Taipei- A great experience pt. 2

Day two in Taiwan was here! We woke up around 8 am and had a complimentary breakfast provided by the hotel, Asian and western style breakfast. Lindy had already left for the first part of the Taiwanese wedding ceremony since her cousin was the groom. Chloe and I had planned to do some tourist stuff while Lindy was gone and attend the wedding reception in the evening with Lindy. There are several parts to a Taiwanese marriage. On the day of the wedding, Early in the morning around 9 am, the groom and his family must visit the bride’s family house to see where she grew up. Prior to entering the Bride’s family house, firecrackers are ignited to notify the bride of the groom’s arrival. The groom is then greeted by the bride’s brother with an apple (a welcome gesture). Once they have entered the house, the bride and the groom offer incense and pray to the bride’s ancestors. The couple then bows to the bride’s family to thank them for the upbringing of the beautiful bride. The bride and her family along with the groom and his family march over to the groom’s house (where the couple would be living after the wedding). The couple offer incense as they pray to the groom’s ancestors as a symbol of a new family member. The bride’s family then ensures that the house meets their standards and approves it (Viola! This completes the customary marriage). The next step is to all head to the temple for the actual wedding. The wedding is held in a temple and a monk performs the ceremony. The bride does not have bridesmaids; instead there are several female monks (who looked like males due to their bald heads) who walk down the aisle with Buddhas before the bride walks in with her father. The bride is allowed to wear white wedding gown. The ceremony involved offering incense, praying to gods/ancestors and bowing to their families. The couple is then introduced as Mr. and Mrs. A 10 course banquet meal reception is held as part of the Taiwanese wedding tradition. Theirs was scheduled for that evening.

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Chloe and I went back to bed after our breakfast, we wanted to tour the city but we were too tired. I could not sleep much the night before because of the 12 hour time difference and I was jetlagged. Chloe and I planned to sleep until 2 pm that was when Lindy was due back then go out and get some Taiwanese pastries and get ready for the reception. Well, we did not wake up until 4:30pm and Lindy was not back yet nor was she answering our text messages. Hmm so we started panicking because Lindy had taken the train to her cousin’s house early in the morning to the wedding and we started thinking she must have gotten lost and somehow ended up in China. We watched TV and hoped that Lindy would turn up soon. An hour later, here came Lindy. She said they all went to the groom’s house after the ceremony that is why she was late getting back. The reception was to start at 7 pm so we started to get ready; we took showers, got dressed and “beat” our faces as quickly as possible. It is now 6:30 pm; the reception venue is a 30 minute drive from the hotel. Chloe decided she wanted her hair curled before we headed out. We decided to go to a hair salon next to the hotel. The three of us walked in the salon and instantly became “celebrities”. The receptionist at the salon froze up as she was staring with her mouth wide open in complete shock that 3 black girls were in her salon. She stared for at least 5 minutes without greeting or saying a word. We looked at each other complete disbelief like, “Is she for real?” We wanted to snap our fingers and ask her to snap out of it as if she was in a daze. She then began speaking mandarin to us. This woman did not speak a word of English, not even “Hi”. Our challenge now was how to explain to her what kind of hairstyle Chloe wanted. With no picture in hand, we became fluent in sign language. After 10 minutes of trying to explain to this lady what hairstyle we wanted in our version of sign language, she finally got it (we hoped). She served us some hot tea and started gathering her hair tools. She started doing something completely different with Chloe’s hair than we had explained but already frustrated about the language barrier and not having enough time to waste. We decided to just allow her to finish her “masterpiece”, 10 minutes later, she was done. that’s it? She then said “40 TWD” which is a little over $1. We paid her and headed out.

We hailed a taxi right outside the salon door. We gave the taxi driver the reception venue’s business card that was the only way to communicate where we were going due to the huge language barrier. The driver removed his glasses and brought the business card closer to his tiny eyes to read the address, a few seconds later he nodded, indicating that he could take us there. We arrived at the reception a little past 7 pm. We knew we weren’t too late because people were still arriving. The reception venue was located in the world trade center building in the center of Taipei city. We took the elevator to the 5th floor where the reception was being held. As soon as we arrived at the space, we noticed that we were overdressed (as always #teamoverdressed), all the non-black guests were dressed casually, sun dresses, jeans & a top etc. We were greeted by a woman who then took us to our seats. The venue space was beautiful! One of those places that spoke for itself without decorations. There were about 13 round tables with 10 chairs per table. There was no dance floor but there was a stage that had a classical band and a huge chandelier with crystals on the side of the stage. The chandelier made the room! It was tall from the ceiling to the stage floor, grand and beautiful! There were bay windows that were initially covered with a screen showing a slideshow of the couple’s engagement pictures. After the slideshow and the screens went up, it was a beautiful view of city of Taipei. After everyone was seated, we were served wine and our 10-course began. The couple was announced during our 2nd course. The couple walked in very slowly, nodding at each guest as a gesture of respect and appreciation. This is the first time Chloe and I were seeing the couple. They are such as beautiful looking couple. They met in England while in college and started dating. The bride moved back to Taiwan after school to work with her father and the groom followed her to Taiwan shortly after. Ten years later here we were celebrating them. The bride was wearing a white wedding gown with tiny crystals all over it. She wore a beautifully blinked out necklace and bracelet to match her gown. Groom was dressed in a dark grey suit with a baby pink shirt and a dark pinkish tie. They were all smiles while they walked up to the stage and filled the champagne tower. They did not have a wedding cake (I am not sure if this is part of the tradition) but I guess the champagne tower served as their cake. There were speeches & toasts by the bride’s father, the groom’s father then the groom. The couple sat with both their immediate families at one table. (There was no sweetheart table). Lindy, Chloe and I were seated at a table next to the couple’s table. We sat with the bride’s brother and his girlfriend, the groom’s boss (Chris) originally from Belgium, his wife (Shaunie) originally from South Africa, their lovely daughter and two other people that we did not get to interact with. We chatted with Shaunie during the reception. She was very lovely and so happy that there were finally some black people in town. She then joked that she wish she had known we were in town, she would have gotten a babysitter so we could turn-up after the wedding. She and her husband had been living in Taipei for over 10 years. We talked, drunk, listened to the classical music and enjoyed the 10 course meal. In Taiwanese culture, it is customary for a bride to change 4 or more times at her wedding. The bride changed into her second dress which was a silky red gown. She was announced before entering into the ball room with her dress change. Three hours later, we were done with our 10-course meal and people started walking out. There was no official announcement that the reception was over so we sat there and chitchatted with our new friends while people walked out. We then realized that the waitresses were cleaning up around us without actually asking us to leave. It suddenly got really cold like the air conditioning was turned up really high. Shaunie told us that that is the technique Taiwanese people use to get rid of people in the clubs. Lol (That was not very nice). We were the last ones to walk out of the banquet hall. The couple was standing outside the hall taking pictures with their friends and family. The bride was in her third outfit, an emerald green gown with some bling. We took pictures with them and we were told there was an after party at a bar in town. We were given the business card for the bar to be given to the taxi driver. As soon as we got downstairs, Chris was standing there with his other staff waiting on a taxi. He hailed a taxi for us and got in with us. He speaks perfect mandarin so he told the taxi driver where we were headed. His wife had already left to go home with their daughter so he was free to turn up. After the after-party, there was another wild after party. Stay tuned.

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#Taiwan #Taipei #Asia