Delays

So it's been a long time since I've updated on here, I apologize for those of you who are following. I've been busy trying to pack as much as I can into the last few weeks of my trip, and in between all the ill-planned last minute vacations, sugar-high beach trips and inevitable sunburn hangovers, sitting down to type everything up on here has kind of shifted to the back burner.
I have been taking pictures constantly, and I've put a lot of them on facebook and flickr. But I've found that putting them on here and telling the stories behind them to be more time-consuming then I thought it would be. I might just be over-thinking it, as usual.

Right now, I'm sitting in a small chinese restaurant in the Taipei airport. my flight was delayed 3+ hours, which will likely bump my connecting flight back to the next day. I'd like to be doing something other then sitting, as I've got a 12 hour flight ahead of me, but 100+ lbs of luggage tends to weigh one down. As of now, I'm hoping that I'll be sufficiently tired as to sleep through the whole thing.

After I get home, I do plan to put everything up on here, there's a lot to show everybody. Thank you for your patience. I'd give everyone a meal voucher if I could.

VIDEO - Keelung River and Raohe Night Market

This is a video I shot and edited over two days to teach myself some new editing software. This is not the BIG video I've been working on, but more like a tease. Enjoy!

Museum of Contemporary Art - Taipei

A few weeks ago, I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei. I put the pictures of facebook and flickr, but didn't post them on here. I wasn't impressed by the museum, it was very small, and favored abstract installation pieces over actual 'art'. As with some other museums I've been to, I felt like there was a huge cultural gap, and I wasn't aware enough of the country and its history to really appreciate anything. But, I got some good pictures.

This was an art installation. A room lit only by bright Fluorescent tubes mounted on two facing walls. A single hole in the walls projected chinese characters. Visitors were handed fans to hold up to the holes, so they could read the writing.




This room was nearly pitch black. There was a giant pool of ink in the center, and on one side were spools of paper and brushes, for visitors to write Chinese calligraphy on.



This exhibit featured a metal sheet that had been beaten with a hammer. On the opposite side were small glass hearts in different colors and designs. I thought the wall would make for a good self-portrait.


These two girls had the same idea.

Keelung River

My new apartment is just a block away from the Keelung River, one of the two rivers that snake through Taipei. There is a nice river park on both banks, with walking and bike paths, and foot bridges that cross the river.


This is a view of my neighborhood from the footbridge. The night market is two blocks in.


A view of the Keelung River, facing East.


These two girls would walk a few steps, then stop and take pictures of each other with the phones. Then they would walk a few more steps and repeat the process. They seemed a little surprised that I tried to get a shot of them.


This couple was in the same spot the entire time I was at the park.


Taipei is hosting the 2009 "Deaflympics" in September. There are posters all over town for it.


Everywhere there is construction, which is pretty much everywhere, you'll find these goofy signs.


I snapped a picture of this kid as he zipped past me. The bike paths werent very crowded on a cloudy weekday, but on the weekends they're packed.


Several street bridges also cross the river, connecting the northeast end of the city.


There is a basketball court on the far side of the river, some kids were playing ball that afternoon.


A view of my neighborhood from the riverbank. I live behind the reddish building in the center.


I also shot some video yesterday. I'm working on getting a work-flow together for editing video on my laptop, I hope to have something online soon.

Taiwan Cable Television

One of the things I was expecting from Taiwan was crazy asian-style "Mr Sparkle"-esque tv shows and commercials. I'm happy to say I was not disappointed. To give the folks back home a taste, I've recorded about 10 minutes of me flipping through the channels one night. This was recorded at about 1 a.m., Tuesday night. Enjoy!




More videos, stuff I've actually shot, are coming. I'm still learning the editing software I got, I hope to have something up soon.

My new home - the Raohe Night Market

I moved into a new apartment last weekend. Its directly above a busy night market. I joked to a few friends that I was moving onto the set of Blade Runner (the famous 80's-futuristic sci-fi movie). The market is usually filled with people, and has more then 100 shops selling anything from squid-on-a-stick to bras to puppies to knockoff tshirts. It makes for a colorful place to live.

This is the entrance. the whole street is closed in the evening, and filled with stands.


Statues of owls, the market's mascot, guard the entrance, next to fake trees with LED lights for leaves.


The market is packed with vendors. I get the feeling that most of them make their living here, sleeping most of the day, then preparing food to sell in the afternoon.


Glowing lights, and rows of merchandise line the streets.




This was some kind of game for kids. I'm not sure what they won after they caught the fish. Maybe they keep them as pets.


There are a few pet stores , cuteness knows no borders.


