8/30/10 Venturing Out

Space had a few things to do before work so I was on my own.  I ditched the scooter and used my feet; the last thing I needed was to get into an accident because I was people watching.  With no destination in mind I just walked and got myself lost, but not too lost, the layout of Hualien prevents that.  Ocean to the East, mountains to the West and canals on the North and South ends.  Essentially, I was boxed in for my own protection.

The smell of burning paper hung heavy in the air.  Down a narrow side street it got thicker and I turned a corner to find a small temple.  Across the street in an empty lot a woman was tending to a smoldering ring of fire.  She had finished burning a massive amount of ghost money.  My arrival in Taiwan coincided with Ghost Month, a time when the living make offering to the dead by burning paper effigies of things to be sent to ghosts of loved ones in the afterworld.  Key among these offerings is ghost money.  Stacks and stacks of it are burned so that the dead do not have to be destitute and penniless in the afterworld.  Paper cars, houses, televisions and bicycles are also burned.  True story:  recently there has been a push to replace ghost money with ghost credit cards in an effort to cut down on the amount of paper that is burned and the resulting pollution.  It has been largely unsuccessful since many of the dead never had credit cards and wouldn’t know how to use them.

Ghost money Ring of Fire

Burning ghost money on the side of a busy street

All the walking made me extremely hungry, so my broken feet and I walked to one of the markets in the downtown area.  It was there that I found a hot table type restaurant.  Most things were chopped up beyond recognition and there was no one to tell me what things were, so I played it safe and stuck to things that had a face.  In this case, whole fried fish, squid and some pork.  I have no idea what kind of fish it was but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that its name was “really boney fish intended to make foreigners look foolish as they attempt to eat it with chopsticks”.  My chopstick skills aren’t bad at all, but this fish had my number.  Tasty as it was the effort was too great once the biggest pieces of the filet were gone.

When I popped one of the small squid in my mouth it was clear why the proprietor was so shocked when I refused rice; this little thing was salty beyond belief, like it was packed with anchovies.  An interesting first solo food experience, it would get easier.