Sanyi and Surrounds

Sorry I've been so horrid about updating; I was sick on top of a killer schedule plus a lot to get done for Christmas - we're throwing a party! - so just haven't had the time.

We spent Sunday in Miaoli county, wandering around Sanyi and it's well-known surroundings. In general it was a lovely trip - we did some holiday shopping, ate delicious Hakka food, saw the very good and very underrated museum (I think it's better than the Yingge ceramics museum) and hiked along the abandoned train tracks near Shengxing, a Hakka "village" that thrives mostly on its heritage and old buildings.

As Brendan rightly pointed out, Miaoli seems to be full of old folks. I mean that in a complimentary way; after all the more mature generation of Taiwan has endured, they deserve a hearty hats off with some applause thrown in. We have both noticed that all of our students seem to have at least one eldery relative in Miaoli - a grandmother, great uncle, distant cousin, aunt or great great great great grandfather. "What did you do last weekend?" is so often met with "We went to Miaoli to visit our grandmother" that we coined a new slogan for the county's tourism campaign:

Miaoli: Home to Every Taipei Resident's 92-year-old Hakka Grandmother.

I think it has potential, no? There could be an entire series of commercials...oh well. Nevermind.

There were a lot of day trippers and visitors but all of them were Taiwanese; I find this a lot less irritating than finding places thronged with foreigners including tour groups from Japan, China and Korea. It's crowded, sure, and loud...but also great to see Taiwanese people enjoying part of their cultural inheritance.

And for anyone who still argues against Taiwanese food being delicious - Prince Roy, I'm looking at you - the Hakka food we enjoyed for lunch decisively put that debate to rest. It was wonderful. All savory dried squid, fragrant pork and chicken, winter melon, taro and...just good. Much better than a lot of local cuisines of the mainland (like Beijing) and able to put up a good fight against Sichuan food.

Some photos from the day:



The broken bridge about 5km from Shengxing was quite atmospheric, although the market, parking lot and other tourist amenities set up near it kind of ruined the mood. Still, there wasn't another foreigner to be seen and we enjoyed seeing locals and day-trippers taking pleasure in their own history. That's me snapping a photo (this photo is Brendan's).


The train tracks between Shengxing and the collapsed bridge are scenic if you look ahead, scenic if you look around, and even scenic if you look down at the old wood forming the base of the tracks.


My sister making lei cha (blended/pounded tea) at the well-known restaurant where we ate lunch. We all took turns with the mortar and pestle and ground the various nuts until the mixture was a paste, shining with the oil of pulverized nuts. Then some other powder and hot water is added to make a starchy "tea" (not really tea at all) that is also sweet and quite filling.


Kids on the old train tracks. Not many people hiked further than this; the day trippers drove. We hiked, and got a taxi back (worth it, though I would have hitched if it had been just me or me and Brendan).



Delicious winter melon blob! Under the blob you can find taro, cabbage, pork and some other stuff. Very nice flavor, hearty on a chilly day.

Old-skool house...Shengxing is full of these and is worth the trip from Sanyi town. Then you can return to Sanyi to shop (but buy the sweets here).

See what I mean? Lots of friendly older folks. I'm sure these guys have third or fourth nephews or grandkids who have office jobs in Taipei. I bought some stewing spices from the foreground guy - long, fragrant plants grown in the mountains and rolled up. The guy in the back seems to love his cigarettes.


We saw these signs all over the roads - the header says "Everyone Come Learn Hakka" and it teaches some basic phrases in Hakka for drivers or pedestrians. A lovely facet of Miaoli that makes a sincere effort to promote local culture. I love it!


Walking in the countryside is a wonderful treat, especially in the late afternoon as the sun takes on a warm, filtered quality.

Taiwan gets more media attention

...this time for a story in the New York Times on jitong, or "shamans" who become possessed by gods and spirits and can divine things, deal with illness or consult people on their troubles.

If you've read the past few entries in this blog, you'll remember that my friend and I saw a jitong a few weeks ago at the Qingshan Wang festival:


...but the sight was far scarier than the happy drinking monk who possesses Ms. Chang.

The article says that the practice still survives in China as well, but I'd never heard of it being done there, not in modern times anyway. It seems like the sort of thing that would have been quickly eradicated by the Cultural Revolution.

Life is Quiet

There's not much going on in life right now; haven't been to any good protests, have been out to a few good restaurants and will write about those later - although at least one is famous, so what's the point? - and generally been either working or sick in bed with a cold.

After a week of working my butt off (including on Sunday, in Taoyuan of all places), having Monday off really brightens things up. I'm finally not sick anymore, either!

While in convalescence, we put up the Christmas tree. We have a little fake one from Canada that a coworker gave us, and ornaments from IKEA. As you can see, the cat likes it too. Very homey. We even put on holiday music and had some millet wine afterwards, enjoying our 'fireplace' (a space heater). We're "doing" Christmas this year; having about 25 friends over for food, drink and talk, so I'm happy we've got the tree.

