Taiwanese Bakeries

On a side note I think I received my first racist comment today. It sounded like something in Taiwanese and I probably wouldn't have know what it meant had I heard the man clearly, but one thing is for sure: he was fat and so was his wife. It's no wonder he was so upset.

Okay so about these bakeries, you should know that Taiwanese culture has an infatuation with cute things: men and women alike. In the US if a girl calls a man cute it's a backwards compliment and the thought is: "What the hell, I'm not cute, I'm a man. Men are not freakin' cute!" Here that is clearly not the case, cute actually has a bit of a sexy connotation, but there is more to it then just that. Anyway, the influences of cute extend far beyond clothing, they are seen in ads, on TV, all around public places, all standard appliances and accessories and food. Taiwanese bakeries, thus, are very unique. The ones I have visited in this small city are not too overboard but the cakes can get very extravagant. Here are a few photos:

Can you believe these are actually cakes? A porcupine and a turkey... lol it's hilarious.

That cake above just looks so delicious.

Sponge Bob is popular here, one of the more fashionable students was wearing a Sponge Bob shirt in class the other day... I think that student is 12-14 years old or so, I'm telling you: it's a different world over here; it's about cute.

Taipei

Last weekend I was lucky enough to meet up with Sandra's cousin Wei and explore Taipei. It was so hot... I didn't want to move unless I was in an AC'd van or home. But anyway I've got to say Taipei is a cool place. I was expecting something kind of like NYC but as I got more used to it I didn't feel like it was anywhere near as big, it is, however, a totally different style city.

Take the traffic, for example. It is nothing like US city traffic. Why? Scooters. They take up so much less room and provide pretty efficient transportation around cities. Virtually everyone drives a scooter so there are a lot less cars on the road.

Likewise, with significantly less cars around the roads in the more residential areas have no need to be so wide. The main roads are the same but you wouldn't believe that those sketchy alleyways you come across in US cities, are really commonplace and not sketchy at all here. Of course it feels weird, cruising up and down these allies on a scooter, but it's totally done here. Not only that, there are markets selling food and all kinds of other things all around in these allies, just imagine you're walking down set alley, wondering if you will get mugged because you're someplace you shouldn't be, and then you find yourself in a bustling market. Now you are an out of place foreigner so you should probably keep even better tabs on your wallet, although I will say this about crime in Taiwan: it's much much less common than in the US. Well I should say, muggins are less common, other crimes I hear are more common. Things like extortion from organized crime groups, but this is only what I've heard. I've read a bit about Yakuza in Japan being accepted as commonplace by residents and also more-or-less the police forces themselves. It's kind of nice that way, for a tourist of course: you are much less likely to actually be a victim of a crime.

Anyway those are the key differences, of course Taipei has different districts, like the financial district where they have their version of the White House, and the Chang Kai Shek memorial:

For those of you who are more architectually and artistically inclined then myself you would notice that there are several distinctly different influences affecting the building's design styles here. I was told that the building above is a more Japanese style, as it was built during Japan's occupation of Taiwan. I've also heard about Dutch influences and of course the Chinese influence is undeniable and the most overbearing one around.

We continued on to the Chang Kai Shek memorial:

As I said before, it was hot as hell so took most of my pictures from the car, but this memorial is outstanding! When I saw the huge area inside all I could think of was a gigantic square filled with people practicing Kung Fu in sync, it would've been perfect in this spot. I doubt that actually ever happens here, but it was a ncie thought. On one side is a theatrical area and I completely forgot what goes on at the oppositte side (out of view in this photo) but it was something that you would expect from this type of area. In the back is a statue of the man, not unlike the Lincoln memorial:

Again, I didn't want to get out of the car, but the statue is way in the back there.

Next we continued on to make our way to see Taipei 101, currently the tallest building in the world:

It may have been wicked hot, but it was a nice day for photos

Here you see both Wei and I just across the street from this mammoth of a skyscraper.

After visitting Taipei 101, Wei's father took us out to Keelong. A truly beautiful port north-east of Taipei. There we ate a lot of food and visitted some scenic spots. I got a couple good shots of the view of the harbour, and the military turrents/ fortifications that were set up to protect the port in times of war (they don't look anything like they would be used today, it was more of a visit to a historic park that Wei's father was well informed about after having served in the Taiwanese Navy for several years. He had worked in the area years prior.).

