Darren In Taiwan

The Renaming - Part Two

2008-02-09T08:48:00.000-08:00

As I had mentioned, protesters and activists were far outnumbered by gawkers and the press. Of those who did care enough to show up though, quite a high ratio were interesting and unique.

The most steadfast in his calling; here he is being viewed from short range.
Almost as though he is an exhibit in a human zoo.

One lonely protester, off to the side.
Two photographers to document.

Same demonstrator, all alone.

Read my pamphlet

Seemingly alone in his support of Chiang.

Saluting the Generalissimo.

Night falls, the press is still assembled.

Last broadcast of the evening.

The Renaming - Part One

2007-12-21T08:59:00.000-08:00

Depending upon your point of view, it was either long overdue, political grandstanding, justice finally observed or a complete sacrilege. Whatever you call it, the sun has finally and officially set on the former Chiang KaiShek Memorial Hall; now it is known, not just officially, but by the lettering on the entrance as the Taiwan Democracy Monument.

Taiwan being Taiwan, many were expecting a political clash upon the renaming. The truth is that organizers from both sides far far overestimated the movement on the grounds. The end result was that is was much ado over nothing, or at least very little. What started with a handful of protesters ended with a couple of handfuls of protesters and hundreds of police, soldiers and other crowd control folks. Without those there to keep order, nothing interesting would have come of it at all.

The protesters that showed up early were mostly there in singles or small groups; certainly there were not large mobs.

This guy seems quite put off that he is alone.
Maybe he was expecting his mates to be there to support him and their cause?

That's me in the corner.

Protesting is Lonely Business

Muddy Basin Ramblers CD Release Party

2007-11-04T08:57:00.000-08:00

Taiwan's David Chen and the Muddy Basin Ramblers held their CD release party on Saturday November third at the Huashan Cultural Park in Taipei. I am happy I made it, as it was a completely enjoyable evening. The music was really well done and it is hard for me to imagine anyone who wouldn't enjoy listening to the live performance. Things were done in a really friendly, low key style and it just made for an enjoyable evening of jug band music and great socializing. Thanks to Michael Turton for letting me (and many others, I am sure) know about the show through his blog.

Here are some shots from the night:

*please click on the photos to be taken to a larger, better quality image.

The Band

David Chen

Tim Hogan

Will "Slim" Thelin

Connor Prunty

Sandy Murray

TC Lin

The UN Torch Relay

2007-11-04T06:42:00.000-08:00

It was only by chance that I found out the UN For Taiwan Torch Rally was making its way back to Taipei. Although I had plans for later in the evening, a friend and I did make our way down to the area in front of the Presidential Building to see what was going on. Unfortunately, we had to hoof it before the torch arrived, so this post is not so much a documentary of the event as a collection of snapshots of things that caught my eye before going elsewhere.

Uniformed Security

Plainclothes Security

Interested Observer
(I have come across this guy multiple times at political events)

Say Yes to Taiwan
....you know the rest

Man in Tweed

There are always a lot of smokers at rallies. Dunno why.

Banners in the Background

As the Sun Goes Down

Holding Signs

Looking On

Part of the Crowd

Greens

Green With Glasses

Crowd Control

Happy

Not So Happy

Banner

Glowsticks

Watching and Waiting

November Breakfast Club Meeting

2007-11-04T03:15:00.000-08:00

I meet most months with a very interesting group of English speakers here in Taipei. At these meetings, someone gives a speech or presentation to those assembled. This month it was Khedroob Thondup, who is an elected Member of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, the President of the Tibetan Refugee Self Help Center and he is also the nephew of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.

Our Featured Speaker, Khendroob Thondup.

Mr. Thondup spoke with surprising (to me anyways) candor about his groups aims, experiences, negotiations with different governments and vision for the future. He spoke frankly about what Tibetans want, which is not quite the de facto independence from China that most Taiwanese desire, but autonomy and security within their region and their methods and goals for attainment. He also talked about direct negotiations with the Chinese government, as well as negotiations with the KMT and DPP governments here in Taiwan. He also spoke openly about the inevitability of succession of His Holiness and what affects that will have on his people.

I truly enjoyed listening and found Khedroob to be a gentlemanly, softspoken and

peaceful, while at the same time being absolutely resolute and firm within his vision. An impressive gentleman for sure.

Now, for some of the members of our breakfast club.

Dr. Jerome Keating
Author, university professor and commentator on Taiwan.
Jerome organizes the monthly meetings.

Michael Turton
University professor, PhD student and a very well known blogger in Taiwan.
Michael seems to fit 30 hours into his days.

Syd Goldsmith
Syd is an author (check out his book, Jade Phoenix) and ex diplomat,
along with many other accomplishments from his tenure in Taiwan.

Linda Arrigo
Linda is an icon in Taiwan; very well known and respected.

David Reid
Master's student, teacher and a well known blogger

Ryszard
Ryszard (Richard) is originally from Poland; a really bright and friendly guy

Typhoon Krosa

2007-11-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Typhoon Krosa hit Northern Taiwan pretty hard on October sixth, 2007. In my five years in Taiwan, it was by far the most intense storm I have seen. Actually, it was one of the only typhoons I have experienced where I think the decision to shut down schools, government buildings and many others was justified. Heavy winds and lots of rain made for a lot some excitement on the streets and lots of broken umbrellas.

*click on the photos for a bigger, better looking image.

On the run.

