Signs

On Tianjin Road 天津路 in Taichung 台中, a street lined on both sides with clothing wholesalers:

 Dharma 

 Just say の

One block over is Beiping Road 北平路. The first place I lived after moving to Taiwan was in an apartment building located on a side street of this road:

Curr?

 Continuing the Dharma theme

Moving Pictures

Taiwan, Ilha Formosa, "The Beautiful Island" - a strong case can be made for here being the undiscovered gem of Northeast Asia. Most travelers to this region overlook Taiwan on their way to China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. However, it looks like things are starting to look up for the "renegade province" - Lonely Planet, for one, has listed Taiwan as one of the top ten countries for travel in 2012. 

Nevertheless, there is one thing that Taiwan can't change - the fact that it's an island, and not necessarily a large one at that. What this means is that there are a finite number of things to see and do, and places to visit, before ennui sets in. Before you start pitying the jaded foreign resident, however, spare a thought for the locals, who went through all the major possibilities long ago (in many cases, more than once), and have truly "been there and done that". What this means is that when something genuinely new appears on the leisure front, everyone, plus their grandmother and the family dog, has to go and see it. And seeing as most folks are working 5 days a week plus a couple of Saturdays per month, this leaves just one day - Sunday - to get out and do something different. Which is a long-winded way of saying that we were part of the crowd this afternoon at the "River of Wisdom: Moving of the Riverside Scene at Chingming Festival" (yes, that is the official English title; link) exhibition 智慧的長河: 會動的清明上河圖, located in what looked like a warehouse near the Taichung High Speed Rail Station 高鐵台中站 in Wuri 烏日.

Like everyone else, we decided it would be best to get there in the morning, you know, in order to "beat the crowds". Which meant that we ended up waiting for about 90 minutes in a long line that snaked its way from the parking lot to the other side of the building housing the exhibition. Fortunately for me (though not for many of the locals) it was sunny and warm today, and I came prepared to kill some time:

Eventually we made it inside (for a Taiwanese queue, things were relatively well-organized). At this point you may be asking yourself "What is the River of Wisdom?". A fair question, but one to which I'm still not sure of the answer. From what I could work out, several hand-painted scrolls, the original dating from the Song Dynasty 宋朝 in China, and a couple of updated versions from the Ming 明朝 and Qing Dynasties 清朝, illustrating daily scenes from Chinese life from long ago, have been brought together in one place. The scrolls were very interesting to see, if you could make out the images through the mass of humanity trying to get a close-up view. Large projections on the walls overhead helped somewhat, but it's times like these that I'm truly thankful for being 6'3" (189.5cm). Here is the official English explanation:

Now that you fully comprehend what was going on, here are a few images I was able to capture:

As fascinating as the images on the scrolls, they were not the main reason why everyone came today. The crowd-puller was in another room: a long diorama that reproduced the scenes from the scroll with moving images of people and animals that strove to bring to life just what things were like in the China of yore. Fortunately, there are good-quality clips to be found on YouTube:

Eventually we made our way out of the exhibition room, and filled our famished stomachs on thoroughly unhealthy but extremely satisfying fried food stand grub. "The River of Wisdom" was fascinating to see, but was it worth the time and crowds? Unless you're a true Sinophile, I'd have to say no. Although the crowd was pretty well-behaved by Taiwanese standards, it was still hard to appreciate the spectacle, not to mention all the small details, over the loud din, while trying not to bump into, or get bumped by, other visitors. The light show created by all the digital cameras and cell phones was also a distraction, though I have to admit I was as guilty as everyone else in this regard. Perhaps if "The River of Wisdom" were a permanent fixture, and not a temporary exhibition, there would the space to walk slowly along the long diorama and really take in what all the figures on the screen are doing. But here in the cultural wasteland of central Taiwan, you have to take advantage of the few opportunities that come your way, even if it means having to plunge headfirst into a sea of humanity.

