Holy smoke…it happens again.  Taipei’s MRT Naihu line is out of service once again.  This time for 2 hours….

It happens so many times I already lost track of how many times it had happened.  It is a total joke…I don’t know how they are going to solve this.

Update (more thought on this):

I guess this type of thing just keeps reinforcing Ma’s image as the sh*t finger in my mind.

A lot of people living outside of Taipei might say “this is none of our business, it is Taipei City’s problem.”  But that cannot be further from the truth.  The fact is, it is everyone’s problem.  Why?  Because why can’t Taipei City pay back its health care debt?  Where is the money of the construction come from?  Now they want to spend more money to fix it up, where would that money come from?  Think about that! 

Those money come from tax payers’ pocket, not just Taipei City’s tax payers, but tax payers in the whole Taiwan.  Furthermore, because Taipei City refuses to pay the health care money, all Taiwanese are forced to cover it.  They already raise the health care payment on small business owner, and actually backtrack 2 years.  That is ridiculous.  Why do they need that much money and where does the money go?  Wasted on the sh*t Ma created (Health Care debt, Nainhu Line, Maokong) of course.

UPDATE: Taipei Times has a comprehensive report on this.

Because of the recent Marokat disaster and the initiation of reconstruction plan, some return their attention to another incomprehensible action of Ma…that lasted 10 years.

Probably not enough of people paid enough attention to the 東星大樓 victims’ situation, otherwise Ma would never been elected as president (or he would have gotten much less votes).  The worst and weirdest thing Ma and his city government did is going to the court with those victims…and actually going all the way up (the victims won many cases in the court, but the City government appeals to the higher courts).  Eventually the victims settled with the government, but as stated by Ms. 簡余晏 in the article, it is mostly just because many victims are tired of it and cannot go on fighting with the government in the court.

It is worth noting that in all the reconstructions for 921 Earth Quakes, this building is the last to be finished.

An interesting comparison can also be found here.  During 921 Earth Quakes, in greater Taipei area, 3 condo got destroyed: 東星, 龍閣 and 博士的家. 東星 is in Taipei City, under KMT Ma, while 龍閣 and 博士的家 is in Taipei County, under DPP Hsu(蘇貞昌). 龍閣 took 3 years. 博士的家 took 5 years due to its larger construct, but 東星 took 10 years, even though comparatively it is smaller.

Granted, there are a lot of issues contributing to 東星’s slow reconstruction, but a lot of them come from Taipei City’s lack of initiative to help in the first place.  Moreoever, Taipei City actually adds and creates more trouble for the victims…Hmm…and that mayor of Taipei City is now the president…WOW.

http://www.shadowgov.tw/24951_0_is.htm

Unbelievable…this time it is 北纜.  The construction has been suspended because of the the foundation rock formation is not even suitable for construction…It is also suspected that Taipei City government, under Ma, has ignore the environment assessment and initiated the construction illegally…Will keep track of further development.  (Man…just exactly how many things did Ma mess up?  That is a lot of tax payers’ money wasted…)

Abstract depiction of my reaction.

An abstract depiction of how Taipei citizens could be feeling right now.

How more ridiculous can this get?

• Neihu Line breaks down again
• 隱匿事故遭踢爆！柵湖線兩度擠軌列車遭撞壞

And listened to what Taipei City Secretariat Deputy Director Tan Gwo-guang (譚國光) said:

Convenience for the passengers is the priority when weighing the options.

Hmm…shouldn’t you say “SAFETY for the passengers is the priority when weighing the options” instead?

Walking around Taipei City and looking up.

For anyone who missed it, yesterday was the last day of the 2009 Shilin Presidential Rose Festival.  We checked out the festivities on Saturday along with a few thousand Taipei residents.  Given the size of the park, it didn’t seem too crowded for Taipei.

It’s always possible however that some flower enthusiasts were on Yangmingshan during the weekend for the 2009 Yangmingshan Flower Festival [which runs through March 22].

The Shilin Presidential Residence was one of Chiang Kai-shek’s former homes.  The grounds were opened to the public as a park in 1996.  His former home however remains closed.

The Shilin Residence offers a European and an Eastern style garden, a cafe, Madame Soong’s former Cadillac, and Victoria Chapel [Chiang and Soong's former place of worship].

The Shilin Residence is located at the triangle of Fulin Road and Zhongshan North Road Sec. 5.  It’s a brief walk from Shilin MRT Station exit #2.

Opposing The Proposal:

There are those who say, “We don’t need your Hanyu Pinyin! Studying English is hard enough and we have already gone through learning two different Pinyins in our lifetime.  It is tiring and confusing!  Not to mention, it doesn’t make a difference for the foreigners.”

A local high school student, who wishes to simply be referred to as Miss Hsieh, expresses her view on the change, in effect of this year.

Funny enough, there is a website claiming that Wade-Giles was never an official system for Taiwan and goes on into detail on the pronunciations, etc, such as the question if the government doesn’t know Chinese – as to why they keep giving foreigners the wrong information.

Since using Wade-Giles, it has reportedly been more useful among the locals and foreigners in understanding the languages, and generally did not hold as a problem.

A children's book is already out, in such to learn the Hanyu Pinyin, Taiwan's official use of Pinyin made effective this year.

There is a fear, a debate that is going around among the people, especially those who hold a passport: Do we have to change our names? Gratefully, the answer is no.  Pro-Independent Taiwanese hold pride in Taiwan’s unique Pinyin, separate from the PRC’s or the internationally recognized.

