In some ways, Taiwan news and politics is so much more interesting and colorful than what might be found in the US (and this isn't even a reference to some of the infamous brawls that the Taiwanese legislature is known for). For example, one of the most important recent news involves a visit by China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), who was invited by his counterpart, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤). ARATS and SEF are the primary two groups designated to negotiate cross-strait relations while the official stance of unrecognition is upheld. Indeed, this is a landmark event in cross strait relations, as it will be the first time China's top negotiator will visit the island. Chairman Chen is scheduled to arrive at Taipei's Yuanshan Grand Hotel today (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/11/03/2003427630).
Given the official stance of the China and Taiwan with respect to each other, one question the news broadcast brought up is how will the leaders call each other when they meet. Obviously titles are an issue since they imply recognition of some sort. One news reporter joked they should call each other by English titles since it doesn't mean anything official in Chinese.
Needless to say, Taiwan's Pan-Green Coalition, who lean towards the goal of getting official recognition of an independent Taiwan, isn't very happy about the developments and have been protesting in various ways. As a result, Kuomingtang, the party that supports this meeting, have tried their best to ensure the meeting does not get derailed by Pan-Green protests, and have bought road rights up to Yuanshan Grand Hotel, to prevent protests along that route. However, they seemed to have forgotten to buy road rights for the road down from Yuanshan Grand Hotel (Yuanshan Grand Hotel sits on a hill, and apparently going up and down are different roads). As a result, Pan-Green supporters have lined themselves up along the way, and the coalition even claims to give a monetary award to anyone who is able to hit Chairman Chen in the face with an egg...
Civil disobedience is so much more interesting than just using brute force to get what you want, as people constantly have to figure out ways to play the system to get their message heard, to get meetings to happen, or to stand on higher moral ground.
Showing posts with label Taiwan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taiwan. Show all posts
Monday, November 3, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Friendly People
Even though I'm perhaps biased by my own heritage, I have to say that the Taiwanese in general are some of the nicest people around. Take yesterday for example:
I spent half a day visiting my friends at Nan Shan Life Insurance (南山人壽). They not only invited me out to lunch, but with their usual warmth, had me stay for Friday afternoon tea. After that, they bid me to stay for their meeting followed by their monthly birthday celebration (mine is in November as well). Some pictures:
First, an instructive cake-cutting tutorial:
I spent half a day visiting my friends at Nan Shan Life Insurance (南山人壽). They not only invited me out to lunch, but with their usual warmth, had me stay for Friday afternoon tea. After that, they bid me to stay for their meeting followed by their monthly birthday celebration (mine is in November as well). Some pictures:
First, an instructive cake-cutting tutorial:
Trainees manage to cut the cake with great success:
Group picture of my hungry friends and I:
It's not common that one gets to befriend a whole department at a particular company, but somehow I had that privilege today, getting to observe a random meeting and sharing in their activities. I must say that too rarely have I seen such a happy, harmonious group of people working together in the corporate world. The meeting was genuinely fun and interactive; in some ways it seemed like a big family get together than actual work.
Afterwards, I visited my uncle, a dentist in Taipei. I decided to stay for a bit and chatted with some of my other relatives while my uncle worked on patients. What struck me was once again the friendly neighborhood atmosphere. Neighbors would drop in to say hello, and friends of the family hung out at the office. My aunt went to buy some of Taipei's famous peppered meat buns (胡椒餅), and when patients were done, my uncle would offer them each meat buns to go. When was the last time you were offered food at the dentist's office?
My aunt then took me out to dinner, and along the way, we saw a couple lost Canadians looking at a map. I had glanced in their direction and walked on, but my aunt stopped and noted that they looked lost. Even though she did not know much English, she approached them anyways, and we ended up walking them to the restaurant they were looking for. They thanked us, and mentioned that Taiwan is one of the friendliest places they've ever been to.
