Taitung, Chenggong, Hualien - 台東 成功 花蓮市

Man it was good to get outta the rat race of Taipei! Even though this weekend I'll be back in the boondocks working again among the trees of the Zurcas orchards in rural Victoria, I wanted to head down Taiwan's rugged and relatively sparsely populated east coast. I took a train from Taipei Main Station, following the coastline down to Hualien then heading inland passing through the Eastern Rift Valley, a land of tropical fruit orchards and rice fields. Stunning scenery. I arrived in Taitung (pronounced Taidong) to discover that the hostel I was planning to stay at had shut down, so after wandering about for a while I checked into a cheap but clean and friendly hotel for three days. Taitung is a very laid back coastal town, the beach is clean but rips make it unsafe for swimming. There is an airforce base just out of town and military jets often fly low and slow over the town on their approach to the runway. I spent alot of time on the beach and in a coastal forest park with shady paths, birdwatching huts, a butterfly reserve and rowing lake. One evening around dusk while sitting close to the surf upon one of the many great ugly concrete wave breakers placed here and there along the foreshore I saw a waterspout for the first time. A great tornado of black cloud perhaps a kilometre offshore lifting water from the oceans surface. Wow. Leaving Taitung suitably relaxed and less pale skinned than when I arrived I caught a local bus up to the fishing port of Chenggong, the town itself is nothing special but the port with it's large and small fishing boats coming and going was a fine sight. The harbour itself is protected by large concrete walls in the ocean - neccesary protection from the frequent summer typhoons. I was lucky to be there for the auctioning of the days catch. I saw swordfish, yellowfin tuna, barracutta, and perhaps two dozen other sorts of fish which I have no idea the names of, black, blue, silver, orange and even a few stripey ones. It was a real treat. Saw some hard as nails fisher men and women too, harder than nails I reckon. Even the women chew betelnut in these parts. They didn't pay much attention to me though, they were just busy getting on with their tasks. I saw a couple of really cheap looking hotels in Chenggong, but they didn't look too inviting so I continued up the coast by bus to Hualien, the largest city on the east coast. I had the large comfortable bus to myself for half the journey, and was joined by another passenger who bummed a Yuan(NT$) from me for the rest. Oh, there were a dozen or so aboriginal junior high school students who got on at one small town and who got off at various spots in the next, the whole time engaging in lively banter with the driver. The east coast is home to many of Taiwan's aboriginals of which there are nine tribes. There is evidence that suggests they are related to New Zealand Maori. They certainly look the same. The coastal road offers some stunning scenery, and traffic during weekdays is sparse, it reminds me of parts of New Zealand's South Island west coast. Spent a night in a hotel in Hualien, where I visited last year, enjoyed it just as much as last time. Perhaps if and when I return to continue my Chinese studies it could be at the university there...... Taipei's charms seem to have worn off for me. At about eleven thirty I recieved a call to my hotel room asking if I needed a massage. What service! The whole time I was away I spoke nothing but Chinese, which was hugely satisfying. I'm now back in Taipei for my last few days in Taiwan - on friday night I catch a plane to Melbourne, Australia......

Latest bid for Taiwan's United Nations participation rejected

The United Nations subcommittee has again ruled it would not let the General Assembly consider Taiwan's request for permission to join U.N. activities. The subcommittee meets before the actual general assembly gathers, and decides what will be discussed. While 160 other items were listed for discussion, the communist dictatorship in China objected to any discussion of the Taiwan issue. It's another blow for Taiwan and it's the 15th year running that it's annual applications to join the UN have failed. This year the application was not even to gain membership, but merely to have meaningful participation in UN agencies, such as the World Health Organisation and UNICEF. While these agencies do some wonderful work, the general assembly itself is a joke. As long as the five permanent members of the security council have veto power, those five countries have ALL the power. And whatever highly contentious issue is up for discussion, you can bet that either China, the United States or Russia will use their veto based on their own selfish interests. The running dog Ban Ki-Moon has also made a number of very unhelpul comments regarding Taiwan in the past two years, and seems to be quite willing to kowtow to China's imperialist wishes. On july 27 2007 he said "the position of the United Nations is that Taiwan is part of China." and "The position of the United Nations is that the People's Republic of China represents the whole of China as the sole and legitimate representative government of China,"

