Baoan Temple Firewalking

Following are scenes from Baoan Temple on April 20. The Baosheng Culture Festival continued for several days both before and after, but we went on the 20th to see the firewalkers.



The place was full of spectators an hour before anything interesting happened. I was surprised by the number of Westerners with cameras in attendance.
Musicians.
Some statues that are slated to be carried over the hot coals.

Eventually they opened the gates and the crowd pressed in.




I tried to become adept at the art of taking pictures while holding the camera above my head.




Guys holding baskets of sand dumped their load on the hot coals, and the men carrying gods began to trudge across.




No clear views of any person actually walking on the hot coals and sand, but I got off some cool smoky shots.
Afterwards, this individual gave us little cookies in return for donations.

Nazi Motorbike

So I passed a parked motorbike today with a Nazi flag sticker on it. Pity I didn't have my camera - I would have loved to have taken a picture.

Living in Korea and Taiwan has successfully disassociated the swastika symbol from Nazism in my mind. Here it's a symbol of Buddhism and it has no negative connotations.

That said, the sticker on that motorbike was quite definitely the Nazi tricolor. I suspect there was no evil intention on the motorbike owner. Hitler never became the great cultural villain in East Asia that he is in the West; people here know who he is, of course, but Nazism and its associated symbolism doesn't spark the same visceral reaction that it does in Europe and North America. I think the owner of the motorbike just saw the sticker (I'd love to know where he/she saw it!) and figured, "Cool. Buddhist."

I hope.

Lishan

Take a look at a map of Taiwan and you'll see that most of the populated areas are along the coast - the interior is barely populated. The interior is where Jenna and I went this weekend. Lishan lies on the Central Cross-Island Highway - a highway that several hundred war veterans died to create in the 1950s - and is well-known for its locally grown fruit and sweeping views.

A couple of pictures I took in Lishan and at a nearby model farm popular for its scenic views:
I'm not sure what is being grown here, but it looks neat.
Lishan, from above.

Something that amazes me about Lishan is the utter lack of any name-brand convenience store. No 7-11, Family Mart or OK Mart. Just a bunch of local all-purpose general stores. Very strange for Taiwan, where the chains can be found everywhere and even Penghu has a Starbucks.
A depressing abandoned church.
Clothesline in front, mountains in back.

Election Returns

"The American won. The American's going to be our next President."

- Guy at flower shop in Jingmei Night Market this evening

Election Tomorrow

Some pictures I took this evening in central Taipei:Crowds at the KMT rally. The Foreign Ministry is the big building behind them. There were huge TVs set up for people who couldn't see the speakers; when I showed up VP candidate Vincent Siew (I think) was speaking.Traffic was blocked off at the intersection.Lots of people with flags.And lots of people with plastic chairs and noisemakers and Ma Ying-jeou bobbleheads dolls.Just a short walk away, a vigil for Tibet was being held.The recent troubles in Tibet might just have a major impact on the Taiwanese election, driving a significant number of voters towards the DPP, which favors a much tougher stance against China. Both Ma Ying-jeou of the KMT and Frank Hsieh of the DPP have condemned China's actions, with Ma threatening to pull Taiwan's athletes from the Olympics if Beijing doesn't treat Tibet better. Still, the KMT is perceived as the party closer to China, so bad news coming out of China is going to help the DPP.

I'll be rooting for Frank Hsieh and the DPP tomorrow (as I suspect a majority of foreigners here will), although I'm not terribly optimistic about his chances. The race has apparently narrowed considerably though, and who knows how much China will inadvertently influence the results...

Keelung

I don't know why it took me so long to visit Keelung. It's a whole city to explore, less than an hour away by train. It's got decent seaside views, and reputedly some of the best food in the country.
Our plan was to: a) climb a hill to see the Guanyin statue that watches over the city, and having thus worked up an appetite, b) visit the night market, quite possibly the most famous in all of Taiwan, for dinner.
Some kids were shooting off fireworks in a little park on the way up and this dog was going absolutely crazy. He'd circle around after the kids lit the fuse, and then bark like mad after it went off. Seemed like a dangerous game to us. Of course, he could have run and hid if he'd really wanted to.
During the seventh lunar month, this is where the Keelung Ghost Festival is based. During the rest of the year, it's home to a modest little museum with Ghost Festival-related displays.
Lots of potential hilarity for Westerners who don't realize what the swastika means in Asia.
When we got to the Guanyin statue, we found what can only be described as a whole Buddhist theme park. There was cotton candy and other snacks. There was a souvenir shop. There were little motorized cars that kids could drive around in. Those portholes in Guanyin's back are for you to look out of. Apparently you can climb all the way up to Guanyin's head. It was closed by the time we got there.
We could ring the big bell for a 50NT donation.
Views of the city from the top of the hill.
Sunset.

We went to the night market, where we had: a) meat on a stick with a crunchy, delicious batter covering (mine was supposedly beef, but I have my doubts), b) some very good vegetable rolls, and c) creamed crabs. Not bad. And then Taipei was just a quick train ride back.