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It’s not often that we see contrasts in Taipei, but in the walk on Saturday, we came across this sharp contrast: traditional setting in the front, modernity rearing its head behind!

In the foreground, there’s a large pond filled with bullfrogs. In the middleground, a family house that’s been there for years – who knows? There are other even older settlements now abandoned in the area, including redbrick farm houses in the traditional Taiwanese style. In the background, three towers from the Shang-Hai Community that was just completed, which is selling for approx. NT$300K per ping. If I remember rightly, this is probably what the farmhouse would have cost when it was first built in the ’70s.

Tamsui was, in the words of one friend, just rice fields, trees and farmers when Tim first visited our area in the early ’80s. Since then it’s been transformed at least twice, with electronics factories; and now, residential units. I’m in the search for early photographs of HongShulin and Zhuwei from that period. There’s not much online yet.

Fancy a little bite to eat… Lusting for some good German food… Then head out into the countryside of the North East Coast, to a little place called Smoky Inn.

It was a little tricky to find (I’ve borrowed the map to highlight its location). You can see the mark there. We nearly missed the turning, as it is easier to find from the SanChih direction.

But we found it. I’ve linked to the Google Map of the area for you.

We went in the latter part of the day, just before dusk… Tim, Cindy and myself. Since we drove, our only beverage was non-alcoholic beer, but it was tasty and COLD!

Their website boasts: “ENJOY THE REAL BAVARIAN MEALS. OUR SPECIAL ARE SMOKED PIG KNUCKLE, SAUSAGES AND OTHER TRADITIONALS. ENJOY TASTY BAVARIAN CHEESE AND NUREMBERG SAUSAGES, HOME MADE MUNICH SAUSAGE SALAD, ROAST PORK, POTATO BALL AND BREADS.” (their caps, not mine!).

And this is what came: Large sausages of all kinds, Sauerkraut, Bavarian potatoes, horseradish, and pickles, … We enjoyed the food, had some leftovers, and paid a reasonable NT$1600 for the three of us. Four would have cost about NT$450. The neat thing was taxes and service charges were INCLUDED. I haven’t any idea why more restaurants don’t do that. If you decide to go on a weekend, call ahead and reserve a table. Don’t be put off by the automated answering service. They’re too busy to answer phonecalls most of the time.

Needless to say, the local wildlife were attracted by the bugs buzzing round our lights, and they had their own bug meal. I do have a video of this, too. If you can’t see clearly, it’s a gecko! A very active one, judging by the speed with which it devoured its prey. Then we drove to a nice coffee shop near JingShan called Young Door.

It’s a well-known coffee shop on the North East Coast highway, and probably serves the best coffee in and around JingShan. Of course, we’ve paid more than their but had much worse coffee! I can guarantee their coffee is always good! You can read the review in Chinese. Prices are reasonable, and coffee is great! What more can I add?

Taiwan has always been in an awkward position in its relationship with China. At different times, Taiwan has been the aggressor, the victim, had the upperhand, been at the bottom of the pile… While the actual position of its relationship hasn’t been that important to Taiwan’s political and economic position, in recent years Taiwan’s relationship has vacillated between ice cold and tepidly warm.

This vacillation in its diplomatic relationships with China, Japan, the US or Europe, hasn’t been conducive to good business, developing the economy here, or increasing the security of Asia Pacific. In fact, since the 1992 warming with Beijing, relationships have hit several low points with the mainland with the missile threats, the missile crisis in 1996, the cold-shouldering of Taiwan under Chen Shui Bien from 2000 ~ 2008.

Whatever one’s position on the final state for Taiwan’s future, whether it is independence, status quo or reunification, no one can deny rationally that the uncertainty is a factor that limits business opportunities, creates additional risk, and uncertainty.

With the new presidency here in Taiwan, and the assumption of office by Ma Ying-Jeou one can only hope that we are about to enter a period of increasing stability with the PRC. Seeing the news story on the BBC website with the headline “China talks to resume”, filled me with some hope perhaps the first in nearly 10 years that Taiwan could at least begin to emerge from the shadow of its big neighbor.

