Riding a subway during 倒扁

This past Friday, on 9/15, I had the unfortunate chance to ride the subway at around 6:30PM. I got on at Taipei Main Station, which is busy to begin with, since it is a main transfer station. However, Friday happened to be the day that the 倒扁 activities extended beyond the usual Ketagalan Boulevard, to Taipei Main Station. This made it busy to the point of me almost unable to get off the escalator and being stuck in a sea of red fight-the-power people. The so far week-long demonstrations have clearly impacted public transportation in Taiwan; this was also shown by the city government announcing extended subway operation times and subway cars for 9/16. When I finally got on a train (waited for 3), the odor was so repulsive that I almost opted out for a cab. I didn't, cuz it would've been too much trouble to fight my way back out. The smell was like a concentrated mis of Taiwanese high-school guys plus homeless (if you live in TW, you know what I mean about the high-school guy smell). I assume that the l'odeur was due to the much-reported fact that the protestors have not had the luxury of bathing while on-site at Ketagalan Boulevard (Notable: Some love-motels have offered up free busing and showering to protestors - they've advertised this with hot lady-folk holding signage).
9/19 update regarding the Taipei Main Station rallies: "Minister slams Ma's handling of station rally"

That reminds me, that all meals for protestors are provided for through donations or funding by the 倒扁 organizers. I saw through the media that much of this is going to waste, as greedy people are taking more than they can consume (and, there is so much food going around). Unfortunately, this food could be better put to use in feeding the homeless people in the country. That also reminds me that how many 100's of 1000's (theoretically 1Mln, but some gave over 100NTD) of Taiwanese donated >=100NTD to the 倒扁 fund (totalling 100Mln. NTD at end of August); couldn't this have gone to the poor, or to be injected into the economy that everyone is displeased with? Those that have opted to ditch work for the week to protest have also played their part in disrupting the economy. I don't think any figures have been released, but if 150,000 (assume 1/2 of 300,000) people decide not to go to work for a week, there should be an impact on the economy. Next week, the festivities will continue, and rumor has it that some Banks may join in by striking. That would really be a great boost to the economy.

Political fervor in Taiwan and 倒扁

Disclaimer: Ok, so let me first admit that I haven't been in Taiwan long enough to have a strong grasp of the political situation.
That said, I've been seeing some things in the past few months that have been disturbing, and I'd like to share them (whether right or wrong). As you probably know, the President of Taiwan, 陳水扁 (Chen Shui Bian) has been under attack this year for several alleged criminal actions that his son-in-law, wife, and himself may or may not have taken. What this has transpired into is a country which has rallied behind Shi Mengde (施明德) Taiwan's Nelson Mandela to force the President to step down (otherwise so eloquently put as "倒扁". As an outsider, I am a bit at a loss at why the people feel that they can pressure him to step down before any legal proceedings have finished. It is obvious that Taiwan is a democracy, as the few hundred thousand 倒扁 protestors are actually allocated public space to have a week-long sit in, in front of the Taiwanese White House. Why do these protestors not recognize that in a democracy, you are innocent until proven guilty? Just because you gather in numbers doesn't mean you can bully out the President.

And just what are the accusations so far? I believe these are the 10 official ones: Inability to govern, Constitutional violations, chaotic administration, the nation's poor economic performance, making improper use of personnel, allegations against his immediate family and aides, manipulating financial reform, insincerity and corruption in policy implementation, presiding over diplomatic setbacks, provoking ethnic conflict and escalating cross-strait tensions.
Specifically, a few that have been in the spotlight over and over:

• Son-in-law committed insider trading in a company whose stock jumped due to the President's policies {Like this doesn't happen in every administration of every country}
• Wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) who accepted a bunch of Sogo (a famous Japanese department store in Taiwan/Asia) gift certificates {Chen's already said that if found guilty he would step down. Come on, they're Gift Certificates!}
• Himself who had some inconsistencies in his expense reporting. Specifically, he supposedly took other people's receipts and used them to book his own. {Don't tell me you've never padded your expenses or used other receipts to make up for your own lost ones}

(Note that Chen directly answered each of these accusations point-for-point in a June television broadcast)

Going back to what I've been disturbed with, is the type of fervor that the 倒扁 protests have stirred up. There are people demonstrating that just aren't there for the right reasons:

