Every corner of Taichung City

I'm gonna miss every corner of Taichung city.
This is where I meet Kurt, May, Poconz, Dettya and Rizki.
"Ninja", "like ka", "bi zui", "zhen de jia de" they say the most daily.
Wherever we go, always like a family.

I'm gonna miss every corner of Taichung city.
Lin, Jeff and the temple aunties.
Lin gives us orders and Jeff gives us money.
The aunties serve us food and we feel so happy.

I'm gonna miss every corner of Taichung city.
Johnson, Janet and Jia Yi are our temple buddies.
Sticking the coins and eating the piggies.
Sun Moon Lake trip is our most precious memory.

I'm gonna miss every corner of Taichung city.
THU, Keiko and Nancy.
We chat we laugh whenever we meet.
We jump high to get closer to our dreams.

I'm gonna miss every corner of Taichung city.
Kevin Temple or Kevin Tunghai comes whenever we need.
Soon, getting around in Taichung becomes easy.
No problem taking bus, train or BRT.

I'm gonna miss every corner of Taichung city.
I wanna thank AIESEC for giving me this opportunity.
Especially Ann yheen, Daryl, Josh and Wendy.
Without them, without the current me.

I'm gonna miss every corner of Taichung city.
Because I don't know when will I visit here again as I'm busy.
I love the people, food and hospitality.
When I come again, the first stop will be Yuanbao Temple in Taichung city.

Introduction of Yuan Bao Temple in Taichung

Here is Yuan Bao Temple (Yuan Bao Gong). If you just see outside the temple, you may think that it looks small. But, if you come inside, you will realize that Yuan Bao Temple is very huge and have many exciting ,amazing things waiting for you.

Okay,Let's "Come and see Yuan Bao Gong" 

Yuan Bao Gong is a temple that was established in 1791.It is located on the three-way intersection of  Daya Road ,Jinhwa North Road and  Meichuan west Road in Taichung,Taiwan. At the gate of the temple, there are 2 old trees which have more than 200 year, standing beside the main gate. It is very huge. The gate itself has an intricate design on the top.Inside the small tradition courtyard is a wrought iron ghost money furnace.The entrance to temple itself has more traditional multicolored wood carvings.Inside the temple,it has 5 floors.We can come here and worship.There are God Yu-Huan ,god Don-Hua, goddess Jin-Mu,god San-Kuan ,god of Agriculture, god Siyuan-Tien ,god Wu-Dou ,god dou-Mu and god Tai-shuei. 

Opposite the temple has a little garden. It is in-charged  by Lai Cuo Bu Cultural Association. Lai Cuo Bu is a place named after the incident which the Lai (surname) family produced sugar cane in Taichung and sold in China. The money that they earned was used to develop Lai Cuo Bu and Yuan Bao Temple is a religious center of the place. This is why most of the residents staying near Yuan Bao Temple have the surname of Lai. In the garden, we can come to enjoy this wonderful place because the garden has lots of trees and flowers such as Sakura, Rose, Marigold etc. Those flora and fauna are actually managed by the association itself. Furthermore,there are some fitness facilities for public use to work out and build their body. It is so shady, natural and beautiful for the people to relax.

Some history and guidance for the temple

Yesterday all of the AIESEC EP's (along with Kevin) did an informative tour of the temple and some of the surrounding area with a travel official from the government. It turns out there is two other small temples in the perimeter, and that the Yuan Bao temple grounds extend further than previously thought.

During the tour we learned about the first underground tunnel dug in Taichung (at the intersection of Section 1, Zhongqing Rd. and Jianxing Rd.), built many years ago to allow children to cross a busy street and get to school. There is now a lot of police surveillance in the area due to a large amount of homeless people attempting to live there.

We also learned about the Lai family, the founders of this temple who grew sugar cane in Taiwan, and after selling it in China it allowed them to earn enough profit to build the temple. There are many employees and volunteers at the temple with the surname Lai, but most aren’t actually related to the founding family. But, it turns out Kevin is actually a descendant of the family that built the temple!

Across from the temple there is a long walkway surrounded on both sides by flowers and workout machines. Interestingly enough, under the walkway, there is an underground river (which I really wanted to see, but there is no way to access it). The tour guide and her husband also take care of most of the garden along the walkway; there are many types of flowers and trees and the government doesn’t mind the couple taking care of them.

But, I think the most interesting thing I had learned all day was how the people pray in the temple. I am around the temple most of the day almost every day and see all the attendees praying, but I never understood why or even noticed a pattern in the people praying. I will communicate my understanding so far in the following paragraph.

In front of the Gods keep in each section of the temple there is a large, metal censer (used to store ash burned from incense). Each censer has three legs, is large and round, and has two protruding designs on the side (from what I have seen it has usually been a dragon). For all censers you only pray between the three legs; never aligned with them (as it is considered an insult to the Gods). To pray, you must think or mutter what you ask of the God whilst holding the incense at eyebrow level; this shows respect to the god. After you finish praying you either bow or bend three times, to show you want something. Lastly, you place one or multiple incense in the censer, and depending on your ideals you may place a larger incense in the censer of the God you appeal more to.

In the very front Yuan Bao temple there is a large censer. This censer is dedicated to the sky God, and to pay respects at the censer you must face the sky, not the temple. The tour guide said you often see people praying but face the temple instead of the sky, and this is incorrect (but they aren’t aware of the proper way to pray). Apparently, one of the AIESEC EP’s responsibilities is to inform people, but I have trouble believing they would listen to me… Haha, but you never know. As I am extremely curious about the people that visit the temple, I will update the blog with new information once I find out more.

THE EXPERIENCE OF TAIWANESE CULTURE

Taiwan for me is an enthralling experience. I get the opportunity to explore the rich Taiwanese culture and see some of the oldest temple in Taiwan. One of them is Yuanbao Temple. Yuan Bao temple mainly worships Baosheng Dadi, the god of medicine and health, built in 1791. During his lifetime, Baosheng Emperor (Dadi) was known to have done medical miracles.

My love for travel have open my mind to many experiences, for someone majoring in Law Science I never think I’ll find culture and history compelling but am glad to say, that have change because of this particular experience. One's culture is an amalgamation of so many different elements like history, art, cuisine, language and many other tangible and non-tangible aspects. Studying a single culture in-depth requires immense effort and time to fathom the core values and fundamentals

In Taiwan, I have the opportunity to make lots of new friends, from many countries from all over the world. Each one of them teach me something about life, about culture and about people. And then I begin to understand if the different cultures of the world are the essence of various human civilizations, which we have come to acknowledge on a global level and revere as part of each nation's core beliefs and traditions. And we need to respect and appreciate it.

Taiwan teach me many things. I learn how respectful people can be, and also how delicious food can be. Everything is new and different for me. From the remarkable “Old Temple”, tradition, good people, night market, milk bubble tea, stinky tofu, and the list goes on and on. There’s a lot of good things and experience inTaiwan, Taiwan give me the point of view of a totally different culture from mine. I become more open mainded and my perspective to see things have change because of this. Changing is the thing that I always prefer to be with, it is not only helping me in enhancing flexibility skill to adapt with changing of life, but also it pushes me so that trying my best to archive what I want. As a girl coming from Indonesian  Culture, I have never dream about join the tample run project before and gaining a completely new different experience like this, but now I’m glad to be part of it. I never  think I’ll really love this place so much.