Taiwan Blog Feed

Tthe Liberty Times today ran an article (Chinese) about the result of Taiwan Railway Administration's preliminary evaluation of the experiment with allowing bicycles and pets on trains that began on July 1. The article says that pets and bicycles will be allowed in separate, designated cars on all trains, including the ones where it is not allowed according to the current experiment, ie the express trains where you need a ticket for the specified departure time (對號車, ie, Ziqiang, Juguang, Fuxing as opposed to other trains (區間車), where you can buy a ticket that doesn't specify the departure time, 非對號車).

The way they plan to do this is to add an extra car to the express trains. In addition, the TRA is considering whether it should allow non-reserved seating in those cars, although express trains currently always require a reserved seat.

T he article only talks about folding bikes, and doesn't mention whether they have to be bagged or not, but I'm guessing that this is laziness on the reporter's part, since any other bike, bagged, seems to be included in the ongoing experiment. Anyway, I for one would argue that my bike is foldable since the wheels are off and it's in a bag. We'll just have to wait for some more info before we know for certain.

The given reason for using separate cars for pets and bikes is that some people have gone to the extreme of actually suing the TRA for allowing pets on trains.

The boss of TRA's Mechanical Engineering Department says it will take some time to modify Juguang train cars to fit these new regulations, but that Ziqiang cars should be ready for use by October, which apparently is the date for implementation of these new regulations, although no specific date is given in the article.

Technorati tags: Taiwan, Taipei, biking in Taipei, biking, biking tours, cycling

Swedish blogs about: Taiwan, Taipei och biking

A magical travel moment:  A pure beam of white light appeared before our eyes in the dim darkness of Hang Sung Sot, a vast mountain cave that winds its way through a few immense chambers before exiting out onto a narrow walkway that lends an unprecedented view of Halong Bay.

Hang Song Sot (Surprising Cave) in Halong Bay, Vietnam lives up to its name of being the biggest, the most popular and most beautiful cave system to wander through in Vietnam.  We rented a private junk boat to explore Halong Bay’s limestone islands, which are studded with caves.  Most of these caves are accessible by charter or tour boat.

A magical travel moment:  A pure beam of white light appeared before our eyes in the dim darkness of Hang Sung Sot, a vast mountain cave that winds its way through a few immense chambers before exiting out onto a narrow walkway that lends an unprecedented view of Halong Bay.

Hang Song Sot (Surprising Cave) in Halong Bay, Vietnam lives up to its name of being the biggest, the most popular and most beautiful cave system to wander through in Vietnam.  We rented a private junk boat to explore Halong Bay’s limestone islands, which are studded with caves.  Most of these caves are accessible by charter or tour boat.

I found a new service (thanks to my RSS reader) for people like me who take a lot of photos and are looking for new ideas and ways to use them. Photosynth creates a 3D model of the subject based on uploaded photos. Photosyth goes way beyond the idea of a panorama and really does give the viewer a feeling like they are viewing the actual subject.  Installing the program will also install a brower plug-in for viewing the output, called a “synth.”

Here’s more from Microsoft:

“An Entirely New Medium

Synths constitute an entirely new visual medium. Photosynth analyzes each photo for similarities to the others, and uses that data to estimate where a photo was taken. It then re-creates the environment and uses that as a canvas on which to display the photos. The potential uses of Photosynth can range from sharing experiences to storytelling and documentation.”

You may view my synths here.

For people like me who take a lot of photos of the same subject, but from different angles and perspectives, this is a perfect application to gather all those photos together for maximum effect.  Another great thing about Photosynth is that you can embed the synths into websites:

If you enjoy photography, why not give Photosynth a try?

I'll be in Taiwan for two weeks during the Christmas holiday. I would like to have access to a cell phone during my trip to contact my friends who live there. Is there a service that will lease a cell phone for two weeks?

Another little gem from some restaurant. King's Soce Ketchup.



It was, apparently, supposed to be "King's Sauce" but either through bad spelling, bad luck, or bad software, it ended up as "Soce."

I found something pretty interesting in a newspaper the other day. It's a pink sheet with a picture of Buddha and several lottery numbers on it.



Apparently it comes everyday in the paper (China Post, I think) and is placed there, either by Buddhist monks (unlikely) or probably by the lottery ticket companies who want to increase their fortunes.

Lotteries are pretty popular in Taiwan. There are Taiwan Lottery Stores (like the Powerball) pretty everywhere, like 7-11. You can also see people selling lottery tickets in random places, like outside the Post Office, outside Chunghwa Telecom, at the nightmarket, etc.

On this particular paper, you've got lottery numbers for every occasion. The Top left is the date (August 14, Year 97) in Taiwanese years. Below that you have 6 numbers if you should need them. The big 06 is for when you only need 1 number, etc. I asked Miss Expatriate, but even she wasn't familiar enough with it to tell me what all the different numbers are for. At any rate, I thought it was pretty interesting since I'd been living here a year and never even seen one of these before.

兒童版 大人版 在 Sesame Street Podcast (videocast) 上面發現的。她的聲音真好聽。

President, mofo!

The BBC still refuses to call Taiwan's elected leaders "president" in their headlines:

Huge rally against Taiwan leader

I was there, and I agree that it was huge:


See a bird's-eye view of this location in this article
(Click thumbnail to enlarge)
But the caption beneath the BBC video on that page contains this serious underestimation:

Thousands of opposition supporters have taken to the streets [...]

"Thousands," as in "somewhere between 2,000 and 20,000? The speakers onstage at the event said that there were 300,000 people there, which -- even if it was 50% too high -- would mean the BBC is off by a factor of 100! The BBC should have said "hundreds of thousands."

