School fairs and church potlucks

Rammstein and raffle tickets - TES Christmas fair

On Saturday, the Taipei European School (http://www.taipeieuropeanschool.com) held a Christmas School Fair. Not having any kiddywinklets myself, my friends (justifiably proud parental units of some gorgeous specimens) took me along so that I too could watch six year old girls plie in purple/pink leotards in front of doting parents and use all my willpower against the lure of the candycotton stall.

Immediately obvious was the stellar job the school did in setting up a courtyard with lots of lunch options, categorised by the cuisines' countries of origin. The german sausage stall was particularly popular, although I was partial to the chicken satay skewers further along. A mass of tables contained a throng of ravenous families who had coughed up the 10 TWD entrance charge and made it past the raffle gauntlet.



The centre of attention was the stage set up to house a variety of acts, from diva mothers bringing home "All I Want For Christmas", to the school choir:



To a teenage band covering Rammstein songs (just what every school fair needs, compulsory viewing and popular with a number of young fans going by the applause):



Set up around the school were various craft DIY stalls (painting, peading, Christmas decorations), physical games using blow-up bouncy structures and the usual array of balls and goals, a room of Christmas decorations for sale, and of course several rows of stalls selling everything from Christmas hampers to stuffed toys:



I managed to snaffle a rather cute sparkly red and white pendant for 150 TWD and felt satisfied that I would not be leaving empty handed. I was really thrilled though to see that the school had set up a giving tree with Christmas presents for less fortunate families - reminded me that my high school back in NZ used to do the same thing.

While on the subject of Christmas trees, the next day a very generous fellow kiwi brought over her Christmas tree for me to use as she will be home for the holidays.



You may be faintly able to make out that some of the decorations are famous New Zealand symbols, such as a kiwi and a tiki. My younger sister a few weeks back sent me a pohutakawa decoration. Pohutakawa is the New Zealand Christmas tree. By astonishing concidence it was made by the same designer as these other decorations. A little bit of kiwi Christmas to be had in Taipei!

The church potluck that never was

A major barrier to finding a church in Taipei can be language if you're not a mandarin speaker. Fortunately, there are several churches in my area with english services that I found with the help of http://across.co.nz/TawainChurch.html. Unfortunately, my particular denomination does not have a congregation in my part of the city, but recently I have begun attending a Presbyterian church where I really feel the warm welcoming attitude of the members.

This Sunday was the planned day for a Thanksgiving potluck meal. If you're not familiar with the idea of a potluck, essentially everyone brings a dish to share with everyone else. Some people might bring a dish they're particularly good at making, others might bring something that is convenient for them to source, and so forth. As no-one likes to appear stingy, this generally results in a ridiculous oversupply of food!

Being a baking fiend myself, I was pretty excited to discover from a friend of a friend on Saturday that right across the road from the Taipei European School is a little store selling various baking necessities. As well as replacing some cake decorating items that I misplaced during my move, I also managed to acquire some chocolate-making moulds. With these little beauties, making chocolates is very easy and you can have some fun with colourings if you're using white chocolate. A bit of effort on Saturday afternoon, and I made these chocolate and boysenberry beasties:



I know, not my prettiest efforts, but it was all about having fun with the chocolate moulds.

The sad footnote to this fun weekend was the development of a stonking great headcold (I'm still crossing fingers that its downward path to the lungs changes plans) and so these never made it to the potluck. Such is life!

Rainbows, Pianos and Baron Chen

Somewhere, over the rainbow...

With the increased rain quota lately as the island slips into dongtian, Taipei has been lucky to see a few rainbows lately. There is something quite magical about rainbows - pots of gold, leprechauns, rainbow brite (and for some reason I also associate rainbows with unicorns).

Earlier this week while chopping up capsicum for my morning omelete, I was able to gaze out the window at what seemed to be my own private rainbow made just for me. Carefully trying not to let my breakfast burn, I grabbed my camera to take this photo before it completely disappeared so that I could share it with you too:



Renting a piano

Like many expats, I won't be in Taiwan forever. With a transient lifestyle it is often easier to rent large pieces of furniture rather than cart them around in a shipping container. Like many kiwi kids, I received piano lessons while growing up and still enjoy tinkering around when I have a spot of free time. In most major cities rental pianos are easily available, and Taipei is not an exception.

