The Last Year: Part One - Sweden

It seems very hard to start writing a blog again after leaving it for so long. Well, my last post was about a failed attempt at a marathon early last year. This left me wondering what on earth there was for me to write about. While I continued to swim on and off for a few months after that fateful run, I was not particularly focused on sports at all. Thoughts of a possible trip to Hawaii where I could have got back into training again had to be pushed back as plans did not work out quite as expected.
So, what is there to write about over the last year or so? The first major event was a trip to Sweden, for about 11 weeks - not exactly a flying visit.

My wife and I stayed in a small campus community of about 100 people in an area that was mostly farmland. Fortunately, there was good Internet access, so I could keep in touch with the world outside.

I arrived by plane in Göteborg, Sweden in mid-September after a week visiting family in England. After a train ride and a short drive by car, I found that I would be living in a fairly remote farming area for most of my time there. My wife was taking a 3-month course as part of her degree program, and I would be getting on as best as I could with my own work, as well as taking the opportunity to learn as much as I could about Sweden and hopefully attempt to learn some of the language.

Picturesque views like this meant that in the afternoons on sunny days I could sit and overlook the sea while getting on with some of my work, based on the idea of doing work but enjoying nature at the same time.

Having done quite a lot of swimming earlier in the year, I thought there may be opportunities to swim here, since I knew that the sea was only walking distance from where we were staying. However, while I did dive in once (very briefly), I realized that it may be better to wait until I returned to Taiwan before taking up swimming again.

Apart from the water being a lot colder than what I was normally used to, the one thing that stopped me from at least one longish swim was the many jellyfish that happened to frequent the waters at this time of the year.

A Lutheran retreat center about an hour's drive away. These were quite idyllic surroundings and I would have liked to have been able to just stay here.

While living on what had once been a private Christian school, at times it felt like being a little cut off from day-to-day Swedish society. This was because there were many different nationalities represented on the campus, meaning that English was the main means of communication. Certainly not very good if one hopes to learn the local language. So, to try to speed things up a bit, I ended up picking up Swedish here and there through the Internet, especially through listening to music and comparing what I heard with the lyrics of the songs which I could usually find somewhere.

When someone had said there was a lake within walking distance of the retreat center, I had thought that it might be the size of a small swimming pool which might provide the opportunity to swim. This lake (Kornsjön) was so huge and isolated that a swim was out of the question.

While living at the campus, in order to relax a little and get away from my desk, I would go for walks among the nearby farms - usually after lunch, as it got dark fairly early.

Because my wife and her classmates needed to visit the library at the University of Gothenberg, I had a chance to go there, too. We also went to the Economics library in another part of the city. I found that interesting, although I am glad that I hardly ever go to libraries now, preferring to find whatever I need on my computer.

The city of Göteborg has many nice buildings, many of historic significance.

Later in our trip, we got to visit the Laxå commun. I cannot remember if this church (Tiveds Kyrka) was actually in that commun, but it was in a very nice part of the countryside half way between Göteborg and Stockholm.

One of the local farmers started grazing his horses (North Swedish horses) in the field in Restenäs right next to where we were staying.

A trip to Sweden wouldn't be complete without a visit to Stockholm, in my opinion one of the nicest looking cities I have been to. We stayed in the Old Town (Gamla Stan). Here we are looking out of the old town.

Jocelyn and I in Stockholm. I was quite pleased with the hoodsweat I had found in the "boutique" (the free second-hand store) on our campus. Certainly one of my Swedish friends like it. The Swedes are very patriotic, at least a lot more than the British.

There were many nice souvenirs on sale in Stockholm. I have a few souvenirs that I brought back. However, it is not the items that are important, but rather the memories that you bring back.

Occasionally we would see a nice sunset. However, towards the end of our stay (early December) one had to hurry after lunch to get there in time.

The horses were obviously used to the cold winters. On the day this photo was taken the temperature was between -5C and -10C. Just taking my gloves off to take a picture was quite a challenge for me.

I still miss the horses, particularly this one, which always came up to me when I waded through the snow to visit them.

Each time I passed this cottage (stuga) next to our campus (which appeared to be "empty"), I wondered about one day living in one of these.

In England, the airport would have been closed. In Sweden, this was just a normal day. After dousing the plane with warm water and making sure the snow was swept off the runway, the airport authorities allowed us to take off without incident and we were soon back in England where it fortunately was not snowing.

