Zipper Pond
Just how awesome is this: the Zipper Lotus Pond at the Juming Museum outside of Taipei, Taiwan. The zipper pond is created by Taiwanese sculptor Ju Chun and I, for one, am surprised that it doesn’t say "YKK" (look at your zipper, I betcha it says YKK)
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Hello Kitty Castle
Welcome to the Hello Kitty Castle in Taiwan. It can help take care of all of your cute needs. The gallery has some amazingly cute things in it, including food garnished with a Hello Kitty chocolate dusting.
Link Via Cute Overload
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96-Year-Old Grad Student: All-Nighters Work!
A 96-year-old Taiwanese man finished a master’s degree program in Philosophy after being told "he was too old to continue as a volunteer at a local hospital." Known as "Grandpa Chao", this old man was able to compete with younger
students by pulling all-nighters before exams.
“I was bored after I left the hospital,” Chao said Thursday. “I don’t play mahjong or have other hobbies. I felt I had to do something with my life.”
Chao said the most difficult part of his studies was coping with a poor memory.
“I can’t remember things as well as my fellow students,” he said. “So before a test I would wake up at midnight and study all night. That way, the material was still fresh in my mind when the test began.”
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Man Ripped Politician's Wig Off, Got Jail Time for Depriving His "Freedom To Look Pretty"
Politics in Taiwan have always been rough, but this is downright dirty. A man was sentenced to 5 months in jail for tearing a wig off Taiwan legislator Chiu Yi. The sentence was for depriving Chiu of the "freedom to be pretty."
Yes, you read that right:
The Taipei District Court sentenced Huang Yung-tien, 50, to jail for snatching the toupee off the head of ruling Nationalist Party lawmaker Chiu Yi. Chiu has become a household name for his media-friendly offensives against the political opposition.
"The judge thought Chiu Yi had the freedom to wear what he wanted, and Chiu felt the wig made him look prettier," court spokesman Huang Chin-ming said. "The judge thinks that to remove it intentionally was to take away that right."
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Chop Shops and Green Pancakes
Today brings another installment of the continuing adventures of sculptor Joel Haas in Taiwan, in which Joel has his name translated phonetically into Chinese, yielding a memorable, if embarrassing phrase. He then has a chop made with his characters. Link
Previously at Neatorama: A Trip to Taipei’s Shilin Night Market and Not In Kansas Anymore
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Not in Kansas Anymore
or North Carolina, either–odds and ends– observations at random on Taiwanese daily life
Once again, Neatorama welcomes guest blogger Joel Haas, North Carolina sculptor and author, as he posts his adventures in Taiwan.
Culture shock happens when you pick up the live wire of daily life in another country, particularly another continent. It can be the big thing such as finding yourself a racial minority and oddity in the street, or small things such as wondering what all those fires in front of every business and home mean–it’s not the least bit cold. Why do people stuff their sales receipts in special clear plastic boxes on the sidewalks–and, speaking of sidewalks, why is the sidewalk a different height and design in front of each business or home? and speaking of home and business, what is it like to have the family living room open out into the street and double as a place of business where every body who wants to, say, have your dad fix their scooter, can bring it right up to the family couch and television? Does everybody have their family shrine right over the TV and DVD player?
Before we get into the genuinely amusing, strange stuff (from an American perspective) about Taiwan, let me get several things off my chest:
Don’t they all look alike? I mean, really how can you tell those people apart?
This is the one comment that pushes my button. Really. Stand around on any street here for five minutes and you’ll see Taiwanese don’t look any more alike than Caucasians. Even without the admixture of the American Armed Forces stirring the genetic pot for decades, the advent of modern hair coloring means the average school girl with blond hair here is no more likely to be a real blond than an American one. There has been a disquieting fad for wearing enormous blue contacts in their eyes.
a shot of this promotional poster is as well as I can do since I couldn’t take photos of the elevator operators in Shin Kong Department Store
Don’t they eat dogs and other odd stuff like snakes?
No. They don’t eat dogs. Most dogs I’ve seen here are as pampered as ones in America. On the way to a concert today, I saw no less than three dogs in, so help me God, knitted sweaters. In this heat, that may cook them, but not by design.
