Different Perspectives of the Taiwan and the World

view of the world

An interesting set of maps depicting various views of Taiwan and the world from both Taiwan's perspective and the American one.

Press the link to view... You'll need a little Chinese to understand but then you can do that, can't you?

Orangutan Alert and Other Strange House Pets

This one falls in the I kid you not category...

I was teaching apologies and excuses to my students. I gave an example of a lousy excuse:
"I really wanted to but I had to look after my pet monkey."

Being Canadian, I thought this was really ridiculous and far-fetched. One student looked perplexed though. I asked her what was up and she said that, in fact, her neighbor across the street actually had a monkey.

"Are you sure?", I asked.

"Yeah, it's orange."

Orangutan immediately came to mind. I probed a little further but she started to become quiet after I mentioned that orangutans where banned as pets (and in Taipei city no less!!!).

So that got me thinking about a newscast I had seen years earlier showing an orangutan pet being dragged away from an old lady. She was really upset and had obviously developed a strong bond with the animal, much as if it were another child.

Googling the topic of orangutans I came across this:

"It is estimated that about 1,000 baby orangutans were smuggled to Taiwan from Kalimantan on Borneo between 1985 and 1990 and sold as exotic pets. This accounts for at least a 10% decline in the wild population (this percentage includes all those that were killed or died in the smuggling and poaching process; a conservative estimate of over 3,000 animals). The reason for this surge in orangutans as pets was a result of a popular Taiwanese television program that featured a live orangutan as the perfect pet and companion. As a result the demand was met through smuggling and poaching. Eventually the cute and cuddly orangutans grow up and become unmanageable. Many have suffered from neglect, poor nutrition and serious health problems such as tuberculosis and hepatitis B. A few lucky ones were returned to Indonesian rescue centers for rehabilitation and reintroduction into the wild.

In 1990 the government of Taiwan passed a law making it illegal for orangutans to be kept as pets and most have been confiscated and sent to rescue and centers such as Pingtung Rescue Centre for Endangered Wild Animals in Taiwan http://www.intern.com.tw/ptrc/e5.htm/ ."

honoluluzoo

What's this? There are still orangutans in Taiwan as pets? How do you hide something that big?

I got my answer reading an account:

"A TV show in Taiwan made them one of the country's most popular pets, but Taiwan is acting to end the cruel trade in young orangutans. [....]

This is a business which thrives in many parts of Asia, but one country, Taiwan, has decided to end the illegal pet trade. It's banned the keeping of exotic animals as pets and hopes to confiscate, then rehome, every monkey living in a Taiwanese home.

[ASIDE JOKE: I personally know a lot of monkeys that are living in Taiwanese homes. Ha Ha!]

'I flew to the Pingtung Rescue Centre last week, to watch as the animals were prepared for travel. Eight gibbons, including two 'Concolours', one of the rarest species in the world, and four female orangutans - an adult Roro, and three girls, nicknamed the 'amigos', were selected to come to Britain first. Before travelling they all have to pass medical tests and be cleared of TB, hepatitis B and Herpes Simplex - all diseases that monkeys risk catching from man.

[ASIDE JOKE: "Honestly I didn't know it was bad to kiss the orangutan with a cold sore..."]

While preparations were underway at Pingtung, word came through that another orangutan has been found in central Taiwan, living with a family in a temple. The orangutan was fourteen year old Mai-Mai, who had spent most of her life eating and sleeping with her owners. She's now too big for them to handle and is confined to a cage. The family was reluctant to give her up, but the Pingtung staff convinced them, in due course, that what Mai-Mia needed was outdoor space and a mate. '

Back at Pingtung, four baby gibbons, barely a year old, have been handed in by customs. They were confiscated by a smuggler from Vietnam who was hoping to sell them to the pet trade and amusement arcades. The gibbons are orphans, their parents having been killed during capture, despite the fact that they are highly endangered. They cannot go back to the wild once separated from their families and will need to be found permanent homes. "

monkeyworld

Just to think, all this orangutan mess was caused by a TV show (Think: What was the name of that movie with Clint Eastwood and the orangutan?).

