As I may have mentioned before, my cousin works for Cloud Gate, so perhaps I’m not entirely unbiased.

That said, their work is vibrant and moving, the stagings are always magnificent, and I encourage you to go see them if you ever have the chance.

While I was in Hsingkang, I stayed with my dad’s cousin and wow, they are morning people!  They were all up around 4 AM, and I tried to be vaguely awake at 4:30 or 5, but after nearly falling asleep on the table, decided to go back to bed.  It was charming to see my Aunt in the morning, trimming her hedge, while my cousin (or is it second-cousin-once-removed??)  chatted with her while flapping a towel to keep the mosquitos away.  Oh, and they introduced me to the magical blue men’s shampoo that made my head all pleasantly cool and tingly.  Seriously awesome stuff!

Anyway, we got up early (for me anyway) to take the bus to Chiayi and then a train to Tainan.  Walking through the streets, the lovely thing about Hsingkang is that it’s really quiet, without that buzz that is so common here in Taipei.  The night I spent in Hsingkang, I could hear the cicadas (or was it crickets?) chirping in the yard.  They were truly kind and marvelous hosts and I wouldn’t have been able to get such a good look at Hsingkang without them.

Here are some early morning shots taken while we rushed to the bus stop:

At first sight of this balloon floating high above the village, I thought it was a lingering moon.

This cat is inspecting the durability of this old clay tile roof.

Hollyhocks in the morning sunlight.

Someone else’s old house.

This is a poster at the bus stop for the Chaiyi Performing Arts Centre, which my uncle kindly took me to a while ago, when Cloud Gate 2 was performing.  It’s a really lovely space that I wish I could have seen in the daylight.  All the same, the lotus were still beautifully glimmering with rain the night we went.  The dance Cloud Gate 2 performed, Oculus was indeed free-spirited and wildly beautiful.

And one more random shot from the temple– apparently all these guardian (I think this is a lion, but I’ m not sure…) lions have a ball in their mouths.  I have no idea why.  Oh, and does anyone know of a resource that tells the stories behind the gods here?  I’m thinking there should be something somewhere I could read to find out those stories…

More flowers– aren’t they pretty!  These were actually at the bus stop when we arrived in Chiayi from Taipei.