What people eat is always an interesting question. Food often is a major definition of culture. My culture in North Carolina is only a generation or two removed from widespread consumption of chitlin’s, possum, squirrel, and fat back. Frog legs are considered a delicacy in French restaurants, so let’s not get carried away with what other people think is down home cookin’. There is a place in Taipei called Snake Alley that sells snake meat. It’s mostly a tourist attraction now. The average Taiwanese eats no more snake than the average American eats rattlesnake or alligator meat.
Don’t you get tired of eating rice?
No. Mainly because they don’t serve a lot of rice here. Look back through all my food photos, in my travel letters and my extra photos on Flickr; don’t see any rice do you? Rice is served like a roll might be served to you in the States. I have been served rice three times in the more than two weeks I have been here. Each time it was simply in a small bowl to the side, a bowl no bigger than a coffee cup at home. The average Taiwanese’s reaction to a serving of Kung Pow chicken from an AMERICAN Chinese restaurant would be about the same as an American’s if served field peas, collards, carrots and fried pork chops glopped together on a bed of twelve slices of bread.
WITH THOSE ITEMS OFF MY CHEST, LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT SOME STUFF THAT AIN’T LIKE IT IS AT HOME.
7-11s run this country. It’s not a democracy nor a dictatorship. It is “quick-stop-ocracy.”
There are competing chains, Circle K, Family Store, Happy Store, etc. but they’re all the same as a 7-11 which remains the dominant brand. You can do anything at a 7-11; pay your bills, taxes, traffic tickets; buy French wine, pickled duck eggs, Love Milk, and videos.
Every receipt comes with a lottery ticket. Now wouldn’t that just get all the Baptists’ panties in a twist back home in the South!
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Yam Wielding Grannies, Plastic Bugs, and Cilantro Ice Cream
In the third installment of sculptor Joel Haas’ adventures in Taiwan, he takes a excursion to Yangmingshan National Park. Joel’s photographs reveal stunning azaleas in bloom, local art, and his experience with cilantro ice cream. Link
Also see the previous posts: A Trip to Taipei’s Shilin Night Market and Red Bean Filled Hockey Pucks and Mind Control.
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Red Bean Filled Hockey Pucks and Mind Control
If you enjoyed reading A Trip to Taipei’s Shilin Night Market yesterday at Neatorama, you’ll want to see part two of sculptor Joel Haas’ travelogue. Red Bean Filled Hockey Pucks and Mind Control chronicles his visits to the National Palace Museum and the Long Shan Temple. Also look for part three online tomorrow! Link
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A Trip to Taipei's Shilin Night Market
This guest post is from North Carolina author and sculptor Joel Haas (featured previously at Neatorama), who is traveling in Taiwan and taking plenty of pictures.
Whatever they are, a night market is NOISE and COLOR!!
Part flea market, part carnival, part food court, part social nexus, a “night market” is where vendors set temporary booths along a street and sell from about 5:30 PM until about 2 AM. All Taiwanese towns and cities have night markets. The most famous and largest is Taipei’s Shilin Night Market. Imagine the NC State Fairgrounds, arenas and all, turned into a giant flea market and then doubled or tripled in size. Pack it with people and illegal vendors setting up shop in the middle of the aisles. Until I was nearly run over, I had forgotten it is okay to ride a bike or motor scooter through the night market aisles. The only thing stopping traffic in some areas is the utter crush of people. Most places in the night market resemble the midway at the state fair on a record day.
The smell of “stinky tofu” (fermented tofu) fills the air so you know you’re in a true Taiwanese market. You can buy everything to eat from steaks to jellyfish to candied tomatos to tea jelly; cotton candy to squid; tripe to exotic fruit. Shop for clothes, luggage, underwear (remember the people who needed waistband amplifiers?) or books. Power tools or bok choy, a night market’s got it all and probably more.
Grannies shoot baskets at one of the numerous arcades.
“Buddha Head” fruit on sale–Joy’s and my favorite. Called “custard Apple” in English. It is unknown in the States as it doesn’t ship well.
I couldn’t resist buying a package of this stuff. It’s very thin and dry. Quite tasty, actually.
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Turd Baby Store
Photo: Badger 23 [Flickr] – via Miss Cellania
No, "Turd Baby" isn’t just a pejorative (look it up at Urban Dictionary, if you must) it is a store in Danshui, Taipei, Taiwan, selling stuff out of little vending machines! It certainly has a unique name!
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