On another note, the World Wildlife Federation had this to say:

"An estimated 1,000 orangutans may have been imported into Taiwan for the pet trade between 1985 and 1990. It is thought that for each orangutan reaching Taiwan, as many as three to five additional animals die in the process."

One blogger even suggest that their may have been more orangutans in Taiwan than in Malaysia, their native land, at one point!

Just how many more recluse orangutans are out there anyhow?

I think the whole story is indicative of Taiwanese attitudes towards pets. Tastes can go to the exotic. And there is also the later neglect aspect.

I have seen people with wild boars in cages outside their homes. In fact, I saw one not one block away from the Presidential Palace in Taipei chained up in front off the sidewalk of a sports store by its owner. When I asked, they said they had raised it from when it was a piglet.

blog entry about boar

There have been a few stories recently about overweight or aggressive pigs as well roaming the streets and causing trouble.

taipei times

china post

Apparently "Pet trends come and go in Taiwan" according to doses of Hollywood or otherwise. No one would doubt the Taiwanese fascination with Huskies although they are ill-suited for Taiwan's hot weather. However, there are other examples...

taipei times

Anyone have any other strange stories of Taiwanese house pets?

Looking for a bare bones gym?

Don't need any extras like towels, pool, soap etc? JJ Sports may just be the thing for you.

Admittedly I have been looking for a new gym since the demise of Alexander. I realized too that I can get a decent workout in about an hour. Their rates are very decent:

$50/hr (you get a receipt stamped with the time)
No membership fee or registration

$1500/month
$3500/season (3 months)
Membership card

If you use the pool, their are different fees.

I, however, never really used Alexander's pool anyway, mainly due to the ridiculous bathing cap rule. If you didn't know already, all people must wear bathing caps in Taiwan pools, even outside. Besides I prefer swimming in the ocean to the chlorine of the pool (although by Taiwanese hygiene standards, I can't guarantee all pools or hot tubs have the right pool chlorine level, if any).

The gym is large and well lit with a high ceiling. It's not busy during the daytime either. All the Alexander machines were accounted for. There are also free weights. There's a large area with mats. All people using the gym need a towel to wipe down the machines before entering. If you forget, towels can be rented for $10 with a deposit (leave your ID card) at the door.

From the gym there's a great view on one side of the CKS Memorial Hall.

Other parts of the building house the pool and courts I believe. There are flyers that detail the various classes offered at the center as well. I wasn't really interested in those either since they never seem to fit my schedule.

There's a Seattle coffee store on the first floor with food as well. Free scooter parking in the underground parking (!) and outside the front door.

It's a BOT (Build Operate Transfer) company sports center run for Taipei City.

Well worth the price and convenient with the options.

JJ Sports
ZhongZhen Sports (across from CKS Memorial Hall)



View Larger Map

Pain at the pump

Here we are. Fill 'em up and read it and weep.

I filled the tank on the scooter the other day. It was almost running on fumes. The cost $220!

This is truly amazing considering I used to fill up for a mere $80. Imagine what it costs to fill up a car.

Hopefully the Taiwanese, especially in big cities, will give up their love affair with their cars. There are far too many SUVs, jeeps, land rovers and vans in the city.

As for me, $220 is still affordable considering the convenience that a scooter offers. I don't feel so bad considering it is also fairly fuel efficient for the cost. I only have to fill up maybe every 2 weeks.

The logo is that of the China Petroleum Corporation. It's actually a decent logo. What's neat about it is that it incorporates the Chinese characters for the company inside the picture at the base of the torch. For a variation of the logo, go to my web pal's site, The Real Taiwan.

Water sports anyone?

Two stories about being around or in the water and this all within days of Matsu's birthday.

One is funny, both are serious.

A fisherman gets his balls zapped by lightning:

Taitung angler's genitals struck by lightning
"Doctors said that Chen had some 20 percent of his body burnt, and remained conscious, adding that they would conduct further examinations to see if Chen's sex ability is undermined or not.

