Our friend 趙樹海

Speaking of TV programs, some of you asked how Allen (Chao) is doing. I have not seen him yet, but we did email each other, and when I go to Taipei, I'll call him up. But how Allen is doing is not a major concern, it is how Mark is doing. In Canada, we had no idea how popular he has become. Here in Taiwan, he is hot hot hot. I see him on TV, commercials, pictures everywhere. What surprises me is the wide audience he has and appeals to. He definitely has the potential to become a mega star, not just in Taiwan, but across Asia as he is still young.


Here is a recent picture of 趙又廷

and you can watch him on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0rSPCJbUcQ

and the popular TV show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62mGh3cDa88

I think Allen and Daisy should be very proud........I'm happy for them.

Foreigners in Taiwan

Foreigners are not very common in Taiwan, definitely not like Hong Kong which is a lot more international. But those who do like Taiwan and live in Taiwan do manage to speak Mandarin effectively, and some very well. One of the TV shows I enjoy watching is called "Foreign brides". Every week the show features women who are new residents of Taiwan whose spouses are local Taiwanese. It amazes me that after only a few short years, some of these ladies speak almost perfect Mandarin. This show invites other women newcomers to appear on TV and there is a number to call. I wonder when they will have a same program for "Foreign husbands"?

The show itself is very interesting. Each week they talk about the nuances, pet peeves, likes and dislikes, and their overall experiences in their new chosen homes. I can relate to that.

If you think they speak effectively, wait until you hear them sing......

Taroko national park

Last day of summer today for kids and we finally made it to the world famous Taroko gorge. It is literally in our backyard as it is only a thirty minutes drive from our house. This national park is ranked right up there with the Yosemite NP, which speaks volume. This place attracts a lot of foreigners as they come to hike and bike. Also there is an international marathon here every November. The 42 km course wraps around the entire mountainous road with spectacular sights and sounds. I only wished the clock could rewind ten years when I was fit for such a task......
First video is the ranger station...

then the beauty unfolds....

In this video, we stand over a platform which has a 500 feet vertical drop to the canyon below. Great spot for bungee jumping. My hands were sweaty when I leaned over with my camera......

In this next video, we spotted a cave behind a boulder which swallows flying in and out of. Chinese people love the swallow's nest (燕窩) and I can see why it is so expensive. It is extremely dangerous to climb and hang over a sheer cliff in order to get to the nests, people often die doing this.

Judging from the caves and available water within these mountains, I imagine wild lives are abundant here.

I was hoping to walk across this suspension bridge to see the other side of the mountain, but the sign says.......permits only. So, rather than going out on a limb and risk falling off the mountain, we decided to get back on the road again.........

You know the saying "there is light at the end of a tunnel"? It hit me cold when I turned around while following my family along the caved road. Yes, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and it was bright! It was really weird, a sense of deja vu, and also a sense of enlightenment....kinda spirtual, and kinda spooky.....notice I did not say anything, I was speechless. I just stopped filming and kept walking, seizing the moment, for what, I have not a clue......I spaced out for a moment but snapped out of it fast when a bus honked and I nearly stumbled onto its path. Perhaps seeing the light was a forewarning that I was about to "become" the light! Just not my time yet I guess.

It ain't difficult to feel some what spirtual up here because a lot of Chiang's soldiers died here blasting and building this road. Right after the corner of where I saw the light, we came upon a memorial for the dead.........

What a day. Now back to the future......

Philosophical Differences

The following was forwarded to me, and I say, right on!

I asked my friend's little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be Prime Minister of Canada some day. Both of her parents, NDP supporters, were standing there, so I asked her, "If you were Prime Minister what would be the first thing you would do?" She replied, "I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people." Her parents beamed, and said, "Welcome to the NDP Party!" "Wow...what a worthy goal!" I told her. I continued, "But you don't have to wait until you're Prime Minister to do that. You can come over to my house, mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out. You can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house." She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?" I smiled and said, "Welcome to the Conservative Party." Her parents still aren't speaking to me.

No parking fines in Hualien

One of the things I don't miss about Victoria is the parking tickets. I'm sure I'm not the only person who has some beef about parking fines. Hualien has a good system. There are no meters. No expired parking. No fines. No problems. The commissionairs issue you a ticket which has a time line and if that ticket is full, you get a new one.

As you can see, its $20NT an hour, which is 70 cents Cdn, and you pay for whatever time you use. Never a fine. Will that work in Victoria? I don't see why not.