Having gained wisdom, we strolled over to the HSR Station, where Amber was excited to see a couple of trains pull out, as well as to have the chance to run around on the lawn outside:

My wife, being a true Taiwanese, then suggested we go back to Fengyuan 豐原 in order to do some shopping at the Taipingyang Department Store 太平洋百貨公司 there - apparently, her daily horde quota hadn't been satisfied at "The River of Wisdom" exhibition. After making a few purchases, she suggested having dinner in Miaodong 廟東夜市, a "food street" that is Fengyuan's only claim to fame in Taiwan:

Which just goes to show that in Taiwan, you can never have enough elbows to rub while you're out and about. And as if to prove the point, on the way home, we passed by, you guessed it, another throng of people, this time listening to a campaign speech by a candidate for the Legislative Yuän 立法院, whose image on a video screen I was able to grab as we drove by:

The candidate, Jacky Chen 陳清龍, is running as an independent, but he has received the backing of the People First Party 親民黨. This explains why I was able to get a glimpse of the leader of the PFP (and candidate for president in the Jan. 14 elections), James Soong 宋楚瑜, standing on the stage as our car passed by.

Portrait of a Saturday done in Amber

So it's a Saturday, there's no school today and you're five soon-to-be-six years old. How do you spend the day? Well, if you're my daughter Amber, you start by watching a Wiggles DVD over breakfast, then play some of the games on the Nick Jr. website while your dad does some housework. Soon there's a long-distance telephone call from the USA - it's your Nanny and Grandad, calling to say "hello". You're looking forward to seeing them in Washington next month! Following your conversation with your grandparents, you play a few more games, whereupon it's then time for lunch with your parents. After Mom goes back to work, it's time to roll up your sleeves and get down to some work yourself, for Christmas is coming soon! Now that Thanksgiving has passed (even though it isn't observed here in Taiwan, you were still able to eat a turkey dinner on that day at a place your father refers to as an "expat cafe" in Taichung), the work of setting up the tree must now be tackled, but you're up for it. You quickly unpack the plastic tree from its box in the storage room, and after Dad sets it up, you set to work hanging up the decorations:

It isn't long before you're finished, but it soon become apparent the artificial tree is looking a tad barren. So off you go with your dad to the local Carrefour hypermarket, but not before making a detour to a nearby park first. A girl needs her exercise after all, and if you want to have those training wheels removed someday, you'll need more practice on how to ride a bicycle, which you do this afternoon, making a circuit of the park. Despite the colder temperatures, the day was sunny, so you brought along one of your teddy bear friends for the ride on your Hello Kitty ハローキティ bike:

Having stretched your legs, it's off in the car to Carrefour. You and Dad spend a lot of time there, for in addition to more ornaments, there are several other things that need to be bought, such as bananas, cereal and milk, all of which you keep track of by putting a check next to the items on the shopping list you and your father made up beforehand. You also take a look at the toys - with Christmas looming over the horizon, it's time to let Santa know what you would like him to bring you on the night of the 24th/25th:

After everything has been paid for, you push the shopping cart back to the where the car is parked, but not before playing a quick game of Whac-A-Mole first. Back outside, it's now dark, and you reach home just minutes before Mom gets back from work. Without further ado, you take the new ornaments out of their packages, and commence hanging them up in the tree:

Mission accomplished, and a job well done! The day is concluded with dinner at a neighborhood restaurant, where you help yourself to Mom's hot pot 火鍋 and Dad's steak dinners. Back at home, you have time to watch some Pink Panther clips on YouTube before you take a bath, and then it's off to bed, warm and cozy under your Ampamman アンパンマン comforter, surrounded by all your stuffed animals.

Life is wonderful when you're five-going-on-six years old. Sweet dreams 波ちゃん.

Monkey Business in Wufeng

Just over a month ago, I checked out some of the walking trails in the Wufeng Ch'ingt'ung Lin Hiking Trail 霧峰青桐林步道 area, located in Wufeng 霧峰, naturally. At that time the Terminator in me said that I would be back, and it was right, for this afternoon I paid a return visit to the area. This time I started out on a trail that looked easy at first, being a paved walkway that gently wound its way uphill. From time to time there were breaks in the tree cover that provided some views of the nearby mountains:

At one point, a spur trail broke off to right. I followed this up through the forest expecting to find a panoramic view from the top, but all that greeted me was a small stone marker engraved with the characters  三等三角點, denoting some kind of triangulation point, and a cluster of ribbons strung up by various hiking clubs:

It was after returning to the main trail that things became interesting. First, the path itself started narrowing while becoming progressively rougher, until I found myself following what seemed like a dry stream bed. There were plenty of ribbons along the way denoting the path to enlightenment, but it was obvious it had been a few days since the last hiker had come along, for I was constantly having to break up spider webs that had been strung across the trail. At one point I surprised a group of pheasants, which quickly run uphill to find safety, but the best animal encounter was soon to come: a troop of Formosan Macaques 台灣獼猴, which was busy foraging for food in the trees. The monkeys were wary, but made no attempt to run away. I spent a long time listening to them, for they were well-hidden in and among the branches, with only the occasional glimpse coming when they moved from one spot to another. Which makes for a pretty good excuse for my not getting any decent photos, and only these poor-quality videos:

After communing with the macaques, I continued along the trail, which reached a point that required the use of ropes to haul myself up:

At the top of this section, the trail joined up with the main route, which had I walked on my previous visit. However, off to my left I noticed the outlines of another path which was in somewhat rougher condition, and which seemed to run parallel to the regular trail. I opted for the "hidden" route, which turned out to be a section of trail that had been damaged by heavy rain in one section, which probably explained why when I reached the end and joined up with the main route, I had to cross over yellow crime-scene tape meant to keep hikers out! 

Covered in sweat and cobwebs, I returned to my parked scooter. Although I hadn't done much actual climbing on this day, I thoroughly enjoyed "roughing it" this afternoon, although I owe a number of spiders a lot of apologies for what I had done to their nests. The signboard by my scooter showed the routes I took this afternoon:

The red box indicating "You are here" (obvious even if you don't Chinese) was where I parked the bike. The red line is the route I started out on, with the short spur trail colored in yellow. The broken parts of the red line are where the route got rough (and where I saw the monkeys), while the first blue line (the one on the left) indicates the now-closed trail that I took to get back.

And, no, I didn't run into any giant rabbits while I was out there.

 

Straightened Priorities

The sun sets over a local park

It hasn't been an easy past couple of days. In addition to the usual stresses and difficulties sleeping, I took another Mandarin test on Friday evening, and failed it...again. For the third time. Three strikes and you're out, so I'm going to warm the bench from now on, language-wise. The thing is, by not being able to express clearly what I'd like to say in Mandarin (this time regarding the upcoming presidential election), the once-promising job opportunity in the U.S. that had come my way is now starting to recede further and further into the distance. Irony can be heartless - apparently, I'm never going to be able to get out of Taiwan because my Mandarin skills aren't good enough.

Then there was the simultaneous discovery that thanks to an oversight on my part, and the fact that my spouse is unable to grasp the importance of certain things, we are on the verge of having an application that had been approved pulled out from under us like the proverbial rug. So a great deal of time this past weekend has been spent on hurriedly putting everything together in the hope that a greater power will take pity on us. We'll just have to wait and see what transpires next week.

So it's in times like these that I turn toward my daughter to learn all over again that there are many more important things in life, like joining your father's students last Tuesday on a field trip to the Hsuëh-Pa National Park 雪霸國家公園...

...where you can make your own chocolate...

...and then run around outside looking for grasshoppers.

Or how on Thanksgiving Day, even though you're not in the United States, you can still enjoy a turkey dinner at an outdoor cafe run by an American expat on a cool, though not cold, evening:

And, finally, how there's often nothing better than going to the nearest park and running around until it gets too dark:

Priorities. Kids have got them in order.

Fearing Not

I know of certain bloggers here in Taiwan who might like to eat and drink at this establishment ;-)

From yesterday's (Sunday's) edition of the Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ comes this Kyōdō News 共同通信社 news story:

TAIWAN PLANE BRINGS TOURISTS BACK TO FUKUSHIMA

A TransAsia Airways 復興航空 chartered flight with 180 tourists on board landed at Fukushima Airport 福島空港 Saturday morning, the first international flight to arrive since March 11, giving the region's badly-hit tourism industry a much needed lift.

