When cows fly

Anyone who has taught children for any length of time in the greater Taichung 台中 area (plus those who have children of their own) has probably visited the Flying Cow Ranch in Miaoli County 苗栗縣. It bills itself as a "nature farm", and attracts a large number of school and youth groups, at least on weekdays. Today it was the turn of my kindergarten to visit, and our three kindergarten classes, plus some parents and siblings, boarded two large tour buses for the short drive north. As can be seen in the photo below, our group wasn't the only one there on this fine day:

It would be easy to make fun of the faux farm atmosphere, not to mention the souvenir sales opportunities (I succumbed to temptation and bought some vanilla ice cream, supposedly made from milk produced on-site), but for kids who grow up in the urban wastelands of Taiwan's cities and towns, places like the Flying Cow Ranch give them a rare opportunity to experience fresh air and open spaces, come in contact with animals such as cows and goats and even to try their hand at milking. Almost all the children seemed to enjoy the outing, and in the end, that's really the only thing that matters.

Cute bunnies and graphic (but strangely humorous) warning signs:

There were moments when I looked around and almost felt like I was back in the U.S. of A.:

 

"Cow"

Into the heartland

You know you've been in Taiwan too long when your idea of a fun family Sunday outing is to go for a drive along a new freeway. Despite the rainy weather, we drove the entire length of the new No. 6 Freeway 水沙連高速公路, all 30 kilometers (19 miles) of it, from Wufeng 霧峰 in Taichung County 台中縣 to Puli 埔里 in Nantou County 南投縣 . While the road is open to traffic, it isn't for business, as there are (as yet) no rest areas, and with the exception of a turnoff for Caotun 草屯, no exits until Puli. On the other hand, it's arguably the most scenic of Taiwan's freeways (which isn't saying much), as the road makes its way through mist-covered mountains. It also has significantly reduced the amount of time it takes to get to Puli, and has put places such as Wushe 霧社 and Cingjing Farm in much closer reach of Taichung. Whether or not that turns out to be a good thing remains to be seen at this stage.

 

Amber finally gets to eat lunch after the drive to Puli

Although it's now more convenient to reach, Puli is still Puli. I've never shared the enthusiasm the writers employed by Lonely Planet and Rough Guides seemingly have for the small town located literally in the center of Taiwan. There are plenty of scenic attractions within easy reach of Puli, but the city itself is pretty much typical of the Taiwanese countryside (at least on the west coast) - the air is often dirty, the traffic is chaotic and the architecture is downright hideous in many places. Having been there on a couple of previous occasions, we'd pretty much exhausted all the local sightseeing options, so with nothing left to do, after lunch we stopped off at a small nursery cum restaurant cum souvenir shop, where Pamela ended up buying a couple of small plants for Amber's room.

 

Amber checks out a bear-shaped floral display

On the way back to the freeway, we saw the main hall of the Chung Tai Chan Monastery (or Temple) looming in the distance, and seeing as it was still relatively early in the afternoon, decided to visit. I had been there once before, back in 2000, when it had first opened, but it looked much more impressive this time. The complex is large, the grounds are attractive, and what it lacks in history, it makes up for in decoration. Considering the amount of money that has been donated over the years to make the monastery possible, it could have easily succumbed to the temptations of tackiness, but for the most part, bad taste is kept in check. It certainly isn't like any zen 禅 temple in Japan, to say the least. The nuns there were very friendly toward Amber (though she seemed intimidated by them), and one spoke excellent English.

 

The main building, apparently the tallest Buddhist temple in the world at a height of 136 meters (446 feet)

Your humble tour guide somewhat self-consciously gives the bell a ring. This is far more common in Buddhist temples in Japan than here in Taiwan. My daughter was scared by the sound the bell made, though you can hear her laughing in the background after I gave it a go.

Temple Bell

We visited the Hall of the Four Heavenly Kings and the Great Majestic Hall. There are other, grander halls to see, but they require a guide in order to see them.

We left the monastery at around 5:30, got back on the freeway and headed home. Back in Fengyuan 豐原, we ended up driving right through a Taoist procession of some kind. My wife, who was driving, and my daughter, sitting in the back seat, were both excited, but for different reasons (notice the people standing right in the middle of the road at the end)!

