Wo Ai Taiwan!

Translation: I love Taiwan! When I learned, during my 10 hr layover in Taipei, that the gov. gave out free tours of the area, I was ecstatic. Me and a few Assies got a 1st rate tour of a small town outside Taipei, and got to see how they make porceilin, a grand Buddhist temple, and some street scenes in the area. The guides engrish was very good, and he taught us a great deal of Chinese animal symbolism and how so many small things in their world are done to ward spirits, create luck, bring prosperity, increase health, etc. (Among the most interesting, Frogs=Lucky, Dragons=wealth, Turtles=Longevity, and ALWAYS remember to rub the top of the Stone lions heads who are guarding the temple). The lions are a very important symbol in Taiwan (they refer to themselves as China), as it is their national animal. Lions holding balls are men and lions holding babies are women. Their towns are very dense and multi-storied, all clustered around a main area, usually with windy streets. The Chinese build up, not out, as is evidenced by farms coewxisting mere blocks away from 10 story buildings. But by far the wackiest thing I saw in Taiwan was their version of a funeral. Firstly, they also use Hearses for their funerals, Ifound this an interesting borrowed aspect of our culture. But every other part they get completely mixed up on. Immediately following the slow-moving Hearse is...get this...a hired band of scantily clad women wearing Hooters-orange marching outfits, banging away on their instruments, and badly. For what is supposed to be a serious and solemn occasion, and they do look at it as such, these girls are completely out of place! And following these very un-solemn looking band members are the mourners wearing white Ku Klux Klan hoods with their heads bowed. I didnt know whether to laugh or cry. Overall it was a great (and free) way to spend my layover, getting to see an entirely new country. Wo ai Taiwan!

Taipei, Taiwan