Aha!

I'm not one to say that the good ol' US of A is always right, and the others are always wrong, but even I am getting sick of Iran and their little monarch's stories, lies and cheap shots against... well... against the entire west, really.

So I was happy to see them finally get caught in their lies for everyone to see. To make things better, it wasn't even the states who caught them, but NATO troops.

Of course they have an alibi (this is a country after all, and not a 3-year old child... although I realize it can be hard to tell sometimes), but I think that it's evident to everyone what exactly is going on now.
A bigger question... if they are supplying Afghans against NATO, shouldn't one wonder if they are supplying their fellow tribesmen in Iraq?

Hmmm....

Of course the best part is that regardless of how this makes them look, no one in the Middle East/Iran will probably care enough to do anything... they only get upset if you draw the wrong cartoons in your own country's newspaper. :-S

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070613/ap_on_re_eu/iran_taliban

Let there be.... Idols!

It's that time of month again... walking down the sidewalk, you take a deep breath of air and inhale a dark gray cloud of smoke... is there a fire in one of the stores?

Hmm... nope... and then you see them. All along the sidewalk, little red cans with holes in the side, and a fire belching out a smoke to the gods.

Beside the red can is a table full of tempting treats (I almost broke down and stole a big mac from the McDonalds table, I must confess).

I'm not sure about all the details (perhaps someone else knows more than me), but I believe that this has to do with inviting the gods in to smell the food on the table... then, after they smell the wonderful food, they bless the store and the store will make money... something like that.

Anyway, every store seems to do it, even western stores like Haagen Daaz and L'OCCITANE; and I actually wonder if it doesn't have more to do with marketing (especially for McDonalds. Haagen Daaz, etc) than a true belief in the religion... especially since the store workers don't seem to be strong believers... but who am I to say? I could indeed be wrong.

I've always been too shy to ask the people burning the fake "god money" what is really going on and why this is tolerated by pedestrians on the sidewalks.

I guess I wouldn't mind the practice that much at all, actually, if it wasn't for the disgusting smoke that billows all around the sidewalk and even makes it's way into the subway sometimes.

Ah well, culture shocks aside, it is an interesting practice to watch.

Scooter Madness

This seems to be the week of ambiguously gay scooter spottings...

No sooner had I published the previous scooter post than I saw this scooter, even closer to my house, as I was going to buy Subway a sandwich. I couldn't figure out why "Man Boy, Closer to Nature" seemed strange to me until I googled it at home. :)
If everyone wasn't riding a scooter here, I'd start to think driving scooters was a sort of sub-culture in Taiwan.

As it is, I can only wonder what this means to Taiwanese (if anything), or what the marketing people thought it meant... or maybe they just saw it somewhere and put it on?

No Tailgaiting.... (?)

I was walking around the other day in a somewhat sad mood when my eyes came across this scooter near my house.... I'm pretty sure that you'd have to pay extra for this one in the states!


Irregardless, the occurrence made me laugh and lifted my spirits, another quirk of living on this wonderful, unpredictable island! (I wonder if the owner knows what it means?)

Here's Lookin' at You, Kid

I know it's a bit silly, or perhaps just very "American" of me to be "shocked and awed" by things with eyes and heads that I am supposed to eat... the small fish that Taiwanese (and perhaps all Asian countries) like to put in their soup or with rice freak me out... too many eyes looking at me while I prepare to eat them... daring me to take a bite... maybe it's a sort of performance pressure!?

"Come on, eat me, eat me, kid"



Anyway, I had the chance to confront and conquer this silly fear of mine when I ordered chicken with my room mate. As soon as the box was opened, a cute little roasted chicken head popped out, to the surprise and delight of us both.

Being manly men, we attempted to shrug off our initial surprise and do the cool "Chinese Chef Chop", with the big knife they use in Chinese restaurants. When the first large, arc of the knife missed the chicken neck and instead split open the head, I lost my cool. What followed was a flurry of frantic chops from my roommate that ended with the head flying through the air and landing in the kitchen sink...

