My Kafkaesque life

Southern Taiwan trip 2012

2012-01-29T01:41:00.001+08:00

The holidays are over

The Great Buddha above Changhua City.

I just came back from a 5 days trip around Southern and Central Taiwan, visiting places I haven't seen yet. I finally had the chance to see Tainan City, as well as Chiayi and Changhua City. In addition, I've seen Douliou and Lukang, two very interesting towns, that have surprised me in many ways. We finished the trip with a tour around Taichung and returned to Taipei today in the evening. We've made 12 GB of photos, I've take pictures of all the famous sights and night markets, so you can expect a whole lotta posts in the near future, I wanna cover everything, especially related to Tainan City. Most will be written on my second blog, so be sure to follow there as well.

Apparently there is a famous hotel in Tainan.

I have to say Tainan was the highlight of our trip, Chiayi was not bad, a little disappointing were Lukang and Changhua, while Douliou has surprised us positively. But more about that in the near future, when I write down all my feelings and impressions. Stay tuned!

This was definitely a very active holiday. I'm very tired, but happy, that I could see these places, because I don't think I will be free any time soon. I wanna thank my sweet wife for bringing me around to all the awesome places and also for driving the scooter - she's very skilled and careful. Thumbs up for surviving an afternoon in Taichung, which probably has the craziest traffic in Taiwan. One more day to rest and then... a new week with a pile of work waiting for me... sigh...

How were your Spring festival holidays?

Happy new dragon year!

2012-01-23T06:43:00.000+08:00

My year end thoughts and more...

My actual life

Today is the first day of the new year in the Han universe, hence also in Taiwan. The dragon has succeeded the rabbit and according to Chinese mythology, this should be a great year. I don't believe in these things, but a little bit of optimism wouldn't hurt. Last year's been truly the most challenging year of my life. I left my old life behind in hope of finding true happiness in Taiwan. One year later I've realized, that there is no true happiness: It's all imaginary wishful thinking, it's all what you make of it. There are so many things in my life much better now and if I calculate what I've lost and what I've gained with my move to Taiwan, I would most definitely be on the winning side. But my life here is anything but cherry blossoms. It's very stressful, sometimes beyond anything I've ever experienced before. I try my best to separate this blog from my real life and always make sure, that my daily agony is not felt here. Most of that is related to my current job and if I was the kind of blogger, who needs to share every small things that upsets him, I could write essays every day. But I'm glad I spare my readers these things, which are highly subjective and could only cause me trouble one day. This little blog is my creative outlet, I want to create something valuable, durable and aesthetic. I'm not too interested in daily happenings, unless it's useful for making a general point. But I guess most of you long time readers know all this by now. I want to be different and I know am different, but that doesn't mean I'm better than others. I just am. I'm existing along others virtually and literally and trying to make the best of my existence - same as you. These transitions from an ending year to a starting year are always heavy on everyone's soul. It's time to review the past and look forward to the future, but what if you feel a little disoriented? At this point, I would just like to pause the reality, freeze it and take a long break. Currently in my life, I'm trapped in a vicious routine and I'm not happy about it, on the other hand, I don't see any short-term solutions to escape and to change my life for the better. I'm working hard, but I'm not respected nor valued (also because I'm a foreigner), but I'm earning money and making sure, that my wife and I can have a decent life in oh so expensive Taipei. I'm swallowing a lot of bitter pills and basically suppressing my ideals and beliefs, because there is no better alternative in my life at this point. Sadly, this is very common in Taiwan, I don't feel very special with my situation - I could say I'm pretty fine compared to what I heard from my Taiwanese friends. It's a different world, a different culture and it's not easy, when a Western mind clashes with the Oriental way of doing things. Living in Taiwan is a great way to train one's patience and tolerance. A Zen proverb says: "Be master of mind rather than mastered by mind" - I try to abide by these wise words as best as possible. I'm determined to change my life this year (and pretty soon I hope), but I need to be strong and keep going every day. Hopefully this short new year vacation will fill up my batteries a little, but I'm not too sure. A little bit of luck in the coming weeks would be appreciated.

My virtual life

In terms of blogging, I have so many "unfinished projects" from last year: My Taipei sights and guides, night market posts, travel posts, food posts, restaurant reviews and much more... I won't have a lot of time to publish too often due to constant lack of free time, but also, because I will focus on the quality. Taiwan politics will not be discussed on this blog and I don't want to be associated with the Chinese blogosphere - I want to be limited to Taiwan and be a specialist on local matters. There are a lot of excellent blogs focused on the whole region, but I don't aspire to be one of them. I will protest, if anyone drags me to the virtual playgrounds outside the islands under the authority of the government of Taiwan. I believe, that if you want to be the best in what you do, you need to stay focused on one topic. And I have the ambition to remain the best in my field. Thanks everybody, who's been reading my blog the past year and following my journey. It's been heated at times, but never boring and let's hope it stays that way. My subscribers are close to 250 and I hope I can double that number by the end of the year. Thanks also to all of you, who send me emails. I keep getting them almost daily, with lots of questions and suggestions, but mostly very positive and supportive, like for example Peiqi, a reader from Singapore, who wrote: thanks so much for sharing SOOOOO much in your blog. chanced upon it while researching for my trip to taiwan - heading there for 12 days!! :)) will definitely be going to some places u recommended (you have sooo much info there). thanks!!!! Thank you Peiqi, for reading and appreciating what I write. It's readers like her that I'm most happy about, because they find my articles useful for something related to their life. I'm always kind enough to answer a question or two, but now and then people contact me who question me out about tons of things and when I reply few times, they disappear forever, especially my fellow Slovenians. I will need to be stricter in such cases and reply in a very limited way. I'm not the only Slovenian in Taiwan, but I'm the only popular blogger and that's why I'm constantly googled and contacted, usually by people who want to come here. It's flattering to be in this position, on the other hand, I'm not paid to serve as a resource - people tend to forget that. Luckily, I also get emails from companies, who are offering something. So far I've mostly been declining the offers, but this year, I might go for some of them - it just needs to be something I can relate to.

Life's unforeseeable, but there are ways to flow into a certain direction. I'll try my best to succeed in that with the hope, that the rocks I'll hit along the way won't knock me out. Dear reader, thank you once again to returning to my little blog. May the dragon bring best of luck to you!

[My TAIWAN LIFE page][Photo by MKL, 2012]

Chinese new year sayings - in Chinese and Taiwanese language

2012-01-21T23:47:00.000+08:00

Useful for newbie waigoren in Taiwan

My dragon lady in qipao, which she's wearing every day at home.

Spring festival is around the corner! Or that holiday, which is commonly known as Chinese new year. In Taiwan, Spring festival is highly anticipated, because it's the most important celebration and holiday of the year. It's also the time, where annual parties are held and annual bonuses are paid by the companies. And it's time of the year, when you realize that half of the people you know (or work with) are not Taipeiers, but Southerners. They all leave for the central or southern Taiwan to be with their families and relatives. If you want to see a real new year atmosphere, you better avoid Taipei: Compared to Singapore and Malaysia (read about my experience from 2009), Taipei is pretty boring. People work until the last day and have no time to be overly festive (at least that's what I saw around me). My wife said, that Chinese new year used to be celebrated with greater passion, but in recent years it's become less significant.

Here is some useful vocabulary related to Chinese new year:

春節
Romanized Chinese: Chūn jié.
Taiwanese prefer to say 新年 (sin ni) or new year.
Translation: Chinese new year
Litteral translation: Spring festival

返鄉
Romanized Chinese: Fǎn xiāng.
Translation: Return home for Chinese new year.
(In China they use chunyun 春運 and this is what happens).
Litteral translation: Return to village.

圍爐
Romanized Chinese: Wéi lú.
Romanized Taiwanese: Wi lo.
Translation: Reunion dinner.
Litteral translation: Gather around the stove.

去拜拜
Romanized Chinese: Qù bàibài.
Romanized Taiwanese: Khi baibai.
Translation: Go to temple.
Litteral translation: Go bow bow.

There are some temples in Taiwan, where it's believed, that if one places the first incense stick into the incense burner right after midnight, you will be very lucky that year. In the first video you can see, how crazy some people are about this, they fight to be the first one and even knock down the burner in the process. In the second video you can see a cunning ojisan, who outsmarted everybody. He pretended to be the temple staff and then placed the first incense stick right after midnight, when the huge crowd, that was waiting in front of the temple for hours, just started to run. My wife always cracks up, when she sees this.

These are the most common sayings around Chinese new year:

(祝你)新年快樂！
Romanized Chinese: (Zhù nǐ) xīn nián kuài lè.
Romanized Taiwanese: (Jiok li) sin ni khoai lok.
Translation: (I wish you) happy new year!
Litteral translation: (Wish you) new year happy!

恭喜發財！
Romanized Chinese: Gōng xǐ fā cái.
Romanized Taiwanese: Kiong hi huat tsai.
Translation: May you have a prosperous New Year!
Litteral translation: Congratulations on developing wealth!

龍年行大運！
Romanized Chinese: Lóng nián xíng dà yùn!
Romanized Taiwanese: Ling ni ghia dai wun.
Translation: May the Dragon year bring you a lot of luck.
Litteral translation: Dragon year grow big luck!

紅包
Romanized Chinese: hóngbāo
Romanized Taiwanese: angpao
Translation: Red envelope.

Giving red envelopes with money is an old Chinese tradition, which is also common in Taiwan. It's important to give a sum with even numbers. Avoid number 4, which is unlucky, and thousands with 3 zeroes (such as 2000, 6000 etc.) - preferred are 6 or 8. Unlike in Malaysia, where married couples always need to give red envelopes, in Taiwan the rule is, if you're working, you gotta give. It's also very important, to give a big angpau to your Taiwanese in-laws, a good sum would be 6600 NTD per parent and for those of you, who are very generous, 8800 NTD would definitely impress them.

Some popular new year songs to bring you in a festive mood:

This is a famous song called "Gong xi, gong xi!"

This is a performance from 1989, the song is called "Xin nian kuai le"

The same singer 20 years later re-enacting the popular song.

In the end I'd like to wish all my Taiwanese, Chinese, Malaysian and Singaporean readers a happy and prosperous new year. Thanks for reading and following my blog, I will try my best to write good posts in the year of dragon.

最後我要祝福所有來自台灣、中國、馬來西亞及新加坡的讀者們，有個快樂又富有的新年。謝謝你們閱讀及跟隨我的部落格，我會盡力在龍年寫出更多好文章。

[My UNIQUELY TAIWAN page][My LEARNING CHINESE page][Photos by MKL, 2012]

Taiwan, where are you going?

2012-01-17T07:19:00.000+08:00

My post-election reflections from Germany

The Taiwan election is over, a lot of heads are sober... again. The incumbent won and I have to say a lot of my Taiwanese friends are disappointed. Very disappointed. It's not easy to see their dreams shattered, but this is part of a democracy. You have the right to vote, but you don't have the right to have it your way. You can only hope, that the majority's hearts beat the same as yours. These days I'm hearing lots of rumors about how some Southerners literally sold their votes to the ruling party, how some young people, who's families are traditionally green, still voted blue, because they benefited from the current government in some way, usually related to jobs, taxes or money in general. It seems that this election was more about heart vs. brain and brain won - pragmati$m prevailed. The most angry voices claim, that "some sold Taiwan for a little money" and they have completely lost hope for their country's future. When I heard the official results, I had mixed feelings. I knew that whoever would win, the future of Taiwan would be uncertain in many ways - the campaigns were about fear, not hope. Maybe it was good for me to be in Germany during this time, because I saw how the world completely disregards Taiwan's democracy. In Germany, almost nobody cared about the election in Taiwan - there were no reports on TV - nothing. Instead, a sunk ship in Italy was nonstop in the news. Same goes for my home country and probably most Western countries. Nobody gives a rats ass about democracy anymore. We're bitter and self-absorbed, because we saw how governments change, but everything remains the same. It's not like we want to have dictatorships back, but the feeling of pure enthusiasm for political convictions are over - cynicism prevails these days. I'm not really bitter, but not happy either. I'm confused about Taiwan now, I have no idea what the voters really wanted to say with this result and I'm not sure, where this country is sailing to in the next four years. I will try to figure this out, when I'm back, but I think it must be very hard for some foreigners, who were there last Saturday. I'm thinking about those, who were so passionately campaigning for the opposition in the recent months; those, who were blinded by their own idea of what Taiwanese want. There was so much nonsense written on expat political blogs in the past, that completely distorted the reality on the ground. Some people got so caught up in their ideas of good and bad, that they completely forgot, that most Taiwanese live with a very complex reality and try to find the middle way to survive (or at least what comes the closest to that). I've never seen any society so full of contradictions, yet functioning so well. Try to work for a Taiwanese company and you will know what I mean. I hope that we will hear more moderate voices and balanced views from those, who spend so much time blogging about politics in Taiwan. If they still want to be taken seriously, there is no other way - or they will burn out like camping fire after the rain. Some already did. In my case, I'm in Germany and I have a lot of personal stuff on my mind, that bothers me more than this election. I guess I'm not the only one. Let me give you a tip: If your candidate loses, the world doesn't end. Maybe for a moment - but then you gotta move on.

Taiwan, where are you going? I don't know. Nobody knows.

[My TAIWAN page][Photo by MKL, 2012]

Europe City Tour: Düsseldorf, Germany

2012-01-15T22:21:00.001+08:00

Part of my 2011 European travel adventures

Düsseldorf, the capital of the German bundesland North Rhine-Westphalia, could be well labeled as Germany's largest village. The name consists of two words, Düssel (a name of a small river) and dorf (meaning village in German). This previously small village near the river Düssel is today one of Germany's biggest cities stretching along the river Rhine. The city is famous for it's trade fair (Messe) and being a hub for Far Eastern companies, especially Japanese, who have here its biggest community in Germany. In addition, Düsseldorf is one of Germany's media centers, has a famous carnival, a very large airport and lots of shopping areas. Most notable landmark is the 240 meters tall Rhine Tower.

1. My impression of Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf would not be my favorite German city. I'm not too fond of the whole Rhine-Ruhr area, which is the biggest urban area in Germany - with over 12 million people. There are so many cities virtually sticking together and Düsseldorf is one of them. The population density is just overwhelming. It's already hard for me in Taipei, but fortunately it's a compact city with a chessboard layout, so it's easier to comprehend. The Rhine-Ruhr area is huge and scattered all over the place. I've been in Düsseldorf twice so far and I still feel I haven't understood, where the city stands among other cities in the area. Compared to Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg, it looks like a small town. There are no real historic landmarks, there is no medieval soul in this city, only in parts I have felt it. On the other hand, it's full of boring generic buildings from the times of West Germany. There are few architectural gems from the 21st century, but they seem very incoherent - they stick out like glassy mushrooms. It doesn't seem to me, that there is a comprehensive plan about in which direction the city wants to go in the near future, but maybe I'm completely wrong. It's just my shallow impression. Another thing I don't like is the public transportation: It's not friendly to outsiders, who come to visit for the first time. There is little explanation, which ticket you need for train or bus. I bought several tickets to the same area and paid different prices. Luckily I wasn't checked, because I was completely clueless about whether I did the right thing. Sure, you can say it's my fault, but then again, it was a piece of cake for me to get used to Hamburg's public transportation. The third thing, that makes Düsseldorf overwhelming for me is the population mix. There were several cases, where people spoke bad German or no German at all. In the evening, I saw a lot of obscure people and a bunch of drunks roaming around. It's hard to get used to this after living in Taipei for so long, but I surely remember this reality from the life back in Slovenia. The city surely has a diverse population, but it's something I'm not used to, not from Slovenia and certainly not from Taiwan. I was wondering, if this is functioning well. Even more so, I was wondering, why so many Japanese settle in this city. Why of all the German cities they choose デュッセルドルフ? What does it make so interesting for them to be here in such great numbers? I've no idea. Düsseldorf gave me more questions than answers this time, but maybe one day I'm lucky enough to meet someone, who will explain everything to me.

2. My photos of Düsseldorf

See my photos from an afternoon walk few days ago:

A typical image.

Stahlhof, today inhabitating a court.

The building was completed in 1908.

This looks like a church.

Small houses in Düsseldorf's center.

Looks like a city in the north a little.

A shopping street.

Must be noisy to live up there.

Are German girls dressing more and more like East Asian girls?

A small square.

Town square with the old Town hall and a statue.

The statue depicts Jan Wellem, a duke from the 17. century.

Schlossturm, the tower of the former castle, its only remain.

The Schlossturm again.

The Düsseldorf skyline.

I was lucky to see the sun coming out behind the clouds - amazing view.

The Rhine.

The Rhine promenade.

And then some images from Düsseldorf's main station or Hauptbahnhof:

The exterior is simple.

Interior as well.

It's easy to find your platform. There are shops and subway entrances.

Düsseldorf's subway or U-Bahn. You can't compare it to Taipei's.

A day before I had the pleasure to go on top the Rheinturm or Rhine Tower.

The observatory was located at 174m. Elevator fee is 4 Eur.

A rotating restaurant is great for a cup of coffee and a nice view of the city and beyond.

3. Düsseldorf in conclusion

I'm still somewhat trying to figure out, what this city is about. There are some nice spots, some cozy cafés with very friendly people. There are a lot of shopping malls, posh streets with branded goods and upscale restaurants. But all in all, I would not choose to travel here. I feel that most foreign visitors come to Düsseldorf, because they have no choice - it must be related to business like in my case or they know someone from here. Neverthe less, I'd still prefer to stay in Düsseldorf instead of Frankfurt, so in case you want to fly to Germany, the Düsseldorf Airport could be a great alternative to Frankfurt for you.

Vote for your president! - Taiwan Presidential Elections 2012 appeal

2012-01-14T02:55:00.000+08:00

14th January 2012 is election day in Taiwan

A patriotic video clip asking young Taiwanese people to vote.

Dear Taiwanese friends, if you have the right to vote this Saturday - VOTE! I don't care, if you vote left or right, green or blue, female or male, horse or English, but go out there and cast your vote. Let us show to the world, that we embrace and cherish our freedom and democracy, something I hope we shall never lose. 祝你們好運!

Unfortunately I can't be in Taiwan during the elections, but I will keep my fingers crossed, that everything goes fine and that voters give a clear mandate to one of the candidates: Ma Ing-jeou, Tsai Ing-wen or Soong Chu-yu. I hope there won't be too many sore losers with shattered dreams, but whatever happens, keep in mind that it's not about one person winning, it's about all of you participating. A captain is only as good as his team: These elections will indicate the direction you all want to go, but the real change will happen bottom up, not top down. If you're first time voter, you will be the most important voter tomorrow! You can make history, you can make change - every vote counts! The bigger the turnout, the clearer will be the message to the world. Make Taiwan proud: VOTE!

Google Taiwan is in Election mood these days.

This is disturbing and awesome at the same time.

Vote!

[My TAIWAN page][Presidential elections 2012 in Taiwan - Wikipedia article]

Let out your inner Klaus Kinski!

2012-01-13T07:43:00.000+08:00

Just some pointless drivel about cybermatters

Lost Laowai.

I'm currently in Germany and not too happy about it. That's not because of Germany, it's because of reasons I can't discuss here. I'm bitter and tired these days and the weather is just getting worse. It's drizzling a lot and getting colder day by day. Luckily there is no snow yet. Every day I'm looking forward to just stay in the hotel and keep warm and dry. And then I switch on the computer and check news, blogs and social networks. There are times, when I'm so sick of all this cyberspace circus. Don't you wish sometimes you could just replace most of the people you follow on various platforms? Imagine, you just press a button and voila: New people, new stories. Unfortunately, nobody has the guts to do so, me neither. And I don't really believe, that there would be any new stories - we're mostly doing and saying same things, including me. A lot of times, I don't have anything to say, so I don't share a lot, but I still sign in Facebook every day and check my friends' updates... and I'm constantly disappointed, because it's usually very boring. I admire my Taiwanese friends, who still use Facebook as passionately as I have in 2007. It's the same thing with blogs - most of them bore me. It's true, that I'm every day very tired and short on time, but I always browse through my Reader. It's like an old habit, that's somewhat part of me, but I could as well delete the majority of my subscriptions and it would not really make my life any worse. I'm happy when people unfollow me, because I wrote something stupid on a blog or on Twitter. I would never really have the time to check, that I need to kick them out myself, because they are annoying gnats and only followed me, because they thought I'm someone, who's always likable and nice. I'm not! I can be annoying, I can be moody, I can be mean. You not? I hate people, who keep a certain polished up online image of themselves - they mostly sound like bots, not people. They're always sharing same stuff, giving similar answers to everything, there is no passion, no personality, no backbone. Those people must be so boring in real life. Sometimes you need to let out your inner Klaus Kinski, also online! No, especially online. I would love to read his blog, if he had one. It would probably be the best blog in the world. Well, second best after mine, of course. Yeah, right. Do you get the sarcasm? If so, then you get me and I have good news for you: You're not yet doomed!

Greetings from Disseldorf!

MKL

My Chinese tones pronunciation guide

2012-01-05T00:28:00.000+08:00

I decided to put together a small training for those Chinese learners like me, who are still insecure, when it comes to the pronunciation of the 4 main tones of the standard Mandarin language (the 5th is neutral). Most common Chinese words consist of 2 syllables, which are always written with two Han characters. To get all the possible tonal combinations, one gets 16 different groups. But because of the so called tone sandhi, two 3rd tones in a row make the first syllable become 2nd tone, for example: xiǎng + xiǎng turns into xiángxiǎng. That's why we have 15 different groups, which I have listed below with 5 examples for each. My wife has pronounced them for us, all we need to do is listen to it over and over again. To learn the basics, as well as some additional observations about Chinese tones, check an excellent article at Sinosplice.

1. Úp-Úp

yín háng 銀行 bank
hé píng 和平 peace
lóng tóu 龍頭 faucet
nioú pái 牛排 beef steak
wán pí 頑皮 naughty

2. Úp-Dòwn

nioú ròu 牛肉 beef
yóu xì 遊戲 game
chá yè 茶葉 tea leaf
bú shì 不是 not
rán hòu 然後 after that

3. Úp-Dǒwnup

tái běi 台北 Taipei
nín hǎo 您好 hello
rén tǐ 人體 human body
cái nǚ 才女 talented girl
hueí xiǎng 回想 to think back

4. Úp-Flāt

tái wān 臺灣 Taiwan
fáng jiēn 房間 room
guó jiā 國家 country
tái dōng 臺東 Taitung
hóng bāo 紅包 red envelope

5. Dòwn-Úp

xiào róng 笑容 smile
tài yáng 太陽 sun
dà guó 大國 powerful country
ào mén 澳門 Macau
wàn huá 萬華 Wanhua

6. Dòwn-Dòwn

shueì jiào 睡覺 sleep
dièn shì 電視 TV
dào lù 道路 road
kè hù 客戶 customer
jièn shè 建設 contruction

7. Dòwn-Dǒwnup

bàn fǎ 辦法 way, method
qì shueǐ 汽水 soda
dièn yǐng 電影 movie
rì běn 日本 Japan
dà kǒu 大口 gulping

8. Dòwn-Flāt

mì shū 秘書 secretary
zhè biān 這邊 this side
mièn bāo 麵包 bread
bièn dāng 便當 lunch box
qì chē 汽車 car

9. Dǒwnup-Úp

nǎi chá 奶茶 milk tea
měi shí 美食 delicacy
kě lién 可憐 pitiful
nǚ hái 女孩 girl
bǎn qiáo 板橋 Banqiao

10. Dǒwnup-Dòwn

kě lè 可樂 cola
hǎo xiào 好笑 funny
měi lì 美麗 beautiful
xiǎo mèi 小妹 little sister
shueǐ qì 水氣 steam

11. Dǒwnup-Dǒwnup -> Úp-Dǒwnup

lǎo bǎn -> láo bǎn 老闆 boss
lǎo shǔ -> láo shǔ 老鼠 mouse
zǒng tǒng -> zóng tǒng 總統 president
xiǎng fǎ -> xiáng fǎ 想法 idea
hěn hǎo -> hén hǎo 很好 very good

12. Dǒwnup-Flāt

yěn jīng 眼睛 eyes
shǒu jī 手機 cell phone
lǎo shī 老師 doctor
huǒ chē 火車 train
mǔ qīn 母親 mother

13. Flāt-Úp

yīng táo 櫻桃 cherry
dāng rán 當然 of course
gāo xióng 高雄 Kaohsiung
gē cí 歌詞 lyrics
zhōng guó 中國 China

14. Flāt-Dòwn

shēng rì 生日 birthday
jī dàn 雞蛋 hen's egg
xī wàng 希望 to hope
shēng qì 生氣 angry
ān jìng 安靜 quiet

15. Flāt-Dǒwnup

shēn tǐ 身體 body
xīn kǔ 辛苦 hard
shā shǒu 殺手 killer
dēng huǒ 燈火 lights
fān shǔ 番薯 yam potato

16. Flāt-Flāt

guō tiē 鍋貼 fried dumpling
yī shēng 醫生 doctor
gōng sī 公司 company
xiāng jiāo 香蕉 banana
kā fēi 咖啡 coffee

I hope that this was useful to you. I will post more articles related to pronunciation of standard Chinese, because it's one of the main obstacles Chinese learners face. Share your thoughts below. Photo above: Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai.

Back to my Learning Chinese page>>

Interracial family on a poster in Taipei Metro - Don't eat, drink and chew!

2012-01-02T22:20:00.001+08:00

Is this the start of a new reality or just a single case?