So, what did I learn from my trip? I kind of had a lot of mixed feelings about my trip. On the one hand, it was great going to a country to which I had never been and finding the local people that I did manage to meet to be quite friendly, although not very easy to get to know. I am not a very touristy type of person, and I am not really interested in just seeing the sights and enjoying the comforts of hotels or having everyone talk to me in English just because I am British.
When being part of an international community, as we were, relationships with other people can tend to be quite shallow since everyone tends to be busy with their work or studies and after a few months most people are going to move on. That is why I particularly enjoyed being with local people who just live their normal lives year in year out in the location, usually working at the same job and living in the same house. While these kinds of contacts were few and far between, I did at least have a few good conversations (in English of course), which proved that despite the differences in nationality and background, there was still a lot we had in common. It was nice to hear people we visited talk about their taking the train each day to Örebro each day to go to work, or to hear how one man almost my age coped with the harsh winters and how they affected his livelihood. The Swedes on our campus were mostly in their early 20s and so it was like my wife and I were talking to people of our children's generation. However, that was also a lot of fun. In fact we have been so used to that over the years that we don't realize how old we are getting.
I wish in a way that I had spent some time learning the language before going to Sweden, but that is a lot easier said than done. The pronunciation of Swedish is quite different from what I would expect. Therefore, I feel I learned to recognize the sounds a lot more easily by actually being there and listening not just to the occasional Swedish spoken around me but also to music to compensate for the lack of interaction with local people. I will always be better prepared next time. I hope to go again. I went to Oslo (for one night) since my wife needed to meet her classmates there for one week as part of her course, but unfortunately my Norwegian friend was not there at the time. It is so much easier if you know someone there with the time to show you around and introduce you to people. On this trip I wasn't attending a school or doing a specific job for people so that in some ways restricted me, but on the other hand it gave me a few more opportunities, too.

Running in Kaohsiung (Cheng Ching Lake)

The winner of the men's race in the 2010 Kaohsiung International Marathon was a Kenyan (hardly any surprise) who covered the 26-plus miles (42-plus km) in 2hr 36mins, which was close to 20 minutes slower than his personal best, which only goes to show how brutal the weather conditions were. In my opinion, the true winners (and heroes) were the many local Kaohsiung people who went out perhaps for their first ever 15 mile (half-plus marathon) and stuck it out for several hours in the heat with little drink, no food, no ice, hearing the curses of motorists forced by police to let them pass, etc. and then denied any recognition for their attempt because they did not finish within the 3 hr 20 min time limit set by the organizers. Do people who are professionals, with coaches, good training and proper nutrition, first-class VIP treatment, etc. really accomplish more? I wonder. (My photo - I ended up near the podium by mistake!)

My attempt to run a marathon this last Sunday was a somewhat humiliating experience since I was told I had to stop at 15 miles because I was going too slow. Perhaps I should be thankful that I did not attempt to stay out in the 90F degree heat longer. It was not a "user-friendly" race, at least for the slower runners. I never saw any ice, hardly saw any food, and I survived on what I ate before the race started and the sports drink provided that I grabbed by the bottle rather than the cup, as the poorly-equipped aid stations were often several kilometers apart.

The man on the left, in his sixties, was from a running club in Peitou, near Taipei. I was still with him at around the 18 km mark (where this was taken), but then I slowed even more, and I assume he was just about able to make the "cut-off" at the 24 km mark, which I failed to do. He was slow (as these people are really only going at walking pace), but he had endurance. What's more, he had traveled 200 miles to race at his own expense. If I had just been a little fitter, I might have been able to see him up until the finish. Well, I'll look out for him next time.

So the rest of Sunday, I was rather tired, and felt close to fainting as I walked back to my bike to ride the 20 minutes home. It seems there were no refreshments for those who had to drop out, and no convenience stores handy. The sports stadium is a wonderful piece of modern architecture, but it may only be used a few times a year for big events, and may remain off limits much of the time. On Monday, I could have written a long blog about all my failures in running over the years, etc., but did not get round to doing so. Fortunately, another day has passed, and rather than wallow in disappointment, I am trying to work out a "modest" running plan so that I can try and run a reasonable half -marathon this summer. Carrying out such a plan, does not involve high-tech stadiums, which are inaccessible to ordinary people, but places hopefully not far from home where one can get a little training in, while juggling all of life's other responsibilities.

