Trek #7: Taiwanese Fun Facts

The Lottery Receipts

In Taiwan, you will notice that you get an additional print out with every receipt. We quickly learned that this is actually a lottery ticket! The highest prize is 1 million New Taiwanese Dollars, and winning tickets are drawn every two months. Essentially, this serves as proof that businesses have paid their taxes, which is important as it goes to national insurance. 

Unfortunately, we had no claim over these lottery tickets, and so we deposited them in boxes at restaurants and hotels so that a lucky staff member might be able to claim them! 

The Love Temple

In the Dadaocheng neighborhood there is a temple where people flock to celebrate love. This is a Taoist temple, which means you must enter right to left. It carries fortune telling sticks and altars for offerings. These offerings are almost always candy and sweet fruits. 

What is most interesting about this temple specifically is that it is dedicated to the Moon God, or as it was described to us, "Chinese Cupid." Many people dedicate offerings and prayers in the hopes that love will find them. The best story I heard about this temple is that young girls will bring K-Pop tickets to the shrine and pray that they get to see their "love," or favorite idol. 

I ended up purchasing a red bracelet from one of the local stores-- a love charm made to protect relationships and bring good fortune. 

The best part of exploring other cultures is getting to participate respectfully yourself!