Friday, November 13
Painted Masks at Chio-Tian Folk Arts Center
We left Taipei this morning, traveling south to the city of Taichung. And even with a couple hours separating the two major metropolises, both cities are so large that we were driving through urban, suburban, or exurban communities most of the way.
Our first visit was to the Chio-Tian Folk Drum and Arts Troupe where we were taught a simple ceremonial drum part, and learned about ancient, ceremonial face-painting.
Mom and Carol Sue drumming up a storm!
This young man had painted his face before we arrived, and then one woman from our group volunteered to have her face painted.
Lunch was once again a feast of Taiwanese specialties. Particularly tasty was the beef with fried garlic and crispy scallions!
After lunch we went to toured Ling Tung University (8,000 students), hosted by a professor of tourism. We visited various hands-on class rooms where students are taught the practical skills they’ll need to work in hospitality and tourism (with a side quest into the fashion design building).
Our last stop was a visit with Funto Art, a performance dance group who perform all over the world. The three young women (in their 20’s) we met with taught us a short dance combination, and while I’m not sure we would get many style points, we all got an “E” for effort! They performed for us what they are calling T-Pop. They are quite sweet! Follow them on Instagram and Facebook.
Then to our hotel for the next couple days here in Taichung. Mom, Carol Sue, Grace and I found a place a block from the hotel for dinner which was wonderful. And we had an interesting encounter with a Taiwanese woman who approached us and asked (in English) how we were reading the menu, and we showed her that they gave us one with English and Mandarin on it. We got to talking and after asking for food recommendations, Grace asked her why her English was so good. Long story short…she did her Ph.D. in statistics at Oregon State University “a long time ago”! We had an excellent meal of sweet and sour pork ribs, shrimp dumplings, scallion pancakes, sauteed broccoli with ginger, scrambled eggs with shrimp, and rice….and the entire meal for the four of us cost $33 US!
Something I love about life in Taiwan… are doing away with single use plastics. Hotels do not give out bottles of water. Instead they have water dispensing machines on every floor. Also, there are no garbage cans on the streets, because people take their garbage home with them. And the cities are super clean. They’re doing something right!
Tomorrow we are taking a day trip up in to the mountains to a lake for a boat trip and a little hike.