So to my friends and family in Taiwan, I just want to thank you all on behalf of all visitors to the island. It's really a great place with wonderful people, and it's a shame it doesn't get as many tourists as some of the other places in Asia. However, for anyone who wants to visit a beautiful island with great food, convenient transportation, and hospitable people, all at relatively inexpensive costs, Taiwan, as always, is highly recommended.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Visiting Jiufeng
My father and I visited Jiufeng (九份) yesterday, on the advice of a friend from Taichung. Jiufeng is actually close to Taipei, though I had never visited previously. The town is up in the mountains, near the northern coast of Taiwan, and is known for its spectacular views. Here is a map of the place:
Here is a picture of me in the city, at a spot that apparently is famous for being in the filming location of some movie:
Jiufeng also has some stores with souvenirs and snack shops, as most tourist locations. One of them made this very good mochi-like dessert with ice cream in the middle. After touring the shops, we climbed up Keelung Mountain (基隆山), which has 4 pagoda rest stops. The entrance:
A view of the climb upwards:
We got up to the summit in about 25 minutes - it was a relatively short climb, though I can't say it was easy. Unfortunately, the view was rather cloudy today:
A shot of the northern coast - Keelung Port and Jinshan (金山) are in the distance:
Here is a picture of me in the city, at a spot that apparently is famous for being in the filming location of some movie:
Jiufeng also has some stores with souvenirs and snack shops, as most tourist locations. One of them made this very good mochi-like dessert with ice cream in the middle. After touring the shops, we climbed up Keelung Mountain (基隆山), which has 4 pagoda rest stops. The entrance:
A view of the climb upwards:
We got up to the summit in about 25 minutes - it was a relatively short climb, though I can't say it was easy. Unfortunately, the view was rather cloudy today:
A shot of the northern coast - Keelung Port and Jinshan (金山) are in the distance:
Afterwards, we drove back along a scenic route and visited the hot springs in Jinshan.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Dysentery and a Broken Axle
After another half day in Jinmen, I'm back in Taipei, and somehow I've come down with stomach problems here despite somehow avoiding it for the most part while in China. Don't think I actually have dysentery - the title is merely an allusion to common problems that may occur on a well-known journey.
Anyhow, I'll be resting in Taipei for a bit before heading down South to Chiayi to see relatives a few days. Ah, Taiwan... so comfortable and convenient. No one haggling you for money, trying to swindle or cheat you, so many places are open 24 hours, so many tasty snacks to try (once I feel better).
I dropped by the hospital today to see the doctor as a precautionary measure. Even without health insurance and Taiwanese ID, Taiwan's medical care was so much cheaper and more efficient than the US. Some key differences:
1) Instead of making an appointment with your doctor and arriving there, waiting for half an hour or an hour before he is actually available, in Taiwan you simply get a number ahead of time, either by showing up in person or calling ahead. The number is your position in line, and you can estimate about when you might be called. Even if you arrive after your number is called, you can get yourself slotted next after the next couple of patients. In our case, there were 16 patients slotted for the morning, and I was #13. We arrived right on time - there was no wait at all.
2) Doctors in Taiwan are each in their own office and patients go to visit their doctor in the same office, one after another, whereas of course in the US, patients with appointments around the same time are each placed in isolated rooms, often waiting for at least 10-20 minutes before the doctor is able to make his way over. As a result, there is much more transparency in Taiwan in terms of knowing where you are, where the doctor is, and when is it you should expect to see him. In the US, sometimes you wonder if the doctor has forgotten about you and left you to rot in your sterile cell.
3) Doctors in Taiwan are very efficient with their time. Often, the whole appointment takes no more than 5-10 minutes. The doc gets straight to the point and asks whats wrong, you tell him your issues, he provides a diagnosis, you give your feedback, and he gives you a prescription and adds notes to your electronic medical record once everyone is on the same page.
4) In Taiwan, you can see whichever specialists you want without a referral. Ironically enough, this means everyone goes straight to the specialist, and general family doctors, which was what I saw today, have plenty of time and are much easier to get a hold of.
5) Medical records, as mentioned, are stored electronically. Doctors access them on their computers, and adds notes to them electronically as well. Insurance, which is universal in Taiwan, is tracked via smart card and reduces administrative costs. In fact, Taiwan's health care administration cost is only 2% of total costs (lowest in the world), whereas in the US, administrative costs are about 29% of total costs.
6) Even without insurance, health care costs a fraction of what it does in the US. For my doctor's visit, I paid a total of 350 NT ($10 USD). My prescription, which consists of 5 different drugs, cost about 720 NT ($21 USD). With insurance, of course it's even less.
Taiwan is in the middle of promoting itself as a destination for medical tourism. With high quality medical care, low costs, modern facilities, and good doctors with English language skills, it has the potential to cater to many more international patients. Who knows whether it will be as successful in attracting outside interest as Thailand, Singapore, India, or Korea, but one thing is for sure - it's already better than the US.
Anyhow, I'll be resting in Taipei for a bit before heading down South to Chiayi to see relatives a few days. Ah, Taiwan... so comfortable and convenient. No one haggling you for money, trying to swindle or cheat you, so many places are open 24 hours, so many tasty snacks to try (once I feel better).