Tshirts and signs with broken or ill-advised english are everywhere. I'm probably going to do most of my gift shopping here.


This was a kind of massage booth. People pay to be beat on the head with a bundle of straw sticks. I was told that it's relaxing, but I can't imagine how.


Right outside the market there is a beautiful temple. It was closing when I got there, so I didnt get many pictures. I'll have to go back during the daytime.



The Keelung river runs just north of the market. The city has built a walking/biking park on its banks, and a few impressive foot bridges across it.

This is the view from the roof of my building. I go out here to smoke. When the sky is clear, I can see mountains in the distance.




I'm definitely going to shoot more of the market and the area. There is a typhoon approaching the city, so its probably going to rain the next few days. For the meantime, I'm stuck inside.

A tale of two Memorial Halls (part 2)

The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall was built in 1980 in honor of General Chiang Kai-shek. Chaing was the successor to Sun Yat-sen. He fought with the Allied forces in WWII after Japan declared war on China. After defeating the Japanese, Chiang continued fighting the growing communist influence in China, but was overtaken and eventually forced out of the country into Taiwan.



Chiang established Taiwan as the temporary seat of government for the Republic of China, and America and most European countries recognized it as such until after his death in 1975. The People's Republic of China have refused to recognize the ROC as a ruling power, and their conflict continues to this day. Chiang is seen as a controversial figure in Taiwan. Under his rule, he established Taiwan as an economic force. However, he did so at the cost of the local Taiwanese traditions. Chiang demanded that the entire country speak Mandarin Chinese and follow his view of Chinese traditions, although much of the country was filled with indigenous Taiwanese, who spoke their own language and hold their own customs. Chiang ran the country under a sustained martial law for most of his life, and violently silenced any forms of protest or dissent. Because of this, his memorial has become something of a political hot potato.

I've visited the memorial three times for different reasons, so I've got plenty of pictures.

The Memorial Hall sits in the middle of a massive courtyard. It is flanked by two other buildings, which house theaters and a bookstore.


Inside the Hall is a museum, with art galleries, a library, and displays of artifacts and pictures from Chiang's life.
This is the sign at the entrance, they take this stuff pretty seriously.


Two of Chiang's bulletproof cars are on display. The Caddy has mirrored windows, and is looked more like a hearse then a limousine.


The globe from Chiang's desk was in a glass case. Surprisingly, it was turned so that North America faced forward.


In the back of the museum was a recreation of Chiang's office, complete with a creepy wax model.


There were also many pictures of Chiang with various political figures, including Churchill, Eisenhower, Ghandi, and my favorite, Lyndon Baines Johnson.


Outside, at the top of the hall, stood a massive statue of Chiang. 89 steps, one for each year of the general's life, lead to the top, where the statue is guarded by more motionless soldiers. I was lucky enough to see the ceremony in which they were relieved at the end of the day, complete with some spinning of bayonets.




If you look closely at the soldier, you can see the sweat soaked through his pants just above the belt. He had been standing motionless at attention for an hour, in muggy 95 degree weather.






The memorial hall has been at the center of a great political controversy the last few years. Several years ago the opposition party won the presidential election, and declared that the hall be renamed the "National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall" due to Chiang's history of human rights abuses. The massive stone gate at the front was re-carved, new banners were draped over the hall, soldiers no longer guarded the statue, and the solemn statue room was filled with colorful kites. When the KMT party regained control of the government last year, they undid all of the changes made by the previous administration. I was told that the sign at the front was just replaced last week, surrounded by a few hundred armed policemen in case a demonstration got out of hand.

I'm sort of on the fence on the issue. On first visit the Hall seemed overwhelming, it seemed to deify the man while whitewashing any wrong he had done in his life. But after thinking about it, its not much different then the numerous monuments America has built in Washington D.C. to honor our past presidents. I've noticed that people here are very rigid in their political beliefs, there isn't much room for compromise to them. (sort of like in the states). Besides, its not like we dont have giant, ostentatious monuments built for people with questionable pasts. Stone Mountain GA comes to mind.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

4 week progress report.

So, I realized that I've been here almost 4 weeks now, and thought I'd take some time to reflect.

-I've spent almost all my time here in Taipei, the largest city on the island, and the capitol. I told a few people that it felt like living in New York City if it were on the moon. A lot of the shock and thrill I felt in the first few weeks wasn't so much being in another country as much as living downtown in a big city again. Once that wore off, I got kind of numb to it. Its a pain to navigate through the city, to deal with the huge crowds of indifferent people, and to find new and exciting things to see. Once I saw the big tourist sites and a few of the museums (which aren't that impressive, I'm sad to say), I kind of fell into a rut, and it took a while to get out of it.