And so my head-o-phobia remains~

Goooooooooaaaaaaallll!!!!

Building off that old traditional theme that seems to be a trend, the marketing in Taiwan is both innovative, imaginative, and shocking to me. I spent several minutes in the MRT train station looking at this sign, trying to figure out the point... when I finally saw what this picture was, I actually took a step back in open-mouthed shock... this is surely something I would never see back in NY, but it is somewhat effective at... well... at getting attention I guess. ;)

Taiwan is certainly a land of paradox... on the surface conservative, but underneath, and in many different facets/areas, very surprisingly liberal. As for the ad, well, if a man-sized penis cannot stop AIDS, then I guess nothing can...!

Modern marketing~

I am often "shocked and awed" by some of the creative marketing here in Taiwan/Asia... take this underwear above, which apparently not only helps store your balloon collection, but also has a lot of stretch/support for those who want to wear it. ;)

A whole new world~~~

This is somewhat dated news, but I wanted to say something about that new planet everyone was talking about last week (in case you hadn't heard of it). It seems like pretty exciting news, although it's reeeeaaaallly far away. Still, how cool is it that another world with an atmosphere possibly the same as ours is out there...?

Well, only somewhat cool, I guess, as scientists also said that the gravity on this planet is so strong (due to the larger size of the planet) that the only thing here is probably big, flat bugs. Ah well, maybe they have people too... with really, really big calves.

Do the math...

One popular stereotype is that Asians are good at math, and Westerners are not... it's stated almost if it's strictly a genetic thing... but it's not. It has a lot to do with this, math and science is stressed, no, forced upon students in Asia. They must study at math/science for many more years than Westerners, and do well at it if they want any hope at a strong, successful career. Contrast the two images... something really has to be done in the west...

>sigh<

Rain, rain, go away...

Living in a tropical area has brought some interesting differences than living in New York. One difference lies in the weather patterns.

The two times I've planned on traveling, I'm been "shocked and awed" to find that the weather was bad... for a long time. Usually, if you decide not to go on a trip because of the weather, it means you just wait a day or two and go when the sun comes back out.

Not so in tropical Taiwan... when it rains, it pours... and pours... and pours...

Now that's... fresh?

While shopping around for something to eat the other day, I was suddenly faced with another cultural difference between the east and the west... namely, the conception of "fresh".

These bins of fish were placed into the aisle for any people to take and buy, although I have no idea how they would do it... there were no bags that I could see to put the fish into, and only the metal prongs to pick the fish up with... maybe they do it like the seals?

Anyway, I'm sure that these fish, sitting in stagnant water all day in the aisle of a shopping market, for everyone to touch, poke, squeeze and what-not, would be considered spoiled fish in the states. But in Taiwan, they don't view it the same... and it's called "fresh". It has to do with the concept of being so fresh that the fish is whole, and in cold water, and ready to be prepared for your stomach...

Oh My!

For certain, some of the most eye-catching signs I've ever seen in my life are here in Taiwan... you have to give them credit for being great marketers.

At first, I couldn't understand why in the world someone would ever have the name here for their store, but it all lies in the different meaning and usage they have for our words/language...

Hence, you get a clothing store called "Oh my God!"

It makes for an interesting walk through the market, I must confess.

The Kinder of Nightmares...

Here's a bit of packaging that has haunted me for some time. One of the nice things about Taiwan is the wider expansion of products from Europe. They have lots of European treats and drinks that are either not in the US or are of better quality here. However, it also includes different marketing and packaging that I've never seen too... sometimes really cool and sometimes... well...

This is a bit of packaging that has scared me for some time... how does that not look like a demon-child on the package... or perhaps the man from Clockwork Orange as a kid?

>CHOMP<

One thing you can credit the Taiwanese press for is the freedom of the press they enjoy here... in fact, the images and stories you see in the news and newspapers are far more graphic than those in the US.

