Friday, August 26, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Day 11 - Visit to Host Family Pao Hsi Hsu - Lunch - Ghost festival - Host families Get together !!! Awesome Day !
Today is another beautiful day exposing the hospitality, culture and traditions of Taiwanese people.
The day started as routine with Mr. Chaing coming to the flat and picking us up at the flat. He dropped us at Mrs. Pao Hsi Hsu's home. We had brief discussions, and later the hosts showed us the various music instruments they play. They have flutes, Cinayi, traditional chinese violin and other musical items. We tried with all the musical instruments and enjoyed them when the hosts actually played them. The host family was very much into music, all of them were perfect with one or the other instrument.
After trying with all of the music intruments, we went out to a restaurant for lunch, the place was so nice and had lot of fun and good discussions. We discussed about India, Major Car companies, Health benefits for senior citizens, some Malaysian salt rocks etc . The funny part during our lunch is that one of my friend - a Say Taiwan guest, who was supposed to come to Bidu station, near keelung, had over slept and woke up some 40 mins later, after reaching Taipei, we were busy trying to help me reach us on time.
After the lunch, we went straight to the community center of Mrs. Pao Hsi Hsu, the community members were organising the ghost festival. We all participated in it and observed how it proceeds. Most of the community people acknowledged our presence by brief interactions and eye contacts. I felt so welcome at the place. After the ghost festival we went back to Pao's residence where we played with some clay while we waited for Mr. Tsai to pick us up.
Mr. Tsai, offered us the dinner, supposed to be our last one while in Keelung. His wife Mrs. Tsai,tried to cook food tasting similar to us. She made dishes of south asian style and wester style. We all had enjoyed the dinner. While the dinner was coming close to end, we realised that one by one all the hosts were arriving to Mr. Tsai's residence, to give us a farewell party. In some 15 mins or so, most of the hosts and all the guests of Keelung have gathered for the final farewell party. There were cakes for us, and later there were photos session, which was the final but most funny part of the day !
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Day 10 - Family Gathering - Live Performance - Community Meeting Mayor - Fun games with Host Family
After a three day off from the host families, today again we joined the schedule of Keelung Host families !
Mr. Chang took us to one of our host family Mr. Tsai. Mr.Tsai. took us to a restuatrant and I saw all his family mem
bers and other relatives are waiting. Today also his mother's birthday, it was a good occasion for the family gathering. We had lunch and spent good time here discussing and interacting with most of the family members.
After the lunch we went to a cultural program organised at Keelung Cultural Centre. The performers at the cultural center performed great live music from drums and other traditional instruments. I loved it so much. The performers are from taiwan and also from Thailand and Japan.
After the wonderful live performence we went straight to a community meeting. I was surprised to see so many people in cultural dresses and attending the meeting. My host's community came dressed in blue color eagle attire. The whole event place was colorful. We also noticed Mayor of keelung attending this program. After some discussions, our host introduced us to a organizer of the event who took us on to the stage and made us introduce ourselves to the people there. After our introduction messages and some speech, we left the place.
At the end of the day we went to Mr. Tsai's residence and had brief interactions with his family . After a while we all played a game Majsah. It was fun to see that when we played for two times, the hosts intentionally lost the game to make us win :D After such fun we all had dinner and Mr. Chund arrived to take us home. On the route, we also visited his place and took some pictures with his family members.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Day 9 - Wu Fen Pu - Teipei Nova Market
Today we started our day late. We took rest until afternoon and had some mails to check. After all that work, we left to Wu Fen Pu market.
This is the first time during our stay in Taiwan that we are travelling on our own. We, Rahbar Ansari and Myself, took taxi upto Keelung train Station and enquired regarding the location of the Wu Fen Pu market and then took the train upto Songshan Train Station. The Wu fen Pu market is quite visible from the metro station itself. We walked around the market for almost 4 hours. We did a very little shopping.
After the shopping we went Taipei and did some window shopping near the Main train station. We also visited Neon, the computer market also with other latest gadgets. This is actually second time we are visiting it. Just yesterday we visited it along with Tim.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Day 7 - Pavilion of Dreams - Taipei 101 - Giant Wheel
Today we went to Taipei city with Mrs. Demicy and her family. The visit is my first time to Taipei. I am so happy that I visited a world popular city in Taiwan and also visit few important landmarks of Taiwan, Its development and its history !
