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We went back to Changhua on Saturday, to see the parade go through there again.  I’m so glad we did, it was the best evening ever.  As it was the last time they were going through Changhua, the festivities were a lot lot bigger than the previous week.  The amount of people crowded on the streets was insane.  What was more insane, was the fireworks.

Firecrackers and firework boxes literally lined the street, and when walking past a temple or nearing any of the temple parades, you have to be wary incase a sudden BANG BANG BANG goes off and you’re in the midst of a firecracker explosion.  The parades themselves were pretty cool, there were people dressed up in God costumes, some of whom threw sweets into the crowd, and there were trucks covered in colourful LEDs, and playing tunes of some sort, or people on them with instruments.  There’s also the occasional truck with a pretty pole dancer girl on the back, singing.  It’s for entertaining the Gods.  Obviously.

The highlight of the whole evening was the display at the intersection we were standing at.  Remember that this happens at every intersection though.  There was a truck, and on the truck were MASSIVE canisters full of fireworks.  There were also the firework boxes all over the floor.  This was all about 8 metres away from the crowd.  When Matzu came through, it started off with a string of fireworks above us being lit, and glowing on the string.  Then the fireworks came.  And boy how they started.  They went on for about 10 whole minutes, and this wasn’t just one after the other, there were so so many going off all at once.  The nose was insanely loud, it was such a rush.  And the colours were so pretty!  It went on and on and on, not only little ones, and firecrackers, but massive massive fireworks that were beautiful.  The best ones I saw were like a fan of fireworks shooting out, leaving trails behind them, making patterns in like a semi-circle shape.  It’s hard to explain, but man it was so awesome!

When it had finally all finished, they lit a massive bundle of firecrackers in the middle of the street.  So loud! And so much smoke!  Mental.  What also struck me as amazing, was that the crowd was so densely packed, with hundreds of people fighting for a tiny amount of space.  But everyone seemed to look after each other in some way - a man next to me kept sayin “don’t worry, we are in Taiwan, not in Iraq” - interesting sentence, i guess he must have noticed me jump at the really loud noises!

Such a fun evening.  Gotta love them fireworks.

Matzu is a goddess of the sea, and in Taiwan (i think because it’s an island), there’s a massive festival that celebrates her.  In our area, a procession is carried around the county for about a week.  People line up in front of the procession in single file crouched on the floor - if she passes over you then you will be blessed.  We went to see it in Changhua in the evening, man it was mental!  There were so many people, and although we tried to queue up to be blessed, the queue went on forever!

The best part was that at any big intersection, they set off a load of fireworks.  The firework boxes are just laying out all over the floor, and suddenly you look down and think “huh, I should probably move soon…” and then all of a sudden they just all go off.  It’s so loud! And so bright!  Absolutely insane.  Ash kept falling on our heads.  Crazy.  Exhilerating though!

A few weekends ago, we went camping by a waterfall - it was great to get away from the pollution of the city.  On our way back we were being shown where a hike was where you can see monkeys, when we found outselvs amongst a massive temple celebrations.  There are temples everywhere in Taiwan, and they are all absolutely stunning, however this one has just been renewed or something, so there were hundreds of people in costumes and dancing.  The strangest and weirdest part, was that some men and a few women, were walking slowly towards the temple, with maces, or swords, or sticks with spikes on, and hitting themselves on their own backs.  It was insane to watch.  They ended up with blood everywhere.  Apparantly they believe that the Gods take over their bodies, so they can’t feel the pain, and they do it to show sacrifice. 

Another weekend we went camping again, in a huge park thing.  We did some hikes, and the paths are made out of logs.  As steps.  So everytime you tread you have to balance on a tree log.  It was fun!  The path goes along a ridge top, and at one point you can see where an earthquake made the path disintegrate and fall down the mountain.  You can see it disappearing.  Thankfully they’ve built a new one.