There's no place (to run) like home. These cement paths (and wider flatter ones to) wind their ways on both sides of a river on a few hundred meters from our home. After taking measurements, I have found one loop around the park which involves crossing two small bridges is about 810 meters or half a mile. So on days when I just need to get the running over with quickly, I could just do it here. No motorized transport is allowed on the paths and one should avoid evenings when there are more people walking.

One of the good things about my "miserable experience" on Sunday was that for a long time I have worried that running would hurt my knees, having had a little trouble with them in a failed Ironman attempt over three years ago. Well, after being out there on Sunday, they feel a lot better, and so maybe some running, done sensibly, may be helpful to me. In addition, feeling a little exhausted isn't much fun, but after two days, I was swimming today, and while a little slower, felt great.

Cheng Ching Lake is located less than 3 miles from my house. My winter swimming pool is located at about 8 o'clock (the traditional-looking hotel) and my summer swimming pool (also 50m outdoor) is at about 1 o'clock (the green mound with a person on it). Apart from mornings and late afternoons when people travel to and from work, it is relatively quiet and pollution free, and the water is relatively clean (since it acts as a reservoir for the city inhabitants' water needs). About 70 percent of the lake's circumference has exclusive, designated bike paths, to separate riders from motorists.

A 12-week running plan involves running 4 times per week, with one or two days for cross-training and one or two days of rest. Basically 2 of the runs in a given week are "easy" by which is meant just covering a distance of between 3 and 5 miles. So hopefully not too stressful. Another day involves running from 2.5 miles to 4 miles at "race pace", which for me will hopefully be 9 minutes per mile. The remaining running day, requires a run that starts at 4 miles in the first week, and builds to 10 miles by week 7, before going down a little as part of a taper towards the race day. The training plan proposes using Saturday for this - maybe not a bad idea, as there is a lot less traffic on the road Saturday morning. With all this in mind, one just needs to find suitable places to run.

Currently the most important section of the Cheng Ching Lake bike path (the 2km thick red line along the "right-hand" side of the lake in the map above), is undergoing road works (perhaps cables or pipes that are not to do with widening the path), and so it is a mess. In one month I will start to swim at the pool on the right-side of the lake which means I hope everything is back to normal by then.

The right-hand side of the lake has some popular tourist attractions like this pavilion (that is one of three pavilions together). The bike path is behind the fence on the left, and the lake is through the trees on the right.

By cross training, I will be doing swimming, since I want to continue swimming, and I will also use an old mountain bike to get to the swimming pool or to the running venue, if it is not within walking distance from my house. A slight snag is that I want to swim three to four times per week, which means that for two of the runs, I will ideally run starting and finishing close to the pool, and run first and then swim, and not the other way round as was the case in Kona. Here it is better to swim last, as swimming can help me cool off (even if the water is 82F or above), and I can make use of the showering facilities at the pool, before a relaxing cycle ride home.

Cross-training (mixing days of running with days of swimming or both one after the other on the same day), not only helps reduce the risk of running injuries, but also has practical benefits, too. By swimming after the run, you get a free shower (usually two) and sometimes a free spa, and you can return home refreshed after what seemed like a blistering run in scorching heat. The water temperature today was 82F, but it still felt cool.

After one reaches the 1.96 km point on the "red" bike path, one reaches the bottom of the lake, and the next 1.24 km consists mainly of fairly uneven cobbled sidewalk with the occasional half-felled tree that runs alongside a fairly busy road, so it is doable, but not a lot of fun. From the 3.20 km point (above) is a fairly nice and quiet run well away from most of the traffic for about 870 meters, until one reaches the road that goes up past the Grand Hotel. Since the Kaohsiung local government is committed to "building more bike paths", hopefully something more will be done to deal with the more dangerous stretches especially to the south of the lake. Many whole families bike on these roads on Sundays, etc., and so making things safer concerns a lot more people than a few freaky runners.

A few meters short of 1 kilometer from the start of Yuan Shan Rd. to the turn off (above) into Song-Yi Road, one reaches the exclusive bike path on the "left" of the lake that goes past a golf course further up on the left. This section of the bike path is 1,900 meters long and hilly, being higher at the other end. The first 350 meters is a "moderate" climb, then 650 meters is a gradual descent, then 350 meters of "moderate" climbing, followed by 550 meters of flat (along a green containment wall) then a gradual descent to the intersection of the roads the motorists use. There is relatively little traffic except during the times when people commute to and from work. After that, there is a total distance of 400 meters, the last half being a fairly sharp downward descent (with no bike path) until one reaches the "start" of the bike path track next to the side entrance of the Cheng Ching Lake park.

