Annelies op bezoek in Taiwan (Nederlands)

Onze medestudente Annelies heeft haar nieuw thuis in Beijing verlaten om te komen kijken hoe het leven of het kleine eiland Taiwan toe gaat. Gister is zij dus op het vliegveld in Taipei door een delegatie in ontvangst genomen. Wel, naar 1,5 uur vertraging vanuit Macau, van wegen onweer.

Nu heeft ze een week om te beleven wat er te beleven valt.
Ik ben al erg naar haar indrukken benieuwd.

First Piano lessen after about 16 years (English)

Shida offers a couple of rooms for students to practice musical instruments for free. So I asked a friend of mine (a qualified music teacher), to give me some piano lessons. Until now, I've had one, and this great piece of music on the video is the result!
Have a look and enjoy:

Guitar never seemed so hard (English)

Just something I found to be worthwhile putting on this blog.
All references to the artist!!!

glumbert.com - Guitar never seemed so hard

Scooter art in Taipei (English)

Just a random shot of one of the many scooters driving around in Taipei. The owner of the species below seems to enjoy putting a special note to a common thing. He put some small plastic figures around the back light and scooter licence plate.
Ten points for creativity.
Another great discovery today was a scooter with an illuminating installation on the inside of the scooter tire. Only eye catching at night, but then a real threat to traffic safety.

Nice perspective (English)

Taiwanese women do quite enjoy a reputation of being sexy, or at least attractive. That is what the term 辣妹(la4mei4), or hot/spicy girl refers to.
Taiwanese men instead don't really have that kind of reputation. I think this is particulary unfair, and therefore I am starting a small campain to show that even Taiwanese guys have a lot of sex appeal.
One first indicator was found in my dorm today, some really interesting perspectives on the real potential of Taiwanese dudes:

Nice one, these slips will make every woman to make you see naked (a good way to head right to where you want to go...)

Well, if one biking glove is enough, why waste resources and wash both of them?

Wrong, the reddish thing below is not a nice blanket, and whitish thing next to it is not a beautiful towel. The left one is a pant, the right one a short. I know, you cannot wait to see them being worne.

同學們等一下 - or the FarEast Tone commercial shot (English)

A new star is born, or an old star sparkles yet again...haha!
Today was my first TV Commercial shooting ever in my life. I had to get up really early in the morning to be at the set at 8.30. I was there a bit earlier though and changed clothes right away. Today's mission: I am an office guy advertising the great goods and services of the telecommunication company FarEast Tone. I actually have no idea what the advertisment in detail is all about, nor do I know if I will be visible or cut out by the director.

It was a nice experience anyway. Nice atmosphere in a nice office building in the nice and new business district called Neihu in Taipei. But most off all the crew and the other actors were really nice and fun to get to know. One funny thing for me to learn was that the crew calls the actors 同學們 (classmates, fellow students), a way to address a younger person or your students (being a teacher), I thought this sounded quite funny.

The job was really relaxing, just standing around and walking in the right moment, or getting out of a crowded lift. I had no lines, so had no one else any lines.
The best part was that we were done after 2,5 h, instead of the estimated 5 h.



The full album:

FarEastTone_Reklame

Some pictures from Taipei (English)

Today, while waiting for my scooter getting cleaned, I just walked around the Wanlong (萬隆)-district in Taipei to take some pictures of normal Taipei.

The full album:

Taipei

Neuer Laptop, neues Glueck (Deutsch)

Ich habe mir gestern einen neuen Laptop gekauft und zwar von der taiwanischen Firma Asus das Modell A8Js. Mit 2.0 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Prozessor, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB Festplatte, nVIDIA GeForceGo 7700 mit 512 MB RAM und eingebauter Webcam!
Und genau die musste auch gleich fuer einen Feldversuch herhalten.
Erfahrungsberichte ueber den A8Js folgen spaeter vielleicht noch, jetzt aber erstmal eine Kostprobe der Webcam, mit Runzelgarantie:

Dragonboat race (English)

Today was the first day of competition after a period of about 3 months of hardship and concentrated preparation. To be part of the dragon boat team of Shida you have to full fill certain criterias, besides being fit and hard working you also have to love the morning, training starts at 6 AM.

But all the hard times (and fun times of course, being with the team and getting to know each other better) were topped by the first great victory of the mixed team on yesterday`s contest.
I didn`t stay long enough to hear the result of the men`s team, I will update tomorrow. You can enjoy the pictures first.

