There are still ongoing events for the Chinese New Year. So i bumped into a street procession and followed it for awhile. Gods and Goddesses were carried in ornate sedan chairs or pulled in decorative carriages. The people were in festive mood, played drums and instruments and cheered up the spectator and i think the gods and goddesses too.
The news just came in: a strong earthquake on the east coast of Taiwan!
I was shocked when i learned it happened at the city and region of Hualien. It was my base for a trip into the Taroko Gorge only a few weeks ago.
Actually i’ve hardly seen anything from the city. A walk along the coast before a storm came in and some snapshots from the still ongoing lantern festival. The Chinese year of dragon just started. People were full of hope and seeing towards a strong year coming. Might the strength of a dragon overcome these rough days and gives hope and comfort for the victims of this natural disaster.
My thoughts are with the people of Hualien!
Maybe you noticed these stacks of yellow papers in my prior posts. Well, these are ‚paper money‘ what get burned for the ancestors and family members who passed away, to ensure they have the financial fundings for a comfortable afterlife.
While i visited the City Temple in Tainan, i found myself in the backyard in a nice garden. I noticed a huge chimney. Getting closer to inspect it, i became a witness how people enlightened stacks of these paper money and let it burn in big flames, providing a comfortable time for their people in afterlife.
Roaming through the streets of Tainan many people gave me a smile or a wink or even posing in front of my camera. So did the lady with helmet, who had seen me with camera and jumped literally towards me. The three guys in bicycle training who winked me and posed shy but proud. Two young ladies nicely dressed up with amazing, traditional hairstyle posed happily on the street. Not to forget the proud owner of a ‚Vespa‘ shop, which caught my attention, since this brand is rarely seen here.
There was a Puji Temple just around the block. It wasn’t the biggest and most important, but beautiful set in the neighborhood and colorful decorated with many lanterns.
When i found it, it was pretty busy with worshipper and priests. The smell of incenses and the atmosphere with the dimmed lantern lights gave me quite an impression…
It was late afternoon when i arrived Tainan, in southern Taiwan. But it’s never too late to go out for a stroll in the neighborhood.
Much to see explore, as i found out soon. Around and inside the temples were still lots of lanterns, since the final festivities about Chinese New Year weren’t over yet. In one of the temple two nice, young ladies explaining me, how they interact with their gods and asking questions. It works with throwing two crescent-shaped wooden parts. Depending how the lie, the gods are willing to listen to their questions. Next step is to choose one of the providing sticks, which have numbers what leads to a certain box in a cupboard, where finally is a piece of paper with the answer to your initial question. Maybe.
They also told me about the various gods and goddesses in the different niches of the temple. There’s one who helps to find your soulmate, another one brings luck for women wants get pregnant, or students pray for their exams. On the wall were the proof of success, when it worked. Not so far from catholicism, where various Saints get these tasks done, i thought for myself.
Outside of the temple a sudden strong rain started. It makes the colorful lanterns reflect on the street, giving a new, friendly atmosphere. A small snack on my way home and some juicy strawberries for dessert. The first day in Tainan ended nicely.
There’s one last place i wanted show you on Lü Dao.
Okay, actually two. Because there’s also this small cave, called Guanyin Cave, which considered to be holy and worth a short stopp anyway.
And then there’s the tipp i got. An abandoned house on a hill near the lighthouse. There’s no road up there, just a path overgrown by dense bush. It took me awhile to find my way up to the hill, but it was completely worth it. That ‚lost place‘ appeared a beautiful spot for a quite hour or so. It would be also a nice sunset point. But i preferred another coffee on my favorite place @coffeestray
There is also a dark side in the history of Green Island. For the period of so called „White Terror“, from 1949 until late 1980’s, many political prisoners were held on a prison on Green Island, which got the name Prison Island back then. Nowadays it’s converted to a museum and memorial.
There are more places outside the prison walls, which played a role in those times. Most obvious the cementery, but also a cave, in which the prisons were forced to play and watch scenes and plays in order to get the right mindset for the Taiwanese society.
Why should I take a trip to the Island of Lü Dao, also known as ‚Green Island‘, just for a bath in the ‚Zahori Hot Springs‘? The answer is simple: because this place is one of only three saltwater hot springs in the world! Learned this, i just had to go, if just for a day trip and short dip there.
The idea of a day trip ended up to a five day vacancy on the beautiful Green Island. But later more about it. On my first visit in the pool area i expected the place full of people, but ended up alone there. At least for almost an half hour or so. It’s a public bath, that’s why i couldn’t run around with my Nikon camera. But i grabbed my cell phone for a few pictures, whilst i’m pretty on my own in the pool.
My blue baseball cap replaced with a blue swimming cap i dived in the warm water. And while i’m floating in the different pools with water temperatures up to around 42°C, one of the staff member was willing to explain me, where the water comes from and how it get pumped up from the sea into the pools. The hottest pool is at the top, and its water flows down terrace like pools, mixed with colder water to reach the specific temperature of each pool.
He was also telling me with a proud tone, that there was only three saltwater hot springs on the world, but that one in Japan isn’t accessible anymore due an earthquake. Now there are only one left in Italy, and this one on Lü Dao.
One of the most beautiful place on Taiwan, is Taroko Gorge at the East Coast, i read.
So, i took a direct train to Hualien, rented a car, grabbed a coffee early next morning and went off to see the landscape. And what a landscape i saw. Deep in the gorge, the walls went high on my sides when i drove in the narrow gaps of the mountains. Started at sea level, the road went higher and higher, got almost 2500 m.a.s.l. before i turned back. Many stops for photos or just taking a deep breath or resting on a quite place while was stunned about the old trees, the forest covering the high mountains and the river cutting its way down to the sea.
A fairly long hiking trail goes all the way up, but was closed due a typhoon earlier. Unfortunately i didn’t get to the hot springs there neither. At least another shorter, but still nice trail was open, as i found out on my way back. But this is another story for my next post. Stay tuned!
rene bauer photography 