Tainan pt 4

So, the rain finally stopped and I resumed walking around. It was a weekday, so there weren't very many people around, and a lot of the shops were closed, but it was interesting to walk. Many things to see, but I was getting hungry, so I started looking for food. I finally ended up at a place written up in my guidebook (Chou's shrimp rolls) which, indeed, had outstanding shrimp rolls with great tempura batter. The Dan-zi mian were good, but not as good as what I had the day before. It really hit the spot, and I appreciated the chance to take a break from the heat and sit in air conditioning for a while. After lunch I walked around a little bit more, saw some nice old broken down buildings, bought some interesting black sugar cookies for gifts, and finally decided I had seen enough. I could have taken a taxi ride to see some museums, but they didn't sound that great and I had been walking in the sun for several hours. I was pretty wiped out and ready to take a nap. So, back to the hotel to crash for a couple of hours. A good choice I think.

Tainan pt 3

The next day, I got up early to head over to the Anping section to see Fort Zeelandia and wander around. It was already fiery hot, and I drank a papaya milk and a huge winter melon tea as I walked around. Fort Zeelandia was an old dutch fort when they had a trade presence here and it was interesting to see some dutch items and Indonesian items that ended up here as part of the trade route that the Dutch had set up. Eventually, Koxinga came over and lay siege to the fort and eventually kicked the Dutch out. This fact is used by both pro- and anti- unification people to justify their positions - everything is open to interpretation. The fort was interesting, it was cool to see the levels of ruins from different periods, and it was a beautiful day. Finally, the sky opened up and I ran for the nearest cover (I forgot my umbrella) and ended up spending about 20 mins watching rain come down and waiting to start walking around. The pics above include an old, semi-destroyed wall, a statue of Koxinga, and the view from up on the fort itself.

And a few more

more pics in and around Chi Kan.

Some more random images

Just some pictures of random things I saw walking around the city.

Tainan pt 2

After lunch, i walked a few feet to see the Chikan Towers. As soon as I got there the sky opened up and rain poured down. I got bored of waiting under a roof - my feet and legs were getting soaked anyway - so I made a dash to the main building. Really nice. I especially enjoyed the stone hallways under the building, which were unfortunately difficult to reach since the rain had accumulated in very deep puddles. After I finished checking out the towers, I walked around the area a bit, looking at a couple of temples nearby and enjoying the old buildings and stone streets. My feet and socks were soaked, and I was exhausted and not yet adjusted to the heat, so I went back to the hotel for a nap.

My room was like a cave, nice and dark, and the bed was pretty nice, so I slept like a baby. When I got up it was already getting late. I went for another walk around the neighborhood, saw some more temples, etc., and generally explored. I found the bar where I would watch the world cup later and had some mian xian with oysters and garlic fried greens for dinner. I get cranky if I go too long without any green vegetables. Went to the bar to watch Netherlands play someone, a boring game in a smoky bar, but the Anchor Steam was cheap and it looked cool and I had a good seat. I decided not to stay for the second game - cigarette smoke burns my eyes - so I went home to crash.

Tainan pt 1

When I got to Tainan, I was shocked to see blue sky. In Taipei it had been raining for 40 days and 40 nights, and I had forgotten that sometimes the sky is a color other than gray. I took the high speed train, which was nice except for the lack of information at the station. I was looking for a hotel and no one could give me any advice at all. Poor. I took the free shuttle bus into town and ended up in the middle of nowhere. Stupid bus driver wouldn't tell me anything, it's possible his mandarin was not very good and I couldn't ask in Taiwanese. So I took a taxi who took me to a place that fit my criteria: clean, not too expensive, in a convenient area. It probably would have been cheaper if he didn't take his cut, but at least he helped me find some place. It was nice to drop off my stuff and go get lunch. I wanted to try two things Tainan is famous for - dan zi noodles and the fried shrimp rolls. Unlike Taipei, people in Tainan were actually kind of impressed that I can speak some Chinese and my hotel staff were pretty nice and helpful. They sent me in the right direction and off I went. You can see that the pics of my lunch are too dark, I was still learning how to use this camera. The noodles at this place were really nice, great texture and a perfect, salty enough but not too salty, flavorful broth. The fried shrimp roll was also good, served with a mixture of that apricot duck sauce and wasabi and pickled ginger on the side, both excellent for cutting the grease of deep fried shrimp. The home made winter melon tea was also good and refreshing.

