Miniature Golf in Taichung

Last Sunday was the official opening of Taichung's only miniature golf course. The owner and friend, Steve Brown, has done a great job in designing and constructing the course. The standard 18 holes has been reduced to 12 - Hey, that's 3 more than I figured anyone could fit inside the city - and the official name has correspondingly been shortened to Mini Golf.

It's located on Da Dun 7th Street, No. 493 (大墩七街493號) near the amphitheater (近圓滿戶外劇場). They have refreshments, a second floor practice range (real golf) and offer instruction for those not familiar with the concept - and believe me, there are plenty of those. Just like the hypermarts have attendants at the top of the escalators to "remind" the customers that they need to keep moving, I think Steve will need some golf marshals to remind them to walk on the paths and that the little flags have a number on them for a reason.

One round is $100 NT, but for now, Steve is handing out 2-for-1 business cards. He is also very willing to seriously discount groups. He didn't give me an exact number, but I get the feeling that even groups as small as 5 would be cut a deal. Steve wanted me to stress that if you do have a group wanting to play, call him first. He can arrange a better deal for you and ensure you will have time and space to play. Give it a try. I'll be going back this weekend with my niece and looking to improve on my first round score of 29 - which was Karl's score for the front 6.

Telephone: English (that would be Steve) : 0983-109-541

中文: 0937-296-520

Karl the Groundskeeper celebrates a 5.

Taichung voucher drawing

Like most other cities in Taiwan, Taichung is holding a drawing to encourage people to spend their vouchers in their area. If you qualified for the vouchers you can enter the drawing. Here is what's what with that.

• First, you need to spend at least $3,000 worth of your vouchers ( it doesn't have to be at one place at one time ) and save the receipts.
• Check your receipts. The ones printed by the cash registers should have the correct info without anything needed to be added. They will have the voucher characters on them (消費券).
• Some printed by the cash registers will not have this. Have the clerk write them along with the voucher number(s). A store chop might also be necessary.
• Hand written receipts need the store's official chop, the uniform invoice number of store, store name and address.
• Attach receipt(s) to entry form and mail in or drop off at almost any store in town - convenience stores, Costco, Carrefour...

There are 3 major prizes.

Third prize is for 5 plane tickets to Hangzhou and has already passed.

Second prize is 3 Hyundai cars. The dates for the drawings are 2/15, 3/01 and 3/15. Make sure you have dropped off your entry the day before the drawing.

First prize is an apartment on Wen Hsin South Rd. It's about 50 ping and valued at around $13 million NT. Be careful. The entry form states that the drawing goes until 3/29. However, this is not accurate. On 3/22, the government will draw the names of 10 lucky souls who then have to wait until 3/29 when the gov holds the final drawing for the lone winner. So 9 people get the opportunity to sweat it out for a week before being disappointed. So, if you haven't entered before the 22nd, you're out of it. Entry forms are supposed to be available at the same places you can drop off your form, i.e., practically any store.

Houli horses!

The last day of the 4-day New Year's vacation, Petra, my niece Joanne and I went on a little day excursion to Houli (后里). Just a little north of Taichung, it is easily reached by train in 30 minutes or less. I wasn't sure what we would do, I just knew that my wife said we would ride horses. Really? Well, arriving at the Houli train station we started looking around for help. There were plenty of students working part-time offering assistance to tourists. We rented bikes at the train station to ride to the "Hores" Station. They offer bikes for all sizes (except Karl). I had my seat raised to its maximum height and still was unable to extend my legs past the Big Wheel stage. If you go, I would go to the front of the Hores Station to rent a bike. They have a better selection. Bikes for little ones, bikes with training wheels, tandems, 3-seaters, all with the option of an electric motor.

The Houli Horse Farm (Chinese link) , as the local government calls it, was about what I expected. The riding is done in a small pen. Children must be led around the pen by a worker - 2 laps for $60 NT. Joanne is pictured above getting ready to be walked around on good ol' No. 299. Adults can ride by themselves for half an hour. I don't know the price because I got tired of waiting for good ol' No. 288 finish his lunch and left. While waiting for 288 to finish, we toured the area. One good thing about the farm is that you can ride your bike into and around the place. Joanne just started riding a bike a couple of months ago and is still pretty green. This was a nice,safe place for her to practice and gain some confidence. She learned how to and when to change gears there before we went biking around the area. There is an area for archery, a small playground, a couple of dilapidated, vacant houses and lots of construction going on to kill a good 5-10 minutes. You can pet the horses, and the Great Dane who is stabled next to the horses if you dare, as well as feed them if you bring your own horse chow.

