Naruwan Taiwan (Part 3): The Rest of Kaohsiung, More Hiking, Election Campaigns, and the 2014 International Conference on Asia-Pacific Studies

- November 12-15, 2014, Wednesday to Saturday.

- My legs and feet were cursing after my hectic second and third days, so my fourth day was intended for exploring more of Kaohsiung. As always, I woke up early in the morning, went to Zuoying Station, and looked for the Lotus Pond. The Lotus Pond is a man-made lake where many contemporary pagodas and temples are situated.

- I could not find the road that would take me to the Lotus Pond, although it was supposed to be a bit near. I asked someone and told me that it would be a far walk, so as usual I took a cab. The cab driver somehow read my mind and dropped me off exactly at the twin pagodas that I wanted to visit first. Thankfully, I was able to arrive at the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas just before the big tour groups swarmed the area. These pagodas from the 1970s are identical, only that one has a giant dragon and another with a giant tiger. People are supposed to enter the dragon's mouth and exit at the tiger's mouth, in order to turn bad luck into good luck.

Talk about bad lighting. Boohoo. If only someone could reflect some light on me.

Afternoon would've been a better time to do a shoot, but that would also mean more tourists to deal with.

Big mouth.

View of the Wuli Arbor from the twin pagodas. 

Inside the dragon.

The lotus pond was called as such because of all the lotus flowers that grow in the pond.

A colorful temple across the street from the twin pagodas; it had some souvenir vendors outside.

Dragon and phoenix.

From afar.

- Next to the twin pagodas is the Spring and Autumn pavilions built in the 1950s. Between these pavilions stand a long dragon with a Guanyin or Kwanima standing on it. However, what caught my fancy was the long walkway that connect the pavilions to the Wuli Arbor. I had a little photoshoot session there.

Giant dragon with Guanyin on it.

Wuli Arbor.

Had to do a mandatory shoot. Lighting seemed better here.

Wuli Arbor front view.

- I passed by the Yuandi Temple just before reaching the Confucius Temple. This temple was originally built in the 1600s, but due to Japanese occupation, only a certain part of the temple was left. It was soon relocated, and its missing parts were rebuilt. Today, as with most Confucian Temples, it had exhibits on Confucian sayings and other Confucian written works, wardrobe, and musical instruments.

Yuandi Temple.

Another nice temple across the road with a nearby souvenir shop.

Confucius Temple.

- I found a cab and hopped on on the way back to Zuoying Station. When I told him I wanted to go back to Zuoying Station, he seemed to have heard the most ridiculous thing. Apparently, the side of the pond where the Confucius Temple was located was (a long) WALKING DISTANCE from the Zuoying TRA Station. The Zuoying TRA Station is located at the back side of the Zuoying MRT and HSR exits. Had I known about this, and if the person I asked knew about this, I would have walked to and from the lotus pond. I partially blame the not very detailed map inside the train station too (in fairness to the Kaohsiung MRT stations, most of the vicinity maps located in each MRT station usually shows a clear idea of the landmarks that are nearby the station. The one in Zuoying, however, was a bit vague.)

- After leaving Zuoying, I went to Yangchengpu Station to have a small lunch and visit the Kaohsiung Museum of History. The Kaohsiung Museum of History (free entrance) was originally the city hall during the Japanese occupation. The main halls exhibited the bloody 228 Massacre, an anti-government uprising in 1940s Taiwan that served as a stepping stone for the Taiwan independence movement.

"I love Kaohsiung" on the way to the Kaohsiung Museum of History in Yangchengpu.

Renovations, renovations.

A bloody diorama.

Puppet!!

- There was another special exhibition on a long-running Taiwanese magazine, and two other exhibition halls were temporarily closed due to renovation. The museum itself was quite small, but for those who have some time on their hands, the museum would be an interesting place to visit and learn more about late modern Taiwanese history.