Team Holland

The winners return

Turning around after the victory

The venue between bridge and 5 star hotel in the Dajia Park (大佳公園)

Japanese power...Ken and Xiazi enjoy it to be back after the hard work on board

The complete album can be found here:

Dragonboat Race

Video of the race:

Being celebrated by the numerous fans on-shore:

German restaurants in Taipei (English)

Sometimes you cannot help, but have to go back to your roots. This can be done in several ways, one is to go somewhere, where you expect dishes from back home. Taipei offers a variety of German style restaurants. Today I checked out the Goethe Gourmet Gasthaus, close to the National Taiwan University and the Gongguan shopping area. I went there during tea time, so there was no great variety in German foods offered. Instead there was a choice for 2 people including 2 pieces of home-made cake, 2 drinks (from a choice of different coffees or teas), two sandwiches with German sausage and two sandwiches with something like Saumagen (pig stomach) for 420 NT (excluding service fee of 10%). The taste was not real German, yet close enough. Generally prices in the specialities restaurants are on the higher side, so is the Goethe Gourmet Gasthaus. Yet some teas are offered with free re-fill or the re-fill for half the price. The atmosphere is not like you would expect it to be in a German Schwarzwald restaurant, but also not really intellectual as the name Goethe might suggest. There was no real flair in my eyes. The service was proper, yet cold (haha, at least some German atmosphere, one might believe).

Goethe Gourmet Gasthaus
No. 11, Lane 283, Sec.3, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei
Tel.: +886-2-2362-0060, 2362-0124
Fax: +886-2-2362-0164.

De traditie van de kolonisatie op het ijsland (Nederlands)

De Nederlandisatie van Taiwan gaat zijn gang...steeds meer mensen hier op het ijsland "lijden" onder de nieuwe kolonisators.

Pics: From the dorm's roof

The highway close to our dorm. There happened an accident tonight, followed by a huge fire, which could be seen very clearly and even smelled in my room.

Taipei at night, and in the center: Taipei 101 - a really gorgeous building, which I love to take pictures of and simply watch. There was luckily no smog and there were no clouds, so: picture time!


The other side of the river, all built full of large apartment complexes.

基隆之旅行(中文)

我今天跟我的室友馬克去基隆跟她的女朋友而一些別的朋友們玩.我們從台北公館搭乘巴士到基隆市.45台幣買一張單程票,要坐大概40分鐘.
基隆市在台北的北部,有一個很大的港口但是感覺比台北鄉下多了.我們先去義試餐廳吃麵.然後決定去看很好笑的 <豆豆> (Mr. Bean) 的電影.
看完電影之後我們去酒吧,喝醉之後還在BURGER KING 吃一些東西然後再一次搭乘巴士回台北.

Video: Floating Supermarket Fight II (Vietnamese)

A fight between two sales people of the so-called floating supermarket in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. They argued about the younger lady ripping off tourists on our boat by selling cookies for 5 $ US.

Video: Floating Supermarket Fight I

A fight between two sales people of the so-called floating supermarket in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. They argued about the younger lady ripping off tourists on our boat by selling cookies for 5 $ US.

Video: Old Vietnamese Lady talking to me...

...but I have no idea what is is all about.

Introduction to Water Puppet Theatre Hanoi 2

關於 <壓力> 的演講 (中文)

以下之電片為我今年<新聞選讀一>課的期末考試的演講 (請大家注意電片快二十分鐘):

Little sales girl in Sa pa from Black Hmong tribe (English)

Motorbike in Hanoi (English)

The best way to get around in the Vietnamese capital is the motorbike, noisy, stinky and very dangerous - just as the traffic itself there. Being back in Taipei makes me actually think that traffic here is boring and well organized. HAHA. Who could have thought?

Water Puppet Theatre Hanoi (English)

The first introductory piece of the famous water puppet theatre in Hanoi. The water puppets are a Northern Vietnamese speciality and quite nice to see.

Pics: Back to Hanoi

Hanoi2_Return

Another few days back in Hanoi! Museum of Ethnology, Mausoleum of Hoh Chih Minh, and just walking around the city. Later back to Taipei, via Hong Kong.

Pics: Sapa and Cat Cat

Sa pa_Cat Cat

3 days, 4 nights to Sa pa and Cat Cat. Hiking, night at the Homestay. A lot of fun and a lot of tribal people helping you to get ahead and trying to sell their handicrafts!

Pics: Ha Long Bay, Cat ba Island

Ha Long Bay_Cat ba island_Monkey Island

A 3 days, 2 nights tour to the 3000 islands of Ha Long Bay, one night on the boat! Very fascinating.