I don’t expect much to evolve from the talks in the short term, there are just too many practical issues that need to be worked out first: trade, travel, communications, visas, currency exchanges, ownership rules, … But if Taiwan is to ensure its own security for the future, attempts at cutting itself off from the PRC for whatever dumb ideological reason will only serve to increase its insecurity.

However, by tying the PRC increasingly into the well-being and fate of Taiwan – both politically and economically – seems to be the only real way to create a scenario in which the PRC cannot afford to cut off what has become a part of its own society, anymore than Germany (despite antagonisms that are historical) could cut itself off from France, or the UK from Europe, …

This is something that the PRC would be hard pressed to admit, but increasing its own involvement indirectly or directly with Taiwan would make it significantly harder for the PRC to launch any kind of strike against Taiwan. Their generals may whine, complain and moan, but the generals don’t provide jobs and social stability any more. It’s the factories, the companies, the money, … that all comes from the wider economy, both domestic and foreign.

Here’s hoping that President Ma Ying Jeou makes progress in talks, helps to open up Taiwan to China more, strengthens Taiwan’s future both locally, nationally, and internationally.

I’ve lived in Zhuwei for nearly 8 years now, and I realized how few pictures I’ve taken of the streets around our area… Fortunately, for those who don’t live here, you can find lots of pictures of the area on Flickr.

Just Flickr to this location and take a look at the snaps.

Zhuwei literally means ‘bamboo garden’ but I haven’t really seen many bamboo gardens in this area!

If you’re intending to visit Tamshui, check out both Wikipedia and Wikitravel entries for either. There aren’t any decent hotels in the area, so I’d suggest staying DOWNTOWN unless you like semi-decent accommodation! If you read Chinese in traditional characters, then there’s a fairly decent website introducing Tamsui.

Be warned if you come to Zhuwei, there are actually two Zhuwei’s – one in Taipei Hsien (ours) and one in Taoyuen nearer the airport. There’s not much to see in Zhuwei, but the views across the river towards Tamsui and Taipei are incredible on a good day.

So, enjoy.

May 2008 has been a remarkably cool month or so with only a little rain in the north of the Island. It produces wonderful weather occasionally, and yesterday was one of those days! We traveled to Jiou-Fen and The Gold Mining Area nearby. It was remarkably quite and pleasant even when we drove up the mountain roads.

David from Taiwan Guide visited the museum on several trips, taking these pictures and these. He was my inspiration to go, so we left. Unfortunately, we were delayed quite a lot by laziness. Then we

Taken in Keelung on the No. 2 Coastal highway, some kms south of Central Keelung. Of course, we hadn’t intended to be here at all, as we ended up taking the wrong route. To get to the area of the south of Keelung, we took the No. 1 Superhighway, and exited in Keelung City. We then followed the No. 2 all the way to the Jiou-fen exit. We had planned to take the No. 62 Expressway, but hadn’t realized that to get on that, you have to take the No. 3 Superhighway! So irony of ironies, to avoid going into the City Center, you HAVE to drive into the City Center on the No. 3, but you can avoid it. By avoiding the City Center on No. 1, you actually end up going through the City. But then we discoved this nice area on the coast, with impressive rock cliffs, low density of population and right by the sea.

Once you find a place to park you can enter the museum property and walk along this charming roadway which I’m told was used in a movie or tv show that I have never seen: City of Sadness.

This is the little Gold Nugget Store with real nuggets in the window. Of course, they’re not worth a lot! Each nugget has a little speckle of gold in it! Great souvenirs~!

By then, the Museum was closed so we headed out… Next time we’ll leave earlier, make a more detailed stopover and take a bunch more pictures!

Betel nuts are commonly eaten in South East Asia, and in Taiwan there’s quite a sub-culture of this… If you travel around the country, you’ll see Betel Nut stores all over the island. The locals often refer to the nut as “Green Gold” because of the money it generates.

Our local town in Tamshui near Zhuwei MRT station has quite a few stores. The betel nut stores also serve cigarettes, cold drinks (including canned coffee!) and betel nuts to drivers, truckers, taxi drivers, and other groups of people (usually male) on the move.

Take a look at this excellent video. In Chinese, the term for the sales girls is “Betel Nut Princesses”! You’ll see how they dress!