This reminded me of CA, US influence is pretty strong in Taiwan as well... I mean those are English characters too.

This port is really a great site to see, although I am not a photographer and cannot capture it's true beauty.

As a final stop for the day, Wei's father took us to a rather interesting Buddhist temple. It was set inside of a cave:

Here I am outside of the steps to the temple.

I'm not Buddhist, I don't know how these things are set up. But when you walk in and you see this my reaction is, "oh that's nice a little shrine, can I take a picture? Okay? Cool, lets go." My friend and tour guide Wei was kind enough to show me that there was much more to this place:

We continued behind the altar and there was a great deal more to be seen. A whole lot of artwork and a tunnel that lead deeper into the cave, in the essence of time I will refrain from posting too many pictures, but you'll have to take my word for it when I say there was a lot going on in this cave and it was pretty impressive. I guess most religions have a tendancy to be extravagant, Buddhism isn't any different.

At the end of the cave we cam across this more impressive altar.

But that wasn't all:

What's that Wei, another crevice? Are we supposed to go through there? It looks kind of tight.

Okay it's really tight but it keeps going so...

The tiny tunnel opened up and there was one more altar to be seen. It wasn't as impressive as the previous one, but it was really nice and a thick and slightly mysterious mist filled the room. It was nice and cool in the cave. I noticed some Chinese carvings on the wall:

I thought they might be important. My tour guide again corrected my ignorant assumption and informed me that they were a bunch of signitures from people that were not too fat to squeeze through the tiny corridor we just snuck through. Of course to me, who has even studied a bit of Chinese for a couple years, it looked cool, perhaps super important and mysterious. Nope, not at all, Wei then starting picking at the wall and showed me that it was soft enough to be carved into by your finger nail. Hehe, we then left and got some Chinese style ice cream outside.

Form

Hey this is a quick post because I am busy with work now. But I received this video of my friend: Po Sheng, performing the form in a martial arts competition, so I decided I would upload it for everyone to see it as it is meant to be pracgticed:

Today I asked my new friend and the teacher's grandson to practice for me: he went through the form as far as I know it. I thought I would share it with everyone:

He was kind enough to do it slowly so that I can use this video as a study guide.

Kung Fu found

Here is the government building mentioned earlier.

As you can see off to the side many people are practicing different forms of Tai Qi. They have staves, swords, spears, and of course practice open hand as well.

But this is just the facade... it is behind the building that I go. To a small and secluded park. This is where I have found a place to study Kung Fu.

The park as you approach from the road is actually set back from the road.

This is the arena:

A nearby playground provides a soft surface for practicing jump kicks without such a tough penalty for failure:

The majestic canopy provides adequate shade from the intense Taiwan sun

It is a nice place

This is Mr. Huang, he is the one who has started to teach me. Today he poked me in the eye and mouth. He threw me by my chin too! He's not actually overdoing anything, I mean he has yet to hurt me, although it is my first week, but he is teaching me very thoroughly.

And this is us together after over an hour of training... notice the dark shade of my shirt near my chest and how it isn't lighter until below my waist.... I was soaked, but today is the birthday of Wong Fei Hong so everybody work out harder!

Taiwanese - - Super friendly to foreigners

Today I had more experiences with friendly Chinese, after my Kung Fu quest. I decided to take a quest for Tennis.

My boss had showed me where some Tennis courts were on my first day, I don't know where they were, or even where they are now, but the were close. I figured the best thing to do would be to pack my bag and ask people. I asked the first girl I saw, not sure. Walked to the end of the street, here were two older woman and a man working at a meat stand or something. They had me come in and the man offered me tea! Incredibly nice.

Then as they were explaining where it was said it was too far and practically forced me to get in their truck and go with them. Remember what your parents said about not accepting rides from strangers, I considered it but if I can't defend myself against an old man and two old women (the women weren't even coming) then I have greater problems to deal with than whatever they want.

