(One of) the most handsome guy(s) in my mind

My favourite female star is Madonna, and male star Kimura Takuya (from Japan.) That day Andy and I were walking on the street, and in front of a video shop I saw Kimura’s poster on the wall! I was so surprised that I screamed. The owner of the shop- a middle-aged man- showed up: “Do you like it? Let me see if there are any left.”

He went back to the shop but showed up again 5 minutes later with empty hands: “Too bad there is none left. This movie was released last year and we got a lot of posters as gifts for people who bought the DVD. This is the last one we have, and please take picture if you like.”

So I got the Kimura’s poster in my own version. I kept looking at his beautiful face, and found his profile is as seductively charming as a woman. Andy "denounced": “You shouldn’t be so obsessed.” But who can deny such a face? Kimura has been the top idol in Japan for more than 15 years!

My night snack

I eat a lot while staying in Taiwan, probably because I haven’t seen the “paradise of food” for a long time. At the same time, Taiwanese restaurants are so hard-working that they open until midnight, so I can always find a restaurant around the corner serving inexpensive but delicious food. So although taking too much night snack is not good for the health I’ve done it quite a lot. Just within a walking distance there is a restaurant serving Chinese-style light food: soya milk, rice milk, omelet and rice burger. It looks like too much for night snack, but I’ve never been too full while enjoying them.

The night snack wrapped with a piece of white paper.


Revealed!
My night snack is a rice burger covered with an omelet.


Sweet rice milk.

Looking for Ramen

I love Ramen, but too bad in Montreal although we got a lot of great European food, there are not many restaurants making delicious soup and noodle. I guess this situation results from the small number – 60,000 - of East Asian immigrants. My coach at the driving class is from Shanghai, and he said: “Ramen here is like a joke.”

So on the first day of my arrival in Taiwan when Amanda asked me what kind of food I’d like to have for lunch I answered right away: “Ramen!” She kindly drove me to the Xinyi district--a rapidly developing commercial area of Taipei city--and introduced me a new Ramen place. The owner had learned how to make Ramen in Japan for more than 10 years. I enjoyed my seafood Ramen and felt so satisfied. The noodle is so chewy, the soup is so creamy, and the smell is so nostalgic!

I’ve been in Taiwan for 2 months and have tried a lot of good food here; meanwhile, I stopped myself from taking European/western food and decided to wait until getting back to Montreal. Taiwan and Montreal both got unique and nice taste in food, and I should cherish its local specialty!

Roxy 99

I haven’t seen one of my best friends, Thomas, in Taiwan for years. Last weekend he called me “do you want to go to a ‘night shop (Ye Dian)’?” Of course! A night shop doesn’t mean a shop open until very late, since all shops open until very late in Taiwan; instead, it means a club or a pub. I guess this is a new term which was invented recently.

So Thomas and I had dinner together, but we kept talking and forgot the time. When we realized it’s already 12:00 I said since I stay in my friend’s place it’s not very nice to go back late, can we go to a cheaper place and I’ll leave before 2:00? He answered :“Ok, then let’s go to a ‘secondary mortgage’.” Roxy 99 is called “secondary” by him because in addition to the cheaper admission (approximately 11 CDN), people go there are not as fancy as those who go to a “primary mortgage (charging 20 CDN or more)”.

We had a good time in the secondary mortgage! Roxy 99 has been actually in the market for decades, and I still remember I often visited it when I was in Taiwan. Now its space has changed into a club style and better for dancing. There were a lot of people, and everyone was dancing and drinking. The DJ is good. He divided the music into several sections including techno, rock n’ roll, hip-hop and Latino. We heard Madonna's "4 Minutes" and got excited. I looked at Thomas dancing and said “I look like a man when dancing with you!”

Roxy 99

Everybody was dancing, including the dressed-up old gentleman.

The most relaxing moment of a day

In Taipei I stay in my friend’s place. This is a comfortable and quiet room; however, I can’t work while staying here because there are a big bed and a big TV, and I can’t stop myself from being lazy. Hence I force myself to go to the library or my friend’s office to work when I need to transcribe the result of the interviews.

After a productive day, I went to the market near to the dorm to have a nice dinner, and then I came back to the room. I first of all take a shower to wash away all the sweats and dust. After that I sit on the bed watching TV and drinking tasty plum wine. After all I found American, Japanese and Korean shows more interesting than local ones. Local Taiwanese TV shows seem not to care about the time and allow all the talents say whatever they want. This is the most relaxing moment of a day. The harder I try to work during the day, the better I feel when I stay in the room.

HBO in Taiwan got Chinese subtitles

The plum wine I bought in the supermarket of SOGO department store.
Plum wine is sweet but strong, and it’s my favourite type of wine.