On the recommendation of a friend, I contacted Holly Hua who rents assorted instruments, appliances and furniture to set up an appointment.



With affordable rentals between TWD $500 and $1500 a month with no deposit or delivery fee, the showroom had quite a selection of upright models. I was able to try out as many as I liked, and after some consideration I selected a mid-priced Yamaha with a pleasing tone and touch (followed by a lovely cup of tea and chat with Hua Xian Sheng at a nearby location). The very next day, I came home to the piano already in place in side my apartment in exactly the correct spot (don't worry, I made arrangements with the apartment building staff - they didn't break and enter!)



If only all things in life were this painless! If you're looking to rent a piano yourself, this is a good place to start.

Sticky Note Girl - oh, the drama!

My new addiction: Fated To Love You (or Sticky Note Girl), a Taiwan drama with all the intrigue, accidents, love triangles, money and far fetched implausible scenarios you could think of, wrapped into one big bundle of more-ish viewing.

In Taiwan, there does not seem to be the array of long-running week-day soap operas that you might find in the States, or long-running dramas like Shortland Street in New Zealand. Instead, they have really long mini-series type dramas. Fated To Love You is 24 episodes in total; I am currently on episode 13.

The first few episodes reminded me slightly of Ugly Betty in its flow, although not as over-produced. I don't think I'll be giving away too much of the storyline when I say that the whole mess begins when a nobody-Taiwanese girl and a rich Taiwanese businessman accidently sleep with each other on a one-night cruise through a series of contrived plot twists, setting into motion love-disaster after love-disaster for the both of them.

The actors are fabulously into their roles, the soap-y editing tries to out-do the dramatics of the actors, and you can't help but love and identify with the lot of them. And who wouldn't want that adorable grandma to be their own? My favourite though has to be the quite dreamy (do people even use the word dreamy anymore? He is quite deserving of it, I assure you) Baron Chen (陳楚河). A quick Google doesn't tell me too much about him except for the vital stats - age, weight, and - (why this is a fact worthy of being banded around I don't know) his blood type.

For non-mandarin speakers, this link includes english subtitles. Enjoy! http://www.mysoju.com/fated-to-love-you/

Sight-seeing: Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

Undeterred by the light rain, today I decided to hit another tourist spot which had not yet made my list. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (http://www.yatsen.gov.tw/) is easily reached from the MRT station by the same name on the blue line, or you can take a cab to 505 Jen-ai Road, Section 4.







Situated in central Taipei, the hall is easily visible from Taipei 101 because of its enormous bright yellow roof. From many vantage points, photos of the hall gives it the appearance of sitting at the feet of 101, although 101 is really a 10-15 minute walk away depending on traffic lights.







Porches seems an odd word to describe the wide verandas lining the outside of the hall, but for want of a better descriptor, several dance groups were practicing along the porches. In front of the hall a small fair was set up. Not quite in the sense of a New Zealand fair, it was mainly just a few lines of stalls. In New Zealand, in my mind, it takes a horizontal bungee to make a fair worthy of its name - perhaps I'm showing my country roots. Although, for accuracy, the horizontal bungy always came second in coolness to the tractor rides around the paddock at the annual Sunday school summer holiday party. When I say tractor rides, I mean a sack tied by a length of rope onto the tractor. Kids sit on the sack and then get tugged along like a sled by the tractor around the pasture, cow pats and all. So painful, yet so fun.



Anyway, back to the hall: the crowning glory of the outside of the hall, aside from the well maintained gardens, is the impressive entranceway with pillars and a sweeping roofline.







Just inside the entrance, the hall houses a large bronze statue of the hall's namesake, with a changing of the guard every hour on the hour. A well-attended sight of absolute precision and spiffy gun-spinning moves (just see the intense concentration in their eyes).















The hall also houses an exhibit, gift shop, library, auditorium, and other facilities.







To the left of the entrance hall is a small gallery which is a good starting off point if it's your first visit to the hall. At the end of the gallery is a small gift shop - convenient for picking up souvineers if you have overseas guests, as well as postcards.







For stamp enthusiasts (such as myself) several of the display cases have philatelic items, and the giftshop also sold themed Taiwan stamp packs.







