Last Day in Taiwan

Last Day in Taiwan, I am so grateful for all the love and warmth showered onto me.  I had so much fun.  It was a very healing trip with family.  I am so blessed to have such amazing family on earth.  I am also glad I can help my mom with her flight getting on the right flight and with her luggages. 

She Had a Divine Face

Day 28 Con't
In the evening my 4th aunty set up a meeting with my cousin Jane who is now a Buddhist nun and is at a local monastery. I got lost with the bus system and took a long time to get there. My cousin, as it turns out was a very busy nun and was under the impression my mom was with me etc,... and was quite disappointed to just see me. I was quite grumpy by the time I got to her place and feeling ill exhausted dizzy from getting lost and wasn't all that polite. Strange, how it all turned out. I really felt like I was bothering her and taking up her time somehow. And yet we had exchanges where we reached mutual understanding of things of where we are in our lives and in our current condition of things. When leaving for the bus station,it had begun drizzling. I saw a couple rummaging through two garbage cans for food. This really depressed me. It was so sad to see. This couple was not old or middle aged. Why did they have to do this in the dark of the night? They seemed able physically to work and get paid. It's just so sad and disturbing. I really wanted to say something, and demanded to know why. I held my Sagittarian tongue and just kept on walking in the rain.







While on the bus, there was night traffic at 10:30pm. How is this possible? There was a procession for MaZu on the street with fireworks. I got off the bus to check out the festivities at night on the road. There was a band of young men playing traditional instruments. Of which really is a challenge to my ears. I watched the energy of these young men, playing instruments and carrying large parade pieces. They had good young chi, honorablly placed and executed. I was impressed with the focus, dedication, and unity. The fireworks I must say, super dangerously executed. I am glad no one got hurt.







I had to take the MRT home after the bus and I came across a woman whom I first noticed was her face and her energy. She had a divine face. She was an elderly grandma. My eyes were fixed onto her face trying to figure out what was it that made her so divinely beautiful in a culture of modern time that celebrated youth and women in their teens. Then I saw her pull out her recitation prayer counter. And I knew it was her practice of her mind that is divine, oozing out of her pours. I felt so lucky to have come across someone like her next to me on MRT.  I also love all the art displays on the walls of MRT stations.  I really appreciate art and access to viewings of art in public places. 

I Wanted More Than a Sign

Day 28
It's Sunday and I didn't have anything planned.  I just know I am out of cash.  So I had to go to a bank to withdraw more cash.  I shopped at the underground mall at the LongShanSi temple.  Yes, it's best to ask questions here since my foot somehow wandered over here. 
















These are one of my favorite classic savory pastries, curry flavored mung bean filling.



More family time, people were all still up.

Three Must Haves in My Luggage

Day 25
Today is an important day. I can't leave Taiwan until I have it in my luggage. It's delicious black bean sauce and Do Ban Jian. There is this one vendor at the morning market that comes on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday year after year. My mission is to locate him and stock up on a year's supply of it.

I can't leave Taiwan without these sauces or tea or red somen, everything else I'd say I can forgo but not these three things.

I went down a street and wondered if he still does business, not finding him I felt I needed to find a different alternate vendor to buy my stash from. I shopped around and the problem was it just didn't taste as good. On top of that it was more expensive. The good thing was I was not rushed for time, and I was shopping by myself and I can walk, and I had time, I can be patient until I checked every corner, every stall. Finally after many streets and endless stalls, I came across the vendor. Still had the same set up with the same exact sauces and items as years past. I was so thankful and glad I didn't rush and give in and bought the other ones. I was so glad to see him. I bought 8 bottles.

I also bought Taro and Daikon cakes, freshly made, soft and delicious. I bought enough to share with my uncles and aunties to eat after our hotspring soak. Yes hotsprings again! As it turned out, they ditched me, never even showed up. I ended up eating the goodies by myself after the soak at the library water lily garden next to the hotspring. People who passed by wondered why I was such a loner eating by myself and reminded me food tasted better shared with others that I shouldn't choose to be alone. Thanks for the reminder. Taiwan is wonderful because of it's community, anyone seen alone, single- brings out concern for bystanders.

I waited for the glass shop to open to pick up my glasses. I love them. All day today while I wore them I had trouble gauging where the ground was when I stepped. I was off on the depth and wondered if the stigmatism correction was put in place.

