storyville

I'm making another exception to my rule about not posting photos that are directly related to my fieldwork, mostly because I like this one. The four individuals onstage here are all amateur performers of 說唱 (shuochang, literally "speaking-singing"), a kind of musical narrative performance. They are students of a very famous blind storyteller named Yang, who sat in the front row to provide encouragement for her pupils. A very nice man who noticed me and two of my friends lurking in the back area took me aside to explain that the story (performed in Taiwanese, which I don't understand) was about a man who traveled from mainland China to Taiwan before the Japanese colonial period, leaving his wife behind. He took up with a prostitute in Taiwan, which his wife eventually discovered. Upon hearing the news she was so enraged that she committed suicide to forever haunt her husband as a ghost.

I want one

Formosan mountain dogs are beautiful.

a little more sugar for 不老部落

Birds in the forest.

不老部落

I spent the day at 不老部落, a fascinating restaurant/workshop/farm/inn/family home for a group of seven Atayal families in Yilan County. After roasting mushrooms over a fire and meeting our hosts' amazing dogs, we explored the property and marveled at what they've created from immediately available local resources. I particularly loved the light fixture fashioned out of nails (top right)--it was just beautiful.

market economy

Although Taipei has a variety of really wonderful supermarkets--I found matzoh ball mix at City Super last week!--they tend to be very expensive. The most economic places to shop, by far, are the city's many open-air markets. I took these photos at the market near Yongchun Station, not far from where I live. I don't know if it's apparent from the pictures, but the fish was incredibly fresh and sparkly-eyed. P.S. Hope you're not sick of my toy camera pictures yet!

a rich tapestry

Though this is hardly a fabulous photograph, I couldn't resist the urge to post it. There's so much going on...my parents-in-law striking saucy poses, a peace sign, etc. Oh, and a giant fiberglass gingerbread man (who is actually both a character from Shrek and the random mascot for a Taiwanese Mexican restaurant chain called GoodDay) bathing in a hotpot, wearing a tiny towel on his head as though he were enjoying a soak in a Japanese hot spring. Although the gingerbread man is all smiles, I can only imagine that one of his legs (the one submerged in broth) has dissolved. Gruesome.

...and more palm trees

Some days I think the campus at NTU is absolutely beautiful. It's only if you look closely that you can see that the buildings are perilously close to collapsing.

what Taiwan needs is more color...

A few weeks ago I went shopping for fabric in Wanhua, the old part of the city, with my in-laws. We were looking for material that we might use to make a wedding banquet dress for me. I suggested this pattern, a much-loved Taiwanese floral, but they didn't seem too excited about the idea. They didn't say that it would make me look like a couch, but that's what they were thinking. I know it.

mysterious statue

I am too lazy to figure out who this statue represents. Suffice it to say that I am still playing with my toy camera. More information to come. If I feel like it.

where the buses sleep

We live across the street from a large parking lot that I like to think of as the place where the buses sleep. Taipei is full of brightly colored coaches whisking tourists off to places where they can drink clam tea and learn about the secret to Sun Yat-sen's longevity (the answer: clam tea).

life is beautiful

I recently purchased a very cool new toy camera, my first ever. It makes things very pretty.

Life in Taipei is aaaaaall right.

boat's caught fire

I spent last weekend at the incredible Wang Yeh festival at Donglong Temple in Donggang. Read more about the festival here.

My photos never look as good when I feed them to Blogger, they lose color and definition. But I still love this shot of a gezaixi 歌仔戲 performer staring right at me. Is it kosher to say that about a picture I took?

Each palanquin--festooned with furiously blinking lights--held a different deity. I didn't get a chance to count them all, but there were dozens and dozens. The festival is held only once every three years, but if you're ever in Taiwan at the right time it's absolutely worth seeing.

elephantasy

I was enchanted by this circa-1950s street amusement on display at Taiwan Storyland, a kind of living history museum located in the basement of an electronics superstore near Taipei Main Station. I have visited several times over the years and I never cease to feel amazed by its weird awesomeness. A few other choice shots...

At this display I was invited by a woman to play an inscrutable game and win a cellophane-entombed prize. You know my Chinese must be great if I know how to say things like "cellophane-entombed." Truthfully, she did not use those exact words.

I loved this antique ice cream seller's bike. I can't tell what's better, that Mickey Mouse is painted red, or that his thumb appears to be emanating stink.

This is a 1960s miniature organ that sits at the front of the "schoolhouse" at Taiwan Storyland. Music education became compulsory in Taiwan (I believe) during the Japanese colonial period. Classes emphasized western art songs, which were translated into Japanese.

