Youtubed- Taipei

Some interesting Youtube videos for some insights into the city in which we live:

http://www.lonelyplanet.tv/Clip.aspx?key=EA894358B9B076C5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHa2M9QhCs0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYdak5N8K3Y&mode=related&search=

Maokong: A Little Bit of Paradise on a Lazy Sunday

At the very simplest, I think as Van Gogh said and St Francis would have said, we must find nature. Just to be in the presence of nature your feelings and 'little seedlings' start to awake. ... More and more we turn nature into a commodity, into eco-tourism. But we must integrate it into the way (we) live every day...


On Sunday, we spent a blissful morning, slipping in and out of consciousness, on the comfy tatami, taking breaks for Japanese cornflakes (not as good, damnit).

Later, in the afternoon, we met with our Taiwanese mates and headed out to the mountains surrounding Taipei City. The day's exercise was to head out to the latest addition to Taipei's public transport system - a cable car up and over the mountain range into the small tea-growing villages of Maokong.

The cable-car has copped an unbelievable amount of flack in its short time; it's had a few minor blips, but mostly, the biggest oversight seems to be the lack of air-conditioning! It's all over the news here, pandering to the large number of locals who shake their head solemnly every time it's mentioned! As it's a French design, used to transport people up the alps during the ski season, the cars have no windows and only tiny vents for air. Not particularly comfortable stuff!

Nonetheless, beautiful. Travelling up and over the city at sunset, far enough away to enjoy a little objectification too. Just gorgeous. After a twenty minute ride (for $2AUD - obscene!) we took a bus to an old teahouse once favored by one of our friends during her time at grad school.

I can't find the camera cord, but I know that even the photos won't do it all justice. We sat outside on a big wooden table, with a small latern providing light for our little alfresco space. Just like an Australian summer space, fairy lights set the scene against a night as black as anything, crickets serenading with their little tune. We didn't talk so much; just snacked on great dim sum. The unofficial priority; drinking both oolong tea and a setting unlike any other, thus far.

Sighs all round.

We once again took the cable car on the way back, which allowed us to enjoy the view once more, this time the nightscape. Again, so immensely beautiful and a great way to enjoy a city from afar, all the little beings far beneath us.

Back in the heart of the city - Taiwan is such a little island - we stopped off at one of Taiwan's greatest inventories, the xiao chi restaurant. After a session at KTV, in Taipei, people don't head to the local Maccas for that obligatory 3am snack. They head to any number of 24-hour buffet/congee restaurants, which are pumping with people at any hour of the day. These restaurants are designed to service big groups, so they provide a big saucepan of congee rice so you can enjoy the little food dishes chosen from the huge buffet downstairs. A real Taiwanese evening, no? Eating at 11pm on a Sunday night. You can see what I mean about these restaurants at one of my favorite blog sites, "A Hungry Girl's Guide to Taipei."

htttp://hungrygirlintaipei.blogspot.com.

It's all about making the time, dui bu dui?

Dragon Boat Festival

Apologies to any of you that have been hanging out for another post! We've been a little slack on the blog front lately, so there's a few things to catch up on.

Firstly, Simon has been quite sick over the past week. About a week ago he started complaining of sore throat and a fever. After a few days we realised that it was a little more serious than a cold, so we've since fed him a bunch of antibiotics and its done him a world of good! The difference has been a little startling, to be honest! This definitely confirms what we've heard so far about the quality of the health system here.

Also, we've had much more time for R and R than usual, being a long weekend here in Taipei. (We've also got tommorrow off, hooray!) This is because the Taiwanese are celebrating 'Dragon Boat Festival' ((端午節, Duānwū Jié). It's a traditional festival held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and its said that once the festival begins, so too does summer.

The exact origins of Duan Wu are unclear, but one traditional view holds that the festival memorializes the Chinese poet Chu Yuan (c. 340 BC-278 BC). He committed suicide by drowning himself in a river because he was disgusted by the corruption of the government. (One of our good friends shares in his ancestry!)

The local people, knowing him to be a good man, decided to throw food into the river to feed the fish so they would not eat Qu Yuan's body. They also sat on long, narrow paddle boats called 'dragon boats', and tried to scare the fish away by the thundering sound of drums aboard the boat and the fierce looking carved dragon head on the head of the boat. Other thoughts are that after Qu Yaun committed suicide, that because the people loved him so much, they raced out to recover his body, and the races signify the boats skimming across the water to find him.

However, researches have also revealed that the festival is also a celebration that is characteristic of ancient Chinese agrarian society: the celebration of the harvest of winter wheat, because similar celebrations had long existed in many other parts of China where Qu Yuan was not known. As interactions between Chinese residing in different regions increased, these similar festivals were eventually merged.

In the early years of the Chinese Republic, Duan Wu was also celebrated as "Poets' Day," due to Qu Yuan's status as China's first poet of personal renown. Today, people eat bamboo-wrapped steamed rice dumplings called zongzi (the food originally intended to feed the fish) and race dragon boats in memory of Qu Yuan's death. (Delicious!)

