If time was no factor, I would stay in Taiwan for probably a year.
In one of my earlier blog post, I shared the experiences the first time I traveled to Taiwan.
There is so much to see and to do, the locals are incredible and for travelers who want to avoid crowded places – it hasn’t been hit too hard with tourism yet. Taiwan has become my second home. I try to calm down my excitement right now to write about my life of more than 3 months in Taiwan at the beginning of 2017.
I divided my time in Taiwan into three chapters.
1. Joy and family. My first month in Taiwan I spent in Taichung with one of the loveliest families on Earth. Moreover, I met an amazing co-worker who I admire in literally every way.
2. Learn and try. Location: In the beginning it was a bit difficult for me to adapt to the more or less chaotic place in Dulan.
But it taught me good life lessons and pushed more my self-confidence.
3. 100 % inner peace. My last stop was Taipei in March 2017. I enjoyed every second of my life. I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t a dream I was living.
Everything in between was pure joy and being grateful for such a frigging good life.
The year started with a rooftop, Solis, Judy, the horny dog of Judy and me. Some deep talks, some music and an unforgettable view of the fireworks in Taipei. Yes, Taipei you totally rock!
I went to a temple on the next day with Sunny and there is one common custom they do in Taiwan; It is such an interesting part of Taiwanese cultural custom of divination.
I threw on the floor pairs of wooden pieces (they have a crescent shape) called moon blocks to answer a yes or no question. Each moon block is round on one side (the yin side) and flat on the other side (the yang side). Wait, wait it was only the first part of the custom, the second part are the fortune sticks – both are used together when requesting an answer from the deities.
I started to say my name, date of birth, residence and question while holding the two blocks in my hands.
After asking the question to the gods, I dropped the moon blocks to the floor and as soon as they land in a specific position, you can pick up one fortune stick out of the hundreds of sticks.
I thought are we finished yet? Of course not, AND THEN you have to drop the moonblocks again and ask the gods if that is the right fortune stick.
You get a divine ‘yes’ answer from the gods if one block is flat and another block round.
A crying ‘no’ answer means both blocks dropped down the round side.
Both blocks flat means either it can be an emphasized ‘no’ answer or that they are laughing at you because you should know the answer.
So if you get a ‘Yes’, you can pick up the divination paper with the number of your fortune stick. THIS is finally the answer of your question.
I hope I don’t write any stupid information, but that’s what they told me.
Sometimes people stand there for more than one hour just to receive the answer from the gods. I stifled a giggle at the beginning when I entered the temple and saw this event.
I got the answer within 15 minutes, if not I might rather have given up.
The year was supposed to be superior. And then my boyfriend and me broke up after nearly 5 years of relationship. How. Great.
But the year hasn’t ended yet, so better things will come.
Almost nothing can bring me down and I am super positive! 🙂
The charm of Taipei reminds me somehow of Japan.
I have no idea how to describe this impression of mine.
After New Year I visited Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial House before I had to leave to Puli Township.
Sun is known as the “Father of the Nation” in China and famous for his development of a political, philosophical program known as the
“Three Principles of the People” which includes nationalism, democracy and socialism.
And of course I had to meet my friends in Taipei again and like always we would go out for food. At the end it’s all about food. Believe me. 😀
The friend of Cherry was so excited to meet me that I felt honoured but on the other side I am not special, just like everyone else in this world.
But thank you for making me blushing like a tomato all the evening.
My close friend Gloria uploaded a lot of videos about Taiwan on her youtube channel. You can check out her channel and watching videos from Shilin Night Market or her talk about the Workaway experience in the hostel we volunteered together.