The most important question is yet to be asked, however.  Are we going to replace the traditional characters?  Taiwan is the last known country in the world, recognized for using traditional characters fully as their literary language.  “Internationalizing” (through adapting the Hanyu Pinyin system) comes at a huge price: the surrender of culture and tradition.  The warming of relations in the Cross Strait ties, and the increase among youths in the usage of Japanese and simplified characters, are proof of this.

(Photo, courtesy of BBC News) Taipei hopes the new passport will help reduce confusion.

“More than 85 percent of the 2.6 million visitors who come to Taiwan visit Taipei,” President Ma says.  “The need for globalization in the capital is more urgent than anywhere else. Taipei City must adopt Hanyu Pinyin.”

Taiwan’s Cabinet, on Decembner 18, 2008 passed the amendment to the Guidelines on Using Chinese Phonetic Spelling (中文譯音使用原則), following a three-year plan to replace Tongyong with Hanyu nationwide.

The following exert is of an interview from January 2009, between the Pinying League President, Yu Bor-Chuan and TAIPEI TIMES reporter Shih Hsiu-Chuan on the contemplation in switching to an new Pinyin.  The debate can even be traced back to 2000, in a newspaper article, here.

>>Recommended read, “Maybe it’s not really wrong — just the English pronunciation.”  <<<

The Interview:

Taipei Times: Do you think the government sought the opinions of civic groups before making a decision?

Yu Bor-Chuan (余 伯泉): No. The decision was made by Minister Without Portfolio Ovid Tseng [曾志朗] at a meeting on Sept. 16. The decision was not made in a context [involving linguistics experts] nor did language experts take part in the policy-making.

The wording on the document that the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission claimed Premier Liu Chao-Shiuan [劉兆玄] had signed off on concerning the Hanyu Pinyin proposal was also problematic. The wording meant only that the proposal had been used as a reference, but it stopped short of saying that it had been approved.

What I took this to indicate was that government officials were exerting their powers arbitrarily while dodging responsibility for the actions they have taken and will take and are trying to avoid any questions people might ask about the policy.

(Photo, courtesy of Taiwan Journal, by Hsueh Chi-Kuang) Minister Without Portfolio, Ovid Tseng (or Tzeng), is upbeat on obtaining world heritage status for traditional Chinese characters.

TT: Did the Taiwan Pinyin League at any point contract the government about its policy?  If so, what was the response?

Yu: The Taiwan Pinyin League first questioned the Executive Yuan (site is bilingual) concerning the legitimacy of and administrative flaws in the policy-making process that saw the Ministry of Education [MOE] promulgate the Guidelines of Using Chinese Phonetic Spelling on Dec. 18 [which replaced Tongyong with Hanyu Pinyin as the national standard.

In its reply, the MOE discussed the rationale and benefits of the policy shift, but it offered bogus information to justify its argument that only Hanyu Pinyin was accepted by the international community.

We sent a document to the Executive Yuan asking for an explanation of this incorrect information and explaining our concern that adopting Hanyu Pinyin, the system used in China, would humiliate the nation and undermine its sovereignty. The MOE replied a second time with just a few words and still failed to answer our questions.

TT: What do you mean by 'sacrificing the nation's sovereignty' and what was the false information cited by the ministry?

Yu: In the Guidelines of Using Chinese Phonetic Spelling, released on Dec. 18, a chart to convert Chinese characters and Zhuyin Fuhao [commonly called bopomofo] into Hanyu Pinyin and a Hanyu-Tongyong comparison chart were attached without citing a source.

That the MOE did not cite the source of the Hanyu Pinyin charts constituted an act of plagiarism as the phonetic system was approved by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and ratified by its National People’s Congress in 1958.

Nor did the MOE mention that Hanyu Pinyin has been adopted by the International Organization for Standardization [ISO] as the standard Romanization system for modern Chinese. The second version of the 1991 ISO 7098 [decision] said ISO 7098 referred to “Modern Chinese or Putonghua [普通話], the official language of the PRC.”

The MOE left out the ISO reference on purpose with the intent of withhold this information from the public because it could lead to the misunderstanding that Taiwan is part of China.

As for the false information I mentioned, the MOE said Taiwan’s street and place names are spelled using Hanyu Pinyin on maps and atlases published by most countries and international organizations. This is not true, since the international community generally goes by the guideline of naming a person or a place after its original name.

There are hardly any countries or international organizations that use Hanyu Pinyin to spell places in Taiwan except maps published by China.

We demanded that the MOE show us data to prove that the Hanyu Pinyin “Taizhong” is used more often than the Tongyong “Taichung” and that “Gaoxiong” is used more than “Kaohsiung” by the international community, but the MOE just ignored the question.

The MOE said all libraries in the world use Hanyu Pinyin to catalog their collections in Chinese. Although it is true that most libraries classify collections of their Chinese materials with Hanyu Pinyin, the fact is other phonetic systems are also accepted in their catalogues.

(Photo, courtesy of TAIPEI TIMES) A Japanese contestant at a Chinese speaking competition held by the Taipei City Government last year holds up two signs with different Romanization for the same road name to demonstrate the difficulties people who are not familiar with Chinese have when trying to navigate the city's streets.

TT: How has Tongyong Pinyin been implemented in Taiwan in the past six years?  The MOE said that Romanization is still a mess, with 65 percent in Tongyong and 35 percent in Hanyu Pinyin and other systems.

Yu: That was a complete fabrication. It was outrageous that officials falsified the results of a survey on the status of implementation of Tongyong Pinyin over the past years. The MOE conducted a survey that polled local governments and central government agencies on their experience with adopting Tongyong Pinyin between 2002 and 2008.