I bought instant noodles, flavors they don't have in US without preservatives, vegan too. Yum, no nutritional value at all and lots of calories, who cares! They are as healthy as chips! People stare at me at the bus station with the quantity I bought and inquired if there was a cheap sale for hording so much at once and wanted to know where the sale was. People don't shop like we do at home for the week. They shop for the day at most two. Everything is fresh and not massively stocked at home, there just isn't the kind of space for storage or the need to do so

I went to the brush calligraphy store to buy a brush, a big brush. Unfortunately the artist's mom fell ill and he is at her bedside taking care of her. So I came across his wife instead and it was a much different experience and I didn't enjoy as much. I still bought my brush, but he wasn't around to personally hand engrave it. Might as well, since I didn't have a verse created in my mind yet. Ya, the wife did not inspire it out of me. A bit disapointed, but I am still happy with my quality brush.

I bought another one with engraved Bodhi Dharma on it. This one was expensive for the hair on the brush not for the bamboo or the engraving. It was not a finely crafted engraving and the famous artist did not personally engrave it himself, it was a generic engraver done in China by a random worker probably at some sweat shop. Still, I bought it for the bamboo engraving. The artist would have been insulted by this, I'd probably be regarded a superficial calligrapher who doesn't know her stuff. Regardless, I wanted a Ven. Bodhi Dharma engraving on my bamboo brush. I am happy with it. They only had a fine size brush tip left so I was stuck with it and bought what they had. I would have been super happy if they had the Bodhi Dharma engraving on my medium brush tip one, then I would have bought one not two. I did not need another fine tip brush but I don't have a Bodhi Dharma fine tip brush! Now I do!

BeiTou Hot Spring and Lots of Shopping

Day 24 This man played the flute by the hotspring creek. It's fun to see and hear artist playing music in public to share with others. Today I went to the hotspring again, the historical public outdoor pool. I went into the hot pool and without knowing how hot the direct source of hotspring piping is, I almost poured the water on my skin. Almost, meaning I was about it if not for a man who yelled to stop me. He yelled violently and it really saved me from many degrees of burn. I am grateful to him. My hotspring experience was going well, when was it time to get out, when a potty mouth man stepped in. It was as if he cam into the public pool and publically pooped in the pool with all of us in it. Too bad, I guess it was time for me to go find lunch. This vendor is making fresh wrap, it's so delicious when it is freshly done. I can eat it off the griddle without anything, so thin and chewy the same time.

The rest of the day was spent in an important task-shopping, shoes, boots, skirts, shirts, etc... It was fun. I had roasted corn with curry sate powder and fresh purple sugar cane juice to fuel up for the enormous task.

Shopping For New Glasses

Day 23 This morning, I found my mom chatting away with her little sister as if they were little girls in bed. It was a sweet sight. Went to the dentist with my mom this morning. I didn’t know where the office was and needed my mom to take me. I later found out why she didn’t want to go with me because my appointment was for yesterday and not today, she goofed and the office was upset at her and so she was embarrassed to face them. She later made up for it by treating everyone at the office with fresh baked cake. It is common for my mom to get such thing mixed up along with daily search for keys, cell phone, wallet etc…. It’s been 3 years since my last teeth cleaning, I really don’t recall it ever hurting like this. It felt great and terrible the same time. The dentist didn’t want me to get x-rays done on my teeth and told me to save my money and said I didn’t need any fillings redone. He said my fillings are more durable than I think it is. It’s really the opposite of dentist at home. He said as long as my teeth isn’t hurting it’s as good as new even chipped. It doesn’t seem to me that he wants to work on my teeth. When I was done at the front lobby was the site of my mom waiting for me all shriveled up in pain and snoring away. I felt sorry for her. I wish for her, peace, joy, happiness. We took the metro to hotsprings again, this time they didn't flake on me. The metro had a plasma TV to keep riders entertained while riding. We checked out two eye glass shops and settle for the 2nd one that had more selections. The optomitrist is a 36 year old male and owns the shop too. My mom was very interested in this handsome man because he was single, a doctor, a businessman, had a sense of humor too and she kept trying to hook us up. What I liked best about him was his creativity and his sense of joy in his profession, he gave his opinion regardless of the price tag. He is not yet a burnt out professional who is tired of life and living, uninterested, disconnected, superficial. So I wanted to by a pair of glasses from him, he had good chi and wanted my eyes examined by him. In Taiwan the eye examination is free. I pulled out 30 pairs of glasses to try on and he gave me his opinions. The one he liked on me was actually the cheapest one of all. I like his prescriptions for my eyes, -.50 lighter on both eyes. I think my eyes have improved and that is why my old ones gave me a headache. It was a good thing I squashed them accidentally, otherwise I would still be wearing them not knowing it was my glasses giving me a headache not my head. During the examination, I was reminded of how much I am missing out with my stigmatism. All the things I can't see with my blind spots, it' not cool. Vision is very important to me. I am a visual person. Both pairs of glasses cost me $120 total and I love my pink and blue glasses. I had my blue one prescribed to the old setting for evening driving if I felt the need during tired eyes driving times. I had a headache from the dental appointment and opted for a nap in the afternoon. When I got up I went to my High Mountain Tea uncle's place for dinner. He mentioned since he didn't have a daughter, he sees me as his daughter. I screamed in excitement,"I have been waiting to hear you say that!" His wife my 4th aunty was startled by both our comments. I can't say that her expression was in alignment to both our sentiments.

