Just A Few Delightful Things

Eat here: 台灣原味滷味， 新北市中和區景平路493－5號 / 捷運景安站

Original Taiwan Flavor Lu Wei (braised & boiled things) Zhonghe, Jinping Road #493-5, MRT Jing'an, fastest to grab a 262 next to Sushi Express and take it to Zhonghe District Office (中和區公所) and it's across the street and up a short walk further next to Five Flower Horse (五花馬), which is also pretty good.

First, I have finally discovered the joy of eating pig's feet. I never liked it when I got a big bowl of nothin' but pig foot - kinda gross, actually, it just looks visually unappealing - but I have found when it's sliced up into tender pieces of meat and trotter, that mixed in with rice it's really quite delicious.

I discovered I liked it, after all these years of being too unimpressed with the look of the stuff to take a bite, when I passed the place listed above and this unholy delicious smell enveloped me and I had to try their food that very instant. So I pointed to what some other people were eating, not aware that it was pig's foot with rice (豬腳飯), and ordered that. It comes with tender bamboo shoots, a piece of braised tofu and a braised hard-boiled egg. I also got Taiwanese tempura (甜不辣) - their tempura sauce is also delicious. So good I poured the remainder on my rice.

So that was a good discovery.

Also, this News In Brief feature is just full of gems:

Taiwan News Quick Take

I mean, first there's "Canada Warning Issued", which is the best headline ever. We all should be warned about Canada more often.

Then there's the entire paragraph detailing the state of President Ma Ying-jiu's butthole. It's really more than I ever needed to know about President Ma's ass, but there ya go.

I guess he needs to keep it in good condition so it can be reamed by China. (BAM!)

Finally, there's this website:科技心，醫師情.

It seems on the surface to be just a dating/matchmaking website for Taiwanese professionals, and in a sense that's exactly what it is. The application page (no, I'm not going to apply, obviously, I was just curious) says that not only are engineers and doctors welcome, but that all sorts of professionals, from teachers to entrepreneurs ("anyone with a proper job", to quote it, but I think that comes across a little less offensively in Chinese, more like "any employed professional") may apply.

A student of mine (female, doctor, married) said, however, that their real market niche is setting up single male engineers, who are often (not always!) too overworked, too shy and too socially awkward to go out and date easily, with female doctors, who are too overworked and not in a good place in society* to find a life partner if they didn't marry a classmate (apparently male doctors who didn't marry a classmate are more interested in nurses, and both these women and men generally prefer that a man be on an equal footing, career-wise, to his wife**). Another student, who is a fairly high profile person (tech industry, male, married), said that they called him to ask if he'd be interested in signing up (me: "you could've said 'just a second, let me ask my wife. Hey honey, am I available to sign up for this dating website?'").

I personally think it's brilliant. If female doctors really want men who are at approximately their level professionally (although some engineers in Taiwan might disagree that they are) or acceptably close enough, engineers fit the bill. And while the older generation of Taiwanese men, including engineers, might have preferred a stay-at-home wife (or a wife to help run the family business), the younger crop of single thirtysomething male engineers, observed from my interaction with them as a teacher, seem far more willing to have a wife with a demanding career and the high level of education that goes with it. They wouldn't necessarily be scared off by a female doctor (some would, but I'm speaking in generalities).

Two segments of society that often have a hard time dating, being specifically matched up because they wouldn't have many chances to meet each other normally (it's not like all the single female doctors and all the single male engineers go to the same bars after work) is pure genius. I wish I'd thought of it.

*which is totally sexist bullshit, I know, as it is in any society, but this is a legitimate issue single female doctors face in Taiwan

**I don't care for that opinion either. In the US I'd call it sexist bullshit so I'll call it sexist bullshit in Taiwan, too.

Thoughts on Temples

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of temples, temple festivals and temple history in Taiwan, even if I don't believe in the gods themselves. I've heard more than one person - local and foreigner alike - say things along the lines of "yes, they're cool, but they all look the same: if you've seen one you've seen them all". Kinda like a typical strip of chain stores in a commercial area. You know, the one that has a Yoshinoya, an eyeglasses shop, a Starbucks, a Family Mart, a women's clothing boutique, a Body Shop, a Cafe 85 and a Come Buy all in a row.