Okay, horsie time was over and my navigator told us we were going to ride on the Hou-Feng Bike Path ( 后豐鐵馬道 - the 鐵馬 characters don't mean iron horse, but rather the Taiwanese pronunciation of bike). No cars or scooters are allowed and bicycle cops patrol the path to make sure... well, I'm not sure what they do because unless you can lift your scooter 2 feet off the ground there is no way for a scooter to enter. But, they are there, just in case. We were riding at noon on Sunday - bike rush hour. The ride is pleasant and the path is paved and divided into two lanes, which surprisingly, most people followed. After crossing under the highway we came to Tunnel #9. This 1.28 kilometer tunnel was built by the Japanese as a rail line. Exiting the tunnel you come to the bridge pictured above. Still nice and sturdy. However I forgot about my wife's fear of bridges when I began shouting at her. She was leading the way with Joanne in the middle and me bringing up the rear. What caused me to shout was seeing her plow down the middle of the narrow bridge forcing oncoming cyclists to break left and right around her. She maintained perfect posture, head never turning left or right, until the end of the bridge. No wrecks and only 3 or 4 forced stops. Maybe I should have spent some time with her at the horse farm.

Our last stop was the winery above. It is owned and operated by a young Taiwanese woman who trained at wineries in Napa Valley. They are renovating the building and hope to open in time for Chinese New Year. They will have a tasting area, bar and restaurant. She speaks good English, is very friendly (she practically forced us to sample every one of their wines) and informative ( she used lots of wine words that I played like I understood ). They offer Taiwanese style wines as well as a couple of traditional ones. The plum wine ( I usually don't like anything plum in Taiwan ) tasted like what I think a semi-sweet white wine would. The ice wine was good. How good I do not know. I just know I can drink it and not be put off. We ended up buying two bottles of Red Onion Red Wine. There are two versions. One is more for medicinal use and tastes like it. The other is made exclusively for drinking and taste. This was the one I chose. Semi-sweet with a hint of Funyun. I am almost out and will reorder. She delivers free of charge.

There is a nice garden as well as outdoor seating with a table made from 20 foot long and 3 foot wide piece of driftwood. This was washed down the side of the hill in a typhoon and they bought it from the government. In Taiwan, all driftwood belongs to the government. What about the fish and the trash? Do you also have to pay to remove these from the water? The table is spoiled somewhat by an inevitability - the wooden mock choo-choo Wine Train at the head of the table. Oh well. Trying to remove kitsch from Taiwanese is about as easy as removing the dermis from the epidermis and the subcutaneous fat. Still, we plan to return for a meal and a brace of Red Onion.

A Southern Command New Year's Eve

Sessions at Southern Command all begin the same. I get a beer, open my paper to the crossword and the security dog, Bao Bao, jumps on top of my paper, rolls over and paws at me until I rub her belly. Well, that's okay because I like dogs and we get bathroom privileges - providing we close the door. Pop always reminds me to tell the others, especially "the one who just points and doesn't ask" (D-Wayne).

Five o'clock comes round and people start gathering. D-Wayne and Chris are first. It's cold. How cold I do not know. But one of the cold-sounding Celsius numbers. We three get a head start on debunking the alcohol-will-warm-your-body myth. Esquire Willy and AJ are next and the table is crowded and the neighbors start putting in their earplugs. Steve is last (or Brown as Esquire calls him. I thought we pretty much had a moratorium on using last names in Taiwan but the Esquire nose-whistles his own tune).

Many motions are agreed upon: the Cowboys sucked, we still hate the Eagles, it is still cold and it is best not to open a bottle of beer one-handed while using the same hand to talk on a cell phone. The Esquire tried that and opened it up into a hundred pieces on the ground.