Vietnam Pics: Hanoi First day

Hanoi1

Home sweet Taipei - Resume on Vietnam (English)

I am back. Home sweet home, Taipei. My city of the moment. It is a good feeling to be back. A place where I know how things work, how to get around. I can speak with the people here in their language and I feel a lot more relaxed.
The trip to Vietnam was great though. I had some less positive experiences, but these were mainly related to the state of developement of that country and its people. The countryside itself is not only beautiful, but astonishing. I still cherish every moment I spent sweating and hiking in the Sapa mountains or relaxing on the boat in Ha long Bay.
Another great thing about Vietnam is the tasty and cheap food. The ingredients were always very fresh and tasteful.
About the service in Vietnam? I figure things were the other way around, the customer, not the salesman or service personell are responsible for the mood. So, as soon as you greet first, are very polite and open minded, the Vietnamese mostly reacted in the same way. But don't try to ask someone for help when you are in a bad mood or feeling down, they will directly reflect on you and this creates a vicious circle.
Whenever travelling to a country or dealing with people from other backgrounds you do of course have to be aware of some historical facts. The Vietnamese people were not actually very lucky in terms of strangers in their own country. They were ruled by either the Chinese or the French and we should not forget the not so long ago war with the Americans.
Now every foreigner is welcomed as being a cash-cow to pay back some of the debts from the past. Which is of course not very comfortable for the individual.
But that definitely is only half of my experiences there. After only about 10 to 15 years of opening to foreigners again, the country is already showing that they are very good at what they are doing. Tourists can already get around really easy and there are a lot of interesting sights in Vietnam to see and discover.

And another plus are the toilets (you may laugh!!!), but I really think that good toilets are quite important for your success of travelling. No one really likes dirty and smelly places, that barely offer any privacy. And in terms of that the Vietnamese toilets set an Asian standard for me. I could neither in Taiwan nor in China find so wide-spread, good quality wash rooms as in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese economy is following the great country at its northern borders and is growing rapidly. I am sure, the next time I have a chance to travel to Vietnam I will not recognize a lot of it any more and will be astonished by the new standard there. Vietnamese people seemed to be, though not really hard-working, yet very eager to reach their goals and they are tricky and smart enough to reach them with not the most effort.

Back to Hanoi (English)

I came back from Sapa this morning at around 5.30 with the night train. The trains are quite comfortable, even in the 6-people soft-sleeper. After breakfast with some people from my Sapa trekking group I headed out to search for a new hotel; this time a somewhat more expensive and better 2-Star hotel for 20 $ per night. But I feel that it is worth it and I want to enjoy my holiday, so don't think to much abou the $.

After showering and resting for a while I went to see some sights in Hanio with my new Vietnamese friend Hanh (who I met on the trip to Sapa). She took me all around the city on her motorbike, and so I got to see the Ho Chih Min Mausoleum, bot only from the outside, as it is closed on mondays, the zoo and the temple of wisdom (some kind of Confucius temple and the oldest university of Vietnam, dating back to around 1076 AD).

Later I met my Dutch friend Leonore and her colleauge Jurgen (?), who both do an internship here.

That's about it for the day, time to go to bed and relax...

Sapa 2 (English)

The second day of the Sapa hiking tour was just as great as the first! The great group of 7 people from various countries and our tour guide were pretty much aware that when we got up at 6.30 AM due to the sounds of the local cocks that the nice temperature then will not last.

And so it was, after a nice breakfast with pancakes (or crepes) the group headed out to discover more little villages, get to know more rice fields and loose another 10 liters of sweat during the day. We were of course followed by the tribe ladies and their children, with their deep desire to sell their handicrafts to us. Most of us resisted their attempts and bought nothing, which let to some curses and unfriendly ladies, who finally left after the 4km trail. Back in the hotel we had the chance to enjoy a nice and refreshing shower, as well as exploring the local market in Sapa!

No it is time to take a rest and get enough energy for the night life as well as tomorrow's hike!

Sapa! (English)

Modern technique is great! I am sitting some 380 km north of Hanoi, very close to the Chinese border and can have Wireless Internet access. The wireless is not referring to a wireless laptop or comparable, but the whole connection is wireless. That way it is possible to enjoy the beauty and information of the web in a village, where there are no pavements, roads are muddy and children only go to primary school and have to stop after that to work and support their family with work.
Well, this was the introduction. I am happy today. I finally got to know the nice side of Vietnam. Besides the great scenery here in Sapa (with great valleys, rice fields and water buffalos), I finally got to know nice Vietnamese people.
I was trekking today a trail of about 14 km from the city Sapa through several small villages to get to the "homestay" place for the night. The trail was tough, though not too steep. The sun was burning and we had to walk "ueber Stock und Stein". We were followed by natives of the local tribe, chatting wiht us about their lives, assisting us to get through more dangerous situations and most of all trying to sell us their handmade products. In the end the attemps to sell us more and more got a bit annoying, but they mostly remained very friendly.
On the plan for tomorrow is another 10+X KM trail and then I will stay the next night in a 2star Spa-Hotel....