Business was hardly booming the day I visited (with my cool friend Catherine), but let's hope Taiwan Storyland stays in business for many more years to come. It's a fantastic and fascinating place!

for Andrea

Taiwan has a longstanding love affair with baseball. Here's a tidbit from Wikipedia about professional baseball in Taiwan:

The first official baseball team in Taiwan was formed in 1906, when the island was a Japanese colony, by the Middle School of the Taiwan Governor-General's National Language School (present-day Jianguo Senior High School; 建國高級中學), and the first organized baseball game was played by this team and the baseball team of the Normal School of the Taiwan Governor-General's National Language School (present-day Taipei Municipal University of Education). From 1906 through the mid 1920s, Taiwan's baseball teams consisted of mostly Japanese players. Taiwanese players didn't become actively involved in the sport until the “Neng-Gao Club” in the mid 1920s, and the Kano baseball team in the early 1930s. The Chinese Professional Baseball League was founded in 1989 with four teams and grew to seven at one point. As of 2009, there are four teams competing for the championship of Taiwan Series.

Interesting, no? Taiwan has produced a number of baseball talents, although the most famous is probably Wang Chien-ming, who currently plays for the Yankees. And from 1967 to 1996, Taiwan dominated the Little League World Series. The picture I've posted above is of a promotional figure standing in the High Speed Rail station in Tainan, clearly at the ready to play with anyone passing by.

Read more about baseball in Taiwan here!

Tainan wall

I don't usually post images related to my fieldwork, but I like this shot of a graffitied wall in Tainan. I was there for a Typhoon Morakot benefit this past weekend.

until victory always

There is a deep and abiding love for Che Guevara in Taiwan, which the people here express in a variety of ways. This shop in Taipei Main Station has transformed the Marxist Revolutionary into a Lego-type figure. You can buy clothes and accessories emblazoned with Lego Che dressed as a variety of characters, including "Uncle Sam Che" and "Alice in Wonderland Che."

no pain no gain

One thing that has always amazed me about Taiwan is the inexhaustible number of brands here. Every time I think I understand the lay of the land in terms of retail, something pops up that I've never seen before. And of course every new business has to have some kind of mascot. I like the character that represents this bakery in Zhongshan station. I think the croissant on his left side looks like it could be a deadly claw.

Taipei or Tea-pei?

I tend to be faithful to my beverages: diet coke, crystal light lemonade, and tea. The way I see it, only one of those potent potables is not slowly dissolving my insides. Might as well drink up while I'm here!

sunday morning

View from the dining area out the window. When sun shines through the plants the whole room turns green.

mos definitely

I think the first meal I ever had in Taiwan was at a Mos Burger--I can remember getting off the plane and in the next instant devouring a rice burger and some takoyaki, with a side of fries and a tall sweet tea. Several years later, Mos Burger has become my comfort food.

cheer up Taiwan

I couldn't get a clear shot of the display on this bus headed to Luodong, but if you click on the picture and look closely you'll see that it says "Cheer up, Taiwan." This isn't actually the best translation of the characters, but I still kind of love it.

pavement on pavement

Walking around campus the other day I noticed this inscription on a crumbling wall. I recognized the text from the song "Shady Lane" by the American band Pavement--it was on the album Brighten the Corners, a college favorite of mine. Pavement was never hugely popular in the states, so it's a bit surprising to have come upon these words here. Funny, the kinds of things that make their way around the world.

made from the best stuff on earth

This dragon fruit was the best part of my day today.

deaflympics 2009: because the deaf community loves chickens on unicycles...

...and being told to "hear the dream."

good fortune

I saw this table-top fortune teller at a teahouse. Put a coin in the slot over your zodiac sign and it dispenses a tightly rolled slip of paper that tells you all about the days to come...

beware the vampire piglets

These stuffed pigs with pointy teeth are clamoring to get out of the claw vending machine they inhabit.

in the blue

My last post was about one of the oldest buildings in Taipei; this post is about one of the newest. I snapped this picture of the Mitsukoshi department store in Xinyi district a few days ago. Mitsukoshi has expanded a lot over the past ten years, but I can remember how impressive it seemed even before it underwent renovations, added new properties, and generally swankified. I always love walking around here, even if I hardly ever buy anything. On the weekends it's a fabulous place to people-watch, as puppeteers and musicians come out to perform on the sidewalks that run between different segments of the massive shopping complex.

in the red

The Honglou Theater (紅樓劇場) in Ximending was built by the Japanese in 1908. Originally a market, it has functioned as a performance space and teahouse since 1945. I have actually never seen a show at Honglou, but I've walked by the building many times--I'm excited to have a whole year here to check it out. While I'm at it, I'd love to learn a little bit more about the aesthetics of Japanese colonial architecture and urban planning. There are a number of structures in Taiwan dating from the colonial period, some repurposed and some still serving their original functions. The Presidential Offices in Taipei were designed and built by the Japanese (they are aesthetically similar to Honglou); that they endure as the headquarters for Taiwan's executive branch is testimony to the complicated past and present of this island.