Here she comes again
Hack BBC reporter Caroline Gluck gets the byline on an article with the same president-less headline in which she repeats the numerical disparagement and writes the following rubbish:

The protesters said he [Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)] was moving too quickly to improve ties with Beijing.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, although they have been governed separately since 1949.

[...]

The president's office did not comment on the rally, but officials from the governing Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) said the public should not blame the current administration for the island's economic woes but the previous one, which held office for eight years.

They said the public should be protesting against Taiwan's former President, Chen Shui-bian, and his family, who are being investigated over fresh allegations of money laundering involving millions of dollars.

Who needs facts or evidence when you have Caroline Gluck? Let's dump that rubbish out in the sunshine where it can be examined more easily, shall we?

What dictionary are you using?
The protest wasn't about "improv[ing] ties" with Beijing. The protesters know far better than Gluck that the kind of "ties" that Ma wants to have with Beijing go far beyond economic ones and will only result in Taiwan's absorption by an authoritarian government that has no right to rule Taiwan.


These guys know clearly what Gluck fails to tell readers
(Click to enlarge)
There's also a big piece that Gluck left out about the Ma government brushing off China's multiple uses of the offensive and absolutely incorrect name "China, Taiwan" (中國台灣).

The part about "1949"? Again?! Fuck! Before 1949, Taiwan was ruled by Japan, so that sentence is a purely China-centric lie.

Next, the full name of the "Nationalist Party" -- as Gluck surely knows -- is the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Given the context, it has more relevance than usual, but Gluck dutifully leaves the first nasty word off.

Finally, the "current administration" is being blamed for driving away foreign investment, relying almost exclusively on China to boost Taiwan's economy, and for failing to live up to the campaign promise of "633" (6% economic growth/year [now reduced to an unreachable 4.8% -- even though his own government estimates maybe reaching 4.3%]], US$30,000 per capita income [ain't gonna happen], and less than 3% unemployment by 2012), the campaign claim of "We are ready" (我們準備好了！), and the campaign promise of "If Ma gets elected, things will be better right away" (「馬上就會好」). Plus, the "allegations" are being made by known liars, the "invesigat[ion]" is incomplete, and the evidence is absent without leave. Also, the economy was quite healthy during Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) administration, with a 6.06% growth rate occurring in the first quarter of 2008 during the last part of Chen's term.

By the way, the "island" that Gluck is referring to is Taiwan, and while most people here call it a "country," Gluck repeats that worn-out meme (the "mainland-island" dichotomy) which falsely implies that it is part of China.

So, just about everthing that Caroline Gluck said echoes KMT talking points, and that is the kind of rubbish off of which she makes her living.

For the benefit of your own lying eyes
Here are some more photos I shot on location:

Where was Gluck during this event -- under President Mr. Ma's desk?
"Thousands" of people passed by in just the 90 seconds following that shot,
and after that, they kept on comin'!
(Click to enlarge)

If she wasn't under Ma's desk, she would certainly have seen things like this...
(Click to enlarge)

... and even though she could have talked to "thousands" of people like this,
there isn't a single quote in her article from any of the rally's participants.
I don't know if Gluck can read the sign, but it basically says the same thing as the next one below.
(Click to enlarge)

Sunshine Laws Now!
The DPP has never had the legislative majority required to enact such laws.
Ma's party, on the other hand, has had over half a century to do so.
WTF are they waiting for?
(Click to enlarge)

The pan-blue media helped Ma during his presidential campaign to push the lie that the TAIEX would go up to 10,000 or even 20,000 points.
Instead, this is what happened starting the very day Ma took office.
(Click to enlarge)

Stop selling Taiwan out!
(Click to enlarge)

Feel the passion in their expressions.
They are from Taiwan!
(Click to enlarge)
Don't you forget about us
Here are some of my and Michael Turton's previous criticisms of the BBC's anti-Taiwan coverage:

1) BBC gets Taiwan all wrong
2) BBC angers all who care about Taiwan
3) BBC still not getting Taiwan right
4) BBC continues Taiwan deception
5) BBC strikes again
6) BBC Taiwan Coverage: Pathetically Biased
7) BBC cooks up more nonsense about Chen recall bid
8) Who will observe the Taiwan observers?
9) BBC has news about Taiwan totally backwards
10) BBC's Gluck dumps on changes to Taiwan's history books
11) Another distortion piece from the BBC
12) Sorry-ass BBC misreports Taiwan again

And then there were 13.

Even more reading
* Saturday, August 30, 2008, International Herald Tribune: Thousands rally against Taiwan's China policy

Tens of thousands of Taiwanese marched [...]

[...]

[...] Police said about 40,000 people participated in the rally.

Is it "Thousands" or "Tens of thousands"?!

* Saturday, August 30, 2008, Agence France-Presse (AFP): Tens of thousands rally against Taiwan's Ma

TAIPEI (AFP) — Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Taipei Saturday [...]

[...]

Peter Wang, the rally organiser, told AFP Ma's stance on China meant "Taiwan's sovereignty is being sacrificed."

At least they're consistent with the low numbers between the headline and the body text. OTOH, Peter Wang was merely one of the organizers.

* Sunday, August 31, 2008, Taipei Times: Rally targets Ma on 100th day in office:

Tens of thousands of protesters began their walk [...]

[...]

The Taiwan Society, which organized the rally, estimated that 300,000 people attended, while Taipei police said they would not provide an estimate.

Wait a minute! IHT said police gave them an estimate! And come on -- somebody has got to be able to do better than that "Tens of thousands" crap!

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M&M's for the mind: Taiwan, -->