The matchmaking temple

Last weekend in Taipei I had the pleasure of being treated to dinner and dessert by Ariel and Melanie and their friend Robert. I met Ariel and Melanie through Hiroto-san, one of my stellar guides in Tokyo. Ariel looked exactly like Mandy Moore, but Asian. I forgot to take photos, sorry. We had delicious steamed dumplings at Din Tai Feng, a very popular Taipei restaurant, followed by shaved ice with cream, red beans, mango, and tapioca pearls at a nearby ice stall; then they took me to Shilin night market. One stall there was selling the cutest fake LeSportsac bags, but it was so crowded I couldn't think straight enough to purchase anything.
At one point in the evening Asian Mandy Moore asked me if I had a boyfriend and I said no; she and Melanie then excitedly proclaimed that I should go to the Taipei matchmaking temple - Xia-Hai City God Temple. She said that girls go there to pray for boyfriends (it worked for her); she also mentioned that you need to buy a piece of red thread at the temple and carry it in your wallet to bring good luck in love. So the next day I of course made a bee-line for this temple. It was a bit of a walk from the metro station, through an old part of town that is a bit dusty, and I had a hard time finding the temple as it was not on the exact block depicted on the tourist map and it was much smaller than I expected. But I made it. There were some English (as well as Japanese) signs and instructions posted but I didn't see them at first. I had visited other temples on my trip before but more as a tourist, to just observe the worshippers and take photos. This time was serious; I knew I had to had to go through the customary steps if I was to have any chance of this working for me. I knew that I needed the red thread, but how to get it? There was no sign saying "Red thread here." There was a lady at a counter near the temple entrance selling something so I went up to her and tried to communicate that I needed the red thread, but she did not understand me or seem very amused by me at all. She put out an A.P.B. for someone, anyone, to figure out what I wanted. Soon a very friendly young woman about my age - just another person visiting the temple that day - came over to help. I explained my mission. I expected her to just review the necessary steps and show me where to buy the goods, but she actually took me by the hand and walked me through each step of the process. She was so nice! I later found out her name was Ellen, the same name as one of my best friends back home!
The process we followed was a bit complicated and involved these steps, which differ slightly from what is written in the brochure (but I think we got the jist of it):

1. Buy "god money" (fake paper money) and 3 incense sticks at the god money stand. (This cost about $1.50.)
2. Buy the offering set at the counter. (This cost about $8 and contained the red thread and a piece of chewy lychee-flavored candy. The brochure says that the set also includes 2 coins but I never got these.)
3. Light up the 3 incense sticks (you will carry these until step 10; be careful to tilt them away from you so the ash falls on the ground and not on your clothes).
4. Face the incense burner (looks like a cauldron) outside the temple and pray to the Sky God. Briefly introduce yourself to the Sky God and explain why you are there. (Praying also involves bowing 3 times; it takes a while for an outsider to master the intracacies of bowing)
5. Inside the temple, pray to the City God and the Matchmaker (statues on the main alter). Introduce yourself to the gods and explain the type of person you would like to meet, their personality, etc., or let them know if you have a specific person in mind.
6. (In the side room), pray to the Buddha for blessings of wisdom, peaceful mind, and good fortune.
7. Pray to the wife of the City God for blessings of good marital and family relationships.
8. Pray to Yi-Yong Gong (guardians) to keep away evil spirits.
9. Have some engagement cookies, to get luck from the married couples. Eat the candy later.
10. Outside again, place incense sticks together in the incense burner. Move the red thread 3 times clockwise through the smoke. Then keep the red thread in your wallet.
11. Put the god money in the box. The temple will burn it for you.
12. Have some sweet "blessed tea." (provided free of charge from big coolers)

You only need to buy the offering set the first time you visit the temple. On repeated visits you can update your matchmaking requests and pass your red thread over the incense smoke again for good luck. When you find your mate you have to return to the temple to give thanks and bring a box of engagement cookies. According to the brochure, "5,229 couples got married in 2005 due to the miracles of the Matchmaker." Not bad stats. But it seems help from the gods is still needed after matchmaking: Women with partners also come to the temple and pray to the wife of the City God for their husbands to behave themselves!