Vietnam after 4 days and 3 nights (English)

I am dissapointed. Though Vietnam might rather be famous as a holiday destination for backbackers and the rather inconvetional tourist, a lot of things here are not right.

There is no feeling of warm and heartful Asian spirit, everything is about money and how to get it from the foreign visitors. There is no smile, no "hello" or other form of human interaction not attached to the question of a certain form of consumption. This has already left a bad impression on me here in Hanoi.

The past two days (I came back today) were spent on a 3 days two nights trip to Halong Bay. There are numerous cafes attached to hotels which act as travel agencies and offer this kind of packages. What I found out on the trip was that prices for 100% the same package differ for more then 100%. Depeding on where you booked you paid between 25 and 75 Us Dollars. Luckily for me, I booked at the lower end of the scale.

Everything seems to be arranged, but nothing works out. I got to know about 5 tourguides during the 3 days and was mixed with new people for every event I took part in(the latter is no problem, btw.), the tourguides' English is really poor, just enough for very basic communication. The general attitute of people working in the hospitality business here is. as described above, "rip the foreigners off". As long as you are of no use for them, they are unfriendly and simply not willing to offer something close to service. But as soon as it appears necessary for them to find an ally in you (some people actually decided to complain about the poor situation), the guides became nicer and tried to persuade you (with one bottle of free beer, instead of the booked and paid for night on the boat in the bay) not to complain at the agency.

Another example is that a Vietnamese salesman in lack of proper change, would always change negative for the customer and during the package trip there are for sure no free gifts or other extras. Instead things that were promised in the nice folders (scuba diving, going to the National Park) were simply not done.

Complain right there is of no use at all, the guides simply have no means or will to change anything to comfort the US dollar paying customers.

I have to add that according to travel mates, who have been travelling in the South of Vietnam, this is only a Northern phnenomena and the South must be totally different.

I already complained about the locals I met here (and I feel utterly sorry about having such a bad impression at all, but it gets renewed over and over again as I go on spending my time here) they really have no interest in anything but your money and no means to communicate with you (due to my not existing Vietnamese and there barely existing knowledge of English). But the down point of experiences with locals was an occasion on one of the islands in the Bay, where we spent our first night: Walking around a lake, we were greeted by a group of about 3 to 6 year old boys, we friendly shouted back "Hello, how are you, I am fine" and kept on walking. Suddenly we realised that the 7 man strong group was running behind us and coming closer, we did not expect anything to happen, but suddenly one of the "the kids" grabbed in the bag of my pants and tried to steal something or at least play. But there was nothing to find, I did not react except for a shock on my face, as he prepared for a bunch and hit me right in my balls, so hard and unexpected that my beloved camera fell on the ground (luckily it still works fine, great Japanese quality). Well, you can imagine, I was not pleased, but still did not react in a harsh, yet rather surprised way and told them to go away. What they did, just to get some little rocks to throw them at us. Nothing happened further, but I am really dissapointed about my experiences here so far.

The only reason until now to come to Vietnam I discovered so far is the beauty of nature.

PS: The travel agencies which cannot be recommended for booking packages in Hanoi for trips to for example Halong Bay are Sinh Cafe and Kim Travel. This is at least the experience of at least 20 travellers I talked to these past 3 days.

Well, this is actually another reason to come to Vietnam, you get to know a lot of nice and quite interesting backbackers and other travellers, mainly from Europe and Australia, but also from Korea.

My next trip (also booked at Kim Travel), as I wrote earlier, is about to start in 1 hour. Let's all cross our fingers that it will be a better experience in terms of the guiding. The destination this time is Sapa, about 380 km north of Hanoi, really close to the Chinese border.

Later more...

Hanoi (English)

