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| Chiang Kai-Shek: "Are you sure you love Taiwan?" Mao: "Sure!" |
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Back from Taiwan
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Short update
A great, fun, and fortunately safe day here in the south of Taiwan, where we've been staying at a great little hostel called the Surf Shack. Since the weather wasn't cooperating for surfing today, we rented a scooter and tootled all over, from the great nearby aquarium to the coral reef park which marks what's basically the southern tip of Taiwan (but don't say that to them - they claim a little pod of offshore coral, which lets them extend territorial waters some fourteen kilometers). For someone who really just sat on the back of the scooter and hung on, I'm surprisingly exhausted tonight, so I apologize for the lack of photos and the little video I shot on the back road.
We may surf tomorrow morning if we can, then it's back up to Taipei and dinner with friends from Edinburgh University. We'll be back in Fukuoka on Saturday - which, don't forget, is the last day to vote in the "Spend Our Money" charity poll! You can vote by clicking on your choice from the list on the upper right of the blog, or by sending an email or leaving a comment. Winning charity gets Justin and my $180 ANA refund.
Interestingly, there's been a lot of charity fundraising here in Taiwan for Japan. I asked some people raising money at a temple about it, and they said (I think; my Chinese is a bit fuzzy) "In the 1970s, Japan was a very good friend to Taiwan," and has continued to be since. This may be a reference to Japanese investment in Taiwanese manufacturing during this time, or to Japan's support of Taiwan in the international arena during the years when Nixon normalized relations with the PRC, culminating in Taiwan losing the "China" seat in the United Nations. In any case, it's been quite touching to see little Japanese flags and fundraisers around the island, and I hope the Japanese know how many friends they have here in Taiwan.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Hotel in Kaohsiung, and an Unexpected Delicacy
Nana and I made it safely to our hotel in Kaohsiung this afternoon, after a leisurely 1.5-hour ride from Taipei on the high-speed train.
It's a nice little hotel, I must say--Nana came across it on Agoda, a discount hotel website that seems to do a lot of business in Asia. It looks like a dump from the street (but then again, so does just about everything here), but the inside is tastefully decorated and spotlessly clean. Plus, the room is almost as big as our apartment in Fukuoka, with a really posh bathroom, to boot.
The best feature, though, is the "romance" dial beside the bed.
Which, of course, I promptly tasted . . .
It's a nice little hotel, I must say--Nana came across it on Agoda, a discount hotel website that seems to do a lot of business in Asia. It looks like a dump from the street (but then again, so does just about everything here), but the inside is tastefully decorated and spotlessly clean. Plus, the room is almost as big as our apartment in Fukuoka, with a really posh bathroom, to boot.
The best feature, though, is the "romance" dial beside the bed.
I was kind of hoping this would be something really tacky, like a vibrating bed or mood music or something. Alas, it's nothing more than an Engrish-ified dimmer switch.
PS: It is so cool to watch Nana spring her Chinese on unsuspecting locals. Today, she navigated the whole freakin' island--bought train tickets (with reserved seats!), asked directions, found yummy food. That she does so fearlessly, and to the obvious delight of her audiences, only makes it much more charming.
In fact, the only language-related mishap this whole trip was an unlooked-for order of chicken feet.
. . . and which I stopped eating after the first bite. (Think chicken skin, with the consistency of a Gobstopper.)
PPS: We're saving the good food for a later post.
Heading South to Kaohsiung
Nana and I had a great day in Taipei yesterday--an aboriginal cultures museum, a Taiwanese hot spring, the world's most crowded boardwalk, and a bustling night market. Today, we head south to Kaohsiung, Taiwan's second city. More details to come!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
One Hundredth Post: Taiwan Temple Time!
We didn't plan to go to Longshan (Dragon Mountain) Temple because we've seen a LOT of Asian temples, but I'm so glad we did. This was a completely different experience. First, it was much more of an active worship site than we're used to. The crowds were as dense as the incense smoke. Second, the decorations were just incredible. The detailed pillar carvings, the illuminated displays (several with motion!), the gold lettering - it was just like no temple we'd seen before.
