Travel ~ Taiwan

 When I was nineteen I went on a missions trip to Taiwan and the Philippines. We were there for almost a month between the two countries and they could not have been any more different! 

In this post I will reminisce about Taiwan. When we first got off the plane and were driving to our destination we were driving through a city but there would be places all through it where I would see elderly people in their pointed straw hats gardening. That was my first memory ~ the elderly people in their straw hats.

Another memory was the ornate temples in every town no matter how big or small. The temples were beautiful and sometimes a little terrible and very ornate and bright. 

We stayed in Taipei but then also smaller villages and towns. The city people dressed in very mismatched clothing that felt like they hurt my eyes sometimes.  In my country people were so obsessed with matching. The women wore shoes that were too big for them and that made a lot of them shuffle in some ways. The villagers and people from the mountains wore more simple traditional garb. 

The people were not warm or affectionate but reserved, guarded and respectful. Since we had just been to the Philippines this stood out in stark contrast to the warmth and affection of the Phillipino people. The people we stayed with were Taiwanese and missionaries themselves. They were so kind and caring. Taiwanese people were not very open to Christianity at that time so it took many years to build up a church community. We were, however, invited to a school where we shared what we had prepared. We spent time with the children and that was special.  

We went out to farmland and walked among rice fields. We met villagers who were astonished and kind to us foreigners. One family invited us into their home of many generations. It was such a special experience. They served us tea in tiny glasses and we visited as best we could with the language barriers. They had lived in their home time out of mind. It reminded me of a very long hallway with little rooms all along it. I think it was all made of brick.

We went up into the mountains and encountered the beauty of bamboo forests. We ate traditional food cooked inside bamboo. The bamboo as far as the eye could see was absolutely breathtaking. We also visited an area that had waterfalls and many steps to climb and traditional cultural performances. 

The trip was deeply beautiful and our encounters with people were impacting. I turned twenty while I was there. Little did I know I would be married at twenty one and life would be changing drastically at age twenty two.

I am so thankful that I was able to go to Taiwan. It was a stunning country with diverse landscape.