Taiwan and Chinese New Year

One of the greatest pleasures in life has got to be eating.  That being the case I can safely say that our eight or so days in Taiwan were all pleasure.  We arrived there the day before the first day of Chinese New Year, as requested by Gerald and family.  I can now safely state that the major activity of the New Year's week is eating!  Each day of the week is devoted to celebrating with some branch of family.  Our first day (Sunday) was spent with father's side.  Next day was spent with Mother's side.  Then it was cousins, aunts, uncles and so forth, filling each day of the week with celebration.  We spent three hours of each day at a banquet.  The best of the eats are served during these; 10-12 courses of them!  I always began eating saying to myself that I would pace my eating to a moderate level.  So I took just a little of almost everything.  But after 12 or so dishes, a little here and there add up to a major fill.  We ate with granddaughter Rayne, son Gerald, wife Frances and two babes and assorted other family each day to an absolutely stuffed condition.  I've never eaten so much, so consistently.  Each meal is accompanied by assorted toasts to the New Year.  It was all so fun, and so filling!

I wouldn't want you to think that ALL we did was eat.  Frances filled our remaining time with assorted other activities.  We visited several temples and enjoyed seeing the masses of folk come to visit their assorted gods, burn incense and bring offerings.  Many in Taiwan practice Taoism, most (Frances tells me) only occasionally.  Chinese New Year is one of those times.  There are gods for just about every interest; you pick the one that represents yours and offer incense and fruit.  The temples are very colorful, which I like.  We visited a giant Buddha on the same grounds as another Taoist temple.  I thought it odd that two different faiths would share the same space.  One of the workers at the Buddha statue said that they were open to whatever the people wanted; it was all good.  It was fascinating to walk inside the big Buddha and see various statues and explanations of the belief structure of Buddhists.  There are common elements in all faiths, it seems, lending credence to the idea that it all began as one faith.  I believe that to be true, knowing that it is the tendency of people to change things, and, over time, the changes can be very great indeed.

This is an open market in Feng Yuan, where Gerald and Frances live in Taiwan.
Frances says that most people shop for food here.  It is filled with fresh vegetables
and fish among other things.  Assorted smells alone tell you where you are.

This is the interior of a Taoist temple in Feng Yuan.  Foreground is a table with offerings for
the assorted gods in the temple, one of which rests in the distance behind the table.

Layne and I are posed on the grounds shared by a big Buddha and a
Taoist temple.

Near the big Buddha, Rayne stands in front of a lion, who stands guard over
the sacred grounds.  Lions are common guards in front of temples here.

Here is the big Buddha, with family in the foreground:  Rayne, Layne and Gerald
in the back, Angelica, cousin Anabell, and Seth.

Here are Seth, Gerald and Frances at one of our banquets.

One of the banquets was held at a relatives huge warehouse.  His business is making and selling
motorcycles, some of which you can see in this view of his factory.

Just one of the many dishes served at our numerous banquets.  This one was a part of every day's
servings.  Shrimp were offered whole, leaving the eater with the task of removing the head, feet and shell.

Rayne, Seth and Angelica, after feasting at the motorcycle factory. 

Angelica standing in front of a sacred (translation:  old) tree, located on a mountain near
Feng Yuan.  We drove a windy road to the top of the mountain, then walked a long way
to see it.  After three hours of walking, we slept very well that night!

This trip gave us opportunities to spend some quality time with Gerald and his whole family.  We loved that.  We got to spend lots of time with Rayne also.  She is teaching at Gerald and Frances' school and seems to be enjoying it.  Grandchildren Seth and Angelica warmed up to us, which pleased me so much.  Angelica especially seemed to seek me out.  I loved it.  We had wonderful visits with Frances and her family as well.  They are a wonderful collection of quality people.  All in all our time in Taiwan was our best yet.

We left for home last Monday, arriving that same day (since we flew over the date line).  Wouldn't you know, we got First Class seats once again.  Ah, the luxury of that!  One of the nice things about First Class is that they feed you very well.  As you may conclude from the above narrative that was something we really didn't need.  But did that stop us?  Well, no.

No matter the pleasure of the adventure, it is always good to be home.  We have spent this past week in our  usual routine, but our state has been decidedly soggier.  I lack luster and energy, lusting after sleep.  But we are returning to normal and not regretting this small sacrifice for the blessing of the trip.