In the original survey documents — obtained by Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] Legislator Wong Chin-Chu [翁金珠] — in a list of items that were required to be transliterated with Tongyong Pinyin, only 6 percent were marked as “unable to be carried out.”

Most of those were marked by Taipei City, where Hanyu Pinyin has been implemented as the standard since 2002 by then-Taipei mayor Ma Ying-Jeou [馬英九] in defiance of the DPP government’s policy.

When asked about the “level of difficulty” of switching to Tongyong Pinyin, 19 percent of the items were regarded as “difficult,” tagged with the note that “the difficulty can be resolved.”

The survey also found that only 6 percent of the interviewed units suggested that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration replace Tongyong Pinyin with Hanyu Pinyin.

Overall, it can be said that there has been significant improvement over the past six years in standardizing the Romanization of road signs and street names in Tongyong Pinyin nationwide.

(Photo, courtesy of CNA) Supporters of the “Taiwan Mandarin Spelling League” and other groups demonstrate outside the Ministry of Education in Taipei yesterday to protest against the ministry’s policy of promoting the Hanyu Pinyin romanization system.

TT: The main reason given by the government to adopt Hanyu Pinyin was to bring Taiwan in line with international standards.

Yu: If that was the real reason behind the policy shift, the government should have replaced the traditional characters used exclusively in Taiwan with simplified characters, because more than 95 percent of the [Chinese-speaking] population worldwide uses simplified characters.

During the era of its one-party rule, the KMT only used Zhuyin Fuhao to teach children Mandarin pronunciation in schools.

Retaining Zhuyin Fuhao was a relic of the old KMT era under the principle that “gentlemen don’t stand with thieves.” Bopomofo was replaced with pinyin in China in 1949, so the KMT’s mindset has been that it must defend Zhuyin Fuhao and reject Hanyu Pinyin.

In 1996, former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-Tseh [李遠哲] and other distinguished academics called on the government to replace Zhuyin Fuhao with pinyin in school but to no avail. At that time, when we proposed Tongyong Pinyin in 1998, Ma still insisted that his Taipei City government retain the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II system [the transliteration of bopomofo].

So the KMT has been a staunch advocate of Zhuyin Fuhao. It just didn’t make sense for the KMT, a defender of bopomofo, to favor Hanyu Pinyin for the purpose of internationalization.

The issue of internationalization can be seen from two perspectives.

As far as Mandarin-teaching is concerned, given the reality of diplomacy and the widespread prevalence of Hanyu Pinyin globally, there is no doubt that market forces will lead to the adoption of Hanyu Pinyin in this field.

However, in the field of proper names, Taiwan has a right to choose a Romanization system suited to it and the international community will respect our choice.

Adopting Tongyong Pinyin will not pose difficulties for foreigners.

For foreigners who do not understand Mandarin, whether a road sign is spelled in Hanyu Pinyin or Tongyong Pinyin makes no difference, not to mention that Tongyong is more friendly to English speakers than Hanyu in terms of pronunciation.

The primary differences between the two systems are that Tongyong uses “s,” “c” and “jh,” which corresponds more to English spelling, instead of “x,” “q” and “zh” as used in Hanyu Pinyin, which English speakers without Mandarin skills do not usually know how to pronounce. There wouldn’t be a problem as long as street signs an maps were spelled consistently everywhere.

TT: What will be the consequences if the government insists on pushing Hanyu Pinyin? Are you concerned that Hanyu Pinyin will bring Taiwan closer to China?

Yu: One could say that was one of our concerns, but it is not correct to focus on the issue of national identity first. We have to talk some sense about the nature of the matter and put the identity issue second.

The Hanyu Pinyin system is not entirely suitable for Taiwan given the fact that not every Chinese character is pronounced in Taiwan as it is in China.

Immediately after Hanyu Pinyin was adopted by the government in September, the MOE promulgated guidelines for using Hanyu Pinyin to Romanize Hakka, replacing the application of Tongyong Pinyin for teaching Hakka.

As Tongyong has been used for the Romanization of Hakka, even some KMT lawmakers were against the new guidelines. They said that it would make learning Hakka more difficult because Hanyu Pinyin did not accommodate sounds in the language.

The most serious problem is how our names are to be Romanized.

Although the Hanyu Pinyin guidelines allow individuals to decide the spelling of their name, it suggested using the format of surname first, followed by given name without a hyphen between the syllables … If my name were that way, my initials would be [Y.] B. instead of [Y.] B.C. in Tongyong Pinyin … How can the government ignore the fact that Taiwanese people have used a hyphen in their given name … for about 20 to 30 years?

No one has the right to arbitrarily decide what other people’s names should be. By the same token, Taiwan has every right to decide its proper names.

We should not give up autonomy over this as it is a representation of our sovereignty.

TT: What are your suggestions for the government?

Yu: Japan, where two different Romanization systems have been used since 1954, could serve as an example.

In 1954, Japan’s Cabinet announced a program including the Hepburn and the nippon-shiki [“Japan-style”] systems, under which the Hepburn Romanization system devised by an American is employed in overseas Japanese-language teaching materials, while the nippon-shiki system is used to transliterate local names and for domestic education.

Japan’s experience proves that the adoption of two Romanization systems does not hurt a country’s competitiveness. In addition, [there is] compatibility between the Tongyong and Hanyu Pinyin systems.

Fading Taiwan:

Premier Liu Chao-Shiuan (劉兆玄) refers the tradtional characters as “a living fossil.”

A decorated march in Taiwan, in protest against the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) anti-secession law (known to some as the "Anschluss edict").

