My nephew, Keith Wilson and his wife Wendy, live and work in
Taiwan so it has been high on the list to visit since we arrived in
Guangzhou. It was our misfortune and bad
timing that after five very successful years in Taiwan, Keith and Wendy decided
to return to Utah at the end of 2013. Keith will make quarterly trips to Asia
so when he told me he was returning to Taipei on March 15-April 9 we started
scrambling things around to make a trip to Taiwan while they were there. Our teaching schedule accommodates a long
weekend trip if we can get a flight out late Thursday afternoon after our
classes. We were able to get a flight on
March 20-23 to spend a long weekend with Keith and Wendy.
It was still a little early in the season to enjoy beautiful
spring weather and the benefit of blue skies.
Friday was in the 60s but clear.
We managed to take in The Long Shan Temple, Wendy gave us a very in
depth explanation about Daoism, Taoism and how they fit under the Buddhism
umbrella. Suddenly many things we had
seen and experienced in our travels to Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia
and Laos began to fit together and make better sense. The number sticks, the
fortune boxes, the beans thrown on the ground, Wendy explained the details to
us. As we were entering the temple an
elderly woman appeared to drop her beans on the floor, Craig bent over to pick
up the beans for her and caused quite a stir.
She had actually thrown the beans on the ground and the answer from God
was in the way they landed. Of course, Craig had interfered with that answer and the ritual she was performing simply
by trying to be helpful. That was our
first stop early in the morning, however the incense was heavy and it was very
crowded as the devout were making their stops before they went to work for the
day.
Next stop was a short subway and cab ride to the National
Palace Museum. The National Palace Museum was originally founded in 1925 in the
Forbidden City in Beijing, which explains why the word “Palace” is used in the
name. In 1931, to avoid the ravages of
the impending Japanese invasion, the collection was crated and moved from the
imperial palace in Beijing to southwest China. In 1949, the civil war raging between the Nationalist
government and the Communists, the Republic of China shipped about 600,000 of
the most precious objects in the collection to Taiwan. We spent a few hours admiring four floors of
those objects.
Next stop was Taipei 101, formerly the tallest building in the world until Dubai opened its new target. It does still house the fastest elevator in the world that ascends 1,010 meters per minute. The world's biggest passive wind damper with a diameter of 5.5 meters and weighing 660 metric tons. The damper was made of 660 layers of 12.5 cm thick solid steel place at cost of more than $132 million The observatory is located on the 89th floor with stair access to the 90th floor and the outside deck. The building houses a very upscale shopping mall on the first six floors then office space takes the remaining floors. Very impressive views from all angles of the observatory.
Chaing Kai Shek is highly regarded in Taiwan, not so much in
China. Chaing retreated to Taiwan after
the war in 1949 when neither the CCP or KMT trusted anyone. The Memorial is
huge, on one end a statue that is very similar to the Lincoln Memorial is
erected with Chaing Kai Shek looking very Lincolnesk!
To round out the day we met Wendy and Keith at the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Taipei Temple for a session. It is always interesting to attend an
international temple, and lucky for us the English session was on Friday
night. We met several very interesting
mission couples that night. What a great
way to finish off the day.
Saturday was a trek on the bullet train to the interior of the
island and a city called Puli. A taxi ride to the Chung Tai Chan Monastery
with a personal tour by a nun living there took us to the 16th floor
white sanctuary. They offer seven day or
30 day retreats for meditation and self-actualization to those seeking enlightenment.
Tempting offer but just don’t have that
kind of time. We had lunch in the cafeteria where only vegetarian food was
served, of course.
Sun Moon Lake was fog covered and difficult to see anything
so we returned to the bullet
train for dinner and street shopping.
Dinner - too late for us it was closed!
Keith and Wendy were host and hostess extraordinaire. We had
a whirlwind tour of all the highlights in two short days. We attended part of Stake Conference with Keith and Wendy Sunday morning, then off to the airport and back to China. They took great care of us, which only makes
us want to return to see the rest of the story.
No comments:
Post a Comment