The tourists are participating in a four-day tour organized by several travel agencies in Taiwan, and will visit sites mainly around the prefecture's scenic Aizu 会津 region.

The airport's regular services to Seoul and Shanghai remain suspended because of radioactive fallout from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant 福島第一原子力発電所.

To reverse the plunging number of foreign visitors to Fukushima 福島県, the prefecture has been running promotional campaigns in Taiwan, as well as in China and South Korea.

The chartered plane will carry Japanese tourists to Taiwan on its return flight.

Operations at the airport, about 50 km (30 miles) inland from the prefecture's coast, were not affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami 東日本大震災.

Taiwan's airlines have started operating chartered flights to Fukushima Prefecture in recent years.

It certainly is encouraging to see the Tōhoku region 東北地方 slowly getting back on its feet. It will take time, but eventually all the debris will be carted off, transportation links will be resumed (though some damaged train lines may be converted into exclusive bus lanes - see this Yomiuri Shimbun 読売新聞 article from today's Daily Yomiuri ザ・デイリー読売  and, yes, the damaged nuclear reactors will be achieve cold shutdown. Visitors are gradually making their way back to the area, though for the residents who suffered through that terrible day and its aftermath, the emotional scars may never heal. Before March 11, I had been thinking about visiting Tōhoku at some point in 2012, and despite all that has happened, I see no reason for changing my plans. Sightseeing spots such as Hiraizumi 平泉 and the Tōno 遠野 Valley appear to have emerged relatively unscathed from the disaster, while I'm confident that Sendai 仙台, the region's hub, will quickly recover much as Kōbe 神戸 did in the aftermath of the Great Hanshin earthquake 阪神・淡路大震災. The one alteration to my plans would probably have to be Kinkazan 金華山. I haven't heard anything about the state of the island itself, but I do know that the city of Ishinomaki 石巻 and the town of Ayukawa 鮎川, the two main transportation points to Kinkazan, were devastated by the tsunami.

 A new store in Fengyuan 豐原 selling old clothing for old women

Being a good sport

Many foreign residents in Japan, especially those who have started families, are familiar with undōkai 運動会, those school sporting competitions that sometimes see the parents get roped into the various activities. It turns out this phenomenon is thriving in Taiwan as well. My daughter's kindergarten held its first Sports Day beginning this morning at the ungodly-for-Sunday starting time of 8:50. Despite some initial misgivings on my part - being the only Western parent in attendance, not to mention being older than most of the other dads - it turned out to be pretty fun. Amber definitely had a good time - all that exertion from this morning knocked her out earlier than usual this evening.

Amber with one of her classmates and friends, "Carol". All of the kids in my daughter's class have English names, but Amber's is the only one that has any legal standing.

This being East Asia, there were lots of lining ups, wearing of uniforms and chants in unison, all propelled by the use of personal amplification systems.

Among the events in which mother and daughter paired up was this "grass curling" race involving Nerf balls.

Dad didn't shirk his athletic responsibilities, either.

Pamela and Amber after the main event, a four-person relay race. Due to the condition of my knees, my running days are long behind me, so my wife had to take up the baton (literally).

The elementary school where the sports day event was held still has a couple of statues of a certain dead dictator on its grounds, unfortunately.

In the afternoon, following a change of clothing at home, the three of us headed into T'aichung 台中, where we spent the afternoon inside the local branch of the Mitsukoshi Department Store 新光三越.

What did I learn from walking around the floors of Mitsukoshi? Well, I found out that Tōkyū Hands 東急ハンズ, a well-known Japanese department store that specializes in hardware and do-it-yourself materials, is called "Hands T'ailung" 台隆手創館 here in Taiwan.

The 10th floor of Mitsukoshi was the site of a special promotion featuring Taiwanese snack foods. I walked away with a box of traditional sweets, a parting gift for my long-suffering Mandarin teacher.

Amber poses with a leaf on one of Taiwan's numerous and little-used pedestrian bridges. Many locals, it seems, would rather take their chances crossing a busy road (like Taichung's Chungkang Road 中港路) at street-level instead of actually having to climb, *gasp*, stairs.

The Orientalist in me just has to post this photo of a roadside duck meat stand in Fengyuan 豐原.