Saturday, August 21, 2010

Miaoli!

On my way back from Taichung to Taipei, I got a chance to stop off at Miaoli to pay my respects to my grandfather, joined by many other family members there. I haven't been to his house since I was a very young kid, probably sometime in elementary school. I remember there being an automotive school in the backyard but it looks like it's all been converted to basketball courts and bus storage now. Perhaps it's now being rented out to a school? Anyways, I got to learn how the process works. After bowing three times, we threw a pair of cresent shaped wood pieces. You pray a question before hand and the deceased answers it in how the two wood pieces land. 1 up and 1 down is yes, anything else is no. The answer was yes for the first throw. A very good sign. Afterwards, I also wandered back up to to my grandfather's old study room at the top of the hill. It is not well maintained and has been overrun by nature and the cement is failing. Never the less, I got to walk around, look through the window and experience the view from the roof. I'm so happy I got to visit Xiao Ah-Gong (as my sister and I called him) :). More photos can be found here.

4 comments:

  1. O M G that's the place we've always talked about! It looks serene and yet modern, with the school in the backyard. Must be like home coming for you? Any food around that area?

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  2. NOt really homecoming. It' sjust one of the places i remember from my youth. I didn't stay long enough to explore the nightlife.

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  3. So cool that you got to back and visit Xiao Ahgong's home in Miaoli. Was the bronze bust of him at the house, or at the memorial?

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  4. Yes, click on the more photos link at the bottom of the post.

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