Few days ago my wife noticed this poster on the left at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station, while we were waiting for the connection train to Ximen Station. It features a family consisting of a white male, a Taiwanese female and an interracial girl warning commuters not to eat, drink or chew gum in the Taipei metro. It's remarkable, that they chose such a (for Taiwan still very unusual) family. I commend them for being pioneers in this regard, but I hope they don't assume, that it's only Whites, who commonly break these rules ;-) From what I've seen, it were most often tourists from China or non-Taipeiers, that have done so. But, as my wife likes to say, I am probably thinking too much. And yeah, I can't deny seeing White tourists sipping bubble tea in the train now and then.

This poster is actually part of a campaign to improve the metro etiquette. The MRT chose 10 teams of various groups of people (among others an interracial family), which show on posters what you can't do in the MRT (see all the chosen ones here). What I like the most in this poster, is the pretty young wife in the picture, because it shows (contrary to the common belief), that foreigners do have good taste when it comes to local ladies... or?

[My UNIQUELY TAIWAN page][Photo by MKL, 2012]

New Year 2012 in Taipei: Fireworks, crowds and a festive atmosphere

2012-01-01T15:47:00.000+08:00

Spending New Year's Eve near Taipei 101

Dear readers and followers of My Kafkaesque life, I wish you a happy new year! I hope you had a great new year's eve celebration. Mine was not bad. My wife and I decided to go near Taipei 101 and see the famous midnight fireworks. This was definitely an unique experience, because as you can imagine, we weren't the only ones with that idea - another 800.000 people thought the same. That's why it was very crowded. But in the end, it was worth the hassle, because the fireworks were the best and biggest I've ever seen in my life (hey, I'm from Slovenia!). Let me share with you some images from Taipei's East district and my own video from the Taipei 101 fireworks.

My photos (and video) from 31st December 2011 and 1st January 2012, Taipei, Taiwan:

We decided to exit at Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall MRT Station Exit 5.

This is Zhongxiao East Road, it was closed for traffic.

The intersection of Zhongxiao East Road and Guangfu South Road.

The guy was holding a sign, that said free 101 hugs.

After a 5 min walk along Guangfu South Road, we reached Sun Yat-sen Memorial hall.

Because the view on Taipei 101 was very good, a lot of people reserved a spot here.

You could see groups of youngsters playing cards, eating and chatting.

This is my attempt to show the view on the crowds and Taipei 101.

We decided to walk further inside and were greeted by more crowds.

This is Songgao road.

Here was also a quite big group of people sitting on the floor and waiting.

The parts, where other buildings blocked the view on Taipei 101 were empty.

The most crowded was Songzhi road, that has the best view on Taipei 101.

We couldn't go too deep here, it was all occupied, so we returned to SYS Memorial hall.

About 15 minutes before midnight, we arrived at the public square in front of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, that was not too crowded. We found a nice spot and waited until midnight. 10 seconds before that I started to make a video. This is the result:

It was amazing to hear how several ten thousand people reacted to some parts of the fireworks with "oooh" and "aah" at the same time. It was like a choir.

Four minutes later it was over. We saw Facebook's Chinese "Like" sign on top of 101.

Around 12.10 a lot of people started to leave, which meant that it was time to go for us, unless we want to be stuck here. We swirled aroud people and took shortcuts, just to reach the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall MRT station as soon as possible.

Once there, it was already uber crowded. We put ourselves in line and waited.

Exit 3 and 5 were letting people inside bit by bit. We had to wait 15 min.

Suddenly the let in a lot of people at once and we were able to get in.

Inside were huge crowds as well. But being on the side, we could pass through faster.

Huge crowds were filling up the small Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Station.

Several empty and full trains passed by. We had to wait another 15 mins, maybe more.

All in all, we were home one and a half hours later and we live on the other side of Taipei. My wife said, that it was very well organized this year and everything went very smoothly. That's a big compliment from someone, who used to work for Taipei MRT company in the past. To sum it up: It was a great experience and I'm glad I was part of this event. In the past, I've always watched these fireworks on TV back at home in Europe. Those were the times, when Tapei 101 was still the world's tallest building and I was always wondering, how it must be to see it in real. Those were the times, when I was still young and full of dreams. Now these dreams became real and I'm not as happy as I thought I would be, when I wished they'd come true. Dreams are best, when they remain what they are - dreams.

How was your new year celebration and what do you wish for yourself in 2012?

[My LIFE IN TAIWAN page][My TAIWAN page][All photos and video by MKL, 2012]

Best Taiwan blogger 2011

2011-12-29T00:44:00.000+08:00

Who is the best Taiwan blogger 2011?

I'm trying to show you the real Taiwan. Photo from here.

The year is almost over and soon we will get Taiwanderful's best Taiwan blogger of 2011. Since I won last year by popular vote, I am very curious about who will be my successor this year. I was peer judge this time, but I requested, that my blog is not part of the competition and I am very happy, that my wish was granted.

Why I don't want to participate again? The answer is simple: Because I could easily win. And I think it's much better to give a chance for a little recognition to other bloggers, than to win based on the advantages you have in mobilizing your online buddies. This year my blog has more followers and readers and in addition, I could get support of a lot of Slovenian netizens, if I wanted, because my blog Slovenian in Taiwan is repeatedly shared in the Slovenian blogosphere and online media (I'm probably the only serious Slovenian blogger in the Far East). When some of my posts are shared, my traffic spikes sky high for a couple of hours. Not only that, our Slovenian Twitter community is very strong this year, I could be retweeted as much as I wished. This all shows how far I've come as a blogger. This year is just amazing. Including my Slovenian blog, I've written almost 300 posts in 2011! A lot of these were written in the first half of the year, when I just arrived in Taiwan and had a lot of time. After I started to work, my updates became less, but my focus shifted to quality over quantity. Sometimes I was drafting a post for a week, before I published it. Luckily, it was worth the effort, because it was quite well received.

Last year's epic win of the Taiwanderful blog award put me in the spotlight of the expat online community in Taiwan. Imagine, a Slovenian beats all the Americans, Canadians and Aussies - what a shock it was to some. I got a bit more traffic and few more readers, but other than that, it hasn't had any significant effect on me as a Taiwan blogger. I just continued to do my thing as usual. I was never really too engaged in this community, but I was and still am observing it from the sidelines. Sadly, I am not too impressed with what I see this year. Let me go deeper into that.

The problem of the Taiwan expat community is that it's not a community. It's more like a community of groups and most of these groups are small and less relevant in the broader sense. They usually consist of few bloggers, who interact with each other. There is however a main group, a group of the popular Taiwan bloggers, who have a lot of readers and are able to shape a certain kind of image of Taiwan for the world outside. This group is divided in the good and the not so good ones. The good ones really care about the online community and about Taiwan in general, they have no agenda other than pure enthusiasm for this Far Eastern gem. These people are also behind the Taiwanderful blog award, I have great respect for them.

The not so good ones are usually having an agenda. They are mostly writing about politics, history, society and random observations. They are highly critical of others, especially those who don't share the same opinion, but very insecure, if the criticism boomerangs back to them. These bloggers often distort the image of Taiwan and its people, most likely because of a personal issue - they exaggerate, make up stuff, write too hastily and have almost no balanced views on a variety of topics. Generally, they do some harm, but I think their influence is very limited, as most intelligent readers will abandon them very quickly. They end up only writing for like-minded people. This is of course nothing shocking, as every blogging community has these types of bloggers, especially expat communities in Asia. I will of course not mention any of them here, because I don't want to supply them with topics to blog about.

Instead, I'd like to focus on something more positive. I did find two Taiwan related blogs, that I would like to mention here and they are definitely worthy of your time:

Vagabond in Taiwan: Written by Adrienne, an American, who lives in Taipei. What I like about her blog is the simplistic layout, which is delightfully completed with beautiful photos. I generally like to read blogs, where photos tell a story or are a big part of a story - it's also my way of blogging. And in this case, I could say: Great minds think alike. I just dropped my vote for the Vagabond in Taiwan today.

Brennpunkt Taipeh: Written by Klaus, a German, who lives in Taipei. He's more known as a German language blogger, nevertheless, his English posts are excellent as well. It won't shock you to know, that he's a reporter and I have to say a very fine one. I've seldom met someone, who loves Taiwan as much as he does and yet is still very realistic about the good and the bad sides of the country and its people. If you wanna see the real Taiwan, he should be one of your prime sources.

To browse more Taiwan blogs, check these websites and posts:

- Bloggers in Taiwan (listed English language blogs on Taiwan)
- Taiwanderful's blog directory (similar to the link above)
- List of Taiwanese bloggers (native Taiwanese, who blog in Chinese language)

I know I'm very picky, when it comes to reading blogs. For one, I have a very high quality standard for my own blog, and secondly, I don't have a lot of time, that's why I have to set my priorities. Btw, I'm trying to tweak my layout a little, make it cleaner and with less links, but more to the point. As the first step, I have redesigned my table of contents, please check it here and tell me, how you like it. It was a lot of work, but I have to make my blog more professional and that's why I will continue to tweak and redesign until I'm happy with it. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of free time, that's why I'm doing it bit by bit.

I've already written over 1200 posts in the recent 4 years and currently I have between 3000 and 4000 pageviews per day! That's a lot of traffic for a simple blogspot blog and it's even getting more every month. It's very fulfilling to know, that so many people read and appreciate what I've written - I hope that this will continue next year as well. Actually, I'm pretty sure it will.

• Who is your best Taiwan blog this year?
• What was the reason for you to become my regular reader?

I'm looking forward to your answers. Thanks for sticking with me and going through thick and thin. I appreciate it :)

[My TAIWAN page][Photo by MKL, 2011]

Taipei on Christmas, 2011

2011-12-25T01:23:00.001+08:00

Jingle bells in the Far East

Today I went out to Taipei's popular East District to see a movie. It happend to be on the Christmas eve and I decided to take some photos. Taipei is not very different during Christmas, especially because it falls on a weekend, where people go out to 走走 (dzǒudzǒu) or walk around. This time they dzǒudzǒued a little more, so it seemed, because the pedestrian area near Taipei 101 was so crowded like I've rarely seen before. Maybe some of these people just got the annual bonus and want to splurge on shopping? I don't know. It was a little Christmasy, but very commercialized. Basically similar to what we see in most of central Europe: Just minus the food stalls and freezing cold weather. I made some photos for you, but the best part is the video at the very end, which is compiled of several clips, that I've made today. Enjoy!

Not like the stalls I saw in Germany, but still ok.

Oh yeah, did I mention that there was a lot of people?

A whole lot of people!

Taipei 101 seen through the decoration.

Street performers taking photos with young fans.

When the night fell, people were leaving home.

But some were just coming!

My video will show you the Christmas atmosphere in Taipei.

Taiwanese are mostly not Christian, but Taoist, Buddhist, both or not really religions. Christmas is like Halloween, something interesting from the West, that is another reason to have fun. Taiwanese love celebrations, so it doesn't need too long, before you'll see cute girls and their friends with Santa caps or antlers posing for a photo with the v-sign and a wide smile. Xinyi these days is packed with people and I think it will become even crazier in 5 days. The famous Taipei 101 countdown to 2012 will be held here. And then there is Chinese new year... Phew. The festive season just started in Taiwan. Merry Christmas, everybody!

[My TAIPEI page][My LIFE IN TAIWAN page][All photos by MKL, 2011]

European City Tour: Basel, Switzerland

2011-12-19T22:20:00.000+08:00

Part of my 2011 European travel adventures

Basel was my gateway to Switzerland and the place, that made me fall in love with this beautiful country. It's a small city, but it has a lot to offer. Located close to where the borders of Germany, France and Switzerland meet, Basel has an international feel to it. Some of Basel's suburbs even reach far inside the French and German territory, its international airport is actually located in France. I'm very enamored with this medieval gem and very happy to share some of my best shots with you.

1. My impression of Basel

Unfortunately I only had a late afternoon to explore the city. I arrived at the main railway station at around 5pm, decided to stack my luggage at one of the lockers there and headed towards the city center by foot. The good thing about Basel is that the main station and the center are not too far from each other. The streets and roads are fairly small, but not too crowded. Most Baslers take the tram, which is conveniently cruising up and down the city, you can't miss it. What surprised me, was the medieval part, which is located on a rock above the river Rhine. There are several narrow and steep old streets going up and down, it's truly an adventure to explore this part.

2. My images of Basel

One of the biggest and most important railway stations in the area.

The busy square in front of the busy main station.

This is one of the busiest parts of Basel.

Off to the central part.

The view over the Rhine to the other side.

Mittlere Brücke or Middle bridge over the Rhine.

Middle bridge from close.

Marktplatz or the Main square.

Basel's beautiful landmark: The town hall or Rathaus.

Reminds me a little of the old Munich town hall.

A closeup.Heading to the Basel Münster.

The colorful top of the tower.

Marktplatz again.

Typical street in the old Basel.

Closer to the Münster.

The Basel Münster, former cathedral, now a protestant church.

The beautiful golden clock on the Münster.

A closeup on the Münster.

Baslers playing boules.

View from the Münster on the other side of Basel.

The Offene Kirche, a beautiful neo-gothic church.

Offene Kirche from the side.

And then I was back at the Basel Main railway station.

3. Basel in conclusion

Basel has much more to offer than what you've seen in my photos above. I really wish I had at least a weekend in the city, but I hope that the photos will still give you enough impressions to decide visiting this medieval treasure yourself. I can only highly recommend you visiting Basel and Switzerland as a whole. It's one of my favorite European countries.

Interracial couples in Taiwanese commercials - It's a start

2011-12-18T12:08:00.001+08:00

Not your every day thing in Taiwan, but growing in significance

Today I saw a TV commercial featuring a White guy as a loving husband, who cooks for his Taiwanese wife and their child. It's a rather simple and short commercial, but pretty amazing, because it might well be the first of such kind to regularly run on Taiwan's national TV (correct me, if I'm wrong). The ad is not new, it's at least a year old, but I haven't noticed it too often (yeah, I'm pretty busy). The company, that launched the ad is called 好帝一 Haw-Di-i. I'm not sure how tasty their sauce is, but I'd like to commend them for creating this ad. Big thumbs up from me. In my previous post about big hot dogs, I've said that the foreigners in the video don't represent me. Sadly, the foreigner in the commercial doesn't represent me, too. When my wife saw the video, she immediately said: You don't cook! :-P Sadly, I don't have time to cook for my wifey, but the commercial really makes me want to :-) And I might buy that sauce, since I'm also targeted as a consumer.

The husband says: This is the original taste of Taiwan.

A little later the company made another commercial with the same family.

Earlier this year Quaker made a commercial featuring a prominent Taiwanese couple, of which the woman is an actress and a singer, who married a Canadian. Her name is 黃嘉千 (Phoebe Wang) and the husband is Christopher Downs (夏克立). Check the commercial:

Brief summary: Husband and mother-in-law are discussing what is the best food for the baby. The daughter/wife then says: This milk powder from Quaker is the best. And the other two finally agree.

More and more foreigners are appearing in Taiwanese TV commercials, but usually as English teachers or travelers, which still places them outside the Taiwanese society. What more commonly represents the reality of the mainstream, are interracial babies (can I say Eurasian babies?), but those might be booked, because they "look cute" to the average Taiwanese (I heard this a lot), not because companies want to have any connection with the reality of interracial relationships in Taiwan. The fathers of these babies rarely appear in these videos (the ones above are the proof of that). If any, it will be the advertising industry, who will be the first to realize that foreigners, who married Taiwanese women and live here, represent a very potential customer base, and start to invest more into this direction.

[Source of the ad][My UNIQUELY TAIWANESE page][TAIWANESE WOMEN Series]

"Meet foreign big hot dogs" - Are Taiwanese girls obsessed with foreigners?

2011-12-17T00:56:00.001+08:00

Just bigger hot dogs or more skilled cooks?

Today I want to share a video with you, which was made by Apple Daily, a fairly known media in the yellow press of Taiwan. It's discussing the non-issue of late night action between Taiwanese girls and foreign guys. They interviewed a cabbie and two Taiwanese guys in front of a night club in Taipei and shot few videos with a camera, which was secretly placed in a cab just to highlight how easy it is for foreigners to hook up with a Taiwanese girl. Check my transcription of the things that were said in the video underneath and enter a discussion in the comments.

Western guys' attraction makes the Taiwanese girls obsessed!?

Google says Taiwan girls are easy.
Guy 1 says: "Foreigners don't need to be handsome, just normal. Some are even a bit chubby, but they can get the girls easy, because they have a big hotdog."

The video wants to proof, that Taiwanese girls are obsessed with foreigners. We want to do a research in the most popular night club among foreigners. The club has a "foreigners night". [The night club is named Brassmonkey]

Guy 2 says: "Many foreigners, be it whites, blacks and taiwanese girls, when they enter the night club, they kiss with tongues, hug tight, touch the butt, grab the waist."

The cabbie says: "The club here is full of foreigners and Taiwanese girls. Even if some foreigners can't get girls inside the club, they will go out and try to get a drunk girl outside and take them with them. Those foreigners are all horny."

They want to track, if things they say is true, hence they install a camera in taxi to monitor.

Cabbie again: "Most of the time foreigners will hold the girl, when she enters the cab and then he will be all over her."

The video ends with: This is happening every day. Foreigners are very horny.
Are Taiwanese girls so easy to get?

My thoughts about the video

It's a very one-sided video and you don't need to be Einstein to understand what it tries to say. It's the classic case of the "good" Taiwanese guys against the "bad" Taiwanese girls and the notoriously ~~horny~~ immoral foreigners). It's interesting, how the whole story is interpreted and commented only by three Taiwanese guys, there are no comments from foreigners who frequently visit the club, let alone Taiwanese girls... or a sociologist, for example. I'm not saying that what we saw in the backside of the cab doesn't happen, but how much does it represent the dating scene of Taiwanese girls with foreign guys? I'd say very little. Well, at least in my world. But what do I know, I'm just a boring TGIF worker, never go to clubs or pubs and never had interest to hook up with girls this way. This behavior doesn't represent me and I can't be happy about the sexist and racist undertone I feel throughout the video, which is somehow related to my personal love story as well. Similar and crazier things happen between Taiwanese girls and guys, but nobody makes a story out of it. Why is that? The answer is obvious.

My personal experience

Videos like this one do cause harm, I experienced it first hand. It's a kind of a constant theme in recent years for the Taiwanese yellow press and it gets under people's skin. It took me a long time to prove, that I am a "good foreigner", before I was accepted by my wife's parents. When we started to date and she told them about us, they always confronted her with the bad stuff about foreigners they saw on TV or read in the newspapers. They had a lot of concerns about our relationship, their fears were rooted in such biased reporting. In addition it seems that it's in the nature of Taiwanese parents to be overly worried about their daughters. It was a very stressful and tiresome time for me and I don't wish anyone to go though a similar torment.

Open sexuality in Taiwan

Openly displayed female sexuality is a taboo in Taiwan, but what we saw is nothing shocking for Europeans. Go to Hamburg's, London's or Amsterdam's night clubs and you'll see things, that will make the video above look very innocent. Of course Taipei is not Amsterdam, but it's also not the Taipei it used to be few decades ago. Taipei wants to be a global player (constantly ogling at Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo) and a part of this process is a liberation of mind and a tolerance for the choices other people make, even if they conflict with your own values. A vibrant night scene is part of a metropolis, attracting foreign and domestic adventurers, travelers and free spirited people. It's part of city branding. If we take this into consideration, we realize, that the video is fairly naive. Even more so in the way it argues its point. If you constantly use other guys' "big hot dogs" and "horniness" as a kind of a case against them, what does that say about your own hot dog and sexual drive? I've heard these things a lot during the recent attacks against Taiwanese girls in interracial relationships. I also mentioned this whole issue in my detailed post about interracial relationships in Taiwan. I guess these things won't stop any time soon, because there's a great divide between sexes in Taiwan, which is completely redefining the way the society is structured and it happened way before Westerners entered the local dating scene. There is no simple answer, why are some foreign guys able to pick up Taiwanese girls like ripe cherries from the tree, but one thing is sure: Constantly bemoaning this fact won't help you. Real men take action, real men don't whine. And Taiwanese girls like real men.

European City Tour: Munich, Germany

2011-12-13T01:19:00.000+08:00

Part of my 2011 European travel adventures

Munich (German München) is the 3rd biggest German city and the cultural and economic center of Southern Germany. It's also the capital of the German Bundesland Bavaria. Munich is famous for so many things, that I don't know where to start: The Oktoberfest, the beer, the weisswurst, the pretzel, the dirndl, the lederhosen, Bayern München soccer club, BMW, Frauenkirche, schiki-miki and much more. Munich is for me culturally closer to Austria and Switzerland instead of middle and northern Germany. One thing, that makes people of Munich very different from the rest of Germans is the colorful Bavarian dialect, spoken in and around the city. Germany's southern metropolis has so much to offer, that I'd need days, maybe even weeks, to explore most of it. My focus was on the historic center, I spend one morning to walk around and take photos.

1. My impression of Munich

Munich seemed quite big to me. The center is truly located in the very middle part of the city, which is very convenient. The Hauptbahnhof, Munich's main station, is located right next to it and can be reached by foot. Therefore almost all roads lead to there, be it the railway, the U-Bahn, the S-Bahn, the buses or the cabs. You can't miss the place. Getting around is a little confusing at first, because there are really so many means of transportation. You'll need some time to comprehend that maze. Munich center is interesting, in parts. It's very diverse, from old churches to modern buildings: You have everything you want. The most beautiful part is the Marienplatz with the old and new City Hall, as well as the famous Frauenkirche, the onion-shaped tips of two identical towers that form Munich's most notable landmark. But of course Munich also has few ugly sides, especially the main station and some quarters nearby. I wasn't too eager to walk around there at night, but yeah: I survived.

2. My photos of Munich

The area south of Hauptbahnhof is dominated by immigrants.

The tram slowly passing by.

Few meters inside the old town and I already saw a church.

A Bavarian restaurant.

Beautiful old house, which is today a museum.

The new synagogue.

Walking deeper into the central part.

Vegetable market called Viktualienmarkt.

Alter Peter Church and the Old City Hall.

People strolling around.

Old City Hall or Altes Rathaus.

Alter Peter or St. Peter's church.

The old City Hall again.

The new City Hall or Rathaus at the Marienplatz.

The right side.

The tip of the tower.

The coat of arms.

The left side.

The trapped dragon.

The busy Weinstraße.

The famous Frauenkirche or Cathedral of Our Dear Lady.

This is Munich's most famous landmark.

Each tower is 99m tall and built with bricks. Amazing.

National theatre of Munich on the right. On the left is the Munich Palace in renovation.

The posh Maximilianstraße, full of luxury brands. This is where the posh hang out.

The Upper Bavaria governmental building.

Statue of Maximilian II of Bavaria.

Maximilianeum, a palace in use for the Bavarian Landtag.

Walking back in the central part of the center.

I saw a BMW near the synagogue.

The Old Peter again.

This is the Hauptbahnhof.

A very big station, but not as big as the one in Frankfurt.

Off to the trains.

This is where my Munich tour ended.

3. Munich in conclusion

Munich is one of those cities, that are huge by size and importance, yet they still retain that small town feeling, the ambiance of the old times long past. Bavarians are very down to earth and make every visitor feel like home. At least that's how I felt during my (now already) second visit. Munich has a lot to offer, it's definitely worth a few days long stay, but I'm sure that it's even more interesting to travel around Bavaria, see the beautiful landscape and stroll through picturesque small towns. That will need to wait for some other time, because my next destination is Basel, Switzerland.

European City Tour: Frankfurt, Germany

2011-12-10T17:57:00.001+08:00

Part of my 2011 European travel adventures

Frankfurt (am Main) is one of the most important German cities. When it comes to banks, business and transportation, there is no other city in Germany, that could top Frankfurt's importance for Germany, as well as whole central Europe. Most German train and highway routes pass through Frankfurt and in addition, one of the biggest and busiest airports in the world is located just few miles away from Frankfurt's center.

1. My impression of Frankfurt

I have to say I'm not too crazy about Frankfurt. Compared to other German cities, it's just big, loud and a little bit intimidating. It lacks the gemütlichkeit and the charm of the old times. Frankfurt is next to Berlin one of those German cities, that had a very rough past century. The city center was almost completely destroyed by the Allied powers during the World War II and had to be rebuilt. The medieval ambiance is only felt in certain parts, the rest is not too pretty. What does stand out are some of the tallest skyscrapers in Europe, most notable the 259m tall Commerzbank Tower. I didn't have a lot of time to explore the city. The photos below are impressions of one afternoon and evening.

2. My photos of Frankfurt

From Bahnhofsviertel to the city center. The high rise is called Westendtower (208m).

Frankfurt is home to a lot of Turks and people from all over the world.

The 264m tall Commerzbank Tower on the left and the 148m tall Eurotower on the right.

Occupy Frankfurt movement infront of the Eurotower, which inhabits the ECB.

The 155m tall Deutsche Bank Twin Towers.

Goetheplatz.

Goetheplatz.

Roßmarkt with food and drinks typical for the Christmas time.

This street is called Die Zeil, it's Frankfurt's largest pedestrian street.

Die Zeil once more.

I ate a German sausage here - how cliched.

I spotted the Frankfurt Cathedral and had to check it out.

The church, also known as Saint Bartholomeus's Cathedral, is truly impressive.

Its origins date back to the 13th century. I love the clock.

The huge Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, main railway station.

The inside is covered by a huge roof.

The very popular Frankfurt Christmas market.

