A stroll(er) in the rain

Actually, it was more like drizzle. We didn't even need to open the umbrella. And it soon stopped, the sun came out and the rest of the afternoon turned into a nice day. Thus was our excursion today with Amber into Taichung.

Beginning at the Taichung Municipal Cultural Center 台中市文化中心, we walked along the parkway to People's Park, and then further on to the entrance of the science museum. Between the cultural center and People's Park, there are a number of objets d'art:

The one on the right is obviously about filial piety, but it looks more like a father and son trying to push granddad over a ledge

But of course it can't all be about art. Here's a sign for a "special" business that we passed along the way. Even in the nicest of neighborhoods in Taiwan, you can find certain...ahem...entertainment establishments:

Amber enjoyed the stroll, despite the drizzle:

Not of all of the artwork on display was officially approved:

Taoist temples are numerous in Taiwan:

Upon reaching People's Park, we stopped off at a chicken-and-rice joint for lunch. Chijoufan (Jiroufan) is one of my favorite dishes in Taiwan. Check out the following spread - two bowls of chicken on top of rice, with side orders of turkey, green vegetable, tofu, egg and miso soup みそ汁:

 

and all for only 160 NT for two, or $4.85 or 570円.

Amber had her own lunch:

Afterwards, we continued with our walk to the end of the park, at the entrance to the science museum. By this time, the weather had cleared up. On the way, we passed more art:

To celebrate reaching the end of the pathway, we treated ourselves to chocolate ice cream. Daddy enjoyed teasing his daughter, tempting her with something indescribably delicious that she is too young to enjoy:

After the ice cream break, it was time to head back. But first we stopped off at SOGO to shop for some winter clothes for Amber. The SOGO building is an oppressive structure that looms over Chunggang (Jhonggang 中港) Road:

 

but as can be seen from the banner on the outside of the building, MUJI is coming at the end of this month. For those who are not familiar with MUJI, here are links to its Wikipedia writeup and to its English website. This brings back memories as there was a MUJI store in the basement of the Kintetsu Department Store 近鉄デパート in Yokkaichi 四日市.

When we were finished at SOGO, it was time to leave. After first taking a tea break near SOGO, then briefly meeting up with Steve at People's Park (thanks again for the toys Steve!), we made it back to the cultural center and the car. On the way back to Fengyuan, we stopped at a Sushi Express on Chungte (Chongde) Road. Sushi Express is a chain of kaitenzushi 回転寿司 restaurants, and the sushi is pretty good for the price - 13 plates of sushi for two came to 390 NT, or a little bit less than $12, or about 1390円. Amber looked on longingly the whole time:

It isn't easy being almost eight months old, but at least she got to play with the menu.

The section of Chungte Road where the Sushi Express is located is in an upscale area, home to my favorite Japanese supermarket in Taichung, Capitan's, as well as Uncle Jimmy's, a great place for American foods. Even the local KTV (karaoke カラオケ box) is a legitimate establishment:

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. Hope yours was good too.

When you're alone and life is making you lonely, you can alwaysgo...downtown

I had planned on going hiking today in Takeng (Dakeng), but the wind and rain this morning (brought on by the trailing edge of a typhoon that turned away from Taiwan and is headed towards Japan) put a stop to that idea. Naturally, after I had resigned myself to lying around the apartment in my underwear all afternoon while watching cable TV, the sun came out. It was too late, however, to ride into Taichung 台中 to go hiking. So instead I walked from our apartment to downtown Fengyuan. It took about 45 minutes to reach Fengyuan Station 豊原駅 from our place in Shenkang (Shengang 神岡). Most Taiwanese cities are not well-suited for walking around, and Fengyuan is no exception. The sidewalks are cluttered with parked cars and motorbikes, and many shops spill out into the footpaths, so a lot of time is spent walking on the road, with the traffic brushing by uncomfortably close. Still, I enjoyed the experience, and it sure beat staying home by myself while Pamela, with Amber in tow, was at work. So, here are some pictures I took while I was out this afternoon:

 

This picture was taken on a footbridge that crosses over the train tracks near Fengyuan Station. The locks secured to the fence were, according to Pamela, left by teenage couples a symbol of their love. She also says that foreign laborers (mainy Thais) leave the locks here for good luck.

 

I Hope We all can Happy!

 

A northbound express train pulling into Fengyuan Station.

 

Fengyuan Station.

 

Some students have told me that the small police station next to the train station dates from the Japanese colonial period.

 

Matsu (Mazu) Temple. This temple is the center of activity in downtown Fengyuan. Next to it is Miaotung (Miaodong 廟東), a small street crammed with food stalls that is well-known throughout Taiwan. In fact, it's the only thing Fengyuan is known for.