Except, like that "typical strip of chain stores", they're not all the same. Sure, many of them seem indistinguishable at first, but like that strip of chain stores - which might include such gems as a pharmacy with a talking bird, a wine bar, Big Fat Chen's Fried Chicken, an Everything Store that sells just the dingbat or widget you need, or an independent cafe that has excellent siphon coffee, or an old guy selling carved things or a stamp-maker with a huge signboard with examples of all the stamps he can make for you...you never know when you'll come across a surprise or a bit of interesting architecture.

Some of these are famous: Xingtian Temple's austere architecture, Bao'an's UNESCO-protected heritage status, Tainan's Confucius Temple. Others are not so well-known:

At the (Buddhist) Yuantong Temple in the hills of Zhonghe

The turn-of-the-century baroque architecture of the Japanese colonial period gave rise to this temple on Lion's Head Mountain. Lion's Head also has a temple on the Miaoli side that, while more traditional in its architecture, is worth seeing.

The well-known Zhinan Temple on Maokong - not a great photo but the beauty here really is in the view rather than the temple itself

The well-known temple on the Miaoli side of Lion's Head Mountain

The Shell Temple outside Sanzhi on the northeast coast

Zhaoming lover's temple up by Wellington Heights between Shipai and Beitou

Xingtian Temple - known (aesthetically at least) for being far less ornate than most

Tainan's Dizang Wang temple has murals of the tortures of hell

Tainan's City God Temple is actually not that "special" when it comes to architecture, but it is very old and I just love this photo

Donggang's Donglong Temple is not as well-known as I feel it should be, for this gate alone

Caotun's temple...that looks like a medicine gourd with a hat. I only know one other person who's been there (another blogger)

Keelung's Fairy Cave temple

And so many more - from the "special because it has cats" temple in Houtong (which I haven't been to yet) to the Southeast Asian-style shrines that you occasionally find (I plan to photograph one in Zhonghe this weekend) to the shophouse temple on Chongqing South Road (I still haven't gotten a good photograph of that one), there are a lot of reasons not to write off the temples of Taiwan as "seen one, seen 'em all".

Because you haven't.

The Old Hakka Lady Speaks!

I just thought I’d share a few choice quotes from our conversation with an old mountain-climbin’ Hakka lady, who we ran into while hiking to Yuantong Temple (圓通寺) in Zhonghe a few weeks ago.  She was praying at a pretty interesting shrine  as we approached and stopped to chat with us after we tried to figure out the meaning of some graffiti nearby. I'll post a picture when my camera stops being annoying.

Joseph originally thought it meant “The  KMT and the Communists should  get together and take over Taiwan”, but she said no, some “bad DPP people” wrote it and it says “The KMT and Communists are going to get together and take over Taiwan” (implying that this is a bad thing). She went on to ask us about ourselves and have what I can only describe as a transcendently funny chat with us – all in Chinese, of course.

Some of her more interesting quotes:

“Are you married? Yes? Have kids? No? Oh, good! Don’t have any. I have three and they were a big waste of my time and money. I gave up my life to raise them and they don’t take care of me. They’re not filial! Just don’t have kids. It’s better. I wish I hadn’t had them.”

“Taiwanese kids don’t study hard enough.” (I disagreed, saying that compared to American kids, Taiwanese students were total bookworms). “No! They don’t! They are not hardworking like we were. Every day I had to walk up and down the mountain with a basket of fruit on my back. Every day! I had to study, too, even though I was tired from carrying so much fruit. Try to get a Taiwanese kid to do that now. They can’t! They’re lazy.”

She was delighted that we could speak a few snippets of Hakka, especially Joseph: “Oh, your girlfriend is Hakka from Miaoli? You should definitely marry her. Hakka girls from Miaoli are the prettiest and the most hardworking. She will work very hard and be a good wife.”

“ You know, Taiwanese girls, they like white men. That’s because they want to have beautiful babies, so they want to have babies with foreigners. Usually they like the white ones, but some of them like the black ones, too. I don’t know why. They are so dark and their teeth are so white!” (She said it, not me!)

“Oh, your eyes are so pretty!” (to me). “They look just like Chiang Ching-kuo’s…” (me: “Um, I don’t think my eyes resemble Chiang Ching Kuo’s”). “…wife!” “Huh?” “Your eyes look like Chiang Fangliang’s eyes!”

