I'm not lovin' it

The new Bradt Taiwan travel guide came in the mail yesterday. How new is it? So new that Amazon neglected to send me an email informing me that it had been shipped. So new that up until a couple of days ago, the Bradt travel guides website didn't even have the book listed. So new that I haven't had a chance to give it more than a cursory look, so I can't say yet how it stacks up against the recently published Lonely Planet Taiwan​ guide. That quick perusal, however, did turn up the interesting fact (for me, anyway) that, for the first time in English-language T'ái​wān​ 台灣-centered guidebook history, my home area of Fēng​yuán ​豐原 has been mentioned as a possible destination. For that matter, my edition of the Japanese-language 地球の歩き方 (dating from 2005-06) doesn't give this former county seat any heed, either. Author Steven Crook accurately describes Fengyuan as a "standard-issue, medium-sized city", and lists the Hòu​fēng 后豐自行車綠廊 and Tūngfēng 東豐自行車綠廊 bicycle trails as the (only) reasons to visit, with brief but informative descriptions of both (page 171 of the guidebook).

Has TCFKAF (or The City Formerly Known As Fengyuan) finally made it to the big leagues? If this ex-city desires more than just a cup of coffee up in the Show, it's going to need a Subway or two. That's "Subway" as in the sandwich-shop chain, and not an underground railway (though that is supposedly on the drawing board for some future point in time). According to an article put out by the Associated Press:

"Subway now has more restaurants worldwide than McDonald's. The sandwich chain surpassed the world's largest hamburger chain in terms of number of stores in the U.S. in 2002 and now it has taken the global lead. Subway had 33,749 restaurants worldwide at the end of last year, according to the company. McDonald's Corp. had 32,737, according a regulatory filing."

Here in Fengyuan, however, the score is McDonald's 5, Subway 0. The fifth branch of the Golden Arches, in fact, only just opened a couple of months ago as part of the new A-Mart hypermarket complex. That's five in a district that had a population of 165,000 before it was absorbed into a larger T'áichūng city 臺中市 last November. Technically speaking, there are outlets of Subway here now that the former cities and towns of T'áichūng County 臺中縣 are part of one, big happy urban conglomeration, but it's hardly convenient for me to hop on the scooter or drive the car to buy a Steak-and-Cheese or BBQ Pork sandwich. In central Taiwan, at least, Muammar McDonald's reigns supreme. A Tunisian- or Egyptian-styled fast food uprising doesn't seem to be in the culinary cards for now, at least.

bradttaiwan.blogspot.com/

WTF 日本語

Walking through the streets of T'áichūng's 臺中 Īchūngchiēh 一中街 area every Tuesday evening on the way to my weekly Mandarin lesson makes me feel old. Chock full of students (as well as those of school-age), all the businesses there (food stands, tea houses, clothing stores and so on) cater to the youth market. In an environment such as this, it's only natural to see English and Japanese being employed in an attempt to ratchet up points on the coolness scale, and bring in the young punters. And as anyone who has been in East Asia can tell you, sometimes the results aren't always so successful. A case in point is this stand selling oden おでん, or Kuāntūngchǔ 關東煮 as it's called here in T'áiwān 台灣 (from the Japanese Kantō-ni 関東煮, which is what oden is apparently called in Nagoya 名古屋):

The mistake in this case lies with the phonetic transliteration of Kantō into hiragana 平仮名. It should look like this: かんとう. But instead of the final う, the sign maker used the katakana 片仮名 syllabogram ラ, which looks similar, but is written in roman letters as "ra". Thus, we have "kantora" in a weird hybrid of two syllabic writing systems. This kind of mistake is not uncommon in Taiwan.

The hills of Taiko are alive with the sound of strawberries

Tù​chuān​ 杜鵑, or what an online Chinese-English dictionary translates as "Indian Azalea"

The above-pictured flower could be seen this afternoon at Fǎ​yúnch'án​ssù 法雲禪寺, a Zen 禅 temple (English name: Fayun Monastery) located ​​in the hills overlooking the town of Tà​hú 大湖​ in Miáo​lì​ County 苗栗縣. Though the drive up to ​​Dahu from our home was mostly through a thick layer of ugly haze, by the time we reached Fayunchan Temple, the skies had cleared up somewhat:

The temple was built during the Japanese colonial period 台灣日治時期, and the exterior of the reconstructed main hall retains the original Japanese-style Buddhist temple architecture:

Also dating from the Japanese period is this monument below, erected to commemorate the "opening up" of the area by the Japanese:

After taking in the view and soaking up the history, we drove down the hill and into Tà​hú, where we partook of my daughter's favorite outdoor activity, picking strawberries (again - see last week's blog entry):

Amber is so crazy about the edible fruit of this flowering plant that, upon reflection, it would've been more accurate to have named her Ichigo Caomei at the time she was born.