3. Frankfurt in conclusion

I guess Frankfurt is one of those cities, that gradually grow on you. I've been there twice and it looked a little better to me the second time, but it's still by far not a city I would visit during my holidays. For that I'd rather choose Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin or Munich. I haven't see much outside the Bahnhofsviertel and the Innenstadt, that's why I'm not the most objective source on Frankfurt, but I still hope that you liked some of my impressions.

i'm Watch: Smartphone on a strap

2011-12-05T23:54:00.001+08:00

The pseudowatch for smartphone geeks

Today I came across a very interesting device, that calls itself i'm Watch, but it's basically a smartphone with a strap, which is supposed to be worn on the wrist. It does have a digital time app, but does this justify the name watch? Depends on how you see it. Check a video below about this fancy new thing:

It looks interesting to the geek in me, but appalling to my inner watch-lover.

This is what I call a watch: My TAG Heuer Link Day-Date Calibre 5:

I love mechanical watches with self-winding movements. That's what I call "a watch for real men". Having a tiny smartphone strapped over your wrist and playing with those mini-apps might be an interesting pass time for college girls or nerdy students, but really, what serious guy will wear this ~~watch~~ smartphone on his wrist?

Ok, hold on! Maybe I'm just too traditional and maybe I am completely out of touch with what's hip these days. I admit, the i'm Watch looks interesting to me, the only thing I don't like is that they use the term "watch" for this gadget. I highly doubt that this is where the haute horlogerie will find its natural evolution, but it surely is a niche market for smartphones. I would rather see, that they call it "Strapphone" or "iStrap" or "Strapdroid", but that's just me. In the end it all comes down to how much will people really be into this device. I suppose many are happy to pay the equal amount of money for an iPhone, which has a bigger screen and more functions. But maybe there's a huge market for people who prefer talking to a watch like James Bond, who knows. I have my doubts about the success of this smartwatch with its tiny screen, but I wish the company all the best. As of today, the price starts at 249 Eur and ends at the 11.999 Eur (and yes, that's the price of a brand new European car). Check all the specs here.

This is what makes me excited:

What's your opinion of the i'm Watch and what kinda watches do you prefer?

European city tour: Hamburg, Germany

2011-12-04T14:45:00.001+08:00

Part of my 2011 European travel adventures

Hamburg is Germany's second largest city and commonly referred to by Germans as the Window to the world. It was my first time in this big northern gem and I was truly impressed. I spend there 3 days, but only had one cold November Sunday to explore the city. Sundays in Germany are not like in Taiwan, where people flood the streets of the cities, quite to the contrary: When I went sightseeing, most Germans were taking a rest and staying inside. I've only seen few tourists taking photos around the historic sights. A little bit more crowded was the area near the river Elbe with the view on the harbor, which is very inviting for a Sunday walk. A walk you're about to go on with me.

The Hamburg Airport is one of the nicest airports I've ever seen.

1. My impression of Hamburg

Unfortunately my time and the means to explore the broader Hamburg were very limited during my trip, because I wasn't in Germany on pleasure, but business. Therefore I the photos below were taken on a few hours long walk around the central Hamburg, which is huge by the way. I don't think I can tell you how Hamburg really is, but I have a general idea. What I liked is the laid back atmosphere, the clean and very well maintained streets and buildings and the amazing mix of old and new architecture. There's definitely a lot going on in this city, some parts are experiencing a construction boom, while others look like they were recently refurbished. Typical for Hamburg are red-bricked houses, churches with very sharp and tall towers, canals winding their way through the old city and even a lake incorporated in the urban area. There are so many things you need to see, if you come to Hamburg, so I can't really tell you what is a must-see location, but these are the places I really enjoyed: The City hall square and the "Rathaus", Jungfernstieg and the Binnenalster (especially in the evening), the area around the "Michel" church, the Saint Nikolai Memorial, the HafenCity and St. Pauli with the "Hamburger Dom" theme park and the Reeperbahn. I've actually seen so many other interesting parts of the city center, that I could make a much longer list. But let my photos speak for themselves.

I stayed in Holiday Inn Express in Wartenau. Great location, service and price.

2. My photos of Hamburg

Below are some of the photos I've taken during my trip. Hamburg was very foggy in the morning, but in the late afternoon the sky slowly cleared up and although it was around zero degrees Celsius, it was a pleasant day to walk, with a clear blue sky and fresh air.

Wartenau, the area near my hotel. A subway station was nearby, very convenient.

Hamburg's subway trains: Not the newest and biggest, but clean, fast and convenient.

Hamburg's subway is called U-Bahn (Untergrundbahn) and covers the most important parts of the city. What was confusing for me at first was the system of various tariffs depending on the area of Hamburg marked with circles (A, B, C, D). A single fare ticket costs 1.8 Eur, you can take the S-Bahn (Schnellbahn) from Airport to the city center and also switch to the U-Bahn, if you want. For my Sunday adventure I've bought a daily ticket for about 5 Euros, which enabled me to take unlimited rides within the day, something I also recommend to you (and no worries about the various tariffs).

The U-Bahn stations are mostly empty, especially in the outskirts.

I exited at Jungfernstieg, the promenade near the Binnenalster lake.

Binnenalster, smaller part of the Alstersee, a lake inside Hamburg.

Here my walking tour has begun: A fancy street loaded with branded goods.

A view towards the City hall square.

An accordion player.

View on the Rathaus, Hamburg's City hall building.

The Old post.

Hamburg's impressive City hall building, the Hamburger Rathaus.

A closeup.

The Rathaus in its full glory.

The St. Petri church with its incredibly sharp tower.

The ruins of Saint Nicholas, a memorial today.

The church was destroyed during World War II.

This is how I saw the church that day. It's truly impressive.

Modern and old side by side is very typical for Hamburg.

St. Catherine's Church, renovated in recent years, has a very remarkable spire.

Entering HafenCity, Hamburg's new district and biggest city-planning project.

This is Speicherstadt with its red-brick houses and canals, from 19th century.

Majestic houses in Speicherstadt, Hamburg warehouse district.

Another view.

A chimney in HafenCity.

Modern buildings dominate this part.

This one is one of my favorites.

The huge port of Hamburg, second largest in Europe.

Finest modern architecture.

Another masterpiece.

This part is called Sandtorhafen.

Impressive cranes dominate the skyline above Hamburg's harbor.

One of the future landmarks of Hamburg: Elbphilharmonie, still under construction.

A view on Speicherstadt, its Western side.

The Michel, one of Hamburg's landmarks.

Michel or St. Michaelis Church was build in 1669. The tower is 132m tall.

A truly impressive church.

A view from another side.

The reflection of the Michel in a modern building nearby.

Beautiful buildings in thea area, that caught my attention.

Hanseatic High Court or Hanseatische Oberlandesgericht.

Hamburg's 279m tall landmark tower Heinrich-Hertz-Turm.

This was a brief overview of Hamburg during the day. It was a nice walk for me, but not as exciting as the mini tour I made in the evening, when I headed to St. Pauli, Hamburg's famous district.

3. Hamburg at night

After my long afternoon tour of the city center, I headed back to the hotel and took a short rest. When the night fell over the city, I decided to go to the Hamburger Dom theme park and Reeperbahn, Hamburg's famous red light district, where the Beatles rocked the place in the early 1960s before they became big.

Hamburger Dom has a long tradition of amusement. I was lucky to visit the Winterdom.

A big Ferris wheel dominated the sky.

This was much bigger than any Taiwanese night market I've been.

I tried some delicious German sausages in one of these restaurants.

That's a carousel that's not suitable for the fainthearted.

Amusement monster.

After strolling around the Dom for about an hour, I decided to visit Reeperbahn nearby.

Reeperbahn is Hamburg's red light district stretched along a long road.

Brothels are explicitly advertised, sometimes people outside try to lure customers in.

A lot of sex shops and obscure bars are in the area. I did not go into any.

4. Hamburg in conclusion

Hamburg is a huge city full of history and interesting parts. It would need me at least a week or more to truly get the most parts covered. But I'm happy, that I had the chance to see the center. Once I understood the way public transportation works, getting around was not too hard. Walking is a must, if you want to go deeper. The city felt safe, even the Reeperbahn was not as scary as I've thought. To sum it up: Hamburg is so far my favorite German city (I need to see Cologne, Berlin, Stuttgart, though) and I'm sure it'll always remain one of my favorites. Definitely a must-see destination, if you plan a trip to Germany.

[My EUROPE TRAVEL page][HAMBURG MAP][All photos by MKL, 2011]

Introducing my Europe trips 2011

2011-12-03T11:21:00.000+08:00

My Europe tour 2011

I'm kinda tired of Taiwan related topics, so I will change my focus for a while now. Well, at least on my main blog. Recently I had the pleasure to spend about 1 month in Europe and really rediscovered my European roots. I love living in Taiwan, I love to travel around the Far East, but good Ol' Europe is not that bad either. I was on two business trips, each about two weeks long, and it was so refreshing to be once again one of the many, speaking the same language and eating the food I used to eat a lot in my past life. I think I didn't eat a tiny grain of rice for one month, but stuffed myself with yummy German bread and delicious Greek pita as much as possible.

I will write travelogues with lots of impressions, tips and beautiful photos, starting with Hamburg, my most northern destination and end with Athens, the most southern city I have visited. Let me tell you, that with the exception of Greece, I speak and understand all languages in the countries I have visited, but interestingly, most of them I have visited for the first time. And the route on the map is not the same I took.

View Larger Map

In recent years Europe's been in the spotlight a lot, usually connected with negative things such as bad economy, currency issues, political turmoil, Angela Merkel. But what I've seen is much more than that. Europe is a very complex entity and there are no simple terms, that would help you to understand this diverse continent and its peoples. All I can do is share bits of this reality, but you have to complete the puzzle by yourself.

My European trail: Hamburg · Düsseldorf · Frankfurt · Basel · Zürich · Munich · Maribor · Zagreb · Belgrade · Skopje · Athens

Interracial relationships in Taiwan

2011-11-26T11:16:00.001+08:00

Statistics, opinions and conclusions

Wow! White guy in a Korean drama "Tamna Island", more about it here.

Since one of my latest posts stirred a minor controversy on a popular Taiwanese forum, I believe it's about time that I write my thoughts on interracial and cross-cultural relationships in Taiwan. There are some undeniable truths, but a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding this issue. There's also a lot of passion and emotions involved, when this is debated, which was clearly shown during the uproar over my post. This here is not intended to feed the trolls and not meant as a guide to foreigners, who date Taiwanese girls. It's more about a basic overview of the facts and stereotypes accompanied with my personal views and conclusions. I hope it could serve as a reference to those, who are not too familiar with the issue.

1 The "truth": Statistics and what they show

Before we go to all the implications and dimensions of interracial dating in Taiwan, I would like to share some statistics with you. On the government's website Information for foreigners you can find various data about foreign spouses in Taiwan. I used the Number of foreign spouses from the 100 years of ROC statistical reports (外籍配偶人數, 100年統計報表) from 22. March 2011. You can download the excel file here (automatic download) and review it for yourself (it's in Chinese, though).

Chinese word for foreigner 外國人 (waiguoren) is a common euphemism for a White person. The government website dedicated to foreigners is very honest about this, even though Whites constitute a very small percentage of all foreign residents in Taiwan.

I have put together an overview of those statistics, that I see as most important for my post, because they show the gender, the number and the nationality of the foreigners, who married a native Taiwanese. These statistics collected data from 1985 to 2011. The numbers only show how many Taiwanese have registered marriage with foreigners during this period, it doesn't show how many have divorced or moved out of Taiwan, nor does it indicate the actual number of foreigners in Taiwan, which is much higher. The latter non-married are mostly studying or working here, have a temporary permission to stay, but they are also dating local Taiwanese and should be taken into account when talking about interracial relationships in Taiwan, but I will go into that later on.

Foreign spouses in Taiwan: Sorted by country and gender

The data includes the numbers from the past 26 years.

Just a mere glance over these numbers shows some significant trends, which can be summed up in short conclusions:

- There are by far more foreign women married to Taiwanese men than foreign men married to Taiwanese women (94.2% female spouses vs. 5.8% male spouses)*

- Taiwanese, who marry foreigners, will generally marry someone from East Asia or South East Asia (in 97.1% of the cases).

- Most foreign spouses come from People's Republic of China (66% of all foreign spouses). However, this is a bit tricky, as these "foreigners" have a special status in Taiwan.

- Most foreign female spouses, that are of non-Han Chinese descent, come from Vietnam. If we exclude nationals of PR China, they would constitute 62.2% of all foreign female spouses.

- Countries, that are foremost the origin of foreign brides to Taiwanese men include: People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia.

- Countries, that are commonly the origin of foreign brides to Taiwanese men as well as foreign grooms to Taiwanese women include: Japan, South Korea, Thailand and "Others".

- Countries, that are foremost the origin of foreign grooms to Taiwanese women are listed under "Others". It includes all countries other than the aforementioned countries from East and Southeast Asia.

- "Others" is the only origin of foreign spouses, where males prevail over females, but with 1.3% of all foreign spouses in Taiwan, their numbers are insignificant.

- I fall into the category of "Others", so do all nationals from Western countries (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, European countries) and the rest of the world.

* There is a large, but unknown number of Taiwanese women, who registered marriage in another country and moved there. One of the reasons, why there are so many mainland Chinese and Vietnamese brides in Taiwan lays in the fact, that with marriage they move to a more prosperous country with a higher living standard. A lot of times when Taiwanese women marry foreigners, they do the same and therefore move out of Taiwan (for example to Japan, USA or Europe).

Let me add, that there is a trend in Taiwan among rich guys to marry East European (preferably blonde and tall) women, which is seen as a kind of a status symbol of the upper class. I'm not sure, how common this is, but it's definitely a known phenomenon. Brides from Southeast Asian countries are sadly looked down upon.

This chart shows the domination of wives, that come from People's Republic of China.

This chart shows the ratio of foreign husbands vs. foreign wives sorted by nation.

2 The significance of foreign ethnic Chinese spouses

A lot of foreign spouses in Taiwan are of Chinese descent, either coming from People's Republic of China or from various Southeast Asian countries, their numbers are substantial. Even though there is a strong national and local identity of Taiwanese people, there is something like an equally strong pan-Chinese cultural identity, that connects all people of Chinese descent from all over the world. The common history, languages, script, food, traditions and values make it a lot easier for ethnic Chinese to date and marry, because things like racism and stigmatization of dating a "foreigner", acceptance of the parents and communication issues can be avoided much easier. Of course this is a very broad and general statement, which may be more indicative of the expectations local Taiwanese have, when they decide to date ethnic Chinese from other countries, less what they experience in reality. Based on my observations and personal experience with ethnic Chinese people, there is nothing "easy" or "uncomplicated" when they date, so take this statement with a pinch of salt.

It's commonly known, that the relations between Taiwan (officially Republic of China) and China (officially People's Republic of China) are very complicated. Both countries have common historic, cultural and linguistic roots and the majority of the population on both sides is formed by Han Chinese, the descendants of the so called Yellow Emperor or 黃帝 (Huangdi), who is seen as the father of Chinese civilization (but based on myths and legends, less on actual facts). If we look at foreign spouses, who come from People's Republic of China to Taiwan, they will not be seen as foreigners or 外国人 (waiguoren), but at the same time also not as locals or 台灣人 (Taiwanren). They will be called Mainlanders or 大陸人 (Daluren). Unlike most foreign spouses from other countries, they will not have problems of speaking the official language (reading will acquire some additional learning) and understanding the culture. They will also not visibly stand out from the majority of Taiwanese people, however they will have specific problems with the official administration due to the political complications between these two countries.

There are countries in Southeast Asia with a significant ethnic Chinese populations such as Singapore (3.6 mil., ethnic Chinese form the majority), Indonesia (10 mil.), Thailand (7 mil.), Malaysia (6.6 mil), Vietnam (1.26 mil.), Cambodia (1.18 mil.) and Philippines (1.15 mil.), data source here. Most of the listed countries above are typical countries of origin of foreign spouses in Taiwan (exceptions being Singapore and Malaysia). I don't have information about how many foreign spouses in Taiwan from these countries are of Chinese descent, but I would say at least in the case of Indonesia the numbers must be very high, since ethnic Indonesian women are in most cases Muslim and in order for Taiwanese men to marry them, they would need to convert to Islam. I have not observed a significant trend into this direction, therefore I assume that most brides and grooms from Indonesia are of Chinese descent. In this case, they have a similar experience as the spouses from People's Republic of China, just minus the political complications. I would say, that same goes for all ethnic Chinese spouses from Southeast Asian countries, who marry a Taiwanese national and register their marriage in Taiwan.

There is an interesting observation found in this article about the preference of the origin of foreign spouses by the various linguistic entities inside Taiwan. Taiwanese nationals with Hakka roots traditionally marry ethnic Chinese from Indonesia (as there are many Hakka speaking Chinese), those of Minnan roots traditionally marry with Vietnamese and those descendants of people, who came to Taiwan from the Chinese mainland in the late 1940s (so called "waishengren") traditionally marry nationals from People's Republic of China. Check 外籍配偶的關係空間 for your reference, there is a map of foreign spouses by nationality in Taiwan (the post is in Chinese).

3 Of dating a foreigner in Taiwan

Bringing a foreign national to Taiwan and registering marriage is one thing and when it comes to this, Taiwanese men significantly outnumber Taiwanese women. But when it comes to dating foreigners (and as highlighted before marrying abroad), based on my perception, Taiwanese girls and young women greatly outnumber Taiwanese guys.

Why the difference? According to my understanding, as well as based numerous accounts from female friends, there is a great divide between Taiwanese men and Taiwanese women. Most of it roots in culture, that greatly divides the sexes into two separate categories. Sons are preferred over daughters, especially in the mindset of the older generation, young parents are shifting towards equality. Preferred often means spoiled, while daughters have it much harder (they often have a stricter implementation of rules and expectations held by their parents). It usually begins in the childhood. Very commonly sisters need to help their brothers way more than it would be necessary or good for them. It seems to me as the first step of the role the traditional parents expect her to play in the future (to serve and to follow). Ed en Vadruille goes further: "Traditionally women are considered as a second class citizen that will only fullfill herself socially when she marries and has children. Once she loses her virginity she is considered to be a "used sock" (no longer good for marriage)." (Read his full take on Taiwanese girls and materialism). These traditional mindsets are slowly drifting away, as nowadays Taiwanese generally have less children, usually just one and quite late in their life (mostly at the end of 20s and early 30s). That only child gets all the love and attention, but what he or she misses is quality time with his parents. Taiwan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, most likely because people just work nonstop. Working overtime for no pay is as normal as being unreasonably pushed by the boss, which increases the stress level and decreases the libido. Lack of time, exhaustion and a fast-paced life, where things change so rapidly on daily basis, leaves little room for stiff traditions, that conflict with the common values of today's young generation. Most young Taiwanese women work (many even earn more than men) and know what they want in their life. They have a much higher education than the generation before them and a lot of them have seen the world beyond the horizons of ilha Formosa. That's usually different from what parents might want and very far away from the mindset of some young Taiwanese guys, who believe, that women should be submissive, dependent on their men and family-oriented instead of career-minded. I'm not trying to say what is better or who is right, this is just how I see the reality of today's gender relations in Taiwan.

4 The result of gender difference

The phenomenon mentioned above describes one of the gravest intracultural conflicts in Taiwanese society, but the issues are much more complex and it would go too far to go into that here. There are couples in Taiwan, where both sides are either traditional or modern - they have no problems in dating and mating. There are some couples with a different mindset, but they manage to find a middle way and meet in the center (and it works well, too). But there is a third group of people, who just can't find a common ground when it comes to dating and marriage. This shows, that there is a significant rift between a big portion of the male and female population in Taiwan's modern society. This rift drives the interracial (or cross-cultural) marriages with a very fast tempo and today they have become mainstream, especially when it comes to Taiwanese men marrying foreign women.

From what my Taiwanese female friends have told me, these Taiwanese men (and I'm only talking about this certain group) just can't handle a strong intelligent self-reliant woman, who earns good money and decides on her own what she wants. They see these young women as "too masculine", which makes them feel insecure. In order to find a partner, that would match their expectations, they revert their attention to the ladies from Southeast Asia, who are according to their perception less educated, more traditional, obedient, family oriented and lack material means, which reassures them in their traditional role as a caterer. I have to stress once again that I am talking about a common stereotype, not the actual reality of every single case, so please restrict yourself from comments of sorts: "But my [insert Southeast Asian country] wife is completely different!" I know she is. Try to see these things in a broader sense, I have no means to write about this issue by collecting the information from a half a million interracial relationships, my conclusions here need to be seen as general trends and as purely speculative.

5 Strong independent Taiwanese women

Let's have a look at those strong Taiwanese women: Their dating pool is small, their expectations in a man are high. Sure, there are cases, where the expectations are unreasonably high, especially from women who themselves offer very little. But that's a story for another post. In case of those, who justifiably have high expectations for their relationship, a lot of them revert to foreign men, mostly from Western countries (usually White), who are according to their perception well educated, well situated, confident, handsome, romantic and open-minded. Again, I am talking about the common stereotype, not the actual reality of every single case, which is often depending on personal perceptions, rather than an objective truth.

In addition, if we see this situation in a very broad sense, we come to the realization, that the interracial dating scene of Taiwan mostly consists of four big groups of people (ethnic Chinese from foreign countries are not part of this): Taiwanese men, Taiwanese women, Southeast Asian women and White men (I deliberately skipped the euphemism "Western"). The latter two end up in Taiwan and get caught up in the feud between genders, without really wanting to be part of it. But they receive a lot of the heat (like this post has shown) and they can't always be quiet. There is sometimes resentment on all sides, which is mostly driven by insecurity, envy, arrogance, racism and a whole mix of other emotions.

Are you afraid of confident Taiwanese girls? (Photo: Source)

6 Dating and marriage are two different things

The statistic of the past 26 years shows, that when it comes to marrying foreign nationals in Taiwan, men are clearly dominating the field. But here we're most likely talking about the older generation, I would say men and women in their 30s, 40s and above. How about the young people of today? Unfortunately, there are no statistics about how many late teens and twenty-somethings date outside their race in recent years, but I'm strongly leaning towards the idea, that Taiwanese girls dominate this field. The game has changed due to three main reasons:

Studying abroad: A lot of Taiwanese parents send their daughters to study abroad, most likely to countries such as Japan, USA or EU. It's not hard for them to fall for a local guy, as they are usually pretty open-minded and confident (based on the stories I heard). Quite often, when they return, it's not only a degree what they show to their parents. In case of Taiwanese men, who study abroad, this phenomenon is rather an exception.

Foreign English teacher: In the recent decade it has become common, that young (and usually) White males from English speaking countries (such as UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand) come to Taiwan and temporarily work here as English teachers in kindergartens. They are called 補習班 (buxiban), which is also a kind of a cram school. Since the job gives them a lot of free time and less stress than normal jobs, they are known to pursue local girls, a lot of times they are very successful in this. In case of Taiwanese men, there are not many foreign female English teachers, who would fall prey to their flirt attempts.

The internet: Taiwan is a global IT hub and has a very well developed internet infrastructure. The online community is huge and very active. Forums, social networks and blogs are where Taiwanese voice their opinions and share their lives. It's nowadays not hard to connect with people from the rest of the world. And what often starts as an online acquaintance, turns into a real-life love story. This is something, where me and my wife are a good example. And there are lots of other couples with similar stories, also involving Taiwanese guys and foreign girls.

7 The pitfalls of interracial dating in Taiwan

A lot of foreigners, who come to Taiwan, don't realize that dating a local girl should not be taken lightly. It's not really hard to fall for a Taiwanese girl (I know what I'm saying), but you have to be aware of all the implications this might bring to you, to your girl, to her family and beyond. Unlike in the West, where interracial dating is somewhat accepted (well, depends on the combination of the races and the country), in Taiwan it's a fairly new thing and not really mainstream yet (to put it politely). It may not be a completely unknown thing, but you don't see these kind of couples on every corner (like in Pattaya). Here are the most common problems foreigners, who come to Taiwan and date a local girl, might face:

Weddings and marriage are very important to Taiwanese people. Read more here>>

Serious means marriage: A fling with a fellow student might be without any significant consequences, but if you plan to go beyond that and be more serious, you have to understand the girl's culture. Being serious means moving towards an eventual marriage. I have never heard of a Taiwanese girl, that hasn't associated "serious relationship" with "eventual marriage". There is no option of "not marrying" in a Taiwanese girl's mind, so don't even try to mention this to her.

Approval of the parents: A Taiwanese girl will most likely seek approval from her parents and also from your parents, if you're in a serious relationship with her. This part might be tricky for you, as Taiwanese parents are usually very protective of their children, but especially of daughters. Your intentions of dating their daughter might get questioned and doubted and chances are big, that you'll never get their approval, which will gravely affect your relationship. The harmony of the family is one of the most important goals in a Taiwanese woman's life.

Angry Taiwanese guys: There is a substantial number of young Taiwanese guys, who disapprove of local girls dating foreign guys. There are several reasons for this: For one, Taiwanese guys are (as I have mentioned before) a lot of times the preferred child, the focus on sons is very strong in Taiwan. Men of older generation dominate in most aspects of the society (such as economy, politics) and that idea is still often carried on to the younger generation (conditioned by Confucianism). These men believe a woman should follow instead of choosing her life independently. However, those days are past and young girls of today have their own mind and usually don't follow (or follow selectively). Therefore dating a foreigner is seen as breaking a taboo and going against the concept of the traditional Taiwanese society (some even compare it to the Qing Dynasty's blunders with foreigners). These men are insecure and frustrated and foreigners are a good scapegoat for them to vent their anger. They usually release themselves online. They label foreigners (euphemism for White guys) as losers and say they have to come to Taiwan because they can't find a girl back home. They will also attack Taiwanese girls and portray them as cheap, sexually promiscuous, of having a fetish and stupid. Of course we can't deny that history with foreign powers as well as racism play very important roles here. Sometimes foreign guys are losers and sometimes Taiwanese girls are promiscuous, but that's no (let me stress again) - no argument against an interracial relationship, because the same can be the case for Taiwanese couples (and yes, I've seen that with my own eyes).