So yea he drove me to the spot, but I didn't realize it. I needed to continue walking down a small street and I would have been there, instead I saw a huge school and thought inside maybe there would be something so I circled the huge block and noted all the doors were closed. I was back where I started and saw a street vendor selling awesome sculptures. I recognized one as the famous Guan Yu and verified it was him. Then just thought, lets speak some Chinese yea! So we engaged in conversation and I found out this mighty Guan Yu would cost about $1000 in USD. No way, this is the type of place you can haggle. I said it was expensive but of course, he had made it himself by hand. What a great wooden carving, he tried to get me interested in a smaller version which was also quite impressive. I liked it and talked to him about it and the price. It was selling for $6000 NT, that's about $183 USD. Haha, did I mention this is not the original price, he actually lowered it after talking to me for 5 minutes or so. He knew I didn't have the money on me today but I asked when he'd be back and told him I may come back another time. He was nice and had no idea where Tennis courts were.

I left and went back towards my school, I knew there were courts not far away, where were they? I actually passed by the people who had previously been giving me a ride. I walked to parks I knew but everyone I asked didn't know, this was getting tiring and I was starting to feel the sun's heat.

I found a new park and saw a man on a bench, as I approached him he began to whistle, weird. He had just been shouting to two men farther into the park on a plateau. I didn't realize it right away but I think he was signalling to them. I asked him about the Tennis courts. He didn't know but then invited me over to talk with the other two.

They all disagreed on the the instructions to give me, it was hilarious and awesome. Then one of them, who seemed a little off, but was still really nice, turned his scooter around and told me to get on. I didn't want to, I suspect there were up to something, maybe selling drugs... but they were so insistent and actually really nice. After refusing two or three times I gratefully mounted the scooter and we were on our way. The man smelt like he may have been a pot head, I never smoked pot so I don't know if this is even remotely true, it could've been some Buddhist incense, but the three guys all looked like the shady type, really tan, this one was really skinny, and the way they spoke, I have my suspicions. In any event, he took me right back to where we were and I got off saying thanks, thinking he had just intended to bring me to the same school, but he was like, we haven't arrive yet, get back on. He was right and I'm glad he said that.

He took a right and then a quick left, down a narrow street and then I shouted with joy when I saw some clay courts! He was a really nice guy, I got off, thanked him, and went through a gate, to enter what was like a sort of above ground dugout where a lot of younger middle aged men were hanging out with rackets. Then my escort, now turned around and ready to take off, shouted to verify that I was in the right spot, where I wanted to be. That's a courteous guy.

The Tennis guys were great, one of them spoke some English. It was at least as good as my Chinese, perhaps better. There were some teens playing Soft Tennis there, a sport popular in Taiwan, Korea, and Vietnam... I think those were the three countries they told me. They verified that I could play on this court with the US style Tennis. In fact one of them invited me to play. We played, he asked to play a match, we did. I played horrifically, but won the first game. Sadly I lost the next three. The man played with form that was lacking, but consistent. I haven't played in at least a month, so a consistent player is the worst type for me to play against right now, even so I am disappointed that I lost. Then we talked a little while and they were all really nice and friendly. They were also hilarious, like teenage guys hanging out with a foreigner. There was usually at least one person calling shots in and out and then some people making jokes on the sideline.

After playing they asked how I was, another guy wanted to play with me! Great, I threw away all emotions and let myself hit the ball. This time I would not let my rust skills be defeated.

We played on game and I believe I lost on a shot where my strings broke and I could no longer play, but here is the big news: the guy said he works for a company that creates molds for Tennis rackets and he would take care of the racket with new strings for free.

I thought, leave my racket with this guy I don't know. No way. I did. He seems 100% honest and totally reputable, he asked for my name and number and all ready knew I was living at the school because we had talked about it earlier. He volunteered to drop the racket off for me on Wednesday and told me he used to live across the street. I said I could meet him at the courts to pick it up, but he said him dropping it off would be more convenient. Great! I told him I was going to pay him regardless, he reluctantly agreed to $100 -- that's about $3 US. In the US that will not even pay for cheap strings, much less the cost for stringing the racket. I will try to give him $200 after I inspect the stringing job.

As I was leaving they explained to me the membership fees associated with the court, it sucks that I have to pay but it's not surprising, this is a clay court that requires maintenance. Of course it should be paid for. It is relatively cheap but it's a yearly membership so it's a decent financial commitment, I may try to look for different places to play. I also don't know how frequently I want to play. It is farther down on the list than Kung Fu (because I am so close to China) and Triathlons (because I think I can really compete here while getting into great shape). Who knows, one thing is for sure, in Taiwan my interests and hobbies may not be as popular but it doesn't seem like they are limited.