Back in Taiwan

Yes I am back for another blast of megolopis madness, and it only took five minutes for a couple of things to remind me where I was. Firstly, going through customs in Taipei was as effortless as it possibly could be, with nobody in the airport uttering a single word to me. While waiting to collect by bag I was reminded of the Taiwanese peoples love for expensive branded accessories, new hights being reached with one dapper fellow sporting a Louis Vuitton bum bag (that is to say fanny pack)! The bus which delivered me into the guts of the city was sporting a huge effigy of Hello Kitty, I should have known it wouldn't take long for her to track me down. I have been fortunate in finding some agreeable accommodation, living in Qilian area with a couple of Taiwanese people. This was after looking at a couple of real dives, one "studio" apartment which was completely windowless (and NT$9000 per month, extra for aircon use)! Today I began my Chinese language classes. My classmates are a mixed bag as usual, with three Indonesian Chinese, 2 French Chinese, a Belizian and a Mongolian.

Taiwanese Moon Festival Barbeque

Here's a shot of Alice and Killer, enjoying the traditional Taiwanese moon festival barbeque at Orange Cafe in Shilin District...........................

Taiwan's Bid For UN Membership Fails

Well it's been a blow for Taiwan this morning, it's bid for membership of the United Nations was rejected by the general committee, so it will not be put up for discussion by the general assembly. Predictably, the application was blocked by China, as well as Egypt. It didn't bode well when a couple of days ago Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said that the UN's position on Taiwan hasn't changed since 1971 therefore the bid was legally bound to fail.
It's very disapointing and another example of the world submitting to the demands China.

Taiwan's Bid For United Nations Membership

Today Taiwan's bid for UN membership comes up for discussion at the UN general comittee, which will decide whether or not it will be put before the general assembly. Why is Taiwan not in the UN (or a member of the World Health Organisation, WHO)? At the end of the Chinese civil war Mao's communists took over all of mainland China and Chiang Kai Shek's nationalists were left with only Taiwan and a few small islands. However, the Nationalist government retained the China seat at the UN under it's official name of "Republic of China", while Mao's "Peoples Republic of China" had no representation. This changed in 1971 when the UN gave the People Republic the China seat and expelled the Republic of China aka Taiwan. For the past fifteen years Taiwan has annually applied for membership under the name "Republic of China" and has been denied entry, mainly because nobody wants to upset mainland China, also many countries have a "one China" policy, and because China has a seat on the security council so can veto it anyway. This year is different, Taiwan is applying under the name "Taiwan" for the first time. It fulfils all the requirements needed to be considered a nation state. There is absolutely no reason for Taiwan not to be granted membership of the UN. Apart from geopolitics and Chinese pressure. The bid is bound to fail as China is sure to veto it if it even gets as far as the security council. China has also in the past few days increased it's vitriolic rhetoric threatening Taiwan with military action if it makes any move to formal independence. China still regards Taiwan as part of it's sovereign territory and repeatedly threatens to take Taiwan by force if Taiwan moves toward formal independence. Hopefully the bid will make it as far as the general assembly so as to gain some wider exposure. Taiwan is a nation of some 23 million people, but UN reports, figures, statistics do not include any information or data regarding Taiwan. It is a ridiculous stuation supported by Western governments afraid of upsetting an increasingly powerful China.

Earthquake

Last night at around 1:51am there was an earthquake measuring 6.6 off the coast of Taiwan. A 5.7 quake followed four minutes later. Taiwan has quite a lot of earthquakes, and I've experienced a few, when I've been in bed they've been the:
roll over and go back to sleep variety,
lie there with your eyes open wondering when it will stop variety, or
sit up with you heart beating wondering if will get stronger or just fade away variety.
Last night was a new kind, it was the wake up and "things shaking and rattling, no I'm not on the metro I'm in bed - leap out of bed in a flash put on your clothes in a flash realise you're on the eigth floor go stand under a doorway try and keep your beating heart inside your chest" variety.
It lasted for about 30 seconds and took a while to get back to sleep afterwards.
A three quarter length mirror in the bathroom fell over, luckely it landed on a bathmat and did't smash.

At the supermarket part one

One think I like about the street market near my place is I don't see stuff like this, a single apple on a polystyrene tray. The Taiwanese love packaging, so much of it wasteful and unnessesary. A packet of biscuits might have each biscuit individually wrapped, a packet of lollies almost certainly would. Eggs individually wrapped in plastic. About three years ago the government passed a law banning the use of plastic bags at restaraunts and food stands. Everybody ignored the law and the government had no way to effectively enforce it, so they repealed the law! To be fair they are making efforts, supermarkets charge for plastic bags at the checkout, things are improving, but they still have a very long ay to go. Eating out is common, and daily produces mountains of paper trays, plastic cups, disposable chopsticks, and plastic bags. There is so much rubbish that rubbish trucks drive up almost every street every day, somtimes twice a day, playing music that to a westerner would likely mean that the ice cream van was here!

