Of Shoelaces, or Reason #29 (?) to Love Taiwan

 It's almost impossible to see in this photo, but at the very end under the white boat in the distance, there's a solitary woman sitting on the beach in a little bikini.

During our last few days in Sri Lanka, we stayed in the southern beach town of Mirissa. While not nearly as touristy or over-developed as places like Bali, Phuket, Ko Samui or Boracay (or Goa, which doesn't even have great beaches), and not even as developed as Sri Lanka's own Hikkaduwa or Unawatuna, it still had tourist infrastructure and that vague beach-bum-rich-Westerner "a dash of reggae with a hint of banana pancake" cultural undercurrent, which I don't particularly care for. That meant a lot of Westerners - especially Europeans - prancing around in tiny swimsuits.

On a slight tangent, can I just say this? Mirissa is a pretty place, but it looks as if it used to be stunning. What was once a soft beach of golden sand and blue topaz waters has become a thin strip of beach in which, on the main tourist drag, all the palm trees have been razed and in their stead you can find guesthouses, tiki-hut restaurants and bars blasting reggae (?) music, and line-of-sight sea views from hotels across the road. Down the road is at least one "surf club" that I swear had a sign saying "foreigners only". Ugh. It's really sad. You can't keep people from the beach, and to some extent you'll get local backlash over the lack of development if you try, I wish there was a way to preserve at least some beautiful beaches from the tanned hordes, the sunburned locusts, from descending and totally fucking up the place. Can't they all just go to Bali and Phuket and leave the rest of the world's beaches to people who don't want to tear it all down to build tiki bars?

Our hotel is behind me, but you can't see it behind the palm trees, which is why I liked it.

And yes, I realize the irony in that sentiment, and yes, I did try to pick a hotel that blends more naturally with its environment -  one that didn't raze all the palm trees for a direct line to the beach.

While there, I was reading Pankaj Mishra's Butter Chicken in Ludhiana. Mary Roy's (mother of Arundhati Roy of The God of Small Things fame) line in that book popped out at me as I read it at an outdoor cafe: "I think white people are a curse on mankind. Wherever you look, they are busy causing destruction to something or the other. And they think themselves so superior to everyone else! They are really awful!"

I could find some things to debate about that line, but sitting in Mirissa as reggae (!) thumped in the background and I looked over where palm trees should be, and couldn't help but think she was right, and then blame myself for being part of the problem.

This all used to be palm trees.

Anyway, back to the main point.

At one point, we were preparing to snorkel off a far quieter beach beyond the one in the photo here (the boat beach here being far quieter itself than Mirissa's main beach), and two young foreign women were taking sexy pictures of each other playing in the surf or laying in the sand. Neither was wearing very much, especially the one in the little black bikini that I am pretty sure was made entirely of shoelaces. And not very many shoelaces.

My first thought was "She shouldn't be wearing that...not a good idea."

Now, here's the thing. I don't personally care what she wears. I don't think it reflects on her character (except to show she's perhaps a bit clueless about her surroundings, but then, in that case every other foreigner in Mirissa is just as bad). It doesn't make her a "bad girl" or someone who deserves scorn or ridicule. I support her right to wear whatever she wants - as much or as little as she wants. In the West I'd say her even wearing that little doesn't give anyone the right to victim-blame ("Well look at what she was wearing, she was asking for it!") if she's harassed or assaulted. It doesn't really bother me that she wants sexy pictures of herself on a tropical beach.

(I did think it was funny that to get to our snorkeling spot we had to walk behind her, so some of her photos will include a pair of t-shirt wearing pasty-dough white dweebs with snorkels - is there anything dorkier than a snorkel? Even the word is dorky - waddling by, but that's because if I got sexy pictures uploaded to my computer only to find a pair of tummy-fatted nerds shuffling behind me I'd find that hilarious. She might not find it so funny).




My second thought was "Why would you think that? You have no right to judge her based on what she's wearing."


What bothers me is that, even in a touristy area like Mirissa, in Sri Lanka what she - and pretty much every other woman, possibly including myself (I like to think a boy-short suit and a t-shirt over it with a sarong when not in the water is enough, though) - was wearing, well, was inappropriate in the local cultural context. Especially her; at least other women had a bit of fabric covering up the T&A (I can't say I was too fond of the European men's banana hammocks, either). She had...shoelaces. I hate victim-blaming but if she were ogled, catcalled or harassed by local men, it probably would be in part due to what she was wearing - not that that absolves the men.