• The media in Taiwan is a whole other story, but they love to find anyone a bit different in the crowd of protesters and give them some air time. It's particularly annoying seeing the 22-year old 老外 English teachers (I am assuming their profession) say, "President Chen, Step Down!" when they haven't lived here long enough to have the right to ask a President to step down. Oh yeah, I'm really assimilating with the Chinese culture during my time here, it's really great!
• Children at the 倒扁 rallies. I feel that it's good to "expose" your kids to lots of things, but actively participating in the rallies IMO will result in a severe political bias for them, not giving them a choice when they get older. By "participating" I mean, when the media is filming your kids, you train them to make the now-universally-known倒扁 gesture (the repeated thumbs down movement), while saying "倒扁" in a trance-like mode. Another nice touch is when the 倒扁 organizers let a 12-year old boy get on stage and lead the few 100K demonstrators in a good old 倒扁 chant. Nothing so nice as that to have, as a childhood memory, for him and all of his other junior high classmates. When they watch him on stage, all decked out in his 倒扁 paraphenelia (red shirt, bandana, wrist band, etc.) what will they think? Wow, that is Really cool-I want to get on stage and 倒扁 too. Mommy, can we go to 倒扁 this weekend? I want to 倒扁. If any child watches the news, they will be challenged not to breach this topic at the dinner table, especially after seeing the same footage over-and-over of mothers displaying their children's unique 倒扁 talents with glowing admiration for the world to see.
• People who are just there because their business is down, they've lost money in the market, or just unemployed. Maybe the economy isn't so hot. Leaders always take the fall for a poor political climate. But the proper route of action is to vote him down in the election. I think protesting is great, I really do. It gets the word out that you're not happy. But a goal of having the President step down because of it is unfair and unattainable. Especially when the majority of people (when on camera) cite that the reason why they believe in 倒扁 is because of his personal greed (貪污). That's just not true, b/c I know that if the economy was booming, and President Chen was found guilty of stealing 10X, there would not be this protest. Period.

Further, from a foreign affairs point of view, instability doesn't help your cause. The outside world already views Taiwan's political scene in the eyes of CNN when they broadcast the KMT and DPP duking it out with fistacuffs during legislative debates. I only hope that these protests do not boil over into violence, especially when the Chen supporters (挺扁) come on 9-16. I saw a scooter rider give the finger to a protester, which was returned with an umbrella smacking him off the scooter. It was all filmed, which was quite entertaining, since his scooter was badly damaged.... anyways, back to the point. So, yea, I hope that violence does not become an issue.
9/18-19 Update:Violence has indeed become an issue, in 2 southern sities (Gaoxiong and Tainan), during the past 2 days....see some footage here: Gaoxiong .

9/25: So now its been over 2 weeks since the protests started. As I feared, violence has now become a daily issue, with the media now able to satisfy their appetite from everything from mob violence between pro and anti-Chen sides, to individual attacks on citizens wearing certain colors. I believe the society has taken a turn for the worse, even if people's freedom to express their views has been achieved. How many people have gone to the protests in 18 days instead of working? Shop owners in near 西門丁the 倒扁 activities in Taiwan have said this has been a negative influence on their business, leading to a decline of 20-30% in sales.

The other thing that does not help Taiwan's national cause is disunity. I don't believe that everyone should speak one voice, but I do believe that in certain situations, it helps the country to stand united behind its leader. When President Chen recently left the country to visit Palau recently, people were suspicious (rightly so) of the timing, since it coincided with the protests in Taiwan. However, it did not do the country's image any good for the media and political commentators to beat the issue into the ground and question his moves. What would Palau feel towards Taiwan, if this was true? What would other countries feel about Taiwan? It's true that the leader's reputation would be damaged, but he represents the country. It's a lose-lose situation is my point.

Jewelry catalogue, by my designer friend Amber

Amber and her sister Steffi are both very talented artists, and both attended the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. They are now following their dreams and have started a jewelry design company, under the label "Spoiled Brat". Check out their designs below. If interested, contact me, or her at amberddw@gmail.com.

