Art Outside

Taipei offers so many of the features a liberal-minded person would look for in a city. It's a gay-friendly place that boasts the largest Pride parade in Asia. It's also environmentally-friendly: plastic bags aren't free; you have to pay for them, and recycling bins for everything from glass bottles to grocery receipts are on nearly every corner. Even McDonald's has separate bins for card-board and plastic materials. Plus you could easily live here without a car because public transportation is convenient and cheap. If that isn't enough, Fresh organic produce is sold on the streets everyday (not just on the weekends) from local vendors who get much of their stock straight from local farmers. And if you like art-- especially the illegal, subversive variety created by teenage amateurs-- well, Taipei's got that too. Graffiti is huge, here. So this post is devoted to the different kinds of work we've seen around town. Interestingly, a lot of the messages are in English. 

This magical mushroom is a common sight on walks through the Shida district...

Whoever is responsible for this display has an appreciation for the psychedelic (I'll show you some magic)... and The Who?

Some designs are sloppy...

Some are cluttered...

Some seem angry (kill bitch)...

Some look like they were created by gangstas...

and some look like they were created by children...

There are political messages...

depictions of love...

and frustration.

These are my favorites:

Alas, we must return home tomorrow-- back to a city that lacks many of the features a liberal-minded person would look for (except graffiti; there's plenty of that). 


Luckily, we're returning to friends, family, and two sweet kitties who we've really missed. See you in 48 hours, St. Louie!

Laowai lady: a foreign girl’s (shallow) observations on femininity in Taipei

Foreign chicks are everywhere in Taiwan-- not in real flesh, but on billboards, buildings, bus ads, and big screen TVs. There’s no doubt that the Arian look is “in” here. White girls-- or at least European looking Asians who exhibit that round-eyed, slim-nosed, thin-lipped ideal of Anglo-Saxon beauty-- are the most common models in every advertisement used everywhere, from the wall size blow ups in shoe stores to the little plastic labels on sanitary napkins. 

A blow up wedding shop ad, foreign model.

Foreign girls used in ads for clothing sold at the ATT Fun Mall 

Even the infant models have big blue eyes.

The white-people mural at McDonald's.

With all these foreign faces, I should feel like I totally fit in. But that’s not so. For one thing, I didn’t bring any long sleeves or pants because in a modern, progressive city with a subtropical climate one would, of course, expect short shorts and tank tops to be the norm. Well, they just aren’t. This is how many Taipei girls dress while walking down the street: 

A woman walking down the street in Xinyi.

A woman outside the beach in Fulong. As you can see, her boyfriend is wearing short sleeves.

Can I stop for a second and point out just how hotttt it is outside? It is very, very hot-- almost unbearable, really-- from about 11am-7pm. So, one possible explanation for this climate defiant form of dress is that women here are afraid of getting sun. This product, found in 7-11, supports that theory: 

Maybe you've heard how popular skin-lightening products are in Asia. Did you know that Vaseline makes these products? 

Let's face it, tan skin is soooo plebeian. The goal here is to look like a dainty (pasty) lady who never leaves her house rather than a rugged farm gal who works outside all day. So when I got my first sunburn I felt like a total looser. I mean, the doorman in our building-- who never says anything but ne-how (hello)-- pointed to my shoulders, laughed, and told me to wear sunscreen before going out. I swear I caught people on the street looking at the burn, too. I imagined they were thinking What the hell is the matter with her? Where is her umbrella? (Which, in reality they probably weren't and I'm just paranoid... still, I felt super uncomfortable. Don't even get me started on the looks I think I got once I started peeling)

Me, after getting sunburned at the beach. This is dark for me, and too red for Taiwan.

But yes, umbrellas are very important to remember when going out for a walk-- especially if you aren't wearing long sleeves. You’ve gotta block the sun. 

Girls outside NTU, using their umbrellas for extra protection from the sun.

In truth, it would be nice if pale skin were more popular at home. I actually really like the pure white look on people for whom it's their natural tone. To me, it's classy and time-less. I'm not sure I look best that way, but maybe I would if there wasn't such a tan-crazy culture in America. To state the obvious: beauty is just so subjective. One culture's trash is another's treasure. 

Interestingly, though, despite all the white faces found in ads and all the clear admiration for European features, there aren’t that many foreign gals in the flesh here. There are lots of Anglo-looking men around; I often see them out and about with Asian women. But I have yet to witness the opposite: a Taiwanese man with a non-Asian girl. Which leaves me wondering, why are foreign women presented as models for beauty but not snatched up as suitable, exotic mates? 

Of course I am making generalizations here, based on only 4 short weeks in a big city full of many people I haven't met or even seen. But on the surface it appears a young laowai lady with pale skin might have more luck getting her face on a bill-board than she would finding a date for Saturday night. Good thing I'm not looking. 

*For more information on the controversy sourrounding the term "laowai"--which basically means "foreigner" in Chinese-- see this Wikipedia article.

