Taiwan Day 4: Ma Do

We awoke on Wednesday morning in our room at Julie's aunt & uncle's house. The room was fairly large, with pink tiled floor. It was obviously a girl's room. It also had a private bathroom, which was very nice. Like most bathrooms in Taiwan, there was no bathtub. It just had a showerhead, a drain, and a sloped floor. The bedroom also had a nice balcony. I don't think the view of from the room was particularly special, but the rich greenery transformed it into a fabulous sight.


The house

The view from the balcony

Another view from the balcony

Breakfast was delicious: Pork and vegetable bao (doughy dumplings), Sake crackers, persimmon, Asian pears, and grapes. We ate quickly in order to get to the Ma Do (Madou) Dai Tien Temple early. The temple worships five gods and is also called the Wu Wang Temple (Five Gods' Temple). It was built in 1955 on the cite of a temple from the 18th century which was moved following an earthquake. The temple is magnificent. Several things set it apart from most other temples. There is a large dome-shaped building in the front of the temple housing a gigantic Buddha statue. To the sides of the statue are large pillars holding gold-colored stands. The stands can be purchased for a small fee. People buy them to ask the gods to grant them wishes - to do well on an exam, for example. We walked through the temple and saw worshippers with incense and, interestingly, rolling dice.












Scott and me on the temple grounds

Worshippers in the main temple

The large Buddha in the dome - notice the pillars

The pillars contain stands which people can purchase

By far the most impressive and unique part of the Ma Do Temple is its rendition of Heaven and Hell. The rear of the temple has a huge dragon statue, the largest in Asia. Visitors walk through the dragon and visit Heaven and Hell. Scott described the scene as It's a Small World gone bad. Inside Heaven and Hell are animatronic figures depicting the respective wonders and horrors. Hell is full of grizzly punishments. There are eighteen levels of Hell. Everyone who enters Hell begins at the Court where they are tried, convicted, and sentence for their sins. Each level describes and, with animatronic figures, shows the various sentences. Bullies and lazy people are run over by steam rollers. Adulterers will be burned alive. Those convicted of corruption will be slowly eaten by dogs and snakes. The grizzly punishments continue as you progress through the eighteen levels. A disrespectful daughter-in-law merits the fourteenth level of Hell. At the end of Hell, the residents have the opportunity to be re-incarnated as start over - probably as a slug or rat. Hell was both disturbing and fascinating. Julie said that it used to be much darker and something jumped out at you at level eighteen.


The Heaven/Hell Dragon

The entrance to Hell

The entrance to Hell for the deceased

Punishment for extortion: Beheading by a tiger guillotine
The steamrollers await while the luckless soul is sentenced

After traveling through Hell, Heaven is far less interesting. It depicts the relaxing and luxurious life for those who lived well. You can have tea with fairies, play chess with the Gods, talk with the Gods, etc. These scenes are also shown by animatronic figures. Heaven also tells the story of Niu Lang, a shepherd, and Zi Nu, a daughter of a Goddess of Heaven. Zi Nu, her mother, and six aunts traveled down to earth for a visit. While they were bathing in a river, Niu Lang stole their clothes. When Zi Nu came to retrieve their clothes, Niu Lang saw her naked; because of this, they had to be married. Zi Nu apparently found Niu Lang's sense of humor charming; the story says that they both fell deeply in love. Despite their love and their marriage, the Goddesses called Zi Nu back to Heaven. In sympathy of their love, the Goddesses allowed Zi Nu to return to visit Niu Lang on the 7th day of the 7th month of the Lunar Calendar (a.k.a. Chinese Valentine's Day). The peak of Heaven is the top of the dragon. We walked outside and had a wonderful view of the Temple and of Ma Do. We left Heaven by walking down stairs through the dragon's mouth.


One of Heaven's rewards: playing chess with the gods
Another reward: Dancing with the fairies

Zi Nu and Nui Lang

Scott and I at the top of Heaven

[Pictures of Heaven and Hell at the Madou Da Tien Temple credited to http://www.filination.com/blog/]

On our way back to Julie's house, we stopped by a park showing how Ma Do used to be a great harbor. During the Qing dynasty, prophets foretold that a great ruler would come from Ma Do, because of the feng shui of its river. The river resembled a dragon's throat. The Qing emperors were not thrilled with the idea of Ma Do residents potentially usurping their throne. To prevent the prophecy's fulfillment, the rulers placed large stone in the river to disturb its feng shui. The Qing dynasty was lucky - no Ma Do leaders arose during their reign. However, the previous president of Taiwan, who is currently on trial for corruption, came from Ma Do.

