Oct. 2 - Scavenger Hunt

Over the break, TBC offered two scavenger hunts for those who wished to partake. Basically, teams of three had to go to four sights in the city, take certain photos, and try and be the first one back to the campus. I didn't participate on Wednesday, but did find myself drafted for Thursday's competition. 

But...well, long story short, my team lost a heap of time at our first stop at this one street in one of the hutong neighborhoods, and that more or less cost us any hopes of placing (we couldn't find these two Buddha statues, which we actually passed on the way in, as it turns out). At least we got to see some interesting sights though, especially the third destination, Dong Yue Miao. It's a Taoist temple best known for the numerous "Departments," bureaucratic posts filled by various Taoist gods and demons one can turn to in times of specific need. 

Each department had the same basic layout, more or less, with the department head in the center.

Yeah, there was definitely some really, really messed-up stuff going on at this temple.

Uh.....some of the departments were downright...."peculiar", to put it lightly.

Below is the entrance to the estate of Soong Ching-ling, wife of Sun Yat-sen, first president of the Republic of China (found in 1911 after the fall of the Qing Dyansty, and collapsed under Chiang Kai-Shek when the Communists took control of the mainland),  considered to be forefather of the modern Chinese state, and revered in both China and Taiwan. It was here at the entrance that we called back on campus and learned we had officially lost, so at that point, one of my teammates, Dan, and I decided to just take our time and explore the area. 


Here's a ping-pong table we found in an odd corner of the house....we don't think it belong to Soong Ching-ling. 

This is the pigeon we found by the pigeon coops (apparently Soong Ching-ling was very found of pigeons), inside a nearby shed. When we first tried to photograph him, he tried to flee, but only ended up smacking into one of the windows. 

Okay, I didn't take much in the way of pictures there, but at least we had a nice time in the neighborhood, which was by a small lake. 

I see these strange, three-wheeled little vehicles everywhere, and I'm pretty sure these may be the modern descendent of the rickshaw. 

Interesting fact - in some parks and neighborhoods, they'll have playground-like equipment such as what you see in these photos, except adults and children freely use them. 

"Richshaws" like these you only find in tourist areas, for foreigners or Chinese yuppies. And unfortunately, the drivers always ask me if I want a ride if I pass by any of them, without fail.  

This place looks pretty authentic, but don't let the architecture fool you....it's nothing but bars and souvenir shops in this neighborhood. 

Okay, sure, so we didn't win the scavenger photo hunt, but at least we had a heck of a time walking around, visiting the weird shops, enjoying the no-age-restriction playground, and taking photos of oddly translated signs. Those you'll have to wait a bit for, in a future blog entry - "Interesting Signs, Part II."