Fathom

Posted on January 21, 2017 by d4vid

What’s that saying about sleeping dogs?  Something about “full fathom five” I think.

Posted in 台北 | Leave a comment

Mango

Posted on January 21, 2017 by d4vid

If there is one thing I took away from Taiwan it is that mangos make everything better.  Mango cotton ice, mango sherbet, mango rum drinks.  Everything.

Posted in 台北 | Leave a comment

Shanshui V

Posted on January 20, 2017 by d4vid

I took the Makong Gondola up to Maokong in the rain.
  In my experience, there are different kinds of gondola rides.  They can be awe-inspiring, blissful, or they can be filled with existential dread like this one was.  It was either the rain, the high winds, the impending Inauguration, or my impending unemployment, but something about the journey had me brooding.
But once outside, it was like another living Shanshui painting.  Few things soothe my soul more than the sound of rain falling on leaves.  (I should remember that.)Maokong is known for being crowded with teahouses.
I loved seeing these birds happily sitting out the rain in this tree.  And then — like coming down to earth from out of the clouds — I was back in the city.

Posted in 台北 | Tagged | Leave a comment

Rival

Posted on January 20, 2017 by d4vid

Literally around the corner from the original Din Tai Feng is their rival, Kao Chi.  I had the best bbq pork bun I’ve ever eaten and a delicious bowl of beef noodle soup.

Posted in 台北 | Leave a comment

Wisdom III

Posted on January 19, 2017 by d4vid

I wondered if the nightstand of an Asian hotel room would have a Gideons Bible or some sort of Eastern equivalent.  The answer, as it turns out, is that it has both.

Posted in 台北 | Leave a comment

Padre III

Posted on January 19, 2017 by d4vid

The National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is the Taiwanese counterpoint to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing.

The sign is written in Traditional Chinese, but I’m able to guess that the first two characters (from right to left) mean “Father of the Country” and people looove building memorials to the fathers of their countries.  Makes sense, since Sun Yat-sen was the founding father of the Republic of China (i.e. current day Taiwan and not to be confused with the People’s Republic of China i.e. mainland China.  Long story.)
The Taiwanese take the changing of the guards very, very seriously.
I always wondered why “Taiwan” used to be called “Formosa.”  I found the answer on this placard!

Posted in 台北 | Tagged | 1 Comment

Megatall IV

Posted on January 19, 2017 by d4vid

I let the kid at the front desk at the hotel upsell me to a suite with a balcony.  Per usual, I used my Can-I-put-my-elbow-on-the-ceiling? test and confirmed that, yes, I was still in Asia.

In the hotel elevators, I found that — without leaning and with my arms hanging at my sides — I could only press the button for the lobby using the middle finger of my hand.(I especially like this shot because my iPhone focused on the reflection of my arm instead of my actual arm.)

Posted in 台北 | Tagged | 1 Comment

Megatall III

Posted on January 19, 2017 by d4vid

Taipei 101 held the title of world’s tallest building from 2004 to 2009, but at a “mere” 509.2 m (1,671 ft) it is still considerably shorter than Shanghai’s tallest towers.

Unlike those, however, it has impressive views of the neighboring mountains.  One of the building’s claims to fame is its tuned mass damper, a huge sphere used to counteract the stress of high winds on the structure.
  
Always quick to out Japanese the Japanese with kawaii, kids are supposed to find the damper interesting because of the Damper Babies!Each damper has it’s own color scheme, personality, and (still more Japanese) blood type.  They designed “101” into the characters with the vertical slit eyes and horrifying mouth.
I placed my hand on this one and tooks its soul.  From the indoor observatory, I ventured up the stairs to the outside observatory.
This Refugee Room did not bode well.  What was it for, daikaiju attacks?  Looking up at the top of the building from the outdoor observatory deck…
…and then out toward the west. In one of the strangest “exit through the gift shop” designs I’ve ever seen, the observatory exit lead directly to a high end boutique selling giant statues carved out of coral.
Although impressive, I couldn’t help but find the whole thing a bit of an ecological horror show.  