- I returned to Sizihwan Station afterwards, and went to the Martyr's Shrine. My hostel owner informed me beforehand that going to the Marty's Shrine shouldn't be too difficult since it was near our hostel; I would just need to climb a flight of stairs, cross a street, climb a second flight of stairs, and turn right. She even drew the flight of stairs on the map. However, when I saw the flight of stairs, I initially thought it was short, but the first flight of stairs took me to Narnia, I crossed the street, and the second one took me to heaven. It was a hike from sea-level (and I know this because Sizihwan, a port/harbor area, is located beside the South China Sea,) up to the top of the mountain. The second flight of stairs was a bit worrisome because I felt that the stairs were slowly being claimed by nature, and at one point I wanted to hold on the handrails because I was tired, and was startled by the presence of a big mountain lizard almost twice as long as my hand (from bottom of the palm to the tip of my middle finger.)

Big lizard.

- I finally reached the martyrs' shrine, and because I hiked all the way up there, I guess I was a martyr myself. The shrine was originally built as a Shinto shrine, but the shrine was demolished in the 1970s after Japan shifted diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China (mainland China.) The then mayor rebuilt the shrine, but instead made a shrine, with Confucian architecture, in order to honor those who have perished during the numerous wars particularly in the early 20th century.

Japanese-style arch; remnant of the Japanese architecture that one stood in the Martys' Shrine. 

FINALLY.

I was a martyr. You can see my effort through my red face and sweat-soaked hair. 

Confucian style.

- There was a nice view of the Kaohsiung harbor from way up the mountain, but I was too tired to appreciate the view, so I just descended to flat ground from the mountain. I had a lot of remaining time before sunset, so I decided to visit the Old British Consulate of Takao (Takao being the old name of Kaohsiung.)

- Just when I thought I could finally do some relaxing after hiking up the Martyrs' Shine, guess what, I had to hike another mountain to get to the Old British Consulate. I nearly cried. This time, I had to go through some slopes and stairs, and I got lost in the middle of my hike because at some point the arrows and signs that point to the Old British Consulate were nowhere to be found. There were a number of houses though, and I was able to ask someone and find my way. There are actually two ways of hiking up the British Consulate. I took the side entrance near the pier because it was nearer from my hostel, while the usual way up was to climb stairs from the ground up at the sea-front side; the latter one was easier and is normally done by tour groups, while I realized that I took the more difficult route upward, but I did not know that beforehand.

- The British consulate was built during the mid 1860s when Taiwan was forced to open to foreign trade. According to the consulate tour guide, a free tour guide hired by the Kaohsiung tourism office to do tours in Mandarin to visitors of the consulate, the Old British Consualate of Takao was also an important office during the second opium war, since the British were involved in bringing opium to China and Taiwan. Also, the office was also strategically located near the port, where ships would come and dock. This dock is still used today (but not for opium, of course.)

- The Cijin Island can be seen from the British Consulate. The island is a popular tourist destination, but I did not bother visiting it because people only go there for the seafood, but it had not much tourist attractions. I was happy with just taking a photo of it from the British Consulate.

Cijin Island and the island's lighthouse.

85 Sky Tower from the Consulate.

- I walked around the British consulate, and I descended via the sea-front stairs, and passed through the National University of Sun Yat Sen (NSYSU) on the way back to my hostel; I wanted to see the campus so I wouldn't get lost the day after.

NSYSU's main entrance.

- My legs hurt like hell so I rested in the hostel until sundown. I asked my hostel owner, who happened to be in the hostel, if she could recommend some place near to eat. I did not want to go fat anymore, because my legs might just give up and die on me. My hostel owner suggested that I go to the temple near our hostel, since the temple has a little night market everyday. I decided to go there because I wanted to feel the local life in Kaohsiung.

- The temple named Daitiangong was around a five-minute walk from my hostel, and not only did it have some stalls and eateries, but what surprised me was the big stage in the temple courtyard. There was going to be a play, and one of the vendors told me that I went to the temple at the perfect time, because they were celebrating the god's birthday, and so they invited local Taiwanese theater actors to present a play. This is a typical Chinese tradition, although the play that we were going to see was not the authentic Taiwanese theater performance, but rather, a modernized execution of a period play.

Daitiangong.

- The play started around 7:30, just after eating my stinky tofu and oyster cake dinner, and I realized that I could only understand half to aroudn 80% of the play, because I do not speak Taigi, or the local Taiwanese language. I speak Hokkien at home, and is linguistically closer and almost mutually intelligible with Taigi, but Taigi, for me, is like speaking a Minnan language with an Italian intonation. Taigi also uses some words that are understandable, but not typically used in Hokkien. I was still happy and proud that I was able to somehow understand the play. It was about a family feud, particularly between the uncle and one of his nieces; the story also involves a complicated love story, but as always, the villain (the uncle) was caught, and everyone lived happily ever after.

