Ellie's sayonara dinner.

Kanpai!

The Moriyama Fire Festival

In January, the city of Moriyama has a Fire Festival. Drunk men wearing barely anything (remember it's January and freezing!) carry HUGE straw torches throughout the town. They bring these torches to a temple where they arrange them in a circle and then light them on fire. When I was there, I saw some guys climb on top of the burning torches. They would then jump off when they got hit by the burning ashes. Idiots I tell you. For all you pyro fans, this is definitely the festival for you.

Straw torches were placed in front of this temple.

What the torches looked like.

A close up view of one of the torches.

Nearly clad men bring a straw torch into the temple grounds.

They arrange the torches in a circle in the middle of the temple grounds.

The torches slowly catch on fire.

Let the mother F***** burn.

Burn Mother F@%**#.

Burn!

One guy tries to climb on top of the burning torch.

Ichi, ni, san...they count in time to pick up the large torch.

A group of guys tries to pick up the large straw torch, still burning mind you, to haul it away from the temple grounds.

As the large bales of straw were taken away, people tried to light the remaining stalks on fire.

My Trip to Taiwan

During my Christmas break, I was able to visit my friend Davis and his family for 10 days. It was nice to be able to see a different part of Asia and after having been to Taiwan I can tell you that it is a lot different than Japan. It was weird for me to hear a language that was different than Japanese. I can now distinguish when someone is talking in Japanese or Chinese. They are completely different languages. I think learning Chinese is even harder because there are all these different tones that you have to pronounce. The only thing that is similar about the two languages is that they both use kanji and that's only because the Japanese borrowed it from the Chinese. Even though I was in a completely different country with different customs, I still found myself doing some "Japanese" things like bowing or saying sumimasen when I accidentally bumped into someone. One of the nice things about going to Taiwan during X-mas was that it was hot, especially down south. I was also glad that I was able to see different parts of Taiwan from the southern tip to the northern countryside. It was also nice not being stared at. When I'm in Japan I get stared at almost everyday. Sometimes it seems like the Japanese have never seen a white girl before. It kind of gets annoying after awhile. In Taipei, however, I didn't get stared at. I think because it's more of an international city. So thank you Davis for being my tour guide and of course for all of your translations!

On the night before I left, Davis said that he was going to stay up and help me pack. Yeah right!

Taiwan's Temples

Although Taiwan has freedom of religion, the common Chinese religions include Buddhism, Taoism, and folk beliefs. Taiwan's temples are also quite ornate compared to Japanese temples. The one temple I saw in Taiwan had intricate dragons carved onto the pillars and incense burner. There were also huge floor length candles that were lit.

Outside one of Taiwan's temples.

A view of inside the temple.

Some of the large floor length candles that were burning.

The National Palace Museum

The National Palace Museum in Taipei houses some of the worlds best examples of Chinese artifacts. The treasures were originally held in the Forbidden City in Beijing. During the war, however, the extensive collection was transferred to numerous cities to avoid destruction. The artifacts were finally relocated to Taiwan in 1945. The museum opened in 1965 and has over 620,000 Chinese artifacts ranging from calligraphy and pottery to jade. Some pieces date back to 3000 BC. Since the collection is so large, only a few thousand pieces are displayed at a time. The rest are stored in huge underground vaults that are carved into the mountain side. I wasn't allowed to take any pictures inside the museum, so if you want to see the elaborate collection you'll have to go to Taiwan. :)

The National Palace Museum.

A close up view.

Me on the front steps to the museum.

Davis and I in front of the entrance to the museum.

HAPPY 2005!

For New Years, Davis and I went to a bar in downtown Taipei where we met some of his friends. They had rented out a private room, but there still weren't enough seats for everyone. After a night of drinking, we decided to go to another bar. However, by the time we actually got a taxi (the subway had already stopped working for the night and it took us over an hour just to get a cab) it was close to 4 AM. By this time, everyone decided to not go to the other bar, but instead to just go home and crash.

The subway was packed as we headed downtown to celebrate New Year's Eve.

Happy New Year!

Davis with his crew.

Yehliu

After we got back from our trip down South, Davis, his dad, and I headed up North to Yehliu. This is a famous area for its unique rock formations. The sandstone contained in this area has been carved out by wind and water erosion to create some interesting shaped rocks. Unlike down South, it was really cold and windy up North.

A view of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan's Northern coastline.

A bridge that crosses over the weathered terrain.

Davis looking rather chilly and standing in front of some "mushroom" shaped rocks.

Even up North, I got sprayed by water that crashed on shore.

Davis and I standing in front of the "Queen's Head."

Kenting

While I was in Taiwan, Davis and I took a plane to the southern most tip of Taiwan...Kenting. The scenery down there is gorgeous. It's a lot different than the crowded streets of Taipei. You are surrounded by the ocean and it's also pretty mountainous. While we were down there we went to the beach, the aquarium, did some shopping, and pretty much just relaxed. It was so nice to go down south because it was warm! Even though it was the end of December I was able to wear shorts. :)

The beautiful scenery taken from outside our resort.

Downtown Kenting.

The resort we stayed at.

An example of Chinese architecture.

Me posing for a picture.

Frog Rock...does this look like a frog to anyone?

Hiking around frog rock.

Before: "I just want to touch the water."

After: I spoke to soon.

Me inside the aquarium. I was able to get a discount because I am foreigner. Davis was able to get a discount too, but he had to show proof that he was an American because they didn't believe him.

I really like this picture because I was able to capture the reflection of my camera. It just looks artsy to me. A

The World's Tallest Building

Taipei 101 is currently the world's tallest building. It is 1,671 feet tall. Construction was started in 1999 and was completed in 2004. This building has 101 floors above ground (hence the name) and inside it houses the Taiwan Stock Exchange, restaurants, shops, and an observatory. In order to reach the observatory on the 89th floor, you can take the world's fastest elevator. It travels at 39 mph and will reach the 89th floor in less than 39 seconds. This building is also designed to withstand earthquakes over 7 on the Richter Scale. When Davis and I went to see it, the observatory wasn't opened to the public yet. :( It opened a week after I left Taiwan. So instead we went to another observatory downtown which was on top of a department store. So I was still able to get a good view of the city.

Taipei 101 from a distance.

A side angle shot.

A close up view.

A view of downtown Taipei from an observatory atop a department store.

You can see Taipei 101 in the distance.

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial

Chiang Kai-Shek (CKS) Memorial was built in memory of Taiwan's first President. Chiang Kai-Shek escaped China to setup Taiwan's first democratic government. The memorial itself is huge! Inside there is a statue of Chiang Kai-Shek that is heavily guarded. The guards remain motionless and then there is the changing of the guards every hour. It reminded me of the guards in London. Outside the memorial there is a large garden and pond. Apparently, when Davis was younger he liked to go to the pond to feed the fish and even fell in once. :) I had a funny story too when I tried to feed the fish there. So we bought fish food and as I was nearing the end of the container, I decided that I was just going to whip the rest of the food into the pond. Well, as I was bringing my arm back to throw it, all the food came out and spilled all over the bridge. The funny part was that all these little kids see all this food on the ground and they just start picking it up all around me so they could feed the fish. They weren't going to pass up free fish food!

The entrance gate to the memorial.

The CKS Memorial from afar.