Yeah, I am here. The first day of my trip is almost over. Time to look for an internetcafe and type some words.
When I arrived I could not believe that none of the stories seemed to be true. The airport was silent, almost boring, though I really liked the Asian-style architecture of some of the airport buildings there. There were also no Taxi drivers yelling at me, trying to pull me in their car.
I just choosed the next best one and asked him to use the meter. The 30 km ride from the airport to downtown was not very stressful, considering that I am used to some Asian traffic by now. Though I have to admit that you feel and see right away that there is quite a difference between Taipei and Hanoi. The "freeway" was in some parts not completed yet and scooters are allowed to use it (without helmet of course). The whole car traffic is packed to the left lane, as the right lane is occupied by slow two-wheelers.
Entering the city by taxi was a good choice, having windows around you makes it a lot nicer to be around here. Traffic is chaos and everyone honks his car or scooter horn as often as possible.
People here definately look poorer (as expected) and there is a lot more life on the streets. Some really nice Mediterainian feeling, with small bars offering chairs outside to take a rest and have a drink.
My experience so far is that people here a open-minded towards white foreigners, they like it to talk to you. An old man (maybe 70) sat besides me on a bench and told me about his children, in French (colonial influence, which is also captured in the architecture here and makes a lot of buildings look nicer then in Taiwan), and you see a lot of white foreigners walking around (most of them look like properly tanned tourits).
People's spoken English is a lot better in Taiwan, but here they try to speak it with a lot of passion as well.
You get offers at every corner and every minute; people trying to sell you fresh fruit, books or offer you rides on scooters or rikschas.
A book vendor was not satisfied with my offer for his copied version of the Lonely planet and actually threatened me after a while, that I should not meet him again, or he would hit me. That is something I never experienced in Taiwan and the general attitude of vendors here seems to be a lot more aggressive, or desperate.
But my general impression is still positive. I booked two trips out of the city and my hotel's travel agency, totalling about 100 US Dollar for 5 nights and all transportation and accomendation. I hope that the money is properly invested and I will experience a lot of interesting sights with my properly tanned travel mates.

I arrived in Hanoi! (English)

Only a few hours later and I am here: Hanpi, the capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. I did not do much yet, except for booking a 10 dollar hotel and arriving here.
I live in the old city centre and will get to know the area now...

Vietnam, I am coming (English)

I will be in Vietnam for a trip from next Monday till the beginning of June! I hope that I can shoot some nice pictures and find some great curiosities to share with you.
Vietnam must be a very beautiful country with a very friendly population.
My home base will be the capital, Hanoi. From there I will start my discovery of that fascinating country...

"Remodelling" (English)

Due to some unexpected road conditions it was necessary to get my scooter to the garage trust and get the front of my "knight rider" remodelled again...The good thing about Taiwan is that the total damage of the "remodelling" was less then 25€. But definitely no reason do look for another similar reason...

Combat the negative stereotype of Germans (English)

The text below is written by my Irish friend Duncan, as he put it on youtube.com:

In 1983 the German Government, in an effort to combat the negative stereotype of Germans being no fun and too serious created a special 20 year program for recently born babies to make them grow into more fun adults. Recent graduate Mr. Florian Gobel was the 26th baby selected for the program. Dr. Helmut Kohl, the German Chancellor at the time, still speaks of it as his most worthwhile contribution to the German Nation and humanity itself, even topping the destruction of the Berlin Wall, which also occurred during this period. Some might argue otherwise....

台灣的天空為藍,台灣草地為綠 (中文)

就如這次KmK學生報紙的題目＜首次 >„de eerste“對我來講有某種程度上特別的意義。尤其我將要離開我第一次留學的地方。雖然我的記性不是很好，但我仍然希望能分享一些<首次>來台的經驗與想法。

<首次>來到台灣

與許多留學生的經驗很像：台灣位於世界知名的國際舞台，大多數的朋友把<在台留學>誤認為<在泰國留學> (荷蘭語之Taiwan 跟 Thailand 發音相似，所以誤會是有可能發生的)。但是荷蘭的同學們大可放心，我認為除了泰國同學以外，在台灣留學應和大多數在其它國家留學之國際學生的經驗差不多。

在機場的感覺五味雜陳；希望、害怕、好奇心、悲傷的感覺交錯混雜，尤其當你登機之後，<首次>一個人搭上旅程漫長，距離遙遠的飛機，而且你最少將留居台灣一年。.

<首次>在台灣上課

第一次在台灣上課之前，國語中心會要求你參加<華語文能力測驗>，並根據考試的結果安排你的學習課程。但請不用擔心，假若你發現這次考試的結果和你實際上的中文程度不符，你可以跟老師提出說明申請，並且改換課程。

<首次>留居台灣上課使每一個留學生感覺極為緊張，那是因為你還沒適應台灣的生活環境，加上文化差異及習慣不同等種種原因，但是你可以藉此機會，與那些跟你一樣的國際學生做朋友。

<首次>在台灣遊玩

其實通常一般人<首次>出去玩的經驗將比<首次>上課的經驗早一點，而KMK為有水準的學生報紙，我不才，所以不能直接說到這個話題。在台灣，有很多提供娛樂活動的管道，像台灣24小時的便利商店文化，你可以隨時找到Club、Bar、MTV、KTV...等這類活動的資訊。台灣的Club商家較為開放且發達，中級的Club都提供<喝到飽>的活動，你只要付一次錢，就可以無限暢飲所有酒精類的飲料。更有像荷蘭的Kroeg或Cafe 的地方，而且台灣的辣妹隨處可見，令人無法忽視。