What is the initial reaction?  Taiwan’s “national language,” being called: a fossil — even a living fossil.  Likewise, as we have seen with other Asian countries, ranging from earliest to latest: Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong…

The stage of events since President Ma’s inauguration is slowly decaying Taiwan and emerging what the Beijing capital is making us into: Chinese Taipei.

How do you feel, reading that the interviewed, Yu Bor-Chuan is placing the issue and question of whether we’re having to change our names first, and the issue of national identity, second.  WHO is this man, to decide for us – what do we, the Taiwanese people (in effect), have to say…??

In this change, this program of 2009 – 2012 (minimum), the President is spending millions of NT dollars in this effort.  Taiwan, to date has gone through three changes in the pinyin system. There are countless Taiwanese and Independence supporters, in fear of what this program may mold, specifically during the time of these 50 to 100 some odd years, when the Taiwanese identity has been in jeopardy.

At what cost, are we willing to make for internationalization?  Does it have to follow China’s model?

Lets hear the numbers:

10,000 jobs for part-time seekers and 150,000 jobs in all various categories!

Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou (L) counts shopping vouchers at a school near his residence in Taipei on January 18, 2009, while interior minister Liao Liao-yi (C) looked on January 18, 2009. Taiwan for the first time distributed multi-billion dollars worth of shopping coupons to its citizens to boost the economy being hammered by the severe global economic recession.

Wow, President Ma Ying-Jeou has accompanied the poor orphan children during the holidays, given shopping vouchers to the citizens, taken the liberty of handing out lucky-money in person on Chinese New Year’s morning in LongShan Temple, AND NOW is bold enough to release such numbers of available jobs!

And how!  Just in time!  So many post-holiday blues, even psychiatrists are contributing with a little pep to keep the public’s heads up.  Not to mention with the recent blow of: 46% white-collar workers were forced on unpaid leaves, who wouldn’t have the blues!  Especially with having to hand out oh-so-many “lucky money” yourself, be it that you are married, or working.

Before any one of you takes advantage on the over-whelming number given by government statistics, listen to THIS:  Taipei City is lending a public service to YOU, they are offering training courses for all you unemployed.  Read up and you will get a full view of all that’s mentioned here.  Congratulations, you lucky one.

Labourers resume working at a subway construction site in Taipei on February 2, 2009 after the Lunar New Year holidays. Taiwan will launch a four-year economic stimulus drive in a bid to create 150,000 new jobs and bring unemployment to below 4.5 percent this year, a government spokeswoman said.

The Deep Hole, The Other Numbers:

The white-collar workers were forced on unpaid leaves up to 10 days each month since October, 2009!  That is a huge deduction, one’s wage being reduced by 1/3 on average!  If you are this of whom we are mentioning, consider yourself lucky for not having been laid off!  There has been considerable cut-backs in numerous companies, others were forced to close down.  What were hundreds looking for employment, now are coming by the thousands!

Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) in late December of 2008, revealed a result of unpaid leave practice of a whopping 741,000 people working less than 35 hours a week in November, while increasing to 205,000 people over October’s total of 536,000.  December totaled in 549,000, the highest recorded since October, an increase of 4.64%!

Taiwanese addicted to video-gaming.

Who Brought the Psychiatrist?

First day back to work after the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday, has been stressful for all as a reminder which we do not want to go back to.  Many have fallen into a pattern of over-sleeping or going to bed later than usual due to stress, you may even have accompanies holiday activities with playing mahjong or video games, and consuming larger meals than on average.

We all know how hypnotizing watching TV while eating can be: we just opened the bag of chips and suddenly, what felt like two minutes, half an hour has passed and the bag is empty!  But I only ate a couple, how did this happen?!!  Yes, we are all too familiar with this situation, as it is a great stress reliever after a long hard day at work.

Such blues leave us with an overwhelming feeling of discomfort and inability to adapt our daily working routine so psychiatrists recommend activities that are easy and hold very small to no strain to the body or mind.

Doctor Jiang Han-Guang (江漢光), a psychiatrist at Shu-Tien Memorial Hospital offers an advice, “First, face the reality of having to go back to work, and tell yourself that the period between the holiday and going to work is a continuous process…  Prepare yourself emtoionally, for a new start.”

The doctor says that those fortunate with free time before returning to work could arrange for such leisure, outdoor activities or taking cat naps in the afternoon to increase energy and metabolism for a healthy, sound mind.  Preparation is easy and can well smooth-out our first day back in the office, whichever line of work you may be in.

Another psychiatrist, Tom Yang (楊聰財) of the Cardinal Tien Hospital, mentions how some may fall into the habit of drinking to fall asleep due to late-nights or stress from the workday.  The doctor advises against this, of course, saying that by doing so – will lead to waking up with more stress, such as a hang-over, and leave you worse off than before.

“Post-holiday syndrome will peak again one week after the first day back to work because for those who have suffered one week of insomnia, serious problems such as anxiety and depression may surface.  As a result, they have to go see the doctor for help by medication,”  says Yang.

A mainland Chinese woman married into a local family happily makes use at a supermarket of food stamps issued by the Kaohsiung City Government. She said the NT$1,000 worth of food purchased with the coupons will be enough to feed her family of eight for four to five days.

Get in Line!

As mentioned, the Taipei City Government is coordinating with local service industry in providing you with assured training courses for the unemployed, this according to Taipei City Mayor, Hau Lung-Bin.

At the Taipei Government’s Lunar Year reception, the Taipei Mayor complained that the government can no longer ignore the fact that the economy is on a downward spiral, bringing the country down with it as can be seen in the current state of unemployment rate.  It is a very scare thought, the future outcome if this keeps persisting the way it has.  Taipei is currently coordinating with labour-intensive companies, especially the service industries, to provide with training courses at reintroducing us to the workforce.  The City’s Bureau of Labour and Department of Social Welfare are all in open arms to provide assistance to those who may be left out, the low income families and unemployed.

