ADVENTURES IN ASIA WITH LADYB AND GONGGONG
Story #17: Have Buddha will travel. Did you ever see Buddha drive past you? We did it for the first time!
Puli Town, Nantou County, Taiwan Province, China.
Dear Granddaughter Mila,
Good news! We had our first visitor! An Chan, who came for a few days, is an old friend of your Grandmother Maflor ane me going back to us teaching together in Beijing starting in 2011, and then we continuedd to work together in Shenzhen until 2017. Your Aunt Chara also knew her in Beijing, when she was going to high school there.
We were taking An to our nearby airport in Taichung (see map above) to fly back to Shenzhen, when lo and behold, we saw Buddha driving past us! Well, not driving – rather riding – on top of a car! Buddha’s chauffeur in a Porsche Cayenne was rolling at full speed and traffic was heavier than normal, since Chinese New Year was still going strong. I asked Laolao and An to take some pictures. Never in my life did I dream of chasing Buddha, but that’s we did, as I had to put the pedal to the metal to keep up with the racing Buddhamobile. Flying Buddha was on an urgent mission, as they courageously and diligently got a few shots, as I was weaving, accelerating and braking among all the cars.
We suspect the driver bought this magnificent statue and was taking it back to put in their garden, or more likely for a family’s ancestral/local Earth God temple, as Chinese religion is very syncretic: Confucism-Daoism-Buddhism are all usually found together under a single spiritual roof. It could also be placed in the family grave plot. Given that the car was a Porsche, they are likely well-to-do, and it is richer people who can afford to build a family temple or go all out for their ancestors in the cemetery.
Our flying Buddha was riding posse with two of his protector kings. The dark, red-faced one is Guardian of the West and Master of Serpents. The one standing on blue celestial clouds guards the South and is Master of Swords. Those are not snakes on their shoulders. All four protector kings have a sash that floats around them. It’s hard to see, but King of the West is gripping a snake below its head with his left hand and the reptile is writhing in front of his waist and legs.
What a fun way to end An’s very enjoyable visit to Puli and Taiwan! Before we took her to the airport, we had a wonderful lunch at our favorite guotie and jiaozi restaurant. As I reported earlier, they are to die for! See below,
An Chan and Laolao tucking into some terrific Taiwanese food! Bon appétit!
ADVENTURES IN ASIA WITH LADYB AND GONGGONG: Story #4: our first meal in Puli Town: noodles and guotie.
ADVENTURES IN ASIA WITH LADYB AND GONGGONG: Story #5: Chinese raviolis. YUMMY!
In closing, how are we doing here? I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count! We don’t need to go to Puli’s McDonald’s to shout, WE’RE LOVIN’ IT! We live it every day…
Love, Grandfather Gonggong
PS: LadyB is our constant companion everywhere we go. She loves it here too!
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