I dropped by the hospital today to see the doctor as a precautionary measure. Even without health insurance and Taiwanese ID, Taiwan's medical care was so much cheaper and more efficient than the US. Some key differences:
1) Instead of making an appointment with your doctor and arriving there, waiting for half an hour or an hour before he is actually available, in Taiwan you simply get a number ahead of time, either by showing up in person or calling ahead. The number is your position in line, and you can estimate about when you might be called. Even if you arrive after your number is called, you can get yourself slotted next after the next couple of patients. In our case, there were 16 patients slotted for the morning, and I was #13. We arrived right on time - there was no wait at all.
2) Doctors in Taiwan are each in their own office and patients go to visit their doctor in the same office, one after another, whereas of course in the US, patients with appointments around the same time are each placed in isolated rooms, often waiting for at least 10-20 minutes before the doctor is able to make his way over. As a result, there is much more transparency in Taiwan in terms of knowing where you are, where the doctor is, and when is it you should expect to see him. In the US, sometimes you wonder if the doctor has forgotten about you and left you to rot in your sterile cell.
3) Doctors in Taiwan are very efficient with their time. Often, the whole appointment takes no more than 5-10 minutes. The doc gets straight to the point and asks whats wrong, you tell him your issues, he provides a diagnosis, you give your feedback, and he gives you a prescription and adds notes to your electronic medical record once everyone is on the same page.
4) In Taiwan, you can see whichever specialists you want without a referral. Ironically enough, this means everyone goes straight to the specialist, and general family doctors, which was what I saw today, have plenty of time and are much easier to get a hold of.
5) Medical records, as mentioned, are stored electronically. Doctors access them on their computers, and adds notes to them electronically as well. Insurance, which is universal in Taiwan, is tracked via smart card and reduces administrative costs. In fact, Taiwan's health care administration cost is only 2% of total costs (lowest in the world), whereas in the US, administrative costs are about 29% of total costs.
6) Even without insurance, health care costs a fraction of what it does in the US. For my doctor's visit, I paid a total of 350 NT ($10 USD). My prescription, which consists of 5 different drugs, cost about 720 NT ($21 USD). With insurance, of course it's even less.
Taiwan is in the middle of promoting itself as a destination for medical tourism. With high quality medical care, low costs, modern facilities, and good doctors with English language skills, it has the potential to cater to many more international patients. Who knows whether it will be as successful in attracting outside interest as Thailand, Singapore, India, or Korea, but one thing is for sure - it's already better than the US.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Tunnels in Jinmen
So as mentioned, yesterday I ended up getting a ride from PRC to ROC by boat via the Xiamen to Jinmen route. Jinmen, at it's closest point, is only 3km from the mainland, and it has been under martial law until recent years. In fact, back in the 70s, forces from either side of the strait would build up on Jinmen and Xiamen, and they would fire artillery shells at each other every other day. At first, they were deadly shells, but after awhile, the shells were filled with propaganda (either Communist or Democratic), and designed to release propaganda instead of inflicting maximum damage. On the boat ride, you can see there are still remnants of that era on the signs:
And so I thanked my driver for the ride, then passed through customs to hop onto the boat. At the customs checkpoint, the lady recognized me from yesterday. "Didn't you just pass by here?" she asked. "I sure did," I responded, "and will be back again soon enough!"
It reads: 三民主義統一中國 (The Three Principles of the People Unify China).
On Jinmen, I stayed in the largest city of Jincheng:
Even though Jinmen is much closer to mainland China than the main island of Taiwan, it has that familiarity of Taiwan - the small shops, the motorbikes, the Taiwanese accent. It just still feels different from China. There's still just such a gap.
I spent the night in Jinmen. Hostel prices are a bit higher here, as it cost me about 1000 NT (~$30 USD) for a night, though the room was much nicer than most places in China:
The next day, I got up and wandered aimlessly around Jincheng for the morning. I wanted to find some potstickers (鍋貼) for lunch, since apparently this is where my father learned to make pot stickers with eggs when he was in the army. I found a shop with potstickers:
But there were no eggs. They tasted alright, but I found other interesting things hanging on the wall:
I'm not quite sure what that is. Jinmen is also famous for its knives, which is made from high quality scrap metal made from artillery shells:
Finally, I went to visit one set of underground tunnels (坑道) in Jinmen. Jinmen is known for these paths, as the army had prepared plenty of places for soldiers and civillians to hide in in case of a communist invasion. This is the tunnel entrance:
This is the route map:
One of the tunnels:
And so I thanked my driver for the ride, then passed through customs to hop onto the boat. At the customs checkpoint, the lady recognized me from yesterday. "Didn't you just pass by here?" she asked. "I sure did," I responded, "and will be back again soon enough!"
