Credit Card Slaves and the Strawberry Generation

How appropriate this card is considering the country is going to hell due to the credit card companies and the wave of credit card slaves they have created.

Well, I think the blame needs to be spread around. Partly to the credit card companies for being so greedy, partly to the banks who are so eager to earn money from the credit card companies, partly to the government for not seeing this coming or doing anything about it promptly and partly to schools and parents for not educating their kids (the Strawberry Generation) about using credit responsibly.

Their is a great article in Taiwanease called "Maxed Out Youth". Hopefully this fine magazine will have their website up soon (I've been told the first week of April).

http://www.taiwanease.com/
(UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

This is what I presume it will be like...
http://www.taiwanease.com/theknowledge/index.php?title=Main_Page

RANDOM PICTURE

I really like this pic too since it is eye-catching and combines the old and new in such a bizarre way.

Some kids learn about firefighting techniques as the local temple gods watch over them.

More Ostrich Fun

Just saw this pic which is obviously in Taiwan and very funny.

Wrote something earlier about ostriches in ZhuWei:

http://islaformosa.blogspot.com/2006/07/interview-with-zhuwei-ostrich-man.html

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone!

Welcome to the Year of the Pig!
Please don't try this at home (or in the park)!

Get your Shark Fin! NT$xxxxx a kilo!

Catch all the highlights of DiHua Street around Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year 2007 DiHua Street

Taipei Game Show 2007

Catch all the highlights here:

Taipei Game Show 2007

Obsession with poles

Although this may strike you as bizarre, women are actually studying stripping for exercise.

http://www.asian-sirens.com/blog/comments.p
hp?id=1229_0_1_0_C

I, for one, have noticed that the Taiwanese are fascinated by pole dancing. I was once in the subway and noticed a crowd of people around one of the doorways. When I got close, I noticed that a mom was encouraging her little boy to perform on that pole in front of the door much to the delight of the other passengers.

Also, I have seen teenage girls practicing their moves on the jungle gyms late at night in a public park near where I live. Totally caught on my night vision video cam!

Finally, a friend of mine who went to Australia for his honeymoon reported that some gyms there offer pole dancing as the latest and greatest since body combat. If it picks up, expect the pole dancing craze to hit here in Taiwan within the next year. It would be a welcome change from all the lame yoga we have now!

A Whisky by any other Name

I really don't know what possesses me to research this stuff. I guess I'm just naturally curious. I was watching tv and I saw this cheesy ad for 'Prime Blue' whisky.

I did a Google search and came up with some interesting info about the whisky market in Taiwan, particularly 'Matisse'.

Here's the link:
http://www.maltmadness.com/mm14a.html#14-14

Here are some of the highlights:

"Many people said that Taiwan is the 'Liquor Paradise'.
That is not only because there is no custom tax for whisky, but also because there are so many choices of liquor in this small island country."

Every year "every Taiwanese drinks 0.5L whisky, 0.1L Brandy, 0.5L wine and 0.25L import Beer," a very large number indeed.

"For many western whisky lovers, Matisse is a mysterious name, probably only very few people notice it from Magazine or IWSC some time ago. Matisse was created by some Taiwanese three years ago, the whole purpose was to create an Taiwanese' taste whisky."

"It is believed the liquor shop has 100% margin on Matisse while only 10% margin on normal blend whisky like Johnnie Walker and Chivas."

There are some other interesting comments about how Matisse may be made OEM by a Scottish distiller. Also, there is some insight into the gift giving value of a bottle of whisky in Taiwan. So, check out the article.

If you are interested in Prime Blue there is the start of something here in the wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Blue_Pure_Malt_Scotch_Whisky
Says it "can also be found in select outlets in the UK". Hmmm, going up the world!

Next time you're in the market for a whisky, don't be suprised when you see the freaky Taiwan brands in the store!

Mongolian Doctor = Quack

I thought this was a funny little article about Mongolians studying to be doctors in Taiwan.

The thing is that the Mandarin word for 'quack' is the characters for 'Mongolian doctor'.

The term MengGu DaiFu (Mongolian Doctor) probably refers to quackery because Chinese would have considered outside medicine quite barbaric, thus giving it a bad name.

I wonder if anyone informed (or should have informed) the Mongolians of the slight against their people.


http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/02/06/2003347871

Strawberry Picking in Miaoli

The other week I had a chance to go to Miaoli to see the strawberry situation there.

With the great weather we've been having this year it was great fun! My nieces especially enjoyed calling to a pair of fair sized turkeys in a nearby field.

Here's an interesting thing that I learned. Apparently Taiwanese don't use scarecrows as much as we do. I did see one mannequin scarecrow but it was unconvincing. What I did find though were volleyball like nets with real live birds or bird corpses in them. Locals apparently can buy these birds live and put them in the nets to scare the others.

Farm life, a cruel end to many an animal's life. Gobble, gobble!