<首次>聽到台灣國語

台灣跟中國大陸有一些部分不是如此，若是沒去過兩岸比較的話，可能無法感受到，這裡限制說台灣的國語，國語就是普通話、中文或漢語。但是最近台灣的政府不太喜歡含有<中>跟<漢>這兩個字的詞。上面寫到的<華語文能力測驗>不久前才為此更名。

除了這些最近的情況之外，台灣的人民就有一些語言上台灣人的特色：因為台語沒有<捲舌音>所以台灣人大多數說中文時也不會刻意發音出, 這類的聲音。我在花蓮(台灣漂亮的東部)也聽說過 說成 的問題。<法國>的發音就變成 Huaguo，我聽了很久才知道對方在說什麼。

除了發音上面的特色之外(這個在中國大陸的每一個省份應該也有各自的習慣用語)，台灣的中文就受到了許多台語跟日語的影響。

<首次>說到政治

每一個國家都有其歷史文化及政治色彩上的特色。就像很多人認為和德國人溝通最好不要說到<第二次世界大戰>，但是基本上你不要怕和受到現代化教育的德國人談論這個問題。就如和台灣人說兩岸關係是一樣的，現代的台灣人一談到這個問題，基本上都會說世界上沒有一個國家不受中國大陸發展的影響，而台灣不過是影響最大的其中之一罷了。每天都有傳播媒體跟政治人物談論這個敏感問題。在路上，尤其是碰到年紀較大的人，經常會找機會跟外國人分享他們的意見。在台灣的政治社會裡，以兩股勢力為主，分別以顏色劃分為代表藍色的<國民黨>，以及以綠色代表的<民進黨>。根據歷史上的發展，北台灣的人民偏向支持藍色的國民黨，中部與南台灣的人民則偏向綠色的民進黨。如果你看台灣政治的地圖，可以看到北部以藍色為主，而中南部則為綠色的勢力。這個情況讓人聯想到<台灣的天空為藍，草地為綠>的畫面。台灣人民對政治方面的意見，可以說是因為他們希望有平安無事的未來，不管兩岸關係最後發展為何，最重要是為了人民的安全與經濟發展。但是，仍有不少人懷疑台灣的未來會如何發展。

在台灣留學的經驗，對我的生活有極大的影響。但是其實到現在，我還不完全了解是怎麼樣的影響。在台北當留學生很方便，台北是一個方便又現代化的大都市，但是不管你對中國大陸的看法如何，台灣不是中國。這是我在北京、武漢及深圳旅行時明顯感受到的不同。

Quiet Taipei (English)

Taipei is actually more then just a noisy, crowded and polluted metropolis. There are some spots in the city that have a nice sphere and let you relax after a hard day of classes or work.
One of them definitely is the Da'an Park (大安森林公園):

I spotted this house on my way to the park in Wenzhou road (溫州街).

Old people can be frequently seen in the park, either chatting, exercising Qigong or playing some kind of boule.

Right on, Taiwanese people love it to socialize, even at high ages. Other social activities in the parks are dancing and sports.

I simply love it to take pictures of Taipei 101...

Hold your rifle tight...(English)

This picture was taken on a toilet of the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU).
And what does it mean?

別發抖!
握緊槍再射
Don't tremble!
Hold your rifle tight and then shoot

Haha, any more explanation needed? Or is it obvious enough about what kind of "rifle" this board is talking about?

Pitch and Put (English)

Well, sometimes it is time to spend some time in a more sophisticated way. Sometimes it is time to do sports that you cannot do wearing high-heels. Sometimes it is time to shoot the ball beyond the hedge!
Pitch and Put the large version of Mini-Golf for older children with the demand of a lot of fun. This session of Pitch and Put was the first time for most players taking part in our group, which resulted in a collection of funny scenes, a lot of laughter and the conscience that golf becomes more boring, the better you play it. After whole 9 out of 18 we got used to how to play and the hilarious moments of shooting the ball for only 50 cm or not hitting it at all became rare.

