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2012年6月23日 星期六

A Journey in Time


This Saturday, I took a journey back in time. I went to the Tai O Dragon Boat Festival, now recognized by the UN as part of the world's cultural heritage. According to a pamphlet circulated to visitors, it has a history of more than a century during which each year around Dragon Boat Festival time, the four local gods viz. Yeung Hau (楊侯), Tin Hau (天后)  Kwan Tai (關帝) and Hung Shing (洪聖) would be "invited" from the local temples and then "escorted" by dragon boats from various local dragon boat associations on to "god boats" (神艇) which are then dragged through all the waterways of Tai O to bring peace and prosperity to its inhabitants and after that, the dragon boat races would be held.



The pier was decked decked out with all kinds of flags and pennants.



A special altar for all the dragon boat associations of Tai O.



All the fishing boats return to their base in Tai O to join in the festivities.



The "god boat" from the "fresh fish hong" (鮮魚行), one of the four "god boats". to take one of the statues around Tai O's waters.



The side of the pier were planted with a forest of flags to add to the festive atmosphere



A red dragon boat



A yellow dragon boat.



An official is watching at the side to ensure that everything went smoothly.



An oarsman on the boat playing with water whilst waiting for the dragon boat race to start.



Another oarsman waiting at the back of the boat



Some oarsmen preparing to start rowing



One oarsman was too bored whilst waiting and took a dip into the warm sea.



I took the opportunity to take a stroll around the village and found lots of old stuffs. This is an abandoned pipe.



This is part of a rotten wooden pole.



Some dried up logs.



One layer of wood after another can still be seen



Like the texture of this piece of rotten wood.



Patterns on another piece of abandoned plank. The ravages of time and scratches are evident everywhere.



Another piece of rotten wood.



plaster peeling off the wall of an abandoned house.



The broken locks on the door of another deserted house.



metal peeling off a piece of wood, which used to form one of the walls of a shed.



Another rusted cogwheel



Another piece of broken metal.



The rusted top of an oil drum.



Some rags hanging on a fence



worm eaten leaves



More worm eaten leaves. T



The former Tai O Police station is now turned into a heritage hotel.
.


The top floor was converted into a restaurant.



My lunch. Minestrone soup and  a pork chop bun with "shrimp sauce" and some French fries. " considered a local delicacy!  It tasted OK but not particularly great!

Time leaves its indelible marks on everything: our cultural and
religious customs, our houses, our tools, our materials. But it is not
content. It ravages Nature as much as it does our works and our institutions. It appears to leave untouched only one law: the law of change. That law is the law of time itself. But in the end, the law of time destroys even itself: time is turns out to be our mythic Ouroboros, the mythic snake that devours its own tail ! 


5 則留言:

  1. Sorry, have failed to answer your reply again in my blog. So have to do it here”
    「You are quite wrong my dear old chum.
    For before I met her I was as plump.
    Taking a fancy in me she became my better half,
    Since then like a knife my flesh and soul she carves.
    Do I still want her as a whole?
    “It’s better half!”, that’s how my answer goes.」
    [版主回覆06/24/2012 20:31:07]Lucky you !

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  2. I visited Tai O 3 years ago when the hotel has not yet openned.
    [版主回覆06/24/2012 20:26:32]Tai O is certainly a place which may well be worth your while to revisit. Parts of it are still filled with a kind of simple rustic beauty not yet untouched by commercialization.

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  3. Does it crowded to watch dragon boat in Tai O?
    [版主回覆06/24/2012 20:27:34]Not really. There were far less people at the dragon boat race than I anticipated.

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  4. Looks like you have had a great time there!
    [版主回覆06/25/2012 11:48:29]Yeah. Better than I expected. I thought there's be more people but perhaps the unstable weather conditions put off some people's desire to go there. So there were lots of space to move about even on the pier. I also took the opportunity to visit the "re-converted" former Tai O Police Station which I had heard about but never visited.

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  5. Like the four local gods gethering, we also had 4 members dry swimming on the table that day.
    [版主回覆06/25/2012 23:03:53]Did you make any offerings or did the lesser gods/goddesses made offerings to you.

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