A walk in the park - 27 April 2014

Jenny had offered to take us for a walk on a local hill a few weeks back but we were pretty tired or ill and decided to post pone. We asked if this weekend was good for her and she was happy to oblige. She even fetched us in a car, which we didn't know she had (or had access to). She's a really great CT to work with, always helpful and willing to go out of her way. I guess it helps her to practice her English too.

It was fantastic to get out into a more natural environment. DaJia, even though it is considered a small town is very built up and we aren't near to any parks or green areas. Coming from South Africa, this can be quite depressing. I hope that once we get a scooter we will be able to find some places to chill where it is nice and green and perhaps a little quieter than DaJai itself, with the Mazu temple's fireworks constantly exploding in your ears.

It was also great to get a bit of exercise that didn't involve walking to and from work. Jenny had just gotten over a cold and we were quite worried when she seemed very out of breath half way up quite a steep climb. I was also quite surprised at how easily we made it up, not having done any specific exercise since leaving SA.

Jenny and Renalda

Jenny and Mark (perhaps I should get a different hat)

Gotta dig those Virbams ;)

Really beautiful landscaping

It looks like a vygie!!

Walking in a maze of what looks like jasmin bushes

I can't remember the name of the goddess

Renalda trying her hand at pole dancing... I mean climbing ;)

The only wildlife we saw

Steam train in DaJia - 26 April 2014

We were on our way to Taichung last Saturday when this rolled by. Couldn't resist taking a few pics. It left when we were on our train and we noticed that it had an electric locomotive hooked on the back. All of the joy of the puff puff, without having to build up steam. The train left on time, no need to shovel coal frantically ;)

Perhaps I can convince Renalda that we should take a steam train trip :D

I'd love to take a trip with one of these

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Taipei day trip and National Palace Museum - 20 April

One of Renalda's kids took part in a Hess English speaking competition. All 200 odd Hess branches took part in the knockout rounds of the competition and Renalda's student made it to the finals in Taipei. We took the opportunity to go see more of the city. His show and tell performance only started at 2pm so we got the 6:30am train into Taipei and went to the National Palace Museum. 

Most of China's historical artifacts were taken to Taiwan after the CMT were forced out of China by PRC forces (I think). These are mostly housed at the Palace Museum and are on a rotation that apparently takes many years to complete. You can come every 2 months and see new things every time!

Me standing at the gate to a traditional garden

2 hours was not enough! You actually need the whole day, but looking and reading is hard work, especially when most things are in Chinese and there are millions of people around you. Next time I think we will take a guided tour. Unfortunately no pictures inside.

The National Palace Museum gate in the background

Renalda with the same gate in the background

The Palace Museum main building

One of the lions (?) guarding the museum

Another view of the main gate

We got a brief rundown of Chinese history. Then we saw some copies of western media written about Taiwan around the turn of the century, at that stage it was part of Japan. There were some beautiful sketches for an illustrated British newspaper on display. There were also some wonderful jade carvings and descriptions of how jade instruments and jewelry were/are made. The most beautiful piece was the famous Jadeite Cabbage with a grasshopper hiding in it's leaves, amazing!!

One of the administration buildings or outer buildings of the complex

The floor above the entrance level of the museum

Renalda with the museum complex in the background

Another exhibit was regarding bronze casting, but by that stage we were on our way out. It showed the history of casting with illustrations of the process that appear to be very similar today. There were a few bronze potjies that made my stomach rumble ;) So went to hunt for some lunch.

Taiwan style bunny chow and trotter soup, very yummy, but a bit pricey

We then went to one of the Universities close by, where the competition was taking place. We were very happy when Steve came second on the island in his competition! We can't claim any credit for Renalda yet, but it was good to show face and to be there with his parents while he was on stage. He won a sizable amount of money!
We then took the opportunity to do a little bit of shopping and then took the late train home, arriving in DaJia after 11pm! It was a good outing.

We missed Mazu returning - 15 April

We've started to get the feeling that we have been camping for too long. The sum total of our furniture at the moment is a bed (with a mozzie net tent), a "cupboard", some bedside tables, a small table, 2 cheap chairs, one of which I broke by rocking back and a plastic stool. So with our first pay check we decided to get a couch, at least when we get home we can flop into something comfy that isn't a bed.

Our kitsch DIY cupboard

Mazu returned to DaJia on a Tuesday which was a normal school day for the rest of the country, but because the traffic in the areas is restricted in the area (DaJia becomes a pedestrian town), schools are closed. This means we get the day off...but we have to make it up the preceding and following Saturdays! It's unbelievable for us. In South Africa we would just shrug and skip a day of school, not here!

We did have a little bit of work in the afternoon, some training in Taichung, so we decided to make a trip to Ikea, in the morning before the training. We've heard some scornful comments about Ikea, but we quite enjoyed being able to get everything you need in one place, and then to have it delivered and assembled (if you want).

