a week and a day ago, mike landed in southern taiwan. a week before that, he landed in hong kong. we arranged to meet in this very modern and very special administrative region (SAR) of the people's republic of china (PRC, not to be confused with ROC) because shirley and kemal were hosting a wedding banquet for shirley's extended hong kong family. our time in this SAR of the PRC was characterized by skyscrapers, escalators, dim sum, bruce lee's likeness, the largest seated outdoor bronze buddha in the world, and the marvelous shirley and kemal. after my whirlwind 48-hour introduction to the freest capitalist economy in the world (highest ranked 15 years running), we headed for the ROC.
during mike's first week, we burned the candle at every possible end. mr chung took us to fo guang shan, the largest buddhist monastery in taiwan. fo guang shan means "mountain of buddha's light," and it is home to many monks, wisdom-seekers, and buddha statues.
during other non-working hours, we toured meinong (a center of hakka culture), ate stinky tofu and banana ice with red beans in cishan, had dinner with mr chung's family (the chungs), guest lectured at a surreal utopian high school, provided live accompaniment for gaoshu fire department's "hotel california" rehearsal, did lead vocals on "hotel california" with gaoshu's #1 metal band, and finally went south for some kenting-style R & R.photos: the big tian tan buddha at ngong ping on lantau island; buddha staircase at fo guang shan monastery in kaohsiung, taiwan; big golden buddha in front of wall of tiny buddhas at fo guang shan; radiant and wonderful shu-shu beneath a truck
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