花蓮水舞

Every summer in July and August, Hualien stages an evening show of aboriginal dance, music, and light show in a spectacular lake side setting. Hualien is very rich in aboriginal culture as 30% of the population here is indigenous. We caught the last show of the summer as school starts next week and summer holiday is officially over. The show is free, so is the half hour tour bus ride to and from the show.....what a deal.

On weekends, there are fireworks....

The native people here blend in quite well with Chinese people and there are many mixed bloods. They have no resentment against Chinese, but still do against Japanese because during the 50 years of Japanese occupation of Taiwan, aboriginals were treated badly. The costumes, the colors, remind me very much of native Polynesians. Here are the links for better presentation of the water dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jduSb9kWyfM&feature=related

Think something like this will be embraced in Victoria? Inner harbor will be a perfect venue, except, you guessed it, parking problems.....How about Elk lake? A celebration of the aboriginal culture could become a new tourist draw and may add more to the tourism industry.......

School starts

This week is Frankie's last summer camp, as regular school starts next Monday. School hours are 7:45am to 4pm daily, but she will stay until 5pm so that she gets help with her homework. Teachers here work very long hours, as they are at school before 7:30am and most stay until after 5pm to help those students who need extra help.

Here she is with her new school uniform...

I don't know if you can see from the pictures, but she is quite dark from playing outside. She signed up for basketball at school and guess what, she was the only girl basketball player. I say, go for it! Anything a boy can do, a girl can do equally good or better......

Dumbwaiter

Not a derogative aimed at lousy service personnels. A dumbwaiter is a service elevator designed to deliver food and stuff for different floors, often found in large restaurants with separate floors such as those in Asia.

A very busy noodle shop with a limited menu. As you can see, the menu is on the wall...

Remember, these are new Taiwan dollars (NT). One loonie buys 30 NT right now. Ten bucks Cdn feeds a family of three in a decent restaurant here. Yes, there are expensive places here too: remember our dinner at Pizza Hut for $80US?........hm.......

My friend Alex Pan

I met Alex the first week, at the tennis courts as I picked up a game with him. We've been playing almost everyday, and playing singles with him is a real workout. He is eight years senior of me, but he is fit. We are pretty even and everyday is a battle as we play two sets in about two hours in the sizzling heat. I drink at least a gallon (4.5 liter) of water a day here, comparing to an average of one liter in Canada, if that. Alex invited us to lunch today at his country home, about 20 minutes outside of Hualien. It reminds me of 新界 in the old Hong Kong......

Alex is an English teacher at a local high school, but a very colorful fellow as he grew up very poor and spent his youth as a soldier in Chiang Kai Shek's army. I call him Chinese crocodile dundee as he goes deep in the mountains to catch poisonous snakes to make "snake wine". Crazy bugger.....

He also spent some time in Scotland where he picked up the habit of scotch and cigar. Whyte Cheung will really enjoy his company, and most of you too. His statue and mannerism reminds me very much of John Mah, even the way he wears and wipes his glasses, and the way he laughs, darn!

After lunch and a bottle of scotch later (I seldom drink scotch, so you have to pardon my language in the videos as I was high as a kite), Alex shows us his acre of land where he raises his own chicken, escargots, and veggies. He also brings home boulders from the mountains, where he has a workshop to cut and polish these rocks into beautiful gems. Because you need running water when cutting stones, he often gets electricuted when the water touches his grinder. No big deal he says, just a shock. One time his grinder slipped and he cut his vein on his wrist with blood pouring out. Being a distance from a nearby hospital, he stitched the open wound with pins to stop the bleeding. The doctor jokingly told him to go home as he was already stitched.....what a guy!

Upon leaving after a three hour lunch, his beautiful and very youthful wife invites us back for supper. I can hardly wait....but I'll need some help with the scotch, are you listening Mr Cheung?

Dim sum

There are two dim sum restaurants here and we visited one of them yesterday.
Most of the stuff are very good, pretty close to the real thing, and the price? $80 Cdn for the eight of us, not cheap.

Ocean Park in Hualien

Remember the Farglory hotel at the beginning of the blog? The hotel was built to serve out of town guests who come to the marine theme park, and we are visiting this theme park today before school starts tomorrow for Frankie.