Biased media, foreign assholes: If you're foreigner in Taiwan, you better be careful what you're doing in public. Cameras are on every corner and the 7 o'clock news will gladly report incidents involving foreigners. Public drunkenness is very uncommon in Taiwan, same goes for rowdy behavior. If you engage in these types of things, you'll very likely end up in the media (in many cases rightly so). Unfortunately you can always find assholes coming to Taiwan, committing crimes, breaking taboos and writing stuff online just to provoke people. They worsen the already bad reputation foreigners have in certain circles and feed the media, who's waiting for these things. It's a vicious circle and those of us, who try to live a decent and quiet life here (like me) are dragged into this whether we like it or not. There is a lot of stereotypical thinking among older generations. They know very well how the world used to be decades ago, but show huge knowledge gaps when it comes to the quickly changing world of today. This is understandable, of course. But it's a completely different thing, when this is the case among young people. Most of them are learning English (judging by the number of buxibans), the internet is their window to the world and the possibilities of traveling to foreign countries have never been better.

Cultural differences, miscommunication: A big problem foreigners face is the Chinese language (I'm speaking from personal experience) and the way Taiwanese communicate, even if they speak in English. Communication in Taiwan is indirect, everybody is careful not to say something wrong and make the other person feel uncomfortable (or to lose face). It shows how different we are in this aspect. I've gotten used to it and somehow know how to read between the lines and what to say or not to say in certain situations. But a lot of foreigners, who are new here think, that they can say and demand the same things that they do back in their home country. That's not how it works in Taiwan. On the other hand, Taiwanese are often afraid to speak English and feel awkward around foreigners. It's much better with young people, but the older generation is a different story. I will write about this issue in detail in one of my future posts.

A song by the band Transition about communication mishaps.

8 Interracial dating in Taiwan: Conclusions

Like the controversy over my post showed, this is a hot topic, that can spark a heated and long debate, which I welcome. But I'm totally against personal attacks, racist remarks and hate against certain groups. I know that every transition in a society is painful, it brings about winners and losers and the changes need some time to be socially accepted. That's all reasonable. Nevertheless, don't forget, that we're talking about real people with real emotions, who don't always have it easy. A love between two people from different races can look romantic or frivolous (depends on the perspective), but that doesn't say a tiny bit about the reality of their past, present and future relationship. Why can't we just live and let live? Why can't we just accept diversity and the choice others make, even if we would not make the same one? It was so hard for me to leave my own country and come to Taiwan to be with the love of my life. Every day is a struggle, my family and friends are far away, I can't speak my own language, don't have the chance to eat the food from my home country and much more. I gave up a lot to be here and I'm not complaining, just seeking an understanding. And I am sure that there are thousands of people like me in Taiwan, who have sacrificed even more. Keep this in mind, before you judge someone too fast. I could say much more, but I will leave it at this.

Forgive me for not going too deep into every aspect of the issue, it would need much more time and research, something I unfortunately don't have at this moment. I will however write about certain phenomena surrounding this topic in the future, because it relates to me and my life. This post is meant to start a debate among those who are familiar with the topic and to give people, who are less familiar with the complexities of the situation a basic overview. I am looking forward to the comments below, I would just like to warn you to restrain yourself of comments, that breach one of these rules.

[My UNIQUELY TAIWAN page][Watermarked photos by MKL, 2011]

I feel sorry for haters

2011-11-19T03:08:00.001+08:00

and feel sad, that they are Taiwanese

Think before you write.

Now while I am away in Europe, I was informed, that I was attacked on a popular Taiwanese forum by a lot of people based on the post Taiwanese girls: What experts say. Someone translated this post in Chinese, probably intentionally dropped that part, where I say (in Chinese!) that I meant the complete opposite of what was written and that I disagree with all the bad things foreigners say about Taiwanese girls and portrayed me as being the same as those nasty guys. How perverted is that? I have no idea, why people do this. My sarcasm was completely disregarded or lost in translation, I suspect intentionally. One thing is not understanding something, but another one is spinning someone's intentions for a personal agenda. I am very unhappy about this. If you hate people, who have interracial relationships, please don't abuse my post for that! I wrote a follow-up post Taiwanese girls: Stereotypes and reality, where I tried to explain the whole issue from many sides. Do you know how long it took me to write these two posts? Over one week each. I tried so hard to highlight the bad reputation Taiwanese girls have with certain kinds of foreigners and at the same time tried to explain some images, that come within Taiwan and might be misrepresented by a lot of them as well. I wanted to connect all sides and give people a better understanding of Taiwan. And now Taiwanese take my words and misrepresent them, how crazy is that! Not only crazy, it's also sad. I feel stabbed in the back, because I always try hard to help you Taiwanese get a better understanding abroad. And now you are doing the same thing, just from another side: You drive stereotypes, you spread lies and hate and you attack Taiwanese girls for dating foreigners. What can I say? I feel the girls were attacked from two sides. Did they really deserve this? Who are you to judge others on the choices they make in their life? Are you perfect?

To really get to know me simply read all my posts about Taiwan. See who I really am and how I really see Taiwan and its people and you will realize that you were completely wrong about me. But if your heart is closed and hate is what drives you, then it doesn't matter, what I say or do: Your mind will not change, you will continue to write hateful things to hurt others. But this storm will pass for me and my wife, I will move on, but you will be stuck in your narrow-mindedness. I feel sorry for you.

My blog has no agenda whatsoever and I do not earn a single penny here. No adds and no traffic needed. I never seek trouble, nor do I want to be controversial or famous. But I like to share my thoughts, I like to be funny, sarcastic and insightful. I won't stop writing and speaking my mind, I love blogging and you won't shut me up. You claim untrue things about me, you think you know me based on a translated post, that didn't get the point and dropped the most important part. Is this really enough to pass your judgement on me?

Thank you to all my new readers and subscribers, who understood my original post and its intention. I'm very happy to welcome you on my blog. I think a post about "how Taiwanese see sarcasm" will be obligatory in the near future.

[My TAIWAN page][Photo by MKL, 2011]

Stories from Taiwan

2011-11-13T23:12:00.001+08:00

I know you're waiting for them

Photo by Lily Chen from this photo stream.

I'll be away for a little while, because of my job. You can already see, that the updates became less here and that's due to the end of year squeeze typical for an IT company. Everybody's scared of the annual reports, because they ain't gonna look too good, even if they'd be embellished with a lot of statistical makeup. I'll be more frequently updating here by end of month, meanwhile wish me luck and check out some from me selected posts, if you happen to be on my blog for the first time. I've spent a lot of time to write them and I hope, that they will still be worth to read in the years ahead.

1. My Life in Taiwan: Six months in photos
2. About Taiwanese bloggers
3. Everything about a Taiwanese wedding
4. Taiwanese girls: What experts say
5. Taiwanese girls: Stereotypes and reality

For more Taiwan related posts check my Taiwan page, where you can read about uniquely Taiwanese things, my life in Taiwan and traveling around the island. You can also check my night markets list or read all my posts related to Taipei. You can find one of the biggest resources on the web about the country through a foreigner's eyes, you're at the right place.

My TAG Heuer Link Day-Date Calibre 5 Automatic Watch Review

2011-11-07T00:59:00.001+08:00

My first high-end automatic Swiss watch

Those of you, who follow my blog for few years might remember, that one of my dreams was acquiring a high-end automatic Swiss watch. I have blogged about wristwatches a lot in the past. And after nearly four years of scheming and dreaming this dream came true last Saturday. I bought the TAG Heuer Link Calibre 5 with the Day and Date complications in Taipei's Ximending and today I would like to introduce the watch to those of you, who plan to buy this watch or just seek information. I hope it will be useful to you. Please scroll all the way down for a small demonstration video I made today and drop some comments after that. Thank you!

Link Day-Date wants to be sporty and elegant and it brilliantly succeeds in it.

From a dream to reality was a long way

I think it's best, if I say we have found each other, even if it sounds cheesy. I was a big fan of Breitling watches, especially in 2009 I have done a lot of research on them. If you'd asked me about my favorite watch at that time, I'd told you Breitling Airwolf (with the white dial). But there were two problems with Breitling for me in the past. For one, they were too expensive for my budget (the ones I liked were over 3000 Euros) and secondly, they did not impress me that much in real as they did on photos. Checking the enormous online resource on your favorite watch is important, but the real thing is going to your local dealer and see the watches with your own eyes or even better, try them on. After I did that, it was a sobering experience for me and for a long while I have lost interest in getting a Swiss watch (there were also many other things happening in my life, which made it nearly impossible to focus on a watch at that time). And then in late 2010 I discovered TAG Heuer. I still wasn't as obsessed as I used to be, but I was definitely eyeing it. And then I moved to Taiwan and my life went up and down: So many things happened in a very short time, it was and still is crazy. And this was the time, where I finally had the time and the need to focus on my work and career. After my Taiwanese wedding, I have finally had the chance to save some money and reward myself. That's where the idea of buying a TAG Heuer watch became more and more concrete. I've read information online and visited two dealers in Taipei, tried various models, before I decided which one I would like to buy. And when I knew what I want, I finally bought it two days ago (yay!).

Read more about buying a watch in Taiwan>> (Coming soon)

TAG Heuer: Swiss avant-garde since 1860.

Why did I choose TAG Heuer?

I never saw TAG Heuer in the same group such as Rolex, Omega or Breitling. The first association of the latter ones is prestige and sometimes boasting. Of course this is just the first thought someone has, who's not very knowledgeable of the world of exquisite timepieces. Those who know these watches, must be smiling, as it's very obvious to them what each brand really represents. But let's go back to TAG Heuer. I can only speak for my country, when I say that it's not among the top desired luxury watches, it was always quite unknown to me. I only saw the name during various sports events such as skiing. And later, when I started to travel, I saw a lot of TAG Heuer watches at airports, where the fascination with them started to grow. That's where I came to the notion, that these watches are very stylish. I like the sporty design, that matches casual outfits, but still looks exquisite enough for a formal wear. I had three favorite series: Link, Carrera and Grand Carrera. The latter however was too expensive and too big and bulky and I might bought it, if I was 20 years older. Carerra is awesome, but at this point of my life, I'm not ready to spend over that much for a watch yet, but naturally Carerra might be my next watch, maybe in 10 years? Who knows. At this point I chose a watch from the Link series, which labels itself as a sporty and elegant wristwatch, something that appeals to a ~~not so~~ young ~~anymore~~ guy, that's stuck between traveling for fun and business trips. I needed and wanted a watch, that could accompany me in all these situations and a Link fits perfectly in my current life.

Which TAG Heuer Link to choose?

The current TAG Heuer Link series offers watches with following movements:

Calibre 16: Chronograph, 43mm, white or black dial
Calibre S: Electro-Mechanical Chronograph, 43mm, white or black dial
Calibre 5: Day-Date, 42mm, white or black dial, bezel with Roman or Arab numbers
Calibre 6: Date, 40mm, white or black dial
Quartz: 40mm, white or black dial

The choice is especially big, when it comes to Day-Date, my instant favorite. This year the model was redesigned (see photo above for a comparison, photo by TAG Heuer) and the numerous small changes do give you some time to think, however I was instantly enamored with the 2010 model, which features the Day of the week complication at 12 o'clock. In addition I need to admit, that I was almost equally fascinated with the Link Calibre 6 model for a while. However, I did not like the small second hand at 6 o'clock, I like a big second hand and a bit bigger case, 42mm looked better on my wrist than 40mm. But when I finally sorted out, which model and movement I want, I was having a hard time deciding, whether I want the model with the black or the white dial. I was strongly leaning to white, my wife, too. However, the dealer told me black looks better on a young person, while white might be more suitable for older gentlemen. He had a point and he tipped me over to the black version. And I'm very happy I followed his advice, as I completely love the watch. And I consider myself very lucky, because I feel that the new design is not good, it's too simple, when it comes to the dial and too over when it comes to the bezel (with the redundant numerals). The best part of the 2010 Day-Date design is the unique curved day display at 12 o'clock. No idea, why they placed it down to 6 o'clock and merged it with the date complication, they destroyed one of the finest design elements of the watch. I also love the numerals in English letters, which are now gone in the new model, another faux pas, if you ask me. That's why I'm very happy, that I bought the model with the older design, which I like much more.

Let's see some of the strongest points of the Link Day-Date, which will be one of the main focuses of my future reviews.

High-end quality:

- Fine brushed polished steel case
- Polished steel crown and bezel
- Scratch resistant sapphire crystal, double anti-reflective treatment
- Scratch resistant crystal caseback
- Distinctive S-link bracelet with a secure folding clasp
- Hand applied TAG Heuer logo
- Hour numerals in English language
- Luminescent hour and minute hand, polished
- Sweeping second hand, polished
- Luminescent hour markers
- Water resistant 200m
- Power reserve 38 hours

Complications:

- Self-winding Calibre 5 movement
- Day of the week at 12 o'clock
- Date at 6 o'clock

My TAG Heuer Link Day-Date photos

This weekend I have realized, that it's very hard to take good photos of a new watch. Firstly, my wife's camera had limits when it comes to close objects in a bad light. I took much better photos, when I used her Nokia N8 and went outside under the day light. That's why you'll see photos of various quality, some were taken inside in the evening, some outside during the day. I chose my favorite photos and hope you like them, too. These are the photos that show my watch in the best way possible:

This is the famous TAG Heuer box.

And there it was, so shy, when she first saw my hand.

The first closeup.

The view from the side.

The anti-scratch sapphire crystal with double anti-reflection treatment.

Took this photo outside, hence the very clear photo.

I wish every day was Sunday.

A closeup on the upper part of the dial.

This is as close as it gets with my camera.

The face of the watch from the side.

Distinctive S-Link bracelet, one of the watches most notable characteristics.

Folding clasp with a security mechanism to prevent unwanted opening. The logo on top.

Sapphire crystal case back, that shows parts of the movement.

Another beautiful shot.

That's how it looks like on my hand.

Please check my demonstration video for a better idea of the watch.

New video of my Link Day-Date with a more cheerful music.

Link Day-Date in conclusion: My highlights

I love this watch, because it's really an exquisite timepiece. It's a wristwatch, that has a sporty touch, but still feels like a luxury watch, however not in the kitchy sense like a lot of golden watches, more in the sense of a high-quality product, that seeks perfection in functionality and design. The first two days I'm completely happy with it and I have to say, that the Calibre 5 movement is very accurate. The dealer told me, that 6-10 seconds per day +/- is within a norm, if it over these limitations, the watch should be brought back and needs to be adjusted. I was told, that especially in the first 3 months, when the watch gets used to your daily hand motion, a certain kind of inaccuracy can occur. I still need to wait and see, if I will have a problem in this area. If you're right now trying to figure out, which TAG Heuer watch you think would be best for you, you have no better option than visiting your local dealer and try on various watches. Get the feel on your wrist, get to see the design and all the fine touches from closeup and your decision will be made much faster. If you're into the TAG Heuer Link series, I hope this post serves you as a good reference. Now I need to stop writing this post, it's late, I have no time. But at least I have a great watch.

Please check my post about TAG Heuer Link Date Calibre 6 here>>

[My SWISS WATCHES page][All photos by MKL, 2011, except one by TAG Heuer]
Related: [2010 Link Review][2011 Link Review][TAG Heuer Website]

Best of Taiwanese food: Tofu 豆腐

2011-10-28T00:32:00.000+08:00

Taiwan's soul food

Tofu is one of the most popular foods in Taiwan. It's popularity swapped over from China with the first immigrants (three to four centuries ago). The word 豆腐, romanized as tofu and pronounced somewhat like dòufǔ, consists of two characters: 豆 meaning "bean" and 腐 meaning "rotten". These rotten soybeans commonly shaped in squares (and sometimes spheres) are every person's favorite here. Believed to be mild in flavor and rich in nutrition, its appeal to the general population of Formosa is beyond obsession. I personally like tofu, but beware, eating it too much might cause you to uncontrollably flatulate 放屁. Other than that, it's pretty harmless.

Tofu is often served at wedding banquets. That shows what a special place it holds for Taiwanese people, as weddings are very important to them.

My wife loves tofu! And so far I have not met a Taiwanese person, who was not enamored with this fine product of the soy family. And therefore I have decided to share with you some of the most popular tofu variations for the very likely case, that you'll find yourself in Taiwan and stand in front of a tofu vendor and don't know what to choose. Your choice:

1. Stinky tofu 臭豆腐

The smelliest brother of the tofu family and like the name indicates: He stinks. But he looks deliciously cute. And guess what: It tastes really good! And he only stinks, before he takes a bath in hot oil, so don't worry. In Taiwan you'll pass by a lot of smelly streets where this hero is being prepared, but even the hottest Taiwanese girls will queue for a while just to get a bite of it. It's my wife's favorite. And whenever I eat it at a stall, Taiwanese look at me with a "wow, that foreigner eats stinky tofu" kinda look. I don't bother, I keep eating. The arguably best stinky tofu in Taiwan is found in Taitung City in a heavily popular stall.

2. Black tofu 香酥黑豆腐

This brother is not as popular and not as common. If people order a lot of different tofus, he's usually the only black one in the bunch. It's not like Taiwanese have something against him, it's just that they prefer the white one a little more. But he tastes great, definitely a must try, if you have the chance to spot him. He's got a pepper-ish flavor to him.

3. Fried tofu balls 炸豆腐丸子

You gotta try the fried tofu balls! Not only are these balls hard on the outside and soft on the inside, they taste really good. The funny thing is, they are so tempting, that you wanna put a whole one in your mouth. But when you do that, you will realize, that it's very hot inside and then you'll chew 'em like a cow. And it never looks good on a non-Taiwanese.

4. Barbecue tofu skewer 烤臭豆腐

This is one of my favorite tofu dishes. These brothers end up on wooden sticks after they've been barbecued for a while and coated with a spicy sauce. This fella is divine! I have nothing more to say: You just gotta try it, if you're in Taiwan. No but-ing allowed!

5. Sautéed tofu 煎豆腐

This lovely dish looks like a delicacy and it actually is one. This relatively uncommon tofu is rich in texture, moisture and flavor and should be eaten as a starter or a side dish. But don't be fooled by his shy persona: He's "da bomb" on your taste buds.

6. Tofu salad 涼拌豆腐

This guy really loves to be covered in vegetables and soy sauce, but underneath he's completely naked. He loves to be eaten together with cabbage and prefers female eaters.

7. Dry tofu snack 滷黑豆干

This one is usually served as a side dish, be it next to an abundant array of Chinese food or just as a small snack in a tea shop. He doesn't want to make you full, but he'll arouse your taste buds and tickle your stomach. Go for it, if given the chance!

8. Marinaded tofu 滷豆乾

This dry tofu loves to spend his time with marinaded broccoli and pig skin, usually found on night markets and eaten on the go. Not my favorite way to eat tofu, but very simple and fulling: Simply fulling.

9. Cooked tofu 紅燒板豆腐

Please skip these fellas, I could not stomach them. They are very soggy and the taste is really not something I'd like to experience once again.

10. Soup tofu 豆腐羹

This is not my favorite way to eat tofu. The soup is very rich, a little bit too rich for me. I would not recommend it to foreigners.

11. Sour and spicy soup 酸辣湯

This is my favorite Taiwanese soup and I swear my wife would confirm this. The soup is usually served with fried dumplings and it's a must, let me repeat, a must to try it, if you come to Taiwan. The soup is very rich, it includes several vegetables, bits of tofu and duck or pig blood. It's a little sour, but very smooth: This must be the Taiwanesesest soup available here. Frankly, I could not live without it anymore. I love it.

12. Douhua 豆花

Douhua is my wife's favorite! It's sometimes called tofu pudding and it's a popular dessert. The one on the photo above is a little soupy, but a lot of douhua desserts look like jelly and can be very sweet. I like this dish a lot and it's also one of the must try desserts of Taiwan.

13. Tofu pudding 豆腐布丁

This dish is also called tofu pudding, but wants to be like the real one: The Chinese word for pudding 布丁 is just a transliteration of the English word, which shows, that the famous English dessert was tried to be made in a Taiwanese way. It's truly a yummy little dessert, but not cheap.

14. Tofu ice cream 豆腐冰淇淋

Oh yeah! There's even a tofu flavored ice cream in Taiwan! And guess what, it's pretty yummy as well. I definitely recommend it to those of you, who are sick of vanilla and banana: Tofu ice cream is good for your stamina and bad for your enemies, because it will also enhance your kung fu skills (that's what I heard from a vendor).

Now you know everything about one of Taiwan's most delicious culinary secrets. If you want to eat the best tofu in Taiwan, go and visit Shenkeng 深坑, a small district south of Taipei with an old tofu street. Another famous tofu village is Tai'an 泰安 in Miaoli County. All I can say is bon voyage and bon apetit. Or Mahlzeit!

How do you like your tofu the most?

[My TAIWAN FOOD page][All photos by MKL, 2011]

Taiwanese girls: Stereotypes and reality

2011-10-23T22:46:00.000+08:00

Trying to peek behind the cute image

A lot of you were a little shocked to read my previous post about Taiwanese girls: What experts say, because you thought I completely lost it. But if you've read carefully enough, it must have been soon obvious to you, that the piece reeked of sarcasm and mockery. That post was meant to serve as a reference to the today's post, which will try to talk about the same issue, but on a higher intellectual level.

Taiwanese girls: Stereotypes and reality seems to be a fitting title for a topic, that is very fascinating to many people, but of course there is no objective truth on the matter, there are just opinions and viewpoints. All I can do is touch on some common phenomena surrounding young Taiwanese females and try to explain them with the awareness that this also bears many limitations and poses many traps. But after all, this is just a blog post, not a scientific research and I'm not writing a PhD, I'm just trying to provide something more substantial on the matter, because there's just too much nonsense out there, which my previous post effectively proved.

Young girls in Ximending. They are Taiwan's future.

1 How to comprehend a few million females?

There are many foreigners in Taiwan, who claim to know a lot about the local women, but their opinion is very superficial, oftentimes affected by a bad experience. And based on the words they use, I'd say they don't seem to be the most credible source on the matter. I don't claim to be an expert, but I know few things by now. For me it was and still is a learning process. When I look back I see how many things I didn't understand a year ago and I'm sure, if you rummage around various forums long enough, you will find some statements from me, which I would not sign anymore. Living and working in Taiwan changed me. Being married to a Taiwanese girl and having a lot of female friends helped me to see what influences, guides and motivates them to be the way they are. I often see a similar pattern across the circle of women I have the pleasure to deal with and I intend to highlight them here for you. Are you ready for some shocking revelations?

Who's afraid of Taiwanese girls? (photo source)

2 The common stereotypes about Taiwanese girls

Taiwan is a country, that is still veiled in mystery for a big part of the outside world. This beautiful, yet for a long time isolated island in the Far East has only been recently discovered by the Western travel and expat communities. And with the help of the world wide web, it's today very easy to spread information and generate a certain set of ideas about the people here. I have no problem with that, if the ideas are thought through and well argued. There are a lot of foreign men, who come to Taiwan, because they are driven by expectations based on stereotypes. And when they come here, they get disappointed, bitter and frustrated. They write blogs, post on forums and sell their experience as the ultimate truth, but by doing that they tarnish the reality for the future visitors and also harm the reputation of the other foreigners, who live here and tend to be a little more nuanced in their views - it's a vicious circle. Based on my last post, that collected some of these often misleading, but mostly nasty comments, you would think that Taiwanese girls are:

- materialistic, career and clothes oriented
- psycho when breaking up with them
- shy in public and while intimate
- obsessed with White guys, especially blonde with blue eyes
- fall for cheap tricks
- cunning, want to steal your money
- don't value your time
- sleep around a lot, especially with rich guys and ABCs
- love only in exchange for money and expensive gifts
- selfish, insecure, self-centered
- wish they were Japanese
- their breath stinks a little

This is just a small fraction of the stuff, that circulates around the web. But as crazy as it sounds, we can't deny that these kinds of girls exist in Taiwan. But they also exist in Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany, USA... probably in most developed countries. I'm sure a lot of guys, who say these things, saw an example of that here, but is that enough to label the whole young female population as being that way? Their statements want to generalize and harm the reputation of the Taiwanese girls, one of the indicators of that is the suggestion by Google, when you type Taiwanese girls are...

3 Internal reasons for Taiwanese girls' bad reputation

Taiwan, although a fairly small nation, is very influential in the region, especially in popular culture such as music, dance, cinema and beauty. The late 1980s and early 1990s was a period, that some call the Taiwanese dream. An economic boom, that came much earlier than the one in South Korea and China, but somewhat at the same time with the one in Japan, catapulted this fairly unknown nation into the spotlight of the world. The (at that time) recently acquired freedom of expression laid ground for Taiwanese art to flourish. Those were the times, where China was far from the number 2 economy in the world and nobody heard about a Korean wave. And those were the times that liberalized and changed Taiwan, certainly not like the West was changed in 1968, but in an East Asian society change happens in small steps and gradually - however the 1990s certainly accelerated them. And now after all this transformation (and democratization), this is what an average foreign visitor sees, when he turns on a TV in Taiwan, opens up a Taiwanese magazine or walks around the urban jungle of Taiwanese cities, that seems so generic on the surface:

Betel nut girls

Betel nut girl in Banqiao, 2010.

