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Welcome to the last part of this photo blog series, Taiwan Travel: Art, Ritual & the Everyday. If you are just starting here, I recommend scrolling below & starting at part 1! And as promised, here is a map roundup of all the places I visited in Taiwan during this trip. I also included some places I visited during my last trip in 2018, but didn't get to visit them again this time. Make sure to check my notes for each location! :) Nanfang’ao Jin’an TempleBefore the end of my trip, my friends asked me if there was anything else I wanted to do before I left. I asked them if they knew of any temples for the goddess Mazu. They asked how I knew about her, & I told them a good friend of mine told me she always wanted to visit a temple for Mazu & asked if I could go see one during my trip. So we took a short road trip to the coastal town of Su’ao Township in Yilan County, Taiwan to visit the Nanfang’ao Jin’an Temple. By chance, I happened to be there during an annual event that’s scheduled according to the Lunar calendar, making the timing of my visit feel incredibly lucky. From what one of my friends explained to me, this event is essentially folks bringing deities from their local temples to come pay their respects to the goddess Mazu, with some of the statues portrayed even being split incarnations from a Mazu incarnate. Usually, followers will take the split incarnation to a temple that offers the main Mazu shrine to pay their respects. Followers believe that the divine spirits live in these statues, but since the statues cannot move themselves physically, their followers will travel with them to visit Mazu. I couldn't find the exact name of this event. Most of the events I read about online with a similar description say they usually take place in March/April, but this event I experience occurred in November. However, if you are interested in learning more, you can read about the various pilgrimages to Mazu that take place in Taiwan. Who is Mazu & why is is she so special to the Taiwanese people? Mazu was a historical figure who was devoted to her coastal community & died trying to help save fishermen from a shipwreck. After her passing, she was deified. In Taiwan and across the diaspora, people venerate her as a sea goddess and ask for her protection and guidance, especially for those who live or work by the ocean. With Su’ao Township home to the third-largest fishing community in Taiwan, it’s only natural that there are places of worship dedicated to Mazu. The Mazu shrines inside the temple were remarkable and really something to experience in person. There were three floors of shrines in total: one floor featuring a massive jade statue of Mazu, and the top floor showcasing a breathtaking golden Mazu. Here are some photos from the ceremony below. Out of respect, I did not photograph the temple interior since there were people praying, but there are plenty of photos online at the links I provided above! Images were photographed using my Nikon ZF & 24-70mm lens. Click on an image below to enlarge. I recommend viewing from a computer for the full experience.  
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Welcome to part 2 of this photo blog series, Taiwan Travel: Art, Ritual & the Everyday. If you are just hopping on, I recommend scrolling to part 1 below! National Center for Traditional ArtsWe got to spend a day exploring local Taiwanese art & culture in Yilan County! We started off the cloudy day exploring the National Center for Traditional Arts. Visiting at this time of year (late October/early November) was such a difference from the last time I visited in 2018, which was in August, when it was humid & hot as hell. And this was certainly a big difference, after having been traveling in the Philippines (where it was still hot & humid) for a month before hitting Japan & Taiwan. The National Center for Traditional Arts was fascinating. Not only was it surrounded by massive art sculptures, it was also filled with vintage & antique ephemera that celebrated the region’s heritage, along with shops & places of worship. At the temples throughout the site, my friend taught me some of the practices & prayers. Since people were praying, I chose not to photograph the spaces out of respect. Instead, I focused mainly on the art & vintage culture of the complex. Images were photographed using my Nikon ZF & 24-70mm lens. Click on an image below to enlarge. I recommend viewing from a computer for the full experience. 
  
  
   
 Misc photos from our phones: LOL, my friend asked me if I wanted to wear some traditional Taiwanese cultural attire. I said sure! She took me to a vintage-forward photo studio located inside the National Center for Traditional Arts, where they dressed me up & did my hair. We were laughing when they did my hair, because they took so much longer on me. They said they wanted to go all out because it was my first time there. My head felt like it weighed 5 kilos heavier. Anyway, if you ever find yourself here, check out the Photo Studio of Youth. They lent us the clothes for the day, so we explored the whole property wearing these clothes, haha!
Luodong Cultural Working HouseNext, we got to visit the Luodong Cultural Working House. Since rain had arrived, it was the perfect place to stop next because we got to be indoors, check out some of their art galleries & rotating exhibitions.
 
I love, love, looooove oil painting textures & of course had to get some close-ups. 
 