In the centre of the gallery was a small cinema, showing at 10am, 12pm, 2pm and 4pm. The movie was in mandarin with mandarin subtitles, but you might still find it worth a few minutes viewing to watch some of the old footage (and the locals seemed to find the seats comfy enough to take a nap, I will withhold the photo evidence to protect dignitas!)







One last feature of the hall I'd like to mention are the number of artworks displayed in its corridors - art buffs might find a few things they were glad they caught. Here is one that caught my art-illiterate eye.

Blog awards and the promised stationary post

Taiwanderful 2008 Blog Awards

First on my list of topics I would like to cover off today is the Taiwanderful 2008 blog awards (http://www.taiwanderful.net/blog/best-blogs-taiwan-2008-final-results). Due (I imagine) to support from friends, family and other readers back home and in Taiwan of my fledgling blog, I snaffled the category "Best Taiwan Personal Blog 2008".

Thank you so much for your encouragement, and I hope the awards encouraged you to read around some really great blogs written by far more dedicated writers than I here on formosa. When I figure out how, I will incorporate a nifty little commemorative graphic onto my site's template provided very thoughtfully by the people at Taiwanderful (after a weekend away overseas it's a bit much for my overtired brain to figure out right now).

As a result of the competition, according to my server I received a massively increased record of 15107 hits last month. I have no idea how it's calculated, but it does mean that with the increased numbers of photos I am posting on this blog, I will now start using photobucket which I hope won't cause any problems, fingers crossed.

And finally, a little plug for the overall winning blog The New Hampshire Bushman which is always a great read (http://www.thenhbushman.com/).

The promised stationary post

A little while back I promised to share a bit more of the local stationary. When you spend alot of time practising mandarin characters, you run through alot of exercise books. Here are a few favourites that have recently crossed my desk.



"I am a shamrock
Who hides on the ground.
When you come and find me,
Don't make a sound.
Pick me up very carefully;
Don't let me fall apart.
You can make a wish from me
By holding it close to your heart."



"Fatiao Monkey
Hello! Hello! everybody! my name is Fatiao Monkey! let's be happy!
Hello!
do you
like
banana?
Ha!"



"You can make yourself
feel wonderful...
i'm singing
Mood NIGHT"



"2020. March
SWEET
Best Wishes 100%
Cheer up!
You're my best friend.
American
Show Your Smile
The sky looks beautiful
Clouds appear whiter than usual
There is nothing so beautiful as spring
Dreams Come True
A life without a friend
is a life without a sun.
honey
Enjoy Your Life
May the joy and happiness fill
every minute of your day.
So shiny.
So cute."



"Happy day
WISH
Forever
I am so happy.
I am in seventh heaven now.
i'm singing"



"The Perfect decks itself in beauty for the love of the Imperfect.
Queen Cat
Power said to the world, You are mine.
The world kept it prisoner on her throne.
Love said to the world, I am thine.
The world gave it the freedom of her house."



"Happy Piggy
Hello ! Hello ! Hello ! Hello ! everybody ! my name is piggy! let's be happy !
Boo
Are you happy?
Hello"



"My tour of Eurpope
Holes in the road are a pain.
A lifelong friend
FRIENDSHIP..
Friendship is more. Precious to me
than anything else.
merry ghost
Are you far away from here?
Can you hear me?
The world is always changing
nothing stays the same
We"



"Wellcome
to pig pig
family....."



"These notebooks make writing more fun.
Whatever you write on them is bound to be bright and happy.
happy happy~"



"Tell me that you need and I'll be there
I'll be there waiting
Summer Day"

Sightseeing: Taroko Gorge

Where have I been for the past two weeks? In between studying and travelling with a guest of the familial kind, things have been pretty busy here. This weekend just passed, among other areas, I visited the beautiful Taroko Gorge.



Taroko Gorge was the destination most recommended to me whenever I asked a local. Blessed by excellent weather, it was incredible how few people were there (even though the tour guide said it was relatively crowded) to gawk along with me at the naturally chiselled walls of marble, topped by lusciously green forestation. The entrance was marked by this gateway:


The government website is at http://www.taroko.gov.tw/, and the tour company we used was Edison (http://www.edison.com.tw/eindex.htm). Our tour guide the lovely enthusiastic Josephine really added to our experience, although I have noticed a curious trend for local guides to have speakers strapped to their persons belting out their spiel to all and sundry. With scenery this beautiful though, I admit I was often too busy gawking to listen.