blah

It's been about half a year since my last post. Just working knocks the stuffing out of me. I have been playing around in Brazilian Ju jitsu class, which is fun but hurts a little bit. I've been writing silly music reviews with my friend Dan at http://www.amixedreview.com/. I've had some visa issues, but I may have finally got a solution to that. The heat is back and I'm itching for some leisure. Feels like I haven't had a real vacation in a long time. Now I'm looking for a better job so hopefully I will be able to save some $$$ and take a little break soon. But who knows what the future will bring. It doesn't feel like I have been getting any breaks lately, but maybe I have been and things could be a lot worse.

acting/modeling job in chang hua pt.2

At the end, I was supposed to give some kind of testimony to a girl playing a reporter. Since it didn't matter what I said, and no one there spoke English particularly well, I gave her a running commentary of the direction I was getting, with editorial response about why it was impossible or just a bad idea. Example :"He said don't move my head but use body language and now I feel like I can't move and I'm supposed to move this hand but not that hand and smile while seven people are yelling at me in two languages and I only had three hours sleep last night I wonder if I'm still smiling..." It was funny and needs a science fiction ending to the narrative of the commercial, I'm sure. As I left, the agent pointed out the owner's brand new BMW next to his brand new Mercedes, so I guess there is a market for orange mold.

I was happy to finally leave, it was dark already and we had a long trip. The cell phone was louder now, and the guy who really did nothing the whole time was singing along, but quietly so you could only hear him on the plosives, like "t" "s" "k" sounds. It was really annoying, and I started anticipating the next sound, which added to the annoyance factor. When Oksana got out halfway through the trip back (she lives in shinju) I realized he was just holding back out of the embarrassment of singing in front of a female, because he started singing louder. It reached a crescendo when Bon Jovi's it's my life song came on. A truly dreadful song, made worse by the tiny treble heavy speaker, augmented by chinese accented english sing along. And broken up by the coughing fits that came from this guy the entire trip back. The air was quite polluted at some points of the trip, and this guy smoked a lot, thankfully only on breaks. He would open the window for air, which just made it worse as the air was thick with dew and pollution, and the open window was doing weird things to the pressure in my ears. I was testing myself to see if I would crack and strangle this guy, but i'm happy to say i made it. yay me. After telling me they could drop me in Banchiao, they dropped me near an inconvenient MRT station on the far side of Taipei and I made it home 13 hours after I left. My pay, $2000 nt, about $65 us dollars. But it was kind of interesting and maybe they will give me another, better job next time since I did this one. I was going to meet richard last night, and that had to be cancelled, which was annoying. Oh well.

acting/modeling job in chang hua pt. 1

I got a call on friday asking if I would be interested in the job. In broken English, she said something about it being in Taichung. Her English was not clear so we switched to chinese. I said, well, maybe, send me the details in an email and i will think about it. When I got the email, it said I had the job, without an audition, and it listed a taipei address. Foolishly, I assumed they had changed the address to some place people would be willing to go. I showed up, after a bad night with under 3 hours sleep, wearing my suit, and found out I had a 3 hour taxi ride to Chang hua ahead of me. I considered leaving, explained to the agent that they hadn't been clear with me, and ultimately decided to make a little money and have an adventure in a place I hadn't yet visited. The taxi was not comfortable, but I commandeered the front seat, which was bearable. At some point, one of the 2 taiwanese guys (1 was the agent, the other seemingly did nothing but smoke and annoy) started playing awful music on a cell phone, which was very annoying. I didn't sleep. We finally reached a town and they bought us lunch. The annoying guy was pushing for a boring looking lunch place - I said "bye" and went to the vietnamese place nearby. They begrudgingly followed me, and I enjoyed my lunch of sour and hot noodles with fried spring rolls in lettuce with mint and basil in sweet sauce. None of them had had vietnamese food before. The Ukrainian girl, Oksana, has lived in Taiwan for 2 years and never eats out, preferring to cook potatoes and meat for herself. She asked for something "not spicy." When I think about tying to sell food, it's people like this who scare me- no interest or adventure at all. Just eat and do the same things over and over again- nothing new. Oksana had come to taiwan to get her MA because she got the best deal here- fair enough, it just seems like a shame to me. She has learned no chinese and just took vacations to sit on the beach. I love the beach, but there is more to life.