 

A final view of downtown before heading home. The hill in the distance is the area where I often go for walks on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

Panorama of Fengyuan 豊原のパノラマ

Here are a couple attempts at a panoramic view of Fengyuan. The pictures were taken by me on Thursday morning from a lookout point near the Fengyuan Country Club, and pieced together by Pamela, who obviously can follow the Chinese instructions for doing so on the camera much better than I can!

Swimming 泳いでいる

As part of an ongoing effort to get Amber used to the water, we took her swimming again today. Instead of the pool in Fengyuan we've taken her to previously, we visited one in the nearby town of Taya (Daya) which was recommended by a student of mine. But first, ignoring the old adage about waiting 30 mintues after eating before going into the water, we went to a stinky tofu restaurant around the corner from the pool to have lunch. Amber, as usual, lapped up the attention given her by the staff

Our lunch. Not being a fan of stinky tofu (the bowl in the far back), I ate the three dishes in front. Both Pamela and I had Tsingtao Beer. My mom never said anything about waiting 30 mintues after drinking before going swimming, so I figured it was OK.

The pool was inside a non-descript building in a nondescript neighborhood in Taya:

According to the business card I picked up at the counter, the name of the pool is "Ren Ren Itoman Swimming School". It's a mix of Chinese ("Ren Ren") and Japanese ("Itoman" 伊藤萬). Being a swimming school, there was only one big pool, with none of the children's play areas or spa baths for adults like some of the large swimming pools here have. However, being a swimming school, the water was very clean. And they offer swimming classes for infants on Saturdays, which is something worth looking into for Amber. 

The weather today was overcast and relatively cool, which meant there were only a handful of people at the pool today. No complaints from me about that. Amber was a little scared about going in the water, and cried a lot at first. But she started to relax, and soon was enjoying herself in the pool. Having her plastic crab toy along for the swim no doubt made her feel better:

I feel it's very important to get children accustomed to the water from as young an age as possible. To this end, I plan on taking Amber to the pool often. I'm also looking forward to when she's old enough to experience the beach, and to soak in hot springs. Taiwan may be an island, but there are a lot of kids here who don't know how to swim. I don't want Amber to be one of them.

 

Leaving Taya for home, with a storm approaching.

Fengyuan on a relatively clear day

Two pictures of Fengyuan (Fongyuan とよはら 豊原) taken this morning from a hill in the area around Chung-cheng (Jhong-jheng) Park.

Depression 憂つう

Summer is coming to an end, school is back in session, and I'm feeling blue. I just got my new schedule for the fall semester from the cram school where I work (my main source of income), and I have fewer hours compared to before the start of summer vacation. Pamela will be leaving her job at the end of September to take care of Amber full-time (thus saying goodbye to a quarter of our income), so our financial situation is going to get tight in the months ahead. 

What's really depressing is that I'm 43, and here I am teaching English part-time at several locations. Not much of a career to boast about, is it? I've been doing this for longer than I care to remember, and I still don't have much to show for it. Most of my friends from my teaching days in Japan have since moved on to bigger and better things, but I seem to be moving backwards.

Up until the spring of 1998, I had it pretty good. I was enjoying a good lifestyle in Tokyo, I was working at a job that was more challenging and had more responsibilities than the usual teaching gigs, and I had a healthy bank account. All of that disappeared very quickly, however, and the eight years since have been an endless series of disappointments, failures and setbacks. From Tokyo to Fengyuan, it's been a long, downhill slide.

Of course, during this period I have gotten (re)married, and have become a father for the first time, and I am truly, truly grateful for that. However, being responsible for the welfare of a family does serve to make an uncertain future even more so. What will I do? What can I do? Where will I end up? Twice I've tried to leave Taiwan to go back to Japan, and twice I've had to come back here. Taiwan isn't a bad place, and I've met a lot of great people here, but am I truly cut out for life on this island? Trying to be a good person who attempts to do what is right for all concerned does not bring any rewards in Taiwanese society. It's a dog-eat-dog world here, and I'm the mutt that's always getting a bite taken out of it.

I've been in Taiwan off and on since October 1999, and while I've had some very good experiences during this time, the bad days have outnumbered the good, and continue to do so. It just seems to be a never-ending series of embarrassments, humiliations and losses of face, with the only respites coming when I spend time with Amber, and make the occasional trip back to Japan or the USA. And now I'm not sure how often I can afford to do the latter.

Oh well, as long as Amber still believes in her daddy...