It was nearly time for the family feast when we returned to Julie's house. The food was set up on an old ping pong table. There was a huge variety of dishes. As with all of our meals in Taiwan, the food was wonderful The dishes included: chicken sausage balls (good, tasted sweet); fried shrimp balls; fried potato cakes (very good); creamy pumpkin soup; chicken and rice in individual boxes; black cod and snow fish (fabulous); dough filled with chicken and beef; stewed pork with bamboo; cauliflower and carrots; shrimp and eggs with Taiwanese potatoes; small crayfish (surprisingly tasty); abalone, fresh tomatoes, and canned pineapple (I liked the abalone); mullet roe; chinese sausage; chicken with thai basil (excellent); fried noodles with vegetables (really good); mushroom soup (I did not partake); wax apples, grapes, Asian pears, and oranges. Dessert was mango milk pudding.


Setting up for lunch















My Plate (the first helping)

After lunch, the family split in two. Half went inside and continued the annual karaoke tournament. The other half went to the garage to begin the annual ping pong tournament. Julie's family takes ping pong seriously and some family members are quite good. We played a few games very poorly.


Scott and me play ping pong on the "practice" table

Julie and me playing ping pong against Julie's cousins

Scott and Julie playing ping pong against Julie's cousins

Julie, Scott, and I took a walk around her neighborhood. She showed us her grandfather's childhood home. The house looks like it was built a hundred years ago. It was in the traditional U-shaped Taiwanese style, centered around a large courtyard. Currently, it is separated into several apartments. It looked a bit run-down. A few rooms had not been modernized. We saw the old beds the family slept on (hard as rock) and the old stove/oven.

Later in the afternoon, we walked over to visit another relative of Julie - her great-uncle's son. Her great-uncle's son is now retired, but owned several factories in Taiwan that were apparently very successful. He had a beautiful, and large, home. We were surprised to see a giant log cabin in Taiwan. The inside was gorgeous and modern. The hardwood floors were imported from Canada. I would have loved to see the kitchen. We sat in the living room visiting for awhile. The hosts served us pineapple cake, puff pastry cookies, apples, and orange juice - as if we weren't full enough. At the end of our visit, we walked around the front yard. The family had just built a stream and fish pond with a bridge over it leading to a covered gazebo. It was lovely.


A gorgeous house (see the gate at the side of the photo)

The pond

The gazebo and the pond

Many trees in Taiwan have roots above ground

Julie's extended family in front of the big cabin

When we returned to Julie's house, it was time for dinner. I certainly was not hungry after our giant feast, but since we would be traveling the rest of the night, we ate anyway. We had leftovers from lunch. To supplement the meal (which was already plenty of food), Julie's mother made a fabulous fried rice and fried eggs. We had jujubes and other fruit for dessert.


Fried eggs and chicken sausage balls; Chinese sausage and crayfish in the rear

Yummy fried rice; potatoes & cabbage; fried noodles

Chicken with spinach; Pork with bamboo

Leftover cream of pumpkin soup

The inside of a jujube. I have the same Correl plates.

We left Julie's house around 8 PM for the drive up to Taipei. This drive normally takes about 3 hours. We assumed that we would avoid the mass numbers of Taipei residents returning home by leaving Wednesday night. Apparently, every other Taipei resident had the same idea. The drive ended up taking 7 hours! It was wall-to-wall traffic the entire way. John was getting sleepy around midnight, so we pulled into a rest area and slept for about an hour. It was 3 AM when we finally reached John and Julie's apartment. We stumbled inside and quickly fell asleep.

Taiwan: Day 5

Our first day in Taipei began a bit late since none of us got to bed until after 3 AM. John went out and picked up breakfast at a nearby food stand. We had steamed vegetable and pork buns, fried pork potstickers, fried bread dough that we dipped into soy milk, and fruit. To drink, he bought soy milk and fried rice milk (which was an odd brown color). Scott liked both of them; I thought they merely tasted all right (but I don't like cow's milk either).


Fried Dumplings, Stuffed Buns, Fried Dough

Soy Milk and Fried Rice Milk

Vegetable and Pork Buns

After breakfast, we headed to Yangmingshan. This is a national park of mountains/hills and trials on the northeast edge of Taipei. It is very close to the Chinese Culture University where John and Julie work and live. Chiang Kai-Shek named the area after his favorite philosopher, Wang Yang-Ming. The park occupies about 44 square miles. The highest peak in the area is not very high at all, only about 3,675 feet - Yangmingshan looks like a gorgeous collection of large hills. The park is known for its hot springs, hiking trails, and venomous snakes.






We spent several hours walking on trails through the park. The cherry blossoms had started blooming, although it will be much prettier in a month or two. The park was also filled with azalea plants. I easily could have stayed much longer at the park. We only saw a very small portion of it. At certain points in the park, vendors set up stands with various snack items. Scott and I split a roasted purple yam - very tasty and very hot. I took pictures of some of the other offerings - fried, shredded yam pancakes, boiled sausages and fish balls, tea-soaked eggs, and corn on the cob.


