Lantern Festival - Taipei

The Lantern Festival is held 2 weeks after the Chinese New Year. So the CNY is on a New Moon and the Lantern Festival is on a Full Moon. In the past, it is a time when families went out together with their lanterns and see their neighbors with their lanterns. Nowadays we go out together to see the light shows put on the governments. In Taipei, the light show and festival rotates between the neighborhoods of Taipei. This year's neighborhood was YuanShan which was within walking distance for us. It was also the site of last year's flower expo, so there was plenty of room for the displays.

I thought the LEDs for Christmas, New Years and Chinese New Years were a lot but for the Lantern Festival it was even more.

There were display along miles of walkways.

Many of the displays are bases on geometric designs, it's amazing what can be done with strings of LEDs.

And now the Snake light stage was in full operations.

A closeup picture of the snake shows that is made of recycled plastic bottles. And the snake was spitting out smoke(like a fire breathing dragon).

The cameraman needs some assistance.

 

Year of the Snake

By now we all know that by the Chinese Zodiac, this is the Year of the Snake. The poor snake is probably a universally hated animal, so this year there has been an attempt to clean up his image.

This snake on the door of a 7/11 store, it looks more like a puppy than a snake. The term for this is ANTHROPOMORPHIZE, it is a great word, it means attributing human form or attributes to what is not human. We could say that all of the Walt Disney cartoon characters have been anthropomorphized. (Mickey Mouse looks more like a human than a mouse.)

Sometimes in Asia, the snake is called "the little dragon", because dragons are better than snakes. Snakes are too real.

We saw another friendly snake at Yuan Shan Park.

This snake was part of a light show that was being tested for Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Years was on February 10th this year and that seemed kind of late. But actually it wasn't. I took the table of Chinese New Year dates from Wikipedia and manipulated it with Excel(I'm trying to become more proficient with Excel). Since 1924 the range of dates for CNY has fallen between January 21st and February 20th. So February 10th is not that special.

Because CNY follows the Chinese Lunar Calendar it is a movable date, like Easter.

There are twelve signs in the Chinese Lunar Zodiac one for each year and then they repeat. If your birthday is not in January or February is is easy to find your sign. If you were born in January or February you have to be a little more careful and know the exact date of CNY. The table below should help.

For example, although Florence and I were both born in 1950, I was born on January 31st before CNY so I am an Ox/Cow, Florence was born later in the year so she is a Tiger.