Photos + Videos

My Videos:

• Baby birds in a nest in Sichuan, China
• Green turtle in a Taiwan aquarium
• Panda in Sichuan, China
• Baby Panda in Sichuan, China
  

My Photos:
Photo of butterfly at a private (paid) garden in Taichung:


Photos of A-Li Shan Mountain in Taiwan, taken on the morning (sunrise) of 10/7, the weekend of the full moon festival. We woke up at 3AM and took an old-fashioned coal burning locomotive up the mountain for about 20 minutes (we were already quite high already), in the darkness to a specific viewing area. I may have lost about 1% of my life due to waiting in line inhaling the smoke for about 40 minutes:

(above right : note the full moon still in view during the day, around 6AM)

A roadside puddle teeming with tadpoles, on the way up Alishan. You can see a few that are actually already morphing into frogs, especially in 2nd picture.

Photos from Sichuan's JiuZhaiGou (yea, that's how they roll in China):



Hualien, Taiwan
Went to this mega-zoo -slash- farm -slash- botanical garden, and Taroko Gorge. You rent golf carts at the zoo, because it's so large. Note the warning sign, which has the fines listed for various types of reckless driving. The ostriches were not healthy, judging from their tails being featherless. That said, they had the largest, and most amazing collection of birds I have ever seen... actually, they probably had one of the widest selection of animals as well... monkeys, cows, goats, poultry...

All you need to know is that his last name is "Bauer":

Doraemon (Ding Dong) racing:

World Trade Center re-construction (L), WTC Cross, March 2004 (R)

BMW cab in Taiwan. Competition's pretty high here, so if you don't have a decent cab, you lose to others. Customers have all the power. This BMer is unusual, though I've seen a few Benz's also; most of the time, I like to take the Asian equivalent of the Nissan Maxima, a Camry, or a minivan (the Wish). It's my opinion that the older the cab, the better/faster the driver, but it also means the dirtier and smellier the interior. Cab driving skills in general have declined, as Taiwan has cameras at most intersections which automatically issue traffic tickets. These guys drive about 15mph sometimes (even at 3AM when there are no cars on the road), which drives me crazy.

Related, the difference between taking a yellow cab and a car service (Benz, Lexus) is only a few hundred NTD (New Taiwan Dollars), which is like $10USD difference at most (FX 1 USD = 32-33 NTD), and a total of $30-40USD for a 1.5 hr ride. Also, for airport pickups, only cabs which have a special license can wait there; they have a lottery every few years for this right. The other option, which is still quite convenient is the numerous airport buses (the big touring types with the big faux-leather seats) which costs about $5USD one way.

Food

Snapshots of menu from hotel restaurant at A-Li Shan resort in Taiwan. Relevant items have been highlighted.

Most food in Taiwan is much cheaper than in the US. Ice cream is not one of them. By ice cream, I mean "real" ice cream, the kind with whole milk in it. A pint of Häagen-Dazs (the fake European brand) will set you back about $7-8USD. That's like 3 dinners here. Costs the same in Hong Kong too. Other foreign brands like Mövenpick (my favorite. I had it first in Switzerland in '92) are at a similar price level. Btw, Haagen-Dazs is a sit-down place in Taiwan, with table service, and has been so for over 10 years. Incidentally, Swenson's has multiple locations in Taiwan. The service is pretty slow, and the food is just authentic enough to satisfy yearnings for American food. But just. Remember them? I don't even know if they exist in the US anymore.

Bug soup, from a Korean restaurant in Taiwan (I did not try it):





Food from Hawaii's famous Giovanni's Shrimp Truck:
It was above average, heavy on the garlic, but tasty.









Dishes from Sasabune, in Oahu, Hawaii. This was definitely in the top-2 for best sushi ever, in terms of presentation, freshness, and creativity. It was not so good for service, but we knew it going in - it's home of the "Sushi Nazi". There is no menu, you just order Omakase style, and tell the chef when you want to "tap out". Each diner you're with gets the same dish at the same time, and the waitress tells you how best to eat it (w/ or w/o soy sauce, other sauce, and how much to use).


Food from a Luau in Honolulu:

Lobster Roll from Pearl Oyster Bar in New York (~$17, 10/10). It's reallllly good, an ample serving of freshly made (you can see the chef behind the counter, b/c the restaurant's so small) lobster salad with shoe string fries.

Interesting news stories

The Karate Kid's "sweep the leg" moment in reality at a Judo tournament (Japan v Korea).

9/12: See what happens when you try to kill innocent fish in the ocean

9/4: Sad news today: "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin died today from a fatal Stingray injury.

Curious Misspellings from China + Taiwan

China
Courtesy of Gentle:

Taiwan