Landing in Taiwan

Post Written by James Ball

When I left for Taiwan I had no real fixed plans. I mean, I had a job lined up but still nowhere to stay and certainly no plans on returning to England. As far as I was concerned, I was coming home.

“Taiwan is a Buddhist country, how great it will be to live in a country where Buddhism is actually a part of its culture” I continued to happily romance about this until I was greeted by a dubious character (my boss) at Kinmen island airport with a fag hanging out of his mouth with black stained teeth and a look of mischief in his eyes.

When leaving England I was not the most experienced or seasoned traveller and had certainly never travelled as far as the – Far East.

How Much to Pack?!

I did not pack much and did so intentionally. In fact, come to think of it…I didn’t have much anyway.  The heaviest things I had were Books, most of which were based on Buddhism and Philosophy ~ books half read and books not read at all! I left them all behind  and just stuck to the bare essentials: A minimal amount of clothes, passport and any documents or certificates I might need and toiletries were my lot.

What Plan!

I had a teaching job waiting for me on my arrival to Taiwan and thankfully did not hold any expectations  – It fell through after just 2 weeks of being on the small island of Kinmen, Taiwan and left me with nowhere to stay and no money. I was up **** creek without a paddle here and had to think fast: - I had always aspired to monkhood and knew that someday I would most likely ordain….so, I sought out my Buddhist brothers for help and found a most unlikely but welcoming place that more resembled a soft drinks factory than a Buddhist temple – they allowed me to stay there for 3 days until being invited to the main temple on the mainland in Taiwan. I was treated very well – like a prince in fact. My Taiwan hosts were some of the most friendly people I had ever met.

Scooters

I had very little experience with riding scooters but soon found that walking was not really an option in Taiwan. This is a modern country where the roads are built for motor vehicles and scooters that swarm around like drones of bees – a stark contrast to the roads in England that were built for horse and cart and much more exciting!

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