The stage.

Sword fight between uncle and the niece.

A really weird love story if you ask me.

Happily ever after.

Bye bye!!

- I didn't set my alarm for Thursday morning as a reward for my accomplishment in seeing most of Kaohsiung's must-sees, as well as Tainan, for the past few days. It was also the first day of the 2014 International Conference on Asia-Pacific Studies, but the participants were not expected until 3pm. I spent my morning by going back to Pier 2 and exploring it more. I saw some interesting sculptures.

Larger than life cat sculptures with the lotus mudra as faces.

This is one huge sculpture of a demon dog (??) intimidating a man holding a mop-spear.

Inside one of the old warehouse-turned-galleries.

The white on top of the mountain is the Marty's Shrine. The day before, I started from flat ground to way up there.

- I also visited the Takao Railway Museum (free entrance,) which used to be the Kaohsiung Harbor Train Station. It was in operation during the Japanese colonial rule in the early 1900s. The museum was small, only around three rooms showing how the offices used to be, but my favorite part of the museum was the exhibit outside the buildings - the old trains.

A small interesting museum.

Old office.

Big old trains.

More trains.

- Realizing that I had more time on my hands, I went out of the way and went to Sanduo Shopping District MRT Station, and walked to the 85 Sky Tower (aka Tuntex Sky Tower.) This skyscraper functions as a residential building, a hotel, and a department store; it used to be the tallest skyscraper in Taiwan before Taipei 101 was built.

85 Sky Tower/ Tuntex Sky Tower.

- I ate lunch at FE21 mall, located above the MRT station, and headed back to Sizihwan to go to NSYSU. Since I arrived at the university way ahead of schedule, I took a photo of the status of Chiang Kai Shek and Sun Yat Sen at the university quadrangle, and visited the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Villa (aka Sizihwan Art Gallery) located within the campus. Chiang Kai Shek was one of the significant leaders of the Republic of China (aka Taiwan.) He fled to Taiwan after having conflicts with the communist party of China.

Welcommmme.

Sun Yat Sen and CKSC.

Wearing my polo barong.

- The art gallery showed contemporary artwork by a local artist, although I was more interested in going around the house. Unfortunately, the other rooms were locked apart from the gallery rooms, but at least I was able to see one of Chiang Kai Shek's old cars.

A rather small house.

One of Chiang Kai Shek's old cars.

- I finally attended the conference at almost 3pm. We watched a film called "Ilo Ilo," a 2013 Singaporean film directed by Anthony Chen, and tells the story about a Filipina domestic helper in Singapore, as well as the struggles of the family that hired her during the economic crises of the late 1990s; the film was relevant to the conference's theme, "migration and transformation in the Asia-Pacific." We had a sharing session after watching the film, and we all introduced ourselves, before having a grand Chinese dinner at the Sizihwan Sunset Beach Resort, a resort surprisingly located within the university.

Professor Samuel Ku, professor and director of the Institutde of China and Asia-Pacific Studies in NSYSU, and Kristina Kironska, PhD candidate in NSYSU.

With friends from UP.

With Professor Samuel Ku.

- The next day, we had our formal opening ceremony, and a morning session with keynote speaker Dr. Mark Beeson, professor of international politics from Murdoch University, Australia. He talked about the roles of international organizations (i.e. ASEAN, APEC, etc) and how effective they were in mobilizing the people among the countries involved.

The NSYSU pedestrian tunnel entrance; I use this to go to NSYSU. It used to be an air raid shelter during the Japanese colonial period, and before NSYSU was built.

Opening remarks by Prof. Samuel Ku.

Opening remarks by Prof. Jorge Tigno, chairman and professor of the Political Science Department of UP Diliman. The Political Science Department was a co-organizer of the conference.

Prof. Mark Beeson from Murdoch University.