Ending the DayWe ended our outings with some really amazing vegan Taiwanese food — actually, some of the best vegan food I've ever had in my life! Not only were the flavors very authentic, but the food was also very affordable & high quality. We were so impressed by the food, we actually ended up going to eat at this restaurant more than once during my trip. Pictured below on the right is the owner of the restaurant & chef. I can't remember her name at the moment, but she started chatting with us because she wanted to know how we found out about the restaurant. We told her we happened to be driving by & saw their huge sign outside that said "plant-based restaurant", & we explained to her that it's my diet & I was curious about the restaurant. We had a language barrier, but my friend was kind enough to translate between us so we could communicate. She asked if I'm vegan & I explained I'm not actually vegan, but have been eating a mainly vegan & vegetarian diet for a decade (over a decade now). We exchanged stories on why we've made these lifestyle choices for ourselves. She shared that her whole family is vegan & that she decided to change her diet, because at one point she was very ill, & changing her diet healed her. She then showed me some photos she keeps at the restaurant to share with folks, from the days she was once ill with lupus & other diseases. As you can see from the very bad auto-translate below on her Facebook post, I also shared that bad health runs in my family as a result of poor dietary choices. And also because I just care about the environment & hate capitalism. I also shared with her how impressed I was with her food, how flavorful it was, how generous the portions were & how affordable the food was, & explained to her that vegan food in the US is very expensive & the quality isn't anywhere near as nice. She said I was the first foreigner to visit her restaurant & asked if she could share about my visit on their Facebook page. I said sure! Her restaurant has over 10,000 followers on FB! So if you are on FB, make sure to give Hao Ma Plant-Based Restaurant a follow & definitely stop by for a visit if ever find yourself at Yilan County in Taiwan. And as you can see from the photo below, these were the portions! To learn more about their story, visit their website. The website is not in English, but if you're on Google Chrome, it should give you the option to translate to your preferred language. I hope I can visit again one day & enjoy her amazing food again!
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If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments. If you are starting here, this is the last installment out of a 4-part series. I recommend you scroll down to part 1 & start viewing from the bottom up. This last set of photos was from one of my last days I got to spend in Tokyo. I remember it was grey & gloomy, & I was still processing a lot of emotions from being in the Philippines for a month prior. I knew it was likely going to be my last time there for a long time, maybe ever, so I wanted to make it something special & do something my inner-kid self would have loved. When I was growing up in the 90s, I was obsessed with Sailor Moon as a kid. It was easily my fav Japanese cartoon, & I still have fond memories of rushing home to watch it afterschool on Toonami. Ahhh, those were the good old days... At a young age, I was already obsessed with the dreamy aesthetics & space-themed stuff. It's no wonder why as an adult, I love astrology so much now, haha! I remember doing a search for Sailor Moon destinations in Tokyo, mostly expecting to find shops or something. Which, I would have been fine with, to buy some souvenirs. There was a Sailor Moon shop in Harajuku, but what I learned about was way cooler... Here's a Google Map guide with some places I recommend in Minato City! Make sure to check out the notes I left in the locations. Not much on this map, but it at least gives you an idea for how I planned my day. All blogs in this series can be found in the Mono No Aware tag. All photos were made using my Nikon ZF. BEST VIEWED FROM A COMPUTER FOR THE FULL EXPERIENCE. CLICK ANY IMAGE BELOW TO ENLARGE. AZABU HIKAWA SHRINE
 
  
  The Azabu Hikawa Shrine is a destination many Sailor Moon fans visit. It influenced the home of Rei (Sailor Mars) in the anime, & the red used in Sailor Mars' uniform is a reference to the red structures in the property. I was lucky when I visited, I was the only one there! I thought maybe it would be filled with tourists for this reason. ARISUGAWA-NO-MIYA MEMORIAL PARK  
 After the temples, I walked over to Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park, since it was walking distance. This park was one of the most beautiful urban parks I've ever visited. I didn't even feel like I was in the city anymore. I felt like I was transported somewhere else, it was unreal.
Before heading over to the temple, I'd actually ridden a bike over to Fruits and Season to get vegan fruit sandwiches one more time & enjoy them at the park. This park is special, because it's a backdrop for a location Usagi (Sailor Moon) & Mamoru (Tuxedo Mask) used to meet as well as have dates in the anime. It was so cute & I really felt like I was in the anime at some points. And that's the end of my Japan blog series, until I can ever go back again someday... Recently I was feeling really down, because instability just does that sometimes. When I finally got the motivation to start sorting through and editing all the digital photography I made in Japan, it made me so happy to revisit. I started to think about how lucky I was to have been there, to actually live my life, ride a bike everywhere like I used to, & get to reconnect with long distance friends. I even got to do something I really wanted & I rented a Japanese micro apartment. I was really excited about it because I love watching videos about micro apartment living in Japan, to wind down before bed, haha! I know there's a lot of negative things to say about a Filipina-American vacationing in Japan... I get it... TRUST ME, I GET IT.. Discourse is welcome, but I won't have anything to argue because I'm already aware. So judge away & assume what you want about me. Anyways, the end. Thank you for checking out my digital photos from Japan! I'll get to the film when I get to it. 🥴 Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, or subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates on my blog posts. If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments. |
NICA AQUINOIn this space I'll share digital previews of my film photography, updates on new artworks in progress, upcoming programs, inspiration & my other misc interests. Archives
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