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Day 6 - Fort - Temple - Fishing
We went to a beautiful fort on Dawulun Mountain constructed by cino - french army in 1900 - 02 AD, for protecting Keelung from invaders from East Coast. The fort is further developed and extensively used by the Japanese Soldiers. located in a big hill and is usually not visible. Unless some one knows where exactly it is, its tough to locate it. From one end of the fort there is a way down using steps. This ways leads directly to a secret lake and beautiful landscape called lovers park, as more lovers / couples are seen around this place.
After the fort we went to a community leader's home for lunch. Had good food there and after relaxing for a while we went to see the landscapes and few veiw points. En-route, we also visited a Gold mine, used several years ago. The chinmey of the gold mine, 2 kms long, is an attraction for the mine. In ancient days when they needed to construct a chimney, they decided they extend it so long so that the smoke does not pollute the lake. After finishing the trip we went straight for dinner.
After the dinner we went to the beach and did some fishing. The fishermen has already made fixed the fishing tent and in the evening when we went there, they were ready to bring the net to the sea shore. We all also joined them in pulling the net from sea into the sea shore. It was a long fishing net and has taken quite a long of time to come out, meaning we had been pulling for a long time. By the end we made it ! And it was a great experience.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Day 5 - Keelung Municipal Council - Museum - Keelung County Country Side Restaurant - River - Fire Flies
Today we started the day with visit to Keelung Municipal Council, to meet the city counselor, however when we reached the place, we were told that he was busy and we could sit in the gallery and watch proceedings of the house. This includes elected Council members and the government staff discussing issues each of them and try to solve them. After watching the proceedings for some 15 more minutes, we left the place.
Museum - This museum stages all the information about Ghost Festival through the fascinating pictures, videos and scenes explaining the processes of the same.
Restaurant - After a drive for 30 minutes through the cool landscapes and scenic places we reached the restaurant. Our hosts Ting reserved this place to show us some special food cooked very deliciously here. The lunch started with regular food and as we came to the end we realized the restaurant serves dishes made from crocodile, turtles, ants and cricket. My friends have tried them all and while I enjoyed posing for pics imitating as if I am having them ;) We also had a journalist who joined us for lunch to the restaurant and took our interview for impressions on food and Keelung. From the restaurant we went straight to a river bank most suitable for swimming and had fun for around two hours or so.
We reached firefly restaurant by evening for dinner, yet another nice place for food. we all had food and started back to our apartment. On the way we had a surprise organised by our host Ting. She arranged fireworks for us and we all enjoyed it. The following is a pic of our "innovative" fun :)
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Day 4 - Fort - Cemetary - Temple - Ceremony
Today has been a good leisure day kind with good exposure to Taiwanese history, food, lifestyle and religion. The day started by our visit to the Ciou Ling fort, very close to the keelund harbour on a hill. Historically this fort was always busy / in focus, due to the vulnerability the Keelung County carries. Keelung County was a prime attraction for many colonials, being close to main land china, japan and also for the coal, gold and other precious minerals it stores. The fort area is still maintained well and the environment around it simply awesome !
From the fort we went for a visit to the Cemetry. Initially it was little awful to acknowledge that we will be going to a cementary / burial ground , but later I realized even the cementary is a place which show cases a strong sense of culture and traditions of the local community. There were different types of them and each of them has a story and reason. One interesting is the body buried will be kept as it is for six years and later all the bones of the body would be organized in a sitting posture. implying .,.,., . However this custom will not be followed in cases of chinese immigrants and as they always wanted to go back to china.
After visit to these the places, we went to a restaurant ____________ near Keelung city center for lunch. This was a very cool place and famous for its delicious mock non vegetarian.
Post lunch, we all went to a __________ temple. This place has a white budha and also mercy budha. This mercy budha is well known as protector for the Keelung fishermen community. This place showcased several interesting thing. The most impressing part for me is the young mothers who came along with a 1-2 years old and started teaching them how to fish. Being a fisher community its very important for them how to know fishing, and this practice continues even for today.
The concluding event of the day was a prayer ceremony, where several spiritual leaders came in and recited few prayers in the memory of the ghosts. The significance of this ceremony is that the family groups bring their offerings of good and tasty food / sacrifices to the temple ceremony place. And now they pray that their family's ghosts must come and taste this food which is supposed to be their favorite when they were alive. According to their beliefs, its not possible for the ghosts to eat food that is present in mortal world, so during this day of ghost festival, the ghosts have powers that helps them manage things in the mortal world as well. So the community ensures they make good offers to the ghosts.
