Lukang, Part Tres!

After "lunch", we headed to an old section of town that housed the famous Zhongshan Road. This was a narrow, red brick road covered with a canopy before the Japanese came around 1895 and widened it to it's current, still narrow, size. The area was where the well-to-do Taiwanese were living, and they wanted the canopy to keep the rain off when they walked. Incidentally, women were not allowed to walk on the road, as they were supposed to, of course, be at home weaving. The road opened up at another Taoist temple, this one with several levels and many beautiful works of art

Note the scooters on the right. No street is too small or too crowded not to drive a scooter on!

The Chapel o' Love

No Elvis in THIS Chapel o' Love.

Dilla and Bree in a round doorway. The picture looks crooked. It's not. That's the walls.

Didn't I see you at the last temple?

Next to Zhongshan road is a long, winding street called Putou Road, which houses many small shops and old homes, some going all the way back to the Ching Dynasty. This being a Saturday, there were people everywhere, mostly locals. I made some small souvenir purchases here that I can't reveal until the gifts are given when I get back :), but the shops are interesting and prices are, as usual around here, low.

The far end of Putou Road. They drive scooters down here!

The main section of Putou Road. It was like this for most of the time. And yes, they tried to drive scooters down here, as well.

An interesting phenomenon that I've seen in several places here in Taiwan, and one that made the Taiwanese students in my group laugh when I showed them, is the traditional folk musician performances. What is funny is not their playing, which is good, or the songs, which are nice. It is the absurd dichotomy of a hand-carved wooden flute playing what is most likely a centuries-old melody...

accompanied by his laptop and a MIDI orchestra.

As we were leaving the area, we happened upon several moments of Taiwanese culture I don't think you could plan on seeing. The first was a funeral procession (or so I was told) coming down the street. You couldn't really miss it:

That was followed by a mother and her baby on a scooter...

Look, Ma, no...oh my...

From here, only three more stops to go! Next up, a folk museum...sort of.