I’ve never tried them, but I did have one South African friend who was determined to try them before he went home. Anyone know if these ‘nuts’ are legal in the USA or Europe?

Somehow this weekend we ended up getting a lot of fresh air. On Saturday, we walked around the fringes of Zhuwei up mountain roads, along past farms, through a University campus, stopped for a nice meal, and took a subway train home! It’s kind of our monthly ritual these days…

Of course, our saunter in the woods was somewhat less demanding than this gentleman’s effors in the urban woods…

Anyway, let’s go… Those strolls … wow! They really tire you out!

Let me take a rest now!

You can guess the story on the front cover!

A view of Taipei looking up the river early evening.

Then on Sunday, we visited the North East Coastal Tourist Areas…

This is very near a village called LaoMei in Sanchih/Jingshan area.

As usual, Christine is setting the pace.

I think she’s saying hurry up!

And that’s it for Sunday!

These pictures were taken over a number of walks, and composited together as I stupidly forgot to take my camera! Though composited, they capture nicely the essence of our walks over the weekend!

This is a picture post from a Sunday afternoon trip to Tamsui and Sanchih!

And that’s it for Sunday’s Picture Post. Albeit one day late!

Even in 2008, this building is still the tallest inhabited structure as I write this. And it’s phenomenal. This weekend would have been a great time to go up to the top as the haze factor is limited today allowing great photography, esp. if it involves skylines and mountains.

Thanks to my Lumix camera, I found that the wide angle lens allowed me to capture the full height from where I was standing (just under the footbridge between the Grand Hyatt and the 101 Shopping Center).

The election is now over for Taiwan for the presidential election. The outgoing president, Chen Shui-Bien is now running around the island opening monuments, giving out awards, and preparing for the transition. The inauguration is scheduled in May so there is still quite some time between now and then. But it seems that the incoming president, Ma Ying-Jeou is now moving fast to capitalize on some of the more important election promises: including direct flights, tourism, three links, and stabilizing the cross-straits situation. All more than necessary to preserve and advance Taiwan.

However, outside pundits really do have axes to grind when it comes to Taiwan, Tibet, and China. Most pundits reckoned that Tibet would weigh heavily on the minds of local people here. Nothing could be farther from the truth: it barely registered on most voters’ minds and if it did, it was way behind other concerns. I have come to realize that western writers writing from far away (even as faraway as Beijing) really don’t have much of a clue about the complexity of the relationship between Taiwan and China. After the end of the civil war in China, and the flight of the KMT to Taiwan, the relationship that evolved had a number of unexpected consequences:

Families are divided: Most see it in either economic or military terms; few fail to grasp that the generation of division has meant divided families, mothers from sons, brothers from brothers, separated husbands and wives, and much more. Even now, families are divided by those seeking opportunities in China who can’t come back to visit their family here. Husbands often work in Shanghai while their family is in Taipei.

History is complex: The role of the Kuomintang Party (KMT) has been very ambivalent, while most writers and DPP pundits create the role as something akin to the Nazi regime; this is highly colored by their experiences. In fact, the KMT, and the Japanese as well, were responsible for the rapid development of Taiwan’s economy; propelling it from a country akin to something in Africa just before the 2nd world war to NIC status. But the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been responsible for guiding Taiwan out of the shadow of the KMT-as-Ruler to a new more democratic process.

Relationships: The West is often happy to shout about human rights and how important they are (and, indeed, they are!) but in China and in Taiwan, other things are also valued: human relationships are important, and a great value is put on goals of harmony within families, within companies, within society at large. The development of democracy has tested those who support it as it often appears to create conflict within families, within groups of people, and within society at large.

Stereotypical News Reporting: News reporting from China is always prejudiced through our own Western lens, how else are we to make sense of things there. But there are times when we should suspend our assumptions for a little while and examine what is REALLY happening. If events in Tibet were looked at first, properly what would we see: illegal riots, active repression or insurgency? It this happened in your country, what would you think?

So, when you read the next news column, take a moment and think about what is happening, what is not happening, what is being reported, and who is doing the reporting. Though I don’t agree with Michael Turton exactly, I feel that his comments in the news post above and on his blog are always well considered and well argued. I was going to link to the post which he discussed but I couldn’t find the actual page link (damn blogger! Out damned Blo