Purple Yam

Fried, Shredded Yam Pancakes




We drove over to a nearby calla lily farm in Yangmingshan for lunch. We ate outside on a terrace overlooking fields of calla lilies. John and Julie helped us pick another fabulous lunch: wild boar w/mountain vegetables (tasty but a bit fatty), mountain fern vegetables (very good), fried pineapple shrimp (very sweet, like American Chinese food), fried tofu w/dipping sauce (hard to mess this up), yam soup (delicious - gingery and sweet).


Wild Boar with Mountain Vegetables

Mountain Fern Vegetable

The Fern We Ate Growing in the Garden

Pineapple Shrimp

Fried Tofu

Yam Soup





One of many Calla Lilies

Julie, John, Scott, and Me at the Calla Lily Farm

After lunch, we walked along the road by the farm which was filled with vendors hawking snacks, flowers, etc. We bought a box of strawberry mochi. Mochi is a tradition Japanese snack of glutinous rice flour made into a dough and often filled with bean pastes. Our mochi was filled with a fresh strawberry wrapped around red bean paste. Delicious. The vendor was also selling cups of fresh strawberries topped with sweetened condensed milk.


Strawberry-Filled Mochi

Vendor Cutting Up Strawberries

Vendor Making Strawberry-Filled Mochi

Leaving Yangmingshan, we drove to the Grand Hotel to take a few pictures of the exterior and lobby. Built in 1973, the Grand Hotel is on a hill overlooking Taipei City. It has the world's largest classical Chinese roof. The view from the hill was gorgeous, as was the hotel itself. The lobby was decorated for Chinese New Years, with many lanterns and glowing cows. Scott had wanted to stay here for a night at one point, but he was surprised to discover that it got a lot of poor reviews on Trip Advisor.


The Grand Hotel

Cow in the Grand Hotel Lobby

Next we drove into downtown Taipei to the Jade Market. Taipei has a well-known weekend jade market, but we went to a daily one located in a covered warehouse on a street corner. It was filled with probably a hundred individual vendors each wanting to sell you their jade items. Unfortunately, the market closed at 6 and we got there at 5:30, so our time was limited. I had a vision of what I wanted to buy, so quickly skimmed the tables to find it. Right around 6, I found a piece of jade that fit the necklace I envisioned. John and Julie spent about 10 minutes haggling with the seller. In Taiwan, shoppers bargain for everything. John is especially talented at it. He managed to get the price significantly reduced. We were very fortunate to have them with us. I'm sure we would have been massively ripped off if we had traveled without native speakers.

Our next destination was the Shilin Night Market. Taipei is known for its night markets. These are large shopping areas with cheap goods (both in price and quality), carnival games, and lots of snack foods. They typically open around 4pm, are most crowded between 8pm-11pm and close around 1am or 2am. Shilin is the largest and most famous market in Taipei City. It is located in several large buildings that resemble what you'd see at a fair. The surrounding stores stay open throughout the night and are essentially part of the night market as well. The market was unbelievable crowded. It is always busy, but many people had obviously taken advantage of the holiday week to visit the night market. It was too crowded to really look at anything in the buildings. The four of us had to hold onto one another as we wormed our way through the crowds. It was a solid wall of people. We found a table at one of the food stalls and decided to sit down for dinner. We had warm fried noodles with ham and cold noodles. We also had a dish with rice noodles. The Shilin Night Market is known for its cuttlefish stew and oyster omelet. We didn't try either. I was curious about the cuttlefish stew, but it didn't look fabulous. I'd tried the oyster omelet in Tainan and didn't like the ketchup-based sauce. With dinner, Scott had a mango-milk bubble tea and I had mango juice. For dessert, we had fried yam balls. Very tasty. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures at the Night Market. It was just too crazy.

After dinner, we escaped from the crowded building and walked through the adjacent shopping streets. In the middle of the streets, obstructing the walkways, were vendors selling clothing, food, and trinkets all set up on wheeled racks. Julie told me that these vendors did not have licenses and would have to leave quickly if the police came. Sure enough, ten minutes later dozens of people wheeled long clothing racks and food stands into an alley to avoid the inspectors. It was a funny sight.

We left Shilin and drove to Miramar, a shopping mall in a recently re-developed area of Taipei filled with hi-tech companies. The shopping mall is home to the Miramar Ferris Wheel, one of the largest ferris wheels in Taiwan. It reminded me of the London Eye. Scott and I took a ride on the wheel. It took about 10 minutes to go around. It was fun...we could see lots of city lights, but since it was dark it was hard to distinguish anything. After finishing the ferris wheel, we headed back to John and Julie's apartment. We stopped at a convenience store to buy some frozen buns for breakfast. Nearby was a McDonalds. I went into the restaurant to see if it had any unique features. It was essentially the same as any other McDonalds. Scott said that the McDonalds in Japan used to have a teriyaki burger that was good, but they apparently don't make those anymore. It's always fun to see McDonalds around the world.