A Village-wide Celebration near Guanshi

     Every so many years, my mother-in-law's family village holds a village-wide celebration.  As I understand it, each village n Taiwan holds periodic celebrations, though not necessarily on the same day.

     In the foreground, you can see Michelle's younger sister Joanna (standing), and her husband Daniel (seated).  Seated at left is one of Michelle and Joanna's aunts.

     Below is the altar in the village temple.  The photo at left on the altar is of an ancestress.

     All that fun, food, and family fellowship can be tiring.  I can't tell who it is, but she's sleeping on the sofa in my mother-in-law's living room.

Shau Luan Beach, Sand Shaping

     Of sun, surf, and sand, some folks prefer the sand.  Enjoy the photos below.

Shau Luan Beach: a Popular Spot for Wedding Photos

     As the title of this post says, Shau Luan Beach is a popular spot for wedding photos.  Shau Luan Beach lies just beyond Danshui.  For many years, it lay abandoned, and this fact contributed to its popularity for wedding photos.
     The pictures speak for themselves.

     Roughly one out of every nine or ten marriages in Taiwan are between native Taiwanese an people from abroad.  In mixed marriages such as these, the bride usually marries someone from Japan, Australia, or a Western nation.  The groom in such marriages as these usually marries someone from Southeast Asia or China. Below, you see a Taiwanese bride and a Western groom.

Thai Buddhist Temple In Guanshi, Hsinchu County

     Only a twenty-minute walk from my mother-in-law's family village near Guanshi, in Hsinchu County, Taiwan, there stands a Thai Buddhist temple.  I know little of the history of the place, except that, since 1992, it has grown larger and more grandiose.  In 1992, the grounds occupied only the area you see above; and it was enclosed within a wall that is no longer standing.

     The rest of the area now covered, as seen below, was uncultivated land.  The bridge below is the passageway between the temple and the main road leading into Guanshi.  The decorative carvings were added only a few years ago.

     Only a few  years ago, the vast parking lot that occupies most of the pictures above, and the colonnades on the left side of the pictures, were field of weeds and brush.
     In the pictures below, you can see the statues that stand within the colonnade area. Most of the statues are of the Bodhisattva of Mercy Guan Yin, and no two of the statues are identical.  The first statue, of course, is of Buddha.

     The odd-looking, gilded idol below represents a Thai or Indian concept of Guan Yin.  The Bodhisattva's name suggests that she sees and hears the cries of all and shows mercy.  You might say that she has a lot of helping hands to offer.

      Finally, in the photo below, you see the shrine within the temple itself.

*          *          *