I was very grateful to Ellen for helping me and I offered to treat her and her friend to tea afterward, but they had a date - with Andy Lau! no really, they did. (Andy Lau is a very popular Chinese actor and singer.) They are members of his fan club and drove into Taipei (from their town 2 hours away) to attend a members-only meet and greet session with him, the third or fourth such event they have attended so far. They are huge Andy Lau fans and joked that he is their husband. They offered to give me a ride in their car to wherever I was visiting next, on their way to seeing Andy. This was so nice of them. I wish I could have hung out with them more!

Taipei 101

Taipei is pretty cool. It would be even cooler if it wasn't 95 degrees (35 C). I'm enjoying the sites here as my big Asia tour comes to a close. The highlights of Taipei for me have been the temples and the foot massages. The Taipei 101 building (currently the tallest in the world but soon to be outdone by one in Dubai) is also impressive, especially the elevator that swiftly zooms you up to the observatory on the 89th floor in what seems like only 5 seconds. The night markets can be fun, but they can also be extremely crowded. You can find a lot of interesting snack food at the markets. I'm not brave enough to try some of it, especially the various meat parts, as well as stinky tofu. Stinky tofu really, really stinks. I'm not putting that in my mouth. But they have lots of delicious sweets here, such as shaved ice piled high with fruit or sweet beans, milk tea (with or without bubbles), and herbal jelly drinks and juices. I also had some of the best dumplings ever here in Taipei. On Saturday I went to Fulong beach, a little over 1 hour away by train; it was a lovely beach, worth the trip, although I got my first jellyfish sting there! Not a serious sting. The pain didn't last long. It really caught me by surprise as I never saw or felt any jellyfish in the water.
I have really enjoyed the temples here because they're very colorful and lively, especially Longshan Temple, and a nice change from the restrained temples of Japan. I went to Longshan in the evening and was surprised to see so many worshippers there at that time, praying, chanting, lighting incense, making offering to the gods, and throwing divination blocks. Also I went to the small City God temple, which will receive its own blog entry and captivating, detailed story soon! But I can elaborate on the foot massages now. I had two, the second being better than the first and also cheaper and at more of a traditional establishment, where they take reflexology seriously. It hurt like hell at certain points, but I felt so good afterward... Each area of the foot (and also the calves) is thought to correspond to another part of the body or a specific organ. I had major pain and tightness in the areas linked to my kidney, colon, pancreas, and vocal chords. Then again, it could just be that I haven't been wearing shoes with proper arch support. The funny thing about reflexology is that nothing on the map corresponds to the feet.
Today I will see the renowned National Palace museum and pack my bags for my red-eye flight to Los Angeles.

Earthquake!

Two earthquakes hit Japan yesterday. I felt a tremor around 5 PM in Osaka - maybe an aftershock. So I have been exposed to both a typhoon and earthquake now! I only experienced some wind and rain from the typhoon though. It has passed, although it's still very humid here. I'm starting to get a little burnt out on traveling and, frankly, I am starting to run out of money. I think I planned too much time in Japan, especially Osaka. There is not much to do here other than shop and eat, the famous dishes being okonomiyaki and takoyaki (doughy octopus balls). Osaka is popularly associated with the phrase kuidaore, meaning "eat until you drop." Tonight though I will have healthy vegetarian food at a buddhist temple in nearby Koyasan (Mt. Koya). I'll also be staying overnight at the temple. I'm hoping this excursion will give me a second wind and recharge my batteries in preparation for Taipei later this week.