Taoist celebration

Sunset on the drive back (the only time we saw the sun today):

What are the odds?

In today's edition of the Daily Yomiuri ザ・デイリー読売, there is an article on the ongoing efforts to set up casinos in the Penghu islands 澎湖 ("Island off Taiwan bets on casino boom"):

"Expectations are high on a small island off Taiwan that it could soon host casino resorts. By building casinos on the island, which has no particular industry other than cobia farming and tourism, Taiwan's Penghu County is seeking to create local jobs and discourage local residents from leaving to find work. Also, the county wants to revitalize the island by attracting more tourists from China as its relations with Taiwan are becoming warmer. However, this get-rich-quick dream might not come easy, as a project of this magnitude requires large improvements in accommodations for tourists, roads and other infrastructure. Also, some people doubt whether the planned casinos would be enough to attract tourists away from long-established gambling hot spots such as Macao."

No one doubts that the people of Penghu need more job opportunities:

"Many people go to Taiwan in search of jobs. About 13,000 people, more than 30 percent of the island's working population, is employed off the island. Among Taiwan municipalities, it has the highest ratio of residents who do not actually work in the town where they live. The Penghu County government is hoping casinos can improve this situation. Though casinos are illegal in Taiwan, a bill to revise a related ordinance passed three months ago to promote remote islands' development, allowing casinos on the islands. The county government, which wants to set up Taiwan's first casinos, plans to conduct a referendum on building casinos in August."

A friend of my wife is one of those economic refugees, now living and working in Tainan 台南. Naturally, there is the lure of Chinese money:

"About 95,000 Chinese tourists visited Penghu Island last year. The county government for now envisions two casinos on the island to attract tourists from the rest of Taiwan, China and also from Japan and South Korea. About 500,000 tourists visit the island mainly from other places in Taiwan, many to sample the island's famed seafood. The county government is aiming for 5 million tourists each year. The county government expects casinos would boost tax revenue by about 2.25 billion New Taiwan dollars (about 6.7 billion yen) and create 10,000 jobs."

Of course, there is much to be done before the dollars start raining down on the good people of Penghu:

"...the island's current accommodation capacity is only for 8,000 people. Also, tourists coming from Japan and South Korea have to transit via Taipei 台北 if they use passenger planes. It is essential to expand and upgrade hotels, airport and port facilities, but it is yet unclear how profitable the casino business will be or how such developments can be financed. 'Tourists who want to enjoy casinos can go to Macao,' said Lin Chang-sing, 59, representative of a 100-member group opposing casino development on the island. 'If casinos are set up, public morals will deteriorate. The authorities should work more on measures to promote tourism focusing on the island's natural environment.' However, many residents still seem very keen to have the casinos."

In the end, casinos will probably be built on Penghu, and just as likely, the promised benefits will not be fully realized. Many of the jobs will probably be low-paying, and unlike casinos on Indian reservations in the U.S., it's unlikely the residents will receive any sort of per-capita profit sharing payouts. It's also not difficult to see all the casino, and casino-related infrastructure, construction (not to mention the anticipated increase in visitors), having a negative effect on the islands' environment. The central government, however, is desperate to make good on all the promises made during last year's presidential election of better days just ahead, so the odds are looking good for gambling resorts to be set up soon.

Meanwhile, the Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ carried a Letter to the Editor from one Wen-ching Chu, Director of the Information Division at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office 台北経済文化代表処 in Tōkyō 東京:

"I would like to express my sincere appreciation for Japan's continuous and unwavering support for Taiwan's participation as an observer in the (World Health Assembly). As there are no national boundaries for epidemics like SARS and bird flu, Taiwan can benefit from participating in the WHA by receiving timely information on health related issues...we thank Japan for its endeavor in supporting Taiwan."

Good timing - there's probably a wealth of information on the treatment of problem gambling that could be made available to Taiwanese health care professionals.

When the chips are down...

