johansvennung(臺灣) -

A visit to Hualian

I paid a visit to hualian ths saturday...

Early morgning train leaving 06.30...thats usually the time, to make it to the east coast in time...

Equiped with pants and shoes...

The trainstation in Hualian was full of information about things to do...its a tourist place...even if i seldom come here...

My double cousin Johan picked me up...its the first time I meet him here in taiwan, even if both of us leved here for a long time...

It was nice, we were heading to a Buddhist hospital...

IIt was the largets hospital in Hualian, sponsired by Tzu Chi Foundation...a super big foundation world wide...

They even had an intersting information section, like a museum about the foundations history...

A cool piggy bank...

They explained how they worked and their porpose...this are shoes that they sell...

They have alot of volunteers...

It was a problem, that money was such a critical factor to get medical treatment, but the foundation managed to get sponsorship by super many volunteers...here are pictures written by members who couldn not write, wo describe their names, or theor profession etc...super cute...

here is a sponosret house built in iran...with the same cooling system I had as a business idea in the hult cometition some year ago in shanghai, its a traditional technology, that is kind of rare nowadyas since many plp want AC instead...but by far more reliable...

Here is an earthquake room...a soft floor is used to simlulate an earthquake...

They had many volunteers, thats one of their strenght...

This is a modelof earthquake proof houses that they built in the south of taiwan...

And here are actovities in china...its the first organsiation that was accepted by the chiense government....

Recycling efforts in taiwan...

Recycling reults in taiwan, T-shirts made of PET bottles...

And some buddhe picutre, reminded me of a pic I saw north of Kaohsiung at the big buddha statue...

Omg, swedish activites...they have some representation in gothenburg...

This is a method that is not erthquake proof...

Tha this is an earthquake proof construction...

We continued to the hospital entrance...after the guided tour in the musem area...

Some jesus look alike painting...

Looks like anormal hospital...

Even if it was Tzu chi...

Hualien by bus...

Next stop the monastery north of hualian...

The dorm...

Johan himself...we found a lizzard on the path...

And the main building...

This was the oldest house...

We also passed through the garden...

So many plants...this munk seems to be an expert...they have ecological:ish methods...

And many kinds of vegetables...

I was offered to work here for some days, it sounds tempting...

The toilet...super intersting construction...usable in many ways...I wish we knew this on last years housing competition in Hults business school...

Many people lived here ...more than 100...

It started with this small house...

And then it grew...they had some models showing the history...

And other peices...

Johan has some nice bracelet...

It had a buddhist message on it...

Here is the research department, instand rice was invented here...pretty cool...

We continued to the shop...many books with the message of the master munk...

But i wanted to buy the instant rice...just add cold or hot water...and its done...

I said "xiexie" when I left the store...but Johan corrected me, teaching me "Gan en"...its a more polite way to say thanks...

More parts of the monestary...japanese influenced?

Even if they had many floors, it was energy efficient.with wood and deep light corridors, to minimize the need for lights...

And tha main hall...looks a little liks christ on the statue...

East pillow had a speaker near it, so that everyone could hear...

No AC; but many fans...just like i like it...energy efficient...

Later we went to eat in their dining hall...

The food was prepared by the munks...we did the dishes ourselves...I could take picture of anything, except the master munk...

I thought about what I shoud give my second cousin, since he invited me here...but I realized that it would be better to donate money to the foundation, so that it did good...

I had to fill in a form, and got a receipt for my donation...

We coninuted to the cafeteria...mostly in wooden interior design...

And some cool bonzai tree...

Peanut cookie...typical taiwanese...

And some TV show, created by the foundation, about intersting situations that happend in life...

A big bell...

Many ants...some vision the master munk had about her standing at mount everest...many supporters participated in creating this sculpture...

We continued to the garden...

Johan had to continue to work...

It was relaxing here...

Just th ekind of garden I wanted to have at home in sweden...

I was taught that one difference between a buddhist place and taoism, or any others...is that the buddhist place doesnt have dragons...for instance...

The mountains or hualian...

Many people were walking around in guided tours here...

We took the shuttle bus donwtown after the monastary visit...

The roads of hualian...

They had some ceremony at the hospital...

Buddhist Tzu-chi volunteers...

We coninuted to a local burger bar, but it was closed...

So was the toursit place...

And the beer bar...even if they was said to be open 13-01...hmm...

Yilan beer bar, in Hualian...

At the trainstaion many aboriginals were dancing and singing...pretty good...i liked their songs...

They had pretty dresses...

Probably the Amis tribe...the most friendly among the aboriginal tribes, they told me...

And some leader...

And girls...

I also went to have some local ice cream...

White and milk chocolate...

Homemade ice cream...i forget to ask how they transport the icecream to ths store...or if they live in the store...

More dancing...

This is how you decide if you are an adult in taiwan...my lenght...

Discrimination...no waiting zone for male...at night...

Ruisui was the next detination...

Omg such a big waterfall...it was listed on taiwanwaterfalls.com as one of the highest...but its some 35:ish km south of ruisui...

It was dark by now...

Not to many trains stops here...the trains going here on the east coast are driven by diesel...since they dont have and electrical wire on the rail...south of hualian or something...