My third thought: "But what she's wearing is very inappropriate in Sinhalese culture."

And while I support the right of everyone to wear what they want and not be overly judged for it - especially women, who have spent most of history judged more harshly than men for what they were wearing - I do feel that when you travel, there has to be some allowance for cultural standards. I support the fight for all women, worldwide, to have greater freedom of dress (Sri Lankan men are pretty free in what they wear, I'm not too worried about them).


My fourth thought: "But Sinhalese culture still as a ways to go in terms of women's equality."


Perhaps that fight, in countries such as Sri Lanka, is a fight that needs to start with local women. Perhaps a white woman, or any foreign woman, in an itsy bitsy teenie weenie black thong shoelace bikini isn't going to help matters much. Certainly it's not fair to say "this group of women needs to do it for themselves and we're not going to help them" - by all means, get involved in feminism on a global scale, but be aware of the racial issues that your background and ethnicity bring to the table, and be aware that not every strike is an effective one.

My fifth thought: "Yes, but a foreign woman in a tiny bikini isn't going to change that."

Not that I think this woman was trying to agitate for freedom of women's dress in Sri Lanka. She almost certainly just wanted some sexy pictures and wasn't even thinking of the racial and gender implications of her near-nudity.



My final thought: "This is one reason I like living in Taiwan. There's still a ways to go in terms of gender equality - there is everywhere - but at least we have far greater freedom of dress."

I appreciate that I can wear a bikini or a t-shirt and shorts on the beach and not be judged too much. I appreciate that I can wear a sleeveless or low v-neck shirt and not be immediately judged as a bad girl, harlot or outright prostitute. I appreciate that I can choose not to wear those things. People, especially women, are still judged harshly by their dress, but at least I am living in Asia without having to worry too much about overly strict rules of dress imposed on women, with the wrongheaded assumption that the problem is not men's inability to control themselves, but those trollopy women and what they wear which beckons ALL TEH SEXXX.

Taiwan Celebrates...What Now?

Sign at the Fulong Sand Sculpture festival

Brendan's hawk eyes noticed this sign before I did.

So.

Ummm...excuse me? Leaving aside the horrible phrasing of "After a century, Taiwan celebrates its 100th year anniversary" (as opposed to celebrating what? What else do you celebrate after 100 years?)...

...I would dearly like to know what happened in 1911 in Taiwan that would cause Taiwan to celebrate its centennial. Something happened in China 100 years ago, for sure, and not one but two governments celebrate it. Nothing, however, happened in Taiwan. On October 10th, 1911, the Taiwanese and Japanese woke up and went about their day as usual. In a country on the other side of the Taiwan Strait a lot was going on, but that has nothing to do with Taiwan. The sentence makes it sound like Taiwan didn't exist before 1911 - as though the KMT, despite the fact that they didn't arrive for several decades more, founded the country in 1911, or discovered the island, or something.

The Republic of China, sure. And yes, the Republic of China is the name of the sovereign government of Taiwan (which I do think should be called the Republic of Taiwan, but that's a whole 'nother rant) now, but it wasn't then. The sign would be correct to say "The Republic of China celebrates its 100th anniversary".

Which it did.

In China.

I'm sure this was written as it was to appease some douchebag from the Chinese government, or the Chinese artists listed as having worked on the corresponding sculpture (which is this one - the side is of Taipei 101 and Spongebob from my previous post):

...or maybe some douchebag in the KMT. The latter actually makes the most sense, considering that the phrasing as it is makes no sense at all. Or it was some sort of compromise that made everyone roll their eyes.

Not only should the government not be giving in to such demands, whether they are internal or international, but they should lay ground rules for these events along the lines of "you respect the reasonable language we use to express our sovereignty, you respect us and our dignity, or don't bother coming to, sponsoring or participating in our festival."

More happily, though, we also saw this sign:

The "正" should be read in Taiwanese (I believe it sounds like biang with a falling tone, but I don't really speak Taiwanese) and I suppose means "really" or "very".

Hooray for dai gi popping up on signage!

Fulong Sand Sculpture Festival

We took a trip on an overcast but otherwise pleasant day to the sand sculpture festival at Fulong Beach. The sculptures were awesome, although some of them made me raise my eyebrows. The festival will apparently be going on until June (the sculptures are protected from the rain).

There are two beaches at Fulong, a slightly rocky public one that's free and popular with strolling people and folks with beach blankets reading, and a private one owned by the beachside hotel, which costs NT$100 to enter and is only accessible by a large bridge (something we found out the hard way).