Feb	5,	1924	鼠	Rat
Jan	24,	1925	牛	Ox
Feb	13,	1926	虎	Tiger
Feb	2,	1927	兔	Rabbit
Jan	23,	1928	龍	Dragon
Feb	10,	1929	蛇	Snake
Jan	30,	1930	馬	Horse
Feb	17,	1931	羊	Goat
Feb	6,	1932	猴	Monkey
Jan	26,	1933	鷄	Rooster
Feb	14,	1934	狗	Dog
Feb	4,	1935	猪	Pig
Jan	24,	1936	鼠	Rat
Feb	11,	1937	牛	Ox
Jan	31,	1938	虎	Tiger
Feb	19,	1939	兔	Rabbit
Feb	8,	1940	龍	Dragon
Jan	27,	1941	蛇	Snake
Feb	15,	1942	馬	Horse
Feb	5,	1943	羊	Goat
Jan	25,	1944	猴	Monkey
Feb	13,	1945	鷄	Rooster
Feb	2,	1946	狗	Dog
Jan	22,	1947	猪	Pig
Feb	10,	1948	鼠	Rat
Jan	29,	1949	牛	Ox
Feb	17,	1950	虎	Tiger
Feb	6,	1951	兔	Rabbit
Jan	27,	1952	龍	Dragon
Feb	14,	1953	蛇	Snake
Feb	3,	1954	馬	Horse
Jan	24,	1955	羊	Goat
Feb	12,	1956	猴	Monkey
Jan	31,	1957	鷄	Rooster
Feb	18,	1958	狗	Dog
Feb	8,	1959	猪	Pig
Jan	28,	1960	鼠	Rat
Feb	15,	1961	牛	Ox
Feb	5,	1962	虎	Tiger
Jan	25,	1963	兔	Rabbit
Feb	13,	1964	龍	Dragon
Feb	2,	1965	蛇	Snake
Jan	21,	1966	馬	Horse
Feb	9,	1967	羊	Goat
Jan	30,	1968	猴	Monkey
Feb	17,	1969	鷄	Rooster
Feb	6,	1970	狗	Dog
Jan	27,	1971	猪	Pig
Feb	15,	1972	鼠	Rat
Feb	3,	1973	牛	Ox
Jan	23,	1974	虎	Tiger
Feb	11,	1975	兔	Rabbit
Jan	31,	1976	龍	Dragon
Feb	18,	1977	蛇	Snake
Feb	7,	1978	馬	Horse
Jan	28,	1979	羊	Goat
Feb	16,	1980	猴	Monkey
Feb	5,	1981	鷄	Rooster
Jan	25,	1982	狗	Dog
Feb	13,	1983	猪	Pig
Feb	2,	1984	鼠	Rat
Feb	20,	1985	牛	Ox
Feb	9,	1986	虎	Tiger
Jan	29,	1987	兔	Rabbit
Feb	17,	1988	龍	Dragon
Feb	6,	1989	蛇	Snake
Jan	27,	1990	馬	Horse
Feb	15,	1991	羊	Goat
Feb	4,	1992	猴	Monkey
Jan	23,	1993	鷄	Rooster
Feb	10,	1994	狗	Dog
Jan	31,	1995	猪	Pig
Feb	19,	1996	鼠	Rat
Feb	7,	1997	牛	Ox
Jan	28,	1998	虎	Tiger
Feb	16,	1999	兔	Rabbit
Feb	5,	2000	龍	Dragon
Jan	24,	2001	蛇	Snake
Feb	12,	2002	馬	Horse
Feb	1,	2003	羊	Goat
Jan	22,	2004	猴	Monkey
Feb	9,	2005	鷄	Rooster
Jan	29,	2006	狗	Dog
Feb	18,	2007	猪	Pig
Feb	7,	2008	鼠	Rat
Jan	26,	2009	牛	Ox
Feb	14,	2010	虎	Tiger
Feb	3,	2011	兔	Rabbit
Jan	23,	2012	龍	Dragon
Feb	10,	2013	蛇	Snake
Jan	31,	2014	馬	Horse
Feb	19,	2015	羊	Goat
Feb	8,	2016	猴	Monkey
Jan	28,	2017	鷄	Rooster
Feb	16,	2018	狗	Dog
Feb	5,	2019	猪	Pig
Jan	25,	2020	鼠	Rat
Feb	12,	2021	牛	Ox
Feb	1,	2022	虎	Tiger
Jan	22,	2023	兔	Rabbit
Feb	10,	2024	龍	Dragon
Jan	29,	2025	蛇	Snake
Feb	17,	2026	馬	Horse
Feb	6,	2027	羊	Goat
Jan	26,	2028	猴	Monkey
Feb	13,	2029	鷄	Rooster
Feb	3,	2030	狗	Dog
Jan	23,	2031	猪	Pig
Feb	11,	2032	鼠	Rat
Jan	31,	2033	牛	Ox
Feb	19,	2034	虎	Tiger
Feb	8,	2035	兔	Rabbit
Jan	28,	2036	龍	Dragon
Feb	15,	2037	蛇	Snake
Feb	4,	2038	馬	Horse
Jan	24,	2039	羊	Goat
Feb	12,	2040	猴	Monkey
Feb	1,	2041	鷄	Rooster
Jan	22,	2042	狗	Dog
Feb	10,	2043	猪	Pig

Cong you bing or Cong zhua bing?

This year my favorite food is "cong you bing" or "cong zhua bing". These are a popular  street foods in Taiwan, basically like pizza dough with onions(green onions(cong)) in the dough. This dough can be either "deep fried"(cong you bing) or just fried on a hot grill(cong zhua bing). Of course, as is universally true, the deep fried version is more tasty and the more healthy version is hot grilled fried version.

Cong Zhua Bing - the healthy version

Cong you bing - the tasty version

Many times something is added between the folded over circular bread disk like a fried egg, or a hot dog( called a sausage) or a hamburger patty. I usually add a fried egg and hot sauce.

Either way it always makes me a happy camper.

30 NT is about $1, with a fried egg added the price is usually 35 NT. To cook Cong YOU bing you need a deep frier, that's a little harder to find in a roadside food stall.