Weathermen said that as the thunderstorm would linger in Taitung area, people had better not expose themselves to the open space."

angler

The second story is about a scuba diving crew that got separated from their boat. After being reported missing searchers went looking for them. After not being found, one of the divers actually swam back to the Taiwan mainland:

All divers saved after 40 hours
" 'My thirst kept me going,' said Ting, who was finally able to reach shore on his own power at 10:30 p.m. Sunday night. A diving trainer, Ting was being washed north by the Kuroshio, or the Japan Current, from Seven Stars Rock, some 20 miles south of Oluanpi, for 36 hours before he came close to Tamali, near Taitung on the other side of southern Taiwan."

scuba

Matsu seems to be watching out for poor Taiwan souls...

The Mounted Police of Taipei County

Saw these guys in Yingko a while back and caught them there again this weekend.

Very striking, very interesting, totally copied from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, right down to the red uniforms and hats (the sunglasses are a nice touch dude and let's not forget how nice it is to see a policewoman in uniform and in the saddle!)

From there being little or nothing about this new type of policeman in the news and on the web, there is a lot of chatter now. (I posted a comment here way, way back asking if anyone had any info about them. You can see them in the picture walking around Taipei Harbor.)

China Post
Taipei Times
Taiwan Review

"There are presently 40 male officers and 12 females on the mounted police team.

Their daily patrol territories cover the more populous districts in the county, extending from Danshui Fishermen's Wharf, to Yinge township that is noted for ceramic art works, museums, and other tourist spots.

Mounted police have the advantage of patrolling terrain districts that are difficult for the police vehicles to comb."

Other cities are getting in on the bandwagon: "To promote tourism, the Kaohsiung County Government has recently organized a mounted police team."

Here is one worrisome thing: "Captain Huang Hsin-wei of the mounted police team said it is rather safe for people if they avoid standing behind the horses."

Some people were actually doing just that and I told my wife than if one odd-ball (note the guy standing behind in the first picture) wasn't careful, he or she might get booted by the hind legs.

How do you spell lawsuit? Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

And what will this all bring? Well more tourists for sure. It may just fuel a new horse riding trend in Taiwan. Hell, we might even see a musical ride soon!

Here are some more pics of the police from my Picasa dating back to April of 2006:
picasa1
picasa2
picasa3

Some riders on the beach in DanShui at sunset:
picasa4

Banana Peel Flowers

This flower looks innocuous but it is a menace.

In Taipei it falls on the sidewalks here in Taipei, especially on Fushing South Road. It grows high on the trees that line the sidewalks.

And why the fuss? Well, they're as slippery as banana peels if you step on one and you can wipe out if you're not careful.

Seems like a strange kind of flower for the city to have growing near sidewalks.

They're called 木棉花 or bombax ceiba or commonly 'tree cotton' or 'cotton tree'.

According to the Wikipedia: "The cotton in the husks were used a substitute of cotton. Its flower was a common ingredient in Chinese herbal tea." wiki

I'm going to call it 'banana peel flower tree'.

Cheese problems at Subway

I just encountered the food shortage problem at Subway today.

I noticed that when they made a large sub, they used to put 4 slices of cheese on. Lately they have only been putting 2. I thought this might just be the location that I went to. However, my friend also had the same experience at another location.

So today I asked what was going on. The girl there told me that their cheese came from Australia and that, because of drought, the cows weren't producing as much milk as usual. Also they pointed me to a fax that was posted. It said that the cheese problem was due to crops being shifted to ethanol production. With ethanol being so hot, more crops like corn are being planted to meet the demand and that means other land is being taken out of use for solely food production, for growing vegetables and fruit and raising animals.

I'm not sure what the clear connection is but the food shortage problem is in line with what has been happening in other parts of the world.