There are two parts to the theme park: a marine related aquatic park with aquariums, sealion pool, dolphin pool, and a rip off souvenir shop of course. Then there is the theme park with disney style rides, all included in the ticket price, about $40US for a family of three. Not bad at all.

First we visit some marine life. Here is a pool of stingrays and sharks in an open tank!

And here in this tank are some beautiful lobsters, I'm getting hungry by the minute...

More tropical fish....brilliant colors!

After a little education on marine life, its time to let the hair down and ride the wind......

The view from this cliff side park is magnificient. We can see the Pacific ocean far beyond the horizon on a clear day which is almost everyday. Today was sunny with temp between 35 and 40 celcius.

Here is the dolphin show. This aquatic stadium is only about a nine iron from the ocean, which from where we are sitting, seems seamless because we cannot see where the pool ends and where the ocean begins......These poor dolphins are only 100 meters from freedom, but I guess its better here than being served up as mahi mahi somehwere........really getting hungry now...

So we went to Pizza Hut because the kids wanted pizza. Get this: pizza and pasta for the eight of us costed $80US, which ain't bad. But we could have a beautiful gourmet dinner for half that price in a Hualien style bistro. My wife and I had a big argument about this. When I was told that the pizza/pasta buffet would cost $10US a head at the door, I was ready to leave. No way I was paying a princely sum for junk food. But being typically Asian, she wanted to be polite and stayed. Suddenly it dawned on me that this is a cultural conflict: having lived in North America most of my life, I have learned to be an individual, where I am free to speak my mind and act on it without concerns to others. Asian culture shuns that. Here is an example: in an American restaurant, if something is not right, we complain and the problem gets corrected. Nothing personal and no hard feelings. In a Chinese restaurant, if you don't like something, don't say anything. Just don't go back. If you complain, you don't "give face" and they take it very personal. Guess I better learn to become more Asian again......

What I miss about Victoria

There are a few things which I miss very much of Victoria.
Courteous and law abiding drivers - I have to learn how to drive all over again in Taiwan. Its not that people here are bad drivers, in fact, they are excellent drivers. But they do not have patience and they will go around you if you are slow to turn. And scooters simply ignore cars and car drivers must watch and yield for them. I'm getting used to it....At first it seems like chaos, but after a while, it becomes clear to me that everyone is in control, and logically speaking, there is no chaos in a controlled environment....
Maple syrup - wished I shipped a case of the God's nectar. I found a store here, but a tiny bottle sells for $15 Cdn.....
Golfing buddies - I miss you guys all.
My mom - knowing how lonely she is.
Tuesday nites - when the secret Asian men played music in Chinatown. I wished I could have come up with this name sooner, would have put some life into the band so that the guys will continue playing without me. I feel guilty being the one breaking up the band. I know now how Yoko Ono must have felt after being accused of being responsible for the break up of the Beatles.....
Here is one for old time sake.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXJHhrPhGIE

Soup kitchen

Just before I left Canada, Sam sent me a recipe of vegetable soup. Here is the original content:

BASIC FAT-BURNING SOUP
Shopping List
1 or 2 cans of stewed tomatoes
3 large green onions
1 large can of fat-free beef or chichen broth
1 pkg. fat-free soup Mix
1 bunch celery
2 cans green beans [or fresh]
2 or 3 green bell peppers
2 lbs. carrots
Cut veggies in small to medium pieces. Add water to cover.Season with salt, pepper, parsley if desired, boullion, soup mix. Add necessary + optional vegetables and seasonings as desired. Bring to rapid boil - cook for 10 minutes, then reduce heat and simmer until veggies are tender. EAT this soup anytime you are hungry. EAT as much as you want, whenever you want. This soup will not add calories. The more you EAT the more weight you will lose. Fill a thermos in the morning and take to work.You may DRINK lots of water, [6-8 glasses a day], unsweetened juces, tea, coffee, cranberry juice. OPTIONAL ADDITIONS: Fresh mushrooms, zucchini squash, yellow onions, chopped garlic, chili flakes, cabbage, fresh green beans and tomatoes. The basic fat burning soup can be eaten any time you feel hungry -- eat as much as you wish. Remember the more you eat the more weight you will lose.

