Smell of Taiwan

Here in the East Coast, I am reminded occasionally of the nostalgic smell of Taiwan. I have only recently realized it's actually just a weird combination of the following:

5% Taiwanese People
15% Nature/Humidity/Dew
10% Taiwanese Street Food
25% Engine Exhaust
20% Cigarette Smoke
25% Sewage

Taiwan 2010: Reflection of Sorts

This month has flown by, and although I've been away from the Internet for most of it, I don't miss using it. I came back this trip to see my grandfather one last time. He passed away on June 16, 2010.

I must say, never before have I been as motivated to properly learn Chinese (even though I know enough to get by on my own for days); never before have I realized the significance and awesomeness of having a huge family; and never before have I cared even more about ceremony, tradition, and respect.

I did manage to find time (and permission) to do "fun" things, I guess you can say. It was on my own mostly, but sometimes with a couple of my many cousins after everything was done. Now, I have over 23 GB of raw photos and video to sort, organize, and process. My goal is to go through all of it within two weeks while it's still fresh in my head. I was the designated photographer and videographer (though photo-documentarian is probably more appropriate) of everything. I am also doing a joint photo project with a few cousins in Taiwan for my late grandfather. Not ready to share too much more about it just yet other than say that it'll be the biggest and most important photo project I've ever worked on.

I'm heading for the airport shortly after noon tomorrow, local time. I should be arriving in JFK some time around 10 pm EDT on Thursday. See you soon.

Photo: Taiwan Sunset at 星海之戀 in 桃園, 台灣.

Taiwan 2010: Random Thoughts 1

So it's been raining every day since I got here. It kind of sucks, but it's kind of nice. It's a mild 80 degrees or so everyday, and not 95. Definitely could be worse.

1. Life is so simple here. I forgot how little international news they follow here, among other things.

2. By itself, Chinese is a nice language full of idioms to describe nearly everything. Chinese, however, is a terrible language to translate into, from English. Or, English is too rich a language to be adequately translated into an Asian language. Watching American movies on TV, I find that reading the subtitles doesn't do justice to the actual dialogue of the movie. I was watching "The Davinci Code" on TV and felt the Chinese subtitles destroyed much of the subtleties of what was said. ("Subtleties" is a weird word.)

3. The food here is amazing.

4. Drivers here have no regard for what's painted on the ground. Still, they are all pretty amazing drivers to not collide with anything and to be able to navigate through a two way street that's wide enough for only one-and-a-half cars.

5. I've been following the World Cup games and the NBA finals, watching most of it live. The Korea-Greece game was the best. Germany did well because Australia was pretty terrible. The USA game was expectedly terrible.

6. I've been successfully fighting my Pepsi "addiction". Not even craving it anymore.

Taiwan 2010: In Alaska

First leg of the journey is complete. It was a pretty typical plane ride which is probably a good thing. I'm over at Anchorage, AK right now for a 1.5 hour stopover (I never quite understood why they did that). It is so quiet here, but at least there is free wifi. It's 3:30 am local time right now (7:30 am eastern). I should be in Taiwan by 6:00 pm eastern tonight. Yeah, that's all. I'm just really hungry right now, as usual, and nothing is open in the terminal.

Okay, later. Time to go exploring.

P.S. Notice full bars on AT&T 3G!

Virtual Taiwan Trip

My sister and mom flew out of JFK last Friday night to Taiwan.

Equipped with two digital cameras, an iPod touch (with charger!), and a Lenovo S10, my sister will have more than enough to keep us updated on her adventures. She has been writing extensively about what's going on over there, with commentary and photos.

mpcow BLoG of RSTs

It's like a virtual Taiwan trip for me, while I am at home manning the fort and at work making the bucks.

Old Taiwan Photos

I started processing the thousands of photos I have from my solo Taiwan trip during Winter 2006-2007. I was there for New Years too! I will be the first to admit that most of these photos came out pretty poorly, but they have sentimental value more than anything else to me.

I am starting backwards, from my last day to my first day. So far, I went through 4 major albums:

Last Day in Taiwan
Xin Zhu
Visit to Taipei
Around Taiwan in 3 Days