One big apprehension about playing at these courts is that as my skills return these men won't pose much of match for me.... so I don't know if there are many other good players. Fortunately I'll be meeting my friend's friend in a couple weeks, I was told he was one of the top ten players in Taiwan. He should be able to romp me, but for sure he will know about the skill level and such in Taiwan.

The main thing here is that people here are incredibly welcoming. Taiwan is by no means perfect, but they are incredibly hospitable whenever I ask them anything. It's refreshing, although I feel a bit spoiled. Sure I try to help out foreigners in the US but I wouldn't say I've ever gone so far, and certainly never expected anything in return... of course they were always more appreciative than anything as well.

The Quest for Kung Fu

Guan Yu: Inside the government building. A famous Chinese hero from the Three Kingdoms period and I believe he is here as a symbol of strength and protection of the building. Also notice the flag of Taiwan (don't tell China lol, they don't realize Taiwan's independance, even if they cannot declare it so).

For those of you who do not know I have studied Karate at my home in Albany, NY; and I have studied a bit of Kung Fu in Boston. I would say that when I practice these martial arts I do so with a strong attention to detail and I believe I hold myself to a higher standard than most who practice them around me. Especially when it comes to practicing perfect form and deep stances. That being said I am not particuarly skilfull. My strength is my form, and I am relatively week when it comes to sparring.

Anyway I am here in Taiwan to study Chinese but if I can study Kung Fu all the better! Especially if the teacher is speaking Chinese: DOUBLE BONUS. So my quest for Kung Fu started out by searching for nunchucks, a seperate but related hobby. I did not want to bring mine from America, just because they are illegal in NY and I mean airport security and everything....

In order to find nunchucks I sought out the help of the foreign teacher I am replacing. He was great, had no idea where to find anything Kung Fu, but helped me search around at the night market here in Fengyuan. Then, after no luck, we went to the night market area in Taichung. Taichung is Taiwan's third largest city so perhaps we would have more luck there. Here I asked some people about where to find them, the most informative answer I got was they were available somewhere in the city, he didn't know where, but not at the nightmarket. Oh I should note, all these conversations are in Chinese, and I do not typically understand 100% of a conversation... actually if it is long enough to be called a conversation then I have yet to understand 100% of the words, but after some struggle and some patience on the behalf of the Chinese person I believe I typically get their meaning.

Shortly thereafter my white tourguide (he speaks less Chinese then me but has lived here for a year so knows his way around and was extremely helpful) thought of a couple stores that sell military gear. We drove, rather he drove in a rather scary manner, with me on the back of his scooter, and took me to the place. They had nunchucks! They kind of sucked. I mean some wicked light metal ones, I prefer heavier chucks for the balance. Then some extendable/ collapsable nunchucks!!! Exciting to see, but not very good for practice, the balance on them is too weird. That was all... and the chains on these chucks were crappy so I was dissapointed. I asked the girl if they had any wooden ones, I prefer wooden chucks with a chain, but no luck. My tour guide was browsing the store so I looked around with him. They actually have tons of stuff I woudln't expect to find in the states, since they are so much farther removed from things like the war. You were able to find a lot of German WW II paraphanalia that has so much animosity and hate attached to it in the US that... if you did find it for sale... it would be in a totally sketchy place and you'd probably start to fear the creepy man running the shop. The people in this shop, two cute and really young girls, then one older one.

After just a couple minutes the older girl (who had apparently left for a moment) came in with three pairs of nunchucks... wooden! They were all fitting, although one pair was too light, I took the heaviest pair... not particularly great but still decent. I asked how much, $300 she said. This amounts to $9USD but for some reason I was thinking it's only like $3... idiot. So I said it was cheap! Then I bought them and asked if they knew of any Kung Fu schools nearby here or in Fengyuan. They had no idea but the older girl had some interesting questions:

"Did you come to Taiwan to study some Kung Fu?" Noooo I came here to study Chinese but if I can study kung fu as well than that's good.