The cold inspires Steve to go inside and buy a couple of the heating pads pictured above. These are small bags that once activated by rubbing, crumpling and/or slapping, produce a constant heat for several hours. The bag is filled with iron fillings, water, active carbon and salt. My wife says her elementary school students know the formula and can make it themselves.

The ad at top says they maintain an average temperature of 50-55 degrees Celsius, with a max temperature of 66 for 20 hours. Well, I don't know about the 20 hours, but they were still quite warm by bed time. Students can always be found with these in their hands. Steve and I experimented with other locations. They are great as bun warmers. One in each pocket. I enjoyed leaving it on the back of my neck, getting a nice shot of heat down my spine and up my neck. Steve used them as earmuffs by securing them with his toboggan, yes, I said toboggan. Let me explain. Growing up in Lubbock, big snows were rare. The usual winter snow was a 1-2 inch dusting that disappeared quickly. We just weren't snow mavens. Whereas the Eskimos have a baker's buttload of words for snow, we ( or just me ) had only one word to cover all things snow related - and mine was toboggan. I didn't have any Canadianer friends at that time so I didn't know about toque. Now that I do, I still don't say it. So Steve was delighted wearing his heating pads inside of his toboggan.

AJ tried to warm up by buying whiskey - he wasn't there for the earlier debunking session. When he went to buy the second bottle I decided it was time for me to go and pass the New Year in my preferred manner - not dead. When the clock struck midnight I was asleep and alive, dreaming of black-eyed peas.

They are my favorite vegetable and you can get them in Taiwan. I have only found dried but my wife asked the person selling them and she said they were grown somewhere in southern Taiwan. I eat both kinds, but fresh black-eyed peas with snaps are better, better , better. So if anyone in southern Taiwan reading this...oops, that was stupid. If anyone reading this ( a little better) knows anyone in southern Taiwan who might know about fresh black-eyed peas, let me know and I'll send you a signed picture of Lee Deng-Hui.

Things were a little more lively in Taipei, where Jack Donaghy blew up Taipei 101.

一中街 / Yi Chong Street

Taichung's Yi Chong (or I Chong, how do you Romanize it?) Street is very popular with students, young people and wives who want their husbands to go someplace other than establishments providing frosty, adult beverages. It is actually one or two main streets with many alleys feeding off of it and gazillions of people feeding themselves and the vendors. Action is busiest on the weekends and holidays and that is when my wife told me that we were going. We were looking for Christmas gifts. We found none. I'm sure there are things there I would buy - 90% of my students' accessories come from there or the Feng Jia area. However, this was truly a 人山人海 situation (people mountain people sea: huge crowds of people). Final score: Other people - 0, Me - 4. I got four sets of matchboxes with classic themes: Elvis, Bruce Lee, Clint Eastwood, old Chinese adverts and Chinese Huangmei opera films.

I also met these guys. College students giving out hugs. Their goal was 10,000. Get a hug and sign your name. I got one from each of the seven pictured but don't know if that counts for seven or just one, me. Anyhoo, they were very nice and spoke English very well and confidently. That was a nice experience.

My continuing quest for good dumplings was not as nice though. I tried the first soup dumpling stand that I came upon. 5 dumplings for $20 NT. Dumplings, yes, soup...no. Well, you get what you pay for, so I tried a different stand nearby selling the same amount for $25 NT.

Me: Do your soup dumplings have any soup in them?

Unhappy Girl Helper: ( Nothing is said. Just looks at me like a tree full of owls.)

Me: Excuse me. Do your dumplings have soup in them?

UGH: ( Still nothing said but her expression changes to one of disgust and amazement at my stupidity - dismazement. She then slowly points to each character on the sign indicating that this is a soup dumpling stand, nodding her head slowly at each character, hoping round-eye can understand and order or go away. I'm gonna send the Hug Squad over here and order her a double.)

Me: I know this is a soup dumpling stand, that's why I'm here. But I just came from that one there and there was no soup in his dumplings. What about yours?

UGH: ..........Boss!

Boss: What's the problem!

Me: No problem. I just want to know if your dumplings have soup in them. That's all.

Boss: What do you mean? Of course! You want them or not? ( Hug Squad, where are you?)

Me: Yeah. And give me a spoon, please.

Boss: What do you need a spoon for?

Me: Uh...nothing, I guess.

