Cass has been struck down by some flu like bug and her throat has been a raw striated mess, meaning she's missed a few days of school ( a very unusual event for her). I was meandering my way home alone on Friday afternoon only to be interrupted by cacophonic percussion and long streams of pink-shirted men and women parading their various wares down the thoroughfare of Chung Shan North Road. They were snaking their way in and out of alleys disturbing as many people as possible and then threading their way back and forth across the main road at regular intervals. There were dragon dancers and Taiko drummers, banner waving enthusiasts and beer guzzling, betel nut chewing marchers.
The most incongruous participants, however, were the go-go dancing girls on the back of 4x4 utes. The utes were ablaze with light and pulsing with shrieking music issued from tinny speakers. The girls were dressed in very provocative gear and were writhing around a pole set up on the back of the small trucks. When they spotted a spectator (like me!) they put on a particularly energetic performance for their short burst of infamy. I've never really understood exactly what is going on here, but it was explained to me once that the gods need to be appeased in various ways: I can't deny that this is a very entertaining method of appeasement, and way better than some maudlin praying or chanting!
Later on, as Wal and I enjoyed a few of Uli's finest ales, the circus re-appeared at regular intervals and we even braved the rain at one point to join in the procession, upon enticement from the participants. The big-headed puppets, looking like they were suffocating under plastic rain hoodies, and their entourage, seemed only too delighted to have us join in for a while....Taiwan, ahh!
Cass was really laid low by her illness, so we had an exceptionally quiet remainder of the weekend. I did a few jobs on Saturday and we did the shopping together on the scooter. On Sunday, just so she could escape the apartment for a bit of air, we scootered up into Yangminshan. Instead of veering right to the fumuroles and Jinshan at the top of the mountain, we went straight through, down and around to the Cala Lilly fields nestled in an old volcanic crater and surrounded by soaring, lush mountains. It was busy with car, scooter and pedestrian traffic and we wound our way slowly though beautiful carpets of stark white callas, shocking blue hydrangeas and past rustic little cafes serving mountain vegetables and aromatic teas.
We eventually found ourselves on a tiny, undulating road that wound it's way along a ridge line of one of the mountains. We were amazed at the lack of traffic until after about 15 minutes, the road just petered out to nothing but a picnic table nestled under some pretty foliage and a family picnicking! We just did a u-turn and enjoyed the ride back around, noting the spot for a future adventure perhaps. We stopped for a little stretch at a lookout near the summit before heading back down the mountain, where the warm quilt of air lying heavy over the city rose up to meet us.
I'm reading Dr. Sleep by Stephen King and Cass is reading ?. Photos: temple preparations, an interesting car, procession happenings, ramen translation(!), a landslide area on our quaint little road and the lookout on the mountaintop.