-Language is still my biggest hurdle, and its sad to say that it's something I wont be able to get a hang of while I'm here. I've picked up a few words, and I'm working on learning more. My goal before I leave is to be able to go to a shop and order something, and pay for it with exact change.

-It makes me sad that I cant communicate with people when I go out. I've been told that most people here understand a little English, but have a hard time speaking it, and would rather save face by pretending they don't understand then to try and speak to an American and not be understood. It's very different from America, where we don't care so much about making asses of ourselves.

-On a more positive note, I'm learning a lot about the culture and history here. There are thousands of little differences, some are annoying but most are unique and add to the experience. While the people can be cold, like you'd expect in any big city, they are often friendly and understanding. They do their best to accommodate me, and seem genuinely embarrassed when they cant do more to help.

So, these are the things that I miss most..

1. My friends and family - you guys are great, and I miss you. I miss sitting on the porch with my parents talking and smoking, I miss the weekly hangouts at the Boyd residence, I miss the 3am trips to IHOP, I miss all of it.

2. American food - They try over here, but its like comparing Panda Express to real Chinese food. And what they call a steak is downright disgraceful.

3. Driving - When I get home I'm going to get in my car, roll the windows down, turn my radio up, and just go somewhere.

4. My bed - I miss my queen-size, pillowtop mattress. Asians love hard beds, its almost like sleeping on the floor. Plus, my feet hang off the end.

5. Culture - I miss knowing what's going on. All the crazy political stuff, even celebrity gossip. I get it secondhand here, and youtube takes forever to load (fast internet would be number 6 if I was going that high). But I miss hearing about it, and talking to people about it.

Now, my five favorite things about Taiwan.

1. Its a beautiful place. The city is surrounded by mountains on one side, and the ocean on the other. I plan to do a lot more travelling in the next few weeks, and I've heard the eastern side of the island is even better.

2. Cost of living. I can go pretty much anywhere and get a good fresh meal for about NT$100, which is about $3.20.

3. The MRT. There are train stations everywhere, the stops are well thought out, and its dirt cheap. I rode it for 30 minutes outside of town, and the trip cost me about $1.25 usd. All the trains are air conditioned, and clean enough to eat off of.

4. The Service Industry Mentality. Like I said before, people go out of their way to help you. It started raining when I went somewhere, and a lady at an information booth actually gave me an umbrella.

5. The food. No place in America gets real Chinese food right. At least, no place I've been to. Kelp soup, shredded cabbage, plum vinegar, fried octopus, BBQ'd tofu, hot tea, and definitely no fortune cookies.

SO, in summery, I have zero regrets about coming here. I've learned a lot about myself, I'm in much better shape then I was when I left, I've taken some pictures that will probably be in my portfolio the rest of my life, and I've got some ideas about what I want to do when I get back. More on those later.

Well, That turned out longer then I expected. Thanks for reading, I'll talk to you all soon.

A tale of two Memorial Halls (part 1)

Over the last 3 weeks I've been trying to understand more of Taiwan's history and culture. Two of the most interesting and enlightening places I've visited have been the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. Both are grand and impressive buildings, standing in massive courtyards, in contrast to the otherwise crowded city. The halls were built to honor two men who are seen as founding fathers of China and Taiwan.

Sun Yat-Sen is viewed by many as the founding father of the Republic of China, not to be confused with the People's Republic of China. He's also the face on the NT$100 bill (though, since its worth about USD$3, its not that impressive.) Sun died before he could see his government crumble after WWII, and he is still revered in both Taiwan and Mainland China.



The memorial is just northwest of the Taipei 101. You can see it in some of the pictures I took from the top floor, its the building with the large orange roof. Inside are relics from Sun's life, theaters that show documentaries, a library, and a large auditorium that hosts different events. There was some kind of school function the day I was there.



The centerpiece of the memorial is a massive statue of Sun Yat Sen, guarded by two soldiers standing motionless at attention. I honestly thought they were statues when I walked in the room.



Outside on the courtyard were people jogging, relaxing, or flying kites.


Kite-flying seems to be pretty serious business out here.


On the patio outside the hall, there were groups of kids playing music and dancing. I don't know if this was part of a class, or just what kids do here.


Since it was only a block north, I checked out the Core Pacific City, an impressive, modern shopping center.


The building is truly massive, 11 stories tall, and just as impressive inside. However, it was surprisingly empty. I was told that despite being only 8 years old, its considered the 'old mall', and that people are going to even bigger malls built closer to MRT stations.