Dragon Boat Races (龍舟競賽)

View fullsize

Dragon Boat Festival (端午節) is a traditional holiday on the Chinese calendar with an over two thousand year history. There are various origin stories that dispute how the festival began, but one thing that all the stories agree on is that they all involve aspects of virtue, honour, loyalty and love for your family and friends. (Click the link for a better description of the various origins) 

The festival is celebrated as a statutory holiday here in Taiwan as well as in Hong Kong, Macau and (more recently) China while the traditional aspects of the festival are also quite popular in countries where there are large Chinese-speaking communities   

The Hong Kong Tourism Bureau reinvigorated the modern races in the 1970s and since then they have become somewhat of a world-wide phenomenon transcending racial and cultural barriers!

View fullsize

The team captain shouting orders. 

In Taiwan, the holiday is named "Duanwu Festival" (端午節) in Mandarin rather than "Dragon Boat Festival" (龍船節) as it is more commonly known in English. This can lead to a bit of confusion about the name of the holiday as the Mandarin and English names refer to different things. Never fear though, they are the same thing and while our Taiwanese friends will always call it "Dragon Boat Festival" in English. 

To explain a bit though, "Duanwu Festival" (端午節) refers to the lunar calendar and the time of the year when the holiday takes place - Which means that the holiday falls on a different day every year.  

Duanwu (端午) refers to the time of the year when the sun is the strongest, the days are longer and summer is in full swing.

In Ancient China, they believed that the sun, much like the dragon were representative of a man and that the summer solstice was the time of the year when a man would experience the peak of his sexual prowess - so the holiday falls on an important time of the year when dudes are more prone to be doing their thing. 

These days we have viagra, so its not much of a big deal to be at your sexual peak year round! 

View fullsize

An all female team grabbing the flag. 

Some foreigners may get confused that the Dragon Boat races are actually only a small part of the actual holiday while other traditions tend to be more important. 

In Taiwan, the most popular activity during the holiday is probably the preparation and consumption of "zongzi" (粽子) - sticky rice and other ingredients wrapped in lotus leaf. Families will get together and prepare the treats and eat them together and also share them with friends and neighbours. 

Another popular (yet somewhat strange) activity is balancing an egg on a flat surface at a specific time of the day. If you check Facebook or Instagram on Dragon Boat festival you are likely to find quite a few people posting shots of eggs standing up with some exuberant thumbs up and happy faces! 

Most people use the holiday as a chance to get away and travel to other places around the country with their family. Traffic is always a bit crazy during the holiday and if you plan on going anywhere during the days off, it would be a good idea to book tickets or hotels early as space runs out pretty quickly. 

View fullsize

A triumphant return to the dock

Different counties throughout the country will sponsor Dragon Boat Races and the races attract thousands of people who crowd around to see their friends and family taking part. Local governments will also allow vendors set up offering food to visitors before ending the festival with fireworks display after the championship race. 

I've been to the races in a few places around Taiwan over the years, but my favourite race is here in Taoyuan at the Longtan Lake (龍潭大池) The lake here covers a large area and offers better facilities and more space for visitors as well as better traffic control! 

The size of the boats vary but it seems like a 14-man team is the standard in Taiwan with twelve paddlers, a steerer and a drummer (although boats in other places could have anywhere from 22 to 50 people) who practice weeks and even months in advance of the holiday to put on a good show for the spectators. 

The races here in Taoyuan take place over a period of two days with a champion being crowned on the final day before the fireworks and the closing of the festival. 

View fullsize

A winning boat watching their competition finish the race. 

North Americans likely view Dragon Boat races as an event that happens in summer where groups will get sponsors to take part in the race with all the money going to a specific charity. The races here take on a different role as they are a cultural even and is an important way of keeping traditional culture alive - especially for younger people who tend not to care as much about its preservation. 

Whether you're in the audience or a lucky member of a boat crew, the dragon boat races are always a great cultural event to take part in here in Taiwan and if you have the time to check out the races be sure not to miss them! 

---

Gallery 

Peace Island Coastal Park (和平島海角樂園）

View fullsize

Keelung's Peace Island (和平島) is a small island in the city's Chung Cheng district that is connected to the city by a small bridge.

The island has had an interesting history as it has been a colonial outpost for the Spanish, Japanese and most recently becoming a restricted military area for the Taiwanese armed forces. There is a residential section on the island, but the majority of the land was used for military purposes and restricted to the public for decades.

The government opened it to the public in 1989 and the Peace Island Coastal Park was opened shortly after allowing visitors to come to the island and tour. The island isn't your typical tourist destination as it doesn't have any famous dishes or many tourist attractions. It is nice to walk around though to experience an area that hasn't really changed in decades. 

View fullsize

Keelung Island in the distance

The Peace Island Coastal Park (和平島海角樂園) is a small park on the northern tip of the island which has excellent scenery, a great view of Keelung Island (基隆嶼) and offers the same type of geological beauty that you can find on the North East Coast of the country and at the Yehliu Geological Park (野柳地質公園）

The park is not especially big and if you are just going for some leisurely sight-seeing you don't need to plan much time to see the entire thing. For people who'd like to make it a day activity, there are areas for swimming in public swimming pools next to the ocean and there are areas to have picnics and a large field for kids to play in. 

View fullsize

A Mushroom rock. 

I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to Science. Despite only slightly enjoying classes in high school, I've develeped a strange interest in listening to podcasts that talk about new developments in science all night while working on photos.

The reason I mention this is because this park would make a great place for a field trip for Science students as it is a geological goldmine! 