Temple exterior:
Goddess lantern, approximately 15-20 feet high:
Justin loves fish lanterns:
Crowds and incense. You can see the offering tables in the second picture. Piled high with everything from fruit to tea to two packs of Oreos. For your modern monk!
Justin with his homeboy, the god of literature (we think):
Temple band:
Temple service chant:
And for some reason, an illuminated rabbit on a motorcycle:
Please note that this was an animatronic display.
We went back to see the temple after dark on our way back to the subway to get the full effect of the lighting. It was nearly impossible on our little camera to capture it, but here are a couple of attempts. The first one, I think, shows pretty well the amazing glowing effect of the gold decorations:
And then the lanterns, plus this happy little guy!
Longshan Temple definitely shook us out of our temple doldrums, and we recommend it. More posts to come later: several Weird Things Drunk For Your Entertainment, a Night Market, and Snake Alley.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Spend Our Money!
Justin and I learned from a coworker today (thanks, Lani!) that ANA, All Nippon Airways, has a refund policy that would be unthinkable in the US: a 50% refund of any ticket (including those labeled "nonrefundable") at any time, for any reason. Justin called today and they were willing to refund half the value of our Sapporo tickets, or approximately $180.
We had already checked our budget and decided to write off the plane tickets as we shifted our plans to Taiwan. This $180, therefore, is money we can spare. So we decided that it would be most appropriate to donate the money to a charity active in the Japan earthquake and tsunami.
Which charity? Well, we thought that would be neat to turn over to you! I've chosen a few charities that Justin and I would feel comfortable supporting and placed a poll on the right hand side of the page on the blog (click through to http://thesenseitions.blogspot.com for email subscribers) You can vote through next Saturday, when we come home from Taiwan. Alternately, you could leave a comment or send an email
Search Dog Foundation: They have at least twelve teams working in Japan right now. Not only do they train dogs for search and rescue, they rescue the dogs! If you were around for our Korea blog, you know how we feel about animal homelessness. What's cooler than rescued animals rescuing people? Charity Navigator rating - 4 stars.
Samaritan's Purse: A Christian organization with a pre-existing presence in Japan, now focused on delivering basic necessities like food, water, and blankets people in shelters around the affected area. Have delivered four tons of supplies already and are preparing to follow up with a 90-ton airlift sometime today. Charity Navigator rating - 3 stars.
Architecture for Humanity: As we've seen in so many other disasters, the destruction of buildings and infrastructure is going to haunt Japan long after the headlines move on to something else. Architecture for Humanity is raising money now to dedicate to reconstruction efforts in cities which have been essentially reduced to scrap. These guys are in it for the long haul. Charity Navigator rating - 4 stars.
Brother's Brother Foundation: Our "homer" pick, this Pittsburgh-based charity is partnered with the Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania to collect money and then use it in response to local request. In the 1995 Kobe quake, they supported an orphanage. I secretly love their vintage web site- shows the money is going into programs instead of themselves. Charity Navigator rating - 4 stars.
We reserve the right to choose a charity ourselves should the poll be trolled or hijacked by internet bots, not that I think The Senseitions is really that high on anybody's list.
So please vote! We look forward to seeing the results!
We had already checked our budget and decided to write off the plane tickets as we shifted our plans to Taiwan. This $180, therefore, is money we can spare. So we decided that it would be most appropriate to donate the money to a charity active in the Japan earthquake and tsunami.
Which charity? Well, we thought that would be neat to turn over to you! I've chosen a few charities that Justin and I would feel comfortable supporting and placed a poll on the right hand side of the page on the blog (click through to http://thesenseitions.blogspot.com for email subscribers) You can vote through next Saturday, when we come home from Taiwan. Alternately, you could leave a comment or send an email
Search Dog Foundation: They have at least twelve teams working in Japan right now. Not only do they train dogs for search and rescue, they rescue the dogs! If you were around for our Korea blog, you know how we feel about animal homelessness. What's cooler than rescued animals rescuing people? Charity Navigator rating - 4 stars.