In addition to the professional sculptures, which are made by teams of Taiwanese and international artists, there is a more "amateur" competitition with a clear "Taiwan" or "Taiwan tourism" theme. I'm not sure how some of them promoted Taiwan tourism, but they were still cool, if not as "polished" as the professional works. I liked this surreal one:

Some more of the pro sculptures below. They were divided into sections - one celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Republic of China, and around it were sculptures of Mazu, Guanyin etc.. Another focused on the art of ancient Babylon. One area had Arctic (and Antarctic, although maybe that was just due to poor research) themed works, and another was just odd (a rabbit smoking a hookah, among other things.

The "Arctic" themed works were especially popular. We wondered why they had this category - in Brendan's words: "to celebrate it before it all melts away?"

Just learning to windsurf - kudos for picking up a new hobby!

This sculpture celebrates the new Taiwan: Heart of Asia and ROC Centennial. I do not know why either of those necessitated a Spongebob.

This is a replica of a real sculpture - the damage to the eye is done on purpose.

Bwahaha, look at the silly foreigners trying to wade from the public beach to the private one because they took the wrong turn. Whose dumb idea was that?

...oh.

It was mine. Ahem.

Carry on.

Standing in the surf, looking contemplative

Err, I guess the Little Mermaid is all grown up?

Child on the side of the Guanyin sculpture (below)

Guanyin sculpture

Move over, fools. This be my town.

Grandma's lookin' a little buzzed at lunchtime.

All in all an enjoyable day trip, though tiring to walk over the sand with so many people and small dogs about, kicking the finer sand into the air to create a dusty pall over the beach. We recovered at Mr. Brown Coffee before grabbing a bus to Keelung and having dinner at Miaokou night market (pictures of that coming up).

Kending (Sucks) and Eluanbi (is Awesome)

In my continued effort to be a better blogger, here are some photos from our trip to Kending and Eluanbi last month:

Rrrrr!

This trip completed our trio of planned rental car trips – conveniently all before Emily leaves, as neither Brendan nor I are good drivers, and neither of us have an international permit. A few months ago you may have seen my post on the North Cross-Island Highway, then the other day I posted about the Central Cross Island Highway (such as it is – more like the road from Puli as the actual highway remains unrepaired), and so here’s Kending.

Before I arrived, Brendan and Emily wandered around Kaohsiung with Emily’s friend Robin who, bless his heart, manages to look like the most generic Taiwanese college kid or young office worker in…well, in Taiwan. I wasn’t around for this part of the trip as I had a seminar, so I can’t report on it much. I heard, though, that it was very hot (thanks Captain Obvious) and they drank, among other liquids ingested continuously during their blistering, scorching walking tour, a Kaohsiung specialty: green tea with cream.

Very nice and Typical Taiwanese Kid Lookin' Robin.

I should note that I wasn't in Kaohsiung - all of the photos above were taken by Emily Taylor. (Some may have been taken by Brendan, but I am pretty sure they're all Emily.)

Donggang's Huaqiao Seafood Market.

I met them at the HSR station at about 8pm, and we rented a car with Car Plus. Emily chose the cheapest thing on the car menu and we ended up with a Yaris. In her words, “it aspires to be a car. It’s got the engine of a blender and the protection of a plastic bag, really brilliant cupholders.” We made fun of the poor Yaris through the entire trip: “I think I can I think I can I think I can!” while climbing even mild hills or passing someone on the highway. With its 1600 CC engine (or so), I joked that it was about as powerful as two large pearl milk teas (700 CC each) on a skateboard. “Do you think this thing could do 100?” “It wouldn’t do 100 if you chucked it off a cliff!”

We stopped in Donggang for dinner after getting lost in Zuoying – we ended up going the wrong way on the highway and having to turn back, and getting lost. Fortunately Donggang, small as it is, stays up late – probably due to fishermen coming in fairly late. We found a grill-your-own seafood stand still open by the harbor, and had an amazing meal of fresh seafood, mostly unseasoned. Think just-grilled oysters, flavored only with their own deliciousness and some sea salt. Giant crab claws. Eel on a stick. A big pile of fresh clams. A fish sprinkled with sea salt, pepper and lemon. A few grilled veggies (peas and mushrooms). We downed it with lots of beer – well, we two non-drivers had lots of beer. Emily had one tiny cupful.