I guessed right. Nothing. After carefully making a little hole in each of the dumplings to let the soup drain into the clear plastic bag, that is what I ended up with. Not even one drop. Well, I'm going to pay a little more and go back to the soup-friendly dumpling places I know of

PIMP, I saw that you requested a recipe for the broth. Follow this link and have your wife translate. It's a copycat recipe for Ding Tai Feng's 小籠包 (xiao3 long2 bao1).

兆溱豐 - Dumplings

I like dumplings. Steamed dumplings are obviously superior to boiled dumplings in every way. Pot stickers are especially good when you can get them with a slightly crispy skin. There are also broth filled dumplings called Tang Bao as well as a bigger steamed dumplings called 小籠包 (xiao3 long2 bao1). Taipei has the most famous 小籠湯 shop in Taiwan, 鼎 泰 豐 (ding3 tai4 feng1) and my wife got a chance last month to eat at both Taipei locations.

This was convenient for me because I had come across a similar style shop in Taichung, 兆溱豐 (zhao4 qin2 feng1). There are now two in Taichung - one on Wen Shin South road (map) and one in the Dong Hai area. We visited the Wen Shin shop. The story goes that a "master chef" from the Taipei dumpling store came to Taichung and opened his own "McDougal's." With my wife having eaten at the two Taipei locations, I thought she would be able to give me a good comparison of the two. So, off we went.

We were ushered through the first floor which has the kitchen, a shrine to some gods as well as a shrine to the master chef himself. Seated on the second floor looking at the menu, we met our first problem. Traditionally, Tang Bao are smaller dumplings with more broth than the bigger 小籠包. However the menu listed 小籠包 and 小籠湯包 (soup-filled). What? Weren't they all soup-filled? After questioning the waiter and not understanding him, they had to show us pictures so we could understand. Turns out that this place has their own nomenclature. The former was indeed the big, soup-filled dumpling that we wanted. The latter were smaller, no-soup, steamed dumplings that came with a bowl of soup to let you combine the two. Here are some good photos of the 小籠包 ( the first 3 food pics).

The dumplings were very good. My wife thinks they are about as good as the Taipei joint, and most of the Taiwanese bloggers that I've read concur. The prices are a tad cheaper than Taipei, but still, one steamer with 10 dumplings is $150 NT. The rest of the food was nothing special, though my wife thought their chicken soup was also very good.

On the negative side we have their service. When seated, we made up the third table on the second floor - one for each of the servers 5 feet away. They, however, were caught up in the task of filling cups with tea - either for guests who were not yet there or they thought we all wanted forty cups of tea apiece. Their attention did not improve. Additionally, they had a poor selection of side dishes. Most restaurants have an array of side dishes on small plates. When I went to look at their selection I had this conversation with the same waiter who had baffled me and my wife earlier:

Me: You don't have much of a selection, do you?

Server: Oh no! We have a lot! Look!

Me: They're all tofu dishes.

Server: But we have lots (of dishes).

Me: You have lots of plates but only dried tofu or tofu strips.

Server: See! We have lots.

Well, the dumplings were good, and I learned the best way to eat them. I had always just plopped the whole thing in my mouth and chowed down. My wife corrected me. You should first bite a tiny hole in the dumpling skin and let the broth pour into your soup spoon and drink that first. Then you eat the dumpling with ginger strips and vinegar. Definitely the way to do it. Their broth was great. I had been missing out on the chance to enjoy the broth independent of the dumpling for years. Be sure to eat while still hot before it cools and is absorbed into the filling.

We decided we would go back, but only for the 小籠包.

Hats

Tyler: King Vitamin or Burger King?

Hannibal: Went MIA after the cancellation of Hello Larry.

PJ: One of the two humans to touch The Dogs Who Shall Not Touch Earth.

Red A: We're not sure if that's even a hat or a halo of barley.

Karl: A reprise, but vampire hunters are always cool.

Frenchie: Claims it's not a location, but a proclamation.

Bread: I'm still using freeware. I can't crop everything. And no, Frenchie isn't looking to harm Bread. That's just his I-don't-like-male-breasts-throw-up-face.

Lance: Now, this guy would never get a ticket in Montana.

"It's been a good run."

