It's Grandma's Turn

Getting comfortable in our new apartment in Taipei.

This is What We Came For

Grandpa and Solomon Soup enjoying Peppa Pig and the Chinese New Year while waiting for dinner to be served.

Jingfu Temple

I love the temples in Taiwan.  They come in all shapes and sizes.  They never fail to surprise me, no matter how grand, or how humble.

This morning, after being wowed by the New Year pigs at the bakery we went to the closest Citibank to use the ATM.  On our way out I noticed a temple peeking out from behind some canvas.

This was enough for me to get Taylor's attention and go in for a closer look.

What we discovered was a good sized drop dead gorgeous temple.  The man at the entrance was most welcoming and eager to educate us about the Taoist temples in Taiwan.  This is Jingfu Temple and it is 140 years old.  It has recently been restored and it is most glorious.  We started on the ground floor where we met the main god, "tu di gong", the God of the earth.

Each temple has its own gods.  Jingfu Temple's main god is "tu di gong."

As we climbed the stairs to the next two levels, we were treated to more and more elaborate carvings.  I wonder if the escalation of decorative style has to do with getting closer and closer to heaven?

When we rented our apartment we didn't know what to expect from the new neighborhood.  I feel we got a bonus by being only a 10 minute walk from this feast for the senses.

Adventures in Taiwan 2019

Here we are, back in Taiwan for a month.

We dragged ourselves off the plane last night, thinking we would never be able to function again. We were utterly exhausted as we made our way to our new apartment. Our lovely landlady Jennifer met us at the apartment to show us the ropes of the new digs. As she was demonstrating the ins and outs of the apartment, Taylor passed out on the couch. Nonetheless, Jennifer was determined to show me around the neighborhood. She and I strolled the neighboring streets so I could easily find the grocery store, dumpling stand and traditional market in the morning. We were out until 1 a.m. And this is after I had already been awake for more than 24 hours. Let me tell you, today has been more than a little challenging. I was able to lead Taylor to the grocery store, but have no idea where all the other places are. Not only am I not running on all cylinders, everything looks different in the daylight.

Here's what I know though:  Chinese New Year will be here on February 4.  It's the year of the pig.

Ｈａｐｐｙ　Ｎｅｗ　Ｙｅａｒｓ　ｅｖｅｒｙｏｎｅ！

Two Good Books

My New Year's reading is starting off with these two books:

A Day in Amsterdam

This is our first full day in Amsterdam. I thought we might want to rest and loll around Frits and Carolien's lovely garden, but................the lure of Amsterdam beckoned Taylor and me to leave the house.  Taylor and I walked to the city center and back - about a five mile walk. We had no agenda.  We just enjoyed the sights.

Unexpectedly finding a yarn shop is quite typical for us.  No, I did not go inside, but it looked good.

Although I didn't go inside the shop, I got an idea for a future knitting project.

This bike is completely covered in rubber ducks. I thought our friends John and Bruce would enjoy decorating their bicycles like this since they already have the rubber duck collection.

Amsterdam is filled with old charm.

Amsterdam also has some intriguing new buildings.

We stumbled through a flea market.

Classic Dutch flea market goods.

Who wouldn't want to live in Amsterdam?  Sunny day, canals, lounging in the sun.

I couldn't decide if this boat was left on purpose to provide a duck haven, or if it was just abandoned.

A trip to Amsterdam just isn't complete without a stop at the Sex Shop ATM.

 

At the end of the day, a good bottle of wine shared with friends at the Italian restaurant at the street corner makes a visit to Amsterdam perfect.

From Khiva to Amsterdam in 5 Days

In a period of five days at the end of our Silk Road journey we have seen remarkable changes in time and space. The change is more than appearance, environment and distance.  Life style, attitude, relations with the western world are only a few of the differences we experienced

Khiva is an intriguing walled city in Uzbekistan. Because it remains unchanged in many ways, it is a good example of what life must have been like on the Silk Road. We spent two nights here, but we fell in love with its many traditional charms. This town is a living museum, deeply rooted in the past.

Sunrise on one of the many minarets.

The wall and buildings are built entirely of adobe. The modern orange pipe brings natural gas to the residents who otherwise live a traditional village life.  The protuberances on the wall are graves. These are for defense. In Islam, it is forbidden to trod on graves.  

It just so happened that a bride and groom were having a photo shoot when we climbed to the top of one of the many towers in Khiva.  Old Khiva is in the background, the couple is wearing traditional dress with a modern twist, but the photographer had up to date photo equipment.

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan is a futuristic white marble city in the desert. It has many white marble buildings, wide boulevards and practically no people. It was quite a shock after falling in love with the hustle and bustle of Khiva. This is the final stop on our tour of the Silk Road.

This is an air conditioned indoor ferris wheel. Considering that temperatures get up to 130 F, air conditioning is a must. All the buildings in Ashgabat have a similar opulent appearance. Notice the lack of families lining up to take their children on this ride.

This is one of the many styles of street lamps in Ashgabat.  Note the white marble apartment building on the left.  All the buildings are covered in white marble. No marble is from Turkmenistan - it's imported from all over the world. I was easily able to stand in the street to take this photo as there is hardly any traffic.

Our final Road Scholar dinner was here at the Palace of Happiness.  This is where couples come to get married, or to get divorced.  Both are a source of happiness.  Although the building is red in this photo, it is white marble.  The white marble city is all lit up with colored lights at night.  I caught it in red, but it changed to a multitude of other colors.

Our flight from Ashgabat to Frankfurt departed at 3:30 am.  Given how exhausted we were, landing in Frankfurt was plenty weird.  The first item on our agenda was to get a decent cup of coffee.  

After three weeks of tea bag tea, or instant coffee, this coffee shop was perfect.

We haven't seen a newspaper in three weeks.  The first New York Times we see has a front page article about the World Nomad Games which took place in Kyrgystan while we were there.  We did not attend, but we were lucky enough to watch two villages play dead goat polo with one another so we understood what the article was about more than we would have had we not been in Central Asia. 

The final stop on this leg of the journey is Amsterdam, where we will stay with Iris' lovely parents, Carolien and Fritz. The first thing I saw when I was going through the airport was a display of bulbs!  We are in bulb country.

The huge ones in front are amaryllis.

The best part of this journey from the past (Khiva) into the odd future (Ashgabat) into the present that we know (the western world), is being welcomed with open arms by our friends from the Netherlands.