Taipei - the Pyongyang of Taiwan 台湾のピョンヤン

We made our first overnight trip with Amber this weekend, and what better place to choose as her first destination than the capital of this island, Taipei (Taibei たいほく 台北). It may be the largest city, and the seat of government, but it hardly is representative of life on Formosa. Unlike Osaka and Nagoya in relation to Tokyo, Taiwan's number two and three cities, Kaohsiung (Gaosyong たかお 高雄) and Taichung (Taijhong たいちゅう 台中) bear little similarity to Taipei. I've always considered Taipei to be Taiwan's version of Pyongyang. Just as the latter has long been North Korea's "model city", so Taipei represents an image of a modern Taiwan that the powers-that-be want the outside world to see. Here are a few of the things that you can find in Taipei that you won't find anywhere else on this island:

Abundant Western restaurants

Branches of well-known Japanese eateries

Chic stores

Fashionable people

Level sidewalks

Stroller-friendly sidewalks

Enforced traffic regulations

Drivers that wait for pedestrians to cross the road before making their turns

And here are some things not usually seen in Taipei, but that are easily encountered everywhere else:

Stray dogs

Dog shit on the sidewalks

Betel nut juice on the sidewalks

Girls in skimpy outfits selling betel nuts

Taike (台客) and Taimei (台美)

I suspect that most foreigners who come to Taiwan never venture out of Taipei during their stays, so the government works extra-hard to present the image of Taiwan as being a progressive, prosperous Western(izing) country. It wouldn't suprise me if Taipei turns out to be some kind of Potemkin village, with all the boutiques, department stores and restaurants turning out to be just facades, and all the well-dressed people being paid by the government to look like that. And if you think this is all just paranoia, a few years ago the government of neighboring Taoyuan County tried to crack down on the revealing outfits being worn by the betel nut sellers. The rationale wasn't to crack down on unlicensed businesses peddling an addictive cancer-causing substance, the cultivation of which is also causing great harm to Taiwan's environment. No, the government was worried what foreign visitors going by bus from the airport in Taoyuan to Taipei would think.

As for the trip itself...

 

Amber on the bed in her first hotel, the Hotel Delight. Located conveniently close to the Chungshan (Jhongshan) MRT subway station and costing an Internet special 1800 NT (US $50 or ￥6400), it wasn't bad. However, the room was small and windowless, and Amber uncharacteristically woke up several times during the night crying, so we didn't get much sleep. To top things off, the power went out around 6:15 in the morning, leaving our windowless room pitch black for a couple of hours, not to mention stuffy.

Our first stop on Saturday after checking in was Taipei 101, currently the world's tallest building. We walked from the hotel to Taipei Main Station and Amber had her first train ride on the MRT.

I first visited Taipei 101 before the building was finished. At the time, it really stood out because there was very little in the surrounding area. Now, the area has undergone rapid development, with new department stores and shopping centers having opened up, with more on the way. One new mall was called "New York, New York" and had the first Mister Donut I've seen in Taiwan. It also had the first long line of people waiting to get inside a Mister Donut I've seen anywhere. This Mister Donut, however, didn't have my favorites. No Honey Dips, no Custard Creams. On the other hand, next door there was an underwear promotion event featuring three dancers. So here are my first photographs of what the Taiwanese call "La mei" or "Spicy girls":

Yowza!

Amber proved to be a great hit. The entire time we were in Taipei people would stop to look at her in her stroller, and comment on how cute she was. Amber has picked up on this very quickly, and now she always smiles when she hears someone say "Hao Keai!" This McDonald's employee gave Amber a free balloon with quickly became her favorite plaything

Oh yeah, Taipei 101. The view from the top is incredible, as you would expect, though our Saturday wasn't the clearest of days.

 

We also visited the outdoor observatory. We ended up staying there long enough to see the night view as well. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't take very good night shots, which is just as well. Because of the large number of low-rise apartment buildings in Taipei, especially in the vicinity of Taipei 101 itself, there aren't as many lights to see at night as you might expect from a city of 2.64 million people. If you have to choose between day and night, pick a very clear day to go.

On Sunday (today as I write this) we checked out of our hotel (after the power returned) and tried to drive to the Shihlin Official Residence (しりんかんてい 士林官邸), Chiang Kai-shek's former estate. Tried to, as there were no empty parking places anywhere near the grounds. We ended up backtracking to Taipei's soccer stadium, where we parked the car and then hopped on the MRT a couple of stops to Shihlin Station, from where we walked. At the station, we paid special attention to the wind

Chiang certainly lived well. The Shihlin Official Residence contains a number of well-maintained gardens, and admission is free. I imagine Chiang spent a lot of time here thinking about which dissident to lock up next on Green Island, Taiwan's version of Siberia, politically-speaking. Amber was in a good mood

Pamela and I swear we can make out a face in this picture, the altar of what is called the "Victory Chapel"

Chiang's former home, however, appeared to be barred to the public

After lunch, the weather turned nasty. With thunder and lightning all around, Pamela smartly decided to return to the car with Amber and wait things out. I, on the other hand, paid visits to the Confucius Temple (こうしびょう 孔子廟)and Baoan Temple, where one bolt of lighting struck something uncomfortably close by.

We finally said goodbye to Taipei in the late afternoon