**To watch a hilarious and interesting YouTube series exploring the difficulties of dating in China among other things, click here. It's called "Sexy Beijing" (be careful when googling this term) and is sort of a spoof on Sex in the City, from the perspective of a laowai lady living in Beijing. I highly recommend you take a few minutes to check out at least one episode! 

Photos from our lovely lazy Sunday

Gongdu, July 2012

Afternoon thunderstorms are common in Northern Taiwan, especially in July. On Sunday it poured more than usual so we spent most of the afternoon inside our apartment reading and watching the tele. When the rain finally let up, we only had a few hours of sunlight left, and we weren't sure what we wanted to do. We settled on a trip to Gongdu-- a sleepy river town with a famous old temple built into the side of the mountain which Lonely Planet proclaimed a "must see"-- because it was close and reachable by metro. Here are some photos we took during our visit:

The entrance to Gongdu Temple, built in 1661. This Taoist temple is the oldest in Taiwan. I didn't take more photos because there was an elaborate ceremony going on inside... picture more of this, with lots of incense and chanting...

Boats parked in the fishermen's dock,  Keelung River. 

More boats 

The wooden boardwalk overlooking the fishermen's dock was crowded with casual cyclists out for an evening ride.

A large, Asian style cruise boat

And... another cool old boat

For some reason, this bridge design is really popular in the little towns outside Taipei City. 

We sat on this bridge for a long time to enjoy the fantastic breeze. The weather was perfect after the rain cooled everything down.

A lot of the bikers had babies on board. Mike said I shouldn't be fooled: Taiwan has a low birth rate.

We didn't have much to do but take photos. There was an adorable dachshund wearing a ridiculous doggie tie that we tried to get a picture of, but he was too quick for us.

Our Trip to Yangmingshan National Park

We wanted to see some impressive scenery on our last Saturday of vacation, so we woke up early and caught the #260 bus to Yangmingshan National Park, where we hoped to get a look at Northern Taiwan's quietly intense post-volcanic activity. 

We arrived in the park a little after noon, then headed to the visitor center for a light lunch. While we ate, we looked over the many trails reachable by the Yangmingshan's convenient shuttle system.The atmosphere was pleasant enough to invite lingering, so we took our time reading about paths involving fresh water falls, subtropical rainforest, and exotic birds. With almost 100 square miles to chose from, it was hard to narrow down our options. But eventually we decided on a hike through Xiaoyukeng, a well-known area spotted with fumaroles (steam-emitting openings in the earth's surface), sulphur crystals, and hot springs.  

The trail started out tame enough: we were surrounded by nothing but tall, hardy grasses for the first 10 minutes or so. Because of the strong monsoon winds and regular mud slides, not a lot of flora can survive in the volcanic basin. Venomous snakes, on the other hand, have no problem. The area is actually famous for them. So you better believe I kept my eyes on the ground as much as possible while we walked. Given my fear, I probably shouldn't have worn sandals...

The entire trail was made up of irregular stones. The incline increased gradually, at first.  

Even so, it wasn't long before we had climbed high enough to see the steam rising in the distance. We were heading towards scores of fumaroles...

The higher we got, the denser the fog became. At most places, it was too thick to see through, so we couldn't view a whole lot of anything in the valley below. But that was fine because the scenery on the mountain itself was plenty interesting.

 

These fumaroles were formed after the last volcanic eruption (scientists think about 5,000 years ago) when the heat contained in the magma chamber raised the temperature of the underground water... today that underground water surfaces as gentle steam. 

Where the fumaroles came close to the stone path, you could feel the intensity of the heat underground, and you could hear the soft hissing of the rising steam.

In some sections of the trail, sulphur crystals spread onto the stone path, making it smell a bit like rotten eggs.

The wilderness around the trail was teeming with wildlife. I took this short video to capture the incredible sound of the birds and insects. (To explain the embarrassingly heavy breathing: towards the top of the peak, it was all stairs... up, up, up...)

  Honestly, even though it was tiring, the journey to the top was way more enjoyable than the actual top. Because of the fog, the final peak was pretty blah. Plus it was crowded with picnickers. 

BUT, we did meet three friendly old Taiwanese climbers who insisted on sharing what they had with us. First, when we were close to the top, a man gave us a bottle of water even though we told him we had enough. Then, while we were resting on one of the benches to prepare for our journey back down, one woman demanded we eat some of her biscuits and another one (not related to or with the first) forced us to consume some of her fruit. Did we really look so helpless and exhausted that the elderly felt compelled to take pity on us? Maybe they just didn't want to carry their leftovers back to the bottom. 

After our mandatory snack, we headed back down and discovered that the fog was lifting as the sun prepared to set. I'm always a bit disappointed with how short the days are here; sunsets start at around 6:30 and it's usually dark by 7:00. I mentioned this disappointment of mine to Ferin, Mike's Taiwanse language partner, but he didn't get it at all. I guess, in some ways, we are spoiled with our long-lasting Missouri summer days.

 Our hike in Yangmingshan's volcanic basin was unlike any we've ever taken. I can already tell that the unique scenery and smells and sounds will be long stored in our mental travel scrap book, and turned to as points of comparison when we visit other places.