GET OUTTA WAY!
GRANDMA'S MELONS ARE COMING THROUGH!!!!!
One of Taiwan's "delicacies" is the Bin Lang nut. It's basically something like the tobacco, but is a green nut with stuffings sandwiched within. It's extremely popular in Taiwan and is probably one of the most popular crops around. Unlike any mass produced popular food, the concept of "Branding" never happened with Bin Land nuts. People want fresh nuts, prepared just before they chew them, so naturally, no one wants to get pre-manufactured ones.
Therefore, there are plenty of Bin Lang stalls on the side of the roads all over Taiwan, the true "Stop & Go" style. These stalls are usually converted from containers and the staff simple sits in the "store" to prepare the nuts.
However, as you can imagine the level of competition in such business, stalls need to find ways to gain more attention. So they get young girls to dress up.... I mean, dress less, and convert the containers into glass display boxes. Yes, it definitely works, because it has caused accidents when horny drivers don't pay attention at the right places( well, in this case, I am also guilty because I was video taping them while driving ).
So for all of your conveniences, I here present my own little production:
So much for the less populated of Taiwan, it time to head to Taipei City. Unfortunately, I didn't take too many photos or videos, but here's a glimpse of Taipei's Mass Rapid Transit.
Also, the Taipei City Hall and the Taipei 101
Well, you cannot not visit the "West Gate Place"(Xi Men Ding) when you visit Taipei. This is where the hip hops. Teens rule this place, and a walk through the ally makes you feel old. It was Monday afternoon and wasn't very crowded, but the crowd gets pretty intimidating during weekends.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
More creepies
Right after Typhoon Sepat, I went to the trails to see who's up. The trail was covered with shrubs on some sections but still in pretty good shape. Interestingly, after the storm, everyone's back to work!
Most noticeably, the spiders were either busying mending their webs or eating their preys. The crickets were singing loud and the butterflies flying from flower to flower. Everyone was trying to recover from the storm, not by sobbing, but by re-energizing.
Spider tending to its newly caught prey
Lizard waiting
Cricket
Preying mantis
Most noticeably, the spiders were either busying mending their webs or eating their preys. The crickets were singing loud and the butterflies flying from flower to flower. Everyone was trying to recover from the storm, not by sobbing, but by re-energizing.
Spider tending to its newly caught prey
Lizard waiting
Cricket
Preying mantis
More from my grandparents town
Address of age
Rest Stop
It's the season again!
Grandma's little nursery
Here's a strange looking seed. It's called "Ling Jiao", which means "Horn", because its pod looks like a bull's horn.
The black seed pod grows on the bottom of a water plant that drifts on the water, which means its roots do not anchor to anything. Here's the plants and its flip-side
... and a baby seed pod
The plants are grown in a pond and the farmers will tour around the pond by little rafts to clean the plants of any pest. It's quite a job especially under such summer heat.
Lastly.... someone please pimp my ride!!!
Rest Stop
It's the season again!
Grandma's little nursery
Here's a strange looking seed. It's called "Ling Jiao", which means "Horn", because its pod looks like a bull's horn.
The black seed pod grows on the bottom of a water plant that drifts on the water, which means its roots do not anchor to anything. Here's the plants and its flip-side
... and a baby seed pod
The plants are grown in a pond and the farmers will tour around the pond by little rafts to clean the plants of any pest. It's quite a job especially under such summer heat.
Lastly.... someone please pimp my ride!!!
50 years of ice making
One of the most historic shops at my grandparents' town is a ice desert shop, run solely by an old grandma. People call her "Auntie Yan".
She's been running this very store ever for over 50 years, always by herself, and only by herself. She would end the day as late as how long her last customer would stay, and then start making the fruity ingredients after she closes the store. Everything is hand made here by her, including the traditional "tri-color ice stick" and her default recommendation, the "plain ice". However, this "plain" ice is by means not plain. It's flavored with homemade pineapple syrup and condensed milk.
My mom ordered the famous "Four-fruit ice". The 4 fruits are the dried straws of papaya, plum, cherry and.... I forgot what the last one is!!!
Homemade strawberry syrup!
Seems like time travel back into the olden days...