Kitty is everywhere

I love cats, and I love pink, so no wonder I love Hello Kitty. Long time ago I walked my beloved cat Akan in NDG, Montreal, with a Hello Kitty leash, and the guy I ran into on the pavement said: “Is he a boy? Then he will get problems of gender identity!” Indeed, most of the time Hello Kitty’s fans are girls/women. Taipei, of course, got a lot of Hello Kitty stores. I have enough Kitty stuff, and whenever going to the stores I feel like having more!

Hello Kitty coffee shop (authorized by Sanrio)
in the Eastern district of Taipei.

You can change your car into a Hello Kitty car!

Cheese in the shape of Hello Kitty!

To the sea: facing the Taiwan Strait

After my interviews with a couple of informants, my friend Zeng drove me to Qijin –a small island outside of the harbor-. Disappointingly, the island is not as lively as when I visited long time ago. Zeng was curious, too: where did people go? The main street of Qijin is so quiet; only a few shops are open, and we drove back and forth and finally found one restaurant. Qijin is a famous tourist spot in Taiwan, and there are two possible reasons which make this island so quiet. First, the day we went there is not a holiday so there weren’t many people, but everywhere in Taiwan is always crowded so that’s not a good reason. It inevitably brings me to the second possibility: the island doesn’t work hard enough to improve itself and can’t attract tourists anymore. I’m still investigating the reasons, but if the assumption is true, it’s kind of sad, but a lot of cities and spots in the world are sharing this kind of experiences. A city is to some extent like a person: only working hard gives us rice to eat!

The tunnel cross the sea to Qijin

The harbor

The Kaohsiung Seaport

Looking at Kaohsiung from Qijin

The seafood we had (from the top):
miso fish soup, fried oysters, sashimi, fish head and squid

Trip to the South: Kaohsiung

I visited Kaohsiung last week for my fieldwork. Kaohsiung is the second largest city in Taiwan, and as a harbour city it got very different personality from Taipei. For example, it got a lot of beautiful boulevards and huge buildings, but at the same time people don’t seem to care about the rules and drive super fast, and pedestrians J walk everywhere. However, this city is energetic, which means a lot of cultural festivals have been launched, and new shopping malls and office buildings have been built up recently. It’s been 6 years since I visited the city last time, and I was very excited.

Boulevards in Kaohsiung

The new shopping mall: its advertisement can be seen recently on TV

Banners hung on the wall of the Taipower (the power-provider monopoly in Taiwan): local residents argue against the pollution

Way down to Xinzhu

For my fieldwork I went to Xinzhu last week. Transportation system in Taiwan is convenient. In addition to buses and airplanes, I can choose trains or the High-Speed Rail. When I arrived in the Taipei train station, the clerk asked me “do you want to take ‘Local Express’?” I don’t know what “Local Express” is, but it sounds interesting so I got the ticket and took the train right away.

“Local Express” means the train goes through different regions in certain area; for example, the train I took goes south until central Taiwan and stops at every city on the way. After the train took off, I was like having a regional tour, and saw different cities and towns passing by outside the window. The trip took 1 and half hours, and I stopped at the Xinzhu train station, which is an architecture built during the Japanese Occupation period (1895-1945.) Nowadays many cities in Taiwan still maintain the old train stations as cultural heritage. However, some cities, such as Taipei, admits that the old train station is not big enough and thus built a new one.

Xinzhu is an “IT city”, which means a lot of IT companies are located here, and I heard that the income of its residents is one of the highest in Taiwan. However, for my fieldwork I went to its old downtown and visited some temples, and thus didn’t see anything high-tech. The city guard temple in Xinzhu is beautiful. There is a square in front of the temple, and so many vendors sell delicious food. Small streets, small shops, and street vendors remind me of my early days in Taiwan.

The Xinzhu train station

The platform at Xinzhu station

Local Express

Inside the Local Express

Joy in the Taipei Metro

I keep asking myself to enjoy good things about Taiwan and make it a nice stay. A lot of people might agree that these could include food, shopping and transportation.


I like the Taipei Metro a lot, and indeed, a lot of people call it “the most civilized place in Taipei.” First, it’s clean since there is always someone doing cleaning in the train. Second, it’s organized since people queue to get in the train. Third, it’s considerate since now with the new automatic sensors at the entrance of each station we don’t need to “dig in” our bags to find the pass anymore. Fourth, it’s punctual and comes very often, and there is always a timer telling when the next train will come. Fifth, it’s convenient since the train goes to everywhere in Taipei including suburbs.


Yesterday while changing trains at the station Zhongxiao Fuxing I saw a huge photo of my sister Joy, and thus got super surprised: “She is here because I miss everybody so much?” No, I was kidding. That girl is Namie Amuro, a famous Japanese star who has been popular for more than 15 years. Some people said Joy looks like her, and since then she has taken it for granted. Namie came to Taiwan a couple of times but too bad Joy always missed it. Hahahahah, do you like the photo of yourself?

I’ll remember to get some nice dresses for my sister before going back to Montreal. Just like the Metro, shopping is another wonderful thing about Taipei!