bridge as passage-way. It is named after the moon because the moon is reflected in the water. There was a platform on the roof but that was off-limits. 

Some sections were closed, like the entrance to climb a tall stone structure, which I suspect would allow you to walk atop some of the walls. Some parts of the walls had calligraphy on them. Poems, I suppose. But most were plastered or pained over, leaving little sections of the works visible. I wonder why the restorer covered them, or maybe the works were disfigured by the squatters some decades ago?

Information about the Lin Family Garden was plentiful in video screenings in the larger buildings, but I hadn't the patience to watch them. Friendly staff were dressed in purple, offering a friendly smile to the aimless visitor. You could spend a whole morning relaxing there, having only portions of nearby or neighbouring buildings and the fellow tourist remind you of the present day.

Before exiting the garden we had a good rest on a stone bench, and refreshed ourselves with a cold water provided. In a busy, modern city, this is a great green escape into the past. 

(To be continued)

Cheers
zhusun

Further reading:
http://en.linfamily.tpc.gov.tw/html/enlinfamily/profile/profile.jsp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Family_Mansion_and_Garden
http://bradttaiwan.blogspot.com/2011/04/banqiaos-lin-family-gardens.html