The movement of the earth, shifting of tectonic plates, crashing waves and rock weathering over a period of thousands of years have all been important factors in forming a rare and stunning geological landscape and should be the main reason for people visit the Peace Island Coastal Park - although I'm sure most people just look at the cool rocks and see shapes that look like animals! (A weird thing that Taiwanese people have a habit of doing)

The coastal landscape found here and on the North East Coast of the country is quite rare and a wonderland for visiting geologists.  

Even if you are not a geologist you can still appreciate the almost moon-like rock formations and the hoodoo stones which are extremely rare in a coastal setting!  

You also don't have to be a geologist to appreciate that these stones formed as the seabed rapidly rose out of the ocean during the Miocene geological event which took place between 5 to 23 million years ago! 

View fullsize

Having a swim in the ocean side pool

Currently the people who work at the park would prefer guests not to stray away from the designated paths and it seems like they've recently set up fences to stop people from attempting to walk on the rocks to get closer to the water. 

That didn't really stop me and I got close to the water and did some hopping around on the rocks. After spending about forty minutes exploring the coast however some staff at the park motioned for me to come back. 

The maps on the park's website have quite a few spots listed that I was unable to check out and I think they would be great for long-exposure photography but they were completely blocked off. I hope that those areas are just under construction and are not going to be closed off forever as that would be a shame. 

If you are planning a day on Keelung, or heading out to there to the Miaokou Night Market, you might want to spend an hour or so at this nice little park. You can take a bus from the train station (Bus 104) and get there in 20 minutes. There isn't really THAT much to do in Keelung, so I recommend this park!  

---

Gallery / Flickr (High Res Shots) 

Hukou Old Street (湖口老街)

View fullsize

The Hukou Old Street (湖口老街) is the smallest of Hsinchu county’s three “old streets” which also includes the popular Neiwan (內灣老街) and Beipu Old Street’s (北埔老街) 

Hukou’s story is a lot like what I described with the Daxi Old Street – In the case of Daxi, the village was economically prosperous due to its position as a way station for goods coming down from the mountains and being transported up the river to Taipei. Hukou’s story doesn't relate to a river, but the reason why it became an “old street” is because the train station which used to be in the town was moved to another area closer to the coast when the Taiwan Rail System completed the newer “Ocean Line” (海線)

The loss of the train station was enough to divide Hukou between “Old Hukou” (老湖口) and “New Hukou” (新湖口) which is a relatively newer area with modern housing built up around the train station. 

In Taiwan, it is safe to say that the centre of most towns is the train station as most cities have been developed from the train station in an outward fashion. When Hukou’s new train station was completed, it pretty much killed the chance for Old Hukou to survive as it once had. 

View fullsize

Near empty streets on a "busy" day.

Due to the separation though, Hukou was left the way it way and didn't really develop the way most towns in Taiwan do (by tearing down the old buildings.) All the original buildings that were in the town are still left standing and are quite similar to what you would see in Daxi, except that the colour of the bricks are red, and the majority of all the houses are at least two storeys. 

Just like in Daxi, the buildings were originally built in the 1890s and had an exterior in the baroque style while the interior of the buildings were mostly Japanese-style.

View fullsize

Old style Baroque and a renovated building beside it.

When the Hsinchu county government designated the area as an “old street” they went about a project of urban renewal that was supposed to restore the old street to its former glory. The county government boasts that the baroque style facades on the buildings are the most intact of all the old streets – however I think that this is somewhat of a disingenuous statement due to the way the street was given a facelift. 

When I compare this street to Daxi, it is really easy to see that they tried a little too hard to beautify it and in the process lost some of its historical allure. Even though it seems to have lost some of its originality, the Hukou Old Street is still quite nice to walk around. 

View fullsize

The interior of the Hukou Old Street church

When I arrived at the old street I parked near a church which was erected in the same location where the train station had originally been. I walked through the old street rather slowly, but it didn't take long to come to the end. 

At  the end there is a Hakka temple called “San Yuan Temple” (三元宮) dedicated to the three earth gods (三官大帝) which represent water (水官), earth (地官) and heaven (天官.)

I found that walking down the road parallel to the temple had some examples of houses that were not as well-kept and as on display as those on the “old street” and figured that those were probably much better representations of what the street looked like before renewal. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

I think that the biggest problem with the Hukou Old Street is that there is nothing to really draw big crowds. Daxi Old Street has its dried tofu (豆干) and woodwork. Beipu has its Hakka restaurants and Hakka Leicha (擂茶.) Both attract tourists by the busloads – Hukou however doesn't really have anything to attract crowds other than the buildings, which would be enough for me, but the average Taiwanese tourist is one that loves to be fed delicious foods! 

I went on a Sunday, which by normal standards should be an extremely busy day for an old street, but it was almost empty which more or less proves my point.  

As you walk by all the old houses it seems that less than one in ten are doing any form of business and I think there was really one one vendor selling sausages to visitors and another selling fresh coffee from the back of his bicycle. 

View fullsize

A lazy Sunday with the dog.

History it seems isn't enough to attract tourists, so for Hukou to start attracting people, they need to come up with something to make the street “famous” for all the residents to capitalize on. If the Taiwanese news one day reports that there is something tasty to eat there, the next day will have people lined up! 

As it is now, I wouldn't really recommend Hukou Old Street unless you were passing through the area on your way somewhere else. If you are planning to make a day trip out of it, there  are much better options in a relatively close distance (Daxi, Neiwan, Beipu) so Hukou wouldn't be your best option! 

If you're on the fence about visiting, take  the time to check out all the pictures in the gallery below, or click on the link to my Flickr album and then make your  decision! 

Getting There

 

---

Gallery / Flickr (High Res Shots)