Oil prices have reached $117 a barrel. Egypt is trying to stem riots over the price of flour for breads and pasta. Vegetables in Taiwan are getting more and more expensive (this also happens after floods and typhoons because of crop damage). Even vegetable oil, a main staple of Chinese cooking,is creeping up. Things everyone took for granted are being affected.

If conversion to ethanol is really the problem then here is the crux of the environmental movements problem. Drastic changes like this have destabilizing effects as investors gauge the new value of the crops for fuel. And besides, is ethanol really a decent solution or even a stop-gap measure?

Oil and electricity prices have been capped until May 20. What happens after that is anyone's guess. Suddenly, that fourth nuclear reactor for Taiwan doesn't seem like such a bad idea. I wonder if the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) folks will soften under such energy need pressures. Would you rather have coal or prohibitively expensive and sometimes impractical alternative energy (wind, solar, hydro) which amount to just a trickle of what the country needs?

There are some difficult decisions to be made. For now, I decide to let those two extra slices of cheese go and pay the same price so I guess I'm doing my part.

Taipei Tourism... Second Take?

Of highlight on this TOUR.I.SM MAP (Is this an S&M plug?):

Memorial Hall of Father of China
Fashion World
GOSO (SOGO???)
Former Highest Building (101 but not very flattering)
WC (Yes, public washrooms are an attraction!)
Motel's Love (No idea what this means... heh heh!)

Check out the third pic. Is it a bird? Is it a spoon? Is it a tower? No, it's a bird!

(click on any of the pics for a larger view!)

Ok, ok, I guess by now you might have read the Chinese explanation below. Although this might just be a exhibition of artwork, it still is amusing, especially since it's displayed in a very public area behind the Natural History Museum.

Either it's a comment about what Taipei tourism is like in reality or it's a collection of the creators personal favorites.

Either way, it makes us think.

This is why we teach...

This has been the source of laughter around the office...

... found in Taipei Times no less.

(click on images for larger view)

Focusing on Taipei Tourism

I found these posters behind the Museum of History beside the Horticultural Gardens.

Created by Japanese Nobuo Takamori for The Institute of Chinese Taipei's Tourism, they obviously focus on what attracts Japanese tourists.

The highlights?
The Amazing Snake Killing Show (HuaXi Street)
The Fat Bamboo (Taipei 101)
The Best School (???)
The Statue of Dictator in the Best School (???)
The Former Erotic Taipei
The Erotic Taipei

The last two speak for themselves.

(Click on the pictures for a larger view. Sorry for the glare from the glass.)

Frankie's Pies and More

Here's a little plug for a friend of mine. He runs a pie shop (not fruit pies though...).

I can vouch for the food. It's decent, authentic and tasty.

We wish him well in his business venture!

Frankie's Pies and More
Open 7 days a week 11:00 to 23:00.

How to get there:
Go to Tinghsi MRT Station (Yellow Line) Exit 2. Turn left, at traffic lights turn left again. You are now in Wen Hua Rd.

Address:
Yong He City, Wen Hua Rd, #31
Google Maps link

On the menu:
Pies:
Pepper steak $95
Vegetables and Cheese $80 (completely vegetarian, no egg)
Chicken and Cheese $85
Chicken Curry $85
Chicken and Mushroom $80
Italian Steak $95

Burgers:
Hamburger $80 (Homemade pork patty)
Chicken burger cheese $80
Burger Chicken Ole $80

Quiche $60/slice ( New flavors daily)

Salads big $60 Small $40

Chips $35 (Frankie's own special flavoring)

Deep Fried Chicken, Salad, thai sauce $90

A message from Frank:
This is just to give you an idea of what we are doing at the moment. We have sets available and much more is coming.

Hope to see you soon.

Frank Thiart

Thank you so much for your support.

Contact info:

Email:	frankiespie@gmail.com
Office:	02-29263535

Facebook link:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19188971223&ref=nf

McDonalds will do anything...

... to get the S.H.E. girls into tight fitting red leather... for promotional reasons of course.

Come to think of it, I know a few people who would also (well at least the two on the right).

