Bobtail in Taipei (English)

This is the first Bobtail I met in Taipei. A really cute and very well cared for dog. Her name was 寶貝 (Baobei, or Darling).

DJ Chris (English)

Chris, a student at the MTC, was working as a DJ tonight at the Irish Pub "Shannon" in Taipei (Dunhua Northroad, #6).
The Pub looks very nice, with a wide bar and some nice and relaxing leather couches. The Pub offers the typical variety of Guiness Beer and other Irish alcohols, as well as Burgers, Steaks, Sandwiches and even a Vegetarian collection.

Here are some pics:

Taiwan vs. Australia U23 (English)

Happy Valentine`s day to all football fans in Taiwan:



Today was the match between the national team of Taiwan (or Chinese Taipei) and the team under 23 of Australia. The match took place in Taipei`s Zhongshan stadium. A bowl for about 20.000 fans, in quite a bad shape, with one of the worst grass fields in football stadiums worldwide.

The match was not really promising to become something for the history books of football, but is was worth a try to see how Taiwanese people cheer for their team and moreover who watches football matches in Taiwan.

The crowd was quite young (I guess 70% below 25 years) and a lot more civilised than the typical Fan in European stadiums. Though there was no ban on alcohol, only the foreigners present were drinking beer while watching the match.

The atmosphere created by the about 1.500 supporters was nice and warm, but never creating a chill, which could have really pulled out more out of the team on the field.

There were also quite a lot of girls, screaming at the "stars" in the way we know about their reaction to "Robbie Williams" or maybe "David Beckham".

There was one group in one of the curves, which could be considered as being hardcore fans. They were chanting: "Taiwan go go, Taiwan go go go, Taiwan I love you!". And "Allez, allez" to mark the connection between the blue French and the blue Taiwanese teams.

But in the end all the support was not enough to prevent the defeat. Australia won 1 to 0 in a match which was unspectacular, badly organized and had a great lack of will among both teams. But Australia was looking better during the 90 minutes and could show some beginnings of nice football.
Taiwan especially lacked condition, the first player of Taiwan had a cramp in the 60th minute. The medics had probably the least relaxed job during the match, as they had to take care of about 5 or 6 "injured" Taiwanese players.

Yet, due to the special charms of the site and the great Fans it was more than worthwhile to spent the 90 minutes at the Zhongshan stadium.

Hong Tong from Chinese Radio Amsterdam in Taipei (English)

Today I met my old colleague and good friend Hong Tong from my time doing volunteer work at the Chinese Radio in Amsterdam. A volunteer radio station in Amsterdam. Programmes are broadcasted in Cantonese, Mandarin and Dutch.
As I learned from Hong Tong this are going really well and the radio is gradually increasing its activities.
Hong Tong was just on a trip to Hongkong, when he decided to make a quick visit to Taipei. We had a nice dinner at the food-court in Taipei 101 with another Cantonese friend from Holland.
Please have a look at the site of the Chinese Radio in Amsterdam and enjoy their great programme online:

www.chineseradio.nl

Pictures of the last day (English)

I promised that I would upload some pictures from the last day of Martijn`s, Ayleen`s and Tobias` stay in Taiwan.
They are now still travelling around somewhere in the Mainland, before they return to Beijing to go back to class:

Boukje and me, waiting for the airport-bus and actually for some parts of the group ;-)

After having partied for a whole night the condition was not certainly stable at all times.

Here we are, at the airport!

And off they go, one of the last escalators before boarding the plane

Ayleen and Tobias gave that nice hat as a gift to me. As you can see, it also perfectly suits a nice "Communist" lady...

The whole gallery can be seen here:

Gallery

Internet is back (English)

I don`t know what they did, but it works again! Juhu!

Internet Problems (2, English)

It seems like the connection problems are due to my internet service provider. I don't know what it is, but there seems to be no way to get a hold of a service clerk at that company. 6 days in a row...really no fun!

The Dutch visitors returned today to Hong Kong and will continue their trip on the Mainland, before returning to Beijing. The last evening was the eclipse of a great week and numerous memorable experiences in Taiwan for them and us. Everything went smooth, we arrived at the airport on time, and could leave a great impression on the other travellers, by chanting some Dutch folksongs and chatting loudly about the last week.

As soon as I can acces the net from home again, I will upload some pictures.

Stay tuned...

