In Shanghai and Hong Kong for a few days of business and pleasure.
I haven’t quite found time enough to talk about the amazing number of visitors to Taiwan in the last couple of weeks, and indeed my intrepid parents in New Zealand, but I promise I shall soon!
View in the other direction from my hotel – think I prefer the park-side view!
Schooled
We struck it lucky with the yesterday, and penned in an afternoon ride to make room for the previous night’s activities (Japanese Rockabilly Punk, anyone?). As ever, Mark and I winched up for the climb and met the taxi crew at the top. Just before we got there, we passed a group of really rather young mountain bikers riding alone, and on quite decent wheels. This, quite simply, does not happen in Taiwan, so we were delighted to meet some young ones getting out into the hills, and jumped at the chance to guide them down some of our trails. These, dearest industrialists, are the future of Taiwan’s chance of becoming a real force in sport and culture, and the best way it can maintain a lead in Bicycle technology. Take note.
It was quite clear that the kids were going to comprehensively smoke us on the descents after about five minutes of practice – indeed, they grabbed Georg’s new super rig and schooled him in wheelies and bunny hops to his dismay / delight. We descended for over an hour together, managed to avoid getting any of them killed, but left them with Mark to take the easy route home after seeing them begin to get exhausted before the final section.
I have to show super respect to them – we were especially impressed with their flip-flop / body armour combo, and the non-stop hair-combing of one them when we stopped. I hope – really hope – that is is a trend. Really great day of riding again, and hopefully we bump into those kids again soon.
Latest aprés-slope style
Irony, in shoe form… thanks for the photos Georg!
Andy Warhol at the CKS
The latest ‘hot’ exhibition to visit in Taipei is th Andy Warhol retrospective at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall (at least, I think they changed the name back from ‘Democracy Memorial Hall’, when the DPP were pissing around with changing names of historical monuments). I suppose I am not the biggest fan on earth of Warhol, but I am happy enough to go along and check it out – especially since it was with a few arty friends who know a little more about the subject of screen printing and pop art.
What made me double-intrigued was the fact that it was being held underneath the mausoleum of said National Icon – and it could not escape my finely-honed sense of irony that one of the key exhibits was a print of his arch-nemesis, Mao Zedong.
Like all too many exhibitions in Taiwan, there were too many exhibits (walls and walls full of Marilyn, it seemed) and too many people shuffling around. The exhibition design was lacking, and the space was, in a word, ‘poky’ – although I can hardly blame this on them – if you plan to have an exhibition under a tomb you ain’t going to argue about space. The shop did seem, however, to deliver on the ‘commercial art’ promise of Warhol, and was thus packed with people buying tat pasted with Warhol signatures.
Or maybe I was just hung over. Anyway – a fun day out. By starting at Chiang Kai Shek and ending up at Ximen, I really did feel like I was in a foreign country for the first time in a little while.
Seeing the dancers practicing in the windows reminded me of trips there when I first arrived. The photo I took that day of the kids throwing one of their friends in the air is still one of my favourite shots.
Friends jacking around
I probably take the same photo every time, but it still makes me chuckle.
Impressive doors, and brass nobs.
It’s a little bit late to celebrate Chinese New Year, but these pictures have been sitting on my hard drive yearning to be posted. After living in Taipei for so long, it’s rare these days that I get a ‘holy shit!’ moment. But happen they do, and in this case, we had three of us with our jaws on the floor screaming a mixture of expletives, ‘gnarrrly duuude’ (Moshe), ‘crazy scheisse eh! (Georg) and ‘goodness gracious me!’ (yours truly).
It seems at one of the temples we ride past on our ‘Gas Plant’ ride to the south of the city bids farewell to the year of the Pig with a rather special … what’s the word … not quite sure what it is. It’s one of the craziest things that I have ever seen anyway, and I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
Sorry for the crap quality – cam phone.
Yum
Completely spherical!
Check out the Mohalk hairdo … I still can’t believe they managed to stretch the skin out like that. And I don’t want to ask how they keep it so perfectly spherical.
The town of Pingxi, East of Taipei, has train tracks running through it, with trains regularly passing through – especially crazy when thousand of people are trying to launch sky lanterns at the same time.
Formation flying.
As part of the Chinese New Year celebrations, it’s traditional in Taiwan to release sky lanterns into the, well, sky and mark the coming of the new year with wishes and desires for the 12 months ahead.
For those people that have not released sky lanterns – ie: most people I know – it is truly a magical thing. A nightmare for local fire services admittedly, but a magical thing none the less.
The idea is, to write your wishes onto the side (pick your colour first), wrap it up, and head to the launch pad / open space. Once there, take your wad of prayer money (soaked in lighter fluid for two hours) and place it into the recepticle on the inside frame. Take your most pyrotechnically-inclined person (usually a male) and light that wad, ensuring that your friends / family members are supporting the outside paper and maintaining the shape. Then, watch it slowly fill with hot air and when ready, synchronise the release.
“We want bonus”
If the salesman has properly soaked the wad of cash, it should woosh up into the air, accompanied by ‘coos’ and ‘aahs’ of the team, and hopefully some pointing and poorly exposed, shaky photos. Served best, surrounded by thousands of other people doing the same … and for desert, watch other peoples’ wishes plummet from the heavens and crash into the ground!
Ah, sweet schadenfreude (isn’t it great how the Germans have a whole word, just for this concept 🙂 ).
T-Minus.
And this is the result …
My first trip, after four years of wishing I could go … lovely!
Open-Source Architecture in Taiwan
I am sure I could find some earnest academics somewhere postulating about Architecture 2.0, or some such thing, but the fact is that it is happening here in Taiwan right before your eyes.
Unlike in the West (see top layer of the image), where we tend to build something, and leave it as-is until it falls down, or at least when a new supermarket comes to town, Taiwanese people tend to view their buildings as a mere starting point for their own augmentations and addenda. When you first arrive – or at least for the first few years – it’s easy to say that it is ugly and unplanned, and that clearly nobody cares about the big picture (see second layer of the photo). However, after some time looking and getting used to the pipes emerging out of every orifice, it does at least seem to make a little more sense. Why not, indeed, customise the building for its eventual use? Why not allow it to adapt over time? Is this not what we are talking about with Web 2.0, Democratic Design and Open-Source Architecture? (do forgive me if I am coining these trends, or at least give me a royalty cheque).
With a little more foresight, and accepting that this is going to happen no matter what the planners do, I reckon that there is a way to build these edifces with just a touch more grace and charm. Lord Rogers – do pop in, and I’ll discuss my ideas with you.
Lloyds Building in London (with the Erotic Gherkin behind) – sometimes Taiwanese buildings remind me of this building, a little.
Photographed by Adrian Pingstone in June 2005 and released to the public domain.