I have an interesting schedule on Tuesdays. Mornings I teach three year-olds at a kindergarten. Afternoons find me in the mountains on walks lasting between two and three hours while the evenings are taken up with a group private lesson with three or four young adults. Today's hike was in the Dakeng area again, and the mountain was alive with fauna. There were colorful insects everywhere, lots of lizards running around (some of whom seemed willing to pose for snapshots), I sighted two long gray snakes slithering through the underbrush and, at the end of the hike, a pair of monkeys appeared and sauntered along the pathway. The photo ops were numerous so, naturally, in accordance with the precepts of Murphy's Law, it didn't take long to realize that I had somehow forgotten to put the memory chip into my digital camera, and there was simply no more space to store pictures. Of course it goes without saying that the next time I head out to Dakeng, this time with a fully armed camera, there won't be a lizard, monkey or snake in sight!

Perhaps to make up for the afternoon's oversight, I took the camera with me this evening (with memory card) and took my first betel nut beauty photo:

 

I wasn't going to post this as I don't think it's that good, but my wife likes it!

日曜日の午後

On a Sunday afternoon that was overcast and threatening to rain, my wife, my daughter and I drove up to Chung-cheng Park to go for a stroll in the hills. Amber had a lot of fun walking up the road backward, racing her mother, looking at flowers and bugs and petting dogs. Further enjoyment was had at the park where we stopped off on the way home so that she could play on the swings and slides. Life can be pretty good when you're three years old.

 

Fallen blossoms from a Tung Tree

 

I don't know the name of this kind of wasp, but it paralyzes spiders and tarantulas, and uses their bodies as food for its young. We watched as the wasp dragged off its unfortunate victim

 

Amber amassed a collection of leaves on the walk up

 

A Washington Nationals cap and a Sacramento Kings T-shirt? Dad sure knows how to pick a winner!

 

An attractive but unknown (to us) variety of purple flower

 

Amber made several canine friends this afternoon. We've been teaching her to ask the owners for permission first before petting their dogs.

I Like Misty Water, I Like Fog and Haze...

References to obscure Kinks songs aside, I like walking in misty mountains ("Misty Mountain Hop" is too obvious). Though the sky over the central mountains looked ominously dark as I was leaving Fengyuan 豐原 shortly before noon, I pressed on to Dakeng. Riding up the winding mountain road towards the No. 3 trailhead, the still-wet road surface and the water streaming down the usually-dry riverbed suggested that it was raining higher up in the fog-shrouded mountain. I decided, however, that barring thunder and lightning, I would go through with the planned climb. Soon after I started my ascent, two hikers coming down told me it was raining at the top but, as it turned out, I never got wet. The fog was thick and the steps were slick, but I never had to take the rain poncho out of my backpack. In fact, as I was nearing the start of the No. 4 trail along the ridgetop (about 90 minutes into the hike), the sun burst through and remained with me all the way back down the mountain and to my parked scooter, two hours and 45 minutes later.

A little surprisingly, there were others out there despite the less than ideal weather conditions. Hiking during the week is much better than doing so on the weekends, and not only because there are fewer people on the trails between Monday and Friday. On Saturdays and Sundays (and national holidays), the Dakeng trails are crowded with weekend hikers, and with them, the vendors and KTV shacks. Large groups of people are continually going up and down on those days, and lets just say that not all of them truly appreciate the show that nature is staging. While the noise levels are tolerable, it's much harder to put up with the comments and remarks directed at and about the hairy barbarian hiking in their midst.

Weekdays, in contrast, bring out the solitary walkers like myself. By and large, these folks don't seem to be unduly surprised to find a foreigner out there also enjoying the mountains. A quick greeting, and then they continue on their way, which is the way it should be. It's certainly much better than being the source of amusement for some children and their parents, or a chance for some guy to impress his girlfriend.

As for that Kinks song:

Happy Easter

My daughter had her first Easter egg hunt this morning. Locating dye for hard-boiled eggs was out of the question, and chocolate Easter bunnies were nowhere to be found (at least not in small cities in central Taiwan), but a half-dozen Kinder Surprises hidden in the living room compensated nicely.

Christmas and Easter in this household are secular activities. I was baptized into the Anglican Church as a child but I don't consider myself a Christian, and my wife doesn't concern herself with Buddhist or Taoist activities. We'll leave it up to Amber to decide for herself what (or what not) to believe when it comes to matters of faith. No cults though, please!