After lunch, we sat in a 7-11 and waited for the production crew to come get us and lead us up the mountain. I had been told to bring all kinds of different clothes, so my backpack was too full to squeeze my chinese book in. I was happy to find my flashcards later- they really helped to kill time while waiting. I sat and tried to hold up a conversation with Oksana for an hour while we waited.

They came and led us up the mountain to the factory. I enjoyed the clean air and the old chinese style houses we drove by. Many Taiwanese prefer new homes, so when they get $$$ they rip down the old. In rural areas with less money, the old sometimes survives. Nice. When I came in, they put a white lab coat on me and did my makeup. Of course I didn't need any of my other clothes, just a white shirt and a tie. Then they did my makeup, which was quick. It took much longer for Oksana, and while I waited I tried the product the commercial was for. It seemed to be a special kind of mold, grown on organic rice. It was orange and brewed into a tea. When she was done, we went through an airlock, sprayed with alcohol, then more alcohol spraying, until we came to a large growing room filled with glass bottles. Mold was growing, first white, then green, finally orange and tendril-y in each bottle. I tried to find out what this stuff was supposed to do, but they could only tell me, "it's good for your health." It was funny that we went to so much trouble to decontaminate, but a guy in the crew was chewing betel nut and things really weren't that clean. With multiple long breaks, we (Oksana and I were filmed together, as the foreign scientists_ eventually did our scenes, staring in amazement at the strange, orange growth, listening and pretending to write as a taiwanese scientist explained things to us, then trying to look surprised a lot. They weren't recording sound, so we could say whatever we wanted, but it had to look like we were talking in many scenes. Oksana isn't much of a conversationalist, so I had to do most of the talking, which was a challenge. For one part, some people were yelling "smile! smile! smile!" while another was yelling "look surprised! look surprised!" and another "raise your hand!" another: "lower your hand!" and various other things in english and chinese. Try to smile and look surprised. Not that easy!

My Saturday at a funeral - a long post

Things have been kind of bleak recently, but I had a very interesting weekend. Rae Chi's grandmother died and I was invited to come to the funeral, which was a fairly traditional Daoist ceremony. I'm sorry I don't have any photos, though I'm not sure that would have been ok. Anyway, we got to the location and there was a huge tent set up, filled with flowers and shrines of various sorts. Big paintings of various Gods were around and apparently the grandmother's body was in a back room (I didn't go see that). I just sat outside and had tea for a little while. Then I went into the tent to listen and see. All women wore white hoods, daughters and grand daughters hood had a little red dot on theirs. One grand daughter had a red hood because she is getting married in the next two months. Male descendants wore white bandannas around their heads, again with red dots for direct descendants. Husbands of daughters had special hats - that's what RC's father wore. I wore the white strip around my arm since I'm not married. It's interesting to once again see how important family relations are in this culture. It's clear in the language, where each family relation has a different name, so where we just say "cousin," the chinese indicates which side of the family, gender, and older or younger. It's so clear at a funeral where family ties are being re-emphasized. And for someone like me, who has no extended family at all and is an extreme example of American individualism (in my disconnect from a hometown, shared values, tribal identity,etc.), it feels a little bit like being a Martian visiting earth for the first time.

Anyway, blah blah blah. For a while, the daoist priest said various prayers in Taiwanese and when he bowed we all bowed. Eventually we sat down then stood up again and bowed some more. Along with his prayers, there was a strummed instrument that sounded a little bit like a banjo but playing Chinese scales. I enjoyed that very much. Then, we all turned sideways towards a shrine and various bowls of food were passed from person to person. We bowed with the food, offering it I guess, and passed it to the next person. There were continued prayers, then we took a break and had some tea. The kids stared at me and asked various questions about Americans, but they were scared to ask me so they asked Rae Chi while staring at me. The one who was around 12 had been interested when he heard I was American, but once I told him I don't have a nuclear weapon or a gun, he was disappointed and lost interest. I guess I would be more interesting if I had a nuclear weapon, to be fair.