Tumbling down the length of the gorge was a stream, the water stained a whitish grey by (presumably) the marble fragments. New Zealanders who have visited the Fox and Franz Jospeh glaciers and seen the streams leading away from the ice will have some idea of what shade of grey I mean, as it is very similar.

In several spots were clearer aqua blue pools at the base of waterfalls - these looked as though they could have been spring water rather than rain water, although I am no expert.

The best way to see the area was to pop out and walk along the tunnels carved into the gorge with viewing openings. The guide pointed out several tracks of varying difficulty for those more serious about tramping (include a rather high track with dubious-looking suspension bridges erected circa 1914 by the Japanese).

Further down the gorge, at times you may be able to see fish jumping along this high waterfall (none were out and about when we visited).

Hualien on Taiwan's east coast makes a good stopping off point for reaching the gorge, especially if you're not going with a tour group. Hualien is easy to reach by plane and train (I haven't driven in Taiwan so I can't speak informedly about the drive down, although I have been told it's about 4 hours).

(p.s. a little shout out to my sis who took these photos on my point and shoot camera).

Sightseeing: Taipei 101, Beitou

After only a few months of living in Taiwan, the inevitable stream of guests has begun. This of course means an increased quota of sightseeing. Every so often I will blog about some of the places I have taken guests. First up, Taipei 101 and Beitou.

Yi Ling Yi - Taipei 101

Taipei 101 is currently the world's tallest completed structure (there is always another building somewhere aiming to go just a little bit higher). It has a website at http://www.taipei-101.com.tw/. To get there, hail a cab and tell the driver "Eee Ling Eee" (Mandarin for 1-0-1).

Inside the building's basement is a decent sized foodcourt with many decent options, and Jasons (a grocery store with an inhouse bakery and many western products). A variety of higher-end clothing stores and jewellers fill about 4 floors worth of space; worth a wonder around for those interested in shopping. For expats, the fourth level is a great place to find reasonably priced english language books at Page One.

Near the top of the building is an enclosed platform/floor open to the paying public with 360 degree views of the city. Tickets are purchased on level 5, next to the queue for the smooth high-speed elevators. Larger bags will need to be left at the ticket counter.

Tickets cost 400 NTD for each adult and 370 NTD for each child under 12, and include the audio guided tour around the viewing area of the city's major sights.


For a better view of the city, try to pick a day with better weather and minimal haze. The first time I visited the viewing platform, electrical thunderstorms were hanging over the city; not as helpful for visibility, but quite an atmospheric experience.

On this occasion, we made it to the viewing platform shortly before sunset, and watched the last rays dip below the horizon.


As the daylight faded away, the city began to light up. I would recommend this as a good time of day to bring guests. If they are particularly keen to see the city buildings, arrive with enough time to have the audio tour before sunset for better visibility.

Beitou - Spring City Resort

In the northern part of Taipei, steaming hot springs have led to a packed cluster of hotels for people to soak away their city stress. The easiest way to reach Beitou (especially if you're in the southern part of the city) is to catch the MRT.

This was the first time I had caught the MRT in Taipei, being mostly a taxi-hound. For the first time, students in the International Chinese Language Program have the proper National Taiwan University student ID cards. The major benefit of this is that those cards also act as stored value cards giving discounted MRT fares.

The MRT was easy to use, quick, well maintained, and not too crowded on ours journey from CKS Memorial Hall station to the Beitou station (pictured below). The full adult fare each way was 35 NTD.

We visited Beitou on Friday 10 October, which also happened to be my birthday. In light of this not so auspicious occasion, I booked an overnight stay at Spring City Resort (http://www.springresort.com.tw) for my first Taiwan hot springs experience. The resort had a free shuttle service between the hotel and the Beitou and Xinbeitou MRT stations.

Inside the Japanese themed grounds, we enjoyed a number of smaller pools, including several with different kinds of bubbles, quiet pools, sleeping baths (constructed for lying down in the hot bubbly water), a super hot pool for the brave, and an area laid with heated smooth marble stone slabs for resting on.