Luck you!  But that’s not all!  No, you will also receive from the Taipei City Government, issued as of this coming March 1st, food vouchers once the social workers have finalized the selection process.  These new vouchers will finally relieve the lower income families as the idea has come in wake of a similar program implemented by the KaohSiung City Government earlier this year.

In an amazing show of display, Premier Su Jun-Pin bows in appology to the public for the 16% fuel prices hike. Liu, in the past May, anounced fuel price hikes of up to 16 percent by the island's key state-owned petrol firm to combat hoarders, as Asia grapples with soaring crude prices.

Government Wants YOU!

Yes, yes it is all true!  Officially announced February 1st – yesterday, the Executive Yuan spokesman himself, Su Jun-Pin has so confirmed.  President Ma’s promise to us all is AT LAST unfolding before our eyes, and just in due time!  The goal is to hold the annual jobless rate just below 4.5%, of course, this is statistics offered by all those who have claimed unemployment to the official government agencies.  We already see people jumping off buildings at 6%, I think we can all survive much better off at 4.5% as hoped for.

Su, who is as well the minister to the Governmemnt Information Office, is all to thank for.  He was the one with all the “inter-ministerial brainstorming session,” gathering at all available government resources to fionally come up with this amazing solution.  Indeed, the Executive Yuan deserve a huge applause.  No, not from the government, but from all of us: they are saving us!

The two-hour meeting held by Premier Liu Chao-Shiuan (劉兆玄), discussed over a few final decisions which includes: expanding public infrastructure construction budget, which has reached unanimous support.  So we know, through this, our real estate will not be harmed!  With so much of the government’s help, the cycle is truly round and all comes back to us.

Explanation on the numbers: of the new jobs, 120,000 to 140,000 openings are via the launch of public infrastructure construction projects while the public sector is adding another 20,000/+ service jobs.  Thank you, Minister-without-Portfolio, Tsai Hsung-Hsiung!

The construction projects will include sewer systems, urban rejuvenation, commercian zone facelifts and sidewalk improvement.  During the worst of times that we are in, Taiwan is making a huge step up and bringing all of us along with it.  Who is not proud to be Taiwanese today?

For all those fresh out of colleges or universities, you are not excluded!!  In response to Premier Lu’s concerns for all you beloved students, the Ministry of Education is offering to collaborate with priavte enterprises in arranging internship programs for you!

So what jobs are we looking for and who is all this help directed to?  Contstruction, Public Service, Real Estate, and all you College/University graduates.

In arrangement of representatives of Executive Yuan agencies, they gathered to ensure the vision outlined by President Ma could be effectively launch within executive plans and initiatives, thereby helping to meet the needs of Taiwan's citizens.

Shaking Hands:

We have overcome, as a nation, against the global financial crisis at last!

President Ma said that while it may have been “unfortunate” that the administration had to so bravely tackle-on the pressures of rising oil, electricity and commodity prices on top of like global economic downturn as their first day of work in May 2008, these challenges however, served as test of the government.  Indeed, it has taken a series of measures, meetings and time to find an answer.  It is not easy: in most presidential terms, promises usually take two years to forfill, especially in areas such as finances!!

“The efficacy of these measures is gradually emerging and even the foreign media has given a nod to our policies because we mitigated the external pressure by designing effective measures, which might help us to turn things around.”  Ma explains.

“The effects of the shopping voucher program might be short-term, but at least everyone was able to have a good Chinese New Year,” Ma said.

“The program was a humanitarian one and a response to public opinion.”

At last, proof that the President is keen in listening to our humanitarian needs and cries!!

91 percent of eligible citizens received their (minimum) NT$3, 600 (equivalent of USD $107) worth of vouchers last month, January 18th.  These vouchers are the result of an NTD $85.7 billion program, which is just an arm of the government’s economic stimulus package.

The presidents concludes with a cheer, “We should all applaud the Executive Yuan.”

A man sits outside a local government building in Taipei City, Taiwan with a large, spread paper with a written message in protest of the climate change.

On this Heaven or Hell Sunday, I choose heaven.

Im still coming off the high of HHHT Vol.2 on Friday night. I love how music can work people into an absolute frenzy. Im sure a touch of alcohol helps too(all you can drink??!!!) But once again the HHHT squad held it down LOVELY on the music tip. Once again y’all came out and partied like some fukkin rock stars. High heels and high tops we’re rocked once again.

Pics will be up this week, and word on Vol.3 will be coming very soon.
We got some great things in store for next year, so stay tuned.

Since i’m up so early, Nice and Smooth ‘Early to Rise’. A piece of heaven…

I’ve been meaning to give this to you guys for a minute.

Air Yeezy coming soon.

Remember Calculator watches???

Much like Bone Crusha, I aint neva scared!! But this scares me. Imagine this in the wrong hands. A piece of hell…

Ouch
CAP

entrance

Do you know Jay Chou has two restaurants in Taiwan under the name of Mr J.? You can find out more on Mr J.’s official website here. Rachel and I visited the one at Guangfu South Road (光复南路) in Taipei.

