Taichung's Art Museum

Some foreign teacher's visited Taichung and we went to the Art Museum. These are the grounds around the museum. The museum has some very interesting and compelling art. It also has some art that you think, "Uh, really?" An arch of bath tubs gets this kind of response from me. Uh, really...it looks like displays I used to build at Home Depot. Oh well, I guess art is in the eye of the beholder or something like that.

Sun-Moon Lake

These are pictures from the very beautiful and famous Sun-Moon Lake. The waters are very clear and have a strong bluish color. It is a large lake surrounded by mountains and popular with locals and tourists.

This is a view from a footpath along the eastern side of the lake.
A small harbor with some expensive resorts.

These are floating flower beds. We took a ride on one the boats at this harbor and went to a small town on the other side of the lake.
A picture of the resorts by the harbor.
These are some Taiwanese aboriginals in traditional clothing and taking a break from singing.

North Hehuan Peak and Taroko National Park

This is the campground where we stayed in Chingling Farm. They had wooden tent pads and the canvas tents for rent. Notice the European style architecture of the hotel on the hill. Most the spas and hotels were designed to look like resorts from the Alps. The teacher told me that many of them were built illegally. The terrain is too steep for building permits but I guess they build anyway. I assume insurance won't touch those illegal structures or would have an 'out' if a serious claim were filed. In any case, the town is very charming. There are Christmas trees and lights that I'm told are up throughout the year. They even had a Starbuck's in the little town.





Here are some small cabins you can rent at the campground too.
This is Mount Hehuan East on the way to the pass and our hike.
Here's a view of the road we came up and Chingling Farm (our campground) in the distance.




This is alpine bamboo. It grows very small at this altitude and blankets the mountain like grass.
This is the view looking toward the eastern coast. Those clouds slowly moved their way up the valleys toward us. It's a good idea to get an early start.
Those clouds are getting closer. And, that's alpine bamboo covering the mountain like grass.
That is the pass and the road we came over with Mount Hehuan East in the distance. The road is barely wide enough for one car in some places and driving gets interesting when the buses and trucks are coming down the mountain.

This is the view of the trail from the summit.
A happy hiker on the summit.

That pointy mountain on the right is next on the list.
This is teacher Chen and his family. They were my 'guides' on the trip.
On the way down the clouds were starting to kick up the sides of the mountains. It was a good time to be going down.
This a view from the campground with the late evening sun.

More Adventures In Cuisine And Nicknames

So, I had some lunch with a few teachers this week. There are several dishes on the lazy susan and we all help ourselves to the different foods. The soup with green onions and tofu came and I proceeded to serve myself. After some time one of the teacher's says, "This soup is very good for men."
Okay, I'll bite. "Why is that?"
He points to the 'tofu' and says, "Man part of the fish."
Fish penis...now I can put fish penis on my list of foods I've tried.

I have also learned that the students have a nickname for me. They call me 'the little train' as in Thomas the Tank Engine.

Fireworks and Driving Advertisements

Okay, knock it off already. I like fireworks as much as the next guy, but not at 7 in the morning on a Sunday and not right outside my apartment. It's 8 PM and they've been going going off sporadically for the past three hours. It's like this every weekend all over town. I guess people light them off for all kinds of reasons. They light them off for weddings, funerals, festivals, and just cause it's Taiwan. They also have cars that cruise the street blaring advertisements over loud speakers. It is a noisy place, that's for sure, and I live in a small city.

A New Bicycle

It was time to buy a new bicycle. I have been borrowing one from a teacher and after watching it blow down the street I realized I needed my own. Besides, the frame is a better fit and I had thin slick tires put on so it will roll faster on the road. It also has a bell that looks like a soccer ball. A good add-on for cycling in Taiwan, along with the headlight and rearlight. I may add a rack and take this around the island. I got a good deal on this Giant from the store next to my apartment. I teach the owner's son at the junior high. It put me back about $300 USD.

Mount Ma-Lun

These are some pictures from a hike I took with some teachers up to Mount Ma-Lun. The hike was 7 km long and climbed 3000 feet. In other words, it was a steep climb. It was in Taichung County near the hot springs resort town of Kukuan.






There are some old structures on the trail. Some are aboriginal and some are from the workers who built a railroad up here back in the 1940s.


The trail is overgrown but steep. At higher elevations it resembles trails I've hiked in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.


The remains of an old school for the kids of the railroad workers. The railroad went right past this location but I could not find any evidence of the rail bed.












This is a short video from the summit. Those clouds were flying just about my head. Sometimes, it's good to have your head in the clouds.

A Small Cultural Mistake and Politics

I made a small cultural mistake the other day. While drinking tea with some other teachers I made a comment about another teacher's shirt. His shirt had a guy riding a motorcycle and it read, "Young man so cool". I told him I liked his shirt...oops! I know better but I forget sometimes. The teacher is now obligated to give me his shirt. It was not a big deal, but another teacher did remind me of the social mores. Think of it this way. I am seen as a 'guest' and in Taiwanese culture the guest is treated with a high level of respect. When eating out, the guest eats first at the table and the guest eats last at the table. The guest gets their cup filled first. The guest gets the shirt off your back.