A few hundred yards away in a side road from the start of the "left" bike path (shown in the previous picture), I came across this larger than life sculpture. I guess the intention is to encourage people, young and old alike, to run to be healthy. At least that is a step in the right direction. Since this is a quiet residential road, I could probably lock up an old bicycle nearby and leave a towel, a bottle and some outer clothing, without anyone being concerned about it. After all, I don't want to return home looking like one of these people.

To try to sum up, since I live in a city of about one million people, finding a place to run away from traffic or just the mass of humanity is not easy, and so today I went on my bicycle to look around at possible venues. If the training plan says "short, easy run today", I will consider running in the park near my home, preferably when there are less people, such as during the day when it is warmer and people are at work. However, if I want to have bit more space to run in (so I am not just doing laps) or I want to combine the run with a swim (since I hope to keep swimming 3 times per week), I will run on different parts of the bike trails around Cheng Ching Lake, to which I can cycle within 15 minutes. This will be good for "time trials" of usually no more than 4 miles, since I have measured the distances between different points on these bike trails fairly accurately. When it comes to doing a longish, and perhaps more challenging run, say 6 or 7 miles, then I will consider doing one whole loop of the lake (or fractions/multiples thereof) in order to accomplish that day's goal. According to my calculations, one loop of the lake, while remaining either on the bike path or the road next to it where there is no path, is about 7.25 km, which is 4.5 miles. About 3 of the miles are "safe" (though nowhere is really safe), and the other 1.5 miles is OK if one runs against the traffic or on more uneven surfaces (like narrow sidewalks that no one would ever walk on or drain covers that are at least shielded by trees to keep the motorcycles at bay as you run up past the Grand Hotel. Fortunately, the longer runs don't come very often, at least for me.

About the author: Bruce Stewart is a one-time Hawaii Ironman finisher (2004) who, while having since then kept up a reasonable amount of swimming, has let the other two disciplines, biking and running, slip. After recently covering the first half of a marathon in barely under three hours, he has decided to follow a "modest" running training program that he can incorporate into a fairly busy life, all the while trying to make the most of living in a large city.

Next Sunday's Kaohsiung International Marathon

A bicycle I acquired just prior to the Chinese New Year of the Tiger. My intention in buying it was to have a second "old" bike that I could use to get around town, and have an extra bike available should friends or family visit from afar.

This Sunday, February 28, is a special day in Taiwan to remember an unfortunate incident that occurred in Taiwan 63 years ago, and which led to thousands of Taiwanese being killed by Mainland Chinese who had only recently taken control of Taiwan following the withdrawal of the Japanese at the end of the Second World War. It is also the first time that the Kaohsiung International Marathon is being held. While I am not a marathon runner and I currently do not have a lot of interest in running, given the event is being held on my back doorstep, as someone who has at least completed an Ironman, I would have to come up with some very good excuses not to enter the event.

A photograph of an official memorial for the victims of the "white terror" in Taiwan that I took a few months ago in Taipei. The "white terror" refers to the suppression of political dissidents and public discussion of the 228 incident (referred to above) under the period of Martial Law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987. I lived in Taiwan for 5 of those years. Not that I was threatened in any way, but either people knew very little of what had happened historically, or else they (or the vast majority at least) kept their mouths firmly shut.

While I was in Hawaii until almost 3 years ago, I regularly took part in triathlon events, tending to prefer the shorter events (under 90 minutes if all three disciplines were involved). Like most in the local triathlon community, I tried my luck at the longer, more prestigious events, and qualified for the Hawaii Ironman three times, although I completed it only once, on my first attempt in 2004. The second time I twitched my knee towards the end of the bike and could not run, even though I spent nearly 6 hours on the run course before giving up, and the third time, for visa reasons, I could not stay long enough to have another attempt at the full distance.
With three sports to train for, I tended to mostly swim and bike as I enjoyed them more, and I constantly found I just did not have the time to do much serious running.