Internet Problems Taiwan (English)

It seemed like the earthquake south of Taiwan mid of december 2006 had no influence on my personal internet experience, but the last few days prove me to be wrong. Accessing the net is not easy right now, and it is very slow. Even the university's internet connection seems to be back to ISDN ages. At home I have not been able to access the net for two days in a row and friends report the same problems. My teacher, however, told us that she has no problems to access the net from here home, outside of Taipei. So maybe this is a Taipei related issue.

Anyway, I hope that things will speed up soon, so that I can post easier about what is going on here.

Nederlanders op bezoek (Nederlands)

Ja, Taiwan is altijd een vakantie waard. En delegatie van onze studiegenoten en vrienden uit het noorden, met name Peking, is op het moment te bezoek in Taiwan.

Naar de harde studie in de hoofdstad van het land nordelijk te Taiwan, hebben de Leidse studenten en vrij lange tijd om het land van Mao te leren kenen. Tobias, Ayleen en Martijn makten van hun kans gebruik om hun reis ten zuiden met een visite hier in Taipei en Taiwan af te ronden.

We hebben hier al indrukwekkende verhalen van urenlange treinreizen en hele mooie plekjes aarde mogen horen. Maar met het wilde leven hier hadden ze blijkbaar geen rekening gehouden. Zo lijken de reizigers uit het verre noorden hier niet meer zo actief en genieten eerder van de velen kansen om zich rond het studentische leven in Taipei en omgeving te vermaken.

Vandaag was ik met Martijn op de 101, 508 meter boven de zee!

Lekker Sushi - Taiwan veel beter dan in Dalu, toch?

Huiswerk en een beetje slapen in een café. Ook voor de "Taiwaners" is het niet altijd makkelijk te feesten én les te volgen.

Rustig aan gaan.

Martijn met zijn Taiwenese vriendin Cecilia, en Mark met Ayleen

Kenny Boy en Boukje! Ja, jongens goed kijken en de "stokjes" vast pakken

De grote kogel boven in Taipei 101. Zonder dat ding, zou die toren niet zo stevig kunnen staan.

Martijn en ik, onderweg met de snelste lift ter wereld

Native tribe of the A-mei 阿美 (English)

Long before the Han Chinese settled on the island of Taiwan there were already people living here. The situation can probably to some extend be compared to the colonization of Northern America, where also long before the Europeans arrived Natives were living.

And also the situation can be compared I guess. The natives have a lot of problems in their daily lives, are the outsiders of the normal society, followed by a lot of alcohol and unemployment problems.

There are some different tribes living through-out the island. The largest of them is the tribe of the A-mei, the smallest is not even consisting of a lot more then 10 people any more.
A special characteristic of the Natives´ society is ( I am actually not sure whether that is true for all the tribes, at least for the A-mei it is) are maternal societies. In contrast to the patriachic society of the Han Chinese.


That results in interesting findings when travelling there: When we were driving there were road constructions, a group of men of women could be seen. But there was one thing striking us immediately: The women were holding the tools and working on the pavement, the men were sitting, chatting and enjoying the day. We asked our driver immediately, who told us that this is due to the society. Men take care of the children and the household, women carry the burden to feed the family. There was nothing weird going on on that road construction, not in A-mei terms.


Another interesting experience was due to the Chinese language. Where you have to terms for saying "to marry". One for the male part, which is 娶 and has the meaning of taking someone else (the woman in one`s household) and the female part 嫁 (which means to leave the elderly household and become part of the husband`s family`s household). In the A-mei society the whole terminology is turned around. So, when I was wandering around on the campus of a school and talked to some of the school kids, on girl asked her friend: "你要不要娶他?" ("Do you want to take him to your household?"), a situation that made me smile and just expressed how much our societies are depending on cultural backgrounds and the way we grow up.

Snake Night Market 華西街夜市 (English)

One speciality of Taipei is the variety in Night Markets. And every market has its own reason to be famous.

The Huaxi Street Night market is known for its snakes. There are some stalls and restaurants offering snakes of all sizes and kinds. Big Anacondas, small Pythons whatever you heart desires. In front of one famous restaurant is a snake show, to attract customers. People get the chance to touch and pet the Anaconda. A really nice experience actually. Snakes feel nice and warm, their skin is the softest I have ever touched.



Yet the reason for the show is less positive. After having been attracted to take a seat you can choose from several snake menus. The top deal is the snake soup with great ingredients, which are supposed to support your health. Though I have been there a few times to have a look and pet the snakes I never tasted any of the food offered yet.
As soon as I do, I will inform you about my impression. But I cannot promise, if I will do so.



Another speciality are turtles, a symbol of long life in China.