Stuugggi isch Möischda! (Deutsch)

Eigentlich sollte heute im Schatten des höchsten Gebäudes der Welt, der grandiose Abschluss einer unerwarteten Saison mit der Stuttgarter Meisterschaft gefeiert werden. Aber leider musste die blöde englische Lida zum gleichen Zeitpunkt das FA-Cup Finale veranstalten. Das bedeutet, dass sämtliche Sportbars in Taipei mit entsprechendem Publikum vollgepackt sind. Auch die einzige Sportbar, die die Spiele der "besten Liga der Welt" (spiegel.de) ausstrahlt war ebenfalls überfüllt. Dies hatte zur Folge, dass die Türen geschlossen worden und es nichts wurde mit der Live-Übertragung.

Hauptsache gewonnen, sagen wir dann mal! Stuggi is Meister, das ist doch schonmal was wert!
Schade, dass Mainz abgestiegen ist und vor allem, dass die Betzebuben es in der Zweiten Liga so schön finden und gar nicht mehr zurück in die deutsche Köngisklasse wollen.

Hier kommt ihr nicht rein, die Sportsbar "Tavern" in Taipei platze aus allen Nähten

Gedrückte Mienen, statt Fußball, Bier und Meisterlaune, gab es nur Hamburger mit Pommes und Cola. Später wurde zuhause beim Live-Ticker mitgefiebert.

Scooter-Paradise Taiwan (English)

Taiwanese police at work! (English)

Enjoy this funny of Taiwanese police agents hunting one little black car! See and learn their superiour methods.
The video is really funny!

BUT BE AWARE OF THE END, it might disturb some of you!!!!!

台灣 - 自殺之島?

本文章為荷蘭來頓中文系學生報紙出版:

這次KmK的版本是有關於暴力。我想了半天，想不到我的文章要怎麼寫。我在台灣生活的經驗都是非常安穩的,很有安全感。除了一次在迪斯可舞廳前，早上五點半，遇到了從沒有過的暴力相向經驗。那天我們剛出迪斯可舞廳，就有一些黑社會成員在打架，用棒球棒互相毆打對方，但我們因已經坐上計程車而沒有發生任何問題。

我之所以認為台灣是一個沒有像荷蘭那麼危險或暴力的原因?我不確定，就覺得這兩個國家社會暴力表達的方法不一樣。

在荷蘭跟別的西方國家，很多事情是較明顯的。台灣跟其他亞洲的社會國家較不會表達自己的感覺。但是有另外一個因素，對我來說亞洲比其他西方國家起來好像嚴格許多：「社會壓力」。

父母對於子女期待很高，因此造成學生壓力非常大。學生整天上課，回家以前還要去補習班學語言或數學。上班族平常要加班，甚至不能有一絲怨言。每個人都像機械化的機器人，按表做事，不出差錯，要不然家人，公司老闆，或老師等都會覺得很失望。

我認識的台灣的大學生都是非常努力的學生，天天都要寫功課，平常要打報告，只餵了應付期中跟期末考試。即使大部分的學生希望有個輕鬆一點的生活不行。

社會壓力也包括了經濟壓力。國立清華大學經濟學系的Hwei-Lin Chuang 跟 Wei-Chiao Huang研究過自殺與事業的關係 (Suicide and Unemployment: Is There a Connection? An Empirical Analysis of Suicide Rates in Taiwan).

他們論文的重點著重在研究發現在事業率較高的地區自殺率也會相對提高。他們指出，台灣最近幾年經歷了很多經濟、環境上跟社會上的變化。特別的例子是在一九九九年九月二十一日的大地震(造成兩千多個人過世,一萬多棟樓遭到破壞)。接著因為這樣的災難，許多人民與人民財產都受到了極大的損害。台灣的經濟也不如以往發展的迅速，這樣的情況造成了人民生活水準的下降，而相對的，失業率也跟著直線上升。

根據PEOPLE’S DAILY ONLINE 的報告，大部分自殺的人民通常是因為沒有工作或年齡六十歲以上。

我已經提出了我在台灣的經驗都是非常好的。暴力真的是很難找到的現象。但是我們也不能忘記大部分的暴力有可能不如我們平常所看到的表面那樣簡單。每一個社會跟每一個人民有自己的特性與差異性， 有的是優點，有的是缺點。總而言之，在我認為，台灣的社會自殺問題應該比荷蘭的比率高。

照片:“你可以不必自殺”,在台北劍潭拍的廣告

卓文宣 跟小鬼 - 愛的主旅律 (中文)

Taipei 101 (English)

Another beautiful day in Taipei. Short-trip to elephant-mountain. With great view of Taipei 101.

Nachschlag: Zu Olaf (Deutsch)

Unter Rhetorikern wurde gleich klar: beim Olaf (siehe Eintrag mit Video unten), da kann man noch was lernen.
Auch das Kamerateam, Maske und Requisite haben überzeugt.