I started this soup four days ago, making a large pot everyday. I also add Chinese mushrooms, wood ears (type of fungus), and fresh bamboo shoots. Mushroom and fungus have excellent anti-oxidant properties and add flavor, while bamboo shoots have very high fiber content. These three extra ingredients add a very nice texture to an otherwise boring soup. I don't know how much weight I will lose because I still eat other stuff, but the soup definitely cuts down my appetite for carbs, and that should help in controlling my weight. One thing for sure if you want to try this soup: get some quality toilet paper, your bottom will apreciate it. Never in my life I have bowel movement four to five times a day......Fact is, it is a great tasting soup, even Frankie loves the soup, and she has had problems with constipation all her life. She now has beautiful bowel movements twice a day.......

Sam, if you are reading this, please have Irene make mom this soup and have her try it at least once. It may be very beneficial for her, as this soup is excellent for cleansing and lets face it, we all need more veggies.

To your health!

Sushi nite & hula girls

C'mon folks, this is a blog for families, don't even think about it....

This is Frankie's favorite restaurant: Sushi go around as she calls it. Pretty good salmon and tuna sashimi, also fresh shrimp, baby abalones, and salmon roes. Three of us are stuffed for about $15US, about 1/4 what it would cost in Victoria.

Its sleep over again for the girls, and they put on quite a show. Reminds me of the little hula girls in Hawaii. These girls love singing and dancing, and are not afraid to do it in front of total strangers. I've got an idea: think I'll bring them back to Victoria next summer and find them a spot down at the inner harbor. Could make a killing with american tourists.........perhaps Queenie will help with some choreography..........

Easy like Sunday morning

No tennis today, so I'm going to the markets to buy some fresh clams to make some clam & miso soup.....on my Hardly Davidson.

.

A typical summer day here is a little cloud or light rain overnite, then brilliant sunshine in the morning and lasts all day. Day time temp is about 35 celcius and evening is about 30. Remember a few days ago when temp was over 40, and I said that something bad was going to happen, like a Typhoon? How do I know that? Because when I was a kid in HK, whenever it gets unbearably hot and humid but no rain for an extended period of time, some kind of storm will form and that will relieve the pressure being built up. Sometimes it is just a thunderstorm which passes quickly, but once in a while, we get these deadly typhoons and depending on where and how you live, it could mean death and disasters.

Easy rider

I got a new toy today. This is my "Hardly Davidson", a four year new low mileage Yamaha scooter. It has a 125cc engine, zero to 60 takes a lifetime but is great for around town. Including taxes, license and two years insurance: $1100US.

Helmets are compulsory here. It is awesome to feel the open road and cool breeze on a hot day. My international driver license is endorsed for a year here, same length as my Taiwan resident card, which is renewable after one year. I am now a Hong Kong Chinese with Canadian citizenship officially resident of Taiwan. It gets more complicated when I try to explain to locals in Mandarin. What frustrates me the most is that when I speak Mandarin to them, they reply in Taiwanese which I have no clue. So, instead of feeling stupid, I now just speak Cantonese to them and watch them scratching their heads......They know I'm speaking Chinese, just not sure what dialect. So, instead of me feeling stupid, they now feel inadequate........its pretty funny and a great ice breaker.

Btw, I finally met a person from Hong Kong. We were at a KTV and getting food at the buffett table, and I hear some guy speaking Cantonese to his boy. I turned around and said to him, that this was my first time hearing Cantonese in Hualien. Turned out he is a teacher at the same high school as Rebecca's brother, but people don't know he is from HK because he speaks perfect Mandarin. I have a long way to go.......

To the beach

Hualien has endless miles of coastline which stretches from south of Taipei all the way down to Taitung.

With such a beautiful setting, you would expect hotels and resorts, and condos dotting the beach front, exploiting the location and turning them into cash cows. But no, apart from a few B&Bs and small boutique hotels, big money is not here in Hualien. Tourism is not commercially promoted and this is what keeps Hualien "quaint".

Rebecca's aunt is visiting from Chiayi where heavy flooding continues. She is really enjoying the break, here playing on the beach with Frankie and Rebecca...in the background, we can hear "Gao Shan Qing". There is an open air karaoke on the beach front promenade, pretty neat...We can all sing our hearts out in a closed setting, but open air with hundreds of spectators? You've got to have balls!!!

It was such a perfect evening: temperature around the low 80s, a light breeze, and air is so fresh after the typhoon......I can handle this.....

To the market

Taiwan is quite traditional relative to Hong Kong and China.

Folks here still have a habit of going to the markets in the morning to shop for fresh veggies, seafood, and meats.

Of course, super markets are getting a big piece of the pie these days, and here is Frankie helping out........

