It used to be a holiday here in Taiwan. It was known as Constitution Day, but this day was deliberately chosen as the day the Constitution was ratified (and thus subsequently set aside as an annual holiday) because Chiang Kai-shek and his wife were Christians.
Then along came Chen Shui-bian, who took it away.
OK, Chiang Kai-shek wasn't exactly a nice guy. He ran an authoritarian regime, imprisoned political opponents, and, like others with absolute power, was corrupt absolutely. Some even claim he killed people. But like it or not, he was the most prominent figure in Taiwan's history, and it can be argued that he did many good things for Taiwan despite his dictatorial status. And there are many in Taiwan who still like him.
So, Chen Shui-bian. He is Taiwan's current president. He is a man with a mission. Instead of concentrating his energies on governing Taiwan, he's hell-bent on destroying anything that's connected to Chiang Kai-shek. Under him, most statues of CKS have been taken down, many places have been renamed, and now, in the waning months of his final term, he has focused his sights on the final two prizes - sites which after all the recent changes, I thought even the DPP would have had the courtesy to preserve for the sake of history and tourism: the CKS Memorial and the CKS Mausoleum. Among the many casualties of Chen's obsession to rid Taiwan of all things CKS was any holiday that was connected to the former president. That included his birthday, and yes, Constitution Day. In other words, Christmas. Chen Shui-bian stole Christmas. He is the Grinch.
Anyway, to me, Christmas is sacred. I don't work on Christmas, and made this clear to my employers.
So for me, Christmas was a day off (but it was a day on for most people). So it was the perfect opportunity to bring Nick and Ginny out for a Christmas outing.
Nick (the kung fu/pita guy) is a Scottish-born, Nigeria-, Uganda- and Northern Ireland-raised, Canadian-educated aspiring writer. Ginny is a Taiwan-born, Argentina- and South Africa-raised, UK-educated dynamo, who aspires to be a US citizen but is not fond of the US. She's a perplexing mix of contradictions, who leaves a profound impression on anyone she meets.
Nick is a talker - he has the gift of the gab. Ginny is a talker too. Get them together, and watch the sparks and fireworks! They go at each other verbally, jousting and debating and confronting each other. Yet they remain amiable throughout. And it's difficult for a mellow fellow like me to get a word in edgewise. And that makes taking a trip with them anything but boring.
Oh yes, the trip. We decided to drive to Nanfang-ao, which is described in the latest Lonely Planet as a grubby fishing port.
And that's a pretty accurate description, though there's a lovely little Matsu temple there with intricately carved wood and stone, as well as a jade Matsu and gold Matsu. The harbor is jam packed with fishing boats in all states of repair, from barely seaworthy to brand spanking new. We noticed some Filipino workers - Filipinos are often hired by fishing boat operators on two-year contracts. And there's a fish market in town. We stopped at the market, and some Taiwanese guy came up to us and started chatting with us in Chinese, affecting a Sichuan accent and getting a kick out of us imitating it.
We were getting hungry. We decided to go half an hour south, along Provincial Highway 9 (the Highway of Death), to Nan-ao, a pleasant Aboriginal town (in fact, almost any place south of Suao has a significant Aboriginal population, being that the 19th century boundary between Chinese territory and tribal territory started at Suao). There's a great noodle shop there, which we always stop at when driving along Hwy 9.
Unfortunately, the noodle shop was closed - the guy who runs it was undergoing knee surgery, so his mother told us. But it seemed that all the restaurants in town were closed too...then it dawned on me: it's Christmas. And the Aborigines are Christians.
We took a drive through the aboriginal residential areas, which are always interesting. They're somewhat different in atmosphere from Chinese settlements. We also drove down to a harbor, but there wasn't much to see there.
Then back north - we stopped at Suao for a late lunch/early dinner. Stir fried lamb, shrimp, wild boar and birdsnest fern.
Then back to Taipei, through the Hsuehshan Tunnel, the second-longest tunnel in Asia. Dropped Nick and Ginny off at their respective homes and dropped the car off at our parking spot in Neihu.
On the bus home, the bus driver was dressed as Santa Claus.
Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!