I do rate Donggang’s Huaqiao Seafood Market as one of the best meals in Taiwan – where the old guidebook writers got off saying that Shida Night Market is in the top five but this place isn’t clearly didn’t know what they were talking about, or have no tastebuds. Shida is good, but it pales in comparison to this. Only in Keelung have I had seafood this good (and Yehliu – that was good too.)

Cold coconuts available at Eluanbi - they chop the top off with a machete and give it to you with a straw to drink the juice. Refreshing and healthy!

We hit the road after that and reached Kending at about 2am. The place was still hopping with a makeshift night market (oxymoron that) full of shell necklaces, friendship bracelets and surfer t-shirt shops alongside mediocre looking snack stands, a few bars and what appeared to be a strip club. We moved on and ended up in Eluanbi – quieter and more to our taste. We agreed that our first stop the next morning would be the southernmost point in Taiwan – quite near our camping area. I do recommend camping here – it’s not that expensive and facilities are good. We stayed just over from “Coconut Forest” (椰子林) which looked creepy and abandoned, and the owner woke up for our late arrival to find us a spot, and gave us a discounted rate thanks to the late hour.

The view from just below the nuclear power station to the east of Eluanbi. This is a nice place to stop, get out of the car, walk to the cliff and take photos.

There are outlets – if you do camp, bring a fan. Otherwise the humidity and heat make it unbearable even at night. By the end the accumulation of sweat and bug spray had me waking up feeling like I was covered in a viscous slime. (I don't have any good photos of Slimy Jenna, so I posted this below that nice picture near Chuanfan Rock). Our sleeping bags acted as mattresses - it was too hot to sleep in them - and we had to air htem out and wipe them down with water before moving on - they were really...horrid. Think sweat, sunblock, oily skin and bug spray all coming together to form something truly otherworldly and disgusting.

Oh and bug spray? Totally doesn't work that well if you get the nice-smelling kind like I did. I still got many huge bites from these nasty black mosquitos.

I have to say that Kending town did not impress us even a little bit - we aren't really ones for bars, Thai food (like it's trying to be Krabi, Ko Samui or Bali) and cheap shell necklaces. We never went down to the beach - if the crowded road was any indication, it would have been packed and filthy with the hordes of people. So not our thing. Good place to go if you want to party - or if you are taking the bus, as you can get a hotel and walk to the beach and shops, but not really leave. But not if you want a relaxing vacation with good scenery and peaceful ocean scenes. In fact, I felt the whole town was trying way too hard to be something it should never have become. I was also a bit put off by all the backpacker food (overpriced Thai, lackluster Mexican, underwhelming American) - half the quality at twice the price! Give me some fresh oysters from Huaqiao anyday - and you can get there by bus, too.

So yeah - Kending? Not recommended.

Kending National Park and Eluanbi, however, I highly recommend. Unfortunately, these require a car. There are buses - we saw buses that said "Eluanbi" on them, and there are stops marked - but we would rarely see a bus actually go through the small town, and never saw one coming up the other way past the nuclear power plant.

This was, however, the most beautiful part of the trip.

Southernmost Point in Taiwan

We started the next morning at the southernmost point in Taiwan - a spot you can drive to on a side road leaving the main one. You drive up, then down, then park near an abandoned old house (what a cool house - I would totally live there if it were liveable. You don't get more southern than that). Then it's a 500 meter walk along a good path through mangrove forest, where you see huge, colorful butterflies. I'd say many were almost the size of my open hand. We also saw lizards - larger than the usual tiny, skittering ones you see hiking up north. There's at least one grave - I wonder about the feng shui of that.

We didn't stay at the platform at the true southernmost point for long, as large insects had taken it upon themselves to dive bomb me relentlessly. Probably because my bathing suit (I had forgotten a t-shirt so wore my very conservative bathing suit top) was covered in giant hibiscus flower patterns.

Then we drove up towards the nuclear power plant, where the views are vast:

And turned around, not realizing that the best drive was straight ahead. We came back through Chuanfan Rock, or rather the road near it:

There's a lackluster beach here with a rocky surf that is nice for a quick warm-water dip but overall...eh. Better than Kending town though!

I was amused by the strip of stores - snorkel rentals, a 7-11, souvenirs, boring food - and then across the street a blue truck blaring Taiwanese music (the old kind - think like the stuff taxi drivers listen to) skids into the parking lot and quickly "opens for business" - fresh fruit, vegetables, a small cache of seafood, some other sundries - and all the locals converge on it to do their daily shopping. The contrast was striking. I was more interested in the truck than the shops, personally.