In order to cash in on the hordes of weekend visitors coming to pick 草莓, a Strawberry Culture Museum 草莓文化館 has been established in the town:

The actual "museum" section was surprisingly informative, and the English captions were generally well-presented. My wife was annoyed to discover that it was none other than the Japanese who first introduced strawberries into T'ái​wān 台灣, but let's face it - studying the Japanese colonial period is like watching the "What have the Romans ever done for us?" scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian.

Educational displays aside, the main purpose of the strawberry museum is to sell strawberries, with the gift shop probably resembling what Amber's idea of heaven looks like. Here being Taiwana​, the buildings are surrounded by a market pushing all manner of snacks and drinks, many with a strawberry theme, such as strawberry sausages, strawberry tarts and strawberry wine, though, sadly, no strawberry beer. For my wife, the throngs that had descended upon the complex were an integral part of the eating and shopping experience, adding that much-needed touch of jè​nao​ 熱鬧 ("bustling with noise and excitement / lively") that had been lacking back at the zen temple (there was irony at play in her outlook on these things, but I just couldn't make the effort to point it out to her). For me, I found relief in the view of the surrounding countryside from the museum's rooftop "sky garden"...until the fireworks started going off, that is.

Pamela ended up buying a couple of bottles of strawberry vinegar, plus a jar of strawberry jam for Amber (and, of course, there was the box of strawberries that we had picked earlier). Somehow, our lunch and dinner in Dahu​ didn't involve any strawberries, as we ate instead at Hakka restaurants 客家菜. It took only about an hour to drive back to Fēng​yuán​ 豐原 - fortunately, there was hardly any traffic on the road going back, which was quite a contrast with last weekend's outing. Considering the close proximity of Tà​hú and its other attractions, such as hiking and hot springs, I wouldn't mind spending a weekend there sometime soon.

BTW, Amber took some photos in Dahu which can be seen on her blog.

Happy cycling trails to you

Why did the chicken cross the road? My daughter ponders the age-old question as she looks at a rooster that has done just that. The shirt she is wearing is emblazoned with the self-serving (for her father) words パパ大好き, or "I ♥ Daddy" in Japanese, which I picked up for her last year when I was in Beppu 別府.

The picture above was taken this afternoon on the T'án​yǎ​shén​ cycling trail 潭雅神綠園道, a bicycle path linking the former townships of T'án​tz​ῠ 潭子, Tà​yǎ 大雅 and Shén​kāng​​ 神岡, all three of which were merged late last year into a Greater T'ái​chūng​ 大臺中. Amber rode about 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) round-trip on her Hello Kitty ハローキティ bike, which isn't a bad workout for a 5 year-old getting around with the help of training wheels. The trail was active today, but not crowded, which is quite a contrast with Sundays, when it's usually 人山人海, "jénshān​ ​jén​hǎi​" or "People mountain, people sea". Unfortunately, some Taiwanese ride bicycles in the same manner in which they drive cars - carelessly, recklessly and with little or no regard for others sharing the same road (or trying to cross it). In short, like absolute morons. 星期天 are days best avoided.

Just in case there was any doubt the above entry describes events taking place in Asia, this picture of a rice paddy and palm trees should put those doubts to rest.

Speaking of cycling, the new Lonely Planet guide to T'ái​wān 台灣 is out, and it devotes a lot of ink to where visitors can ride their bikes on the island of Formosa. There is also much more coverage on hiking (perhaps one day LP can publish a hiking guide to Taiwan, similar to their book on hiking in Japan, which I've used on several occasions), and a new design layout. The latter will take some getting used to, but I like how many of the entries are individually identified, such as "museum", "scenic area", "Buddhist temple" and so on. On the down side, the descriptions for many of the listed sightseeing attractions seem to be shorter compared to past editions, and there are also fewer recommendations for places to stay and eat. Worst of all, the "Getting There and Away" and "Getting Around" sections are generally unsatisfactory - for some places, we're told to ask at tourist information offices for how to get to where we might want to go. While this would pose little trouble for a resident such as myself who has a car and/or scooter, for those short-term visitors dependent on public transportation, it would have been better to have provided more specific advice on which buses to take, for example.

