The Story of the Banana Kingdom and Fo Guang Shan

Thanks to New Years Eve and New Years Day, I had a four-day weekend last week, so my friend, Karina (another ETA in Hualien) and I took a 6 a.m. train to Kaohsiung, a city on Taiwan's Southeastern coast. Since most of the hostels and hotels in city were booked for the holiday, I reserved two beds in a hostel away from the city center. I didn't understand just how far away until after we had driven two hours on our rental scooter to get there.

Our hostel was in the Qishan township of Kaohsiung. Qishan is a charming, historical little community with many buildings and streets dating back to before the Japanese colonial period. It also happens to be the banana capitol of Taiwan. Banana cakes, banana tea, banana shakes and merchandise. Our hostel was called the Youthbanana Hostel and was located above a "Banana Creativity Shop." The entire place smelled of banana bread. The parks have banana sculptures and even the 7-11's have banana-themed wallpaper. Of course, we tried the fresh bananas, and yes, they were worth the hype.

Tiny banana cake

Banana bread

Banana-themed 7-11

The people in Qishan were friendly and helpful, even more than Taiwanese people usually are. They don't encounter a lot of foreigners there, so many of them came up to talk to me, which gave me a lot of opportunity to practice speaking Chinese. After we chatted for a while, they would often tell me that my Chinese is very good. I know they're just being nice to this sun-burnt blonde chick barely pronouncing tones, but I also think my Chinese has improved a lot while living in Taiwan.

Banana cart outside our hostel

The next day, we intended to set out at 9 a.m. for the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Museum, at which point we promptly locked the keys in the scooter. I began to panic, believing we were stranded and our day of sightseeing was instantly ruined, but we slowly began to figure the problem out. After we tried the nearest mechanic (closed) and the nearest key shop (also closed), I found another mechanic online and called them. Meanwhile, it seemed like everyone in the hostel came out to check on us. The mechanic drove to where we were, opened the front of our scooter, popped the trunk, and we had the keys back. I tried to give the mechanic money, but he refused, driving away without any pay.

So we finally got on the road to the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Museum. This sight, run by one of Taiwan's largest Buddhist organizations, is a massive complex containing several museum halls, hotels, a school, and a monastery. We entered through the main hall (which contained multiple buffets and a Starbucks) and exited onto a white tile courtyard. The courtyard, boarded by eight pagodas, lead toward the 40 meter tall, bronze-cast seated Buddha the site is famous for. Looking up at the shining statue gazing down with peace and kindness upon the visitors, one can understand why so many people make a point to visit this place while in Kaohsiung. In total, we spent over six hours at the site looking at art depicting the Buddha's life and disciples, visiting various shrines, practicing calligraphy, and sampling tea in the twins pagodas in the museum's garden.

However, the most moving part of the day for me happened when we first arrived. As we entered the main hall, we noticed young women in gigantic dresses and golden, lotus-shaped headpieces walking about, followed by men with drums and trumpets. Next thing we knew, we were front row for a performance by a college dance troupe from the Philippines. Right in front of us, the women and their partners danced and twirled as the trumpets blared. It was a beautiful, festive musical offering with which to start out the day. And I kept thinking about how if we hadn't locked the keys in the scooter, we wouldn't have arrived at the exact right moment to have that experience. Just like if I hadn't had to book a hostel so far out of the city, we wouldn't have experienced Qishan and all its charms. So much of my time in Taiwan feels like I'm stumbling from one mishap to another, but that stumbling at its worst leads to minor accidents and at its best leads to incredible experiences.