Samaritan's Purse: A Christian organization with a pre-existing presence in Japan, now focused on delivering basic necessities like food, water, and blankets people in shelters around the affected area. Have delivered four tons of supplies already and are preparing to follow up with a 90-ton airlift sometime today. Charity Navigator rating - 3 stars.
Architecture for Humanity: As we've seen in so many other disasters, the destruction of buildings and infrastructure is going to haunt Japan long after the headlines move on to something else. Architecture for Humanity is raising money now to dedicate to reconstruction efforts in cities which have been essentially reduced to scrap. These guys are in it for the long haul. Charity Navigator rating - 4 stars.
Brother's Brother Foundation: Our "homer" pick, this Pittsburgh-based charity is partnered with the Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania to collect money and then use it in response to local request. In the 1995 Kobe quake, they supported an orphanage. I secretly love their vintage web site- shows the money is going into programs instead of themselves. Charity Navigator rating - 4 stars.
We reserve the right to choose a charity ourselves should the poll be trolled or hijacked by internet bots, not that I think The Senseitions is really that high on anybody's list.
So please vote! We look forward to seeing the results!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Tai-what? Tai-wan!
Justin and I had been planning to spend next week's spring break holiday skiing in Sapporo, Hokkaido, where we went from Korea and had a glorious time. In light of recent events, however, it seems most prudent not to go up north. Sapporo was not affected by the earthquake and tsunami, and it also is not within prevailing wind patterns for any potential radiation. I can see it being possible, however, for Hokkaido to be hard to get back from if something goes wrong in central Japan.
We decided it was just plain reasonable to go south instead of north, and this afternoon we bailed on our ski tickets (fortunately not that expensive, not that money is the priority in these situations) and replaced them with a last-minute week in Taiwan. So we will be out of Japan from the 19th to the 26th, hopefully enough time for this whole nuclear situation to get sorted. It's a disappointment not to ski, but we have wanted to see Taiwan, so we're not at shortchanged in our alternative. And let's face it, considering what Japan is going through, the fact that our biggest problem is "Ski holiday or Taiwan vacation?" is sort of embarrassing.
I want to reiterate that Fukuoka is just about the safest city in Japan at this point. In fact, people are coming here from other places, including Tokyo. We see that at the school because relocating expat families with kids may end up with us. Our head of school has been in coordination with international schools up north, and we are prepared to enroll up to 100 extra students should they come. This is at the same time that we've lost a few families, not generally because the families have chosen to leave, but because their companies have pulled them (insert your own joke about retreating French here). So everybody is on the move in Japan.
EVA Airlines, which we're flying to Taiwan, has cancelled flights to Tokyo, Sendai, and actually to Sapporo (our original ski destination) so we're hoping all goes smoothly to get us there. Thanks for keeping us and Japan in your thoughts, and don't be worried if we go incommunicado for a while.
We decided it was just plain reasonable to go south instead of north, and this afternoon we bailed on our ski tickets (fortunately not that expensive, not that money is the priority in these situations) and replaced them with a last-minute week in Taiwan. So we will be out of Japan from the 19th to the 26th, hopefully enough time for this whole nuclear situation to get sorted. It's a disappointment not to ski, but we have wanted to see Taiwan, so we're not at shortchanged in our alternative. And let's face it, considering what Japan is going through, the fact that our biggest problem is "Ski holiday or Taiwan vacation?" is sort of embarrassing.
I want to reiterate that Fukuoka is just about the safest city in Japan at this point. In fact, people are coming here from other places, including Tokyo. We see that at the school because relocating expat families with kids may end up with us. Our head of school has been in coordination with international schools up north, and we are prepared to enroll up to 100 extra students should they come. This is at the same time that we've lost a few families, not generally because the families have chosen to leave, but because their companies have pulled them (insert your own joke about retreating French here). So everybody is on the move in Japan.
EVA Airlines, which we're flying to Taiwan, has cancelled flights to Tokyo, Sendai, and actually to Sapporo (our original ski destination) so we're hoping all goes smoothly to get us there. Thanks for keeping us and Japan in your thoughts, and don't be worried if we go incommunicado for a while.
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