leg5a's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member leg5a on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/leg5a en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:14:59 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com Pre-Cultural Tour — Kaohsiung, Taiwan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1247130149/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1247130149/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1247130149/tpod.html Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:14:59 -0400 Dharmablog
Kaohsiung, Taiwan

The formal, class-oriented portion of my time here has ended, and today is my last day here at Fo Guang Shan. Today, though we were granted a free day for packing (still haven't done it), we were still required to wake up for morning TaiJi and meditation. Some of us were hoping to go into Gaoxiong today to pick up some more appropriate cultural tour clothes, but Yifa shut us down. As such, we are still required to go to all three meals today.

After breakfast, I felt a bit uneasy so I took a brief nap. Then, the roommates and I headed to the gift shop right outside the temple gates so I could pick up some last minute souvineers (excited?). We made it back in time to change for lunch, though I only ate rice and soup. We had assumed that there would be no walking meditation since it's a free day- on the contrary, we took FOUR laps instead of our usual 3 or less... maybe this seems exaggerated, but today is exceptionally hot and, as the line moves progressivley faster after each lap, by our third lap we were already having to jog to keep up, with the disciplinarian yelling "relax your body!" Ugh. I was mad. Whateverrrr.I charged right upstairs afterward to cool down, but I had to work through quite a bit of laundry before getting to shower. I separated my things for packing, but have yet to actually pack them.

Tomorrow, we'll be travelling to QingDe monastery (I don't know where this is because they don't tell us anything), and we've been told to pack lightly since we'll have to hike up a mountain for more than an hour to get there because the bus can't. So... looking forward to that. I believe we'll also be holding the ceremony there for those in the program who are either taking the 5 precepts (google please) or taking refuge in the sangha (also google). I consider these decisions to be foolish and rash, as many of those taking these vows have only just been introduced to buddhism and are already making serious spiritual commitments based on this very narrow experience. But hey, it's really none of my business. As of now, I'm still not sure what to look forward to during the week of the cultural tour, but I know we'll be temple-hopping for most of the time. I'd like to start planning my post-program trip, but I suppose that will have to wait.

Oh, by the way, talent show tonight. I'm performing a song on the hulusi, or chinese gourd (google). Wish me luck! Got to head back for dinner... might as well eat, since it's 'the last supper'.. haha.

Will try to update when possible.--
]]> Post-Retreat — Kaohsiung, Taiwan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1247127241/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1247127241/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1247127241/tpod.html Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:02:08 -0400 Dharmablog
Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Well, I've come out alive. That's about all I can boast about the meditation retreat. It was a disappointing week for me, as I was in constant physical pain with no way to alleviate it. The 'brand' of meditation we were practicing involves quite abit of yelling and swinging sticks, but at least that aspect was entertaining. I'm choosing not to post any of my actual entries from that week mainly due to lack of time, but also because it's in the past and I don't care to reflect on it. What I will say is that I'm glad that it's over, and I'll not likely be entering into that kind of situation ever again.

So, in accordance with Woodenfish tradition, the evening of our last day of meditation retreat involves a pilgrimage. This involves making the trek to the "Great Buddha Land" shrine, about a mile away from our dorm (starting point). But, this is not just any trek. Our movement must be three steps, prostration, three steps, prostration, etc. until we arrive at the top. FYI, a prostration involves stopping, getting on the ground on hands and knees, resting the forehead on the ground, then rising is a very specific pattern of movements. THe steps and prostrations are made at specific times during a chant that we repeat the whole way, "Na mo ben shi shi jia mo ni fo," or something like "homage to the first teacher Sakyamuni Buddha." Yeah, that was tough. I was so sweaty that I might as well have jumped into the ocean with my clothes on. Once we reached the top (yes, this was up a giant hill), we switched chanting to "Shi jia Ru Lai," a personal fav or mine, meaning "Sakyamuni Tathagata," or Sakyamuni the thus-come one. From there, we were given candles, placed them in front of our make-shift shrine, and sat and meditated. I walked all the way down and back to gte my camera... couldn't waste such a photogenic evening.