We then headed up to the park office and got a map, driving on through Sheding, where we stopped for a noodle soup lunch at a restaurant/karaoke "bar" (by "bar" I mean they sell beer and have a karaoke machine). We met this interesting fellow:

And sang a few songs with him. We figure he's the tiny village's Good Time Guy, or he was 20 years ago but since there's nothing else to do in town, it sort of stuck.

At that point we ended up back in Eluanbi and drove the old route - we passed the power plant again and rounded a hill, where we came to a gorgeous aqua beach with soft golden sand and very few people. We stopped here for a swim and it was far better than anything Kending could offer. This is the beach I recommend if you want to come and have a real swim.

The water was clear and cool - cold even - the waves were mild, fun for playing but not scary - and the depth stayed shallow fairly far out. It was clear enough that even several meters out you could see your feet.

The only downside - those tiny fish that bite you, even through swimsuits. I hate those.

Back by the parking area, you can wash off for ten kuai, buy a coconut to drink or a sausage and get cold water from a cooler - a local has set up a little blue-truck business there offering these things and it was welcome refreshment.

Then we drove through Kending National Park, which has lovely hills and scenery:

Passing vans and trucks with kids sticking out the sunroof or on the back enjoying the sun (you'll note in the first picture that Brendan was terrified of sunburn after his Penghu experience and as such wore his shirt into the water, to hilarious effect).

Hengchun is worth a quick drive through and stop for maybe lunch or juice, but not all that interesting. We did stop to see the old city wall:

And the cool tank they have on display:

...and the "old street" is nice enough. But not really exciting.

It was starting to get dark as we headed back, and we were just south of Donggang by sundown:

Along the highway many coffeeshops have sprung up beside the rocky beaches, where you can stop, have a cold drink and enjoy the ocean one last time before driving back up to Kaohsiung.

Sweepin' the Toombz

Except we don't have any tombs to sweep so we rented a car over the weekend and drove across the North Cross Island Highway, based ourselves in Hualien and drove some more down the east coast, across the Ruiguang Highway (#64) and up the East Rift Valley before coming back via the Qingshui Cliffs and Luodong.

I haven't sorted through all of my photos yet, and a lot of them were taken from a moving car so they're not very good. But here's a smattering of what I've got (in backwards order):

One of the two Sao Ba Megaliths near Ruisui (East Rift Valley). Nice views, and they're kind of cool and maybe worth a quick look if you're in the area, but overall somewhat disappointing.

The cheese-tacular Tropic of Cancer monument. This place screams "pork barrel funding" (with pavilions and educational panels about the tropics, zodiac and latitude lines). Love it!

The scenic Highway #64 between Dagangkou and Ruisui. We encountered very little traffic here, and lots of lovely mountain views and unexpected animals (one mammal that ran away too fast to identify, and goats. Goats!)

Another view from the Ruiguang Highway.

Emily at Shihtiping. This was a nice stop though not as stunning as Yeliu in the north, and not as awe-inspiring as the views from the highway down the coast. Lots of tour groups here, though.

Some tidal pools at Shihtiping.

View of the coast from Shihtiping - this was one of the best parts of that stop.

View down the coast south of Hualien.

Cow Mountain Beach from the main road - it's a long, narrow drive down the hill to get to it, and the sand is burning hot when it's sunny.

These decorations were around the cafe and rest area attached to the beach. We didn't appreciate that with our burning feet on the sand, once we entered we couldn't even use their hose without buying a $50 ticket, but hey, you've got to make a living somehow. We did buy the ticket because we wanted cold drinks at the cafe.

The wind and sun do interesting things to my hair...

View north from Cow Mountain Beach

Rocks at Cow Mountain Beach

What I can only assume is Cow Mountain.

Emily at the beach.

We found a ...Wal-Mart! In Hualien! It's got to be a real Wal-Mart - the sign says so.

I like this sign along the North Cross Island Highway (this is somewhere past Baling) because one always pictures factories, airports, urban sprawl and betel nut shops when one thinks of Taoyuan. This shows that the county can be quite rural.

View near Baling. We stopped in one of the small roadside restaurants here (before Baling town) and had a delicious meal of mountain boar, local river fish and vegetables.

Some art depicting an aboriginal dance - I'm not sure what the deal is with the depiction of that woman, though. This area is heavily settled by aborigines.

Along the North Cross Island Highway, near the turnoff to Lalashan.

We did continue along down to Mingchi, Qilan and Luodong, but the fog was quite bad up there and we sadly missed all the best views.