So our celebration of Dragon Boat Festival was shared today with some of our fantastic Taiwanese friends, Margaret and Leo. Being life-long Taipeiers, they offered to take us to Jilong River (on the city's outskirts) to see the famous Dragon Boat races. It was fantastic! Lots of teams competed, including local high schools and the Taipei Police. The event had the air of a high school sports day, with lots of people running around and lots of eskies filled with ice-creams and watermelons to combat the heat. I guess the photos really say it all.

From there Margaret and Leo took us for a tour of the area surrounding National Taiwan Normal University ('Shi-da' for short) where we'll be learning Chinese in a few months. Being a student area, it has a really different vibe to other parts of Taipei - heaps of well-priced food (especially Malaysian and Indonesian to cater to the international student community) and funky little stores, just gorgeous. It's definitely the place for us. So we had a lazy afternoon lunch over noodles (also v. delicious!) So we'll be back there over the week or so to look for houses with those guys, which will be great.

So that's the update for the moment. Simon's having a peaceful nana nap beside me, as he's pretty zonked from his first day out and about since he got sick. When he wakes up, it'll be time for some more West Wing (there's a few duds in season six, I must say... not cool!) and perhaps some online Lateline too!

When it rains, it pours...

The weather here over the past few days has been absolutely incredible... It's just rained and rained, absolutely pouring most of the time, for at least three days now.

The city is still functioning as per normal, thank goodness. It's just strange seeing so much water around the place after coming from drought-stricken Australia.

It's also really strange being in the pouring rain whilst it being so warm - it was a balmy 27 degrees here today and 25 degrees overnight.

Beitou, in northern Taipei - our favourite little hot springs spot, so close to the city! - has experienced some of the heavier floods over the past few days.

We've been told stories about the floods of 2001 in which Taipei City received four months of rain in one day; flooding houses and low-lying areas, soo too was the whole metro (subway) system forced to go down. Sounded like chaos.

The weather is set to continue like this for the next week or so, with most people staying indoors when they can. Hopefully, our little island will be spared from anything more drastic than that.

KTV!

Last night I indulged in one of the most popular Taiwanese night-life activites... KTV! For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's basically Japanese-style karaoke and is one of the most popular things to do in Taiwan.

Some of the teachers here organised for a small group of us to go along - since its quite expensive on weekends, we chose to go last night between the hours of 11pm and 2am.. which felt a little strange. Simon has been working very hard and decided to give it a miss as his Thursdays are quite busy... hard-working lad that he is!

Basically, you're ushered into what looks like a plush little lounge-room with big couches, a large table and a big TV. (There's also a private bathroom.) Then you can choose from a little screen either English or Chinese songs. The English selection is absolutely hilarious, with numbers from Billy Ray Cyrus, the Pussycat Dolls and Britney Spears alike! You could also choose from a couple of Eric Clapton numbers... With Eric Claypton's Chinese name translated as "beautiful old man", it's generally pretty funny.

So then, of course, there's beer to dissipate any nerves on the microphone. Needless to say, I'm a little tired today and my heads a little sore (I think it was the vodka that did it.) Oops, must run, student has arrived... :)

Lazy Fridays, Taipei

Today Leese celebrated her first day off for the week (after 4 days, 10-12 hours each) - exciting stuff! We were finally able to spend some time together, with Sim also enjoying the luxury of an afternoon off. We spent the day lounging about drinking coffee and trying out a bunch of Taiwanese food that we've yet to try.

i. We were hugely chuffed when we found this huuuuge packet of Arnott's Tim Tams sold in a pharmacy here (yes, chemists sell Tim Tams.) Amazing, and discounted, too!

ii. We also went to a noodle house, where we tried some amazingly fresh beef and veggie noodles over Asahis... While watching the chefs throw about the noodle dough, twisting and kneading like nobody's business. Awesome stuff.

Leese poses for the Papa

iii. We also finally decided to try "Beard Papa", the Taiwanese sweet store! Beard Papa is a Japanese concoction, a little stall which sells pastry puffs filled with vanilla and strawberry... Absolutely delicious!

iv. Summer is most definitely on its way - it was 38 degrees here in Taipei today, absolutely steaming. And we're set to experience the humidity which comes with the typhoon season, also set to begin soon. On the upside though, we did enjoy some delicious mango and starfruit today, to celebrate the beginning of the mango (and avo!) season.

v. We also realised that the two-and-a-half year mark just passed us by... Woohoo! (Note: We're still celebrating with Asahis, just like the good old days.) :)

Photos soon! x

Jarring Aesthetics - Expressway, Taipei City

"If one stays long enough on the island, the jarring aesthetic is gradually tempered by the people one meets, the preoccupation with making a living and the delights of Taiwanese food.. homey feelings which take over from the rational and compensate for you."

- Meldrum, W. Taiwan Review, March 2007.