The restaurant is decorated with medieval style oil paintings of Jay Chou (周杰伦) and his good friends like lyricist, Vincent Fang (方文山) and Bullet (弹头). There are also many Jay Chou souvenirs and fringe products on offer at the reception, capitalising on the owner’s fame.

first storey restaurant view

second storey restaurant view

Giant Betty Boop statue that don't really fit in

Bullet (弹头)

Vincent Fang (方文山)

Giant Jay Chou oil painting

A close-up for the fans

Jay Chou stickers, postcards, figurines, etc

Mr J. poker cards

The precise address is as below:

No.43, Lane 308
Guangfu South Road, Da-an District
台北市光复南路308巷43号
Taipei City 106

Tel: (02)2731-2245

Remember to call and make a reservation before going down if it’s a weekend. Rachel and I went on a Saturday night with no reservation and were initially refused at the door as the restaurant was packed all the way till midnight. We were lucky that someone called to cancel their reservation as we were walking out of the door and a friendly staff called us back.

The menu

The items on the menu is an eclectic “Italian” cuisine fused with Chinese, Japanese and other Asian influences. We ordered a pasta each, complete with a salad, a custard desert and a iced milk tea each. The price was quite reasonable, and came up to less than S$50 for two.

Me, waiting for my food

salad

Iced milk tea

Farfalle Al Sugo Di Pollo

Spaghetti Mentaiko

Milky custard desert

Rachel with Betty

Overall, the food was of average quality – good, but nothing surprising or fantastic. I would guess most of the visitors went to dine there for novelty sake or are avid Jay Chou fans. During our visit, I noted that the tables around us were filled by Hong Kong tourists, gushing over every sighting of Jay Chou’s name or photo. I haven’t visited his other main Mr J. restaurant though – my colleague who went to both restaurants told me the other one is much better. I will go and try it the next time I go Taipei.

Technorati Tags: mr j, jay chou, vincent fang, fang wen shan, bullet, 周杰伦, 方文山, 弹头, 台北市光复南路308巷43号, guangfu south road, taipei city, jay chou restaurant, farfalle al sugo di pollo, spaghetti mentaiko, betty boop

byTeri Burgos-Gutierrez, CorporateTrainer

“Make happy those who are near and those who are far will come.”
- An old Chinese proverb

My husband and I quietly slipped out of the country last week to attend the World Wide Health Conference in Taipei City. My husband, Dr. Joel S. Gutierrez as the chairman of Dental Tourism of the Philippine Dental Association, represented the country and was among the presenters during the international convention.

Medical and Dental Tourism is now the main thrust of governments of various countries and it is high time that the Philippines plays a pivotal role in this advocacy.

It is worthwhile to note that our Asian neighbors like Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, India, Australia, the United States, and other countries have joined forces in making Medical and Dental Tourism a part of their agenda. Health care, wellness program, and medical-dental treatment must be within reach by everyone, rich and poor alike. Alongside these is the propagation of the Tourism Industry worldwide. Yes, Health and Tourism Industries can indeed go together!

Pressures in my own profession initially prevented me from joining. However, as luck may have it, my training schedule for last week was moved to a later date. Thus, with my newly acquired visitor’s visa and a small traveling bag in tow, off I flew with my husband and I’m sure glad I did!

We wasted no time upon arrival. After checking in at the hotel situated at the heart of the metropolis, we started walking through the streets of this city that never rests.  It was like walking in the park because of the fun and enjoyment you’ll feel moving from one busy street to the other. Department stores, big and small alike, are there to entice even the most reluctant shopper to buy. The restaurants, which are in great abundance, have an array of irresistible traditional food that even the most diet-conscious traveler will not attempt to refuse! Name it and they have it! They are simply delicious, affordable, and worth asking for more and more!

Career-driven Taiwanese

But most significantly, what I personally observed was the flock of people that come and go belonging to the different strata of the society. The Taiwanese people in general are career-driven, highly-disciplined, warm, and friendly.

My husband and I were able to meet a few dignitaries of this progressive country and they inspired us with their remarkable knowledge of Taiwan history and how it has evolved to be the country it is at present. They are firm believers in the strength of each and every Taiwanese in their quest for socio-economic progress and educational growth.

We also met the very young men and women organizers of the World Wide Health Conference whose love for work, commitment to their assigned duties, and responsibility to their respective tasks made the international meet a huge success.

Young students who walk through the streets at any given time seemed to realize at such a young age the importance of discipline and hard work. You don’t see anyone wandering aimlessly nor hanging around unnecessarily before and after school. You can see in their young faces a determined goal to take studying seriously and attaining their individual goals in no time at all.

Motorists and pedestrians seem to be in constant communication by way of solicitous observance of traffic rules and regulations. You’ll never be afraid crossing the streets of Taiwan even with thousands of motorbikes dominating even the main thoroughfare.

Communicative Skills

Perhaps what the people of Taiwan can continue to intensify is their fluency in the English language. It is interesting to note how they are truly trying to improve their English skills to efficiently communicate with tourists from different parts of the globe. As an active participant in the Training and the Book Writing Industries in the Philippines today, I can recommend the following:

• The publication and sale of more English books in Taiwanese bookstores
• The inclusion of more English courses in the curriculum
• The urgent need for conversational English training among service-oriented establishments like restaurants, department stores, beauty parlors, spa salons, and hotels
• The translation to English of signages found in places frequented by tourists

Taipei City

Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan, is an energetic and vibrant city of color and life. Taipei is one of the busiest cities in the region and has an urban condition of Manila, New York, and Tokyo proportions. However, the city is Taiwan’s commercial and entertainment centre, and Taipei is becoming a popular tourist city destination for its unique urban ambience. In fact, Taipei is one of the most impressive cities I’ve been to! It’s amazing to note the huge infrastructure, modern means of transportation, discipline of motorists in major roads, delectable food variety, and the warm people.