Aber Olaf, war doch noch ne Klasse besser als der Rest!
Wer kennt Ihn, wer hat Ihn gesehen? Was macht Olaf, vielleicht immer noch in Taipei um Chinesisch zu lernen?

Ist dieser Link (http://www.ceri-sciencespo.com/cerifr/cherlist/griese.htm) ein Hinweis?

Chinesisch in Taipei! (Deutsch)

Früher oder später ist es soweit und auch Du, äh Sie, entscheiden sich mal Chinesisch, oder Schinesisch oder eventuell auch Kinesisch zu studieren. Das liegt daran, dass China, Schina und auch Kina ja immer stärker werden und man(n) und (F)frau sich dann auch damit auseinander setzen möchte. Auch geht es dabei vielleicht nur darum viel Geld zu verdienen und sich gar nicht für den Konfu oder so ähnlich (den ollen Lehrmeister von dort) eben, zu interessieren.
Gründe gibt es viele und genauso viele Orte an denen man dat, also, dass, ich meine, diese Sprache lernen kann oder auch will. Ja, und die Leute, von einer Universität hier in Taiwan, dat, äh das ist ne Insel, die haben mal bei Ihren Studierenden (Studenten is so sexistisch und voll uncool) nachgefragt, in allen Sprachen natürlich.
Und für uns Deutschen (nach dem Erfolg vom Jürgen, darf man "uns Deutsche" sagen und schreiben), wurde der Olaf gefragt. Der hat auch ne Menge guter Gründe uns seine Uni, also Universität, ans Herz zu legen. So, da der Olaf sich in Taipei sich leider nicht so gut auskennt, schreibe ich mal dazu, dass die Uni zwar sehr schön ist, aber gut gelegen, nein Olaf, dass ist sie wirklich nicht. Die Stadt ist nämlich etwas größer als nur die "Vergnügungsmeile" direkt vor Eurer Uni und mit dem Bus dauert es doch ne gute Stunde bis man, mal so etwa dort ist, wo es was zu machen gibt. Außer man trinkt gerne Tee in Maokong (貓空), dann ist die Uni vom Olaf wirklich super gelegen. Auch beim Zoo ist man Ruckzuck.
So jetzt geht es aber ab: "Klappe und Olaf, los geht`s, mmmh gleich, jetzt aber! Und stell dich erstmal auf Chinesisch, äh, Schinesisch, oder doch gleich auf Kinesisch vor!"



Wer sich dann wirklich für die Uni interessiert (schlecht soll die nämlich wirklich nicht sein), der kann dann hier klicken.

豬之歌 (中文)

我今天在台北政大附近看到了一支可愛的豬. 請大家看一下如下的電影...

Nachschlag: Der zweite Bericht über die Tarokoschlucht mit Ton (Deutsch)

Nachschlag: Der erste Bericht über die Tarokoschlucht mit Ton (Deutsch)

Everything is safe! Only a practice alarm... (English)

Tuesday, 10th of April, 2pm. My class was about to finish, while I was packing my stuff, I still chatted a bit with my teacher. A lot of other students were already walking around in the hallway, passing by our classroom. The normal noise level was beginning to arouse.
Then all of a sudden lights began to be turned out, from afar a siren could be heard. All of a sudden traffic outside the classroom began to slow down, people moving inside the buildings, like the big library opposite of my classroom. After another short while the Mandarin Training Centre was totally blacked out and traffic was absolutely disrupted. What has happened within the last one to three minutes was really scary, what was going on? My teacher smiles: "Should we also turn off the lights, we are actually supposed to. Well until last year we had to go down and assemble on the big parking lot somewhere around here. Ah, do you see the lights in the library are all turned off now. Well this is a practice alarm for a potential air raid. Now we may not move for 30 minutes and need to wait for the sign that it is over."
People who were walking on the streets had to stop right where they are (when you were in the middle of crossing an intersection, that was your spot to wait for the next 30 minutes), cars had to be stopped and police assembled in every major intersection to ensure security. I heard until last year some kind of inspection police actually controlled public buildings whether everyone was obeying the rules or not.
Nowadays, only the lights had to be turned off and we were actually supposed to have class. Well in times when the direction of the MTC decides that the air-conditioning system need to be renovated for the coming 80 days (which means that the air-co may only work at lower power or not at all), we can also have class without light!
Only a small group of antagonists in the 10th floor (the floor for research students of Chinese as a Second language), resisted to turn off the lights. This might be another form of protest against the current government of President Chen Shuibian.
For most people this kind of exercise is ridiculous and a waste of time and money. I assume that there is still a slight chance existing that makes this kind of exercises necessary and it is wise to be alert. After half an hour of silence and shut-down the sirens sounded again and everything came back to live.