The weather in Kaohsiung is generally quite hot much of the year. Although the winter is a little cooler than in Kona, Hawaii, the winter is also short, making it possible to swim the whole year round outdoors. In addition, except for the summer school vacation, there appear to be few people swimming in excellent pools like the one above, which makes swimming all the more enjoyable.

Kaohsiung is not an ideal place for running. The city is fairly heavily polluted (although it is slowly improving, as there are fewer factories, and the government is encouraging people to cycle or buy electric mopeds). However, while many bike paths have been established in various parts of the city, it seems that few people (apart from junior high school children or the elderly) use bicycles, unless they are going on a Sunday afternoon family outing. A gasoline-powered scooter is much more convenient for most people, and people always seem to be in a hurry. So the bigger roads are full of scooters, motorcycles, cars and trucks.

From this photo of the city of Kaohsiung (the tall building on the left is 50 stories), it can be seen that this is hardly the place to run a marathon. Fortunately, the marathon will be held Sunday morning, so perhaps most participants will be almost done by the time the city of 1 million wakes up and all the gasoline/diesel-driven engines roar into action.

There will no doubt be some "nice" spots along the course. In fact, for people moving at a snail's pace like myself, it will be a time to appreciate at least the steps that are being taken in the right direction to make this a better city for its many inhabitants.

A contrast in biking styles. On the one hand, a gleaming Harley Davidson Fatboy 1,584cc, designed for the ultimate ride, parked next to my rusty 18-speed MTB on the other. There is no doubt which one is better, but at the same time the Harley would cost more than one thousand times what my bike cost.

The city of Kaohsiung is not a great place for training on a bicycle. One does see quite a few people in full cycling gear on their road bikes, but hopefully they are biking out of town to places where they do not have to compete with traffic. However, I occasionally hear about accidents, and so I am not too keen on going riding, unless I am planning a really long ride. About 50 kms south of Kaohsiung, there are some great roads for riding and it gets better and better the further south one goes.

The bicycle is, however, a great means of transport for getting around the city, for instance when going to the bank, or to the swimming pool, or for shopping in the market. In the above photo, my bicycle is laden with several kilos of potatoes, carrots, onions, apples and bananas. I have bought more this week, as I will try to carbo-load as much as I can in the last few days before the marathon.

This will be a marathon I have not trained for. I just found it very hard to generate the interest to go out and train, feeling that swimming and biking (to the pool and back) are much more suited to my schedule and longer-term goals. I also have to watch for injury when running, having had to drop out of the Ironman once due to knee pain (even though I found the problem had gone the next day). I don't seem to get any injuries swimming (maybe because I swim like a crab), and biking only gives me problems if the bike is too small (as the one I used for the Ironman races was), which puts a strain on my knee when riding long distances. I will wear soft knee braces for the marathon, and I will go slow and do whatever I can to delay the onset of bonking (still not sure whether the race organizers will supply anything other than water). I will carry my own supply of food and Gatorade if needed. I will probably look like some old grandpa, but I am not particularly worried. I have heard Mike O'Reilly call my name before, followed by "You are an Ironman!" Once an Ironman, always one, I guess.

Recently, I have been wondering what it is like to run/walk a marathon in a big city, full of buildings, vehicles and the hustle and bustle of city life. Recently, when I visited the recycling yard where I rescued the bicycle I am now using to get around, I found the owner's cat sound asleep amongst the huge pile of electrical cables that have been sorted to await further collection. The cat at least can make the best of far from idyllic surroundings, and it will be my turn to do the same this weekend. (This cat looks very much like our own. Since this cat lives a little over a mile from us, it might be our cat's older cousin).