Here, we can see the severed hand of a zoo keeper trying to take care of an alligator... Taiwanese news had the images all over the place. Some people, I have heard, were actually quite angry about it all being displayed in color as it was... imagine that.

There is a nice note to it all... the hand was successfully re-attached.

Big Buddha

One of the more famous parts of Hong Kong is the enormous golden Buddha that sits on a high mountain (forgot the name of the mountain). After a somewhat nerve-racking cable car ride that climbs two large mounatains, does a 90 degree angle, and then leads to the Buddha, I was there.

I think the Buddha must be pretty cool, because so many people go there and want to go there... but I couldn't really see it well... it was all in fog. Still, that had it's own really cool affect. :-)

One other impressive thing was the number of Coke machines... I saw over 5 in two areas! And two were directly under the Buddha himself! It was enough to make me want to burst out in a "God bless America" right there... but I guess that wouldn't go over too well... :-P

Taiwanese Italian Noodles

Taiwan has a lot of "Italian Resturaunts", which I've started to call "Taiwanese Italian" resturaunts... It's not that they aren't good, but they are very different from the Italian version. For one, the sauce is very much like tomatoe-flavored water. Also, the beef is not at all like Italian-styled beef, it's more thin and has a somewhat boiled feel to it.

Still, it was delicious in it's own way, and even came with a small, cute basket of bread. The bread also wasn't the same as Italian bread, but was still good. I didn't try the dish my friend had, but it looked a little less appealing... featuring a sort of bright green sauce... maybe I'll try that next time. Might as well be adventurous. :-)

And it is Chinese...

I have created a name for my pain. And it is Chinese.

I was sitting in the cafe digging through Chinese books and struggling through dialogue when I realized how much work and pain it is just to read a story about a boy and his friends talking about children's mandatory education in Taiwan.

Why do I do this to myself? Look closely and you can see the signs... almost every character is circled and translated or underlined and sounded out.

I must love pain.

Shock...awe...annoyance...!

In an annoying bit of news for today, I was able to experience, once again, the unique way in which these "polite Taiwanese people" can be more rude than any American I know... even in New York.

I rode my bike home to my apartment, from campus today, and parked it by the stairs, inside the apartment building. There is nothing wrong with that, many people park their bikes there, especially if they think it might rain.

Later tonight, as I walked downstairs to go outside, I was shocked to find that someone had taken my bike outside from the apartment and moved in onto the street so they could park their bike inside, in my place! To make it worse, it had rained tonight, so my bike got all wet!

Now, it's true that my bike is not new or beutiful (see "Red Thunder Tofu" post below), but it is my bike, and it has no rust on the important parts (chain, gears, etc). AND I was there first!

So, I just moved their bike outside as well, right next to mine.

I'm tempted to take their bike for a little walk - a block or two away.

This is what would happen in NY if someone had the NERVE to be such a selfish bastard!

Finally~

For many years of my life, I've lived with and grown accustomed to the fact that as an American, the one thing we don't have is the most technologically advanced cell phones in the world. Since coming to Taiwan, friends and classmates have been happy to remind me of this as well.

But now... for once... we are the ones with the coolest phone around (in my opinion, and for at least a short time). Woo hoo! Take a look~

I would gloat more, but I'm not sure these aren't being made in Taiwan already... or maybe next year...!

The other white meat...

During my first semester at NTU, I saw one of these enormous bugs outside of my classroom, inside the business building! I was pretty shocked, because this is no small bug we are talking about... it's bigger than my nose (which is quite large, I must say)!

Ever since seeing that bug, I always wanted to get another chance to see one, so I could document this thing... I mean, I guess it makes sense, as this is a tropical area, but me being a New Yorker, I've never
seen such a thing!

I never saw another one, until last week, when I was going through the night market to get some food. This time, I was prepared... but decided against eating it...