Ceramics Mecca

This morning began with mom on the phone with China Southern Airlines for over two hours trying to figure out what we are going to do with our extra bag when we fly as we read that it can cost a lot of money to have an extra bag and over weight bags and because we are flying coach, it costs even more.  So in the end it is going to hopefully cost us less to upgrade our seats on our next flight to have an extra bag… a huge hassle when no one speaks English to help explain.  After mom figured out what to do, dad walked across the street and got us some mocha’s… we are trying to have enough caffeine here as I do not think we will be able to get coffee in China at all.   Our host (who took us to dinner last night) arranged for mom and I to go to a couple of towns southwest of Taipei today called Yingge and Sanxia to view the mecca of pottery in Taiwan as well as a Temple.  We did not know if we were going with a tour and other people so when the driver called us on our Taiwanese phone and told us he was downstairs, we walked down the steps and found him and his wife there to greet us and just mom and I in the back seat of his car!  His English was quite good actually- better than many of the other people that we’ve had as guides and met.  He told us of a few of the buildings that we passed along the way to the highway.  We drove for about an hour to get to Yingge- into some of the mountains right outside of Taipei, which are distinctively pretty and very different from our typical landscape.  We parked along the street and our driver got out and walked around with us, down the beautiful cobblestone streets and we looked at ceramics for an hour... stopping a few times to make some purchases. 

Before we arrived at the ceramics street, mom and I both commented on how European this area felt and suddenly a Carrefour appeared out of no where.  It seemed very ironic for us both to mention that and then see a French department store.

After we made our purchases in the ceramics area, we returned to the car and went off to Sanxia about 10 minutes away and parked the car in a parking lot.  We all got out and walked across a pretty ravine with ornate eating areas on the bridge.  We had to walk across a bridge to get to the Temple, which was beautiful.  This was by far the nicest Temple we have seen. 

It is a Taoist temple and the stone carvings were unbelievable.  There were over 80 stone pillars each intricately carved and the ceilings were amazing wood carvings.  It also smelled different from the other temples.  Yes, there was the typical incense smell, but this had a fresher smell that seemed more enlightening.

Plus mom was almost like a giant in this temple as the other people in the temple were much shorter than she was and so it was a nice change for her being vertically challenged.

We walked around a few of the shops by the temple in a nice area where the government, in fact, maintains the older streets and the architectural elements to make the area a bit nicer.  The stores were expensive, though mom found some ink stones and a few other things to buy.

I loved this doggy coat and may have to buy one for my dog, even though she is 10 times the size of this one!

We told our guide that we were looking for some tea to buy as well and he told us of a wholesale tea place that he likes to go and that he would take us there.  So back in the car we went and when we got back into Taipei, he drove us to the store, where we tasted and then proceeded to buy some oolong tea (the tea made in this area) which is delicious.  After that, the driver dropped us off right at our “dorm” and that was the end of our tour.  It was very nice and I’m glad we got to see a few more places outside of the center city.

This evening the hosts of dad’s trip over here hosted a goodbye dinner for him and mom and were also invited to the event.  We walked over to the restaurant and were greeted by a few people.  One of the doctors there was 92 years old and still teaches and attends many of the lectures around the hospital.  He was part of a few of the case studies that dad was involved with.  Chinese medicine (really just eating healthy- one bowl of rice a day plus veggies), exercise and work are all that has made him so healthy!  It was a nice evening and hard for dad to say goodbye as he’s had a wonderful time here.  He has one more day in the hospital and then we have Saturday together before we leave Taiwan.

The business card of one of dad's hosts!