The pilgrimage may sound a little... intense, and it was, but in all honesty it has become my favorite experience thus far. It seems to be the most genuine of everything that we've done- no talking, no 'propogating the dharma,' just you and hte moon and the giant (56m tall) buddha- well of course, you're in line with everyone else, but because it was dark and our heads were on the ground half of the time, I felt alone. It's funny to think how resistant I was to the idea of the pilgrimage before we started.

After that, laundry... yay.
]]> Post-Pilgrimage — Kaohsiung, Taiwan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1247128261/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1247128261/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1247128261/tpod.html Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:00:13 -0400 Dharmablog
Kaohsiung, Taiwan

So the day after our last meditation day/pilgrimage, we took a day trip, starting in Tainan. As usual, we had no idea what kinds of things we would be doing or where we would be going. I shall briefly describe the goings-on.

Tainan:
We climbed aboard our respective tour buses and drove quite awhile. I suffered through the loud, pretentious conversations around me by focusing on the scenery. I find that you learn the most about a place just from seeing the everyday life through a window, because often the places that one would visit (at least in a group) aren't representative of reality. Anyway, after maybe 45 minutes, we arrived at Wufei temple (wikipedia). I wasn't sure what this place was since I couldn't hear the tour guide, but judging by appearance it was once used as some kind of military fort. I happened to have my Taiwan travel book with me, and found this place listed. THe description mentioned a general who, rather than surrendering, sent away his concubines and committed suicide. However, the concubines could not be swayed in their love, so they too hung themselves from the rafters. I'm pretty sure they didn't mention this during the tour.

After that, we confusedly walked down the road, losing some people at 711 who were trying to withdraw money. At this point, I started to get uncomfortable and had to abandon the joy of actually wearing my hair down (has to be put up at the monastery) in an effort to cool down, which needless to say, failed. We moved on to some other exhibit-ish thing, I think related to the history of the town. There was this amazing structure that had been entirely consumed by this kind of tree which I cannot recall at the moment, forming a collossal tree house. It was really beautiful- pictures will be added one day.

Once again, upon leaving, inefficiency abounded as people were scattered around trying to exchange money. Finally, we were herded back onto the buses and toor a short tour of AnPing (wikipedia) harbor. Afterward, we made our way to the Tainan brand of FoGuangShan, listened to a brief talk, ate a mega-delicious lunch buffet-style, and sat around waiting for those who went to change money. After lunch we returned to the main shrine, which is comparable to the American variety of Christian mega-churches complete wiht LED backlighting, made prostrations, and climbed aboard the buses.

Next stop is Tainan was quite a ways away, took more than an hour to get there. That stop is the Tainan Prison MingDe Drug Rehabilitation center, which accepts criminals (more than 50% of offenses committed in Taiwan are drug-related) who have already served their minimum sentencing. Here, both Christianity and Buddhism serve as a means to help these offenders kick their drug habits. The grounds were quite beautiful and look more like a summer camp with fences than a prison- no surprise American prisons generate as much crime, pain, etc as they do when seeing this place. We were greeted in a hall for some Q&A which was prolonged due to heavy rain, but once they provided umbrellas for us, we were able to take a quick look around. I'd say the big colorful umbrellas were my favorite part of that trip..


Gaoxiong:
We left the prison for Gaoxiong, which was also a bit of a drive. Our first stop was a world-famous 5 star vegetarian restaurant called Jen Dow (google), which apparently is a highlight for most past-Woodenfish. They had everything. For example, I tried stinky tofu for the first time- quite stinky, but really not bad-tasting. They had a make-your-own-soup bar, same for noodles, every kind of (veggy) dumpling ever, tons of fruit, soups, dishes that looked like sashimi and sushi but were vegetarian, bottled coke, hagen daaz, smoothies, and a glorious desert bar. It was amazing food, and we ate for free, though I was informed later that dinner costs about NT$700 per person, under US$30- not bad at all. I def ate too much though.

THen, we visited the Gaoxiong FGS brand temple wehre again we listened to a talk, toured the facilities including the art gallery, guanyin boddhisatva shrine, and meditation hall, and were given cups of ice cream as a surprise... unfortunately, none of us could fit it in our stomaches, but ettiquette required that we finish it, so we did.

