A very cosy Mad Ratter's Tea party outside the Mitsugoshi The MTR arrives at Taipei Central.
Hellooooooooooo!
Its been a pretty good week in Taipei despite not coping well with the sudden contrast in temperatures. Its still the lunar new years festive season so although most people have gone back to work the parties just keep going. So I've kinda been party hopping and consuming copious amount of food. Otherwise I've been spending time with Ah Gong who is feeling much much better after that bad bout and he's pretty much on top of everything and back to his mischief self which is very comforting.
(This is Uncle Joh and Ah Gong whos is dressed like he's going to a meeting in Moscow)
The Parties 
拜天公 Bai Tien Gong
Food prepared for the ritual is extremely important. God of the Sky is vegetarian, but his warriors eat meat because they run around a lot and requires lots of protein and carbs. So you will see in this picture that the top table is prepared with vegetarian food for the God of the Sky and the bottom table is prepared with meat and cakes. Every year the best/luckiest time to make this ritual will differ and this year thankfully is at 11pm and not at 3am like one of the other years. There are a lot more things like having to bath and clense before hand, the position of the table, the table cloth under the candles (a beautifully embroidered art work which my Great Grandfather brought when he was a young man which is now a treasured heirloom). Its a fascinating tradition that's been practiced for thousands of years and there is still so much more I don't know about it.
Concert & Belly Dancing
This is the revered shua-shua-guo, a modern day personalised version of the hotpot, where you get a whole bunch of stuff and cook it in your own little cordron, so the party control freak doesn't dictate everything that goes into your dinner, and you certainly don't have to share spit with any one that you don't want to share it with. All for under 10 AUD.
拜天公 Bai Tien Gong
The birthday of Tien Gong, who is the God of the Sky (some might know him as the Jade Emperor), the chief god of all gods (there's a god for everything, eg. God of Earth, Goddess of Compassion, God of Money - are some of the better known ones, but there's also Goddess of Beds, God of the Oven, Goddess for Peace at the Sea, Goddess for Getting You Pregnant, God of War, God of Honesty etc etc you get the picture) in Taiwanese folk religion, falls on the 9th day of the year. This is an extremely important date in the lunar calendar as every household must prepare a humungus feast for God of the Sky, who is the god of all gods as well as all their warrior helpers who run around and does stuff for the gods.
Food prepared for the ritual is extremely important. God of the Sky is vegetarian, but his warriors eat meat because they run around a lot and requires lots of protein and carbs. So you will see in this picture that the top table is prepared with vegetarian food for the God of the Sky and the bottom table is prepared with meat and cakes. Every year the best/luckiest time to make this ritual will differ and this year thankfully is at 11pm and not at 3am like one of the other years. There are a lot more things like having to bath and clense before hand, the position of the table, the table cloth under the candles (a beautifully embroidered art work which my Great Grandfather brought when he was a young man which is now a treasured heirloom). Its a fascinating tradition that's been practiced for thousands of years and there is still so much more I don't know about it.Concert & Belly Dancing
On my first day I went belly dancing with my sister and I thought I was actually really really good at it. Then I went to a Concert by the Evergreeb Orchestra which was just beautifull...
元宵節 Lantern Festival
Then it was Yuan Xiao, or known as Lantern Festival in the West (only half right cos Lanterns are only one part of the festival or the Pyromaniac Festival for others), which is on the 15th day/first full moon of the year. Food of the
festival is Sticky Rice balls of all sorts of amazing flavours - except you get a year older with every one you eat, and I have lost count... opps. Brrp. This one is a black sticky rice ball with sweet sesami filling. YYUUUUUMMMMM!!and politics.
Meanwhile, its a month till the presidential elections and the UN referendum, but politics seem to be depressing and unusually uninpiring - if not for the following people - who definitely have my vote:
逆風行腳團 - a group of young people (mostly pan-green) who are walking around Taiwan 'upside down'/against the tide to raise awareness about reconnecting to this land and its people.
http://taiwanwalklog.blogspot.com/ or try the very brief & DPP sponsored English version.
Stephen Spielberg & Mia Farrow for using their profile to stand up for peace & justice in Darfur and to draw some appropriate attention to China's atrocious behaviour in the international arena and the compromises on both human rights and the environment China has made to keep its thin face stuck on for the Beijing Olympics. Politics has absolutely everything to do with the Olympic Games.
Miss Tibet - usually I cringe at beauty pagents cos its sexist consumerist anti-women tripe, but I think this young woman has gumption. She pulled out of the race last year because, surprise surprise, the Chinese delegation asked her to call herself "Miss Tibet-China" or quit. So she quit and made a great fuss about it - good on her. She's on tour in Taiwan and one of the very few beauty queens I'd want to be seen drinking tea with.
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