So, the three women in bright costumes (one yellow, one green, one red) showed up and started dancing with the banjo like thingy and priest, who's prayers were kind of song like. They started doing splints and cartwheels and flips over each other and the music got faster, which I really liked. No drums, but percussive when he got fast enough. People put some $$$ on a tarp and the girls started stacking rickety wooden stools, then tables, then some more rickety plastic chairs until the stack was near the top of the tent, maybe 10 feet high. Each time they stacked a new level, they would each do a deep back bend off the top, reach their head down and pick up a bill with their mouths. Apparently, these bills are the tips for them. They would put the $$ in a compartment of a little shrine in front of the priest that had blinking christmas lights on it. At it's highest point, multiple people had to hold the stack of rickety furniture, the other two girls had to hold the bending girls feet, and she would backbend onto a table she could barely reach, then, $ in mouth, flip onto the ground. It was really interesting, though I'm not sure what it meant as far as the funeral was concerned. Maybe they represent some spirits who will help the grandmother's soul find her way, but I'm not totally sure about that.

When they were through, one of them put on a white hood and mimed being miserable and weeping in front of the shrine. She banged her fists and wept loudly while the sons and the eldest grandson followed her around the tent. A reedy stick with red fabric covered with characters hanging from it(which contained some spirit, I think) was held over her head as she moved around in mock pain. It was really loud and shrill and didn't look too fun for the guys who remained stoic behind her flailing in artificial mourning. If that wasn't fun for the men, the next part was really not fun for the daughters. They set up with the mock mourner about 100 yards away from the shrine and got down on their knees to slowly crawl back to the shrine. The whole time the women kept howling and the music got sad. As they crawled, they cried and had to be encouraged to continue on with red envelopes and people talking in their ears. At the end, they kind of collapsed in front of the shrine and cried while the leader kept wailing. The men set up another shrine in a different place and did more chanting, a different priest leading them wearing another interesting uniform. For a non-spiritual American of Northern European background, this public grief was kind of hard to take. I don't enjoy seeing other people weep, and for me to let other people see my sadness is not polite to them, and would be extremely uncomfortable for me. Here, showing how sad they were publicly gives face to their mother. And I think people here actually like this kind of super dramatic, operatic sadness. It's certainly interesting as theater, but wasn't easy to watch and a cynical bastard like me can't help but wonder if it's all 100% genuine. Anyhoo, Rae Chi and her brother and sister were all crying and then we had to help her mother stand up and move to a chair where she sat, stricken and unable to talk for a while. And suddenly, the music stopped and the priest left. It seemed a bit abrupt, but I was happy to see that end. So we sat down and had dinner. It was low key, and after dinner I left. When you leave, you can't say goodbye (the chinese goodbye means "see you again" and you don't want to see them again in these circumstances, so you just leave) though RC's brother made a mistake and did say bye bye to me.

I'm very glad I got to see that, though the experience was a little draining. Not nearly as draining as it must have been for the rest of the family though, since they had to sit with the body over night to "make sure no wild animals come" I was told. In the morning, I guess they took it somewhere for cremation. Things didn't end until 1pm Sunday afternoon. That must have been hard - being sleepy and emotionally fragile is not really the best place to be in my opinion. I guess it gives them time to grieve and have family support during a difficult time, though a good night's sleep is also nice to have.

Kao san guest house?

I think this might have been the guest house that we stayed in. Maybe. I should have checked the rooms to see if they still have ceiling fans. But they didn't advertise rooms. And it used to be dirtier and more disconcerting. Or maybe I am just older and less easily disconcerted.

Kao San photos

Cleaner than it used to be.

Kao San revisited (more Thailand)

And so, feeling nostalgic for the good old days, and aware of C's recent facebook comment about the tuk tuk, I decided to take a tuk tuk to Kao San Road. I really hate the tuk tuks - always trying to rip you off, take you someplace you don't want to go. And the best you can do is always going to be about the same as a taxi ride, which would have air con, no rip offs, and a more comfortable, safe, clean air type ride. Anyway, it was for old time's sake. Got to Kao San Rd. which was always kinda sleazy, but the interesting things that excited me when I first went there had diminished. Fewer shady guest houses, fewer burnt out hippies, more fast food chains and boredom. The book "The Beach" which wrote about that scene and seemed recognizable from the experience I had there, will be a purely historical document for those in the future. And it made me a little sad, even if that thing was slightly horrible and definitely sleazy. I'm glad I got to experience it before it disappeared, I guess.

