Taiwan—Taipei 2016-10-15

It is another cloudy and raining day.  Lucky, my only plans for today were doing laundry and attending my junior high school's reunion.

Due to the place that I stay in Taipei has no laundry facility.  I had to take my clothes to coin laundry to wash.

The coin laundry appears same as every where.

It is a busy place.  I people brought their wet clothes here to use the dryer.

Most of the homes in Taiwan have laundry machines, but no dryers.  People normally just hang their washed clothes on a ropes or rods.  In the winter time, it would take 2 or 3 days to dry the clothes.  So, more and more people will use their laundry machine to wash their clothes, and bring the wet clothes to coin laundry to dry.

While I was waiting for my clothes, I thought I would be bored for a while.  Then, I heard the beating sound of gongs and drums.  I run to the street and checked it out.  Boy, I was so lucky.

It was a part of annual Yimin Festival (義民爺祭典) in Taipei. Yimin Ye (義民爺) often translated as “Lords of the Righteous,” are Hakka ancestors in Qing Dynasty (清朝)  who sacrificed their lives defending Hakka settlements from bandits and other enemies.  Over time Hakka community worship Yimin Ye. The Lords of the Righteous from 26 Yimin Temples around Taiwan were being invited to the festival.

So, what I saw were the Lords of the Righteous from 26 Yimin Temples passing by the street where I was doing my laundry.

After I had junior high's reunion.  I went to one of the famous night markets， Shida Night Market (師大夜市).