Got back late (10:30pm?) and still had to wake up early at 5am the next day for the full moon ceremony (see previous posts)... boo!
]]> The Meditation Retreat — Kaohsiung, Taiwan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1246177172/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1246177172/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1246177172/tpod.html Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:30:02 -0400 Dharmablog
Kaohsiung, Taiwan

SO hard to wake up today.
Taiji (shimin exercise) inside because visitors were doing a pilgrimmage outside. Punished for talking in line by silent breakfast. I grabbed this sandwich on a whim. It was the last thing I ate, and I regret it so much. I almost threw up eating it, but we havve to eat everything we take. My stomach still hurts. The Chinese just really don't know how to make a sandwich. That was our last "american" breakfast, so everyone's really sad because we won't be eating any more breakfast food.

--------------------------------------------------------------

So, I'll take this time to write about the retreat. Essentially, the first two weeks have been training and preparation for this week, starting tomorrow (Monday). Meditation retreat is spent in complete silence (we're given badges so no one will talk to us) and no eye contact nor physical contact is permitted. Here's what a typical day will look like:

5:00am- wake up
5:30am- TaiJi, sitting meditation
6:30am- breakfast
7:00am- morning chores
8:00am-11:00am- several cycles of meditation*
11:30am- lunch
12:-00pm: outdoor walking meditation
12:30-1:30: break (nap?)
1:30pm-4:00pm- several cycles of meditation*
4:00pm-6:00pm- chores, dinner, showers, laundry
7:00pm- Dharma talk
meditation til bedtime at 9:30pm, lights out at 10pm....

*one cycle of meditation consists of 30 minutes of sitting meditation, 15 minutes of walking meditation, and a 10 minute break

Yeah, so... that's for 7 days, completely silent, no eye contact. Hmm.. It will be a hard week, no doubt, but people keep talking about the amazing super cool experiences they have by the end.. I'll believe it when I see it. Also, we live and meditate in one room, and leave only for meals and to get stuff out of our rooms. Needless to say, no computer access nor blog for the next week. see you then!
]]> Pandemic and the Venerable Master — Kaohsiung, Taiwan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1246176444/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1246176444/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1246176444/tpod.html Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:19:27 -0400 Dharmablog
Kaohsiung, Taiwan

AM classes boring as usual. Being taught by a German whose Chinese is exponentially better than his english.

Then lunch- really good: potroast imitation with tofu and corn, curry vegetables, winter melon soup, muchrooms, etc. I think they were showing off because this weekend there's asomething like 2000 visitors here, full dining hall and people blocking our paths while walking meditation.

Then, we were herded into a room where Yifa lectured us (previously after class, all the girls were pulled aside and targeted specifically for the same reason) about how everyone is getting sick. The staff's message was pretty much 'suck it up,' as if people were just skipping activities when they really didn't need to, whereas Yifa asked why we think everyone' getting sick. People are complaining about not enough free time, not enough sleep, low salt/blood sugar- big deal. Probably no one's taking vitamins nor drinking enough water. I just hope they don't go easy on us because they already cancelled vespers tonight and tomorrow all evening activities are cancelled. I love naps just as much as anyone else, but this program has been running for 8 years and has not had this many sick people before. This includes our 3rd partner, who has not come with us for any part of the personal project. She's apparently in quarantine in some other room, taken to bed rest. I don't know how she can really contribute at this point.

Then meditation- new technique: visualizing immediate surroundings. I couldn't do it, but it was still a decent session.

afternoon class- WTF? some nun (I hear she's the calligraphy teacher) showed us six short videos. My fingers are too tired to describe all of them, but rest assured they were ridiculous. THEN she pulled up this ridiculous song about harmonizing which had no relation to buddhism. I was so mortified by the embarrasment of hearing this song that I literally had to cover my face. It was the longest 2 minutes of my life. THEN she played it AGAIN and made it a sing along... no thank you. I was thinking, just shoot me. Really terrifying.

Tried to recover from that by going to the sutra calligraphy hall during our free time, but we got an urgent call from HuiTan (the interview guy's #2 man) saying that we need to meet him at the zoo, so off we went. We walked the long walk, talked to the birds and pigs until he arrived via motor bike. I asked him all the leftover questions we had, Jean wrote down what I translated. Then we moved to the bigger complex and he gave us a bit of a tour. All in all a successful interview... wish I had my Chinese textbook to use better vocab. Blogged/email until dinner at 5:45. Xtracurricular was cancelled because...