In the interest of food science, I did a taste test of 3 Cong Zhua Bing

Each was made with a different filling. One had a sausage(actually a hotdog), one had a hamburger patty and the other had a fried egg.

 I suppose it was no more unhealthy than eating three big slices of pizza. (Pizza with egg, now that sounds interesting.) I got all three at my favorite shop on Xinsheng road a block south of Aiguo on the west side of Xinsheng.

 I think I'll stick with the added fried egg. The others were just too greasy, if that is possible.

The Local Temple Parade

Now that Chinese New Years is over, the local temple can take the temple God out for an inspection tour of the neighborhood. This is usually a parade from the temple, around the neighborhood and back to the temple. From our 13th floor apartment we could see the entire parade across Xinsheng Street.

The parade snakes through the canyons of apartment buildings in our neighborhood. It's a noisy time with bands playing, recorded music blasting and fireworks going off.

Like any parade, there are bands, float, trucks, banners, marchers, dragons, ...

But the parade is totally a local affair made up with neighborhood groups and businesses

 It is a chance for the local temple to solicit money and support from the neighborhood. Mr Roger's would be proud.

I'm shooting these pictures with my Lumix DMC-TZ3, it's a great camera with a 10X zoom. I feel even better using it because I bought it for $5 in the US at a garage sale. (I spent $8 on Amazon buying the missing charger and extra battery.)

My favorite pet, urban chickens, a trusting mother

I saw my favorite pet to day of the streets of Taipei. It was an elephant! I think every child could have this elephant as a pet. Even though it was an elephant, I think it would be easy to feed and easy to clean up after.

I can say with certainty that this pet goes exactly where you lead it.

Right now the child is going where the her mother leads her, but I can guarantee that in the future this little girl might not follow her mother so willingly.

Lest you think I am against all animals, I want you to know that some animals visit us regularly. When we sleep too late in the morning we are woken by these guys.

Their cooing sounds much better than a rooster crowing and pigeons general wait for a more reasonable hour.

Many times, when some ask what a strange meat(snake, grasshoppers, frogs, ... )
tastes like the answer is: "It tastes like chicken." I recently heard that the name for a frog is mainland China is "tiánjī" 田雞. Which translates into English as:
Field Frog. So frog meat really is like chicken.

Here is a picture of the most trusting mother in Taiwan, she has let her baby girl hold what will be irreplaceable if lost.

LEDs

Taiwan is the number one(#1) producer of LED(Light Emitting Diodes) in the world. That's a pretty impressive distinction for such a small country. I had thought the LED displays around Christmas and Western New Years was impressive but they  got even more elaborate for Chinese New Years. Most of the time the LEDs come in strings light Christmas tree lights but being smaller and more uniform they can be shaped around large objects, like trees!

And the "rain lights" can be added to give the display movement.

Sometimes the strings can be combines to produce mixed colors.

And being on strings they can be shaped into writing and symbols.

And there are always lots of people with cameras who are willing to help you compose a picture.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Construction Signs

Taipei is a city on the move, there is construction everywhere. New buildings, new subway lines, new parks, ... One of the reasons for the building construction is that land prices in Taipei are going up for centrally located plots. With land prices going up it makes sense(economic sense) to tear down that 2 story apartment building and replace it with a 20 story office building.

Some of the pressure on land prices comes from Taiwanese moving from the countryside and southern Taiwan to the "big city" Taipei. Some of the pressure comes from mainland Chinese finding a new place to spent their money, like they did in Hong Kong.

There is a peculiar genre of construction signs at the construction sites. It catches my eyes because the signs are in both Chinese and English.

The characters in the signs always look like cartoon characters.

Sometimes they look like Laurel and Hardy.

Sometimes the message is very clear, whether in Chinese or English.

But there always seems to be a self-deprecating, humorous message that counters the inconvenience with some humour.

 

Chinese New Years - continued

The Chinese New Year(CNY) marks the beginning of the lunar calendar. Because is starts on a full moon, it can happen any day within 28 days compared to the Western calendar. February 10th(this year's CNY) seems particularly late.

School children get maybe 2 weeks off and businesses a full week. Most people use this time to connect with relatives. Taiwan is a small island and because everyone is traveling in the same vacation period there are plenty of traffic jams and long waits for buses, trains, ... I hear that in mainland China, the traveling is even worse as the distances are longer and many young people have moved to the city but then for CNY must travel to the countryside.

