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!