Dear Asshole,

Just like to send out a warm "Nihowdy-get-bent,you-fucking-jerk" to the man who stole my bike while I was eating dinner.
It is just not cool. I had so much fun with that bike, should I replace it? Should I tell a cop? Should I flood my neighborhood with M.I.A. posters. ex: Dear Shithead, buy your own bike. I need that one.
It is ironic to have my bike stolen just when I thought of a new use for it.If I had a car I could park anywhere and use the folding bike to taxi,ferry myself.

Andrea Bocelli

I thought having already seen Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti with my wife would have earned me enough husband points for life. Honey, I need a week in Vegas with the boys. No, problem. More like, no way. I had to complete the classical music trifecta last night with the Andrea Bocelli concert. Worse yet, was that it was the same day as the Chili Cook Off. She presented me with a fait accompli - tickets purchased without my knowing and then springing the concert on me as I was telling her about the meat I needed from Costco for my chili. Refund them! Can't (though I think she conned me on this one). Scalp them! There are still a few tickets left, can't take the chance. Give them away? They're $2,400NT apiece ($80 US). Ouch. Okay, what time's the concert?

Traffic in Taiwan. Motorists are like spoiled children who have been told once by their parents ( the police ) not to do it and then continue to push the boundaries to see how much they can get away with until mom and dad react. They're still pushing. Generally, they'll do what the other kids are doing until someone starts doing something different and enough people are doing it, making it safe for them to join in.

This night, most motorists were driving in the lanes for cars and not the narrow motorcycle lane on the side. Having policemen standing in the motorcycle lanes and making the cyclists swerve around them probably deterred them. That, or they thought they couldn't get to an ATM quickly enough to pay off the cops after hitting one of the lane-standers. I am sure their tickets were more expensive than ours and they were not going to risk being late. All except one lone taxi.

This little-taxi-who-wouldn't was zipping in and out of the motorcycle lane, looking as if it was trying to score a hit on any type of vehicle. But the cool crowd that night was having none of it. He just couldn't convince anyone else to come and play in the motorcycle lane, so he concentrated only on the motorcycles. He would feint to the inside lane and let a scooter start to accelerate past him in the motorcycle lane and the veer back over to the side, forcing the scooters to suddenly veer away or stop and turn off their cell phone to ask the person on the seat behind them what just happened. When he had eased up beside me in the car lane, he started to try to squeeze me off onto the sidewalk. I maintained 40 kpm and a straight bearing. His rear door finally started pressing against my leg so I took the opportunity to slam my fist into the door and yell a healthy string of constructive criticism at him. To my surprise, another scooterist joined in on my side encouraging him to reflect deeply upon his actions. Usually, messing with taxis is bad. Messing with Taiwanese is bad. I blame it on their math skills. They see 1 to 1 as too simple. They need something more complex, like fractions. So, being their country, they get to choose - denominator or numerator. They inevitably choose the denominator and will visit your house in forms ranging from 1/11 to 1/23 and beat you to a 1/100 of your life.

This time I was fortunate. He had pulled over to the curb and I pulled up beside him. Again, not the recommended move. The car was loaded. But it was loaded with Ma and Pa Chang and four more of their kin. My wife, yes, my wife, started into them before I could. I joined in explaining the obvious violations they committed. It wasn't to them. They gave us a big smile, bigger nonsense and then we scooted away.

From this point, things were different. For a two-block radius around the stadium there existed a traffic paradise. Cars obeyed the signals - and the several hundred cops - respected the pedestrians and followed the rules. It was as if the traffic cop honchos decided to give this enforcement of law thing a shot for once. Unless they conscript half the population into the Traffic Corps, I don't see this being replicated on a larger scale. But finally, we were in.

We had tickets midway down the first base line on the lower level. The stage was in the outfield section, straightaway center. Behind the orchestra and chorus was a big screen. There were two others flanking the stage. A final two more were posted at the 325 mark on the sides. Things seem to be starting on time. This announcement was repeated often. Welcome to the Andrea Bocelli Tenor Concert. Dude, beverage photoGRAPHY and foaming are not allowed. Thank you for your cooperation. I had to listen several times before I discovered that dudes and foaming were okay, but not food or filming. PhotoGRAPHY was a coin toss.