For Florence's family, the Lee family, most relatives are in either Taipei or the ancestral home of Ilan on the eastern coast of Taiwan. Two of Florence's uncles still live in Taipei and two of Florence's nephews have had girls. So gatherings in Taipei have four generations of relatives. Here are the 2 newest Lee family members.

The CNY gatherings combine the best of Taiwanese culture: eating and talking. Taking a cue from the Harley Davidson Crew, the questions is: "Live to eat or eat to live?. The first day of CNY is spent with your family and the second day is spent with your in-laws. Either way, the food will be impressive. I know of some well-prepared attendees who start dieting 2 weeks before the feasts so that they will have no reason to hold back.

When I go to these gatherings, I expect an army to arrive soon to help us eat all this food. To counter these dinners there are outings planned to get some exercise. There are plenty of beautiful places within Taipei city limits to visit.

The cherry trees are blossoming early in Taiwan this year.

For the Taipei Lees going out to Ilan is a special treat, all of us have good memories about Ilan and the Ilan relatives always treat us well. Going to Ilan is like taking a step back in time compared to Taipei, the people are friendlier and time moves slower. 

Nowadays with the XueShan Tunnel travel to Ilan is much easier than before. Coming out of the 8 mile tunnel is always exciting and this year the weather was particularly sunny and we could see GuiShan Island(Turtle Mountain) in the

distance, it is an island off the coast of Ilan.

Everything seems to grow well in Ilan and some things are different from Taipei.

We had a big discussion whether this was a begonia or not, anyway it was pretty.

We made it out to Ilan on Wednesday, already 4 days into the CNY, for these gatherings, the dinners are usually at restaurants and reservations have to be negotiated a good week before. We went to a restaurant with a old Taiwan motif with interesting nostalgic displays like this collection of old cigarette packs.

I was a little surprised by this "vintage bicycle" from 60 years ago,  because I know in Taipei(and probably Ilan) many of them are still in service.

This time, rather than going hiking with the old people, I rode a scooter with the young people to a shrimp fishing pavilion. These are big farm fishing pools with a picnic atmosphere because you are going to eat what you catch.

I caught more than I ate, but I was definitely not the best fisherman(shrimperman). There were two ponds, in one you loaded the hook and tempted the shrimp to stay attached long enough to land them. In the other pool, you used a very small hook with a bit of bait and tried to get the shrimp to actually swallow the hook. The second pool produced the bigger shrimp.

And here are the results:

When you see the shrimp flopping on the barbie, you know it doesn't get any fresher than this.

CNY always a good time.

Signs and Ideas

Here are some unrelated pictures and ideas from this trip to Taiwan.

Here is the diagram I have been looking for. In English we might say: "your eyes are the windows to your soul", but in the Chinese massage field: "your soles are the windows into your body". So each area of the sole is connected to an internal body part and massaging that part of the sole effects that internal body part. This picture clears up the asymmetry of the body as the liver is connected to the left foot and the heart is connected to the right foot. I had felt the left and right soles had perfect mirror symmetry.

I was shocked by this billboard as Taiwan is somewhat of a prudish country but on the other hand children are number one. Breastfeeding is correct but, I don't know that a billboard convinces anyone.

 While in TaiZhong, we stayed in a hotel that had no 4th floor, this is a Chinese superstition that the sound of the word for "death" sounds like the word for "four". I've heard that some buildings in the US do not have a 13th floor. Our building in Taipei does have a 13th floor and a 4th floor but maybe those residents get a discount. Count me in on the discount.

On the bus, I saw this translation about a low ceiling, I thought may be they were worried about a bad drug experience.

 From personal experience, I an testify that this restroom can handle more that one.

 I'd like to save the planet too!, but I don't think I'll become a vegetarian.

 At a hotel in TaiZhong this looked like a good idea. Separating the faucet from the tub. Most places in Taiwan have only a shower, a tub is a luxury.

Many of the ocean going ships/boats in Taiwan don't actually have a hull. They are more rafts built of PVC tubes. If Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer saw these boats they would be green with envy.

Some of these "rafts" are big enough to fish the oceans around Taiwan and make the commute to China.

 Using transparent material to use sunlight to project a message is kind of cool. Here in Puzi the tourist center used sunlight for notifications, tourist don't come when it is raining.