Port and Park
Trip Start
Nov 17, 2006
1
15
19
Trip End
May 09, 2007
Keelung,
Taiwan
Friday, April 27, 2007
Keelung is a coastal town - alas, no nice pretty beaches, just a big port. It was strangely nice though, being able to smell the sea. And it was busy too, but busy because people were doing things, unlike here where there's just too many people around. But no seagulls,which was odd! It's quite a cool place though - in the middle of town is a huge mountain (well,very big hill) covered by the big Jhong Jeng park. It's so unusual having such an expanse of greenery in the middle of a city here, it was such a nice change from scooter-ville
Guanyin and a Buddha guard
. This being Taiwan though, It can't just be a park. The mountain, along with the others around town, are covered in temples and shrines. The first big one I came across, huffing and puffing after hauling myself up the hill in the horrid humid mess that is Taiwan's air, was quite odd. Most temples look pretty much the same in terms of architecture,but this one was different. Instead of the squarish building, this was three pagodas joined together by an intricate web of tiny bridges. Complete with a tiny shack blaring out KTV (karaoke to us - they are OBSESSED with it here,for reasons that I still can't fathom) behind it! And a little further along (up more hill, huff puff) was an even stranger sight. One of the most important deities here in Taiwan is Gyuanyin, the Goddess of Mercy and one of the Buddhas. Most temples have at least a few statues of here, but this one went a little crazy! Outside is a 22m meter statue of her, surrounded by 12 other Buddha statues, and protected by two huge guard dogs. The view is amazing - she looks out over the whole city, but the peace was shattered by who ever horrid person had brought up the damn electric kiddies cars that were screeching around everywhere, blaring out nasty fairground music and over excited childrens' squeals. I have to deal with enough of those at work thankyou!!
There were a couple of other things too - this park is a treasure trove of wonder, it's crazy! There's a random collection of tanks and guns and other bits of military stuff by the side of the road - the leaflet I got from the Information place proudly proclaims "the YiJheng park was the first Public Park in Taiwan to display decomissioned hardware from the ROC army" Really, why would you do this? Not quite so random as the rocket launchers outside the culture building in Irkutsk though, I have to admit
Laughing Buddha
. A little further on is the HaiMen TianSian fort..It's all abandoned and wrecked now, but it was built in the late 1800s by the Japanese to ward off a British attack. It kept us out for a few years, but eventually the British overran and destroyed most of it. Now it's all shady and green, right at the top of the hill over looking the port. Great view, but I suppose that the whole point! It was quite eerie as well - there was no one else there, just me, the trees and the empty sounds. No car or scooter noise, it was bliss! Between the gap in the trees you could see a massive Shiva (or something like it. It was a long way away) statue cut into the cliff, which was pretty cool. They only parts that remain are the foundations, a a few fake cannons to mark the old gunneries, and hidden away down a little slippery path, the main entrance gate and a big parade square. There was a path down to something called the 18 Fairy cave (or something like that), but I started down it and chickened out. It was slippy, and creepy because it was so quiet, hidden up on the mountain. It gets dark very very quickly here too, so it was probably a good idea.
Didn't see much else - managed not to buy some shoes at an ace vintage shoe with a friendly cute owner, mooched around the night market not buying food from any of the vendors, and looked in the Matzu temple. Matzu is a goddess that protects seafarers, so it make sense she's popular here. But more about her another day!
