So, I arrived in Taiwan just over a week ago now and literally hit the ground walking. I was picked up at the airport and driven to the spot where U-Theater was, though they were hard to track as they were on the move. I was let out of the car to greet them and only then discovered that the manager hadn't told them I was coming but was keeping it as a surprise! They were shocked and delighted, greeted me with huge smiles, dropped jaws and hugs and applauded to hear I would join them for the rest of the walk. I was rather abashed.
We took some, and by some I mean countless, photographs as they are being followed by a team of no less than 4 photographers and with HUGE digital cameras and they're also making a documentary. So right, lots of pictures turns out to be routine. We stopped no more than 10 minutes before continuing on (I with them now leaving my luggage in a car) to finish the days 26km walk.
So maybe now I should catch some of you up on what I'm doing here. The troupe is called U-Theater and they are traditional Taiwanese drummers with a presence like I'd never seen before. I met them at the Watermill Center last summer and was so taken with them that they've welcomed me to come along on their 20th anniversary tour in which they are walking across Taiwan down the east coast and now all the way back up the west coast to Taipei where we should arrive in I think another 3 weeks time.
The key to all this walking and to their stage presence it seems is meditation. The only instruction I've had is to put my consciousness in my feet. Or as one girl put it in response to my aching knees "maybe you can put your heart...here" and pointed at her foot. So that's what I'm working on. It's not easy but when I manage it, I am astounded at how much easier the walking becomes. And thank goodness because we walk everyday anywhere between 10 and 30 km rain, wind, heat, whatever. Really, I'm loving it.
One of my favorite parts of the day is when we stop for a break (duh) but not just because we get to have a break. Breaks involve the expected sitting, stretching, chatting, water and snacks. but they also include a plethora of mysterious powders, liquids, wedges and balls of unidentifiable substances which the company members add in abundance to their water bottles. So I am constantly trying new things. Of course meals and nights out to the fairgrounds are similarly full of strange new consumables. I am constnatly asking "what's this?" and I can usually expect one of 3 responses: "chinese medicine" or "good for health" both of which I have learned to mean it will be horribly bitter. Or if they can't find the words we turn to the reliable "try. you try" in which case I can end up with anything from coffee flavored vinegar to a surprisignly delicious dessert of tofu and sweet red beans in an icy syrup- which doesn't sound so great, I know- nor does it look so great I admit but I happily ate a full bowl of it last night so I've decided it must be good despite appearances.
We mostly stay in temples where there are large rooms (one for men, one for women) lined with sleeping mats and blankets. Here we girls lie on our backs with our feet up on the wall trying to reverse the effects of the day's walking as they have warned me our feet can grow up to 2 full sizes from all the walking! Which just sounds crazy, but I imagine they know better than I. The temples themselves are each more astounding than the last. The one below should be noted as the elephants have 6 tusks each!
This is a bodhisatva statue at the same temple. One of the earlier 6 buddhas (before the most recent buddha which is who we tend to think of when we say Buddha), this one would sometimes take the form of a woman.
Then sometimes we have half days for walking because they have a performance, or we stop at some historically significant site. Like this beautiful afternoon at the first temple built in honor of Confucious where we listened to several groups of children and adults playing traditional music from the silk road and the Qin (?) Dynasty followed by a casual tea ceremony.
Other times the temples happen to be holding giant festivals like today is the birthday of Madzu, the great goddess here worshipped since ancient times by the fishing people (which is basically everyone on an island). The parade at this temple today is unending, though I am told that it is such an important temple for Madzu that it is practically a festival here every day with people making pilgrimages, carrying idols, dancing playing loud drums, setting off firecrackers, etc..
And then some places we go to are blissfully quiet. Like this park once army base now being converted into a giant cultural center. They gave a stunning performance at night and during the day their student group performed in this grove of trees where people sat to watch and children stood among the roots growing down from the branches of these strange and striking trees.