These skimpily clad young Taiwanese beauties, who sell betel nuts in small booths along the roads in Taiwan's cities and towns are oftentimes portrayed as prostitutes and used as an example, that is applied to all Taiwanese girls alike. This is of course rubbish and much more complex than it meets the eye. Check my post about them and watch a video by Toby Openshaw, a famous photographer and film-maker, who meticulously researched this phenomenon in order to get a better understanding of these girls. They are a part of Taiwan's society, but they do not represent the whole female population of the country.

Girls in talk shows

Girls from a Taiwanese talk show. (photo source)

There are a lot of Taiwanese TV shows, that are very shallow. For me this is entertainment in its most basic form, where you can just switch off and listen to trivial things. Some of these shows use young beautiful women in skimpy outfits to chat, play games or perform something. A lot of shows focus on outfits and beauty tips, where makeup is applied or various outfits exchanged and so called "experts" then explain to their female viewers which clothes, makeup, creams, diets etc. are good for them. It's probably well connected with the powerful beauty industry and a win-win situation for both, the TV channel and the company, who sponsors it. The girls in these shows are a part of Taiwan's female population, but do not represent a big fraction of it.

A performance, that conveys a certain image that may not always match in reality.

Idols from the pop industry

Dream Girls are one of the popular girl groups in and outside of Taiwan. (photo source)

Taiwan is home to one of the biggest music industries in East Asia and it's the center of Mando pop and Taiwan pop. It attracts talents from countries with Chinese speaking population such as China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and USA, shapes them and exports them back. The music labels here are powerful and influential and control a multi-billion industry. And they have the power to shape an image of a girl, that is idolized and admired, usually for her beauty, less for her intellectual abilities. Of course that's all well known to the people in the West, because we showed the world how it works (and how you can make money), but it still doesn't make it right. Yes, Taiwanese female idols are pretty, most of them are also very talented, but don't assume they represent the majority of the girls here.

Models and the beauty industry

Sonia Sui is currently one of Taiwan's most influential models. (photo source)

Taiwan's beauty industry is as powerful as the music industry, when it comes to creating idols, pushing trends and making money. Both have managed to make beauty one of the core ideals for young Taiwanese women. I have nowhere seen so many advertisements focusing on beauty products, fashion trends and personal appearance as in Taiwan. Some of the finest models and model agencies come from Taiwan or are based here. So far in this part of the world most of the beauty and fashion trends come from Japan, a lot also come from Korea, but Taiwan is filtering them, adding its unique touch and dispatching them further into China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, influencing the local Chinese population in these countries. There are certainly a lot of beautiful girls in Taiwan and a lot of the beauty is enhanced by various products, which is all fair play, but that doesn't mean that every girl matches the image of Sonia Sui and alike. If that's what you expect, you're definitely going to be disappointed, when you visit Taiwan.

One of the beauty ideals of Taiwanese girls is very pale skin. (photographer source)

Taiwanese drama

The Fierce Wife was a popular Taiwanese drama in 2011. (photo source)

The Taiwanese drama is a very well established term in the Chinese speaking world. Taiwan is the biggest exporter of sappy soap operas in Chinese language, that moralize in the areas of romance, relationship and family matters. I guess you could say this is where Taiwan's soft power comes out the strongest, but I often wonder, if they use the right "weapons" for that. Nevertheless, these dramas usually end with a happy end, where the handsome guy falls for the average girl next door. The family matters of course get resolved, because the kids stop to rebel against the parents' wish and show "respect", which brings back the lost "harmony". These dramas represent your average next door Taiwanese girl in a way they want her to be and not the way she usually is. Like always, some girls will be close to these characters, but many will be very far from them.

TV commercials

Cute and sexy is how the commercials want you to believe Taiwanese girls are.

Taiwanese TV commercials like to use cute girls who sing and dance. Usually they are (or they will become) celebrities and then appear in various other commercials and talk shows. It's a very similar pattern to the one in the music and beauty industry: They try to create role models and idols and they have a strong focus on happiness and harmony, something that is very important in a society with Chinese roots. Of course these girls are so jumpy and fired up only on TV, don't expect this type of girls on every corner in Taiwan. You can check a collection of these commercials here.

The party goers

Quite many young girls in Taipei like to go to night clubs. (photo by Steven Vigar).

So you heard, that Taipei has an awesome night life? Right. You came here and realized it's off the hook, because you met few girls and had tons fun. Good for you. But clubbing is by nature a venue, where people want to have fun and meet other people. Hooking up is something they look for, so it won't be that hard to meet someone and get involved for a night or two. But does that mean all Taiwanese girls are that way? Of course not. This is part of urban life in most big cities of the size of Taipei.The stories, that base on encounters of foreigners with female Taiwanese party goers are always interesting, however a lot of times exaggerated. But how much does this represent the whole reality of Taiwan's young women? I would say just a small part, because most girls and young women in Taiwan don't have the luxury to go to a night club very often.

The bloggers and writers

Illy Queen is one of Taiwan's most popular bloggers. (read more here)

The idea of having someone to look up to, a role model or an idol, is quite strong among the young female population. So it's no wonder, that in a country, that supplies the whole world with computer parts like no other, the internet infrastructure is among the best in the world. Taiwan's online community is huge and it attracts not only the young people of Taiwan, who engage in various social websites, forums and blogs, but also youngsters from China, Singapore, Malaysia and even from Western countries. Being an online celebrity many times means being one off the LCD screen as well. And these girls are in no way different than idols in the pop industry. Sadly, a lot of these shooting stars, once they realize they can make good money, become a marketing tool of various companies. It's a common pattern in Taiwan's entertainment industry and it shifts a lot of young girls in certain directions.

The late night girls

A girl from a Friday night TV program.

A lot of Taiwanese TV channels have various programs on Friday and Saturday night with scantily clad young girls dancing in bikinis, playing silly games in bunny outfits or answering calls of usually older male viewers and trying to make them talk as long as possible, because they pay a lot of money per minute. This is in stark contrast of a society, that can hardly accept public display of affection, even breastfeeding would cause a minor scandal. I have no idea where they find these girls, who fill up the nightly program during the weekend, but don't assume that these girls represent a big portion of the Taiwanese female population. To the contrary.

4 Two sides of a coin

Although Taiwan seems chaotic at the first glance, people love order.

To understand Taiwanese girls, one needs to understand the Taiwanese society, which is in many ways very unique. What do you get, if you politically isolate a traditional Chinese society on an island for 60 years? Right! You get the Taiwan of today. The country is full of contradictions, for example seeing an ubersexy girl in high heels burning joss sticks in a temple is no rare sight. Young people want to express themselves in a society, that forces them into conformity and harmony. "We Taiwanese are very family oriented", I often hear from them. But for me that means that the parents get too much involved in the life of their children and not only that, they do so all the time. You can be 20, 30 or 40, it's expected that you follow a certain way they lay out for you or at least take their suggestions and expectations into consideration, when you do something. Sure, young Taiwanese find ways to avoid conflicts and still have it their own way, but it's quite stressful. Now imagine what a big challenge can it be for a Taiwanese girl to introduce her new foreign boyfriend to her parents. In some cases, it won't be a big problem, but in many cases she will be thoroughly questioned and your motives of dating their daughter will be highly suspicious to them. Taiwanese parents tend to overly worry, but at the same time they tend to believe, that they know better, what is best for their daughter. That roots in the Confucian concept of "孝" or filial piety, where respect for parents and ancestors is one of the highest virtues in the society (read more here). Now combine this with the need of the young people to express themselves and you will get various ways, where these confines want to be broken, where the constraints of a hierarchical family structure want to be evaded. Sure, young people don't have a lot of time in Taiwan, as they're either studying nonstop or working like slaves, but the free time they have would be spent with friends or used for various activities and that's the part, where various idols and celebrities mentioned above enter a young Taiwanese girl's life.

Young people in Hsinchu at a concert near the famous East Gate trying to escape.

Whatever your personal experience may be, you have to take all the things I have mentioned so far into consideration in order to understand the Taiwanese girls a little better. Of course this is just one side of the coin, the other is the character, the intellect, the social status and whatever happened in her life that made her the way she is. The latter points are crucial to understand your girl and see her as the individual she is. But you still can't deny all the other influences from the society she grew up, even if she's different than what her parents want her to be, she'll always be aware of their expectations and subconsciously she might be affected by that.

5 I don't know how Taiwanese girls are, but...

I've seen a lot of interesting phenomena during my nearly one year in Taiwan. Some of it surprised me, some of it made me chuckle and some of it upset me. But nevertheless, I have learned a lot in the process, which will not be finished any time soon. Let me share some photos and videos of the things I have seen a lot of times in Taiwan. They are all related to Taiwanese girls and I hope it will serve you as a reference for a better understanding:

A lot of girls wear contacts and glasses. I've nowhere seen more people with bad eye sight like in Taiwan. No idea where this roots, but it's quite significant.

Wearing frames without lenses is the latest craze in Taipei this year. It swapped over from Japan and it might become yesterday's news very soon. (photo source)

These are no outfits you'd see on Taipei's streets during the day, but you could spot girls in clubs who wear them (and it doesn't mean they are promiscuous!).

A lot of Taiwanese girls place great importance on the look of their hair, pay a lot for a good hairdo. Long hair dominates, curly is considered cute (photo from an ad).

Young beautiful women are commonly found on huge advertisements around Taipei. They are one of the main focuses of the advertising industry.

The concept of cuteness is strongly present in today's Taiwanese society.

The ideal of a romantic everlasting love is something a lot of Taiwanese girls dream of. Keep that in mind, if you seriously fall for a nice girl and don't play with her.

The wedding is one of the most important things in a Taiwanese woman's life. Foreigners, who say they are serious with a girl, but don't consider to marry her, are contradicting themselves from the standpoint of a Taiwanese girl. You can read more about it in my famous post: Everything about Taiwanese wedding.

Taiwan is home to a lot of talented girls and it's always amazing to me how humble they are, when you praise them. The girl above garnered world wide attention.

A lot of girls love to dance. They gather in public places such as the Taipei's subway and exercise together. Taiwanese like to do things in groups.

Celebrities have a great impact on young women's lives. On the photo above you can see a book signing by a popular writer, that attracted a lot of fans.

A lot of Taiwanese girls would protect themselves from the sun with an umbrella, because tanned skin is considered ugly in Taiwanese culture.

Just like many Taiwanese men, a lot of girls are into photography. It's probably one of the most common hobbies young people engage in.

And since photography is such a popular hobby, a lot of girls would like to pose as models in various settings. You can see similar images near popular spots.

The photo above shows, that many Taiwanese women love taking photos of flowers and like considerate guys, who would hold the bag and the umbrella for them.

A mother and daughter enjoying a view together. Most Taiwanese girls have a special bond with their mothers.

Taiwanese girls also place great importance on friendship. "Friends are the family you choose" can be taken quite literally in Taiwan.

Young Taiwanese burning paper money on the street: A lot of Taiwanese girls are living between modernity and traditions without any problems.

Many Taiwanese girls are into art and love to join exhibitions and events.

Maybe my post demystified some of the fix ideas about Taiwanese girls, maybe it reinforced them, I'm not sure. But hopefully it highlighted the most significant aspects, that need to be taken into consideration, when you try to understand the young women of Taiwan. And understanding instead of prematurely judging is something I see as the most important thing in all my posts related to Taiwan and I will not stop emphasizing that in the future.

And at last: Whatever might have brought you to Taiwan and whatever experience you might have had with a local lady, never forget to see every woman as the individual she is and with the background that shaped her. And never forget to take a look in the mirror: It might well be that it was you who hasn't met her expectations.

Click here, if you want to read about more uniquely Taiwanese things>>

Taiwanese girls: What experts say

2011-10-19T00:50:00.002+08:00

The ultimative guide for Westerners, who are interested in Taiwanese women

這篇文章從頭到尾都是在反諷跟挖苦，意思就是連我都不相信我寫的！我假裝跟誇大的目的，在於凸顯這些人有多愚蠢。

I'm a young healthy European guy and I moved to Taiwan. I was forced to marry my Taiwanese wife, because her culture said so. And thus I decided to write this post, because I would like to warn other foreigners to not not follow my steps. This post is dedicated to all of you from first world countries, who plan to move to Taiwan in order to pursue a career in primary education and help the local children developing emotional, social, and intellectual skills from infancy to adulthood. We need you, of course, but be warned: The extremely aggressive female population is waiting to abduct you - literally on every corner. And that's just the most harmless thing a Taiwanese woman can do to you. If you wanna know more, read on.

Many foreign guys ask themselves: How are Taiwanese girls really? Of course by spending nearly 8 months on this island, I know almost exactly, how most of them are, maybe I missed to see few of them, but I believe I still have a good grip of the whole female population here. However, there are various real experts on the Internets, who know Taiwanese women much better than me and I decided to collect their best moments and share them with you here, just for your reference. This is of course just one part of the enormous resource on Taiwanese women you can find online: Some of it might surprise you, some of it might shock you, but one thing is sure: This is all 100% true, as these boys are truly experienced and razor sharp analysts.

Following is a look on Taiwanese women through the eyes of a selected group of foreigners. The text with a grey font and background is someone's quote from a blog or forum and includes a link to the source in the title. Under every quote is a small commentary written by me. I am just reposting what I found online and I am not associated with any of the persons or websites below.

This is what world's finest experts say about Taiwanese girls:

1. The psycho mei mei Taiwanese girl

Chinese Forums, Source: Chinese girls vs. Taiwanese girls forum

Firstly I should say that I happen to prefer TW girls in the way they look, not just fashion wise, but just the way they look, like bigger eyes and softer features. So needless to say when a pretty TW girl asked me to be her boyfriend I couldnt resist - WOW, my first asian gf at the age of 22 (I started late). She was incredibly cute sweet but after 6 months the novelty of a pretty face wears off when all you hear is nagging, she was soooooooooo demanding in every way, she called me like a million times a day and after a while she was even trying to control what time I went to sleep and woke up! I spent sooo much money on the girl it was unreal!... 'materialistic' isn't the word
Anyway, when I finally broke up with her it was a complete disaster she turned into the legendary 'psycho mei mei' type, just the type my TW expat friends had told me to avoid at all costs.
On the postive side all my friends were jealous, especially the asian guys and she was *insane* in bed
My more mature friends assured me that it was just a case of her being young and immature, no wonder why you guys on here are dating older TW girls, they're much easier to date, from what i've heard. (by user g1zmo)

What he said is of course completely true. I have seen so many psycho mei meis around Taipei, it's quite scary. You can see them with their bedazzled cellphones full of Hello Kitty key chains, how they shout and scream and try to control the poor Western guy. Sometimes they would also scratch your face in front of their other psycho mei mei friends, who will then take trophy photos with your heavily scarred face (and keep in mind, that Taiwanese girls have insanely sharp nails).

2. In public cold fish, in private hot

Orient Expat, Source: Tell me about girls in Taiwan forum

I spent 14 months in Taiwan (Jul 06-Aug 07). I dated a few Taiwanese from 25-43. They all had the same characterisitcs. Financially independent (one was actually very rich). No action until at least the third date. Then they had to say 'no' three times, even while undressing themsleves. Then....... they wanted to get married and started talking about it.
In public, cold fish. In private, hot.
But, they are basically interested in their career and clothes. Thanks to the effeminate nature of their young men and the drunken behavior of the old men, the ladies are not interested in men.
Thank good that Thailand, the Philippines and Hong Kong were all easy to reach.
(by user Raven767)

This is of course completely true. My career oriented and clothes obsessed cold fish wife couldn't agree more. She married me, but only to have this ticked off from their partents expectation chart. Now she's mostly focused on career and clothes and I'm regularly flying to Thailand.

3. If you're white that's automatically +3

Asia Finest, Source: What are Taiwanese girl like forum

Stereotypically have high standards income wise. you better be rich. they will marry rich with less regards to looks and personality although they want both. they say taiwanese girls have too high of standards and thats why taiwan has the 4th highest divorce rate in the world.
(they want rich guys that are Romeo's.)
if you're white that's automatically +3. more especially so if she's a foreign student. and this is all in the assumption that she is of normal intelligence as most people are
oh, they love brand names. coach, lv, gucci, lacoste, (seems like a fob brand) tommy, etc. (by user mndeg)

I completely agree. If you're a rich guy and Romeo, you will have no problems with getting a Taiwanese girl. Can you imagine, if you're rich, a Romeo and white at the same time? That's probably +6 then.

4. Associate with people from Asia

Dating a Taiwanese Girl, Source: Taiwan Secrets

When you are dating a Taiwanese girls it is necessary that one has self control not to praise a lot about her physical appearance and make her jittery. In order to draw the interest of the Taiwanese girls one should have funniness in their talk which most of these girls like. In addition, instead of doing all talking also let the girl talk for some time i.e. you should also be a good listener. One more important trick that you can make use of is to have association of people from Asia. When dating a Taiwanese girl this will help you adjust to their people and traditions as well.
One should try to create a well mannered effect on Taiwan girls which is very important. You need to portray yourself as a down to earth and unfussy person. It is necessary to know the Taiwan culture as it is quite different from that of the US or UK. You should intermingle well with girls in Taiwan
Taiwanese girls are attracted to westerners very easily so all that is required by you is to maintain a good rapport or reputation with your Taiwan girl. This will make the things more simple for you. In order to continue the conversation you should talk in tune with the Taiwanese girl that love to talk as much as possible about their family and friends.

Awesome tips! I used that trick on my wife and wore a Qing dynasty shirt on the first date and tried to impersonate Bruce Lee. It worked.

5. You are special in Puerto Plata

Questions and Answers about Taiwanese Singles, Source: Taiwanesewomen.net

1. How big is Taiwan? It is the Eastern half of an island in Asia. The people are a mix of Oriental, Middle East, African and Native Indian.
2. What is the best location? All the locations are very good but Taiwan is the best if you like dark, Asian women. We have about 70% of the men getting engaged on their first visit.
3. Is this place safe to go to. I have heard bad things about Asia? All our locations in Asia are safe to go to. Over 3000 men from the United States go to Asia each year to meet women in introduction agencies. None have ever had any problems to our knowledge.
4. Does Taipei have a airport, what is the symbol? Yes, The airport symbol for the Taipei area is POP in Puerto Plata. Flights come from Miami, Houston, Panama City- Panama, and New York City. The airport is 15 minutes from the agency.
5. What is my money worth in Asia? The US Dollar and Euro are worth 2-3 times as much. You can change the money at Yen or use an ATM or Credit Card with a 4 digit pin number. There are ATM machines everywhere.
6. How do I call the USA or Europe from Asia? Go to a internet café and ask to use the internet phone. It goes through the internet and is cheap at around 10 cents a minute.
7. Is there a gym to work out in? There is one gym in Taipei and a few more in Puerto Plata.[...]

1. I am just a average man, why would such beautiful women be interested in meeting me? You are not average in their eyes, you are very special. You are a very rare option with qualities, men in her country do not have. They are convinced men from the USA and Europe are much more faithful. The women also want an older man, they feel the older men are more stable and less likely to cheat on them.

Great tips! In Puerto Plata, but even more so in Taipei, you will find a lot of Indian restaurants, they are usually full to the last bit. That one gym in Taipei is usually full, too, but you can always go to Puerto Plata, they have a plenty available for you.

6 Take it, squeeze it and let it go

Meeting a Taiwanese girl, Source: Taiwan Pirate

Girls may seem outgoing, flirty, relaxed, because they watch 'sex in the city' and are independent. This doesn't mean they will go home with you. However, some might. Don't be a jerk and assume a girl wants to sleep with you. Don't ask her if she will. Taiwanese girls are like girls everywhere, they respond to touch - a universal language. Can't speak to them? Doesn't matter!

When you meet them, get a phone number or msn and ask them out (some girls don't like to go dancing or to a bar; if they don't, then take them to a park or coffee shop). Initiate touch early - but be careful! Don't grab at them. Joke and make fun of them a little, tease them. If they laugh or punch your arm or shove you, that's good. If you get the chance, try brushing your fingers over her arm or leg. Don't grab and hold her hand, but if your hands bump into each other often, take it, squeeze it, and let it go. Eventually - if you find you're holding hands with her, it's probably ok to kiss. If you can kiss her, invite her home (make sure you have a reason - not just sex). Invite her for dinner, or to see your book collection or something.

Ok ok, so for some guys, this process of courting might be too long, maybe you're on holiday and just want to find a girl quickly. Go to the bar, smile really big and stupidly, and try and dance with all the girls there. Most of them will run and hide. The slutty ones will grind up against you and you can probably take them home. But know that you're lowering the already poor repution foreigners have here.

This is truly a treasure! Best is, you pretend you're deaf mute and touching is the only way for you to communicate. Try to tell her that by writing it on her back with your finger - in traditional Chinese! That will surely impress her.

7 She wouldn't even take her top off

The Beijinger, Source: Are Taiwanese girls much different?

I have one buddy who dated a Taiwanese girl. He said she wouldn't even take her top off during sex. I ain't saying that's all Taiwanese women, but there you go. (by Jeremy)

He has a strong argument! And I ain't saying every Taiwanese girl wears Hello Kitty socks, but once my friend told me he saw one, so there you go.

8 Taiwanese women don't yell or scream

Prlog.org, Source: Have You Thought about Dating a Taiwanese Girl?

Taiwanese women, unlike Western woman, do not tend to yell and scream, as they have been taught from an early age to show respect and honour their home and family.

That's of course 100% true. So far there is no official account of a yelling or screaming Taiwanese woman. If ever there was a woman screaming, she was immediately deported on the other side of the Taiwan Strait.

9 You'll have to beat the girls off with sticks

Michael Turton, Source: The Social Side

Most males will have no trouble finding girlfriends. Caucasian male foreigners are appreciated, even sought after, and you will see many Taiwanese female/foreign male relationships. Slim, blonde-haired, blue-eyed males will have to beat the girls off with sticks. Taiwanese women prefer tall, thin, men but a stocky guy like me never had any trouble dating here.[...]

Finally, don't be fooled by politeness. Politeness is to Chinese culture what a pearl is to an oyster: a beautiful secretion around a major irrititant. It is the opposite of being accepted. Its purpose is to keep you at arms length and under control. You know you are accepted when they start treating you like crap just like everyone else.

So true! As a Caucasian fairly slim almost blue eyed male with lots of secretions I can wholeheartedly confirm, that I need to carry a stick with me to beat off all the clingy Taiwanese girls, when I go to work. They are like flies. During rain I use the umbrella.

10 Taiwanese girls talk to ugly American boy

Lang-8.com, Source: Most of Taiwanese girls like foreigners

Taiwanese are xenomanias. I am not saying all the Taiwanese are all like this, but most of Taiwanese have this trend including me. If there are two boys standing in fornt of me, one is a Taiwanese and another is an American, I will talk to the American boy. Even the Taiwanese is really a handsome man and the American is ugly, I will first talk to the American. Why? It's all out of curiosity. The first sight I see is their appearance, the American is so different with me, so I am curious.

This is exactly as I saw it many times near Longshan temple in Taipei.

11 Beware of single suspicious Taiwan women

Asian Nation, Source: Taiwanese dating profiles

Ask a lot of questions when communicating and be alert for inconsistencies or requests for money. Make notes if you are suspicious of single taiwan women. If you are suspicious of taiwan brides or if someone asks you for money, use common sense and then report the situation to the taiwanese brides website. This is simply most websites do not validate the identity of a member or the information that they submit on a profile.

Useful warning! Taiwanese women are always suspicious, especially if they dress up as brides. Don't be fooled, they will ask you for money, usually they will say something like: "Give me money!" When you hear this, don't be fooled and ask a lot of questions.

12 Taiwanese girls won't value your time

Girls Chase, Source: Helping Women to Respect Your Time

I don't know if it's a uniquely Taipei-thing, but it seems to be: I'm running into scads and scads of women who are trying to cram me into their schedules and not properly valuing my time. Frankly, this kind of behavior drives me rather nuts. Maybe this is what things look like in a developed nation where women are accustomed to submissive men. I don't know. At first I thought I was having an attraction problem; maybe girls in Taipei just don't like my flavor of sexiness.

No doubt, it's all about the flavor of sexiness. And in order for a Taiwanese woman to handle all your flavors, she'll need to make schedules of course.

13 I thought she would have been tighter

Gaijin Pot, Source: Taiwanese girl

Met a Taiwanese girl in The Muse then arranged meet last night - Sunday night. She didnt pay for any of the food and came back to my place. We got down to it quite quickly. I thought she would have been tighter as the last Taiwanese girl I was with was super tight. She then told me about her life - married to a 40 year old Japanese guy when she was 22 who changed right after marriage so she got divorced. Then dating a Brit guy who died of liver cancer at the age of 40. This sent alarm bells through my hydrochondriac personality. if he had liver cancer then maybe he had Hepatitis B - a common cause. Hepatitis B is an STD. I did have the hep B vaccine five years ago though and i wore a condom.[...]

What does ethnicity have to do with being "tight" ??

She probably wasn't Taiwanese, as all of them are super tight and super into 40 something Japanese men, which is of course defined by their ethnicity.