Auntie Yan's ice desert shop has appeared a few times on the media, and she's most proud of her ice making machines, as old as her shop. She was more eager than I was and reminded me to take photos of her machines. These are very durable and well-made Japanese machines that keep her refridgator cool at all times, for more than 50 years.
Ice shaving machine
Ice-stick molds
The mysterious ice sticks!
The last time I was there, I went with my aunt(mom's younger sister), and while we were having "plain ice", my aunt was chatting with Auntie Yan about the times when she was in elementary school and being her son's classmate. Sitting there, I felt that I was the one in the wrong section of time. This is what we would call living memory, but memory that doesn't belong to me, yet has now included me as a part of it.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Who?
So who is he?
Hmm... which version do you want to hear?
Longest: He's my mom's mother's younger sister's daughter's son.
Not as long: He's my grandma's younger sister's grand son.
Shortest: My second cousin.
My biggest achievement so far is to teach him words like "Ferrari", "BMW", "engine" and "wheel". He also knows "pee" and "poo", just in case.
My "grand uncle and grand aunt"
Life is complicated....
Super Typhoon "Sepat"
The news said it has sustained wind of 191kmh and will bring 1000mm of rainfall to certain parts of Taiwan. I guess the mountains around us did its job because we didn't really feel that much force.
Nonetheless, because of the surrounding mountains that act as shields, we never really feel any typhoon no matter how strong it is, so we are lucky. However, it's still better to stay at home.
That night, I found this metal cover for the street lamp post on the ground... finder's keeper!
The typhoon didn't stay for long and by night, it was all quiet again.
Nobody closes for the typhoon, including my favourite Hot Pot restaurant.
The Hood Part II
As mentioned earlier, I pretty much live on the mountain. These mountains are not high at all, perhaps about 200~300 meters at the very most. I am guessing that where I am, it's about 150m in height. Just about 10min drive from my place, deeper into the mountains, is a series of hiking trails that links the mountain basin together. So you can technically walk around Taipei if you want. I like to take a short hike on this trail that isn't very populated. It's one of the very few places in Taipei area that is still packed with wildlife. By wildlife, there isn't many variety of animals here, but mostly insects and plants. Like CD sized spiders with webs spanning between trees, butterflies, mountain crabs and so on.
Here's a good way to show you what I mean by "basin". You can see from the video, Taipei 101(the second tallest building now) sits on the east side of Taipei city, surrounded by mountains.
.... and here's on another part of the trail, where you can see Taipei county.
Some creatures along the way.
Grasshopper
Caterpillar
Spider
The woods
and a crab....
Here's a good way to show you what I mean by "basin". You can see from the video, Taipei 101(the second tallest building now) sits on the east side of Taipei city, surrounded by mountains.
.... and here's on another part of the trail, where you can see Taipei county.
Some creatures along the way.
Grasshopper
Caterpillar
Spider
The woods
and a crab....
Let me show ya da hood!
Taipei sits in a "basin" landscape, which means it's surrounded by mountains in a circle with an opening to the sea on the west side. This is good and bad. The mountains protects Taipei from most typhoons. However, it also prevents air currents from dispersing Taipei's polluted air. So, Taipei's air is always hazy, from the humidity and from the pollutants.
Since Taiwan sits right on an Earthquake belt, Taipei is also in the danger zone. It is said that the mountain basin landscape may create a reflected ripple effect if an Earthquake were to happen right in Taipei. Just imagine dipping your finger in a bucket of water. The water ripples reflects back to the center after hitting the wall and continues till the energy is dispersed. This is definitely not good.
Anyways, Taipei City is the capital. It is surrounded by the larger Taipei county, which is the highest populated county in Taiwan. I live on the south east end of Taipei county, right on one of the surrounding mountains. Therefore, we don't get affected very much by typhoon winds or floods. However, it does take a car or a scooter to get "out" since we are in a packed old industrial area. Here's my route to the outside world:
The nature of Chinese that often merges the family with business means that very often, a family will set up their business right at where they live, therefore, residential and business areas are merged in Taiwan except for the rich people of course.
In some streets, for some unknown reason, people just come and set up stalls all over and before you know it, it has become a market place. Here's one "traditional" market place near my place.
The proper term for traditional markets is "Wet Market". Although supermarkets are popular too, many people still prefer to get their fresh produces from the wet markets.