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Danshui
So we're back in Taiwan now, at the ILT Debriefing session in Danshui, an area in northern Taipei. Not surprisingly, it is named after the Danshui River, which mean "freshwater." We got to go around and tour some of the old historical sites as well as go walking along the "Old Street," where many of the vendors are set up.
This is 紅毛城 (literally translates to, "Fort of the Red-haired people"), also known as Fort Santo Domingo. It was a fortification originally built by the Spanish, but was burnt down a couple times before the Dutch controlled it. The Qing Dynasty took it from them, but then the British used it as a consulate after that, before handing it to the ROC in 1927:
We then walked along the Old Street. Some interesting things include:
So apparently this traditional Danshui dish (roughly sounds like "Ah-Gei") has been termed "Arcade" in English...
There's a tractor in the middle of the river.
I can't help but feel sorry for Snoopy.
I must concur.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Leaving Lanyu
Leaving paradise is never easy, but my time here is about over. From one perspective, we didn't do very much - there were no kids around expecting us to give English lessons or to lead bible study; there were no houses to be built or reconstruction projects to help with; there weren't even that many people to spread the gospel to, as 70% of the population was already Christian. We did help with church mailings, got to help out with activities with kids for a couple days (including conducting a random skit on traffic safety), and help paint the church walls, but these all felt like things that were fairly inconsequential, we were fairly certain we left no life-changing impact on the people of Lanyu.
However, after further reflection, it seems sometimes it's not so much what you can do and offer to others, but what you are able to digest, absorb, and learn, especially in a foreign setting. It's perhaps a more selfish perspective, and a little cliche, but oftentimes those who try to seek out and enrich the lives of others find their lives enriched the most. Hey, what can I say, trying to help others is very therapeutic in of itself. Anyhow, I just wanted to reiterate that this place is absolutely gorgeous - the weather, though hot, is bearable, and the high humidity is balanced with lots of strong, cooling wind currents. There's flying fish to eat almost everyday, along with fruit and seafood unique to the island. We've gotten to go swimming by corral reefs, along sandy beaches, in cold springs, and in shipdocks. The people here are kind and friendly, and they speak very good Mandarin as well as Taiwanese, though retaining their own language. It's familiar enough to be like home, yet different enough to retain its allure.
Final thoughts:
1) The sun in Lanyu is scorching. And since I've been out running/swimming/diving/snorkeling/playing basketball every single day, people have started to ask me if I'm one of the aborigines due to the color of my skin.
2) Being blessed with nice weather, beaches everywhere, amazing scenery, etc, really makes everyone... well not exactly lazy, but very easygoing. The culture here is very laid back, the police have nothing to do but to go out and play in the water, fish for food, etc. If we didn't get to accomplish what we set out to do today, it's okay - there's tomorrow, and it looks exactly like today, with beautiful weather, lots of free time, and nothing pressing at hand.
3) The people are much more reliant on God due to their close relationship with the land and nature. This reliance sometimes seems much more of an abstraction in New York - we don't have to catch or hunt for our food, or depend on good weather to ensure supplies from boats and planes can come through.
4) Some of my minor health issues have largely gone away. I think it must've been mostly the stress of the job and not sleeping enough. I sleep a lot more now, though not always 8 hours still. Yet with nothing lurking in the back of my mind, I've been able to enjoy myself thoroughly without having to think ahead about anything at all. Sometimes I feel I could live here forever...
5) I've gotten ridiculously efficient, so much more than I was before I started working at Opera. The pastor here wanted us to help type up about 150 addresses to put on envelopes and mail out - between using copy and paste techniques, typing quickly, using the keypad, etc, I blew away the others on the trip as well - most of them are still in college. Having been trained on the art of getting things done extremely quickly for the past 3 years has really helped.
