SYMMETRY

I'm down to my last few days in Taiwan and it is ending much as it began. The rains have been back this week in full force and there was even a mini 台风 (taifeng - which is actually the source of the English word 'typhoon') last night. Today was my last day of classes and I had my oral and written exams this week, mirroring the entrance exams I took when I arrived. It has been good for me to be under a little pressure as it has helped me study harder and concentrate better, but it has been a very busy couple of weeks and I haven't had the time to post pictures of recent doings and seeings. Almost two weeks ago, my friend Carrie took me to 三峽 (Sanxia) in Taipei County, where we crossed a bridge bordered by these charming stone dragons.

I like how they are guarding baby dragons on one side and soccer balls on the other. That's pretty much all that matters, right?

Our first stop in Sanxia was to the lovely Li Mei-Shu Memorial Gallery where we admired the realist works of one of modern Taiwan's most famous painters and got a tour of the place by his very sentimental and quite genial son. Next up was Sanxia Zushi temple.

There was some sort of festival/dance/performance going on, but inside, it was calm and cool, if a bit dark.

All of the stone pillars were carved with different scenes or designs. Here, you see the classic lecherous and corpulent old bureaucrat scenario. So cross-cultural.

Most of them were comparatively more aesthetically pleasing.

But the performance was the real highlight. There were a half dozen or so of these dancers, elaborately dressed, and absolutely fierce. They all wore face paint and boars teeth and snarled as they posed (you can see this best on the one at left). As they performed, confetti and spirit money fluttered to the ground (some is mid-air at right).

The performers, who Carrie told me often drifted into this line of work after teenage delinquency, even had a team of stage managers to keep everything in place.

But perhaps I should just let you watch. A large urn of incense obscures much of the performance in this first video and it's a little shaky, but I kept it for the cool spinning leap in the beginning.


Sanshih Temple 1 from Le Kougre and Vimeo.

I took the second video from a better angle, but it got cut off because the performers were getting dangerously close to us and we had to back off. It was a little frightening, I must admit, but in an entirely compelling way. I liked being close to the action.



Sanshih Temple 2 from Le Kougre and Vimeo.

Rains cut the show short and there was a rush to get everything under cover. Carrie and I meandered over to Sanxia Old Street and did some window shopping. I ate some matcha ice cream on a Taiwanese-style croissant cone. Yum.

The next day, I met up with Fiona and E-train in Danshui. I already posted the delightful picture of the no-graffiti sign on Yanming mountain, but I just got these pictures of Fiona and I enjoying some local cuisine, and hanging out at the Lovers Bridge on the harbor.

I'm going to miss my 台湾的朋友门!