14 Taiwanese girls' intensions is to get laid in the pubs

This place sucks, Source: Taiwanese women sucks

I mean most of them, aging 20~28
a bunch of whores who don't appreciate how well they were treated sincerely, they don't give shit about ethics they like to suck cocks of those so called ABC and RICH KIDS or any foreigners that doesn't speak CHINESE. FUCK!
and they try to get laid in the pubs, thats their intensions.
So fucking pathetic and lame, strange creature.

So true! All Taiwanese women go to pubs, because the pubs were initially invented in Taiwan, before the British colonialists stole the concept and brought it to England.

15 Taiwanese women do business transactions

This place sucks, Source: Taiwanese women sucks

I'll give you a huge tip. EVERYTHING is simply a business transaction in Asia. Don't even complain about ethics, it's the rules here. Call it how it is. If you want a TW/HK Girl to open up, or open legs, you need to speak the correct language. The language of love that truly speaks to their Hello Kitty Hearts is Visa, MasterCard, Gucci, or LV. Don't waste time on the Chinese Lessons. Just focus on business and making more money. It's all about reciprocal dating or socially accepted hooking up. Just up your game, and you will have more psycho shao jie than one can handle in a lifetime. Careful, when you fall into this category, they will work hard to close the deal quick (Marriage, Control Money, Babies, Sex, Etc.). TW girls will be either super slow or quick depending on how they can get the upper hand. A last effort is to be an overly sensitive little bitch that will carry their purse while they go shopping. (Refer to TW TV or local Sogo Mall) I have seen many friends fail with this method. It's just not worth the return on the long term investment, because buying face with other people's money is the business and dating strategy. TW/HK girls can be worth it, just know each ones game before making an investment. More importantly, know when to say "next".

So exactly true and truly educational! I couldn't have described Taiwanese females better than this. However, I need to add something important: I bought my wife's Hello Kitty heart with American Express, though. But that's the new generation of Taiwanese women, they don't accept Visa anymore.

16 Taiwanese girls are selfish, insecure emotional vampires

This place sucks, Source: Taiwanese women sucks

i find TW women to be utterly selfish, insecure, and self centered. As I have seen with many couples and unfortunate friends, when they age it's even more nonstop bitching and moaning. The focus just becomes on more money, more eating, more competition to show off to family and friends. You can forget about an exciting sex life. Lately i look at them with a mild disgust, despite some of their physical beauty.

No pussy is worth being constantly drained by these emotional vampires. Funny, with the many new girls I meet here, I aways say to myself "this one is different". LOL! Nope, same shit with a different package. Same movie played over and over.

Amazing conclusions and all so true! I have nothing to add!

17 Taiwanese girls go for easy ABC guys

This place sucks, Source: Taiwanese women sucks

I'm ABC and I love Taiwan. Girls are so easy here and as people have racist attitudes towards whites and blacks, they'll kiss your ass if you're ABC. You do understand why Taiwanese girls go for ABC guys, right? From the day they are born, Taiwanese guys pass on all their negativity and insecurities into the heads of their girls. Taiwanese guys aim to control their girls by putting them down and making them feel ugly and empty inside. They worry that if they say warm positive things to their females that they'll become too confident, realize that their guy is a loser and leave them for some other loser. Western men were very popular with Taiwanese girls in the 80s and 90s. Seeing this all too often, Taiwanese guys became very bitter and jealous and for the last 10 years have been telling their girls that Western men are bad. They give no more reasons than that, just that Western men are bad. Instead of improving themselves, Taiwanese guys have to tell girls that other guys are worse than they are. Taiwanese guys don't realize that many of their girls cheat on them with ABC guys. The girls like us as we're much more charming, interesting, funny and better looking as their own pussy guys. Me and my other ABC buddies always used to come over to Taiwan for the summer for the girls; they loved us! Then they went back to their weak little pussy Taiwan boyfriends.

Yes! Taiwanese women love ABCs. It's in their nature to feel compassion with those, who need to leave their country in order to get a little love.

18 Taiwanese girls wish to be Japanese

This place sucks, Source: Taiwanese women sucks

TW girls... as far as I know, they wish they were japanese. When they speak, to differentiate their MANDARIN from what their Chinese cousins over in the mainland, they always speak in a really fake ass Japanese wannabe tone. It's so fucking lame. I know I know, there's a bit of history of Japanese occupation of TW, but you don't see Koreans, as cocky as they can be sometimes, completely idolizing another nationality to a point of basically copying them. It's funny how TW wants to be recognized as its own state, with its own nationality, but in the end, all their pride is nothing more than a facade, an image. And if the Japs have an attractive image, they'd rather become semi-Japanese. That's fucking lame dude. That's not pride, that's just ignorance and a lack of self-worth.

So true! Taiwanese girls commonly wear kimono, eat sushi most of the time and uncontrollably giggle, when they see a man.

19 Taiwanese women frequently have fuller bottoms

Escape Artist, Source: Differences Between China And Taiwan

One very noticeable difference between China and Taiwan is that Taiwanese women frequently have fuller bottoms. I've only been in the country a month, so my studies on the issue are hardly authoritative, yet the difference is pronounced. Fuller not especially in the width and height dimensions; its in the depth department, in that mysterious and so hard to draw z axis. Is it a sign of more affluence in Taiwan, that greater comfort and security allows womens bottoms to flesh out?

Perhaps, but I am increasingly of the opinion that many women here are flaunting their bottoms, sticking them out a fraction, even carrying them with a knowing swagger.

Good observations! That's because Taiwanese girls eat a lot of papayas.

20 Taiwanese women's breath stinks a bit

Forumosa, Source: *Serious Discussion* Taiwanese Girls vs HK Girls

Taiwanese women like stinky tofu and pig's trotter which makes their breath stink a bit.
Taiwanese women are good at Tai Kwon Do but suck at Wing Chun.
Taiwanese women are far less arrogant and tend to have a sense of inferiority; having no really great celebrities such as Hong Kong Fuey, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee to make themselves feel better about being Taiwanese. (by user Tommy525)

Oh, they don't only like stinky tofu! They love it! The stinky breath is considered an aphrodisiac in Taiwanese culture. Combined with a Tai Kwon Do performance, you will not be able to resist a Taiwanese girl's charms, even if she only does this to make herself feel better.

Now that you've read what foreign experts say, you must be truly speechless. Believe me, when I've read all this, I was speechless, too. I couldn't be prouder of these foreign men, who are so knowledgeable and come to Taiwan to research our women and help to spread around the globe all the best qualities of Taiwanese girls, so that peoples of the world know exactly how our women are. Maybe some of these experts didn't hit the nail on the head from time to time, because they spent too much time in the gym in Puerto Plata, but all in all you have a priceless treasure of highly intellectual conclusions about the lovely ladies of Taiwan.

Note to Taiwanese: 親愛的台灣朋友們：這篇文章當然是開玩笑的，我真正的意思跟我所寫的完全相反。我討厭這些在網路上散播無知言論且讓我們這些正常人看起來很糟的外國蠢蛋。在我的下一篇文章裡，我將會以同個標題寫出我個人的觀點，並試著寫出更接近台灣女性的真實面相。

Related post: Taiwanese girls: Stereotypes and reality>>
Reactions to this post: I feel sorry for the haters>>

If you liked these posts, you might also want to read my newest:

All about Interracial relationships in Taiwan>>

Taroko National Park, Taiwan, part 1

2011-10-15T15:49:00.000+08:00

Taiwan's most impressive natural wonder

The famous paifang at the entrance of the Taroko National Park.

Zambia has the Victoria Falls, USA have the Grand Canyon and Taiwan has the Taroko Gorge. This could be a simple way to describe the significance of this natural wonder for the one of the most beautiful islands in the world - Taiwan. I was blessed enough to see a little of this magical place, but then turned out the way I have not expected. During our Hualien adventure we decided Taroko to be our last destination, before we head home to Taipei. Everything was going fine. We took the train from Hualien Main Station to Xincheng 新城鄉, a smaller township located at the entrance of the Taroko National Park 太魯閣國家公園. Once there, we rented a scooter and whizzed off to the gorge. The sky was a little grey, looking like it will break down in tears and pour them on us. But we were unstoppable, we raced from one famous sight to another and then... we reached the Ningan Bridge 寧安橋 and I asked my wife why does the fuel gauge show that we're out of gas? She stopped the scooter and start to scratch her ~~head~~ helmet, she was clueless, too. We were so eager to rush into Taroko, we forgot to add gas into our two-wheeled stallion. And then we were standing there wondering what to do? Because I am the type of person, who doesn't like to take too many risks, I proposed we go back to the entrance, because there's a gas station. We nervously drove back, worrying that we might run out of gas somewhere half way through. But we were lucky, although the gauge showed we're riding on zero gas, we made it to the station. But once there, it started to drizzle and I suddenly felt I don't wanna go in there anymore. My wife was disappointed, but the clerk at 7 Eleven told us there's a good chance of rain inside - something I hoped not to experience on a scooter. So we decided to go back to Xincheng and then back to Hualien... and at last back to Taipei. Our Taroko adventure came to an early end, but we still had a lot of fun exploring the first part of it. We will definitely return and go further inside and therefore I will write another post in the future with the title "part 2".

Click on the photo above to see a big high-definition map of Taroko Gorge.

I think the best way to explore the Taroko National Park is on bicycle or scooter, maybe car. There are buses, that bring those group tourists from one famous spot to another. That doesn't sound like fun to me, but I guess that depends on what kind of person you are. Read more about all this here, on the national park's very useful website. To see and understand more about how a trip to Taroko looks like, check my photos below:

The Hualien train station was crowded when we were buying tickets.

Xincheng train station.

The impressive mountains were covered in a blanket of mist.

After renting the scooter near the train station, we rushed off to the park.

And then we have reached the Taroko National park. Tons of tourists were gathered here.

Cute girls were posing around here. I was lucky to make this shot without people.

The Liwu river estuary.

After taking photos at the entrance, we finally rode in.

The road is full of bridges and tunnels.

Here you can see nature's masterpiece.

Took this tunnel shot on the scooter - one of my favorite photos.

One of the most picturesque spots in the park - the Long Spring Shrine or 長春祠.

A close-up on the famous shrine above waterfalls. Truly gorgeous.

This pagoda is right above the Long Spring Shrine and is called 太魯閣樓. There's even a Buddhist temple up there, too. This part is full of gems.

The Liwu river or 立霧溪, that makes all this possible.

The Long Spring Bridge or 長春橋.

Moving further away from this part.

Rocks that the Liwu river brought down here.

The Ningan Bridge 寧安橋, where we had to stop and go back due to fuel problems.

All in all, it was a short, yet awesome experience. I can't wait to return and next time we will definitely fill up the gas to the fullest and probably go there in the morning, so we don't need to rush, but cruise slowly through this incredibly beautiful valley and see the best of it. Some day in the future, I will write the second part of my adventure, which will continue from the Ningan Bridge. Stay tuned.

[My TAIWAN TRAVEL page][All photos by MKL, 2011]

Double Ten Day: 100 years of Republic of China (Taiwan) celebration

2011-10-11T02:14:00.000+08:00

Today Taiwanese are feeling patriotic

Double Ten Day 2011 in images from various sources.

Today is 100 years of the Republic of China, which is the official name of the country most of you know as Taiwan. For the historic and political buffs out there, I recommend you to read an article on a website called Wikipedia, that goes in depth about the last 100 years of the country, that is today known as the heart of Asia (see video on the left). What is there to say about a national day of a probably sovereign country, that officially doesn't have many foreign relations with other sovereign countries? There's a lot to say, as a matter of fact. Yes, we did not see Obama in Taipei today, nor Hu Jintao, the current paramount leader of a neighboring country, that (to the much of the world's confusion) uses a similar official name as Taiwan. We also didn't see political titans such as Angela Merkel, Fidel Castro or George Papandreou, but we did see the President of Burkina Faso, Mr. Blaise Compaoré, honoring us with an official visit and strengthening the ties with us. It's telling, that this is our president's biggest achievement in terms of foreign relations this year (well, he also hosted the former prime minister of Slovenia in February, to be fair). But Taiwanese don't really care about which world leader is roaming around the island and smiling for the cameras. Of course Taiwan has a lot of foreign relations, they're just under the table, which is probably much better than in other countries, because it's impossible for politicians to use these official visits for campaigning and propaganda - it forces them to do something and work in the shadows.

Today was not a sunny day. And most of the past days were rainy or at least covered with a blanket of grey clouds. The lead up to this year's October 10th or the "Double Ten Day" or 十十節 was full of anticipation and partial excitement. ROC flags were placed along avenues in most Taiwanese cities and towns, patriotic ads were running on TV, people were looking forward to this work-free day for a long time, which conveniently came on Monday. And everybody (well, many) were looking forward to the big parade in front of the Presidential palace in Taipei, the President's speech and the fireworks in the evening. I would say most Taiwanese, be it blue or green leaning were happy today (it was after all a work-free day) and felt somewhat patriotic, some more, some less, but very few people were untouched. Today I felt that Taiwanese, like any other nation, realized that they do need something to belong to. And the 100 years of the Republic of China is all they have now and all they know for the past 60 years. The ROC is like a wife from an arranged marriage that you never really loved. You think about exchanging it for a younger one of your own choice, but then you know it's not possible at this moment and you just try to get to love and cherish what you have. Whatever baggage there is attached to this day, to the history behind it and to the uncertain future ahead, many Taiwanese have honestly celebrated their nationhood and did not care about anything else. Whatever doubts or raised eyebrows there were, they disappeared when the first fireworks started to color the evening sky.

This is how my wife and I spend this year's Double Ten Day:

We watched the President's speech on TV.

Then we went on the roof of our apartment building and watched the jet fighters flying over Taipei. There were many other spectators on roofs of other buildings.

In the evening we went to the central Taipei and saw a lot of flags.

We went to see the Presidential palace. There were many people taking photos of it.

This colorful paifang was placed over the Ketagalan Boulevard.

Many people were taking photos in this area as well. In the nearby Guest House VIPs were leaving a party. Most roads in the area were closed down and secured.

After we walked around the city, we returned home and went to the roof top to see the official fireworks. We did not take too many good photos today, so if you wanna see the fireworks through a better lens, I recommend you this photo stream.

I'm generally not a person, that would truly celebrate the national day in my own country. These celebrations are usually boring, with long speeches and performances, that are not interesting for very long, but days like this do touch me. But being in Taiwan today and seeing all the happiness of the people I have adopted was truly a great experience. I was happy for them, even though most of them knew, that only the past 15 years have been truly good to them. But once again, it wasn't a time for nitpicking, it was a time to celebrate and celebrating means switching off and only giving way to the most basic emotions such as joy, ease of mind and optimism (daily life's already very challenging). Taiwan and its people did not have it easy in the past ten decades, however, the latest two prove, that things are changing for the better. Today I am hopeful about this country and its future, because I know that the foundations of this nation are strong. Soon there will be free elections again and Taiwanese will prove to the world (once again), that this small forgotten island is fully committed to democracy, freedom and human rights and that it's crying for recognition and respect from the rest of the world, something that the honorable people have truly earned in the past 100 years and fully deserved. Today I'm not wondering, why Taiwanese have celebrated, I'm wondering, why foreign democracies wrapped themselves in silence. All I can sat us: Shame on them.

This is Taiwan.

This is Republic of China.

親愛的台灣朋友們，今天是你們的國慶日，你們感覺如何呢？你們覺得驕傲嗎？你們如何看你們的ROC國號、旗幟以及定位呢？請原諒我只是個好奇的老外。

Further read:

- Popular blogger writes about Double Ten Day
- A short video of today's celebrations on Apple Daily
- Chinese teacher Peggy's video about the National Day

[My UNIQUELY TAIWAN page][Marked photos by MKL, 2011]

Hualien City 花蓮市, Taiwan

2011-10-09T23:58:00.000+08:00

Taiwan's Eastern metropolis

Visiting Hualien City 花蓮市, Taiwan's eastern metropolis located in the aboriginal heartland, is something every Taiwan enthusiast should do, if they truly want to see the best of the country. I arrived from Taitung City, Taiwan's southeastern gem and had the luck to enjoy a perfect summer day, when I rode through the city with my wife. Both cities have their own specific atmosphere and while Taitung City feels like a laid back small town, Hualien City aims for more. With its over 200.000 inhabitants, it's Eastern Taiwan's industrial and cultural center, harboring the biggest port and airport in the region.

Hualien's streets in the morning.

The mountains at its back are waking up.

What I liked most about Hualien was the scenery. Be it the majestic mountains at its back or the blue Pacific ocean at its front, Hualien is located where two climates clash and mix up. It's very likely that you see grey hazy skies above one part of the city and a clear blue horizon on the other. And then there is the beautiful Taroko National Part and gorgeous sandy beaches right north of the city - where else in Taiwan do you have so many amazing things at one spot? Nowhere. Hualien is paradise, but sadly also exposed to the nature's worst antics: Typhoons and earthquakes. Another thing that made my stay in Hualien so memorable were the friendly people and the excellent food. People are just not as stressed out as in Taipei, quality of life is much better in Hualien. And then there is food: The city is famous for wontons, muaji and tiramisu. There are two big night markets and many popular stalls, that are attracting hundreds, if not thousands of people every day. You have to be there, see that and try the local food to truly realize what an important place it takes in the daily life of the people of Hualien. There could be so much more to say about this lovely city, but I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Below is a list of 8 must-see and must-try things in Hualien. If you're planning to visit, this might be very useful to you:

1. The Shrines and temples

Hualien is full of beautiful temples and shrines, most are small, but there are some bigger ones, such as the Karenkō Shrine and Jianxiang Cihuei Temple stand out as the ones I would recommend you to visit.

2. The food

Food in Hualien is probably one of the best in whole Taiwan. I've never seen certain stalls and restaurants that popular, that people would wait an hour or more to get to try their famous dish. And the prices are not even high in most cases. Read more about food in Hualien here>>

3. The views

No matter where in the city you are, the views are usually breathtaking. Most of the city looks like your average generic Taiwanese city, but everything around is uniquely beautiful. The northeastern part of the city lays on a small slope, which gives you the opportunity to enjoy the best views of the pacific, the Meilun river and the central part.

4. Pine garden

Pine garden, a former military base of the Japanese navy, was established in 1943 (source). Today it's a popular spot above the Meilun river with a beautiful views and opportunities to enjoy afternoon tea. On a sunny day, it's full of local and foreign tourists, read more here>>

Riding out of the city to see something special.

One of the most beautiful beaches in Taiwan is located northeast from central Hualien.

Seemingly endless road was leading us to a scenic area.

5. Chishingtan

Chishingtan beach and scenic area is truly one of my favorite spots in Eastern Taiwan. If you want to make beautiful photos and enjoy a warm ocean breeze, this is the right spot for you. If you're brave enough, you can enjoy a nice swim here. See some of my high-definition photos of Chishingtan here>>

Leaving the city further, you can visit one of the most beautiful natural wonders in all of East Asia, the amazing...

6. Taroko Gorge

The Taroko gorge is part of the Taroko National Park and one the must-see destinations of every traveler, that comes to Taiwan. The beautiful gorge, carved by the Liwu river is full of temples, bridges and natural wonders. Read more about my experience here>>

7. The Pacific Ocean views

One of the most beautiful spots in Hualien City is located, where the Meilun river enters the Pacific ocean. This is definitely a must-see parts of the city for every visitor. If you want to see my photos, click here>>

The lighthouse at the end of the Hualien port. What a lovely image.

8. The night markets

Hualien City is home to two very interesting night markets, the small, yet very popular Ziqiang Night Market and the bigger and equally popular Nanbin Night Market. The latter is famous for being the one where Hualieners relax and play games, while the first one is famous for excellent food.

Drag the Hualien map to see more markers, zoom in for a more detailed map.

What is there more to say than: Visit Hualien! If you chance to visit this beautiful island, organize a trip to Eastern Taiwan and you will not regret it. Hualien is one of Taiwan's most beautiful and friendly cities, with a lot of potential to become one of the island's top tourist destinations. It's not yet too crowded, so come and visit soon. The nature, the food, the people, the lifestyle: If you love Taiwan, you will definitely love Hualien as well. Not only that, you will cherish it as something special, something that it truly is.

[My HUALIEN AT DAWN post][My TAIWAN TRAVEL page][All photos by MKL, 2011]

Of Taiwanese and their dogs

2011-10-08T13:24:00.000+08:00

»Properly trained, a man can be dog's best friend.« ~Corey Ford

There is something in Taiwan, that you'll most likely see, when you live here for a while: The close relationship between some Taiwanese and their dogs. Truth is, only a certain part of Taiwanese population are pet owners, however the majority of them would be owning a dog, according to my impression. That's why seeing a dog on Taiwan's streets is very common. And that would not bother me, if all dog owners would follow some standardized rules of behavior. The thing is, Taiwanese are very obedient, when it comes to social norms and how you carry yourself in public, but sometimes I feel that certain dog owners live in a completely different universe. I can understand it, since I love my pet, too, but I still think it's not good. This post was triggered by the image above: My wife and I went to a restaurant yesterday and an elder couple had 2 dogs with them. The dog in the center was very eager to sit like a human and sniff all the food, that was served. But not only that, if he wanted to go down, they put his feet back up on the table! I was like wow. They fed him, placed a drink under his snout and took photos of him, it was truly a very unusual image. Not sure, how an average Taiwanese reacts to this kind of behavior, but my wife said they went too far and probably take their pet like a family member. Frankly, I have nothing against people loving their pets like their own kids, what bothers me is that you do that in public, next to other guests, who eat there. I was thinking: This dog might have walked in all kinds of unsanitary places and you put his feet on the table, where people eat? That's certainly not good. I'm fine, if you do that at home, but in a restaurant is a completely different thing. And of course I was thinking: Why does the restaurant tolerate this behavior? I saw the waiter serving them and saying nothing. My wife said, maybe they asked him in the beginning, if the dog can be seated and got the permission. But even so, it's hard for me, an average Central European to relate to this kind of thing. I don't know, is it a cultural difference? Is it a Taiwanese particularity that this is ok to do? No idea, but feel free to enlighten me.

Of course I have seen those usually small dogs brought to many restaurants and cafés in and around Taipei, so that it doesn't shock me anymore. Let me tell you that I have owned two dogs in my life and I loved them with all my heart, however, the line between the dog world and human world was always very clear to me. And I would always clean up after them, if they dropped some pies. This is another thing, that seems to be a problem in Taiwan, especially in some parts of New Taipei, where I reside: Dog turds are seen aplenty in certain areas and you really need to look down when you walk in order to avoid stepping on one. Again, let me be clear, this is not predominant throughout whole Taiwan, but it is a big enough phenomenon to be mentioned as an issue. And apparently the mayor of New Taipei agrees with me, since he recently decided to reward people with tickets for gold-ingots, if they bring dog feces to sanitation units. Not sure, how well it works, because the area, where I usually go for lunch is still full dog turds. But we'll see. At least someone's aware of the problem and some measures were taken to tackle the issue.

What is there else to say about Taiwanese and their dogs?

There's a full spectrum of how dogs are treated in Taiwan, from being loved and cared of as one's own child to being completely neglected and abandoned. Not sure, what is more common, but I've seen it all: The good, the bad and the ugly. I'm not familiar with laws here, I don't know of any organizations, who take care of these animals in need of help and shelter, I'm just touching on the issue on the surface. If you have any additional info on that, I'd be glad to add it to this post. Of course that's not only a Taiwanese problem, it's a global problem. If you go to southern Europe like Italy and Balkans, you will see worse things. But since I'm living in Taiwan, I will focus on what's happening around me and try to bring them closer to you. Speaking of which, below are some photos I took during my time in Taiwan and they are related to this dog issue:

Taiwanese love to walk their dogs in parks during the weekend. You can see that they really care about their pet, as well as mind other visitors of the park and always clean up their dog's big business.

A campaign in Yingge, a small town near Taipei, where dog owners are encouraged to clean up after their dogs. Plastic bags are offered for free (thumbs up!). I'd like to see more of these things in New Taipei.

Seeing dogs transported on scooters is very common in Taiwan, as the scooter is one of the most basic means of transportation here. Even two dogs can be squeezed on one, if they are small enough.

Seeing stray dogs eating from trash is sadly a common sight in many Taiwanese cities and towns. I've seen this one in Wulai, Taiwan's famous hot spring resort.

This dog was tied to a scooter, while his owner was selling something on the sidewalk. Not sure, what I could comment on this, but it certainly makes me raise my eyebrows.

If you see closely, you will spot two dog turds under that rack on the photo above, which I took in a 7 Eleven. Here is what happened: A guy came in carrying two poodles in his arms and one of them suddenly started to poop. When he saw that two turds fell down on the ground, he kicked them under the rack and left. I was completely speechless in that moment. My colleague and I told it to the clerk and he immediately cleaned it. He was of course shocked, too, but I doubt that this will in any way affect their policy of letting dogs inside their convenience store in the future. It's natural for our four-legged pals to poop whenever they feel like, the whole problem related to these things is on the human side. If there are no fix social norms for dog owners, these problems will be carried on. One thing is clear: We first and foremost need to train humans, not dogs.

This is a famous photo circulating around the web.

[My UNIQUELY TAIWAN page][All photos by MKL, 2010 and 2011]

I'm back from Europe

2011-10-05T23:26:00.000+08:00

Back to Taiwan

Acropolis in Athens, Greece... this weekend.