There are two special / most interesting things in this ceremony. One a huge sized pig, fed from its birth and taken all care including costly food, accommodation and other facilities and sacrificed today to the ghosts. Two, different kinds of food made in shapes of insects and animals made from rice cakes. Three, the throwing of fruits by the religious chief and every one else should catch them !
Day 3 - Parade - Water Lattern Ceremony
Today we went to our host Mr. Chung's office and waited for our another host family. She introduced herself as Ms. Ting Lee and her father and a friend of her Mr. Chris. I was glad to know they would take us around Keelung and give us company over the next few days.
At first we went to the Night market place, which myself and rebahar already visited the previous day, and had some ice cream and fruit juices. From here we visited the temple and continued walking around the place until we found a local shop with all the temple stuff. After some window shopping, we went to a near by restaurant. This one is located quite close to the keelung cultural center.
After the lunch we all went to see the parade of ghost festival. It is one of the most memorable experiences I ever had. The parade was so organised and each group participated with some special activity or performances. Starting at 6:30 in evening the event went on until 10:30 night. Later all the exhibits of the parade went to the sea shore close by to burn of them all. It is believed that the longer it goes, the better are the invitations to the ghosts !
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Day 2 - Dou Lamps Parade - Temple - Dinner !
After good sleep, today we went to Mr. Chaung's office, Keelung Culture Centre, from there one of his colleague, Mr. Ni Shen who is placed here for the 1 year mandatory military training, took us around the keelung city centre, starting with a museum. We visited the famous Night Market place, and also a temple very close to the market.
The temple experience was great with many interesting religious practices. One among them is the fortune telling sticks. In the temple in a long bowl there are several bamboo sticks, little more longer than the bowl, you have to pray and then randomly pick one of the stick, on the same place they are two big sized dry beans available, with one side painted and other side blank, you have to throw them as dice and see if both the bean show the same, if its same, then god intended that you read whats there on that bamboo. So once you get it confirmed, you have to see the number written on the bamboo and then refer to a big sized book to see what it means. For me it said, I am having good time and soon will achieve what I am dreaming of, while my friend had some message on faith meaning them, to keep faith in elders !
After this brief walk around, we had lunch along with our host Chung in a vegetarian hotel. Post lunch session was very interesting with the Dou Lamps Parade. Each family (last name) participate in the parade as a large group with a Lamp representing all the members of their family and giving an invite to their ghosts to come and enjoy the month long Ghost Festival. The lamps are carried all around the city, passing through temples and finally reach the changhwa temple. This temple is a three hundred year old famous one for the goddess who takes care of the fishermen community. Anciently keelung being a habitation of fisher men, this temple grew famous and powerful.
After the parade, we relaxed for some time at Mr. Chang's office room and then left to the dinner at Lonqui garden restaurant (meaning long dragon restaurant). Here the I was surprised to see two other Say Taiwan participants Stephanie and Richards. Actually i thought we will have to gop airport and pick up them. After the HEAVY and SUPER GOOD dinner party we came back to our host place.
Wonderful , Exciting and Awesome Day 1 !
I arrived at Taoayun International Airport at 2:30 and the moment I came out I could see Alice - Say Taiwan office coordinator, also with her I saw my host Mr.Shen. After picking up the important welcome stuff from alice. I left to the neighborhood of Mr.Shen.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
At Airport - Hyderabad - Taiwan here I come !!
After a long wait, its time now to catch my flight to Taiwan! I am now more curious and eagerly looking forward to my trip!
As mentioned in few previous posts, I have been allotted to my hosts at Keelung county. For few participants like me, the hosts haven’t contacted us, while for others the hosts have contacted the participants. Although it is not must that they should do it, but it makes things simple for participants to plan well for the stay. Like in my case I would have bought some gifts and souvenirs if I had known them better, however now it’s all different. Added to this, it is little sad that the whole day today all the shops and markets were closed due to the strike called by some political parties demanding for a division of the state.
Besides the gift thing, I am very curious and looking forward to meet my hosts and see what they have planned for us ! I am sure some most memorable moments are waiting for us in keelung in particular and Taiwan in general !
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Packing Luggage & Getting Ready !
Tomorrow is my date of departure to Taiwan. So Yesterday itself I took leave from my work place and entire today is allotted for packing my luggage and buying some gifts for my Host Families and friends !
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