Deforestation January 21, 2009

We went to a city in Taiwan that was famous for its wood carvings.  What I remember of it was a row of shops along a street with a forest at the end.  All the shops in that row were selling wood carvings.  They had everything.  There were carvings of all sizes, from microscopic to much bigger than a person.  There were carvings of everything, from shoes to gods.  They were all beautiful.  I suppose all the shops must have had some repeat carvings, but it was hard to tell because of the sheer quantity.  Most of the shops were like the ones I have pictures of.  Just a small room stuffed with carvings.  There also was a larger, fancier building.  It in there were mostly human-sized carvings.  It seemed more like a gallery, and all the stuff there was expensive, like “this is how much money I make in a year” expensive.  The only thing we bought was a set of chopsticks.

Another Temple January 19, 2009

This is a mosque I actually got to go to in China.  It was built with a garden around it.  It had lots of small buildings like  the one shown.  All of these buildings had interesting religious and historic meaning, but I forgot what those meanings were.  It’s been a few years.  They were great stories, though, illustrated throughout the buildings.  I do remember that this garden was very peaceful and calming to walk through.  I also love the old Chinese style of buildings.   Oh yeah.  There was also a well in this garden that was very important for some reason.  I feel like I am disgracing this place with my forgetfullness of the value of it.

Edit: I went and found my ticket to this place instead of being lazy.  It is the Great Mosque of Xi’an.  If you want to learn what I forgot, you can check out the link.

Celebrity Hunt January 6, 2009

Here is a beautiful view from Hong Kong island.  But  it’s more then that.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, on this hillside is the very home of Jackie Chan.  Of course, you can’t see it from here, but I did.  I also saw his hand-print in Hong Kong’s version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  My brother and I were so excited about this because we had no clue who the other people whose hand-prints were there were.

The Temple October 16, 2008

My parents went to  see this temple without me, so I don’t really know much about it.  At all.  I really just posted this for the pictures.

Look, there are actually some cars!

I don’t even know what alter this god is to.  Probably a pretty prestigious one, since it’s so fancy.

I do know that those sticks there in that bowl are incense, but that’s not saying much.  Maybe you should go for Wiki info on this.  It probably has a higher percentage of correct info than I could give you.

Everything in the temple had amazing detail.  This is just one tiny part of the roof.  Even that is decorated!  Also, all the decorations have significance in the religion.

Taiwan National Palace Museum October 14, 2008

When we went to the Taiwan National Palace Museum, it was being repaired in some places.  It was filled with some really amazing (and really old) Chinese and Taiwanese art.  That includes carvings, painting, clothing, even the seal rings of old emperors.  Sadly, I don’t have any pictures of those.  I think it was against the rules to take pictures, plus, it was dark inside.

Even the outside of this museum was a work of art.

There were a few Shaolin monks hanging out by the museum, doing demonstrations of their skill.  Our host told us all about them, but I forgot most of it.  All I remember is that it takes a crazy amount of work to get that good, which is a duh.

Why don’t we do this? October 14, 2008

A park in use

 In Taiwan and China, people actually use their parks!  In America, barely anyone uses parks.  Maybe we’ll go to watch our kid’s or little brother’s baseball game, but that’s about all.  

There, the parks are crowded.  People bring their boom-boxes and dance.  Some people waltz, some people do dances with fans.  Some people rent a boat and paddle around the lake that most parks contain there.  Some people fly kites.  Some just walk around enjoying a nice day.  I wish parks were such a hot spot here.

A house like this.. September 25, 2008

 

The posts on the ground in the doors are to trip ghosts.

We went to a park that was a “traditional” Taiwanese house.  Who knows?  It really could be a Chinese house, but that is what they told us.  The center of these houses is always a court.  The courts are just a drainage area for everything.  Think of what that could be in the olden days.  

Anyway, I would love to own a house like this.  It was very open, not to mention beautiful.

Your Taiwanese sitting room

 

Here’s your handy, little, personal alter so you don’t even have to leave your house to worship your gods.  Actually, I think you can only sacrifice to some of the gods here, and have to go to the temple to sacrifice to others.  I don’t really know about Taiwanese religion. 

 

I would think this would be a girl’s room, but maybe not.  There were two bedrooms in the model house, and they were both like this.  Maybe the guy’s room are just not anything special.  It looks like a glorified camp bunk.

 

Mmm, plastic food

Time to cook up some yummy duck or something, or you could just eat some of the plastic food they had sitting out.  I wonder if those stoves and pots actually work.

to market, to market September 15, 2008

We first went to the local night market in Taichung.  Here there were sold such delicacies as squid on a stick, duck bills, chicken butts, livers, congealed blood cakes, pig feet, and suspiciously fatty sausages.  I stuck to fried sweet potato puffs and fruit smoothie-type things.  Those were both amazingdeliciouswonderfulscrumptious.  You could also buy assorted small pets, play games, and, oh yeah, buy almost anything else imaginable.  There were a lot of “dollar store” stands, with everything costing 30 NTD (which is $1 US).  Oh, by the way, warning, some of my pictures from the market aren’t for the faint of heart or animal rights activists.

squid on a stick, anyone?

various munchies

 

trotters done trotting

I loved the night market, the only downsides were the locals who would stop dead in their tracks to turn around and stare open-mouthed, “Mei guo ren!“ (American), and my mom’s talking to people in Chinese.

some fruit

the land of giant veggies

We also explored the daytime market.  It mostly sold clothes, produce, and meat.  All the vegetables and fruits dwarf the produce over here.

Taipei 101 September 15, 2008

 

Taipei 101

On one of our days in Taiwan, we took a trip to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan.  One of our stops there was the Taipei 101 building.  It was the tallest building in the world, and still is.  Here are a few of the facts.

• It has 101 floors above ground.
• It has 5 floors below ground.
• It is 509.2 meters (1,670.60 ft.) tall from ground to spire.
• It contains the world’s fastest elevators, going at speeds of 60.6 kmph or 37.7 mph.
• It is build to flex during typhoons and earthquakes to prevent it from falling.
• It houses the world’s largest “tuned mass damper” (aka, a big ball suspended from the ceiling to keep the building balanced).

We had to navigate through the mall at the base of the building to get to the elevators.  Tickets cost about $10 US and were more colorful than an Ipod poster.  

  

The elevator ride was a bit scary for a claustrophobic person like myself, but it was over quickly (plus, the speed [movement, not drugs] made it fun).  

  

The view from the top was amazing!  Just like on airplanes, I could have just stared out the windows for hours.           

One view

Another lovely view

 Imagine falling from that high up. Agh.  

Besides gazing out the windows, we also got to look at miniature models of the building, look at the “tuned mass damper”, listen to a audio tour, and be harassed by salespeople. 

By the way, you can see some more lovely pictures of Taipei 101 and other stuff  at this photo blog.