Day 2: Taipei Exploration

 

Today was our second full day in Taipei, and the focus this time was a lot more on having discussions out in the city and at important destinations. We started the day with no delays, and after breakfast we all went right to the Dalongdong Baoan Temple. Our guest speaker, Dr. Sheng-Chong Hsu, was extremely knowledgeable about the temple and made sure to cover the historical context before leading us in. What I found most fascinating was the ways in which the temple had changed over the years, such as through different temple restorations and through events like the settling of soldiers inside the temple following the defeat of the Nationalists on Mainland China. It's interesting to see the effects of more recent history on this site given that many heritage sites I've visited in the United States have much older histories and have not changed as much in recent years. When we did eventually enter the temple, we got to learn a lot about the gods that people pray to and many examples of what people might usually ask for. And in addition to that, we had the opportunity to take in all the stunning architecture. Lastly, we were able to purchase incense sticks and pray to the gods ourselves. I thought this was a useful experience since it better helped me try to put myself in the shoes of the people around me I saw praying, and overall it helped contextualize why so many people value this temple. 

After this, we were free to get lunch and spend the early afternoon exploring different parts of the city. Our hostel is located near the Taipei Main Station, and yesterday a lot of our activities were located around that general area. However, since the temple was much farther away from this area, this gave us a chance to start exploring around a new part of the city. For me, this was really a reminder of how big of a city Taipei is and how easy it can be to miss out on interesting areas if I were to just focus on checking out the most popular tourist attractions or just focused on the close area around our hostel and Taipei Main Station.

Following the afternoon activities, we reconvened to go on a walking tour of Taipei. Unlike our previous tours and dialogues, this tour was not particularly specific to one aspect or site of Taipei. Instead, we checked out many different locations in the city with discussions ranging from religion, history, architecture, and more. It was definitely a lot to take in, especially given the brutal afternoon heat that tired a lot of us during this tour, but having a guided tour was very useful since we were able to learn a lot that we would not have by just exploring sections of the city ourselves. After this tour, we concluded the day with a group dinner at a nearby restaurant with great food and service!

So far, it's been obvious to me that one of the main benefits of staying in Taipei at the start of the program is the abundant exposure to the culture and history here. While I, along with many others, have been anxious to start improving our Mandarin and incorporating it more into our day, I've found that it's just as important to first get comfortable with being in a new environment that for me is so different from home. For this reason, studying the history and the culture as extensively as we have over the past two days has really helped me feel better acclimated to being in Taiwan, and I'm looking forward to using the rest of our time in Taipei to further my understanding of the culture and history here.

-David O'Brien