Ten-Hut!

Recently my family and I made a day trip up to Taipei, Taiwan's hustling and bustling capital city. I hadn't been here in quite a few years. Since my son knew Taipei less well than I, he was allowed to suggest places to see after we took care of the business side of the trip. Towards the end of the day we arrived at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. It is a beautiful site due to it's majestic scale and classical Chinese  architecture. I was under the impression that the CKS Honor Guard pageantry had been eliminated under the previous DPP led government. I had no idea that it was re-instated. What a pleasant surprise that was for us and these shots(presented in 2 parts) are what we got that day. This shot shows the guard comprised of 2 Army and 1 Navy troops beginning the procession so that 1 Navy Honor Guard will be relieved. They have to stand like a statue for an hour at a time. The activity begins on the south side of the Memorial hall.

Moving forward the guard pass in front of the statue of CKS-The Generalissimo. You can see on Navy guard still on his pedestal awaiting his time.

The Navy guardsman on the North side of the hall begins his movements until he eventually joins the full detail before the statue of CKS.

Beginning the goose-step movements towards center hall will there will be much click clacking of heels and spinning and clacking of rifles before the ritual concludes. Part 2 will be published later this week. Please check back.

Today's music is by a band that I heard about right after moving to Taiwan some 20 odd years ago. There was much buzz going on about them and especially their guitarist-Vernon Reid. The band's name is Living Colour and I'm happy to say they still work together and just released a new work called The Chair in the Doorway. The song is Cult of Personality.