“Be specific,” is what a woman, surnamed Pan (潘), said she has learned the next time she makes a prayer request with the Earth God Tudigong (土地公).
Pan shared her story on Thursday of how the Earth God granted a wish that she made at an Earth God shrine in Kaohsiung, prior to a trip to Vietnam last year.
She said she prayed that the Earth God would let her make 1 million dollars from the trip.
Pan told the shrine’s caretaking committee chairman Lin Pao-hsian (林寶祥) that she indeed did make 1 million by playing on a slot machine in Vietnam. However, the money was in Vietnamese dong, and 1 million dong is the equivalent of only NT$1,420.
“I thought to myself: ‘Come on, I wanted NT dollars, not Vietnamese dong,’” Pan said.
“Next time I need to be specific about what kind of currency I want. Best to say US dollars,” she added.
Pan decided that the shrine was “too real” to give it short shrift, and gave the Earth God a set of clothing as a way to thank the shrine for granting her wish.
According to currency exchange rates on Thursday, 1 dong is worth NT$0.00142.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
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