On subtitles and dubbing

Subtitles happen to be very accepted in Taiwan as a way to bridge the gap between Mandarin, Taiwanese and Hakka speakers. This is not to mention helping people understand the Cantonese spoken in HK movies, as well or the myriad of English, Japanese and Korean shows and movies.

They also have the added benefit of allowing people to watch TV with the volume off. To see this, watch the people looking at silent TVs through windows or in noisy public places where you wouldn't be able to hear due to the background volume anyway. Gyms are a good case in point. With all the whirring and thumping machines, TVs for exercisers to watch attached to their machines have the sound turned off. Though I wish I could read the characters fast enough!

This being said, there are also the occasionally dubbed shows. One of the most hilarious, from a Western point of view, is a Taiwanese soap opera I saw with a Korean star. She acts in Korean and has her part dubbed while all the other stars speak Mandarin! Why you may ask? Because she has star power and the pretty face, in this case, goes farther than the words. I won't say anything about the quality of the acting...

I can speak for many English speakers when I say that we, by and large, get turned off by foreign language films with subtitles. And the English language movie producers and distributors have noticed. Many a foreign film have been remade in Hollywood English for that very reason (Femme Nikita, The Ring, etc...).

Speaking of subtitles, if you want a good laugh, the clips that I include in this article are a classic. The link below is to Revenge of the Sith subtitles from a Chinese pirated CD which feature "a direct english translation of the chinese interpretation of what the script was saying", that is, translated from English (no subtitles) into Chinese and then translated from that Chinese back into English (with English subtitles as if we need them!).

http://winterson.com/2005/06/episode-iii-backstroke-of-west.html

Strangely, I am captivated by these subtitles.

Taiwan is (still) Yahoo country

PC World writes that Yahoo has been 'dethroned' in Taiwan as top portal. Well... sort of...

Taiwan has been one of Yahoo's gems for at least seven years. The reasons are that Yahoo initially combined with local portal Kimo here and quickly built up its Chinese services. Google on the other hand has been slow to do this but may be catching up.

This makes me think of Facebook as well as, although popular for expats living here, it is out of touch with locals need to have a Chinese version (BTW, Facebook noticed that I had Mandarin written in my profile and sent me a message to help translate their features so I assume that a Chinese version is in the works).

Yahoo's portal provides Taiwanese with such popular things as (duh!) searching but also translation and dictionary tools, shopping and the auction sections (which beat Ebay in Taiwan as well). I guess it pays to be first in line with Chinese services since locals are not too keen on learning the English interfaces, which became all too apparent when I tried to introduce my brother-in-law to Google's wide array of services in Beta that have not been translated to Chinese. He scratched his head and proclaimed it too hard to understand (although he'll gladly buy and read a Chinese magazine that will walk him through his Japanese language menus and dialog in his PS2 and Wii games!!!)

I guess people get turned off the English instructions and menus in much the same way as Americans dislike foreign language films with subtitles unless it is unavoidable or there is some kind of overriding incentive to it all (read 'be the first to know and use the knowledge').

According to the article, Yahoo has been unseated by Wretch. Not much of a victory though since Yahoo had the foresight to purchase Wretch last year. What's interesting is that it is still at a .cc address which I have written about here:

internet domains

Interestingly:
"In video posting sites, Taiwan's I'm TV beat out YouTube for the top spot in Taiwan."
Maybe I shouldn't be suprised. Once again, it needs to be translated into Chinese in order to get locals' attention in a big way.

Talking purely about search engines, the article had this to say:
"The U.S. version of Google ranked first among search engines, and 14th overall, while Google Taiwan came in second."

Look out Yahoo. Guess who's aiming for #1.

pc world article

Treaure Hill is a mess

I went to see what Treasure Hill was all about. Treasure Hill is the squatters' village that runs down the other side of the hill at the edge of the GongGuan water filtration plant (if you don't get it, see my Picasa page below that is tied into Google Maps).

I have to say that it was a little disappointing as it is under construction. Large areas have been blocked off . I managed to get into the construction area and take a walk up one of the lanes. It seems a lot of the houses have been vacated and have been gutted and/or some torn down.