ああ、そうか！

It seems a certain notorious Japanese cult is becoming well-established here in Fengyuan (Hōgen) 豐原. Several weeks after organizing a festival at the Fengyuan Culture Center, the same pseudo-Buddhist group held another event this afternoon a couple of blocks away from one of my workplaces. I don't know what was being celebrated, but it involved long rows of tents and plenty of flags, all in the same rainbow/European-country color scheme. These pictures were taken in the early evening, when it appeared things were over (and which explains the poor lighting):

By coincidence, there were a couple of Mormon missionaries taking a break in one of the local McDonald's this evening where I was having a quick meal before going to work. Those clean-cut, all-American boys have got their work cut out for them in these here parts.

I hear those cranes a-comin'...

A few months ago, China bequeathed to this island a pair of pandas, a seemingly generous action that in actuality has some serious, and some might say, dangerous political undertones. It is unlikely that a pair of endangered birds from Japan will cause the same level of controversy:

"Hokkaidō 北海道 may give a pair of red-crowned cranes, a species designated as a special national treasure, to Taiwan, following Taipei's 台北 plan to open a representative office in the prefecture, sources said Wednesday."

(Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ, "Hokkaido may give Taiwan pair of special cranes in show of good will")

Unlike the Chinese government's use of "panda diplomacy" to promote "reunion" or "reunification" with Taiwan, the government of Hokkaidō wants to encourage Taiwanese tourists to visit the prefecture in greater numbers. 280,000 Taiwanese traveled to Hokkaidō in 2007 (according to the article), and the popularity of Japan's second-largest island has prompted the government of Taiwan to consider opening an unofficial consulate in Sapporo 札幌, possibly by the beginning of summer.

What's the attraction with the island some Taiwanese know only as "Beihaido"? My guess is that, quite simply, it's snow. Many people here, my wife included, are fascinated by the white stuff, which is what happens when you live on a sub-tropical island where snow rarely falls in places below 3000 meters (9840 feet) in elevation. The traffic jams on the road going up to Hehuanshan whenever there is snowfall testify to the excitement many Taiwanese feel. Of course, snow is great in the abstract, but virtually all of my students who have visited Hokkaidō in the winter have told me that, while they enjoyed their trips, it was definitely "too cold" to live there!

As for me, I've been to Hokkaidō twice (Sapporo, Hakodate 函館, Tōya-ko 洞爺湖 , Sōunkyō Onsen 層雲峡温泉 and Otaru 小樽), but only in the summer, when the weather is very pleasant. I'm sure I would find it too cold in the winter as well. What do you expect from someone who grew up in California?

As for the cranes, the article notes that while the prefectural government has begun preparations, including contacting a local zoo (though without mentioning which one), negotiations with Taiwanese authorities haven't started yet. The story concludes by noting that:

"The crane is known as a symbol of longevity and conjugal love in East Asia. It is listed as an endangered species by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, popularly called the Washington Treaty, basically limiting the bird's export to breeding and scientific study. The estimated population of red-crowned cranes in the wild is more than 1,000 in Hokkaidō, according to the prefecture. Given the expected stress in the new environment, the cranes to be donated to Taiwan must have been raised in captivity, a Hokkaidō official said. The official indicated the need for rigorous control after the pair is shipped to Taiwan so they do not get paired with cranes originating in China, which are a different species. Japan has never exported a red-crowned crane originating in Hokkaidō. The prefecture is considering attaching a clause banning the recipient zoo in Taiwan from pairing the Hokkaidō birds with different species, the sources said."

Amber tickles some ivories

My daughter certainly looks the part on the piano. Are lessons on the horizon, and will I have to take on another job in order to pay for them?

Amber tickles the ivories, Part 2

Amber at the 美術館

The Lonely Planet guide to Taiwan quotes an expat father as saying that the children's library at the Taiwan Museum of Art in Taichung 台中 is the best one that he had ever seen. I don't know if I would go quite so far - I haven't seen any other children's libraries, and I didn't notice the igloo, castle and rainforest areas that are described in the LP book. Nevertheless, there were lots of books for children to look through, with a surprisingly large number of English titles (and at least one in Japanese that I found). Amber was more interested in the interactive computer displays, but if you have children and find yourself with time to kill in Taichung, the art museum and the children's library there are worth a visit.

We arrived at the museum this afternoon just in time for Amber to take part in a mass painting project. The mural will be displayed inside once it is dry.

