The Last 10 Days I was in Taiwan

Its been a long time since I lived in Taiwan. Because of complications with my computer and hard drive space among other things, I haven't been able to upload any of these photos. I finally went through the last pictures I had of Taiwan and uploaded them. I haven't done this much stuff in this short of time in a long time. I miss it very much and the cultural experience among many other things that Taiwan has to offer.


Rainbow Village and Taichung Overlook
2012/11/03 - 10 Days Left

Taichung Docks
2012/11/04 - 9 Days Left



Burning Clothes
2012/11/06 - 7 Days Left

Night Skate Session and Overlook of Taichung at Night
2012/11/07 - 6 Days Left


Hitch Hiking
2012/11/09 - 4 Days Left

Burning Clothes Part 2
2012/11/11 - 2 Days Left

JiJi
2012/11/12 - 1 Day Left

Cat Tea
2012/11/13 - The day I left Taiwan

Stinky Tofu Sausage

Funny Things Taiwanese Say

My Students
Me: "What do you like to do for fun?"
Taiwanese Most Common Answer: "Sleep"

Me: "What did you do for fun this weekend?"
Taiwanese: "I ate."
Me: "Did you do anything else?"
Taiwanese: "I slept and played Facebook."

Me: "When you lived in Canada what did you like to do?"
Taiwanese: "I played hockey."
Me: "You played hockey? I didn't know you liked hockey."
Taiwanese: "Well that's what everyone else did. I never played hockey."

At Mcdonalds
Me: "Can I have the coke float but with no ice?"
Taiwanese: "No, it comes with ice."
Me: "But I don't want the ice can you just not put it in."
Taiwanese: "It only comes with ice, we don't have it without ice."

Me: (in Chinese) "Number 1"
Taiwanese: (in English) "You want the number 1?"
Me: (in English) "Yes"

Taiwanese Employee 1: (in Chinese) "Oh no, Do you think he speaks Chinese?"
Taiwanese Employee 2: (in Chinese "No he doesn't"
Me: (in Chinese) "I'll have the Number 3"
Taiwanese 1: (in Chinese) "pheww, he knows Chinese"

Tea Shops
Me: "Can I get the Mango Ice Cream Green Tea but without the tea?"
Taiwanese: "No, you have to get it with the tea."
Me: "I'll pay the same price, I just want the ice cream. I don't want the tea on it."
Taiwanese: "Sorry, but the ice cream comes with the tea."

On the Street
Me: (in Chinese) "Whats your name?"
Taiwanese: (in Chinese) "I don't speak English."
Me: (in Chinese) "I'm speaking Chinese."
Taiwanese (in Chinese) "I don't understand English."

Friends
Me: "Hey would you like to hang out today?"
Taiwanese: "Sorry I have a really big test coming up next year that I really need to study for."

Idol's on the Drive

Sometimes the idols just get a little too dusty in those old creepy temples. The best way to fix this is to put that idol on the back of your car and drive until its looking spic and span again. In Taiwan as part of their worship to their gods they drive them around on tours through the city.

The City of Idols: Chia Yi, Taiwan (嘉義)

Walking through the town of Chia Yi (嘉義), the crowds began to gather and bang drums, carrying their idols on their shoulders with faces painted like monsters.

As if a bomb was dropped in the middle of town, the city fills with smoke and loud bangs. They lay out the firecrackers on the pavement to walk through them while going off, carrying their gods.

After all the excitement the streets and cars are covered in the ashes from the fireworks.

A bus used for carrying idols

Fire Prevention

Taiwanese Cemetery at Night in Kenting

Asian Photography

Taiwanese and Koreans like to take pictures of themselves, everywhere they go. If you look through their facebook photos you will notice every photo looks the same with the same facial expression, except the background is a different color and location. Jake and I tried to imitate their photo taken style.

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern in Taiwan

Check out this video from the Travel Channel about Taiwanese food and culture. I have been many of the places he is showing and have eaten many of the foods but in my opinion he is being way to polite. The food he comes in contact with, isn't something you have to search hard for, I very easily come in contact with it everyday and have tried lots of it.

Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival - 平溪

I am not sure of the exact story, but they started launching sky lanterns in Pingxi, because it was a secluded area. It began to have lots of crime after Han had settled there. So they would launch sky lanterns to either let people know there was a bandit attack, or it was to let people know that they were safe. This event eventually became a large scale festival when the coal mines closed in the late twentieth century and the villagers need a new income.

I headed up to Pingxi (平溪) saturday around 1pm with Jacob. When we first arrived in Taipei, we got off the bus, took the escalator down two stories, when I suddenly realized I didn't have my wallet. I quickly remembered where I left it on the bus. I ran back up to the 3rd floor to retrieve it from the bus which had already left. I talked to the guy at the front desk telling him my problem. With no response he waved his arm and started to go down the escalators, he then brought me to the ticket booth. I realized then, he didn't understand any English, and I also realized that none of their employers understood English. Which was fine, because I could practice struggling through my Chinese vocabulary to explain the problem. After a clueless dialogue, back and forth they had found the wallet and I could retrieve it when it returned back to the city in a few hours.

After I received my wallet, Jake and I headed out a little later then we planned. We hopped on the MRT (Taiwan Subway) and after a transfer made it to the bus which then took us to Pingxi. When we arrived there was thousands of people. We walked down a road shoulder to shoulder, 10 people wide for a long distance.

Jake and I bought one of our own after watching thousands of other people send their own up. ($3US). 

The whole night kinda felt like this...



...but without the girl

Ghost Month

Ghost Month has begun here in Taiwan. The Taiwanese believe that the gates of hell will be opened for the next month. The demons, spirits, ghost, and whatever else might hunt you will be released. What this means is there is a lot of things you have to do to fend off the demons.

Starting with of course, burning lots of paper money to them. It is very interesting walking around. I have seen a group of people at work in business suits standing in front of their company burning paper money. All over in front of different shops and homes you will see a table sitting by the street with 2 Liter Coke bottles, crackers, and other foods all with incense sticks stuck to them, sacrificing the food to the spirits. Later they will eat it themselves because of course the gods/spirits can't eat the food. Some other things you shouldn't do is whistle (because a ghost might follow you home), travel long distances or move to another house (the ghost might get into your home or cause you bad travels), don't swim or do other dangerous things that the ghost could use to harm you, don't get married, or do a lot of other things.

This is an interesting time in Taiwan. Many people get sick from the all the smoke from the constant burning of things.

http://www.lyberty.com/encyc/articles/ghostmonth.html