A new abode

After staying at Chicago Stu's place for a couple of weeks, and starting to stress about where I was going to live, I finally moved into a new place last night. It's what's known as a "rooftop" apartment, small and on the rooftop(!) It's on the 8th floor, I can catch the elevator to the 7th then climb stairs to the 8th. I'm actually only renting one of the two rooms, but the other room is empty so for the time being I have the whole place to myself. Well, myself and the shrine to my landlords parents and to the gods, which he comes up to every morning to pay respects(he lives on the 7th floor). I have good view of the city, especially of Taipei 101, the worlds tallest building (until one in Dubai is finished next year). The apartment is in YongHe city, across the river from Taipei, so technically it's in Taipei County not Taipei city, and only 2 metro stops from my school (I start Chinese classes next week). Is a really old part of town, more laid back the Taipei proper, lots of old style markets and restaraunts, and narrow winding alleys to explore. Old apartment buildings with old ladies sitting at the door, old shops selling dried mushrooms and powders and chinese medicine. There is a morning market on my street which operates every day, you can get just about everything you need. Today I bought some chillies and garlic, the vendor asked me if I was american, then if I was Canadian, I'm used to that now. He also gave me some help with my pronunciation. They seem like a friendly bunch around here. At this market there are people selling clothes next to vegetables next to a pork seller chopping up a pig with a cleaver, chop chop chop, intestines and stomach and other offal hanging on hooks, people and flies and dogs looking on with interest, next to a vendor selling high mountain peaches, next to a stall selling fresh fish and squid and shellfish next to a noodle seller next to a bra seller next to a kill while you watch chicken seller, next to a dried mushroom seller, and it goes on. There is a lot of noise and bustle, but come the afternoon and evening it reverts to a quiet little back street.

So, this is my new neighborhood.

Typhoon Sepat

Taiwan is on high alert for super typhoon Sepat, the strongest typhoon of the year, which will make a direct hit on Taiwan tonight. It's already quite windy, and there are squally thundery torrential downpours. The island has recently been hit by a couple of tropical storms so the soil is already saturated and major flooding and lanslides are predicted.

Beitou Hot Spring area, Hell Valley

My mate Chicago Stu is in Thailand for a couple of weeks and I'm doing a bit of housesitting for him. He lives in a part of Taipei famed for it's natural hot springs, Beitou. In fact his hot water supply in the bathroom is natural hotspring water known for it's health giving properties. It's strong sulphurous stuff, apparently with a pH of 1.2 - 1.6, which sounds quite acidic to me. It is definately quite corrosive, the taps and metal fittings in the bathroom are all black and severely corroded, and any shiny new coins you might happen to leave on a table will be black or have turned some funky other colours within a couple of days. There are many Hot Spring hotels and public bath houses in the area, as well as a small steaming kind of lake where the water comes out from the bowels of the earth, an aptly named area called "Hell Valley". Occasionally some drunk decides to jump in for a swim, but as the water is over 90 degrees celsius this proves to be a fatal error.

Back In Taiwan

Well it's been bye bye to Olomouc for Mr Quinky and hello to Taipei for Hello Xu Xu. What a contrast! It's like being teleported to a different galaxy. Taiwan is a most interesting place, evoking strong emotions daily, some pleasant, some not. Here are a few little tidbits regarding the island sometimes known as Formosa, or to the Chinese as "the renagade province that will oneday be returned to the motherland":
It's very crowded, Taiwans population density is second only to Bangladesh.
There are more scooters per capita here than any other country, that is to say there are 23 million people, and more than 10 million registered scooters, so it's something that strikes you at once. There are also alot of cars, the favoured colours being black and silver.
Taiwan has the highest per capita consumption of cement. They like using concrete to make stuff.
The fruit here is fantastic, a trip to a fruitshop yeilds seasonal wonders at a very affordable price.
The vegetables here aren't so many and varied, they consist mostly of green shoots and leaves, oh, and corn (anyone for Taiwanese pizza?)
There are the largest number of 7-Eleven convenience stores per capita in the world. They are everywhere, and are wonderfully convenient, you can buy food, beer, wine, photocopy items, pay your bills, enjoy a bit of air conditioning, and lots of other convenient stuff.....