My favourite pool was the waterfall pool, where several waterfalls pummelled down giving my shoulders an awesome massage. The sole cold spring pool, a small circular granite pool with rose petals floating on the surface, was a close second; firstly for cooling off in between the hottest pools, and secondly because no-one else ever seemed to use it so I had a little floral scented paradise all to myself.

Another enjoyable feature of the hotel was the private hot spring tub inside the hotel room for use after retreating from the public areas:

As a closet hot spring junkie, I can see Beitou quickly becoming one of my favourite parts of the city, and can recommend the springs at this hotel. I look forward to trying out other hotels in the area too (for research purposes you understand, to give myself a basis of comparison -one must suffer for one's hobbies).

High Speed Rail - the toilet perspective

This afternoon a visitor and I zipped down to Kaohsiung and back on the High Speed Rail. The trip took 1h30m each way and cost (business class) $6240 return for two people. We booked and paid for the tickets online at http://www.thsrc.com.tw/en/index.htm This site has an english language option and is very easy to navigate. You'll need your ARC or passport handy.

With my handy dandy camera, I took a few pictures along the way for those who have yet to experience the HSR. Arriving at Taipei Station looks a little something like this:


And at the Kaohsiung end, a little something like this:

Once inside, if you have booked your tickets online you need to pick them up. We chose to stand in line and get old fashioned face to face service. The business class line was to the left (purple sign), the passengers requiring special assistance line was to the right, and in between was the line for the remaining customers. Collecting the tickets was very painless, with just a look at the print-out of the emailed confirmation required.


Alternatively, we could have visited one of these automated kiosks.

Here's what a HSR ticket looks like. In the rear of this picture is a train waiting at the station in its white and orange livery.

Once you have your ticket, check the electronic signs to see what your platform number is. The easiest way to find it on the sign is by the train's number, which is also printed on your ticket. Then use your ticket (magnetic strip side up) to gain admission to the waiting area through the turnstiles.

Once through the turnstiles, there are plenty of places to sit and wait for your train's arrival. These chairs were surprisingly comfortable.

The electronic signs and a loudspeaker announcement (in both zhongwen and english) will indicate that your train has arrived and is ready for boarding. Take an escalator down to your platform. At the Taipei end, the attendants checked tickets at the top of the escalator and would not let passengers onto the platform until their train was ready for boarding.

Down on the platform, find your passenger car, which should also be printed on your ticket. Outside the business class car, attendents checked tickets then welcomed you on board.

Inside the business class car, seats were in rows of two. The signs on the wall seemed to indicate that instead of turning the train around on a circular track, the attendants somehow swivel and reverse all the seats in the cabin for the return journey so that the passengers are not seated backwards. I would be interested to hear if anyone can confirm this.

The seats were quite comfortable and reclined a fair distance. Each seat had side-wing headrests, coat hooks on the wall, a pull down tray, a footrest, power sockets and audio channels (although you needed to provide your own headphones).

Partway through the journey, the friendly attendants come around offering nuts, coffee, tea and water.

As you can see, we had a pleasant experience on the HSR. There is one important facet I have neglected thus far to mention. I feel strongly that an important indicator of the quality of public amenities are its restrooms. In Kaohsiung, I nipped in to check these out and found a sparkling clean facility.

What upped the grade to outstanding was the attention to detail. Each roll of toilet paper had been folded into the traditional hospitality industry triangle. I forgot to take a "before" photo, but in this "after photo" you can see that the roll on the left side still has its end folded. From the toilet perspective, I give the HSR an unashamedly geeky two thumbs up.

Leaving aside my HSR experience, the last time I visited Costco I snapped a shot in the foothall area. Clam chowder doesn't seem to be offered in many places in Taipei. Here at Costco, I tend to order the chowder when I go. It's fine. Not awesome, not bad, just fine (and a little too salty for my taste).

In case there was any doubt, it seems from this photo that the chowder is definately Campbells. I thought any fellow chowder consumers who wondered about its origins might be interested, so here's the shot:

And a final note: a great big thanks to those who have left comments on earlier entries! I really enjoy hearing about other's experiences, both those kiwis in Taiwan (or have been in Taiwan) and Taiwanese over in New Zealand. It seems we're in agreement on the magnificence of the fruit supply here - yes lychees are awesome (especially after they've been chilled in the fridge a while). Thanks also for the language tips on my video further down. Xie xie nin men!