Oooh, Taiwan Review came out today with a new article about Honglou, check it out!

slim shady

Although Taipei 101 is no longer the tallest building in the world, it's 1) still pretty tall and 2) way taller than anything else in Taipei. I took this photo from the observatory at the top of the building. Because it is the single skyscraper in a sea of fairly low-rise buildings, it casts a very well-defined shadow.

found in the park

Phoenix flowers that fell from a tree.

food glistening food

Although I've only posted a few times so far, it's possible that you have begun to notice a bit of a food bias on Sweet Potato Island. There's a very simple reason for that: Taiwanese food is not of this world. The variety, the freshness, in some cases the intentional stinkiness. It's difficult to describe in words. Photos will have to suffice. Pictured above is one of Taiwan's most famous dessert inventions, the mango ice. In its standard form it consists of shaved ice drizzled with sweet condensed milk and topped with fresh mango, mango ice cream, and bits of fruit jelly.

The best Taiwanese food often lurks in the basementiest of places. My friend Nellie's mother took us to a subterranean market to try some of her favorite tian bu la (a kind of fried fish cake served here with a sweet sauce and some fresh marinated cucumbers).

This is a meaty sausage served in a rice sausage bun. I will say no more.

guess I picked the wrong day to wear my hot pants

I spotted this sign at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial today. My friend Nellie remarked later that it sounds like they're trying to keep a very particular kind of person away. The kind of person who wears all these things at once.

dumplingology

Din Tai Fung is one of the oldest dumpling houses in Taipei, and probably the best loved. Until today, however, I had never enjoyed the pleasure of a DTF soup dumpling. Oh, how much time I have wasted! The crab xiaolongbao were particularly delicious. The image above shows the dumpling lab, where all the magic happens.

On the way out I spotted Din Tai Fung's character mascots. If one were to open the steamer basket guy's head, do you think there would be a brain inside? Or maybe dumplings with mini brains inside?

u bike, i bike

It seems like every time I come back to Taipei there's a new public works project that makes me feel as giddy as a schoolgirl. The Ubike project has counterparts in Amsterdam and at least a few other cities, but that doesn't make it any less cool. Basically, you can pick up a bike at one of 11 stations in Taipei, ride it around for as long as you like, and then return it when you're finished. What I think is unique about the Taipei program is the price--the first 30 minutes of each session is free and each additional 15 minutes is US$0.35. A bargain!

attack!

I spotted this giant, menacing creature outside Taipei Main Station. Part of the Taipei Flower Show, it has become a favorite hangout spot for the local riffraff.

transformers: more than meets the eye

These streetside transformers in Neihu feature an idyllic seaside scene. I wonder who painted them...

embracing sweet potato island design

As an undergraduate, I once had an impulse to curate a small exhibition featuring items that had been made in Taiwan. In fact, I even went so far as to begin collecting things to display. Ebay was my first hunting ground, and the search terms "made in Taiwan" turned up all kinds of interesting objects. My favorite was a ceramic urn shaped like an out-sized walnut with a little squirrel perched on top--I bought that and it now lives on my kitchen table. This issue of "The Reader," a magazine which I believe is published by Taiwanese bookstore giant Eslite, is dedicated entirely to Taiwanese product design. It might have been the catalog for my little exhibition.

chiang ching-kuo, iconography mao-style

I found this postcard featuring an image of Chiang Ching-kuo, son of Chiang Kai-shek, at a bookstore in Taipei. The Chiangs bequeathed Taiwan a complicated legacy--they are at turns admired and despised. I thought this image, which imagines Chiang Ching-kuo as a pop culture icon, was interesting.

after arriving in Taiwan, first things first

I purchased this strawberry mini donut at 新光三越 and snuck it into a movie theater to enjoy in lieu of popcorn. I absolutely love Mister Donut, a chain that came to Taiwan via Japan, and that came to Japan via the United States. One of the American founders of the company was a friend of my grandfather's. True story!

preparing for departure

In a few days I will be departing the United States for a year of fieldwork in Taiwan. My research actually concerns music, but I have visited Taiwan many times over the years and am always struck as much by what I see as by what I hear. Although I'm sad to leave my home and family behind, I look forward to exploring a great deal in the coming months. I will do my best to share the beautiful things I discover on the Sweet Potato Island.