These videos are taken at "off-peak" hours. It's really crowded just an hour earlier, especially being the day before a typhoon arrives. People usually go crazy when a typhoon comes, because fresh produce prices rockets right after the storm. Still, price has already being raised, which doesn't stop people from stocking up their "food reserve'.
Scooters are the major mode of transport in Taiwan. It's compact, convenient and cheap to maintain. It have, however, contributed to much of the air pollution. Scooter riders are also often mad road users, with little regard for safety, since if a car were to hit them, it's always the driver's fault.
So away from this busy street are even smaller ones among the residential apartments. These are often packed high rises built very closely to one and other. Theft rate is high is Taiwan, so people tend to barricade their windows and balconies, which often prevents rescue efforts in case of fire. It also makes Taiwan look like a country of prisons.
Now getting on to the major streets. Still very chaotic as you can see, but we make order out of chaos.
Taipei City, being the capital, is much more orderly and pleasant looking. It's less industrialized and more commercialized, where most of the finance takes place. No photos of videos on that though.
Since Taiwan sits right on an Earthquake belt, Taipei is also in the danger zone. It is said that the mountain basin landscape may create a reflected ripple effect if an Earthquake were to happen right in Taipei. Just imagine dipping your finger in a bucket of water. The water ripples reflects back to the center after hitting the wall and continues till the energy is dispersed. This is definitely not good.
Anyways, Taipei City is the capital. It is surrounded by the larger Taipei county, which is the highest populated county in Taiwan. I live on the south east end of Taipei county, right on one of the surrounding mountains. Therefore, we don't get affected very much by typhoon winds or floods. However, it does take a car or a scooter to get "out" since we are in a packed old industrial area. Here's my route to the outside world:
The nature of Chinese that often merges the family with business means that very often, a family will set up their business right at where they live, therefore, residential and business areas are merged in Taiwan except for the rich people of course.
In some streets, for some unknown reason, people just come and set up stalls all over and before you know it, it has become a market place. Here's one "traditional" market place near my place.
The proper term for traditional markets is "Wet Market". Although supermarkets are popular too, many people still prefer to get their fresh produces from the wet markets.
These videos are taken at "off-peak" hours. It's really crowded just an hour earlier, especially being the day before a typhoon arrives. People usually go crazy when a typhoon comes, because fresh produce prices rockets right after the storm. Still, price has already being raised, which doesn't stop people from stocking up their "food reserve'.
Scooters are the major mode of transport in Taiwan. It's compact, convenient and cheap to maintain. It have, however, contributed to much of the air pollution. Scooter riders are also often mad road users, with little regard for safety, since if a car were to hit them, it's always the driver's fault.
So away from this busy street are even smaller ones among the residential apartments. These are often packed high rises built very closely to one and other. Theft rate is high is Taiwan, so people tend to barricade their windows and balconies, which often prevents rescue efforts in case of fire. It also makes Taiwan look like a country of prisons.
Now getting on to the major streets. Still very chaotic as you can see, but we make order out of chaos.
Taipei City, being the capital, is much more orderly and pleasant looking. It's less industrialized and more commercialized, where most of the finance takes place. No photos of videos on that though.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Pull-Pull Mountain 拉拉山
"Pull-Pull", not poo-poo!
A week after the trip to my grandparents' place, we went to "Pull-pull" Mountain for a one night trip. It's only about 2+hours from Taipei, and right in the middle of the mountain chains of northern Taiwan.
Why is it called "Pull-pull"? Well, "pull" isn't exactly the right translation. Here's how it goes:
In Chinese, it's "La-La-Mountain". The word "La" means pull. However, it also means holding hands, which is used in this case. Therefore, "La-La Mountain" is actually "Holding hands Mountain". Reason being, before this place was developed, in the past when the locals come here to gather food, they had to stay on the trail steep slopes by holding each others' hands. So this is how it was named.
The town is literally built on the ridge of the mountain, so either way, it's a long way down. The altitude of the town is about 1500m I guess, so it's not exactly the highest place around.
Here's a view of the town:
Here's the road(the only one anyways) that we took to get here.
Sun sets on the other side of the ridge, so here's a shot of the light creeping through the valley.