Tea With My PuErh Uncle

Day 22 con't I stopped by a market getting ready for the night market to fully come alive. In this fruit stand, the owners keep the traditional culture of tea ready at this station for friends to stop by and hangout and chat over a cup of tea. Tea is the thing in Taiwan. I managed to take a nap today. Somehow my ears were active and I heard conversations, it must have been a light rest. I heard my mom calling on the phone negotiating with my Uncle's wife on where I am having dinner. They both insisted they prepared dinner for me and insisted I eat them and they are in two different places. Sensing the struggle and possible social tension and in fear of being a bad guest, I got up right away and slipped out and did not have dinner in either place to not offend or upset anyone saying I had an appointmet to have dinner at 2nd Uncle's place. But really, it was just a tea appointment, tea can be a meal too. This is my Uncle's dog, he has mellowed in his older years. It's a good thing. My uncle is a tea lover and now distributes tea. Tea his best friend harvests, dries, roasts, packages personally himself, all organic, good stuff. This is his friend showcased in a magazine. My uncle is a brush calligrapher and has beautiful writting. People often ask him to do professional work. He stores all his PuEhr tea in these traditional clay pots. They are his babies. This is the house of PuEhr. This is a peom on 7 cups of tea. Tonight we had three pots of tea. First pot cleared my 5th chakra and the top of my lungs, I felt more stable, a very good healing. Second pot of tea, my arm channels cleared. Third pot of tea, very aged "old tea" went straight to the back of my brain and out my eyes, I felt the past getting cleared. I missed my hotspring healing today because my mom cancelled on me but I sure got my healing through these delicious pots of tea. Well, that last pot of tea was like drinking gold, it currently runs at $40,000. per Jin. I came to visit my 2nd Uncle in great concern for his current welfare and overall health. After watching him through these three pots of tea I no longer worried for him. 1st pot of tea woke up the pain and exhausion in him. 2nd pot his chi moved and he is able to go within and sooth the disturbance the 1st pot awoke and he looked humbled and peaceful. 3rd pot, he looked self efficient had enough reserve for engagement with others. This brought me comfort and peace. This is my cousin who is a script writter for TV mini drama soap series. After tea we went to my 4th Aunty's house to chat and drink more tea. This is the house of high mountain tea. Everyone got a pressure point massage. Check out the pain! My uncle and his wife are both healers and chi-gong practioners.

MuZha Zoo

Day 22 Can't sleep with my mom next to me. Why do I bother. I'd get better rest just sitting and meditate instead. Today we took the bus, the metro and headed out to Mao Kong Gandola, and guess what, it's closed on Mondays. So we went to the zoo instead. This picture reminds me of their sibling relationship. This is probably what they looked like their childhood years except without the grey hair and wrinkles.

We went to the Taipei train station for lunch. I stopped by a vegetarian deli place for a weigh charging style lunch. It was a nice spread of food. My plate was 260NT. It's quite expensive for a lunch meal by local standards. Everyone complained that vegetarian diet if for the luxurious wealthy crowd.

The food court is in on the second floor of the train station. My mom insisted on feeding me miso soup with pork in it. She keeps doing this after 14 years of being a vegetarian, she's still trying to turn me back into meat eating person. No I am not a person to her, I am her "c"hild and in some Chinese mom's definition, she owns me. I am not complaining or venting, just stating it as matter of fact.