Taiwan 2025 - Daoist Temple, Main Worship Area

As the last chapter in this overall series on our Taiwan trip of 2025, we'll visit the temple complex where Chenjean's mom's ashes reside.  It has become a custom every year for us to pay her a visit, and once there we duly made our way to where her urn was located in a vast mausoleum, accompanied by a minder from the facility of course.  She denied permission to take a picture when asked, so I kept the phone pocketed (usually on excursions of this nature I keep the Bigger Cahoona at the apartment).

But later on, while visiting the temple itself, the manager stuck with us and said pictures were no problem, so I snapped a few in this room.  It is here that we learned that the large figure in the center - typical of what is seen in Buddhists temples everywhere - is not actually that of Buddha himself, but rather a disciple of his.  Interesting...

Actually "Buddhist" is a misnomer here, because the religion to which Amá belonged was Daoism; she was technically a Daoist, not a Buddhist per se.  Analogous to denominationalism in the Christian world, this is an offshoot from the original group.

There was absolutely no one in this entire complex except us, so we got quite the tour, stopping for tea at one point in their kitchen area.  This is when we were given a book as an introduction to what Daoism is all about.  While drinking our tea I perused through its pages, reading the first chapter fairly closely, and discovered that the concepts regarding "The Way" (what Dao means in Mandarin) to heaven are identical to what is described in the Bible concerning spiritual bodies, souls, and angels among other things.  After describing my own experiences and studies in such matters, the manager and the custodian (who joined us for tea) became quite excited at hearing about the commonalities between Daoism and Christianity.  They encouraged me to keep the book, which I did, and to join them for a study one day with an eye to becoming a Daoist myself.  I said No thank you, that the Bible is all we need and I'll stick with that.  Still, we all enjoyed the mutual respect earned as a result of this interaction.

Taiwan 2025 - Decorative Fixture in a Metro Subway Stop

A decoration adorning fixtures at a Metro Station in either Taipei or Chiayi, I forget which.  One thing I wish the D850 had onboard is a GPS chip, which would solve for good any question on where exactly a picture was taken.  There is an accessory that plugs into the top where the flash unit normally goes, but don't have the inclination to spend the $300+ to get it.  Occasionally I remember to also take a reference pic with the iPhone, but not every time...

Next, a few pics will be posted in a very special place to finish out this long series on our most recent visit to Taiwan.

Taiwan 2025 - Chiayi Area, DT Baseball Statue

I've seen this guy countless times riding by on the bus leading into downtown Chiayi, and have always wanted to get a pic.  Finally got the chance once I gained more confidence in the abilities of the new iPhone 15 Pro Max.

No one in my family there is at all interested, so haven't followed the sports culture in Taiwan.  I have seen some evidence in the United States, however.  Remember a TV story once in the '80's about the Little League World Series.  In this piece they compared what it was like the night before the final game in the hotel where the kids on the American team were staying, versus what the kids were doing where the Taiwanese team was staying.  The American kids were up late, venting their excitement by jumping on the beds, yelling at each other, and engaging in pillow fights.  Then the story cut to the Taiwanese kids, who were already in bed fast asleep, responsibly resting for the next day's contest.  Guess who won!

Taiwan 2025 - Chiayi Area, Roadside Mannequin

...and speaking of mannequins, always get a kick when I see one of these along the roadside.  Makes perfect sense, really.  Battery below works the lights for nighttime operation.

Taiwan 2025 - Chiayi Area, Rusty Old Bicycle

Rusty old bicycles somehow make good subjects for a picture...

Taiwan 2025 - Chiayi Area, Overloaded Pickup

I am forever intrigued with the vehicles created for use in other countries, especially holdovers from earlier periods of development.  In all our travels back to Chenjean's homeland I'd never seen anything quite like this...

Taiwan 2025 - Chiayi Store, Inside Signage

In spite of the revelation described in yesterday's post, the Bigger Cahoona and I still found opportunities for interesting pics, such as the one above.  My gosh, what a huge store...

So that does it for the castle/château/store excursion.  Now that we're in the Chiayi area, will post a few in the city as well as one or two from the Zhuqi area.

Taiwan 2025 - Chiayi STORE, Retail and Lab Areas

I had already concluded that, though my relatives called this place a castle, it's not a castle.  But it didn't dawn on me until finding these two rooms that it isn't really a château either - it is neither a castle nor a château.  It is a STORE!  Yes, a SINGLE GARGANTUAN STORE selling a SINGLE LINE of products!!  My bubble was completely burst: the Jourdeness name is indeed of a French family, but one very understandably still back in France while they unload tons of money to build stores like this elsewhere.  My gosh, how slow was I with this epiphany!

This shift in paradigm dampened my interest considerable in our visit, but the ladies were with us so the guys gamely tagged along...

Taiwan 2025 - Chiayi Château, Notre Dame Diorama

Not a bad diorama on display of the Notre Dame in Paris.  Yes, very French.  Not surprising.

Taiwan 2025 - Chiayi Château, Inside at Last

At last we made our way inside to wonderful, cool AIR CONDITIONING!  How much of this house is available to the public?  It appeared as though we were able to wander freely without restriction of any kind.  We lingered in this area for a while just to cool off before continuing our obviously self-guided tour of the place.

The car must have been used to ferry a very important member of the Jourdeness family around the streets of Chiayi...perhaps the originating patriarch who took an unexplainable liking to this part of the world.

I was a little miffed at this car, however, because it prevented my getting under the exact center of the dome for this ceiling shot: