Lugang Trip

We spent the afternoon in Lugang (after a fun morning of chatting online with Paul's family), a nearby town with a thriving tourist industry based on its historical buildings and crafts. We forgot our camera, but took a few using a roommates's, so hopefully I will soon be able to post a picture or two. We only visited half of the town and missed the biggest attraction, so we plan on going back soon. It was a lot of fun. The historical section has its old brick buildings either restored or rebuilt, so it has a cool feel. The streets are narrow and windy, and while there are tons for touristy stores, there were also plenty of houses with people living in them. It's a big attraction for the Taiwanese, as well as foreigners, so the shops had some fun stuff in them. We bought delicious passionfruit gelato from old woman (she was very aggressive in selling, but we felt her product justified it) and had a great time looking at some truly beautiful temples. The most beautiful one, the Nanjing Temple, was rebuilt/repaired and renovated (depending on your view) in 1971 and it is amazing. Luckily, one of the pictures we took was us in front of the main gates. Sadly, you cannot see the amazingly ornate and delicate stone carvings that literally cover the rest of the temple.

We (meaning mostly I) bought some great stuff. We got a two decks of cards with various minor folk deities on them, two sketches of the old parts of the city, a supposedly original painting of a girl and her kitten in the wet brush style, a gorgeously carved figure of Guanyin (the bodhisattva of compassion) or possibly Mazi, a sea deity who has a large temple in Lugang, two hand-painted fans and a pair of handmade shoes. The figurine was a bit of a splurge, but it was beautiful and delicately carved from a single piece of wood. The seller offered a better figure, but it was carved from a single, very large piece of sandalwood and was US$250. I don't think he was surprised when we declined it, but he probably figured he had nothing to lose by offering.

The fans have a great story behind them. I wasn't going to go in, but Paul thought it would be nice to have things that seemed distinctly Taiwanese and the fans seemed very traditional. Turns out the painter was a master craftsman, quite famous. I had read about him in the magazine on the airplane. He also LOVED Mormons. He had tons of pictures of him with missionaries and had a copy of the Liahona with many pictures of various temples. Apparently, the missionaries often visit and they love to have him paint the Taipei Temple for them (on fans), so he asked for pictures of other temples so he could offer more temples. The Taipei temple is so popular that he has a standing supply. It was pretty funny and cool at the same time. We, however, bought one fan with cherry blossoms on it and one with tree branches and calligraphy. Truly beautiful works of art. Then he painted a koi pond on the box, signed, and dated it all while we were waiting and while everyone else in the store was trying to buy things. The best part was that in the back of the shop he had his private studio where he painted modern religious art in intense, almost garish colors in an impressionistic style. They were super-cool and I wished he sold those too.

The handmade shoes were way cool. For $13, you pick the wood platform and the upper, and this woman made the shoes on the spot in like five minutes, most of that time spent measuring and fitting things just to your foot. If I understood her correctly, you could bring the shoes back and have a different upper or a heel put on for five bucks. The observant viewer will note that I picked uppers that perfectly matched my Easter dress (the blue one with the pink blossoms on it, for the less observant).

Well, I'm sure you're bored after hearing about us buying things, but we had a great time and who knows, maybe we'll get Christmas gifts when we go back.