Christmas Letter 2009

In spite of 2009 being a difficult year for many in view of the global economic recession and various natural disasters, this year will certainly be one that we as a family will have many good memories of. It was our second year as a family living in Kaohsiung in Southern Taiwan. Jocelyn was able to buy a good bicycle and to discover the joys of riding relatively long distances in sometimes difficult terrain. I myself also bought a "real" mountain bike and one that was the right size for me. In addition, I was able to swim the whole year outdoors in two different 50 meter pools.
Occasionally, Jocelyn and I were able to get away from the city of Kaohsiung, even if it was just for a couple of days a couple of hours away. Both our boys applied to colleges and were accepted, with James going to Surrey, England to study for a BA in filmmaking and photography, and Morrison going to Elmhurst in Illinois to study international business. I was able to work hard throughout the year, mostly from home or wherever else in the neighborhood I felt able to concentrate, and to meet all their tuition, accommodation and general living expenses by the due dates.
In my generally busy life, I was sometimes able to appreciate the beauty of flowers, like these bourgain villea, as well as banana trees. I enjoy eating bananas, and so I am thankful for the many banana trees that flourish in the warm weather here. To try to maintain some balance in life and not let work completely take over, I tried to swim for about one hour per day about five days per week, and also went on quite a few bike rides, mostly with Jocelyn, in addition to using a bike to get around town, usually to the swimming pool, as going to work mostly only involved going up or down stairs.
Jocelyn was able to become increasingly involved in counseling younger women and church ministry activities and to develop her many unique giftings in these areas. She was also able to help with a fairly difficult translation I was given to do, as well as to work for the local city government as a counselor among some of the many indigenous peoples displaced by the disastrous landslides and flooding in the mountains not far away from us in August this year.
Ten years ago, at the start of the new decade, we as a family were still getting used to living in Hawai'i, where we had only been a couple of months, but subsequently stayed for another seven and a half years. When we returned to Taiwan in 2007, James had finished high school, but Morrison still had one year left (of home schooling). At that time and especially for the boys, the future looked somewhat threatening and uncertain. We are pleased with what happened this year, and thankful for having great friends, great supporters (through work) and a great God. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Confucius' Birthday 孔子誕辰日

As the world was getting ready to go to work on Monday morning, a gathering of faithful disciples of the great sage and teacher Confucius, ceremonial participants and a smallish group of curious onlookers made their way to the Confucius Temple in Tsoying, Kaohsiung to commemorate the day of his birthday about 2,560 years ago.
I was a little in two minds as to whether to go or not. I wasn't sure if the ceremony would be held here and thought it might start very early, say at 4:00 a.m. However, since I could not take good pictures in the dark, I waited until nearly 6:00 a.m. before leaving for the 15 to 20 minute bike ride to get there. I was greeted by this huge gate. Fortunately, the smaller red gates on the left had been opened and in I went.
This brought me into the following courtyard, and another gate. These gates weren't open and I had to go round to the left and enter the Temple forecourt from there.
I thought I might as well have been standing somewhere like the Forbidden City in Beijing. It was about 6:20 a.m. I was told that the ceremony would start at 7:00 a.m. sharp. At least I hadn't missed it.

Just before the 50-minute- long ceremony commenced, various participants took their positions.

The people dressed in red appeared to perform various duties like carrying incense, etc.

The people dressed in yellow appeared to be elementary school children. At least they hopefully can carry on the tradition in the future.

The people in black were modern-day disciples of Confucius, people no doubt who study Confucius' writings in depth. Many of them looked as if they could have been university professors. After all, you almost have to be one to understand the Four Books.
This was the first time I had ever tried to attend this ceremony. Many years ago when I studied Chinese in Taipei, the ceremony there was held very early and there was no way that I could get up at such an unearthly hour.

This is the entrance to the "front gate" from the inside of the courtyard.

I very much liked the mix of colors - red, yellow and black.

When I was a student of Chinese in the early 1980s in Taipei, one of my teachers spent about six months teaching us a lot of passages directly from Confucius' writings in classical Chinese.
I also had a teacher named Kung (孔), who claimed that she was the 75th-generation descendent of Confucius. At least she was somehow able to trace her ancestry that far back. At the time she taught us, she was in her 60s, and was an expert in Chinese literature.
In the past, one of the research institutions where I worked held a conference on "Confucianism and Economic Development". While the evidence isn't conclusive, Confucianism is believed to be partly responsible for the economic success stories of Taiwan and several other Asian countries.

Carrying incense.

In the olden days, these axes would no doubt have been real.

Standing guard on the other side of the gate.

Several "consecrations" were held.

The children who participated posed for a photo afterwards.

I decided to get my photo taken, too, for the record.

Outside the temple complex is a wall with a lot of engaving on it.

This close-up picture of the wall reminds me of Confucius. That is how I imagine he was.

View from a bridge crossing the Lotus Pond. The building on the right is the one where the ceremony was held.

Looking towards Gu Mountain in the other direction from the Confucius temple. Although it was about 8:15 a.m. on a Monday morning, everything seemed so peaceful. Somewhere in the distance, the city of Kaohsiung was bustling with people going about their daily business.