After the conference, my husband and I treated ourselves to a city tour together with tourists from India and Singapore. We went to must-see places like the National Palace Museum on the outskirts of the city that houses one of the world’s largest collections of ancient Chinese artifacts, calligraphy, paintings, and porcelain. The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is an impressive monument built in classical Chinese style.  The city tour gave us a glimpse of the heart and soul of Taiwan that will forever be etched in our hearts.

One important thing that I discovered during my very short stay in Taipei is that no matter how the Age of Globalization has modernized this city, it has continued to preserve the richness of its culture and the bounty of its history. The people may have been introduced to the borderless society, but have remained to be calm, serene, but ready and able to play an active role in the Global Village. Language barrier may still be predominant. However, with the intensive learning and use of the English language, I see all indications that this barrier will soon collapse and will build more bridges to connect Taiwan with the rest of the world!

“Those Who Are Far Will Come”

As for me, Taiwan has indeed touched my heart and the desire to go back is there. My husband and I experienced a unique kind of happiness during our short stay in this country. As what the Chinese proverb said, “Those who are far will come.” Sometime soon, I see myself and my husband packing our bags to once again feel this magnificent place’s beauty, grandeur, and the richness of its culture. Besides, it will take only 1 hour and 50 minutes by plane to do so, and upon landing, it would be nice for us to again say “Ni Hao, Taiwan.”

Taipei City flag via wikipedia

Yeah!

I am flying off today to Taipei city for the second time this year. I won’t be back till 14 August, 2008. Don’t miss me too much when I am gone.

Meanwhile, this blog will still be updated daily via archived entries.

Technorati Tags: taipei city, singapore, alvinology, holiday, taiwan, taipei, taipei city flag

Two salespeople from the company Cathy works for had to entertain a couple of their company’s customers in Taipei on Sunday. Through some unusual series of events Cathy and myself were roped into the task, too. Our free time was exchanged for free meals, various entrance tickets, and a ride home on the High Speed Rail as opposed to our usual luxurious choice: the Kuo-Kuang Bus Company [國光客運] . Our first destination was the National Palace Museum [國立故宮博物院]. Before strolling through the museum we ate lunch at the San-hsi t’ang Teahouse [三希堂], located on the fourth floor of the main exhibition hall.

The atmosphere is very relaxing while the prices and portions are what you would expect at a teahouse atop a museum. I was unimpressed with the wait staff as we had a table of three westerners and at a major tourist destination there wasn’t a single English-speaking server on staff. Even Macarroni Grill will send an English-speaking server to the table if it is one westerner in the company of several Taiwanese.

After the museum was a brief walk through its nearby Chih-shan Garden [至善園].

Everyone I was with was trying to walk through fast enough to save time to go to 101, so although the garden was very photogenic, I didn’t walk home with many shots.

Next up was a cab ride to 101, the view from the top hasn’t changed much since my previous visit, except this time with weather was lousy:

Taipei 101’s 730-ton tuned mass damper:

A huge rainbow formed over Xinyi District, I’m sure this would have looked great from the top of 101, but we were already in cabs on our way to Taipei Train Station.

The shot above was from inside the HSR while it was approaching Taichung Station. The picture was darkened a bit to not see so much dirt on the window or my faint reflection. Cathy took the picture below while we were in a cab escorting her company’s customers to their hotel.

As mentioned in the previous post, Petit Fancy 8 was held at National Taiwan University’s campus over the weekend, here is the picture heavy post that I promised. David Reid wrote a post about the event over the weekend, as did Darren Melrose on his new WP-powered blog. My anime phase passed after Cowboy Bebop aired on the Cartoon Network, so I have no idea who most of these characters are.

Rei Ayanami – Neon Genesis Evangelion

I got to the event early and I didn’t know where on campus it was taking place. Luckily, I was able to follow a young woman carrying a giant sickle from the MRT station to the event.

A couple from Ikki Tousen [Battle Vixens]

I was quite happy to find out that the picture of one of those Battle Vixens from the previous post was chosen by Joe Gray to be the Taiwan Photo of the Day. Thanks Joe!

The above picture begs the question: Did you carry that on the MRT?

While I was writing this post I discovered that Carrie Marshall featured the above photo on Taiwan Photographers. Thanks a lot Carrie!

Yuna – Final Fantasy X and X-2

Someone on flickr thought that these people took Naruto and did a dōjinshi out of it. I didn’t know what that was until I Google’d it… I guess I’m not very hip.

As I mentioned, I tried out Adobe Lightroom on this batch of photos. I’m quite impressed with the software so far. The flexibility you have with the program and shooting RAW is unbelievable. I’ve barely scratched the surface with Lightroom.

The photographers at this event acted quite a bit differently than photographers at the auto or computer shows. At this event, photographers thanked the cosplayers after photographing them and said, “excuse me” if they bumped into me while shooting.

The next event takes place on NTU’s campus on July 26th and 27th.

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting up with bloggers/photographers Craig Ferguson, David Reid, and Darren Melrose for the cosplay event Petit Fancy 8 held at National Taiwan University. The event also marked my first time shooting in RAW and right now I am trying to get used to using Adobe Lightroom as opposed to sorting and adjusting pictures in iPhoto.

I’ll have a longer post, with more pictures, in the next few days.

Once I arrived at the Yangmingshan Bus Terminal after a walk along a portion of the Jinbaoli Trail [金包里大道], I immediately scoured the food vendors for a lunch more suitable than the apples and 7-11 sandwiches I inhaled on the previous trail. After fried fish balls and some soup, I stood back in line to get back on the park bus. Yangmingshan’s park buses are tiny, there are always a lot of people much more deserving of a seat than I am, so each time I usually unnaturally contort my neck because of the low ceiling. It also doesn’t help that many of the bus drivers drive like maniacs.