Of course they let me try the chucks earlier so they had asked about my experiences and now knew that I had studied martial arts in the US. They then asked if I found a ShiFu (Master) in Fengyuan to teach me. I laughed and said no, I hope I can find a good school.

Now why these questions, I have two speculations:

1. They thought my opinion as a foreigner was that all Chinese know Kung Fu so Taiwan is like Mainland and I could study Kung Fu here; ignorantly unaware of the fact that Kung Fu is really not that popular in Taiwan, especially in Taichung where I am. Note: I do not know how popular Kung Fu is here, I know Taekwondo is popular and so it Tai Chi, but neither of these are really Kung Fu... well Tai Chi is but it is very different.

2. Kung Fu actually is popular in Taiwan and they were just wondering if I was an ambitious individual who came here to study.

I still don't know the answer to this.

After leaving the shop my guide said wait a minute I want to check this other store, just one shop over. It's the same type of thing, he explained to me, although he did not know why in Taiwan, it seems that the same types of shops (be it food, t-shirts shops, shoe stores, camo stores or what have you) seem to all set up in the same general area. He was saying it tends to be set up into these types of districts and there was probably one more for Kung Fu, that perhaps I would eventually be able to find.

Anyway we went into the store, they had more chucks. I almost bought two more that matched, to have a pair. But they were a bit weird and seemed like the chain may brake on them, so I decided to save my cash. Then I noticed one just like the one I bought next door.... $390... I instantly thought this was the place the other girl brought the chucks from. This would later be confirmed when the girl working this shop would restock, the two chucks I chose not to buy in the other store. I felt like I had been ripped off but I noticed the stickers on them were $390, I paid $300. So the girl brought the chucks from this store and gave me a discount? I doubt it, more likely my Chinese was not bad, not great but certainly at the level of someone who had lived here fore a while. I mean it's much better than some who have lived here for a year, for sure, so I think perhaps she gave me the chucks for $300 hoping that I would think it was okay and not say it was too much and then start haggling on the price!!!!

Taiwan is weird, night market you should definately haggle on prices. But other stores, should you? Department stores, Nike stores, Adidas and Puma, they are all sold here and these types of legitamate business type, or chain stores... here I don't think you are allowed to haggle. But other stores I guess sometimes you can.... some are obvious but other places I wonder, should I haggle? It's a store but for example, when I bought the chucks, and this is how stores tend to keep records, the girl took out a clipboard and marked down the sale and the price all in pencil or pen, it's not like it gets rung up on the cash register and she has no say on the price... or is it?

I guess, in my ignorance I should be happy, I didn't pay the sticker price.

We returned home that evening and my guide showed me a place where people would practice Tai Chi in the morning. I resolved to run there the following morning and ask them about Kung Fu in this city myself. It turns out this park was on a road that encircles the entire city. The next morning I accidently ran past the park and saw a different place people were practicing while playing traditional Chinese tunes... it cracked me up because they were mostly older women and the music was.... perfect! I continued to run though, because, while there were a few, I was expecting more at the park I didn't realize I had all ready run past.

I ran around the entire city, on my second time around I found the park. Too late, people like to practice Tai Chi early in the morning, this is when sometihing about the air is very good for their Qi. I read that they believe this is give off by the trees and plants very early in the morning. Needless to say they were all gone, since it took me a long time, I had been running for at least 40 minutes by this time, so it was after 8. I returned to the government building I previously saw and found people there practicing Tai Qi, still. Only now there were only two people: one teacher and someone practicing:

Here we have the teacher, getting ready to leave and a middle aged woman wielding a sword outside of a government building. Imagine this in the US!? Of course here it's obvious what she's doing and it's totally cool. Man but back in the US I used to want to ask my friend Henry to be able to carry his weapons: spears, halbred, sword and staff after he trained, just because walking around Boston carrying these things is so absurd... people look, yea they do. I mean it's still okay walking from the gym to the apartment, or for him I guess he takes them on the train to get to and from his school in Chinatown, but it's rare to say the least and it's not like he's marching up capitol hill and whipping out his sword right next to the front steps! I wonder how that would be received? Perhaps it's not that big of a deal at all, I'm not sure. One things for sure, I am not afraind to bring my nunchucks the next time I go! Okay have a closer look:

I mean I feel as if this platform is for Kung Fu. That's so cool, even if it is Tai Qi.

