Burning money in Taiwan is serious business, especially at this time of year during ghost month. And with a full moon on the 16th of August everyone is out burning their ghost money making sure their ancestors and deities are all cashed up for another year.
If you have visited or lived in Taiwan and traveled around a little you will know just how beautiful a place it is and how genuinely hospitable people are. Well Lanyu Island off the south east coast is both beautiful and friendly but in a way that makes it a very pleasant getaway from Taiwan proper.
Back in Perth a family island holiday for us usually involves a week on lazy Rottnest Island. I have wished to visit Lanyu for many years so with the kids on summer holidays we packed our bags and ventured off to see what it is like.
There is a very enjoyable dish that anyone who has visted a Taiwanese night market must have enjoyed. It is an oyster omellete or er a jien (蚵仔煎) . It consists of a corn starch base with egg, a dozen or so fresh oysters and cuttings of fresh green vegetables. All quickly fried such that the oysters are just warmed and greens keep their stalks crisp. It is then covered with a mostly sweet but slight chilli sauce. Yum.
It is true that if the Communists had any sort of a navy in 1949 the history of Taiwan would have been very different indeed. When the Nationalists arrived in Taiwan they spent the first 20 years fortifying the nation for an impending communist invasion.
When I first arrived in 1989 Taiwan had just lifted martial law. Air raid drills were still common and the military had a very strong presence. You would often see movements of army vehicles and troops and there was a continual coastal watch. I remember being moved off the beach one evening by a couple of soldiers as well as being cautioned, though not badly, for taking photos of the Kaohsiung harbour entrance.
Yesterday Taiwan held its election for president. This was a simple vote for one of two candidates numbered (1) and (2). Along with the presidential vote there were two referendum votes. So every voter had 3 ballots to fill out. An easy and simple affair.
Ma Ying-jeou and running mate on the left. KMT, red and blue, number (2). Frank Shieh and running mate on the right. DPP, green, number(1)
I have just enjoyed the pleasure of showing three very good friends around Taiwan for a week. While personally it was a great privilege to have such company to show around, the entire week was made so pleasurable by everything Taiwan. We enjoyed swimming in rivers and the ocean, climbed Daguan Shan and Hehuan Shan. And of course we ate like kings and were shown nothing but great hospitality.
We made a 5 day island tour across the southern cross island highway, east coast, Taroko Gorge, Hehuan Shan in snow and back past Sun Moon Lake to Kaohsiung. On their last day here we made a day trip to Taipei to see the bike exhibition followed by dinner then returned to Kaohsiung in the evening.
Most electrical work in Taiwan is quite professional. The original power circuits in our house are all orderly, neat and tidy. It is the homespun additions to original circuits that demonstrate that artistic license rather than an electricians license was involved. Here are a collection of such wiring.
The open-air switchboard of a street-side food store. Here the free form wiring is starkly contrasted by the accumulation of cooking oil and street dust.
Every time we visit my wife’s family village we always stop by a number of Aunt’s and Uncle’s to say hello. There are about 20 such households so we never visit them all each time. But there is one house I really enjoy visiting each trip we make. This couple live in a traditional Taiwanese house that was build nearly 60 years ago and though a more recent wing has been added, Uncle and Aunt still prefer to live in the old centre of the house. The main room contains the shrine, tea brewing set, family wedding portraits and the ubiquitous TV.
The quality of life for a dog in Taiwan depends entirely on it’s owner. That is no different from most places in the world. It just seems that the range of peoples attitudes to dogs has greater extremes than the culture in which I grew up.
Because it was Chinese New Year, because we have children and because we were visiting family in Tainan we went along to the Candy Factory/YoYo TV/New Year exhibition in Tainan county.
Because it was Chinese New Year, so did a lot of other families. In fact, it seemed like all the families in Taiwan were there!