- There was another panel session before we were entertained by the "24 Festival Drums" performance by the Malaysian Students Association of NSYSU. After lunch, I was schedule to present my paper together with the paper of Professor Chih Cheng Meng from the National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, and my friends' jointly-written paper about the narratives and voices of the OFWs lives. Our papers were well-received, although some comments and questions for clarifications were raised, as usual. My paper's topic is about Bollywood's role in perception transformation of the Filipinos on Indians migrants in the Philippines.

I like their "acting" while doing the performance.

They had to act drunk sometimes because they were supposed to portray people playing the drums while drinking alcohol during local festivities.

Our panel session, starting with Prof. Chih Cheng Meng.

Ms. Glennis and Ms. Genevieve.

Sir Edge.

Finale of our panel session - with Bollywood sparkles. Hahahaha.

Photo with our panel chair and discussant Prof Tigno, and discussant Prof. Caparas. 

- After our session and getting to breathe normally once again, we had our afternoon break before attending the last panel session of the day. We had dinner in the campus afterwards before we set of to an special optional night tour organized by the university. The night tour was actually a trip to two campaign offices of the two candidates for mayor, Yang Chiu Hsing of the KMT (Kuomintang,) and Chen Chu of the DPP (Democratic Progressive Party,) in line with the on-going election season in Taiwan. Yang Chiu Hsing had a more serious campaign strategy, while Chen Chu had a more child-friendly strategy, using her cartoon self as a way to reach to the younger generation. Chen Chu is currently the mayor of Kaohsiung, and is running again this for this year's elections.

Yang Chiu Hsing's campaign office.

Inside the meeting room.

Cheng Chu's campaign office. Notice her cartoon version as her mascot. Haha. She even has her own merchandise!!

Campaign office facade.

With her spokesperson (seated.)

- Sir Edge, Mychal, Ms. Glennis, Ms. Genevieve, Prof. Caparas and I decided to visit the night market after our visit to the two campaign offices. We went to Liuhe Night Market since they all wanted to buy some souvenirs. I served as their tour guide and translator.

Mychal was terrific with his gun-shooting skills. He won a dragon stuffed toy. Haha. 

- We all got home at almost midnight, and had to rest for our last day. We had two panel sessions in the morning before listening to a special presentation by the Taiwanese Aborigine Choir. They were wearing Atayal clothes during their performance, but I was not sure if all of them are from the Atayal indigenous group (aka Taiyazu.) These singers are mostly Christian converts, and are trained by Reverend David Kou. They sung a Mandarin song, an indigenous song (but I am not sure where from,) and a church song. After some of us had photos with them as soon as they finished their performance, the choir members left, and we had our lunch,

NSYSU's Administration Building.

Mychals' presentation on the Ati's of Boracay.

Performance by the Taiwan Aboriginal Choir.

Performing a folk song.

I love their Atayal clothes. 

- The best treat that the university arranged for us was an afternoon half-day city tour. We first visited Yong Qing Elementary School, a school situated within the walls of the old Fengshan County walls. Later on, we went to the East Gate of the Old City of Fengshan County. It reminded me of Manila's Intramuros, albeit with a Chinese twist.

At Feng Qing Elementary School with Janca serving as our tour guide.

Old walls around the school.

The East Gate of the Old City of Fengshan County.

Saw this from the wall.

Jocelyn and her photoshoot session. Haha.

- Finally, we visited the Kaohsiung Museum of Military Dependents. The residential buildings that surrounded the area in Zuoying used to be villages for the military (particularly the navy) dependents; the residential buildings now serve as the dependents' new home. The museum was built in order to exhibit and remember the old military dependents villages that once stood in that area. Old uniforms, manuscripts, kitchen and sewing tools were just some of the things exhibited in the museum. I fancied the corner of the museum where people could dress up like navy officers and have some photos taken.

Kaohsiung Museum of Military Dependents Village.

Dressin' up as a sailor.

With Sailor Jocelyn.

She requested for this shot.

- We all boarded our tour bus and headed back to the university. We said our sincerest thanks and sad farewells to Professor Samuel Ku, professor and director of the Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies of NSYSU, our colleagues and new friends, and the hardworking staff that facilitated the whole event. I went back to my hostel for a big rest, had dinner in a local eatery nearby, and slept the earliest in a long while. I had to say goodbye to Kaohsiung, my home for a week, the next morning. Despite this, I was looking forward to my next leg in my Taiwan adventures.


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