Helmets Ain't Cool

The traffic in Taipei is incredible. Cars and scooters swim through the city streets like schools of fish. Lisa and I have flirted with the idea of buying a scooter here to get around on. Maybe a little Vespa, how romantic! Very Roman holiday. Riding a scooter is a large part of living in Taiwan. The roads of this tiny island can't accommodate every citizen's desire to own a car, and although the relatively new MRT in Taipei has eased the pressure on the city's roads, scooters are the populace's main alternative. To demonstrate the sheer volume of scooters here, Taipei city's population is over 2.6 million people; the number of registered scooters is over 1 million. Hence, riding a scooter is a large part of Taiwanese culture.


Prior to 1998, wearing a helmet whilst riding your scooter in Taiwan was not a requirement by law. Needless to say the culture here has embraced this new law half-heartedly. I can liken this lack of enthusiasm to wear helmets with skateboarding culture in Australia, where attempts to make skateboarders wear helmets has been rejected by the community, and hence the inconsistent application of the law. Entrenched cultures are resistant to change. Most of Taipei's 1 million scooter drivers wear not-so-much helmets but tin hats. They can be bought by the roadside for around $200NT or $8AUS. These thin pieces of metal are a superficial level of compliance with the authorities, enough to keep the police off your back. Youths can be seen wearing t-shirts chastising the helmet laws. Wearing a helmet ain't cool.


The practical benefits of wearing a proper helmet are, of course, obvious. And the predictable downside of wearing hats instead of helmets is the potential danger to the human skull. Combine a lack of protection with the bedlum of traffic in Taiwan and you have a potent recipe for death. In fact, 70% of all traffic fatalities in Taipei City are scooter operators. Many are victims of the greater problem in Taiwanese society: the lack of respect for traffic laws, drink-driving, and the lack of effeciency in policing Taiwan's roads. A trip around the island by car is a tour of traffic lunacy. In the mountains, buses and scooters overtaking cars on blind corners. Cliff-hugging roads with inappropriate barriers. People running red lights. Cars and motorcyclists not yielding to emergency vehicles. There are few guarantees as a pedestrian in Taiwan. Chaos is the law. Drivers and street-walkers alike seem to have developed a sixth sense for predicting traffic. Most of the time scooters and cars weave through the streets in schools with a kind of chaotic harmony, but it takes so little for that harmony to be broken.


Just the other day Lisa and I were walking to the bus-stop when we witnessed our first major collision. A man on a scooter had been hit by a car. He was wearing a cheap helmet - better than a tin hat, but not by much. Unconscious, eyes flickering in the back of his head. The typical thoughts ran through our minds - frustration, despair and ultimately sadness. The traffic in Taipei seems to mirror the island's path to modernisation. Intoxicating, blindingly quick, inconsistent and at times dangerous. Goodbye romantic ideas of driving a scooter in Taiwan. I'll take my chances with the footpath and the MRT.

A Day in Danshui

Situated north-east of Taipei, Danshui (淡水 or 'fresh water' in Chinese) is a sea-side town where the Danshui River meets the waters of the Taiwan Strait. The town is a weekend escape for the county's urban dwellers, conveniently located on the MRT line forty minutes from down-town Taipei. After a few days chasing jobs in the big city, Leese and I needed to breathe in some semi-clean ocean air to soothe our congested nasal tracts. But, of course, a blog from these two travellers would never be complete without a little history.

Due to its close proximity to mainland China and its large natural harbour, Danshui became a large fishing and trade port during colonial times. For nearly 400 hundred years, sovereignty over Danshui changed hands from the Spanish, to the Dutch and finally to the British, who lost jurisdiction over the area towards the middle of the 19th century. Fort San Damingo, a beautiful structure built by the Spanish in the 16th century, has at various stages of Taiwan's history been operated by the country's colonisers. Towards the end of the colonial years, the Fort was used by the British government as the Consulate for Taiwan. The Fort still stands in its albeit rennovated glory.

View outside the Fort San Domingo

The fort, which is perched nicely on a hill overlooking the river mouth, offers fantastic views of the surrounding areas. The Taiwanese government has done its best to preserve the building as the British had left it. And, indeed, if you close your eyes, you can picture the Brits sipping Indian cups of tea, polishing their elephant guns and waxing their moustaches surrounded by ultra-Victorian decor and the necessary bourgeoius trimmings. Mixed in with the original site is a suprising amount of kitsch. For example, with the appropriate model at your disposal, you can all appreciate the over-sized pair of clogs sitting in the building's courtyard. A fitting tribute to the Dutch.

Clog-a-licious!

Bali, a smaller town on the other side of the river, is but a 10 minute ferry-ride from Danshui. Lisa and I took full advantage of the newly constructed bike path along the river. After hiring two mountain bikes from the local vendor for just under ten Australian dollars, we spent the next two hours riding up and down the foreshore, sheer bliss! A quick ferry ride back to Danshui MRT station and we were thoroughly exhausted. Tomorrow we both have lunch with a member of Minquan University and in the afternoon Simon has another interview with Susan's English School.

Love to you all - S&L