We set a budget to spend but the main thing we wanted to buy was a sleeper couch, then we have a place for you to sleep when you all come visit! I had seen a cheap one on the Ikea website which turned out not to be too comfy. We settled for one which was still in the budget for the day, but was the entire budget. You can see it below, and it is very comfy to sit on, we haven't slept on it yet. Unfortunately Ikea only delivers to DaJia on Fridays so we had to wait a while for our comfort.

Our new sleeper couch

After training we went to get some Korean style fried dumplings and then took a taxi to a mall where we watched Captain America 3D in IMAX! Very cool, we will try to make it a monthly exercise. 

We were a little disappointed to miss the fanfare and free food for Mazu's return, but at the same time it was nice to have a day out. When we got off the train in DaJia the air was thick with smoke from fireworks and the streets were strewn with litter. Perhaps it was good that we weren't there.

Our mozzie net tent

Mazu leaves DaJia - 6 April

One of the Chinese teachers, Jenny, who is originally from DaJia invited us to walk around DaJia during the Mazu festival. We were treated to thousands of people lining up for free food and many interesting sights, sounds, smells and tastes.

A food tent erected in the street to feed the hungry hoards

From left: Michelle, George, myself and Jenny having a free vegetarian lunch

Not having had enough rice and noodles we went to an even bigger tent where the rest of the hoard was eating.

A massive food tent

Apparently when Mazu leaves DaJia the free food is vegetarian, but when she returns it includes meat.
We then met up with some of Jenny's family who showed us a shortcut into the Mazu temple. It was milling with hundreds of people and smelled strongly of incense, so strongly that my eyes were watering and I had an occasional sneezing fit. We thought we may as well go the whole hog, so we lit a bunch of incense sticks. Jenny told us to put three here and there in the proper order. It was very interesting and the architecture was amazing. Very intricate and beautiful.

Inside the Mazu temple, lighting incence

Inside the temple at one of the shrines

One of the shrines outside the temple, and the thousands of people

Intricate artwork

I must admit that while it was interesting I was happy to get out for the sake of my eyes and throat!

These are our new pieces of heaven, they are crispy sweet potato balls. Very yummy

We walked around looking at the foods and other items available for sale. It was pretty, thirsty and hungry work. We bought some of the sweet potato balls above to share with Jenny and George, but George appeared not to like them! We were pretty surprised. Perhaps we have different taste to many western people. Renalda and I are pretty open to trying new things, good when you are in a new country and don't know what it is that you are pointing at. If it tastes good it's all good!

These cyclists will follow Mazu from Dajia South and return with her in 2 weeks

We got to see a few of these dragons whirling around

And I've been corrected that this is a Buddha 

Renalda really wanted to talk to the Buddha

I couldn't resist getting a pic with a black Buddha who has white arms ;)

Another dragon

We then walked around a bit more, got some free supper and some watermelon, before calling it a night. On the way home we saw this game. It's gambling, you buy a bunch of rings and try to throw the rings onto the bottles, if you do you win that bottle. Not unlike horseshoe throwing games or some of the fun fair games we see on American movies.

Throw to win

It was a good, but tiring day.

A little bit of DaJia madness

Last weekend (29th and 30th of March) there was a festival of some sort in DaJia. We thought it was the buildup to the Mazu Festival, where Mazu, the Chinese goddess of the sea, takes worshipers on an annual pilgrimage to the south of the island. We woke up to loud music and more fireworks than usual and when we looked out the window, this is what we saw.

Pimped up rides downstairs

I know what you did last summer! You pimped your ride!

Interesting

Hellraiser. Note the Momo shop in the background!!

Talking about Momo, it is a toiletries/pharmacy store which is about 40m from us as the crow flies. We live above it and they play the most annoying song over and over and over again!! It's about 30s long and they seem to have it on repeat! I found myself humming it in one if my classes.

Other than the captain South Africa on the car...what the!!?

This is usually the street leading past the temple

I think this is one of Mazu's general friends, they were demons she defeated

The other general/demon

Dancing and fireworks are the order of the day!

So it turns out that this didn't have much to do with the Mazu festival. They just had some puppet shows and other performances on the week before the festival. I wish I could read Chinese, because a lot of information is missing and it's not always possible to ask someone.

And even then, when you ask a Chinese speaking teacher, you aren't sure if you got the correct answer or if they understood your question. Very frustrating! 

Renalda and I will start Chinese lessons soon, but we are using Anki to learn vocab, both spoken and written at the moment.

Fruit salad and yoghurt. Without a fridge the leftover watermelon went bad :(

Renalda felt my pain regarding something fresh and this is what we made! A fantastic fruit salad with drinking yoghurt. Not quite double cream greek, but it was awesome!

The view from our apartment...not exactly beautiful, but it's home

This is the view of the little town of DaJia from our bedroom window. Not so little really, a lot going on with a small town feel.

Fried naan bread thingy

Interesting pancakes, that reminded us of naan bread, really yummy, with lots of oil!

Too much fried food!! ;)

Supper, fried chicken, fish balls and pancake naan...scrumptious! I promise we do eat veggies!