A bridge at the bottom of the valley.
So Pull-pull Mt is famous for its peaches, which is limited to the summer only, between June and July. We went there at the very end of the season, so most of the peach farms are closed to tourists. The venders do sell a lot of peaches on the streets. However, they aren't grown locally, which is what most people come here for.
We also made the decision for the trip too late. Most of the hotel rooms were already booked. We got our room because someone else decided to back out.
So that night, we drove even higher and deeper into the mountain to one of the farms that we wanted to visit, just to try our luck since there wasn't anything else to do up there, and it had an outdoor cafe opened for business!
From the cafe, we had an excellent view of the town, so i am guessing we must be about 1700m in altitude.
here's a view of the town. Notice that the town literally sits along the ridge of that mountain, and glows like a dragon with the lights in the clouds.
After the owner boasted to us how good his tea is(he researched and planted it himself), we headed back to the car when I noticed the stars. So here are 2 long exposure shots for you all!
The second shot was taken just a few hours after the sun went down. So after 10 minutes of exposure, you can catch the stars, the clouds and the sunset that really isn't there anymore.
Another thing that this place is famous for is, like most other high altitude tourist spots, really old trees. We visited a national park where a trail took us for a 2 hour hike, on which stands some 20+ really old and big trees. These trees are anywhere between 1500 to 2800 years old.
"Wrinkles"
The walk:
The Two Thousand Eight Hundred Years Old Tree
Another tree..... but I was actually more interested in that snail crawling on the railing.
The hike, was mentioned, was 2 hours long and was supposed to take us to a 1600m spot. Yes it did, but didn't lived up to my sister's hype, who thought it must be a high point where we can see the entire landscape. Nope, it was just a smelly little hut and a bad excuse to be a destination, so no pic for that.
Still, it was a rewarding morning hike!
Next, we went to a peach farm that still has one last peach tree to our abuse. My sister insisted that she wants to have picture of her stealing the peaches from the tree, so....
The owner began by explaining to us the difference between La-La Mt peach and Japanese and Chinese and blah blah. Apparently, the slightest difference in altitude, humidity, climate will result in different fragrance, taste, texture, juiciness blah blah... I just wanted the peach!
The entire farm is under a big net to protect the fruits from air borne pests as well as from rain and strong winds.
All of the fruits are wrapped in paper bags for protection until they are ready to be harvested. Precious!
PEEEEEEACH!!!
Other than peaches, the next fruit to be harvested is the pear... close, but not yet!
The farm has an awesome view too!
So we took a few peaches from the tree, with skill, and bought the rest that were already taken from the tree by the professionals professionally. I have to say we did just as good of a job to keep the peaches from being damaged.
At the exit were some cats, possibly a family, that probably are already sick of eating these expensive peaches.
and butterflies too
Lunch next....
we decided to have something simple, so we bought bamboo rice... (seasoned rice cooked in a bamboo section).
and the ants decided that they want a share too...
So that was the end of the trip..... but wait! Here's the time to admire my awesome mountain rallying skill. Zipping through the mountain pass that sits on steep cliffs with one hand video taping is no monkey business. It takes SKILLZ!
WATCH AND LEARN, KID! But DO NOT attempt this at home/on the road!
Through the town:
Nice scenery, but gotta keep your eyes on the road!
This is the kind of road I belong to!!!
My mom and sister saying how awesome my driving is.... no, not really.
Oh, and see how I handle traffic!
This is how you do it!
A stupid bus trying to get through. Vehicles like this really shouldn't be on roads like these. But hey, bus drivers like these deserves a thumbs up!
Before leaving this place, we visited that very bridge that we saw on top of the ridge. Here's a 360 for ya!
Last but not the least, this husky pup wants to show off...
Please do visit the photo and video gallery here!
A week after the trip to my grandparents' place, we went to "Pull-pull" Mountain for a one night trip. It's only about 2+hours from Taipei, and right in the middle of the mountain chains of northern Taiwan.
Why is it called "Pull-pull"? Well, "pull" isn't exactly the right translation. Here's how it goes:
In Chinese, it's "La-La-Mountain". The word "La" means pull. However, it also means holding hands, which is used in this case. Therefore, "La-La Mountain" is actually "Holding hands Mountain". Reason being, before this place was developed, in the past when the locals come here to gather food, they had to stay on the trail steep slopes by holding each others' hands. So this is how it was named.