After arriving at Erziping Station [二子坪站] and buying some extra snacks and water at the visitor center, I decided to follow the park ranger’s advice and take the road up to Mt. Datun’s main peak [大屯山主峰] and walk down the trail back to Erziping.

On a clear day there is allegedly a superb view from Mt. Datun of Taipei. I have no way to verify this because I was walking through a sea of clouds. At the peak of the mountain is the Navigation Station of the Civil Aviation Bureau [民航局導航站]. Here, one of its building is sitting in a veil of mystery:

Taking the path down from the main peak, I was naturally delighted to see a break in the clouds:

Some unusual leaf buds racing towards the sun:

The wooded areas had a lot of mosquitoes flying around. I applied bug repellent earlier, so none of them bothered me.

A sign pointing to Mt. Datun’s west peak warned hikers that it is a strenuous hike, maybe I’ll make time visit that one someday…

Before I knew it I had arrived at this very familiar park, Cathy’s grandfather took us here when I visited Taiwan for the first time:

View the large
I was photographing this Cherry Blossom [櫻花] when I looked towards one of the tall trees nearby and saw a Formosan Blue Magpie [台灣藍鵲 (Urocissa caerulea)] again…

The bird quickly flew down into the trees, I followed a small footpath into the woods it was hiding. A family of mountain stray dogs were barking relentlessly at me, but gradually they moved away. I was searching the trees to see where the bird flew to. Soon I spotted it as it flew overheard along with others in a flock of six.

Besides earlier that day when I saw one on the Jinbaoli Trail. This was only my second sighting in nature. The other time was when a friend was driving down Yangmingshan near Zhuzi Lake and I saw two flying near the road [In captivity saw one at the bird rehabilitation center in Zhishan].

Sure the photos didn’t come out nearly as good as Taiwan’s real bird photographers, but they’re the best I’ve taken to date.

One was immensely curious over a plastic bag that was on the ground. One of Taiwan’s endemic species, they can be found in the mountains at elevations of 300-1200m. They look quite interesting as they fly because of their long tails. When they walk on the ground their tails bounce up and down as they hop, their legs somewhat resembling kangaroos when they do this.

Early in the morning I checked the weather report: an 80% chance of light rain on Yangmingshan. I began plowing through online maps and information to find a suitable trail for the day. I ultimately settled on Jinbaoli Trail [金包里大道] using Jyuansih Waterfall [絹絲瀑布] as a starting point. The trail once served as an important link between Shilin [士林] and Jinshan [金山].

After riding Yangmingshan’s park bus [108] to Jyuansih Station, I set out on the trail. The beginning of the trail runs parallel to the Shanjhuhu watercourse [山豬湖圳]. Its construction during the Japanese occupation period changed the primary crops of the area from sweet potatoes and corn to rice.

On the bus ride to the trail I noticed that the upper-elevations of Yangmingshan National Park were cloaked in cloud cover. However, this section of the trail was completely clear.

The section of the trail before the waterfall runs parallel to Touhu Creek [頭湖溪]:

It wasn’t long before I made it to Jyuansih Waterfall:

I walked shortly past the area pictured below when someone behind me yelled to me asking if I lost a red umbrella… I did… I left it down by the waterfall. They didn’t pick it up because they didn’t know it was mine. Luckily I had only walked for about 5 minutes when that was brought to my attention.

I couldn’t resist another shot when I returned:

At this point, I was eating an especially unsatisfying peanut butter sandwich from 7-11… I looked up and saw a beautiful Formosan Blue Magpie [台灣藍鵲 (Urocissa caerulea)] sitting in one of the tree’s branches up ahead. By the time I held my camera to my eye it had already flown away, I tried to spot where it had flown to but it was long gone:

I was now at Cingtiangang [擎天崗], in the spring of 1934, the Japanese set-up a prefecture ranch. A few signs had warned of wild cows of the area, I was seeing a lot of hoof prints and droppings, but I didn’t see any Taiwan Water Buffaloes in the mists.

I walked the trails searching and searching… I came across people and stray dogs, but still no cows!

What’s that in the distance? Oh, it’s just a couple taking a nap under an umbrella:

View the large
I was a few yards from the visitor center when I finally saw one [or six]:

I was pretty far so I wouldn’t disturb them… the group pics didn’t come out so well.

I had originally planned to take the trail all the way to Bayan [八煙], but a sign stated that there wasn’t a bus stop at Bayan. I got back on the park bus at Cingtiangang and headed back to the Yangmingshan Bus Terminal.

DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh [謝長廷] and running mate Su Tseng-chang [蘇貞昌]

Yesterday evening I attending the rally at Zhongshan Stadium commemorating the 61st anniversary of the 228 Massacre. The atmosphere of the area was absolutely incredible. After I grabbed a few snacks and checked out the memorabilia tables I met up with bloggers Craig Ferguson and David Reid who were arriving from the event at Freedom Square. We walked around the packed stadium taking photos and talking to people.

After Craig left, David and I went back into the stadium to hear Su Tseng-chang and later Frank Hsieh speak. Their speeches were in Hoklo Taiwanese. Luckily, a kind couple sitting behind us provided a translation for a portion.

As the crowds thinned towards the end, we rushed the stage to get a closer view shortly before Hsieh and Su left. The event concluded with a wonderful performance by Amis aborigines.

Check out David’s post for his report on the day’s events. Also be sure to stop by Craig’s 2008 Presidential Elections Flickr set, David’s 228 in Taipei set, and my 228 Love and Trust Rally set.