One of the most challenging trips is behind me and I feel so released, albeit very tired. I'm still jetlagged and a bit moody, because the sunny European autumn changed to a gloomy rainy late summer in Taipei. It keeps raining all the time these days and it doesn't seem to end very soon. I miss the Greek sun, the slow pace of life on Balkans, the food, the friendly people. But I don't miss the chaos in front of a commuter train, the hordes of tourists and the fact, that my honey is so far away. Now we're close again and and I can guarantee you, that the saying "distance makes the hearts grow fonder" truly does work in our case. I'm so glad, that in few days we have a national holiday in Taiwan and therefore an extended weekend. I need a break, I need to cure my jetlag and get used to the fast pace of Taipei. I'm super busy these days and when I sort some things out, I will get back to blogging and I plan to share all my impressions from various European countries, so stay tuned (I will write that on my 2nd blog and photo blog). In addition, I have to finish my adventures in Eastern Taiwan, that's scheduled for release in the next days on my main blog, which means here. I wasn't able to follow blogs or other social websites during this time, so I'm sure there are tons of new things to catch up.

How were you these two weeks? What's new? How's life treating you so far?

Of being European and Taiwanese

2011-09-25T17:07:00.003+08:00

Back to the roots

An image from Switzerland.

Greetings from good ol' Europe! After several months in Taiwan, I am back to my roots. It's a short business trip and I will be back on the ilha formosa in no time, but now I'm here and now I can write down some of the things that came to my mind, while traveling and meeting people in various places around Central Europe. I realized, that I am partly Taiwanese - mostly in the way I behave and see things. I can say, that the life in Taiwan definitely changed me. On the other hand, I have realized, that I am also still very European and that I miss Europe a lot. But I also miss Taiwan in a sense, some things, but most of all my dear wifey, who is for me Taiwan's biggest treasure.

Being a European and represent a Taiwanese company is very interesting. Frankly speaking, there are many chicken and duck situations between Taiwanese and a European companies. So since I can speak chicken and understand the ducks (well, kinda...), I try to smooth out some things and strengthen the relations. Of course I'm also here to make new ducks excited about our product from Chickenland. It's a lot of talking and traveling, it's sometimes very challenging, but it never gets boring.

While walking around various European big cities, I have realized how culturally diverse they are compared to the ones in good old Taiwan: Turks, Arabs, Africans, Indians, East Asians are seen everywhere. Taiwanese cities, apart from having few Western expats, seem very homogeneous and closed to the world. Both has its charm, its challenges and its rewards. When I was in Switzerland, I have heard so many languages spoken on the streets, it was amazing. It's like the whole world placed in just one city. Not sure how this works in daily life, but there surely must be many chicken and duck situations.

Compared to Taiwanese, Europeans are much slower in daily life. I knew that very well before, but I have soon fallen into the vertigo of Taipei's hustle and bustle. These days I'm somehow thrown back to that time from before. It's interesting to see people who walk slowly. There are no motorcades of scooters whizzing by. Instead you can see people sitting in cafés and beergardens, sipping their cappuccini and weizenbier and just taking it easy. It's the quality of life that I miss in Taipei, when I see these images from Europe - the luxury of dolce far niente or "sweet doing nothing" is captivating. La dolce vita is far far away from Taipei... maybe in Taitung, I felt it there. Taipeiers are just too busy being busy... and sadly, I am one of them. I try to have more quality time during the week, but I just can't find a way to escape work, it finds me and holds me in captivity. It will be interesting to see, if this trip will have any effect on my daily life in Taiwan when I return.

Another thing I noticed is how Europeans communicate - those who I had the pleasure to speak with were direct and concise: Nobody cared about being polite and losing face, problems were articulated openly and so were the suggestions for solutions. In Taiwan, we sometimes have 5 to 6 hour long meetings with a lot of talk and little action. We all know what and who is the problem, but faces need to be saved and harmony needs to be preserved. Usually the issue is only touched on and very little is solved. Maybe this is just my personal experience, but I have a good reason to believe, that this is not really that uncommon. I like the efficiency of Europeans in business. Yes, Europeans tend to be complicated before starting to cooperate, a lot of testing, questioning and double-checking is the norm, but once they are convinced, things are moving fast.

But there are many things that I didn't like here in Europe. Taiwanese are much softer and gentler in public. Remember my last post about Taiwanese and how they smile a lot? I missed that. Most Europeans I've met or spoken to recently were polite, but there were also situations, where people had no patience or understanding and showed that openly. I took a morning train in Germany and since it was my first time doing so, I didn't know that some seats are reserved and some not. I sat on a reserved one and the guy who's seat I occupied was very annoyed, when he passed by. I needed some time to realize my mistake and then I had to be let out - I was holding up a long queue and I saw how people murmured and shook their heads. Maybe it's because I looked like a local, not a foreigner, that the reactions were that strong. Taiwanese would show more understanding. And even, if they'd feel annoyed, they'd not show it that openly. There were several similar instances, where I missed the East Asian polite public face. This just highlights how everything has it's good and bad sides. I like the direct European way of how issues are discussed in business, but the way Taiwanese interact with each other in public suits me more.

What I also miss here is the convenience of getting food, drinks and free wi-fi. In Taiwan, tea shops, small food stalls and convenience stores are almost on every corner. Be it day or night, you can get affordable food, drinks or even free wi-fi very easily (I'm talking about the Taipei area). In German and Swiss cities all this is either hard to find or just very expensive! You need to pay 4 to 5 times more than in Taiwan. Sure, the living standards are much different, but the main problem is the mindset. Europeans see eating in restaurants rather as a special occasion (most would prefer cooking at home), so it's more common to meet in cafés and just have a drink, but when Taiwanese meet, eating is obligatory. Even if you meet in a café in Taipei, they will have some meals available and most Taiwanese would prefer to eat something, at least a cake. And most of these places will offer free wi-fi to the guests, something I have not experienced during my trip so far and it has given me a lot of frustration. Europeans think you should pay for every service, in Taiwan a lot of services are free. Sometimes you even need to pay for a glass of water in an European restaurant, in Taiwan however water or even tea is served free of charge before the meal: The focus is on what you eat, not drink, but in Europe restaurants earn a lot with the drinks, as they are usually ridiculously expensive (I always hated that).

In these days I am realizing, that I've changed, matured and was quite significantly influenced by my life in Taiwan. How far that will go, I don't know. I try to pick out the best from both sides. I'm still a European, but I was never a typical European. Sure, what is that anyway? I can't say. There are some elements in East Asian societies, that truly suit my character, but there are things in Europe that I cherish very much. I guess I will always be somewhere in between. 30 years of being shaped in goof old Europe marked me for life, Europe is where I come from and where my heart lays. But I'm also a traveler, someone that just can't stay in one place for too long: I need to move, I need to explore, I need to learn and reinvent myself. And that's why I am so enamored with Taiwan: It's challenging, but it's given me so much. I can't wait to return, but I also know that visiting Europe will be something I will have to do regularly to recharge my batteries. It feels very good to be here.

Ps: I really don't miss the 24/7 staring, it feels great to be seen as everyone else.

[My TAIWAN observations][Photo by MKL, 2011]

I love you, my girl!

2011-09-19T22:00:00.000+08:00

This is a post for you, my girl. By the time you're reading this I will be somewhere up in the clouds and you must think of me a lot. My darling, I know that the past few weeks were very stressful for us, we had so many things to do and prepare and our jobs were not giving us time to breathe either. But now it seems that this stressful period is slowly coming to an end. I hope that after we see each other again, we can have more time to spend together, share the burden of the daily errands equally and find time to enjoy ourselves more. I wanna go out and be carefree, I wanna meet people and talk about something different than my job. I wanna learn Chinese and discover more beautiful spots of Taiwan. But to be able to do this, I will need to make changes in my life, I know there's no other way. Ever since I've come here, I tried so hard to make you proud of me. I found work, I complied with the norms of the environment and I'm tirelessly trying hard to survive in the fast-paced reality of Taipei. I feel like I'm caught in a typhoon ever since I'm here. It's tough, but I will survive, because you're here with me. You're the reason I came here, you're the reason I wanna stay. You're the love of my life, the girl of my dreams. I cherish every single thing you do for me every day. Even if I don't express, I feel it. I always do. I know you try so hard to make my life comfortable here and I really appreciate it. I admire your strength and your management abilities, you know how to manage your life well and in addition, you're managing mine, too. Thank you from the depth of my heart, I sincerely miss you every time you're not around me. It's gonna be tough to be a while without you, but when we reunite, it will be so much sweeter. I can't wait to hug you again. I love you deeply and forever. Please stay safe and always think of me.

Truly yours,

hubby

Taiwan, the land of smiles

2011-09-18T00:18:00.001+08:00

If smiling was a sport, Taiwan would probably win the golden medal

Taiwan's commercials are full of happy-smiley people. (source)

People say Thailand is the land of smiles. But Thailand's little brother* Taiwan is in no way less "smiley". I don't know, if foreigners, who live here have noticed, but Taiwanese love to smile, but usually for very different reasons than for example your average Central European like me. According to my observations, Taiwanese oftentimes use the smile as a shield or as a cover in embarrassing situations. Of course, that might be true for many Europeans as well, but the interesting part is what Taiwanese perceive as embarrassing when dealing with each other. For me it's mostly things that I would not bother about. An important thing here is the concept of losing face or 丟臉 (diou lien), where small mishaps or pointed out mistakes can mean a disaster for an individual. This phenomenon is usually more predominant in the older generation. A smile accompanied with some generic excuses would temporarily preserve one's face and if it's a person of a certain rank, others need to play along and smile with him/her and try to redirect the situation into different waters. A simple example: If you see your father, your teacher or boss embarrassing themselves, just play along and pretend, that everything's fine. And smile of course! If he loses face, you might be laughing inside and enjoying your moment of schadenfreude, but on the outside you'll feel uneasy and worry about what kind of consequences this might mean for you in the near future, if he's publicly exposed. Usually nothing to look forward to.

Germans have come a long way smiling. But they still have a long way to go.

But even among the younger generation smiles are often used as a way to "break the ice" or "escape the embarrassment". If Taiwanese need something from someone, it will often start with a polite 不好意思 (bu hao yi si, lit. "not good idea", meaning "excuse me") or even politer 不好意思麻煩你 (bu hao yi si ma fan ni, lit. "not good idea bothering you", meaning "sorry for troubling you") and a smile will be added, cheeks might turn pink (no, wait, the latter is only seen in anime, but anyway...). Having Taiwanese colleagues for many months now, I've gotten used to this communication with constant smiles. And when a problem or an issue is discussed, everything but the core of the problem will be touched. Criticizing someone directly will be a very rare occasion, usually a way around that will be found and lot of smiles will be inserted. And from what I've seen, the conversation might quickly turn into some small talk (usually about lunch or dinner) - and it will be smiled and laughed a lot again. They will feel released, but the core of the problem will remain.

When you're in Taiwan, smile more! (source)

Basically, smiling is something that makes Taiwanese feel comfortable with each other and is part of their daily interaction. When we took the wedding photos, the photographer kept asking my wife why I didn't smile. But I did smile! Just less intensively and less frequently. I'm just not used to the constant wide smiling and nodding, which is a social norm at most Taiwanese gatherings, such as lunches, dinners, banquets, visits of friends and relatives and so on... However, I try to be polite and usually play along in such situations, but I feel like I am acting. I know that being polite generally means that you're not being yourself, that you're being extra careful and formal in the way you interact with others. By nature I am a polite person, but according to the norms I was taught in my country. Taiwan is for me still a very different culture and although I blend in as much as possible, there are limits to how far I can do that, because I don't want to lose myself completely. A while ago we had a company meeting where people from another department were present. Some time later, one of the new colleagues messaged me and told me (in a joking way), that I was too serious in the meeting and added that I didn't smile. I was surprised, that the latter was a topic of conversation here, but I guess it just proves how important smiling is for Taiwanese. It's hard for me to smile in situations, where I'm uncomfortable. But I guess in Taiwan, that's exactly what I should do: Smile and save my face. :-) <- I'm rockin' it already!

[My LIFE IN TAIWAN page][My UNIQUELY TAIWAN page][*this was a joke of course!]

Everything about a Taiwanese wedding

2011-09-12T11:06:00.000+08:00

Because in Taiwan you only marry once

I think you will hardly find a straight foreign guy, who visited Taiwan and wasn't impressed by the beauty and the charms of the female population. Taiwan is loaded with beautiful young women, that would make you fall for them instantly. It sounds broad and subjective you may say, but I would sign this statement any time. Once you visit, you will agree with me. You can argue about what real beauty is, but young women in Taiwan place great importance on how they look and how they carry themselves. Dressing tastefully, being graceful and polite, acting cute, a little sexy, but still remaining soft, sometimes even docile, are some of the social norms Taiwanese girls face, when they are growing into young women. And that has a certain indefinable charm that most non-Taiwanese men can't resist. I have to say I am one of them.

It's no wonder that many Taiwanese girls date foreigners, especially White guys, which is according to my subjective impression the most common combination in interracial relationships here. There is a certain mutual attraction, which would be an interesting topic for another post, so I won't go into that here. What oftentimes starts as a crush or romance, becomes deep love and eventually a decision has to be made: To marry and not to marry? And most of the time the answer is... marry!

If you are one of these foreign guys thinking about marrying a Taiwanese girl, this is the right post for you. I will tell you what to expect and what kind of organizational skills you will need to have in order to plan and pull through a Taiwanese wedding. I have so far been on 6 weddings in Taiwan and one of them was my own. In fact, it ended just yesterday, so I'm still very deeply involved in this topic. I will definitely need few weeks to shift my mind on other things, because you can't just erase few months of stressful planning and organizing something that is not really about you... but let's get back to the start.

So you've met the cutest girl in the world and she's from Taiwan, a country you have not really known well before, but suddenly you've become very interested. You Google information and of course come to my blog and see how beautiful it is here and you just can't resist dreaming about moving here and living happily ever after with your Taiwanese sweetheart. And after you make the decision to settle here for her, you will need to marry. At first you can register, to get the legal documentation (Alien Residence Certificate, read more in Chinese here), so they don't send you home, after your tourist visa expires. But right after that, you will need to start organizing the wedding. And that's the part where I'd like to share my experience with you and give you useful tips.

My dearest friend Cherry entering her wedding banquet.

1. IT'S NOT (ONLY) YOUR WEDDING

After extensive observations, I have come to these simple conclusions regarding an average modern Taiwanese wedding from a perspective of a foreigner, who took part in one:

- It's a gathering of many people, over 100 is very common
- It's a standardized 12-course lunch/dinner with exquisite/expensive Chinese food
- You will not know most of the invited people at your wedding
- Your in-laws will get involved in the planning, the less the better for you
- The wedding will not be about you, you will just play a side role
- Most of the attention will be diverted to the beautiful bride and her parents' "good face"

Of course all this depends on the character of your in-laws. There are some modern Taiwanese parents, who give their daughter and son-in-law the freedom to decide how their wedding should look like, but that's mostly an exception. The thing is: Most Taiwanese think they know, how a good wedding should be and going into deep discussions about that is a battle you can't win. I just hope that my Taiwanese friends allow me to see things with my own foreign eyes and accept my different views. One of the things I keep telling my wife is, that Taiwanese weddings are very standardized. Following things are more or less obligatory on every Taiwanese wedding banquet according to what I saw so far:

- Every guest will give you angpao 紅包 upon entering, it's a red envelope with money.
- In exchange for angpao, every guest will get xibing 喜餅 or wedding cookies.
- The bride usually changes her gown 3 times and you'll have to enter the hall with her.
- You'll sit at the main table next to the in-laws and other close relatives or persons of honor.
- You'll say ganbei 乾杯 (cheers in Chinese) a lot, then raise your glass and sip a little.
- Ganbei will usually be followed by lots of xiexie 謝謝, which means thank you.
- You will ganbei and xiexie at your main table, as well as tour all the other tables.
- A short clip of the bride's and groom's love story will be shown to everybody.
- Speeches will be made, either by the parents, by a person of honor or by you and the bride.
- At the end you greet every guest at the exit, give away candy and take a photo with them.

Inside this framework, you are more or less free to create some extra things such as funny games, lucky draws, speeches by people from your life, cutting of the cake or pouring the champagne or performances by hired musicians. The latter of course costs more and will usually be expected on wedding dinners, where the father of the bride is an important person.

Shark fin soup, although a controversial dish around the world, is considered a very rare and precious dish in Taiwan and is therefore served on many weddings.

2. WEDDING PREPARATIONS

The most stressful time is few months before the wedding, when you need to prepare tons of things, involve a lot of people and spend a lot of money. Below is the list of all the common things, that needs to be done in advance, if you want to have a smooth procedure on your big day:

Pre-wedding ceremonies and customs:There are a lot of various ceremonies prior to the banquet, some of religious nature, some just old traditions in honor of the parents or for good luck. In my case, I didn't need to any of them, so I can't share any experience in this regard. There are truly many of them and depend from one part of Taiwan to another and from family to family. I think unless they're not related to you paying money, it should be no problem for you to just follow what you're told. Some of these traditions are described here and here (in Chinese).

Betrothal money: Pinjin or 聘金 is actually comparable to the concept of the bridal price in old English traditions. This idea of paying your future wife's parents a substantial amount of money is shocking to many foreigners. Some would say "You want me to buy your daughter?". Luckily, it's a tradition, that is not obligatory and I myself didn't need to follow it. The custom says, that since the daughter will leave the family, she would not be able to take care of the parents when they are old, so they deserve a compensation. If you truly believe this and pay, then god bless you, you must be the perfect Taiwanese son in-law. But I would suggest you to ask your Taiwanese sweetheart about pinjin way before you even plan to propose to her. It can be a problem, if her parents insist on this, a big problem. Cost: Small pinjin may be 120.000 NTD, big one could reach the ridiculous number of 300.000 NTD! That's a range between 3000-7500 EUR/4000-10.000 USD!

Choose the date of your banquet: You would think that something like choosing a date is a simple thing in Taiwan. No way! Only certain dates can be chosen, the ones that are considered "good" or "lucky" in accordance with the Chinese lunar calendar and old superstitions. The result is, that in a year certain dates are overbooked with wedding banquets and it's hard to find a free restaurant, while others are not booked at all. Our wedding banquet took place on a very popular day and in our restaurant many weddings were held at the same time, which resulted in random strangers passing by. One mistakenly sat at one of our tables, only to realize, that she's at the wrong wedding. But not only choosing a date is important. You also need to make a decision, whether to hold a wedding lunch or wedding dinner. Lunch starts between 12.00-13.00, dinner is scheduled for between 18.00 and 19.00. The duration of a common wedding is between 2 and 3 hours. Cost: None.

Finding and booking a restaurant: Taiwan is full of these generic restaurants, where wedding banquets are held. You could marry in a hotel, which is more expensive. I think most would go for the first option. These restaurants have standardized procedures and will have staff, that will take care of some things during your big day such as serving food, playing music and helping the bride. However, you need to pick a restaurant, that has good service reputation and good food. Your in-laws may go to the restaurant and try the food and if they like it, you get green light and can continue with other things. If they don't like it, you have a problem. Best is to book a restaurant 6 months ago. Cost: 10.000 NTD/250 EUR/340 USD (only the booking fee).

Deciding the number of tables: A small Taiwanese wedding will have around 10 tables, a medium-sized around 20 and a big one 30 or more. Each table is set for 10 people. It's not good to have five or less people at one table, in that case you better group them with other half-empty tables in order to save space, food and money. The food will be served in a traditional Chinese way, where it will be shared on a round table and passed from person to person, so efficiency in this regard is necessary. Cost: from 7000-15000NTD per table + 10% service charge, 175-376 EUR/240-513 USD, but you pay this after your wedding dinner with the red packages given to you by guests. Booking fee is deducted. If you have 10 tables per 10.000 NTD each, you will pay 110.000 NTD (2760 EUR/3770 USD).

Round tables with a smaller central platfom are an integral part of a Taiwanese wedding. Food is passed from person to person by turning that part in circles.

Wedding pictures: This is one of the almost unavoidable things, if you want to marry a Taiwanese girl, as this is one of things she will be most likely nonnegotiable on. Taking wedding photos for the sake of memory is called 拍婚紗照 (pāi hūnshā zhào or lit. taking wedding dress pictures). These photos will be shared online (like Facebook or blog) and in a printed album, on small cards, a poster at the entrance of your wedding and finally in a clip, that will be running nonstop during your banquet. These photos are an integral part of modern Taiwanese culture (photographers are making very good money in Taiwan, that's for sure). A photo shoot will usually take all day, especially in summer is brutal, because it will commonly be shot outside. Couples would decide for three beautiful settings, of which are most common old historic houses from Qing dynasty, natural backgrounds such as a beach and a modern building, such as Taipei 101 and others. I can tell you that posing for tons of photos all day under the hot sun was one of the toughest things I've ever done in my life so far. But we men just need to make our wives happy, right? :-) On the wedding photo shoot day it's all about the bride, who desires to be a beautiful princes in a dreamy background and if the photos turn out really beautiful, she will proudly share them with all her female friends, who will give her tons of compliments. You would not wanna take that joy away from your wife just because the price could be ridiculously high, wouldn't you? Cost: Most common number is 30.000 NTD/750 EUR/1030 USD for a shoot, but if you have a friend as a photographer you can get them for below 20.000 NTD/500 EUR/685 USD, however I know some people, who payed 70.000/1750 EUR/2400 USD or more. Keep in mind, that you will usually only get 20 to 30 photos, in the latter case, that would make 80 USD per one single photo.

Taking wedding photos is considered one of the most romantic things in a Taiwanese woman's life. If you start to argue about the cost, you'll have trouble.

Wedding cookie: The wedding cookie is one of these things I could not understand since the beginning. You may need to buy over 100 wedding cookies and give every of your guest one box of them, after they give you the money in the angpao (or red envelope). You can also give two less expensive boxes of cookies, if you want, as long as the sum of both together reaches the expected norm. This things will of course cost you, at least 1000 EUR for 100 people. It's expected by an unwritten Taiwanese cultural norm, that a box wedding cookies should be between 400-500 NTD (10-12 EUR), but some even pay over 700 NTD per box (17 EUR/24 USD). Multiply that by for example 150 people and you will get the cost of 105.000 NTD/2630 EUR/3600 USD. That's of course ridiculously high for someone like me, who just doesn't understand this concept. Just remember: If someone gives you angpao, you need to give him the wedding cookie. Cost: Usually for a small wedding 100 cookies is the norm, the cost can vary from 40.000 NTD to over 70.000 NTD (from 1000 EUR/1370 USD on).

Wedding cookies can be traditional or modern, both is acceptable.

Invitation cards: The invitation cards are also one of the things you will need to pick together with your future wife. You will need to make a choice and ask a certain number of people you'd like to invite and add the number of the people your in-laws will force you to invite. Once you have the number of all the people that confirmed their attendance, you will need to print out the wedding invitation cards and give them in person or send by mail. The card will include a small message for your guests, together with the name of your and your wife-to-be's parents and the address of the restaurant, where your wedding will take place. Usually a small business card of the restaurant with a map, that leads to the restaurant, will be added. Cost: If you print 100 invitation cards, you will pay between 20-60 NTD for a card. If you pay 30, your cost will be 3000 NTD (75 EUR/100 USD).

There are thousands of wedding invitation designs to choose from.

Deciding who to invite: That will be a tough choice, believe me. First of all, approximately half of the tables will be filled with people your in-laws will invite. These will be various relatives and friends, who's weddings your parents have attended in the past and many of them had to came to return the angpao... with interest. Of course they're also there to honor the proud father, who's daughter is getting married. This event is one of the highlights of every Taiwanese elder and the more people see his happiness (even, if in reality he's still not sure, if he can trust you), the better. It is possible that the parents will collect the angpao money received from their guests and that may be the part of your wedding where you will feel it's not really your wedding. The other visitors will be related to your wife, such as old school mates and coworkers and other friends. Most of them will come, because they are really happy for your wife and won't feel that they were forced to come, because of the cultural norms. A few of them might, though. It's always a tricky thing who to invite, because the amount of money in the red envelope matters a lot for Taiwanese people. For example, if in the past you have attended your friend's wedding and given him 2400 NTD in the angpao, he needs to attend your wedding and give you at least 200 NTD more, that means 2600 NTD. That is all reasonable (in Taiwanese eyes), but you have a big problem, if someone attends your wedding and gives you 10.000 NTD (250 EUR/340 USD), which is considered a big angpao. Some elders will do that in order to impress your proud father-in-law. You will need to say thank you many times after the wedding, however you will need to pay this money back... with interest. Next time his son or daughter marry, you will need to give at least 10200 NTD to them. That of course is beyond my Western common sense, but I would say getting big angpao from one person is not really good. Taiwanese even keep a book of how much who payed, so that they remember to pay back with interest in the future. If they don't great shame will come over the family, people will gossip and face will be lost. That of course is a disaster for most Taiwanese elders and you would not want that to happen. Keep all that in mind, when you are pondering over who to invite.

Cost: A lot of nerves.

Wedding gowns and the tuxedo: It's a custom, that the tuxedo is bought by your Taiwanese mother-in-law (I blogged about it here), which is one of the few things you as the groom can enjoy. The cost of a good quality tuxedo together with a customized shirt would be around 10.000 NTD (250 EUR/340 USD). When it comes to the bride, things are more complicated. She will want to have at least 3 new dresses, a white one, then usually a colored one and a traditional Chinese qipao 旗袍. There are several shops that offer borrowing the gowns, which is cheaper than buying them. There's also the option, that you order from an online shop in China, it will be a good cheap alternative. In Taipei, there are several wedding streets, one near Zhongshan MRT, one in Xinyi and one near Miramar. Cost: Three wedding gowns together with accessories may cost you around 10.000 NTD (250 EUR/340 USD).