Venerable Master XingYun arrived to address the 2000+ devotees here this weekend. He= Jabba the Hut (youtube/google now). HuiFeng (our leader) translated via earpieces, the talk took forever, had to run there to make it, practically fainted. Took stupid tour of auditorium, then talked to by Yifa about nothing in particular. So much for free time.


]]> Nap?! — Kaohsiung, Taiwan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1246176027/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1246176027/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1246176027/tpod.html Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:07:16 -0400 Dharmablog
Kaohsiung, Taiwan

not feeling so well, but breakfast was very good- watermelon, toast thing, fake tofu chicken leg (disturbingly realistic), soy milk, corn (?). I prefer not to have daytime food for breakfast. I'm worried because I hear that during meditation week we have to eat breakfast in the main dining hall where we have lunch and dinner- no more american food :(

I hear that today we get to take a nap, but first have to get through these boring classes. I also hear that the Abott will be talking to us later- what an honor!

During break time, we went to a tea house near the dining hall. I got chocolate milk tea, others got coffee ice cream, almond milk tea, fries, and dumplings. Browsed gift shop- what would everyone like for souvineers? I bet Nick would like some monk's shoes. Requests? Went back, worked on personal project, and took a short nap. Then medicine meal lineup, xtra curricular, and special Dharma talk from the Abbot. He gave us a sweet book that he wrote about copying sutras out. I hope before I leave I'll have the chance to visit the temple's sutra calligraphy hall. Also, good tea served at his lecture.

From there we went straight to vespers. I was happy to not have to walk up 7 flights of stairs, only 3ish. Then, we walked to the women's buddhist college to experience the drum and bell ceremony. Just sat in the dark on the steps and listened. My favorite aspect of it is that it was night time, so no sun and nice breeze. Took quite a while though... less time for sleep.
]]> The Interview — Kaohsiung, Taiwan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1246175277/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1246175277/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1246175277/tpod.html Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:00:20 -0400 Dharmablog
Kaohsiung, Taiwan

-hard to wake up
-good meditation this AM, counted up to maybe 40 breaths
-prizes awarded at breakfast for cleanest rooms- not ours, but I'm sure we were up there..

class: Yifa taught the Diamond Sutra. Not much to say.

Note: I've found that Chinese and Taiwanese people are far more comfortable with bodily functions than americans are. Diarrhea and constipation are frequently referrenced, and at meals people belch even though the dining halls are silent.

Activity class: A nun came to teach us about Dharma instruments, brought a bunch of other singing venerables, performed a bunch of chants. It was very awesome, she taught us drumming patterns and gave us two free CDs. Afterward, we had personal project time [if I haven't mentioned it before, my personal project is about the monastery "zoo" and how animals fit in to Buddhist ethics]. Our third group member is sick, so Jean and I made the journey to the zoo alone. We had to work our way around many locked gates. First we visited the place with pigs and birds, took many pictures. It's funny because as we arrived, I called out to see if anyone was working there. We heard singing, and assumed someone was there, so we kept calling out only to hear 'ni hao' over and over- why? Turns out, they play a recording on loop so the birds can speak phrases such as 'omitofo,' 'ohaiyo' (japanese), and 'shifu' (monk/nun). Then we went to the larger, rougher complex, but no one was there and the peacocks were being defensive, so we ran away. Ultimately uneventful. Blogged, then lecture.

