Kaohsiung, Taiwan
For my first month here, I was good about waking up early for morning sitting, but after coming back from Japan, when my uncle was gone for a week, I started getting up later. That led to getting to sleep later. I don't know if it has something to do with me being in the tropics, but I can't sleep past about 8:00, so if I'm going to sleep later and later, I start losing sleep. That's what happened, and I think I want to get back to a schedule of going to sleep earlier and waking up early. Today I was toast for all sitting.

Tomorrow I'm flying up to Taipei solo for the weekend. My cousin initially wanted to come with me because she has an aunt on her mother's side there who could have showed us around, and cousins who could help take care of the kids. But a social engagement came up that she couldn't get out of because her father organized it. My main purpose is to go to Dharma Drum Mountain monastery for Saturday morning practice in English. I was impressed by their five year relief plan for tsunami victims in case world interest and aid fades over time, so I want to see how their practice is, maybe talk to people to get ideas to bring back to Deer Park. I'm prepared to not be too impressed, though, in case it's just another compromising Buddhist institution. If it is a cool place, I will go again next weekend (when my parents are in Kaohsiung) for a full day retreat next Saturday. My cousin will probably come along, too, since she doesn't want any excuse to come up where she has to see my mother.

I also think I want to check out the Museum of World Religions which looks intriguing, but might also need to be approached cautiously. I think there will be plenty to do in Taipei, so I shouldn't be apprehensive about this solo trip, although I shouldn't compare this to my traveling in Japan, since I had at least some language skills there. Here, I have zilch, although Taipei is supposed to be comparable to Japan in terms of chances of people understanding some English.

And crikey, I'm in Taiwan, I need to go to the (current) tallest building in the world the Taipei 101 building!

I also found a tourist "temple walk" in a brochure that I can do if I want to hang out at Taoist/Confucian temples, and night markets are well-marked on tourist maps, so those are a must. I also caught wind of some apparently exceptional dumpling (dim sum) restaurants that I might want to contact a cousin I just found out about to go to with. OK, now I'm looking forward to going, even without my cousin, who I think was silently hoping I wouldn't go since she still needs as much help as she can get with the kids. What's the deal with needing so much help with these two kids? Let's just say that I nicknamed the older one "the rainmaker" and the little one "Godzilla". They're sweet kids, just a handful.