I'm still going through the new LP guide, so the jury is out for now. Rough Guide will be publishing its updated Taiwan guide very soon, and the British travel publisher Bradt will be coming out with its first book on Taiwan at about the same time. I have both books on order from Amazon (I admit it, I'm a guidebook junkie), so it'll be interesting to see how the three guides compare with each other, and which one I'll end up turning to the most often on our travels around Formosa (Fú​mó​sà​) 福摩薩.

(shop.lonelyplanet.com/taiwan/taiwan-travel-guide)

Sakura, Thou Art Here

Well, what do you know? We didn't have to endure gridlocked roads last weekend in a futile attempt to see cherry blossoms 櫻花 「サクラ」after all. It turns out that there a couple of trees in the area close to my apartment building, and both are in full bloom. Their surroundings, however, are less than ideal for hanami 花見 parties:

Freshwater eels ウナギ are a common component of Japanese cuisine 日本料理, whether grilled and served over rice 鰻丼, or as a sushi 寿司 item. The traditional calendar in Japan has a day called "doyō ushi no hi" 土用の丑の日, falling on the hottest day of the year, when the consumption of unagi is supposed to provide a source of stamina during the sticky hot summers. Despite the fame of places like Lake Hamana 浜名湖 in Shizuoka Prefecture 静岡県 as sources of unagi, it turns out that roughly 90% of the eels consumed every year by Japanese diners is imported from China and T'ái​wān​ 台灣. Naturally, the 10% that is cultivated domestically is considered to be of a higher quality, which is why the following Kyōdō News 共同通信社 story from Japan Today shouldn't come as a surprise ("Eel importer ordered to pay Y5 mil fine for false labeling"):

"The Tōkyō District Court 東京地方裁判所 on Wednesday fined a Tōkyō 東京 -based eel importer ¥5 million ($60,740/NT1.8 million) for falsely labeling eels farmed in Taiwan as domestically raised products in violation of the unfair competition prevention law. The court also sentenced Hirokazu Iwai, 55, former board member of the precursor of Clover Trading Co, to 18 months in prison, suspended for three years, for masterminding the falsification, and fined him ¥1 million ($12,150/NT358,000). Judge Mariko Goto said the importer 'harmed the confidence of consumers,' while Iwai 'played the central role in the falsification.' According to the ruling, Iwai conspired with two officials of an Ōsaka 大阪 -based marine products firm to disguise 970 kilograms (2140 pounds) of Taiwanese-produced grilled eels as products originated in Aichi Prefecture 愛知県 between 2009 and 2010 to sell them to a Kyōto 京都 -based wholesaler for ¥3.2 million (/$38,875NT1.15 million)."

www.fukuzuchi.com/menu.html

Post 228

This sign would be funnier if it were the name of a cafe, and not of a boutique:

Did anybody notice this sentence from the first paragraph of today's front-page story in the China Post 英文中國郵報 on Ma Ying-jeou's 馬英九 formal apology to the victims of the 228 Incident 二二八事件?:

"Many immigrants to Tái​wān 台灣​ from China were killed in bloody clashes during a military crackdown 64 years ago in the incident."

Shouldn't that be more like "Many thousands of residents on Tái​wān were killed by soldiers from China..." or "Many thousands of Taiwanese were killed..."? The Post a few years back ran an editorial on the events of 1947 by looking back mournfully on the "hundreds" of mainlanders killed by the above-mentioned immigrants to Tái​wān in the incident, before briefly referring to the "thousands" of Taiwanese who lost their lives at the hands of soldiers who came from you-know-where.

(A bit of advice on semantics to the China Post news staff: according to Merriam-Webster, an "immigrant" is defined as "a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence", while one of the entries under "country" refers to "a political state or nation or its territory".)

This magnificent monster of a moth was taking a rest atop a urinal in the public restroom at the entrance to the No. 2 Trail in the Dà​kēng 大坑​ area:

Roadside detritus left over from the recently observed Lunar New Year 春節 and Lantern Festival 元宵節:

Yet another Yomiuri Shimbun 読売新聞 article on the Japan-Tái​wān alliance in the chip-making industry (from the Daily Yomiuri ザ・デイリー読売 "Elpida, eyeing China, listed in Tái​wān" ):