 

My daughter's masterpiece (on the bottom)

Preschool

Today was my daughter's first day at preschool. Everything seemed to go well - as soon as we arrived at the classroom door, Amber quickly took off her shoes and ran inside to join the other kids. When we stopped by around noon to see how she was doing, she hardly paid any attention to us. There were tears, but only when my wife came to take Amber home - it seems she didn't want to leave! One day isn't enough to go on, of course, but the program appears to be geared more to having the kids engaged in hands-on activities and play, and less on learning academic subjects. My main concern is language. Seeing as Amber will be immersed in a Chinese-speaking environment (there are some English lessons in the curriculum), will this have a negative effect on her ability to communicate in English? Only time will tell, but it will be an area in which close attention will have to be paid. In the meantime, I have to face the fact that my little princess is growing up. Sniff...

An open letter to Monica in California, USA

Monica,

When I checked my blog around lunchtime today, I saw that you had replied to my previous comment. However, this evening after returning home from work, I discovered that somehow your message had been deleted. I certainly didn't do it, and I'm not sure what happened. I'm going to reply as best I can from memory of what you had written.

First of all, I owe you an apology for my erroneous assumptions. However, having done so, I have to say that considering your personal and professional histories, I'm having trouble comprehending how you of all people, who should be well-aware of the accusations and controversies related to Soka Gakkai, Daisaku Ikeda and the Komeito, would still willingly choose to align herself with such an organization. Like I asked before, did you do any independent research before making the decision to become a member?

I'm also still having trouble understanding how you found my blog. You say who came across a link to Sponge Bear while you were researching "Daisaku Ikeda", but when I ran the same search on Google, I couldn't find my blog on any of the first ten pages (and I wasn't about to look at all 231,000 listings!). However, when I entered "SGI Fengyuan", well what do you know - Sponge Bear was the second entry! I'm certainly not out there trolling in cyberspace looking for pro-SGI blogs where I can leave opposing comments. Perhaps I'm being a little paranoid, but I find it a little creepy how on the couple of occasions when I wrote something about my personal experiences with Soka Gakkai, in less than 48 hours someone connected with the organization felt the need to leave something on my blog (which isn't private, by the way. Everybody is free to take a look, and I don't delete comments).

If I remember correctly, you then went on to write something to the effect that as a journalist, you were conscious of the need to present factual-based, objective information. I certainly wouldn't disagree with that. But you then proceeded to dismiss out of hand everything that was contained on the two links I provided. I'm afraid I can't recall your exact words, but I went back and looked through that 19-page report on the CAIC website, and I can't find anything that looks made up. As for the link to the Victims of Soka Gakkai Association, obviously these people are going to biased in their outlook, but can you just so readily dismiss all those allegations so quickly? As you claim to have training in journalism, shouldn't you at least look into such stories first before reaching any conclusions? For some reason, I'm reminded of those southern police chiefs in the U.S. in the 1960s who blamed civil rights disturbances on "outside agitators", or those spokespeople at the Chinese Foreign Ministry who brush off any questions about Tibet, food safety etc. as the acts of "splittists" out to tarnish the image of the country.

I also did a Google search this afternoon on the two academics you cited, and while I'm sure they are competent researchers who are sincere in their beliefs, the first thing I noticed was that SGI-approved blogs were among the first links that came up. I'm not satisfied that they are the kind of "independent sources" I wrote about in my earlier reply to you.

Monica, your religious beliefs are your own business, and I'm not out to change your mind. But I am curious about several things. If you don't mind my asking, I have the following several questions for you:

1.) As someone who says she has studied religion, do you really feel that chanting just a part of the Lotus Sutra over and over is enough to grasp what Buddhism is getting at?

2.) Spirituality is a personal matter, is it not? If so, why do you feel the need then to identify your spiritual beliefs with a large organization, especially a controversial one that has a political agenda, and is dominated by a single individual?

3.) And to repeat the query from my previous comments, why is it necessary to chant in Japanese?

Give my best to Orlando!

Nature's wrath

It looks like the No. 3 Trail in the Dakeng Scenic Area has taken quite a beating from the elements since the last time I went on it. There were three different places where the trail had collapsed and fallen down the side of the mountain, but fortunately new routes have been set up...for now.