In my next life, I think I would like to return as a travel writer, gallivanting all over the globe, checking out and reporting on exotic locales for various publications. Well, I didn’t have to wait that long, it turned out, because my fantasy became a reality just last month.
It all began in January when I received an invitation from the Taiwan Tourism Bureau through AsianWeek to cover that country’s Lantern Festival to be held on March 4. Out of curiosity, I accepted the invitation as I had never been to Taiwan and, besides, the offer was for all expenses to be paid by the Taiwan government.
As a Filipino and Asian American, it was a wonderful opportunity for me to personally experience firsthand, and take part a slice of the Chinese culture, which has, along with other Asian cultures, molded our community in America.
Before I knew it, I was on a 14-hour EVA Air flight to Taipei.
One day after our arrival, we boarded a bullet train on the Taiwan High Speed Rail early in the morning and it zipped us to Chayi, 250 kilometers in just 80 minutes to cover the famed Lantern; it was an impressively smooth ride.
We were then bussed to the Taiwan Lantern Festival extravaganza, which was attended by over 100,000 people. With a history that stretches to the Han Dynasty, the Lantern Festival takes place a month after the lunar new year and has become one of most celebrated festivals to show the creative and artistic ability of Chinese culture through the magnificent display of ornate lanterns.
As invited writers, we were given VIP passes to sit by the stage with the president and prime minister of Taiwan. We couldn’t understand a word they said but we could imagine the content from the cadence and bombast of their expressions. From my personal experience, they were very similar to their Philippine counterparts.
That was not the only similarity as it turned out. Taiwan’s martial law ended in 1987, just a year after it ended in the Philippines with People Power.
As I prepared to come back to the states, I couldn’t help but marvel at how wonderful it was to be an Asian American. Rather than be limited to one set of marvelous cultural roots, we are the beneficiaries of so many different cultures. It is the beauty and strength of our community and can only be shared by those who call themselves Asian Americans.