More Wat Pho photos

Wat Pho photos

A reclining buddha, etc.

Sunday in Thailand (3)

The next day, Saturday, I did nothing. Hung out at the pool, read a book, did a little shopping. Went for a little walk around a neighborhood, ate some good noodles, bbq pork, and wonton soup with vinegar chilis. That was it.

Sunday, I was more active. I wanted to do some touristy things, so I went to the biggest temple in Bangkok, Wat Pho. Saw a very nice reclining Buddha. Lots of fun statues and little stupas. This temple is known as a base for thai medicine and massage, so I was thinking about that, but the massage I found was priced too far beyond the norm for Bangkok. Lots of interesting shops selling medicine with Thai labels. I was interested in something for my stomach (the green papaya salad was SO spicy) but they were unwelcoming. The food stands, on the other hand, were very interesting, and the lime leaf pork I had was really delicious. I hung around this area, checking out the temple and surrounding area, until my feet hurt too much and I needed a break.

Fever Pitch

While I was in Thailand, I read Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch. I've never liked his movies particularly- they always seem kind of smug and pleased to be English. Like Hugh Grant himself, the movies just slightly rub me the wrong way. But I read the book because it's ostensibly about Arsenal and I was curious. And I enjoyed it. Despite the fact that it was all about a time that is long gone, I found some of the observations about being a sports fan accurate. The appreciation of pain and suffering was particularly valid. I also identified with the cathartic nature of victory and the almost religious tendency to associate the team's ups and downs with one's own. The writing was a little smug, but not too objectionable, and the pages turned quickly. So, not bad. Of course, I identified even more with the long suffering of Arsenal fans after the team blew a 2-0 lead at the very end of the game to a lousy West Ham team.

Thailand 2

The next day I didn't do too much. Walked around my neighborhood, hung out by the pool and read Fever Pitch, basically took it easy. I made the mistake of asking for a restaurant to eat at. Invariably in Thailand, the more expensive and the more westerners involved, the worse the food. So going to the restaurant that the hotel recommends for foreigners, with an English speaking waiter, was not a good idea. Dinner wasn't terrible, but it was 4 times as expensive as any other meal and was the worst meal of the trip. Oh well. After that, I went to see the muay thai, which was pretty fun. The price had doubled since the last time I went (almost 4 years ago) but I got a free CD. Sad I forgot a camera. The fights were kind of interesting - it's also really interesting to see the section with all the thai guys screaming and betting (I sat in the weak foreigner section - I can't bring myself to stand for so long. And I saw them refuse to sell the cheaper ticket to another foreigner, so maybe there was no choice).

Thailand 1

When I got into Bangkok I was tired and cranky. I got off the plane (very small seats - the asian discount airline, but happily I was able to get a little sleep. Worrying that they had a sign by check in that said "we no longer allow guns aboard the airplane, with pictures of the guns they don't allow) and foolishly booked the first ride into Bangkok (4 times as expensive as my ride back from the hotel to the airport, and I gave that guy a tip!). Almost changed money there as well, but it was such a huge rip off I just couldn't accept it. Thankfully I still had a few baht from last time I was in Thailand. Got in to the hotel and felt tired, and pissed about the rip offs. Drank a few beers and watched soccer on TV which helped me relax a great deal. Had a good nights sleep. The room was ok - smelled a little of stale cigarette smoke, but basically clean and comfortable. Had a microwave and big fridge. I enjoyed the pool on the roof with a nice view of the neighborhood. It was very nice to have a bit more summer. I spent plenty of time up there, dipping in the pool and reading Fever Pitch. The location was excellent - 10 minute walk to the Taiwan consulate, and a free tuktuk type thing to the local MRT. Plus, it was located in a residential area away from all the sleaze and nearby lots of food stands and interesting places to walk. I was happy with it.

pingxi train

I have a wierd thing about round windows and passageways. This made me fantasize about getting one of these cars and turning it into a diner, something Taiwan needs. Maybe....