For those who don’t know, Chiang Fangliang, Chiang Ching-kuo’s wife, was Belorussian. It is true that being Polish and Armenian, I basically look very Eastern European and Chiang Fangliang’s facial structure does somewhat resemble mine. That said, I Googled pictures of her – her eyes are quite clearly brown and mine are blue. I just don’t see the resemblance.

Restaurant Recommendation: Golden Peacock Burmese

Golden Peacock Restaurant (金孔雀) - Burmese
#48-1 Huaxin Street (Burma Street)
Zhonghe, New Taipei City
MRT Nanshijiao Exit 4, exit, turn left, keep walking, turn left again on Huaxin Street

金孔雀
新北市中和區華新街（緬甸街)48-1號）

捷運南勢角站4號出口

Just popping in to recommend this place - the food is excellent and while I've never been to Myanmar, I have traveled in that part of the world and I can say that it holds up as tasting authentic.

Other restaurants on this street are also excellent, but so far this place is my favorite. There are different dishes you can choose from already set out - get the chicken in curry gravy and the powdered or pickled mango rice flavorings for sure. Their noodles are great, too, whether you get the thicker or thinner ones.

Make sure to finish up with tea or coffee - we got iced coffee and it was delicious and very Southeast Asian. It had a lot more flavor than what you usually get at upmarket Thai restaurants here.

Golden Peacock is not even remotely high-end, but the food is fantastic!

Burma Street

To get to Burma Street (Huaxin Jie - 華新街), take the MRT to Nanshijiao (南勢角), leave by Exit 4 and turn right on Xingnan Road right out front (興南路). Walk for about 7 minutes, through a weird intersection with Nanshan Road (南山路). When you reach Huaxin Jie, it'll be obvious: turn left through the two entrance pillars made to look like the domes of Southeast Asian temples. There's a Cafe 85 on the corner.

Last Saturday dawned dreary and rainy (ah, Taipei) so after my thing in Zhonghe, we decided instead of going too far afield that we'd hunt down the famous, yet elusive "Burma Street" in Zhonghe. Apparently, there are many such streets where people of a certain ethnic extraction establish businesses and restaurants in Zhonghe, including a Korea Street that we now have to find.

We took our friend Aliya's directions and made our way there with growling stomachs - and me with a broken purse (the strap snapped). We were not disappointed: store after store and restaurant after restaurant serving up Burmese food to Burmese immigrants*, blasting Burmese music (mostly Western-style rap...in Burmese) and selling Burmese groceries.

Doing our usual reconnaisance, we found a popular place with a crowd of locals - by locals I mean Burmese people - sitting 'round a table drinking and shooting the breeze with no particular plans to leave: if they like it, it must be good, right?

And it was! We got two kinds of noodle ("Give us your most popular dish...what's the most...Burmese?") - one was like a Taiwanese thin noodle (麵線) and the other was like a dry stir-fried ramen (炒拉麵), but with different flavors. There was a sour vegetable in the thin noodle and the stir-fry had a coconutty peanut flavor accented with fried garlic and dried scallions and, I think, a hint of lemongrass. The owner, deeply amused at the two foreigners asking for "the most popular/most Burmese" thing on the menu, gave us a free dessert - a fluffy bread similar to a Singaporean prata or Taiwanese onion pancake, but sweet and dipped in sugar. We also got a cake that the group of locals was eating, which seemed to be pan-baked, topped with what looked like white poppy seeds and delicious, though not astounding.

The milk tea was more Indian than anything else, and there were free refills of regular (non-milk) tea. There was a menu in Chinese and Burmese (for those of you who can read Chinese but have no idea what to order in Burmese - and they seemed to be the same stuff) and the owner has been here for over 20 years and can speak quite good Chinese. Other restaurants seem similarly well-equipped for us non-Burmese-speakers.

Oh, and the whole meal came to less than 200 kuai for 2. Yay!

We also stopped at a grocery and picked up some cooking supplies that are far cheaper there than at Jason's (fenugreek seed, kaffir lime leaves etc) as well as some unfamiliar snacks ("Saltcheese" crackers, V-cut "Pinoy Adobo" potato chips, something reeking of garlic etc.)

All in all, a good day. I recommend checking it out.

*interesting how those of us from developed countries are "expats", but those from developing ones are "immigrants". As Brendan says, "that's because they'll more likely stay here and make their kids do well at school. We're more likely to go home someday." Fair enough.