An 80-year-old woman completed an 18-day journey around Taiwan on an aging scooter, visiting more than 30 temples without using GPS and spending less than NT$10,000 on food and accommodations.
Liu Tseng Yu-chen (劉曾玉真), a community weaving instructor who volunteers at the Kaohsiung Education Bureau, made the more than 1,000km trek alone on her decade-old scooter, she said.
She spent NT$18,000 on the trip, but NT$10,000 went to donations to local temples, Liu Tseng said.
Photo: Huang Hsu-lei, Taipei Times
Visiting the temples was the highlight of her trip, she said, holding receipts for her donations to more than 30 temples for amounts ranging from NT$300 to NT$1,000.
At every temple she visited, Liu Tseng lit incense to pray for a successful journey, as well as a healthy and prosperous new year for her family and friends, she said.
As she stayed in affordable hotels or the homes of relatives or friends, she was able to spend just NT$8,000 on food and accommodations, she said, adding that the generosity of the people she met along the way helped keep her expenses low.
Photo: Huang Hsu-lei, Taipei Times
Liu Tseng said that she did not know how to use the Internet, but people would often recommend inexpensive hotels, point the way to a reliable mechanic when her scooter broke down or help her take the sole picture from her journey.
The picture was her with the Great Buddha Statue of Baguashan (八卦山大佛) in Changhua County, and it was taken by a passerby, she said.
This is Liu Tseng’s second time traveling around Taiwan on the scooter, she said, adding that nine years ago she managed it in 17 days.
Although her scooter was older this time and the buildings in Taipei have become taller, the scenery was more beautiful and the people even kinder, she said.
“These two times around Taiwan by myself are the most wonderful memories in my life,” she said, adding that the biggest reward was rediscovering the nation from a new perspective.
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