Lost in Translation, found in the rain

I'm in a trendy Osaka cafe called Planet3rd right now (there are 4 Internet terminals free for customers, yay!) and their menu features the item "giant corn" (English translation) in the Snacks section. I want to order it to see what this giant corn is all about, but I'm too scared.
At the dollar store (100-yen shop) the other day, I saw some kitchen items with the brand name "Lube Sheep." I guess that's better than "Sheep Lube." I don't want to make fun of awkward English translations but they are all around me - I can't help it!
It has rained the entire day here in Osaka. I hear that a typhoon is on its way, but I don't know if the rain is part of that or just the normal rainy season that refuses to go away. It has rained a lot while I've been in Japan and it hasn't really bothered me up until now. It's a bit of a pain to sightsee and shop whilst carrying an umbrella all day, especially when you are expected to put your umbrella into a rack or wrap it in a plastic bag before entering any establishment, lest water drip on the pristine floor. They're kind of finicky here about things like that. I won't even get into the subject of wearing shoes indoors... But truth be told, places are very clean here, so the rules exist for a reason. The rain has also been annoying because I have had to buy at least 4 umbrellas since I've been here, because I keep accidently leaving them places (well, a cheap one broke so I left it behind on purpose). Also, I constantly have that Rihanna "Umbrella" song in my head.
Anyways...today I went to the Aquarium, one of Osaka's best sites. It was a bit smaller than I expected, considering the steep price of admission, but it is a great aquarium. The creatures seem to have adequate room to move around and play and be happy. The highlights were the super-cute river otters and the captivating, otherworldy jellyfish. I spent quite a while taking photos of the jellyfish. You will have to be patient to see them. Most Internet cafes do not allow you to insert external devices like cameras or flash drives. Now I know that in order to keep a good travel blog you should bring your own laptop with you. I will write some posts retroactively once I get home and have more time to share stories and photos. I have a lot of stories from this past week. I saw so much in Kyoto and Hiroshima as well as my overnight at Sensuijima, a little island in the Seto Inland Sea that none of the Japanese people I've told to about it have heard of. The highlights of the past week have been successful geisha hunting in Kyoto (I saw about 5, some only for a few seconds); walking through endless bright reddish-orange toriis at Fushimi Inari; my indescribable edo bath experience at Sensuijima (really, I don't know how to describe it, because I still don't know what was going on); and seeing the historic A-bomb dome in the now peaceful, vibrant city of Hiroshima. Stay tuned for elaborations!!

Cool mountain air and hot hot springs

After an exciting urban experience in Tokyo it was nice to get out into the countryside and breath some fresh mountain air in Nagano prefecture. I first stayed overnight in Matsumoto, which has a beautiful, well-preserved castle and a small-town, laid-back feel but modern infrastructure. It kind of reminded me of Portland, even though I've never been to Portland. There are lots of cute little shops and places to eat and you can walk anywhere in about 20 minutes or less. I stayed in a ryokan, which is like a bed and breakfast where the rooms are decorated in traditional Japanese style - simple decor and tatami mat flooring; you sleep on a futon mattress on the floor and use shared baths. This ryokan was not as fancy as some are and no meals were served, but my room was comfy and cozy, the building had lovely wooden floors, and the owner was super nice. She let me stow my big bag there while I did my 2-day excursion to Kamikochi and Hirayu-onsen. Kamikochi National Park is famous for its hiking, mountain scenery, and clear blue Azuza river. It rained a lot while I was there but I did a few hours of walking on some pretty trails. I stayed overnight in a dorm room at a lodge with meals included (only had 2 roomates - 2 Aussie girls), then took a short bus ride to Hirayu-onsen, a town with many natural hot spring public baths (onsen). The lodge at Kamikochi had an indoor onsen, but at Hirayu I was able to experience various outdoor baths (rotemburo), which smelled of sulfur and were really hot! (I couldn't stay in them for very long), and they gave me a yukata (robe), which guests wear when walking from their room to the baths and also to the dining room for dinner. I was a little lonely at the onsen, as most guests were retirees or other couples and families, but I enjoyed the onsen experience. You are totally naked when you bathe in an onsen, but they give you a washcloth that you can use a "modesty towel." Nowadays at most onsen the men's and women's baths are separate. The most important thing to remember is to wash yourself thoroughly before soaking in the bath. This is done in a public shower room between the changing room and the baths. At an onsen you can take time to relish the bathing experience and get yourself really, really clean. If you go in the evening you sleep very well afterwards.
I returned to Matsumoto for 1 more night, which happened to be the 4th of July. I found myself missing America more than I thought I would. Maybe I just missed having someone to speak English with and joke around with in American-style humor. I have not had any major problems getting around in Japan, but it has been more challenging than I expected. I feel illiterate and mute much of the time due to the language barrier, and the only people who will talk to me are other travelers, customer service people (who are so nice I feel guilty I can't respond to them properly), and random old men. I had heard that younger people in Japan are more likely to speak some English, but from my experience it has been mostly men over the age of 55 who dare to speak to me (in English or Japanese). I guess they have gotten over their shyness by age 55. There are English signs in most tourist areas, but sometimes only the most basic signs and explanations are provided. Thankfully many menus have pictures. I've been eating lots of pasta and green tea soft-serve ice cream.