December hills: on the bike again
For longer time I needed, badly needed a drive. So I used this nice saturday to chance some surrounding hills. To avoid being fumed in saturday crowdy streets, I took the shortest ride to the hills, re-visiting my favorite QuChi Feng. It always reminds me where I am, actually. And I start understanding what for the place stood here in times at its heights. It was a thematic park for 'Journey to the west'. Wikipedia says "... account of the legends around the Buddhist monk Xuánzàng's pilgrimage to India during the Táng dynasty in order to obtain Buddhist religious texts called sutras. The Bodhisattva Guānyīn, on instruction from the Buddha, gives this task to the monk and his three protectors in the form of disciples — namely Sūn Wùkōng, Zhū Bājiè and Shā Wùjìng — together with a dragon prince who acts as Xuánzàng's horse mount. These four characters have agreed to help Xuánzàng as an atonement for past sins."
I have to learn a lot of chinese popular culture, past and present, if I am to understand a bit of what I see.
So, again I came in front of the big guy (God of War, actual persona was some war minister, it seems. I still have to understand this ancestor cult here properly, is this taoistic or konfucianistic temple?)
Just below is this "oh so chinese" combination of pavilions.
I went around places in this garden I did not inspect before. Some Buddhas. Above the "skeleton" of ...dinosaur? Was this kind of evolution theory show??
Buddhas are in 'natural' environment
And 'skeleton' reminds a bit some Disney character
Well, Nestle is around! It must be from some longer time ago, really...
Papaya tree with papayas! The best fruit for "banana split" ice-cream!
It was 1st of December, people. I am in tropics, really!
Crowd of statuettes, as usual
I saw the table with 'Journey to the West' writing, but this part was closed, apparantly the stairs were not maintained. Would be interested to get, finally some overview about purpose and idea of this place. It is so magnificent combination of valuable history and Disneyland characters and kitsch, that it almost goes to unbelievable. It is for sure my nr.1 place to visit here in Taiwan-not unlikely because it is so close to my living and working place, and out of the city fumes.
This is cute!
Here it is clear this is a thematic park
My companion in meditation (see mikidkolan homepage) in different light and...alone
Then I went back to the "garbage" part of the park, and picked some of statues I failed to present before:
Beautiful one
This one must be from courtyard of some school
Curious, they understood instictively what comes with brave Americans and how the Democracy is pursued..."sweat and blood I promise to you".
This shows everything, indeed
I know this character, but where from??
What they are doing hidden in the back of the garden? They are as from some Honneckerian (East Germany) garden!
After this festa of kitsch, I went on to search for "Green Grass Lake" which I failed to find last time. Map of the area was bad, with no road further marked, but I saw cars coming from where is "no road" and knew chinese mind again drew a map with characteristic for it mindlessness.
Just neighboring to QuChi is some castle for noveau rich, interesting settlement, really, looks sterile and awful.
"Beautiful" houses. Architect loves prisons? Really, some color would not harm, wouldn't it...
After a few 180 deg curves, I stopped to enter some area which looked as typical cemetary, all in grass.
It is written 'do not park' (I learned later), hm, probably for couples which would come at night by cars?
I heard some barking dog approaching me so I rather went further, in case it was written "killer dog, beware"-one probem when you do not know what is written is that it could be something really nasty, like 'beware, snakes" or so, so you do not want to sniff around too much. Big use afterwards of "but it was written in soooo big characters not to go there!"
So, I come to the place where I expected the lake and saw this:
In Google it looks like this:
What'a f... but then I see the table with 'Green GRASS lake". Yes. Lake of grass?
I go around, it is green also along the road, feel of late spring in Croatia (and smells, also!), yes, there are some flowers also in this green!
Nice views around
Where should be lake is only grass, really
Huh, spring?
Approaching Hsinchu, some glimpses through the green:
Nice ride, indeed! I shall resume my custom of biking around.
I have to learn a lot of chinese popular culture, past and present, if I am to understand a bit of what I see.
So, again I came in front of the big guy (God of War, actual persona was some war minister, it seems. I still have to understand this ancestor cult here properly, is this taoistic or konfucianistic temple?)
Just below is this "oh so chinese" combination of pavilions.
I went around places in this garden I did not inspect before. Some Buddhas. Above the "skeleton" of ...dinosaur? Was this kind of evolution theory show??
Buddhas are in 'natural' environment
And 'skeleton' reminds a bit some Disney character
Well, Nestle is around! It must be from some longer time ago, really...
Papaya tree with papayas! The best fruit for "banana split" ice-cream!
It was 1st of December, people. I am in tropics, really!
Crowd of statuettes, as usual
I saw the table with 'Journey to the West' writing, but this part was closed, apparantly the stairs were not maintained. Would be interested to get, finally some overview about purpose and idea of this place. It is so magnificent combination of valuable history and Disneyland characters and kitsch, that it almost goes to unbelievable. It is for sure my nr.1 place to visit here in Taiwan-not unlikely because it is so close to my living and working place, and out of the city fumes.
This is cute!
Here it is clear this is a thematic park
My companion in meditation (see mikidkolan homepage) in different light and...alone
Then I went back to the "garbage" part of the park, and picked some of statues I failed to present before:
Beautiful one
This one must be from courtyard of some school
Curious, they understood instictively what comes with brave Americans and how the Democracy is pursued..."sweat and blood I promise to you".
This shows everything, indeed
I know this character, but where from??
What they are doing hidden in the back of the garden? They are as from some Honneckerian (East Germany) garden!
After this festa of kitsch, I went on to search for "Green Grass Lake" which I failed to find last time. Map of the area was bad, with no road further marked, but I saw cars coming from where is "no road" and knew chinese mind again drew a map with characteristic for it mindlessness.
Just neighboring to QuChi is some castle for noveau rich, interesting settlement, really, looks sterile and awful.
"Beautiful" houses. Architect loves prisons? Really, some color would not harm, wouldn't it...
After a few 180 deg curves, I stopped to enter some area which looked as typical cemetary, all in grass.
It is written 'do not park' (I learned later), hm, probably for couples which would come at night by cars?
I heard some barking dog approaching me so I rather went further, in case it was written "killer dog, beware"-one probem when you do not know what is written is that it could be something really nasty, like 'beware, snakes" or so, so you do not want to sniff around too much. Big use afterwards of "but it was written in soooo big characters not to go there!"
So, I come to the place where I expected the lake and saw this:
In Google it looks like this:
What'a f... but then I see the table with 'Green GRASS lake". Yes. Lake of grass?
I go around, it is green also along the road, feel of late spring in Croatia (and smells, also!), yes, there are some flowers also in this green!
Nice views around
Where should be lake is only grass, really
Huh, spring?
Approaching Hsinchu, some glimpses through the green:
Nice ride, indeed! I shall resume my custom of biking around.
posted by mikidkolan at 6:59 PM
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