Reason #4 to Love Taiwan

Comfy student cafes in Taipei.

We - we being four Americans, an Australian and a Taiwanese girl - celebrated Thanksgiving at Exotic Masala House, the new Indian restaurant featuring idli and dosa. I think they're losing money; some menu items are gone, the rice is no longer saffron-colored and we had to ask to get the same orgasmic cardamom & cinnamon kick to our tea.

Well, the Taiwanese member of our group noted that it might have been spiced less dramatically to cater to Taiwanese tastes; maybe other customers didn't like it the old way.

It's still a good restaurant though, and the tea is still fantastic as long as you make sure it's got the right amount of cardamom.

After that, we tried to retire to Cafe Salt & Pepper, but it was full. Not interested in the smoking area (even the girl with the stuffy nose could taste the air) we moved on to Cafe Bastille (Shi-da, not Gongguan).

I love how Taipei has no end of these cafes - Cafe Odeon, Latte (or Shake House - we're not sure), Lumiere, Red House, Bastille, Salt and Pepper, Giuliano, and about a million more. Good beer at a reasonable price - yes, NT180 for Belgian beer is reasonable, the same beer in an American pub would cost you far more - comfortable seats, great atmosphere. Funky and fun without being ratty or juvenile. The actual food at some of these places could stand to improve (although Red House does a decent meal and all of them do good brownies) but relaxing with a Delirium Noel in a tatty grandma-chair with good music and a good vibe...that can't be outdone.

Here's where I put in my plug for Malheur 12% Bier. You have to try this stuff at Red House Pub (nobody else seems to have it). This is amazing stuff. Black as night, so fuzzy and deep that it foams right out of the bottle once opened; you have to have it already tipped into the glass if you don't want to lose any. It tastes like everything that's good in the world. Imagine coffee cake, raisins, peaches, pumpkin pie, well-cooked high-quality steak, a crackling fireplace in the dead of winter, Christmas carols, richly flavored tea, gingerbread, black chocolate, dark cherries, cooked apples, cinnamon, Ethiopian coffee, old mahogany, evergreen trees, nutmeg and the sweet sound of your mother's voice - all distilled into an amazing beer experience. Try it.

Anyway.

It was great that out of our group, the Americans talked about Thanksgiving and the others replied with "Yeah...I've heard about that" for things we consider not only normal, but indispensable. 8-hour bus rides home, cold weather, bickering with relatives (all because you love them, of course), cooking all day, watching parades and American, or as I call it, real football, and eating fabulous amounts of fabulous food, followed by swigs of alcohol and getting along famously with the relatives you bickered with earlier in the day.

Thanksgiving as an expat - the rating: 8. Not as good as being home, but still pretty damned good.

Mom's Pies

OK, so I'm not making an artistically-minded post about old photos of Formosa, nor am I blogging about the state of the Taiwan economy (I pay taxes; where's my voucher?*), but this is quite important matter itself. I'd say its existence is not only important, but truly vital to expat life in Taiwan.

I'm talking of course about Mom's Pies.

Nevermind that the van can be hard to track down, and that they give you some missionary Christian leaflet with every pie. It's really good pie.

Mom's Pies has a van that circles Taipei, hitting up all the spots where people are likely to want pie; the universities (we've seen it at Taida, Shida and Zhengda), AIT, Tianmu and a few other spots. The only regular stop I know is near Shida/Guting on Thursdays from 4:30-7pm.

They also have a call-in service (02-2627-5040 or 02-2627-2051) and they do deliver.

Did I mention that it's really good pie? It made my day on Thursday, which was otherwise a bit cool and gray, and involved a rather strange work schedule that made nothing convenient. They have all sorts of flavors, from apple, pumpkin and cherry cheesecake to red bean, green bean and purple yam. The only downside is that their outermost crust is a little hard...but the filling was so good - so thick you could pick it up and eat it like finger food - that I didn't mind.

Another thing that's vital to expat life, as I'm learning, is having an adorable pet. Here's Zhao Cai, who is as needy and affectionate as a dog, but can be left at home alone for longer periods:




*Just kidding. I only pay 10% taxes and Taiwan's been very good to me financially, once I stopped working for Kojen. I don't mind that I'm not getting a voucher. But then that's $3600 I'm not using on a ticket to Orchid Island or a hunk of jade.

Qingshan Wang III (Dang Ki)

Some photos of the dangki - otherwise known as a jitong or martial diviner - we saw at San Qing Gong near Guilin Street on the day after Qingshan Wang's birthday.

As mentioned in a previous post, dangki invite possession by spirits who then control their movements. They are handed a 'tool kit' of implements to injure themselves as per the inhabiting spirit's wishes, and while they don't injure themselves deeply, there is a lot of blood loss. The blood is used to write talismans or texts used in divination.

It's a...scary sight, to be sure.

Qingshan Wang II

Just a video of some costumed guys dancing to techno (above), bajiajiang and dragon dancers (below). Enjoy!