2024 Bali to Tokyo March 26th

Wow! What a day. I think I love Thaipai. I had such a wonderful day that I am going to have a hard time keeping this post to a reasonable length. 

To start off, our tour director was wonderful, had a good sense of humor and did a great job interjecting some interesting trivia into our visit. I really felt like I came away with a good sense of the people and their traditions. 

One of the stops was a temple. Now many of you are well aware that I don't go out of my way to visit temples while visiting other countries. I think the architecture is interesting and the artwork is often so beautiful but I neither want to support other religions nor offend our one true God. I am so glad that I visited this one though as I received some interesting insight and met a very wonderful couple. I'll tell you about them both!

Our tour guide, Eva, walked us through the beliefs of many of the Taiwan people regarding religion. Many believe that there is a god for each and every different situation. If you want to get pregnant, you pray to the fertility god. If you are taking a test in school, you pray to the scholar god, if you are in bad health, you pray to the god of health, etc., etc.. I got to thinking... why would we want to separate ourselves from the one true God. How must God feel? I imagine that he is frustrated with having his creation, his children, continually turn away from Him to praise and worship that which was created by the mind to fulfill a need to be connected to something other than self when he is right there! It is like a teenager, understanding that their parents truly do love them and contain wisdom behind their understanding but constantly wanting to rebel so as to not have to admit that they are in need of them. They would rather turn to their ignorant and often unwise friends for direction and advise, often leading to certain disaster. 

Here is a quote from a book I'm reading...

"Man creates god, according to his needs and desires." 

Why do we do this? Why not seek God with all our heart and ask Him what He desires? Are we like the teenagers that constant and defiantly rebel against the Father that they know to be wise and loving? 

In this temple, they often drop these wooden pieces on the ground (like dice) to get answers to prayers. Depending on how they fall, they receive their answers. Curved side up, yes, flat side up no, etc. it feels much like a magic eight ball that we had as children.

 They also draw sticks from sand and the number on the bottom correspond to the red confuscious advice cards on the wall here...

They also burned pictures of items that they desired as they believed that by burning them, the messages would be brought up to their gods by the ashes as they were devoured by the flames.

On a lighter note, we found a Starbucks! I am happy to report they had matcha!!! No sweetener used in there matcha here in Taiwan. As it should be😺. 

One of my favorite parts of the day was meeting MJ Yeh and Yeng Fong. They approached me at the temple and we ended up talking for over 20 minutes. MJ was a retired mechanical engineer that had worked at that specific temple years ago. We had such a great time, I ended up missing the rest of that part of the tour and just hung out with them. What a beautiful couple!!!

A few confusious saying for children that cross so many cultures in slightly different variations. Good advice for anyone in any language! The sayings are inscribed below the cute little monkeys...zoom in!

Next was one of the market districts. There were so many booths of teas, Herbs and dried fruits. Then we entered the food area where they were cooking up soups, fried chicken, and vegetables that looked and smelled so good. Every once in a while though, you would get overwhelmed with an odor that smelled very wrong but people were all around me, smiling and enjoying their food as if it was the best ever? The flavors and preferences of different countries continually remind me that we really do condition ourselves for that which we choose to eat.

Here is a picture of the 101 tower. It has 101 floors. There is one for missing though. Floor 444. The number 4 is not a good number here, similar to how we view floor 13. 

Once back to the ship, we have a quick lunch then head out for a walk around the harbor. They have a bustling community of shops, restaurants and I even found a tattoo parlor!!! At night it livens up as a traditional night market. We catch them as they are setting up and enjoy the early evening of shopping and sightseeing.

The tattoo shop was clean, and everyone was friendly! They specialize in traditional Japanese art. I told them all about my artistic daughter who also is amazingly talented as a tattoo artist in Idaho. They were so happy to spend time with me and hear all about Aurora! So proud. Unlike back home, they tell me that getting an apprenticeship in Taiwan is relatively easy. They have a community that is supportive of young people wanting to come in and learn the craft. They encouraged me to invite Aurora to visit! Here is their contact info if anyone wants to check them out...

Here is the shop and Hori Hiro, the main tattoo artist there. Awesome name, huh? The second picture is of one of the two apprentices that he has there. 

Here is a cute shop chicken! Just greeting guests and keeping the floors clean.

Here is a picture of John and I with the lit up to sign on the hill behind us.

What a great day of meeting new friends and exploring new cultures!