Here's some final pictures:
However, after further reflection, it seems sometimes it's not so much what you can do and offer to others, but what you are able to digest, absorb, and learn, especially in a foreign setting. It's perhaps a more selfish perspective, and a little cliche, but oftentimes those who try to seek out and enrich the lives of others find their lives enriched the most. Hey, what can I say, trying to help others is very therapeutic in of itself. Anyhow, I just wanted to reiterate that this place is absolutely gorgeous - the weather, though hot, is bearable, and the high humidity is balanced with lots of strong, cooling wind currents. There's flying fish to eat almost everyday, along with fruit and seafood unique to the island. We've gotten to go swimming by corral reefs, along sandy beaches, in cold springs, and in shipdocks. The people here are kind and friendly, and they speak very good Mandarin as well as Taiwanese, though retaining their own language. It's familiar enough to be like home, yet different enough to retain its allure.
Final thoughts:
1) The sun in Lanyu is scorching. And since I've been out running/swimming/diving/snorkeling/playing basketball every single day, people have started to ask me if I'm one of the aborigines due to the color of my skin.
2) Being blessed with nice weather, beaches everywhere, amazing scenery, etc, really makes everyone... well not exactly lazy, but very easygoing. The culture here is very laid back, the police have nothing to do but to go out and play in the water, fish for food, etc. If we didn't get to accomplish what we set out to do today, it's okay - there's tomorrow, and it looks exactly like today, with beautiful weather, lots of free time, and nothing pressing at hand.
3) The people are much more reliant on God due to their close relationship with the land and nature. This reliance sometimes seems much more of an abstraction in New York - we don't have to catch or hunt for our food, or depend on good weather to ensure supplies from boats and planes can come through.
4) Some of my minor health issues have largely gone away. I think it must've been mostly the stress of the job and not sleeping enough. I sleep a lot more now, though not always 8 hours still. Yet with nothing lurking in the back of my mind, I've been able to enjoy myself thoroughly without having to think ahead about anything at all. Sometimes I feel I could live here forever...
5) I've gotten ridiculously efficient, so much more than I was before I started working at Opera. The pastor here wanted us to help type up about 150 addresses to put on envelopes and mail out - between using copy and paste techniques, typing quickly, using the keypad, etc, I blew away the others on the trip as well - most of them are still in college. Having been trained on the art of getting things done extremely quickly for the past 3 years has really helped.
Here's some final pictures:
Here I am with the evangelist who invited us to come:
Michael is posed with Jay's sister and Jay's sister's random friend:
Jay and Yo-Yo on the boat:
Driving off...
The ocean never looked so blue...
Completing the Circuit
Oh and an update on running - so I finished my circuit around the island, yay! We ended up living in 4 of the 6 villages so that helped in terms of changing the starting location. In the last two days, I realized I still had a ton of road to cover, and so I really got to it. Here are the pictures from my run (over 2 hours, though I stopped to take pictures regularly) around the southern tip of the island:
View of the dock:
The next day, I went up the mountains once more to take some final pictures. These are all shots of the western side of the island, of the villages Yuuren and Hongtou:
It was a cloudy day for once in Lanyu, which helped keep things cool even late morning:
View of Small Lanyu island (小蘭嶼) from the dock. 小蘭嶼 is uninhabited and used for target practice by the Taiwanese military.
View of the dock:
There's a nuclear waste facility on the southern part of the island as well. Apparently in the 1970s, the Taiwanese government tricked the illiterate governor of Lanyu into signing over some land for this purpose - the unfortunate governor thought the land was to be developed as a national park. Protests occured in the 90s, and the islanders blockaded the port to prevent further shipments of nuclear waste from coming in, but nothing yet has been done to remove the waste thus far. Here is the entrance to the facility:
Curious enough, a fairly nice residence seems to be next to the facility as well:
Some older, unoccupied buildings are next door:
The road around the southern tip is more treacherous and may be subject to falling rocks. My first time in the area was on motorbike at night, and it was downright scary. You still can't help but be in awe as you pass by:
After completing my journey, I had no energy to continue on to the village. Luckily, I managed to hitchike with a nice lady on a motorbike. She brought me to Dongqing even though she was only going to Yeyin.
Here is the excursion across the northwestern area (probably the most windy part of the island), which happened later that afternoon:
Interesting (and perhaps unfortunate) graffiti:
Large caves were accessible for exploration but I had no time:
The road and the mountain bends in strange ways:
Just on the run around the southern tip, the clouds and fog threatened to invade the landscape:
The port at Yeyou:
The only gas station on the island:
One more major bend to cover...
The airstrip...
And airport...
Passing by a map of Lanyu on the road...
By the time I got back, I was soaked - I was sweating, and it was raining outside...
The next day, I went up the mountains once more to take some final pictures. These are all shots of the western side of the island, of the villages Yuuren and Hongtou:
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