It was awkward so I did not ask any questions about learning Kung Fu today, it was Friday. I thought the weekend would hold more promise.

I went for my run Saturday morning, through the rain. The Tai Chi people had either not come out or finished early because of the rain, I returned home determined to wake up earlier and try again on Sunday.

Today is Sunday, I woke up and went for the run. There was no one at the park!? Suprise, it only took me ten minutes to run there so I continued to the government building. Bam! One woman was there, not the same person as you see above, a different woman with a sack containing a spear, staff, short staff, and sword. She was middle aged and I quietly sat off to the side of the stage waiting for good time to interupt her.

She took a break and was sitting while waving herself with her fan, my chance. I got up and went to talk to her, I asked her if she knew where I could study? Here of course! But I don't like this type of Kung Fu... she figured out what I meant and was telling me there was a school just down the road that alot of men go to. Great, my hopes are up! I don't want to bore you all with the full details of our conversation but it was quite detailed where I told her why I was in Taiwan and so on and where I came from and actually she thought I was an "aaaa men" guy, or a missionary. NO WAY! I am not trying to impose my beliefs on anyone here. But I assume she thought this because of the way I approached her with English that, I believe, is better than most English teachers. I heard one missionary speaking Chinese, I was impressed and to be honest, jealous. I will make a post about my thoughts on Western missionaries in foreign countries later, for now I don't know that much about them and this is Kung Fu focused!

Okay so she was going to take me to the school, although I have to teach English on the weekday evenings and that was when they have class. But we would go check.... but then she was saying it's something... I wasn't getting it... then I noticed her repeated kicks and I said ooooh nooo not "Korean Kung Fu" she said yea.... I said Taekwondo? She confirmed. "I don't want to go." If any of you like Taekwondo, I'm not looking down on the sport here, it's just not what I want to study, especially not in Taiwan. Although it is immensly popular here after Taiwan's impressive showings in the Olympics 5 and 9 years ago, I don't think last year they did too poorly just not as good as before.

So we continued on, she was asking about the Kung Fu I knew. The best Kung Fu I know is what my friend, the previously mentioned Henry, had taught me... with assistance from his student Alan and our friend Sophie, many thanks to all of them. So the name for it I know I believe is Cantonese, meaning even if I pronounced it perfectly she still wouldn't know what it was.... so in full running atire I demonstrated. She was pretty impressed! I'm happy to say, although a bit embarassed, I can not do this form anything near as well as Henry and Sophie.

As time passed we continued to talk, she had almost no English so it was excelent practice for me. Her friend came by and she told me to practice again, I insisted it wasn't that good. They all liked it though, as did an older gentleman passing by with his grandchild. It was a bit embarassing, but in a good way if anything.

Later the security guard to the government building came out and I again performed the form I had been taught a year earlier. It went great, and he stuck around and added to the conversation about Kung Fu in general. He actually showed the woman some wrist locks, I had the priveladge of having a Sensei that loved wrist locks at my old dojo so I was happy to partake in this exercise!

Well I'll no longer bore you with the details of the conversation and I'll get to the point, the woman left and told me that many people come to this place from Monday through Friday and practice Tai Qi. The teachers are usually old, like 70 and they could teach me Tai Chi, but this is not the kind of Kung Fu I am looking for. Although I feel like I could ask them about a good place to go. She also mentioned something about there being some masters who know this type of stronger kung fu but they do not like to, rather they will not teach it. Interesting! Meaning they only practice? Meaning they don't take students, like in a Kung Fu movie!? Meaning they won't teach a foreigner? I don't know and I tired to inquire further but it seemed like I only got an answer saying they don't teach. My curiousity is peaked.

Okay so she left and I was going to say good bye to the security guard but he had gone inside. I found him and talked to him. He told me that there was a park in back of the building, there is a teacher that comes there, Huang Laoshi, who not only teaches TaiQi but also Shaolin fist... Shaolin Kung Fu... that sounds appealing to me. He also said he'd come by tomorrow so I will see him again when I search for this instructor.

That's all for now, tomorrow will be a big day, I will search for this new instructor and see if he is willing to teach me and if so what his teaching will actually entail. This will be at 7AM. I will need to get to bed early. Also, tomorrow I will need to start teaching classes! For sure it will be a big day.