The town is literally built on the ridge of the mountain, so either way, it's a long way down. The altitude of the town is about 1500m I guess, so it's not exactly the highest place around.
Here's a view of the town:
Here's the road(the only one anyways) that we took to get here.
Sun sets on the other side of the ridge, so here's a shot of the light creeping through the valley.
A bridge at the bottom of the valley.
So Pull-pull Mt is famous for its peaches, which is limited to the summer only, between June and July. We went there at the very end of the season, so most of the peach farms are closed to tourists. The venders do sell a lot of peaches on the streets. However, they aren't grown locally, which is what most people come here for.
We also made the decision for the trip too late. Most of the hotel rooms were already booked. We got our room because someone else decided to back out.
So that night, we drove even higher and deeper into the mountain to one of the farms that we wanted to visit, just to try our luck since there wasn't anything else to do up there, and it had an outdoor cafe opened for business!
From the cafe, we had an excellent view of the town, so i am guessing we must be about 1700m in altitude.
here's a view of the town. Notice that the town literally sits along the ridge of that mountain, and glows like a dragon with the lights in the clouds.
After the owner boasted to us how good his tea is(he researched and planted it himself), we headed back to the car when I noticed the stars. So here are 2 long exposure shots for you all!
The second shot was taken just a few hours after the sun went down. So after 10 minutes of exposure, you can catch the stars, the clouds and the sunset that really isn't there anymore.
Another thing that this place is famous for is, like most other high altitude tourist spots, really old trees. We visited a national park where a trail took us for a 2 hour hike, on which stands some 20+ really old and big trees. These trees are anywhere between 1500 to 2800 years old.
"Wrinkles"
The walk:
The Two Thousand Eight Hundred Years Old Tree
Another tree..... but I was actually more interested in that snail crawling on the railing.
The hike, was mentioned, was 2 hours long and was supposed to take us to a 1600m spot. Yes it did, but didn't lived up to my sister's hype, who thought it must be a high point where we can see the entire landscape. Nope, it was just a smelly little hut and a bad excuse to be a destination, so no pic for that.
Still, it was a rewarding morning hike!
Next, we went to a peach farm that still has one last peach tree to our abuse. My sister insisted that she wants to have picture of her stealing the peaches from the tree, so....
The owner began by explaining to us the difference between La-La Mt peach and Japanese and Chinese and blah blah. Apparently, the slightest difference in altitude, humidity, climate will result in different fragrance, taste, texture, juiciness blah blah... I just wanted the peach!
The entire farm is under a big net to protect the fruits from air borne pests as well as from rain and strong winds.
All of the fruits are wrapped in paper bags for protection until they are ready to be harvested. Precious!
PEEEEEEACH!!!
Other than peaches, the next fruit to be harvested is the pear... close, but not yet!
The farm has an awesome view too!
So we took a few peaches from the tree, with skill, and bought the rest that were already taken from the tree by the professionals professionally. I have to say we did just as good of a job to keep the peaches from being damaged.
At the exit were some cats, possibly a family, that probably are already sick of eating these expensive peaches.
and butterflies too
Lunch next....
we decided to have something simple, so we bought bamboo rice... (seasoned rice cooked in a bamboo section).
and the ants decided that they want a share too...
So that was the end of the trip..... but wait! Here's the time to admire my awesome mountain rallying skill. Zipping through the mountain pass that sits on steep cliffs with one hand video taping is no monkey business. It takes SKILLZ!
WATCH AND LEARN, KID! But DO NOT attempt this at home/on the road!
Through the town:
Nice scenery, but gotta keep your eyes on the road!
This is the kind of road I belong to!!!
My mom and sister saying how awesome my driving is.... no, not really.
Oh, and see how I handle traffic!
This is how you do it!
A stupid bus trying to get through. Vehicles like this really shouldn't be on roads like these. But hey, bus drivers like these deserves a thumbs up!
Before leaving this place, we visited that very bridge that we saw on top of the ridge. Here's a 360 for ya!
Last but not the least, this husky pup wants to show off...
Please do visit the photo and video gallery here!
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