THEN after the night lecture I got to personally interview the honored speaker Venerable HuiChuan, with Jean, his #2 guy, and our two translators to help Jean. WOW it was nerve wracking. He's the former Abbot of XiLai temple in California, and currently head administrator here. He's an important guy. I asked our questions, he answered, mostly with stories. I understood most of it and the translators helped Jean take notes. My stomach was very uneasy even hours after. In the end, it went well, and he said he was glad to see this topic because it made him rethink about the zoo (managing the zoo is about 1% of his duties, so we had to fax him a copy of our questions beforehand so he could plot his answers). He wants us to send it to him in english when we're done. I feel proud, but disappointed in my vocab range- must improve.
]]> This and that — Kaohsiung, Taiwan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1246094240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1246094240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1246094240/tpod.html Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:33:03 -0400 Dharmablog
Kaohsiung, Taiwan

breakfast- mangoes!

good taiqi, but stupid story about sitting and something about a vampire/panda. Nice and cool in the AM.

class- heart sutra

lunch- good, didn't like the soup, good tofu, seaweed, sprouts and seeds.
Abbot PeiHeShan was there, gave a loooong speech about how we should neither crave nor avoid certain foods, just take what we need to sustain the body. Seemed aimed at us (60 our of hundreds of people in the dining hall), like the translator made up the English to give us what he wanted to say...

Skipped walking meditation (thank goodness!!) because Abbot's speech was so long. It's really my least favorite thing because it's so fast paced that I practically have to run, outdoors, and makes me extremely sweaty and uncomfortable. However, I noticed I felt much more unsettled in my stomach after not walking off the meal. Regardless, walking meditation has yet to cultivate any thoughts deeper than "walk faster" or "stop taking pictures of me!" Let me explain- this is obviously a public monastery, so there are often devotees walking around. Of course, they're not quite used to seeing foreigners stomp around the temple in matching uniforms and military formation, so they'll stick they're cameras in our faces and stare.. Oh well.

Room inspection. Apparently, we shouldn't have any belongings in the open, not even shoes or books. Whateverrrr.

Sitting meditation: terrible. Learned a new method, counting breaths. I couldn't get past 7 without moving on to some other thought.

FGS TV station: why did we go? It was a cool space, very photogenic (with I could share), but ultimately pointless. The monastery has its own TV show... more propaganda. However, I did appreciate the time spent in air conditioning.

Afterward, went to change for community service. Had to wear my white uniform pants because my jeans were wet from washing (which somehow turned the water blue- thankfully I washed them separately from my uniform). We walked quite far and uphill in the hot dry sun, past the senior home into a large open garden station. Logistically, it took a while in the stifling heat to split up into different groups, some recycling, some gardening. I jumped in somewhere, and jumped at the job of picking clovers out of grass (in the shade)- I find it hard to believe they couldn't find a job more in need of doing than weeding. It was a cool garden, though, looked like teletubbies or the shire, quite hilly. After 1.5 hours, we walked up another hill to a small shrine. Inside, a monk made an impromptu Chinese-style painting- quite amazing to watch, he did it so fast. I took the opportunity to take pictures, but my memory card was full (don't fear, have two more).

Finally back to shower (drenched in sweat) and downstairs for medicine meal, which I had to go to but still didn't eat. I find I'm not really hungry. On that note, people are dropping like flies. Some people can't eat the food because of allergic reactions, some are having stomach problems, some are dehydrated, some have passed out, asthma, not enough sleep... I'm not having any problems. Knock on wood.

Dharma Q&A: Venerable HuiDuan- so interesting! Spoke about suffering and meditation. He only spoke Chinese, and I was thrilled to understand most (60-70%) of it. He also sat on top of the table in front of us rather than his chair, meditation-style. Because he talked over for a bit, we practically had to run to vespers up a never ending staircase. I was panting like a dog by the time we got there.


Then bedtime, washed my other uniform and showre towel, while may or may not be growing mold. It's humid here, give me a break.
]]> New Moon — Kaohsiung, Taiwan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1245920534/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1245920534/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1245920534/tpod.html Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:33:14 -0400 Dharmablog
Kaohsiung, Taiwan

New/full moon ceremony:
Wake up at 5, downstairs at 5:30. Walk to Great Compassion Shrine, stand in line for 10 minutes. Someone in back passed out, was taken away. Shuffled into back row of full shrine room (350 people?). Made 3 prostrations. Tried to hide camera in pants to record ceremony, looked... inappropriate. Longggg chants, 20+ pages worth. When chanting Sakyamuni buddha's name, had to circle around the whole shrine area.

Hot today! breakfast: got half of everything, got rid of soup. Some people got a gross black cube. Meditation session: unproductive.

