The ubiquitous Blue Van is a Taiwan icon.
Adidas, with their recent boutique store opening in Jhongxiao Dunhua have decorated one in a way surely only possible on this one Pacific island. Great fun.
My Adidas
Box Fresh
Month: February 2006
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Blue Van Man
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The Prodigy
After almost zero publicity, myself and my friends discovered that The Prodigy were playing Taipei. Rather an unusual location too – in the national soccer stadium – so I was interested to go and check it out based on the olde Chinese arcitecture.
It was definitely worth it, and was as crazy as a Tuesday night out could be in Taipei. Usually, I would not think of going to see them live, but the VIP passes were free (thanks to Charlotte’s connections) and there was a nice bunch of people going along. One of the most special things was, as a result of the location next to the airport every few minutes a plane would fly over head – totally awesome at a large rock and roll concert!
Firestarter
Nelson comes well prepared – and no he is not a tiny man, those beer cans are HUGE!
The sun really does shine out of Danny’s ass
Rich looks guilty
The group, after we persuaded a security guard to allow us to hang around more after the show – basicallt because he was so happy about taking a photo of us! And you can see the stage set up in preparation for the huge 50 Cent concert at the weekend. -
Valentines 101
I have a love/hate relationship with Taipei 101 – the world’s tallest and most over-decorated building. On the one hand I like the fact that it is unashamedly Asian and Chinese in style, but frankly I think that is no excuse for the heavy handed detailing and curious lack of height perspective as a result of the inverted ‘bamboo’ sections – which somebody pointed out look rather like a pile of Chinese food take-out boxes with some chop sticks stuck in the top. Perceptive.
The one thing I do quite like about it, however, is the way the authorities use the faces of the building to communicate with the world beyond. Major events like New Year’s Eve or Valentines Day become decorated in lighting down the side. It rather opens a conversation, I suppose, with the city.
In Love with 101As a post-script to this entry, I heard an interesting story about Taipei 101. The French free-climber that scales all the major buildings in the world without the aid of satefy equipment, arrived in Taipei to attempt 101. He, very reasonably, asked that if the building could be cleaned before the event – grease and dirt build up is obviously a hazard. The response was nagative. He then asked if it was possible to clean a small strip up the side, and was met with the same answer. It turns out that the building is simply not cleaned! Sadly, I think this sums up the attitude towards the built environment in Taiwan.
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What a Trip
Rich, Nick and I stepped out for a micro road trip away from the big smoke. We spotted a couple of nice things on the way that are worthy of a quick post.
Prohibited: ‘yes’ if you need to ask
Cool mini-temple roof near Mucha – tea capitol of Taiwan -
B’Jour Melbourne
If Sydney was a city of personal trainers, Melbourne was one giant café – a place clearly designed by a comittee of switched on 27 year olds. Most people work in bars, are grafitti artists or jazz musicians. I am not completely positive how anyone actually makes a living, but the place is marvellous as a result … Like looking at Britain through a 35 degree celsius lens.
The original reason for coming out to Melbourne was to see Beto – a great friend I met while learning to dive in Guatemala at the Iguana Perdida hostel. It was really amazing to see him – and always amusing when you meet people again after seeing them while travelling. Always neater and less tanned… in most cases. Beto, however, was exactly the same. And exactly as amazing!
Contrasting the tourist profile of Sydney, in Melbourne I took pleasure in floating along in the social current. Beto seems to know anyone that thinks they are anyone, especially in the music business, and this meant that I had four days of free entry to the town’s best bars and clubs, and by the end seemed to be cultivating my own friendship circle. It was that frantic. And a real pleasure to get some self-generating urban culture flavours.
Similar to my last trip to Hing Kong, I also seemed to have hook ups with people from all over the world, drafted from different stages of my life. Joannie – one of my old friends from Glasgow, her friend Fiona, Grace – gf of Nick here in Taipei, plus Nelson and Christina from Taipei were all around. It was quite strange but very natural to hook up with Joannie and Fiona. The vibe in Melbourne is very similar to Glasgow, and I seemed to slip into the old routine quite quickly of sitting outside enjoying the sun… the difference was, well, about twenty degrees celsius.
Note to self. Move to Melbourne.
Bird Strike
De rigeur Havaiianas
Beach huts, Aussie style
Rollin’ – the great outdoors really is just that in Australia
Spooky!
Suzie, Beto, a very drunk Jean Pierre and me, narrowly avoiding aesphyxiation (spelling????!)
Grace and I dodge the camera
7-11 – comfort zone