Posted in 台北 | Leave a comment

Rust

Posted on January 19, 2017 by d4vid

I’m sure it’s all the rain here, but the amount of rust on these girders makes me worried about the future structural integrity of this building.

Posted in 台北 | Leave a comment

Gnarled II

Posted on January 19, 2017 by d4vid

The old, gnarled trees of Yongkang Park around the corner from Din Tai Feng.

Posted in 台北 | Leave a comment

Original

Posted on January 19, 2017 by d4vid

Din Tai Feng is a chain of Taiwanese restaurants specializing in a Shanghai favorite called xiaolongbao.  Like Mongolian barbecue, it started in Taiwan in the 1950s.  I was on a mission to eat at the original Din Tai Feng.

The crowds were insane.  The wait was over an hour, but totally worth it.  I had pork xiaolongbao, truffle & pork xioalongbao, and pork buns.

Posted in 台北 | 4 Comments

Forbidden II

Posted on January 19, 2017 by d4vid

This is the Taiwan’s National Palace Museum or, as Xioahan called it, “The real museum.  The real Forbidden City.”

I’m always fascinated by timelines comparing Eastern and Western history.  The Greeks overlapped with the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period?  The Roman Empire was contemporaneous with the Han Dynasty?  Amazing.
The Incan Empire only make it halfway through the Ming Dynasty.  I liked this curio box with carvings of the animals of the Chinese zodiac.
Loved this colorful Go set, too.  More curios, carefully arranged.
Peacocks look so majestic until you remember how loud & awful the sound in real life.  I believe this is the 鹊 (que meaning “magpie”) that Debbie and I saw all over central China.
  This gruesome green figure is a pala as seen guarding the gates of Buddhist temples.  (Although some are sassier than others.)
There was an incongruous interactive media exhibit which I found off-putting.  (Especially the CG animated nun who, based on her anime mannerisms, I felt was threatening to take off her habit at any moment.)  I thought this knife blade was cool.
 The writing on this Ming era pitcher is in Tibetan.  An interesting fact check on the history of the relationship between China and Tibet.And this is an actual Ming vase!  The cobalt blue is blue because it’s cobalt.Meanwhile, jade comes in many, disappointing colors (jadeite), but to my Western mind jade must be green (nephrite.)
  I see a direct line from jade to the use of glass by the Qing Dynasty.
Looking out from the National Palace Museum at its grounds.  

Posted in 台北 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Hollywood

Posted on January 18, 2017 by d4vid

As per usual, the first day I arrive in any country outside China, I go see an American movie.

I finally had a chance to see La La Land.  To be honest, I feel guilty I didn’t love it as much as everyone else seems to because the film seemed genetically engineered for me, specifically.  I enjoyed it (despite the jazz) and even found a few moments sublime, but overall think that it would have been better if there had been no singing at all.

Or maybe the whole thing struck a nerve because this is the L.A. of my youth — with all its good and bad — to which I’ll soon be returning.

Posted in 台北 | Tagged | Leave a comment

Mongolian

Posted on January 18, 2017 by d4vid

At Burbank’s Media City Mall, my favorite place to eat was a Mongolian barbecue place.  I had no idea “Mongolian” barbecue was invented in Taiwan in the 1950s!  My hotel was a block away from one of the originals, a place called Genghis Kahn, naturally.

Posted in 台北 | 1 Comment

Formosa

Posted on January 18, 2017 by d4vid

I decided to visit Taiwan before President Trump has a chance to start a war with China over it.  This is the capital, Taipei (with the Taipei 101 tower in the distance.)

My hotel room looked out over a Kangle Park and Linsen Park.The suite was nice, but…
…the room number kept reminding me of the impending Inauguration.

Posted in 台北 | 1 Comment