In the outskirts of Yilan County is a forest preserve. Back in the 1960s, President Chiang Kai-Shek visited a few times, and spent the night in one of the forestry department’s cabins. The cabin was renamed the Grandpa Chiang Cottage 蔣公行館 in his honor, and it’s preserved in its original state as a historical site. Reminds me of how houses in the US like to brag “George Washington slept here.”
Grandpa Chiang slept here!
Fireplace in the bedroom
There’s a photo in the cabin of President Chiang and his son, Chiang Ching-Kuo at the cabin.
Here are our versions of the photo. I didn’t have my walking stick, so I had to fake it:
Ian’s grandmother is visiting us for a week. He made a special trip to Yilan’s distillery to buy the special sausages that are made there. Then he decided to scam a bite from her when she wasn’t looking. Hilarity ensued.
One of the things that we all wanted to do before we our year in Taiwan ended was to visit Turtle Island. The island gets its name from its shape, which from the right angle looks like the profile of a turtle:
The island is located 10 kilometers off the coast of Taiwan. It is visible from just about anywhere in Yilan County.
People lived on Turtle Island until the 1970s, when they moved to Taiwan and the island became a military outpost. In 2000, the island was re-opened to civilians, as an environmentally protected zone. In order to visit, we had to apply for permission and get a visitor’s permit.
On Saturday, we took a boat from a port in Yilan to the island. They actually let me steer for the entire trip (not).
This is the “port” on the island, and that’s our boat on the right.
The boys were looking forward to climbing the mountain that is the back of the turtle shell. There were stairs leading up to the top, but there were over 1,700 stairs. If you figure 17 steps per story of a building, that means it’s the equivalent to climbing the stairs to the top of Taipei 101. That’s a lot of stairs.
The island is home to some wonderful wildlife, like lizards and (poisonous) snakes. Saw a lot of the former, only two of the latter.
Incredibly, my mother-in-law made it to the 1,000th step.
We had great weather that day. When we made it to the top of the mountain, we were treated to a spectacular view:
Were we tired after the climb? Naw,…
There’s more to the island than just the mountain. We got a tour of the former civilian housing areas, and the military structures.
Then we got back on the boat and made a tour around the island. The sun came out, giving us a spectacular view of the island.
It was a long day, and we were all pooped after we got back to Taiwan. But it was a great trip.
A source of never-ending amusement for us when we are in the US is to see the Chinese characters that Americans have tattooed on their bodies. Some are accurate in that the Chinese actually reads like the person wants them to, but they almost never make sense to a Chinese person. For example, one guy had a phrase written on his leg which can mean “never give up,” but which really meant that he will never allow his leg to be chopped off. Not exactly what he meant, I think.
In a restaurant in Taipei last weekend, our Chinese waitress sported a tattoo. For a Chinese person to have a tattoo is unusual enough, but for a Chinese woman to have a tattoo is really unusual. We asked her about it, and she said that it is Arabic, and means something like “dreams and reality.” She seemed pretty proud of it, and agreed to let me photograph it.
She doesn’t speak Arabic, she just wanted some “cool” looking text for a tattoo. That sounds just like the reason that Americans give for wanting Chinese text tattooed on their bodies.
This past weekend, we went to Taipei to look for some live jazz. Some online research led us to a few places. The first place was a restaurant that has live music performances, with Jazz on Saturday nights. The house band is led by a woman who plays saxophone, flute and piano.
We were all really impressed with her, but a little disappointed with the performance. Most of the songs included vocals, and the singers kind of rubbed us the wrong way. Still, it was a good show.
The net day, after visiting the Long Shan Temple é¾å±±å¯º, we were in the subway when we heard what sounded like jazz. We followed our ears and discovered a forum where people congregate on Saturday and Sunday afternoons to jam.
The bass player was outstanding, and the saxophone player was really tight, too. The forum is really loose – whoever shows up, can jam with them. Ian wished that he had brought his violin!
That night we went to another club, called the Blue Note, which features live jazz performances, with a focus on instrumental music, rather than vocal. Boy were we surprised when the piano player showed up. It was the saxophone player from the first night. She played with an electric guitar player. A flute player showed up a little while later and played with them for a few songs.
Here’s a little taste of what they sounded like.
So we are encouraged by the presence of a jazz community in Taiwan, but it seems that the circle of musicians is still pretty small.
A British businessman living in Taiwan for 16 years is suspected in a drunk driving hit-and-run accident in Taipei. His statement to the police is suspicious, and the local media is painting an ugly picture.
My sister sent us some Easter Egg dye kits (thanks, Marg!). We brought the stuff down to Tainan last weekend to introduce the custom to the young cousins.
Blowing eggs was fun. Horace crushed the first egg that he tried, but succeeded the second time.
The young cousins weren’t the only ones who were interested in the activity. I think that Stacy’s mother, AKA Ms Curious, found the exercise interesting, but ultimately pointless.