Fighting the wind.

Last moments of an umbrella.

See Through

About to stumble.

We go....NOW!

One less 'brella.

Taipei Matsu

2007-10-14T09:06:00.000-07:00

Beginning on September 16th and running for a week, 228 Peace Park in Taipei saw a gathering of Matsu followers organized by 16 Matsu Daoist Temples from within Taiwan. The biggest events happened on the 16th, starting with a parade through the Hsimen area of Taipei and ending at a temporary temple in the park. These shots were all from the first day.

*if you click on the photos, you will be taken to a bigger, better looking image. I encourage you to do so.

Large crowds showed up.
Young and old showed up and while always colorful, the clothing didn't always seem that reverent.

The followers from the different temples identified themselves through matching T-Shirts, hats or small banners and flags. Many used all the possible identifiers.

Music was a big part of the event.

While some of the musicians were quite skilled, others more or less went by the credo of "If you can't be great, at least make sure to be heard."The music was provided by folks of all ages. Generally speaking, traditional instruments were the order of the day.
Lots of interesting individual characters were available for portraiture too.

At almost every Taoist ceremony, the Eight Generals characters show up. With their colourful make up, dress and actions, they are always photographers' favourites.

Other colourful characters were a big part of the activities too.

By the end of the day, people (myself included) were exhausted.

The Woodworker

2007-09-17T07:59:00.001-07:00

My favourite thing about travel has always been the unexpected friendliness that happens when you are least expecting it. While Taiwan has been home now for close to five years, I am still somewhat a traveler in what is now my hometown. Within those conditions, I am thrilled to relay a great travel story from here in Taipei.

Having finished an enjoyable coffee, cake and read at my most local Starbucks, we decided to enjoy the lovely fall weather by walking home rather than taking the bus. Not only walking, but we decided to intentionally go out of our way, just in case we might see something new.

Not sure if it is really new, but we did have a great and unexpected experience; one which certainly shows the best of Taiwan hospitality.

Going down a completely nondescript side street, we came across an older man working on a piece of wood with a saw.

The craftsman as I first encountered him.

As per usual for me, I squatted down and took a few shots. Now, I take lots of photos of lots of people, but you never know when you might have a bad reaction. A bad reaction from a man with a saw in his hand could be bad indeed. Well, the reaction was far from bad.

After introducing himself as Zhan, ZiFu (詹資富), Mr. Zhan ushered us into the entrance area of his home, where much of his work, both complete and in progress, is on display. It seems that he retired at 59 and has been working at his hobby of creating his art for the past 13 years. His art involves creating highly detailed replicas of birds using wood, glue and ribbon and then mounting them on wooden mounts made to resemble trees or tree branches.

Here you can see the energy and enthusiasm with which Mr. Zhan describes what he does. Right from the first moment we met him, it was so obvious that he not only loved what he was doing, but he loved talking about it and showing off the results too.

He is definitely a "from scratch" type of artist. Almost all the materials in what he builds were made by his own hand. Not only were things made by hand, but he collects the wood he uses himself from the mountains around Taipei.
Here, he shows a 13kg piece of wood which he found in the mountains around Xindian, one which he not only found, but arranged for a car to have it brought back to his home. I have no idea what kind of wood it was, but it was certainly a hardwood and very dense. I did notice that some of his stuff was made from Sandalwood, just not this particular piece.

Another view of the piece he collected in the surrounding mountains. Here, he is showing how he has flattened one side so that it will sit level. Generally though, doesn't make major changes to the main pieces of wood he uses; he simply refines what nature has given him.

Taking the complete craftsman approach, Mr. Zhan does not use any power tools at all in his work. Everything is done by handtools, such as the handsaw you see here, rasps, files, sandpaper or the like. No electricity needed.
The bag you see in his hand is sawdust he has collected from his work and then dyed. This is then glued down on some of the pieces to replicate grass or other surface materials. He does buy the dye, but the saw dust, he both creates and collects himself, as well as doing the coloring. Also seen in his hand is a bag of white glue. This is used not only to glue down the colored sawdust, but it also can get mixed in with the saw dust and then painted on to a branch to increase its size and change its texture.

The birds that Mr. Zhan mounts on the wood are also handmade. He starts with a smallish piece of wood, which he then carves into shape, again using rasps, files, knives and any number of handtools. After getting the shape right, he creates feathers using individually cut ribbons, whch are glued on. Exposed areas of wood are painted the proper colour. Making each bird is painstaking and time consuming. Some of his most intricate designs take up to a full month to finish.

In the foreground, you can see a very fuzzy wooden bird. This has been carved and shaped, but the feathers have not been applied. On the work in his hand, you can see a finished bird, affixed to a finished tree.

Here, with one finished piece in his hands, Mr. Zhan gestures to his display case, where many others are on show. The case is really nicely presented too, with custom lighting and individual tags made up for each displayed piece. With the tags, the 21st Century has crept in; they are all computer printed by his daughter.

The pride with which Mr. Zhan showed us what he does, coupled with the friendliness and genuine warmth towards us made this an exceptionally rewarding experience for both Becki and myself. One can't hope to meet someone more genuine and hospitable than Mr. Zhan. We were really lucky to have the experience. Mr. Zhan says that it is his dream to open a small gallery where he can sell his works. I hope this dream comes true and I believe that between his wonderful way with people and his talent for what he does, his gallery has the potential for real success. I hope this ends up being the case.