The conversation also turned to politics. I avoid politics as much as I can, but, let's face it, as social creatures we are political creatures. Basically, the Taiwanese teachers were complaining that the government was too much talk and too little action. I explained that the U.S. is the same way, but this is the way of democracy where various parties have a voice. It is hard to have agreement on action, thus it is hard to get things done. A teacher said, "But, we watch MLB and when they play your anthem everybody sings. It is not like this in Taiwan."
"Yes," I say, "we may not agree, but we are all very proud of our country."

Earthquake

A 5.7 earthquake just shook Taiwan about three hours ago. There are no reports of damage or injuries. An after shock just hit about an hour ago. It was centered about 40 miles from where I live. The first quake hit while I was in school. The second while I was watching TV at home. My adrenaline is in overdrive. I felt my first earthquake in the middle of the night just after moving into my apartment in Wuci. And I wonder why I have trouble sleeping sometimes. An earthquake is a very unnerving experience, and now there is somebody in my neighborhood lighting off fireworks. They're lighting off the big boomers and the 'maching-gun' style crackers. Yeah, like that is just what I need to relax the nerves. They finished round four about 10 minutes ago, but I think they're done for the night. They usually stop before 10 PM.

Typhoon Without The Rain

I've been warned about the windy winters in Wuci. Well, now I know what everyone has been talking about. Sure, I've noticed that it's a windy city. It's a coastal city, but today was some of the strongest winds I've ever felt. The weather for Taichung says 39 kph winds (about 20 mph), but Taichung is 30 km inland and there is a mountain between it and the coast. Wuci is a port town so there is no protection from the wind. Anyway, I've felt 50-60 mph gusts in Colorado in January in the mountains. I think the winds in Wuci are approaching 75 mph or hurricane winds. On my way to the bank, on the north side of town where there is no protection from buildings, I had to get off my bike. As I stood there waiting for the wind to subside (and trying not to get blown over) a woman got blown off her scooter next to me. I laid my bike on the ground to help her get out from under her scooter. As I was lifting up the scooter, my bicycle was getting blown down the street. Luckily, another man stopped and got out of his car to help so I could chase my bicycle blowing down the street. Small trees along the road were getting uprooted too. What I find interesting about all of this is that the Taiwanese are so cautious about typhoons, but apparently typhoon strength winds when it is sunny is no big deal. It is very curious indeed.

A Taiwanese Wedding

I was invited to a Taiwanese wedding reception. Like many things in Taiwan, it is familiar but different. In the United States, the wedding schedule goes ceremony, reception, honeymoon. In Taiwan, the wedding schedule is reception, honeymoon, ceremony. The reception is how you would imagine. There is lots of food, drinking, and music. The bride and groom are announced and walk the reception tent getting pelted with that spray string stuff and confetti. Infact, they make three walks; first in their ceremony clothes (suit and wedding gown) and then two more times where the bride dresses down into more casual dresses. And, just like the United States, after the reception the bride and groom race off to their honeymoon. They will have the official ceremony when they get back. I won't even try to speculate.


This is how shrimp is always served, head legs and all. They like 'em big too. Notice the small drinking cups too. That is because you will hear 'gambei' a lot and that means 'finish' or bottoms up. If someone your senior toasts you and says 'gambei' you need finish to save face. The older teachers like to mess with the younger teachers this way. I had a couple of old dudes with something to prove at my table. C'mon...bring it! Anyway, these are just a few of the foods we ate.


This is a soup with clams, garlic, duck, ginseng root, and shark fin tips. Shark fin tips are about the size of a fingernail and don't look anything like what you would expect. They looked like little jellyfish. Anyway, I guess it's expensive stuff since you don't get many shark fin tips per shark.

Here is the soup with the sushi platter.
Check out this short video. Yeah, it's alive! Even a few Taiwanese people were snapping photos of this dish. We did cook them on the hot plate before eating. They're some kind of oyster or clam. The rough translation I got for these was 'nine holes' because they have, of course, nine siphons along the edge. After digging the critter out you'll find a bright green sac of something underneath. A teacher at the table said, "Don't eat that." Yeah, some things you just know.

Halloween

This week I have been teaching Halloween vocabulary and a lesson called Let's Draw A Monster. Let's Draw A Monster is a great way to practice adjectives, body parts, and listening skills. I'll say something like, "Let's draw a monster with a big head, three small eyes, and a big nose." You can be as simple or detailed as the class will permit. I draw one too and then use it for review after we are done with the lesson. Most of the classes really enjoyed this lesson.

Some students came by my apartment on Saturday for Halloween. I wasn't too strict with the costume enforcement. Halloween is not as popular or well-known as Thanksgiving or Christmas, but it's probably number three. Besides, it was Saturday and many of the students had class (I know...it's no wonder that I've noticed a few middle schoolers with grey hair!). I am the Clone Trooper who look like he's on vacation.


One of the students brought me a dish full of fruit. The shirt was a gift from the school for their Sports Day celebration. I got one in grey too.