"Elpida Memory Inc. エルピーダメモリ, the world's third-largest Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) chipmaker, became the first Japanese company to be listed on the Tái​wān Stock Exchange  臺灣證券交易所 on Friday, and hopes tie-ups with Tái​wān firms will help it tap the vast mainland market. 'We are joining hands to expand into the Chinese market,' Elpida President Yukio Sakamoto said at a ceremony celebrating his firm's listing on the bourse in Taipei 臺北 ​. Tái​wān newspapers showed considerable interest in Elpida's listing. The Economic Daily News reported that Elpida plans to compete with South Korean giants through a Japan-Tái​wān alliance, while the Liberty Times  自由時報 said Elpida is eyeing integration with other Tái​wān DRAM makers. Elpida shares closed at NT21.7 (about ¥60/73¢) after their first day of trading, slightly higher than its initial public offering price of NT21.3. Elpida reportedly raised a total of ¥12 billion ($146 million) through the listing. Elpida has already reached an agreement to purchase the DRAM business of Tái​wān's Powerchip Technology Corp. 力晶科技股份有限公司, the world's sixth-largest maker of the chips. Elpida is also negotiating a business integration with Tái​wān's ProMOS Technologies Inc., the globe's seventh biggest. Elpida's moves are a bid to survive in the DRAM market for personal computers, which has seen severe price competition recently. The firm will transfer its DRAM production base from Japan to Tái​wān, which is currently the world's biggest production center for computer parts. Tái​wān authorities welcomed Elpida's stock listing, calling it a major step toward realizing a Japan-Tái​wān semiconductor alliance. One high-level Tái​wān official said, '[The listing] will greatly contribute to the integration of Japanese and T'ái​wān DRAM production, and to deepening technological cooperation.'

Tái​wān apparently aims to gain a leg up in international competition by merging its well-established management, production and sales networks in China with Japan's technology. Taiwan is strongly promoting investment in China, evident in its signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement 海峽兩岸經濟合作架構協議 , similar to a free trade pact, with China in June last year. Taiwan investment in China in 2010, including investment via third parties, was about $14.6 billion (¥1.19 trillion/NT43 trillion), far surpassing the $4.2 billion Japan has in the country. The unification of the Taiwan and Chinese economies, dubbed 'Chaiwan,' grows closer every year. Taiwan's real gross domestic product growth in 2010 was 10.82 percent, even higher than China's 10.3 percent. However, Taiwan has been increasingly concerned that domestic firms might be left behind by burgeoning South Korean and Chinese companies.

In addition to Elpida, many other Japanese companies are looking into integrating with Taiwan firms to establish a foothold in the huge Chinese market, a place that is extremely attractive but also considerably risky. During the past year, Japanese and Taiwan firms have formed alliances in the electricity, publishing, distribution and foods industries, among others. Many Japanese firms believe tie-ups in Taiwan will get them into the Chinese market by riding on the coattails of T'ái​wān's ever-deepening economic relationship with the mainland. Japanese companies doing business on their own in China have faced various difficulties, such as strikes by local employees demanding more pay and difficulty cutting through red tape to open new factories. Referring to these problems, a senior official at a major Taiwan IT company said, 'We understand the temperament of the Chinese as well as Japanese business practices.' A top Taiwan official said the Japan-Taiwan alliance would be very beneficial. 'The success rate of business in China by Japanese companies on their own is about 60 percent. But partnering with Taiwan firms will increase this by more than 10 percent,' the official said."

Hitting for the cycle

Today was 228 Peace Memorial Day 228和平紀念日 in T'ái​wān 台灣​, a day off for many people, but not for my wife, unfortunately. The owners of the company where she works feel that there is no reason to observe this particular national holiday, apparently believing the slaughter of tens of thousands of islanders by forces from the Chinese mainland, and the ushering in of forty years of repressive authoritarian rule, isn't worth remembering. Pamela's bosses may or not be blue (politically speaking), but the sky was definitely azure on this gloriously warm day, and my daughter and I had a nice time together today.

We began by going to Chúng​chèng​ Park 中正公園 for a short hike. The trail I had intended for us to take was closed, however, so we had to make due with a stroll. Amber enjoyed checking out a couple of Taoist temples, and looking for the biggest stones to launch from a bridge into a creek down below.

Amber beseeches the gods of Tào​ism 道教 for whatever favors a five year-old girl might think of.

In the afternoon, we drove into Tái​chúng​ 臺中, where we met up with my friend Steve and his children, Zoey and Eli. Going to a nearby park, the kids enjoyed riding their bikes, playing with bats and balls, digging in the dirt and making mud pies, and generally just enjoying childhood. Which was probably the best way to enjoy this holiday, when you think about it.

My future big-league star.

A marauding biker gang terrorizing the streets of Tái​chúng.