Live chicken just like when we were kids........

and fresh fish......

Taiwanese call this the traditional markets and they open from early morning until noon. There are also "evening markets" which emphasize on cooked food for many who don't want to cook.

Heading south

Aug 5
Typhoon is aiming at Hualien and is supposed to reach land in 48 hours. We are taking the opportunity to visit relatives in the south and to escape our first typhoon in Taiwan. So we thought........
We packed and left in our car for an eight hour drive to Kaoshiung with a few sightseeing stops.
Our first stop was lunch, could not resist the best pork hock in town.....




Second stop was a sugar factory........



feeding frenzy inside the sugar factory.......weather was hot and humid at this time, with no signs of storm yet.


When we stopped for a break, I saw this thing sticking out from the front grille of my car, it was a butterfly! I thought it must have been dead but it moved, so Frankie and I placed her on a flower bed nearby, and hoped she would find her way home.....

I made the same mistake as Captain Cook did. I thought we reached the west side of the island when I saw ocean, but fact was, we just reached the southern tip of the east coast.....

Frankie took over the filming here as she made fun of my mishap......



Finally we made it thru to the west coast after driving thru some very treacherous mountain roads.....


After eight hours, we reached Kaoshiung, and time for dinner......

After dinner, we checked in to a motel (motor hotel as its called here, because there is a garage attached to the unit!), and what a place...



It has a jacuzzi which fits at least ten people, with waterfall, a TV, a massage table.....let your imagination run wild.....


and a very comfy bed.......great for honeymooners....(don't try to click on the image, not a video and no adult materials here, haha)

Aug 6
First sign of the typhoon came on Aug 6 while we were touring the Chiayi reservoir. All of a sudden the sky turned dark and the rain came just as fast as the sun dissappeared. Temperature dropped about ten degrees instantly. It was quite eerie, we all got goose bumps....Weather forecast suggests that the south will not be affected much as the typhoon will land at Hualien. We made a good choice by heading south, we thought......

Aug 7

Woke up to heavy wind and rain, the south is getting a good whooping also. At this time, damage is light and we have no idea that within 24 hours, many people will die and whole village will be wiped out as it never existed.....

Aug 8

This is bad, real bad. Torrential rain non stop for 48 hours now in the south while the north is pretty dry.

Aug 9

I'm still stuck in my hotel room, only getting out for food nearby.....

You may have seen this haunting video. The hotel which fell into the river was 50 meters from the river bank. We passed by this hotel just two days ago.

In this video, you can see people running for their lives......The raging river has actually taken all the earth and sand under the hotel before it collapsed.....

Finally, the rain stopped and the sky began to clear. The worst is over and we are driving home tomorrow. We cannot take the same route as most of the roads and bridges are now destroyed. We will drive north to Taipei and then take the mountain road to Hualien. The railway and some of the roads in the south will not be reopened for at least three to six months while being repaired and in many cases, have to be totally rebuilt.

Aug 10

We made it home. What an experience this has been. I've never been so close to such devastation and witnessed such massive destruction in such a short time. Even local people who regularly live thru typhoons and earthquakes have never seen anything like this. Taiwan is in a state of shock. What makes this disaster terrifying is the fact that many victims were able to call their loved ones minutes before they perished. One girl was asking her family for help after her car plunged into the raging river when the bridge she was driving on collapsed. She spoke to her mom frantically just before the phone went silent......so aweful....no way you can have a dry eye listening to the tape. Total nightmare. Why her, why not the car before her??

Life is back to norm up here in Hualien as all debris have been removed and there is no evidence of a typhoon at all. Paradise returns to northern Taiwan while the south is still suffering in a hellish nightmare. Casualties continue to rise and now they may have to deal with potential diseases. That's all for now as my tennis partner is waiting......

Shanghai noon

We found a little Shanghai restaurant for lunch today. Jimmy would love this place. The owner cooks all the dishes, and he has customers from all over the world with pictures and newspapers adorning the walls, neat place. See that little totem at the bar? Given by his friends from Burnaby.

We have all the classic Shanghai dishes, including "steamed stinky tofu", which is awesome. Yellow bean soup was outstanding, it was simmered for ten hours!

It is hot today, with the mercury reaching 40 celsius. A major storm is brewing off the coast and we could see the first typhoon soon. Despite the heat, I still manage to play two hours of tennis (single!) every morning, and I drink gallons of water.