Villagers are living in temporary green barrack type buildings while the renovation and rejuvenations are going on. I asked one woman there and she told me the time frame may be as long as 2 years before completion.

Once complete it will be nice as there is a great view of the river and a little creek runs nearby. The village also has a pleasant Buddhist temple. It also seems that there will be a way for villagers and passersby to ride or walk onto the riverside bike path as well.

I've posted some pics of what it looks like now here:
picasa

Printed T's are all the rage this season!

And that means one thing: nonsensical English!

Here's a typical sampling of what I have seen so far:

a) A guy standing in the subway with a baseball jacket on. Written on the back in huge letters was "DORK".

b) At Giordano, a silver t-shirt with a telephone design. Written underneath was the dark message "Suicide Hotline. Please Hold the Line." (click on the t-shirt stand pic for a larger view and you can see the telephone shirt on the far right)

c) At Baleno, a green men's t-shirt emblazoned with "These are Real! The t-shirt is fake."

Boy! I think we're going to have a field day this spring!
Have fun shopping!

Various GongGuan Art and Grafitti

U2 (3D) is coming...

Details are sketchy but it looks like Taiwan will get U23D very soon.

This is a 3D movie of one of their concerts made by National Geographic in South America.
http://www.u23dmovie.com/
wiki

UPDATE: I just went to Living Mall today to buy tickets. It's a 3 day event, 4/11 to 4/13 so don't miss it. If you buy two tickets for $640 they'll throw in a U2 3D mug as well.

Here is a link to the times:
cinemark

Lonely Planet's history of Taiwan

Well I've received an overwhelming response to my first really political blog entry. I thank all the contributors.

I just want to make a few remarks. First, about the suggestion that some real scientific polling ought to be done rather than just going on my informal poll. Great idea! However, easier said than done. Anyone willing to try it? I thought so.

My informal Blogger poll is definitely to be taken with a grain of salt. I can't say with any certainty that this is only a judge of 'foreign' sentiment as some of my readers are Taiwanese and, of course, are very welcome and interesting contributors.

Besides, I think a real poll would have to be ran very careful in order to determine if the voters were Taiwanese living in Taiwan, Taiwanese living abroad or everyone else (or maybe there are some other groups that might be considered). Just who comprises a foreigner would also have to be determined. So that would rule out the first category. Essentially, it would require some real thinking out in order to be authoritative in any way.

(BTW, I have read a lot about polling done in Taiwan to judge Taiwanese positions in the papers. However, I have yet to receive a call asking to do a survey. None of my colleagues or local friends, upon asking them about being polled, responded that they have participated in such polls. So it makes me wonder if anyone has had the experience and who does the polls and how they are administered. If anyone knows, please share the experience with us here!)

As my original post was primarily centered on the 'everyone else' I have also started to wonder about another source of default foreigner sympathy towards the Greens: the Lonely Planet. I recall reading Robert Storey's Lonely Planet Taiwan as a newbie to Taiwan. As anyone who has a copy of a Lonely Planet knows, there is always a historical backgrounder in the guide. It is probably the first time a lot of people get acquainted with Taiwan's culture and history.

I also recall being left with a strong sense that the KMT were a bunch of baddies and it definitely colored my view of them. Subsequent reading of Sterling Seagrave also left me with this impression. This, however, is in strong contrast a great number of people in Taiwan who lived through these times and who may largely have put history behind them (I am by no means am saying that these people are, however, in the majority).

I don't deny a lot of the past KMT wrong doing but I do know this: political parties can and do change. Witness the flip flop of the then slavery supporting Democrat party with President Lincoln's Republicans in the late 1800s to the Democrats and Republicans of today. This change was accomplished well within 100 years. By today's standards the 1800 Democrats might seem extremely repulsive to a lot of voters. Today, however, that backwards party has long been forgotten and has been replaced by a new political animal. The KMT may just have reinvented itself as well.