Saturday, July 25, 2009

Biking to Lukang and Taichung Port

Drew speeds through Changhua City.

Went out to Lukang in Changhua on the bike today with my friend Drew, who wrote the excellent analysis of the ECFA comics a couple of posts below this one. Lukang is where my wife's family is from, and I have a deep, longstanding affection for the city.

The really great thing about this guy is that he is wearing a bleach advert on his shirt.

Chatting in front of the temple.

Drying skin.

In market garlic sellers hawk a product that has been smuggled from China since the early 1990s.

The restaurant hasn't opened, but the day's supply of noodles waits on the countertop.

Chatting on the corner in front of Lukang's most famous bakery.

If you look carefully at many of the older buildings, you can find old phone numbers still emblazoned on them.

At an old time barbershop, the barber cleans a customer's neck and back.

At the famed Matsu Temple, the major rival to the one in Dajia, Drew watches a ceremony in progress.

Heads of dancers.

Lighting the incense tapers.

Men from a troupe of lion dancers take a break.

Gazing at idols.

Drew pointed out something I had never noticed: these Japanese-era Shinto style pieces in the back.

On the rear the dates have been scratched out. The KMT had no trouble desecrating Shinto shrines and architecture. Just try changing the name of the CKS Memorial, however....

Outside the temple the food stall all sell the same stuff. This makes choosing easy.

Pastries.

Lukang's famous alleyway.

This Japanese-era building, constructed in 1928, has been beautifully restored on the exterior.

One of the many shops selling traditional stuff.

Tourists rest from a hard day of excursioning.

In the lovely Lungshan Temple, my favorite in Lukang, a woman practices a traditional instrument.

Sticks of incense dry outside a factory.

Machining furniture.

An older street, with that cramped feel of authenticity.

Drew and I left Lukang about 10 and then headed up the coast to the Taichung port area. Along the way we drove under 61, the West Coast Highway, through some fascinatingly desolute terrain, dirty, wet, muddy, unpopulated, and jammed with fish ponds, chicken farms and miniature fishing ports, and other things that stank, even a cattle farm. After lunching by the port, we headed back up over Tatu Mountain and into Taichung, grabbed a beer, and then went back home, after putting in 110 kilometers for the day. If only every day could be this good.
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7 comments:

台中代書之房事達人 said...

鹿港是一個相當傳統的一個所在;大大順道去了台中港一路上若是在冬天的話那路就不好騎了^^y

Kaminoge said...

It's interesting to see where those Kasuga stone lanterns pop up in Taiwan. The big Matsu temple in downtown Fengyuan has several out front, not to mention a torii (traditional Shinto shrine gate) in the back.

Craig Ferguson (@cfimages) said...

How did you get across the river on the way back? Last time I was cycling in that area, the bridge was closed to bikes, scooters etc. Only cars, trucks could use it.

not_sure said...

The Parris Chang article that you linked to is interesting in that Chang posits Ma and Hu are working torwards a Nobel Peace prize. (to make history somehow for his (Ma's) own vanity ...if by sellout, so be it).

Michael Turton said...

"Bridge? Closed? But ossifer, we don't read Chinese! Sorry?"

Seriously, we just blew across the bridge on 61, I think, or maybe 17, at about 35 kmph. Scary.

It's an amazing ride down there in the muck and among the farms. Lots of stuff there you can't even imagine. In addition to the cattle farm we saw some old buildings being restored as historical sites -- in the middle of the mess -- hordes of Fiddler Crabs wandering around the mud flats, egrets by the score (not a single pic, they have ESP and always fly away before you can nail them). Really enjoyable.

Michael

Mad Minerva said...

Great pix! I haven't been to Lukang in a few years, but I do recall going to that famous pastry shop (yum!)

SY said...

Ah..., those oyster fries deserve special mention (the pic below the two Shinto post photos).