Half food @ lunch. Walking meditation was hot, but somehow bearable.

Activity: visit old person home and orphanage- hot as f***, unbearable. spaces in home reserved for parents of monastics, all inhabitants are able and well- not sick home. saw their shrine, terrible airless room. I'd rather move on to the next life than live in a building that hot! Bad mood automatically, but gladly moved on to our next stop- after a group picture. On to the children's home (orphanage? still not sure). Pretty much looked around floor-to-floor... nothing out of the ordinary. looked like they did a lot of arts and painting, cool place for a kid.

From there, we broke into personal projects groups and didn't get very far before Yifa (previously mentioned) came over, jumped in, and interviewed everyone. I hate that she' s so concerned with people she knows, notable connections from Ivy League schools... a bit offensive. She's more like a political figure than any other of the monks and nuns, who are simply the coolest. After, met up with Roomie and new girl Siyu who is Tiwanese and doesn['t speak very much English- lucky for me! She commented that I had good tones, compared with most foreign speakers. We connected with Taiwanese tv dramas and had a nice interesting chat on her take on buddhism.

this week I've opted out of dinner til Sunday, but those who opt out are nonetheless required to go to the meal, chant, sit, and wait until the first persona in the room finishes a meal and goes. Later this week, I'd like to try and serve food- it's a tough job though. Meals are so short that i barely had any extra time from not eating. Onto extra curriculat- sutra reading. He hadn't prepared our next sutra, so we had the chance to bombard him with questions, which is what I've been hoping for. Onto 'dharma talk,' Sean (staff) talked about music and art, and even played us an improv song on trumpet. He's mega talented. Then, staff did a Q&A but as usual Yifa took over. Sexuality came up (forbidden for monastics), and then homosexuality (men and women are separated), while buddhism makes no judgments there (just no sex period). Yifa made some obtuse comment about how gays are "pretty intelligent" but thinks that the 'purple parades' are stupid and that they would further their cause by acting more intelligently. Of course, part of that ignorance is the lack of talk about homosexuality in China (totally nonexistent)... Then vespers (evening chanting), laundry, shower, bed!
]]> "Free Day" — Kaohsiung, Taiwan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1245920038/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1245920038/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/leg5a/2/1245920038/tpod.html Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:17:55 -0400 Dharmablog
Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Our one and only free day!
1. Woke up late (6:30am)
2. Breakfast- Yifa (program director nun lady, google her) gave us a huge speech about being responsile with our free time.
3. changed sheets, dressed (civilian clothes), showered
4. Roomies and I walked around the tiny town surrounding the monastery, filled mostly with very old folks who wash clothes in the street and only speak Taiwanese. Stumbled into a diffferent temple, unable to identify it. After some struggle with the language barrier, we finally discovered that it was a "DiTuGong" temple, a.k.a. local, popular Chinese religion. Very strange, had to offer incense, was shown to several shrines by the old folks inside. We continued, taking many pictures of the countryside, crops, living areas, but it started to rain so we headed back. Stopped at a tiny local store on the way back just to browse, bought a few things to be polite.
5. Walked into an FGS-related area, with arcade games, snack foods, and a big gift shop. Got the chance to practice speaking with the salespeople, bought a cute pair of monk shoes which later I discovered to be inappropriate for the program.
6. Went to an FGS teashop for lunch. Ordered the house special, wonton noodle soup. Quite good, and all vegetarian of course. Also had some declish almond milk tea. On the downside, Friend found a dead worm in her soup... hopefully it's in the pureland now.
7. Continued browsing the monastery, found that the high school has relocated and so the old building is now an activity center... a bit like a ghost town.
8. Went into the Pureland (google) Cave, which is like the Buddhist version of It's a Small World. Although it was closed, the lady there pitied us and let us go in anyway. Extremely creepy and someone insulting to one's intelligence... but you've gotta attract the people somehow.
9. Went up to the two front shrines, took pictures. Some 'supposedly' professional photographer asked to take pictures of us posing among the Bodhisattvas.
10. Dorm, laundry, nap
11. Decided to go back to Gaoxiong to revisit the night market, roommate needed clothes. Time was cut short because our bus back was leaving early. Ate a cheese bun thing for dinner.
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