Wine and liquor: There are several wine shops in Taiwan, that import good wine from all over the world, but France, Italy, Chile and America seem to be very common. Almost most Taiwanese prefer red wine, so it's a kind of a norm (interestingly, in my country white wine is more common). Aside from the wine, you will also be suggested by your in-laws to buy few bottles of liquor, whiskey will be preferred. Taiwanese, unlike my countrymen, don't take alcohol too well. If they drink a glass (usually 1 dcl only), they might get tipsy, if two or three glasses, they might get drunk. Few shots of whiskey will speed up the process even faster. That's good, because you don't need to buy a lot of wine, 1-2 bottles per table should be enough. So if you have 10 tables, 12-15 red wine bottles should suffice and maybe 3-5 whiskeys. Cost: It can cost you between 3000-5000 NTD ( from 75 EUR/100 USD on).

The helpers: During your wedding you will need several people to manage various things for you. A friend or a close relative will need to welcome every guest at the entrance, where they will sign their names, give angpao and receive the wedding cookie in exchange. The make-up stylist will take care of your, your mother-in-law's and your wife's make-up, hair and help her with the changing of the clothes. A moderator will manage some of the event preparations, announce you and your wife prior to your entering into the main hall and moderate the event for you. For that each of them will get an angpao at the end of the wedding. And to my surprise, the auntie, who works for the restaurant and "helps" you with some small things during the wedding such as pressing the button of the lift will claim an angpao, too. Cost: A friend or sibling might get 1200-2400 NTD for managing your receivedangpaos, while a make-up stylist might cost you around 8000 NTD (200 EUR/275 USD) on average, a moderator from 6000-8000 NTD. And you will need to give around 2000 NTD to an auntie, who works for the restaurant.

Wedding photographer and camera operator: You will have no time to take photos or shoot videos, since you will be constantly following a protocol. Sadly, you will barely have time to eat and talk to your friends. So if you wanna remember all your embarrassing and all your wife's glorious moments, you will need to hire a guy, who will walk around and take photos of the "happy" guests and another one, who will make video clips and later put them together into a short movie. Cost: Photographer may cost you at least 8000 NTD, the movie will cost you at least 8000 NTD as well. That's a proud sum of 16.000 NTD or 400 EUR/550 USD.

3. THE BIG DAY: YOUR BIG FAT TAIWANESE WEDDING

The big day will be hectic. If you have chosen to have a wedding lunch, even more, because you have only few hours of preparation time. We came to the restaurant at 9.30 and my wife's make-up and hair still wasn't ready by 12.30! The basic procedure of a wedding day is standardized, but you still have to plan some arrangements, such as how many times do you want to enter the hall with the bride, when will you play the wedding clip, who will speak when, what games will be played etc. But most likely it will be like this: Few hours before the wedding starts, in our case lunch, you will just sit next to your wife in the small make-up room, where her hair and make-up will being done. As you well know, Taiwanese women need a lot of time to make themselves look pretty and before a wedding they're even more peculiar, so it really takes time. Taiwanese visitors are always late, so if you said that the wedding starts at 12, most of the hall will be filled by 12.45 and that's the best time to start the banquet and enter the event with your wife. An hour before her friends and relatives will keep on coming inside the make-up room to greet her and wish her gongxi 恭喜, which means congratulations. When the bride is finally done, she will wear the huge white dress and head with you towards the main hall. Someone will need to help her with the dress and you will need to walk very slowly with her. Next to the entrance point, you will need to wait for the announcer to say few words and the lights will be dimmed. After she's finished, you will finally enter together with her and people will look at you two with great interest, take photos, in the best case cheer and clap. After that you will be seated at the main table and the moderator will ask a person of honor to say few words about you and your wife. After that the first few courses will be served, it will be ganbei'd, gonxi'd and xiexie'd at the main table. But you won't have a lot of time to eat, as you and your wife will need to leave the table soon in order for her to change clothes and re-enter with you again. This will be repeated twice and after the last time the wedding will end very soon. In between, speeches can be held and games can be played, where you give away small gifts. Some of the obligatory things is the bride's giving away of the wedding bouquet to the unwed female friends and the wedding clip will be played for the whole audience, where you and your wife show excerpts of your lives and add snippets from your love story to the mix. The feast ends, when you tour around all the tables with your parents and ganbei with everybody. After that, the guests start to eat the dessert and you move to the exit, where you hold a basket of candies and wait for the guests to finish eating. Everyone will pass by and gongxi you in exchange for a small gift, candy and taking a photo with you. Once you finish this with all of the guests, your wedding officially ends.

Enjoy some photos of my friends' wedding, the wedding of Cherry and Jackie:

At the entrance photos of the couple will be shown and offered on cards.

Friends will help you to collect angpao.

First entering of the banquet is considered as one of the most important parts of the wedding. The bride will usually enter with a long white gown.

Taiwanese weddings usually start 30-45 minutes late, as Taiwanese are not really punctual. You begin, when 80% of the tables are full.

Most weddings start with raw fish, which are dipped in wasabi.

Sea food is considered special, because it's expensive. It means you treat your guests well.

A moderator will connect the dots on your special day.

Speeches will be held in the parents' and couple's honor.

You may pour the champagne together with your husband.

People will ask the couple to drink like this.

Some couples exchange sweet words with each other. In this case Jacky made Cherry smile and surely must have said something very sweet.

You will ganbei and ganbei until you can't anymore.

Every Taiwanese wedding ends with taking of the photos with the couple.

4. HOW MUCH DOES A TAIWANESE WEDDING COST?

To know, how much an average Taiwanese wedding costs click here>>

You will get information in New Taiwanese Dollars, Euros, US Dollars, Singaporean Dollars, Hong Kong Dollars and Malaysian Ringgit. This is just for your reference, if you wanna do it in Taiwan ;-)

5. AFTER THE WEDDING: COUNTING MONEY AND FEELING RELEASED

After your wedding ends, you will feel very released. The restaurant will clean the tables, all you need to do is take your things back home, such as the left over wedding cookies, the poster, the small name cards, gifts and various things from clothes, make up and other accessories. And then you'll need to pay the restaurant with the angpao you got, which will be like two thirds of the whole money. The rest is yours. But it might well happen, that you'll realize that you spend more than what you got. One of the things couples hope is that the money will cover the honeymoon. That's possible on weddings, where the couple is Taiwanese. But if you're a foreigner, who can't invite 100 people from his own circle of friends and relatives, the cost might well be over the received angpao money. Trust me, I'm speaking from my own experience. Nevertheless, you will be glad it's over. These are the things that might await you the following days: The parents will have tons of questions about the feedback of your guests: "Did everybody like the food?" or "Did they think everything was ok?" or "Were there any complaints?" will be the most common questions. If your answer is yes, they will be happy and you can move on with your life. If not, they will be anxious and in worst case, they might call the unsatisfied guests and try to explain themselves in order to save face. You will also be asked about the amount of angpao, that was paid by the individual guests. The in-laws will want to keep the book, that holds this information in order to repay with a bigger angpao at some of the future weddings. After all this is over, you can slowly move on to the hardest part: Your marriage. The Taiwanese wedding, although challenging and stressful, will be nothing compared to that. Being married to a Taiwanese wife surely has many rewards, but it can be very challenging as well, especially if you live in Taiwan, but that's stuff for the movies... or for another blog post.

Counting the angpao money will be your highlight of the day. But you may soon realize, that you spent much more than you got in return. However, blessings are priceless, right?

5. MY THOUGHTS, TIPS AND CONCLUSIONS AFTER THE WEDDING

It's for me very hard to give useful tips to other foreigners who might or will marry a Taiwanese girl. It all depends on what type of person you are (careful or careless, shy or outgoing...). It also depends how traditional your in-laws are and how involved they want to be. And don't forget to meet your wife's and guest's expectations, that can be very tough as well. In my case, I tried to comply and follow as best as I could, be it before or during the wedding. I felt like I'm in a movie, where the character is a bit lost. The first entering was very stressful for me, because I was very nervous and stiff and worried about many things. After the second time, I felt better, because I drank a little and eased up. When we entered for the third time, most people were focused on eating and drinking and I was happy to see that some tables were having a good time. But there were other tables, where everyone was quietly eating their rice with very serious faces. Fact is, you can't have a perfect wedding and you can't make everybody happy and joyful, some are there for the sake of face, some are there to tag along with a friend. You just have to focus on your and your wife's friends, those are the people, that might matter in your life in Taiwan. And of course your in-laws. I have to say that my wedding in Taiwan was so far one of the most challenging things I've ever experienced, but it was also very rewarding, especially the sight of my beautiful wife in all these dresses: She was probably the most beautiful since I've met her and she was truly the princess she deserved to be. I'm so happy for her and very released, that the feedback was mostly positive. Even the often very critical in-laws have not said a word. For you all this might be a lot to digest and you might feel intimidated, after reading my post. But hey, it can only get worse! Or better! How could I know? This was my story and now I'm a real man in Taiwan. If you want to be like me, get your act together and put on the best show of your life! For your wife, for your in-laws and for everybody else. Because that's what they want and that's what you gotta give in exchange for a life in Taiwan with your sweetest Taiwanese darling.

Can you really disappoint these beautiful puppy eyes?

Bonus! Vocabulary of common Chinese wedding blessings:

恭喜, 恭喜! Gōngxǐ, gōngxǐ! - Congratulations!
白頭偕老! Bái tóu xié lǎo! - Grow old together until you get white hair!
永浴愛河! Yǒng yù ài hé! - Bathe together in the river of love!
百年好合! Bǎi nián hǎo hé! - Good match for 100 years!
幸福美滿! Xìng fú měi mǎn! - Good fulfillment!

Another bonus! Some common Taiwanese wedding superstitions:

You can't marry, if you're 19, 29, 39: Problem is the number 9, which is seen as bad.
You can't get married during the ghost month 鬼月: You can't be happy that month.
Pregnant women should not attend weddings: Her happiness might clash with yours.
You can't eat your own wedding cookie: You will eat your own happiness. (Duh!)
After you are married, you can't attend other people's weddings for 3 months: Bad luck.

Related Taiwanese wedding posts:

Lily murmurs in English: Attending my friend's wedding dinner
Hipper: 銷空耶家庭的第一場婚禮～1.前傳 and 銷空耶家庭的第一場婚禮～2.正傳

[My LIFE IN TAIWAN page][UNIQUELY TAIWANESE][My TAIWAN overview]

[First photo 林志玲 of with courtesy of Longines, other photos by MKL, 2011 ]

About streets in Taiwan

2011-09-08T01:41:00.000+08:00

Because they are more than just streets

This is a photo of a street I took in New Taipei, where it still looks like old Taipei.

A street in Taiwan is like a small town, a village or its own planet, figuratively. The central part is reserved for wheeled vehicles such as automobiles, scooters, buses and lorries. The pedestrian species, as intelligent as it is, knows that it is in great danger, so it rather keeps moving along the street's brims. It seems that most Taiwanese streets in bigger cities don't like green plants, however some human inhabitants would put them in rusty pots, where they vegetate amid the exhaust and noise and other dangers from the hostile environment. A sidewalk on a Taiwanese street can be a parking space, a business area, a living room, a promenade or even a kitchen. Almost every Taiwanese street, if it's longer than 100 meters, will have at least a betel nut shop, a hair saloon, a tea shop, a convenience store, a scooter repair shop and a clinic. Convenience comes from the Chinese word 公忞你恩姿 (pronounced "kongwennientse") and means convenience. Taiwanese like to have things easily accessible, thus if something is within 100 meters - they will walk. If 101 meters or more, they will probably ride the scooter. It's convenient, they will note. I agree, it is. But...

A market close to one's home is a convenient place to acquire food.

Markets, be it daily or nightly, are usually placed on a designated street, rather than on a reserved covered area. This phenomenon is what experts would call "remains of old China", that can still be found in Taiwan. The streets in Taiwan are micro-cosmoses, where you can observe the Taiwanese soul in its most honest version. It's the street, where couples meet for the first time: She hops on the scooter, he drives off and few blocks later they stop at a stinky tofu vendor and have a perfect dinner date. It's the streets, where obasans, Taiwan's famous old ladies, carry bags full of bamboo cones and other vegetables, slowly promenading back to their kitchens. It's the streets, where ojisans, Taiwan's stereotypical old gentlemen, like to sit down and chat about their daily challenges while chewing betel nuts.

And it's the street, where a sleepy foreigner marches to the subway every morning, trying to get to his office and do his job as best as he can on yet another day like any other. That foreigner happens to be me.

[My UNIQUELY TAIWAN page][Both photos by MKL, 2011]

Hualien at Dawn

2011-09-04T10:20:00.000+08:00

Beautiful photos of a beautiful city

After we toured Taitung's Northern Coast and rode the train through the beautiful Huatung valley, we arrived in Hualien City at 4pm, which means we had the pleasure to experience the city's beautiful ambiance at dawn. Hualien is a truly amazing city. While the mountains at its back are covered with grim dark grey clouds, the ocean at its front is enjoying a beautiful symphony of the blue sky and white clouds. This was the time when we went out to find our hostel and later rushed off to see the Pacific and visit one of the most famous night markets in the region.

Let me share our photos with you:

Hualien Railway station at 4 in the afternoon.

The part near the station is a big public square with a park inside.

Right near the station is the information center for tourists. Get maps and info there.

The Green Hotel is one of the finest buildings in Hualien.

Right from the hotel are many scooter rental shops. We got one for 400NTD per day.

On the scooter off we go! This is Hualien's central part.

The colors were fascinating.

We had to go to the northern part of the city, that lays on top of a hill.

Our home stay was located next to an old house from the Qing Dynasty.

This was our luxurious bed. The room was small, but very cozy. And we had a little balcony as well. If you need info on the home stay, contact me and I will share with you.

It's a pity, that we had to rush out and see so many placed. If I'd stayed on that small balcony with a glass of wine and smell the Pacific ocean breeze, it could've been an equally awesome experience. But life in Taiwan is fast-paced and we had no choice but to go out there and explore this Eastern gem. It was definitely worth it.

Hualien's coastal avenue.

Bridge over the Meilun River.

The Meilun River at dawn.

A new wooden bridge for bikers and pedestrians is a pleasant way to cross the river.

We walked through a nice public part all the way to the Pacific ocean.

This is part of the Hualien port. That lighthouse is one of the city's landmarks.

View to the south.

The ocean was so wide, the views were breathtaking.

I took some of the best photos of my East Taiwan trip! It's really a must see spot, especially if you're here at dawn. The sunset or the sunrise must be beautiful, too, but what we saw was one of the most beautiful grey colors nature could display.

See more photos of Hualien's gorgeous Pacific on my photo blog>>

We saw this cute graffiti on the way back (Ps: I will, too).

We jumped on the scooter and rode back into Hualien's center.

We stopped at the Jianxiang Cihuei Temple 吉安鄉慈惠堂.

A huge temple complex, which we saw briefly. We didn't have time, because...

We rushed off to one of the most famous night markets in Taiwan and really had fun.

More about that in my next post. And not only that. I will show you beautiful photos of a sunny Hualien City, introduce the best food and also show you how to go and what to see at the famous Taroko Gorge. Stay tuned.

[My TAITUNG TOUR MAP][My TAIWAN TRAVEL page][All photos by MKL, 2011]

I love the new Blogger design

2011-09-03T15:15:00.001+08:00

But not everything is perfect

I was always a Blogger fan and even when so many bloggers left to other platforms such as Wordpress, I stuck around. There were bugs, fallouts and things that weren't working right - but I stuck around. I still loved Blogger, even though I cursed it a lot - I felt like I was part of a family, which was a little dysfunctional, but I loved it anyway (with the hope that it will get better). And then it gradually started to improve and this year, Blogger is completely up to date. We just got a new fresh design, that looks like it took a leap from 1999 to 2010. Bravo Blogger! Although I'm still somewhat attached to the old layout, I know that I need to switch to the new one as fast as I can, because this will be the future. What I like about it is the user friendly interface, everything seems clean and logical. Thumbs up for this. However, there are things that bother me: The Editor. When you write a post and if you switch between "Compose" and "HTML" (something I do a lot) - you get these annoying line breaks! Why? I just don't get it. That was not the case in the old editor. I haven't gone deep enough in the settings and usability, so I can't say more. But I love the overview of the posts and I love the stats! Every post shows how many hits it has. Now I can use a label "TwNightMarkets" and very conveniently see, which Night Market Post is most popular. And I've also realized, that my 3 blogs, who are all interconnected and named My Kafkaesque life (see screencap), have surpassed the threshold of 1 million page views. That really makes me happy and proud, that in the past 3 years my blog(s) grew so much. Thank you everyone, who made this experience such pleasure. I also have to thank all the trolls, who attacked me: It was a valuable learning process for me and I think I smartened up in the past few months. I know now very well at what kind of posts I excel and from which topics I rather stay away, even if it would be better for my blog's SEO, if I wrote them. I hope I can continue to grow and keep you as a reader and also gain new ones. Thank you, Blogger, for giving me this great platform to share my life, my travels and my thoughts. I think I will stick around a little bit longer.

How do you like Blogger's fresh new design?

Taitung City 台東市, Taiwan

2011-09-01T01:54:00.003+08:00

Introducing Taiwan's southeastern gem

Taitung City 台東市, the capital of Taitung County, is one of Taiwan's smallest regional centers. It's located in the south east of the country on a flatland, which is stuck between the Pacific and a mountain range. This gives it a very unique climate and atmosphere - it's an ocean city and at the same time a mountain city, however it mostly tries to stay away from both of them. If you see the map below, it's located few meters away from the coast and it doesn't have a port. That's something that makes Taitung City unique. It's still a mystery to me, that the part, which could have one of the most beautiful seaside promenades in Taiwan, is actually the most unapproachable part of the city, completely out of the mainstream.

Taitung City has one of the loveliest airports in Taiwan.

The central part of Taitung lays between the Pacific ocean and a small hill named Liyu Shan, which is incorporated in the urban area. That hill is one of Taitung's landmarks, it's also one of the must visit spots in the city, as you can see a beautiful temple, the famous Longfeng tower, the Martyrs' Shrine and a marvelous view of the city and the basin from the top of the hill. You definitely can't miss this popular spot, because it's visible from many parts of the city.

Taitung's Railway Station features aboriginal art.

Taitung City is Taiwan's city with the biggest percentage of aboriginal Taiwanese population. It's said that out of 110.000 inhabitants, 19.000 are of Austronesian descent (source). And that was very obvious, when we visited the city, we saw it with our own eyes. It's quite an interesting phenomenon, as it gives you the idea of a Taiwan that is long gone. There are many interesting spots found inside the urban area, however there are many beautiful areas right next to the city, such as the Taitung Forest Park. In this post I will focus on the city proper.

Let me show you some photos and impressions of Taitung City:

The northern new part of the city is a mix of rice fields and fancy houses.

This is when you ride into the city, one of the main roads.

Roads are wider in Taitung City than Taipei.

This is the central area - it's full of shops and restaurants.

This was on a Saturday morning - Taitungees were still sleeping.

We decided to go to Liyu Shan. This paifang greeted us.

A huge temple is dominating the area. Old men were sitting nearby and chatting, while older women were singing karaoke in the open. It's a very interesting part of the city.

The famous Longfeng tower. Instead of walking on top of it, we decided to go on the hill.

And this is the view from Liyu Shan, Taitung's urban hill.

Taitung is a fairly green city with lots of trees, especially in the new neighborhoods.

A baseball stadium.

This is the way down from the Liyu Shan.

Taitung has many beautiful temples. This one is called Haishan Temple.

It's a Buddhist temple, which is obvious, because of the swastika.

The Tianhou Temple is a big temple complex dedicated to Matsu.

This is definitely a beautiful and well-maintained temple.

Taitung City becomes even more interesting in the evening.

The Taitung Night Market is an interesting little food street.

However, most Taitungees would go and eat at some other places.

One of the most popular shops in Taitung City.

The shops are located in the Zhengqi Road, which is the same as the night market. You will see a huge line of people waiting to enter. There are 2 shops, one selling noodles, the other one stinky tofu. They have different names, but the same owner. We tried the food and for me it was just normal (I can't relate to the hype). I will write more about it in my upcoming Taitung Night Market post.

Use + and - to navigate through the map.

All in all, I have to say I will return to Taitung City and I would recommend it to everyone, who plans to tour Taiwan - you have to pay a visit to this gem. It might just look like your average boring Taiwanese city upon the first glance, but when you look closer, you will realize that it's very different. People are incredibly friendly and welcoming and the lifestyle is very laid back. Coming here from Taipei or any big city for that matter is like coming to another world. Sadly I had to return very quickly and all I can do now is browse through my memories of those awesome days. However, I am sure that when I get the chance to revisit this place, I will be rushing to Songshan Airport like there is no tomorrow.

Further resource:

Taitung City in the morning (my first impressions)
Taitung Style (blog by an American, who is living there)
Map of central Taitung City (provided by the gov)

[My TAITUNG TOUR MAP][My TAIWAN TRAVEL page][All photos by MKL, 2011]

Sanxiantai, Taiwan's dragon bridge

2011-08-28T17:44:00.003+08:00

The Terrace of the immortals

Sanxiantai 三仙台 (also spelled Sansiantai) is a small island few meters off the coast in the vicinity of Chenggong town in Taitung County. The name means "Platform of the three immortals" and refers to the 3 big rocks, that give this island its unique shape. After over 60km on the back of a scooter, I was released, that we have reached our final destination of our Taitung tour. It was after 3pm, when we decided to take a stroll around this famous landmark of Eastern Taiwan.

Sanxiantai from the distance. The three rocks are clearly visible.

You will need to pay 15NTD, if you enter with a scooter. There's a big parking space available, one part is reserved for scooters. Sanxiantai is about 15min away from Chenggong, if you drive 60km/h. It's definitely a place you need to see, if you're in this part of Taiwan. It's better, if my photos speak on my behalf:

My wife checking herself in the mirror, before we moved on.

The parking space for scooters and disabled.

Approaching Sanxiantai.

Almost there.

View on the left - direction of northern Taitung County.

View on the right - magical Sanxiantai and the 8 arched bridge.

The bridge is supposed to resemble a dragon. It was built in 1987 (source).

Another view on the bridge.

A closer look.

And then we decided to cross it.

I have to say, if you're not fit like me, it's quite exhausting to cross. Also due to humidity.

A view on the Pacific - beautiful.

I love this photo!

The view on the island. The rocks are really huge.

Walking on a wooden walkway is pleasant. My wife was enjoying it.

However, we decided to return.

We didn't go too far inside the island, because it was nearly 4 pm and we had a long scooter drive back to Taitung City (around 60km) and we didn't want to come back too late. There is so much to walk around on this island, you can follow the designated routes and have fun. Our Taitung tour however ends here, but this was only the first day of our trip to Eastern Taiwan. In my upcoming posts you will be able to read a post about Taitung Night Market, a thorough introduction of Taitung City, the train ride to Hualien, an introduction of Hualien City with the night markets and at last our adventure in the Taroko gorge! Not sure, how long I will need to write about these topics, but I have share my photos and observations with you, because those places were really awesome. Please stay tuned and enjoy touring Eastern Taiwan with me.

This video was made by someone, who was lucky to see Sanxiantai in the early morning.

View Larger Map - This is a map of our Taitung tour 2011. The tour ends here.

Our tour along Taitung's northern coast is over, click on the link below or see the big map of the whole tour or continue to read about food in Taitung Night Market (coming up).

Chenggong :Before [Taitung Tour 2011] Next: Back to the start>>

[My TAITUNG TOUR MAP][My TAIWAN TRAVEL page][All photos by MKL, 2011]

Xiaoyeliu, the little Yeliu

2011-08-27T16:14:00.005+08:00

Eastern Taiwan's curious rock formations

Xiaoyeliu 小野柳 (sometimes spelled as Shiauyeliou, Siaoyeliou or Little Yehliou) is named after Yeliu, one of Taiwan's natural wonders located on the northern coast. Xiaoyeliu is similar, but smaller and also less occupied by tourists. It didn't impress me as much as its big brother, but nevertheless, it's definitely one of the highlights of Taitung county. If you happen to be near Taitung City, you should pay Xiaoyeliu a visit. It's found very close to the Fugang village.

Here are some of my photos of Little Yehliou:

You don't pay an entrance fee, but when you leave, they will charge you 15 NTD for parking the scooter. The park nearby is clean with shops, where you can buy food and drinks.

Click to enlarge the map to see Xiaoyeliou's famous spots.

A path lead us down to the coast, where the curious rock formations are found.

And this is the most famous part of Xiaoyeliu.

The rocks are like missiles directed to the sky. Amazing!

Interesting formations are seen everywhere.

Another view.

The Green Island is seen on the left.

Huge rocks scattered all over.

The other side.

We didn't stay too long here, because we had so many things to see that day. But the area is small, maybe half an hour is enough to spend here by taking few photos and walking around the rocks. You have to be careful, though, it's a little dangerous to walk around some parts, as there are many sharp edges and deep gorges. I wouldn't drag my kids too far inside, however many tourists do. Be smart and you can still have fun. Read more about Xiaoyeliu here.

My cute driver walking back to the scooter.

I've spotted this formation on the way out: It looks like Taiwan :-)

View Larger Map

To continue our tour along Taitung's northern coast, click on the link below or see the map.

Fugang harbor :Before [Taitung Tour 2011] Next: Jialulan>>

[My TAITUNG TOUR MAP][My TAIWAN TRAVEL page][All photos by MKL, 2011]