From left field comes a group of about 10 people to applause from about the same number. Woman behind me to her child: That's Ma Ying-Jeou. Ma Ying-Jeou. Do you see Ma Ying-Jeou? Oh, you don't know who he is. Well, I know who he is, but didn't know until today's paper that he was actually there. Whoopee! Celebrity proximity!

Warm up for the orchestra. Wow, this is really running smoothly. Now the conductor, Marcello Rota, enters. Thank goodness for the big screen, because people in the outfield look tiny from the first base line. If he pursed his lips, he could be the Italian Mr. Bean. Looks like they are starting. The program states the first number as one for the chorus. It's got a long Italian name and I'm not going to type it. Anyway, the show is starting. What! What the hell is this? This isn't any classical song from Nabucco! People are confused just like me, and about 10 seconds into the song, it hits everyone at the same time and...we...stand up. This, people, is the national anthem! Last heard by me at a movie theater years ago. No one ever sings this...wait, we are singing it now. Everyone. We finish. There is a lot of happy applause. The mood lifts and brightens noticeably. Well, I'll be.

Rota escorts Bocelli onstage and before we can rev up our anticipation, he begins. Songs are performed, Bocelli is escorted offstage, others - Maria Luigia Borsi, Gianfranco Montresor and Heather Headley - are rotated on and off. There is no time wasted. It is not rushed, but, however, proceeds at a brisk pace and never stagnates. The music. I cannot accurately comment on this type of music. I can say that it all sounded like what I thought it should. Bocelli's voice was sharp, clear and strong. The others as well, though I thought Montresor's baritone, while accurate, just seemed a little muddy compared to the clarity of Bocelli's tenor. The orchestra ( Evergreen Symphony Orchestra ) and chorus (Taipei Philharmonic Chorus ) were both tight and strong. This first half was over and we had a brief intermission which was timed to the second.

I recognized more songs in the second set. I also saw what I believe to be was my first classical music video. During a duet with Ms. Borsi, the screen behind the orchestra was showing Bocelli and another woman, maybe Borsi, in a video for the same song. Bocelli was standing on some red-carpeted stairs in front of a palace, library or someplace with columns and hundreds of marble stairs. There wasn't much to the video. Women would come to him, spin, wave their arms and he would extend a hand, tilt his head and occasionally turn his torso. Not much he could do being blind in the middle of all those stairs. Nonetheless, I'm counting it as a music video.

Equally impressive, to me, was the production quality. For the 15,000 in the stands and probably most of the 1,000 on the field, the screens were absolutely necessary. I have not seen camerawork, fade shots and shot selection this good on any TV show in Taiwan. If the oboe was being featured, the camera was already there with the shot. We got close-ups from different angles of the same person, overhead shots into the tuba, smooth pull-away shot, and great crane shots ( Johnny LaRue 萬 歲 !).

Call it the Italian in them or the KMT in me, but this was a well-run enjoyable event. I apologize for not commenting more on the music, but visit their sites and listen. They all have extremely incredible voices. That I do know. My wife loved it. I did also. I thank Mr. Bocelli for coming to Taichung ( his only other Asian venue is in Seoul) and sharing his music and now making my beard acceptable to my wife.

Lantern Festival

The Rat is back.
The fireworks were terrific. I have never seen amazing horizontal fireworks. I took three pictures. Everyone and his dog had a camera running around. Most of these people seem to be taking video with their digital camera, so I guess you could look on youtube. I went to the weshin amphitheatre park. I didn't seen many lanterns. Apparently the show is at Taichung park.
I don't think I have ever been in such a large park with hordes of people. It was a family event but it was overrun by teenagers and Mickey Mouse lanterns.
I plan to go again some quieter night.

This month will see the start of two baseball tournaments in Taiwan - The Asian Baseball Championship (The Asian Cup) and the Baseball World Cup. The former will be held exclusively in Taichung at the old Taichung stadium and the new Intercontinental Stadium from December 1st-3rd (English schedule here, Chinese here). The latter will be hosted at several cities around Taiwan. Taichung games commence on November 2nd and end on the 14th. The finals will only be in the Taipei area. Chinese schedule here. (D-Wayne, can you help out with the English schedule you found yesterday?)

Ticket information - outlets, online purchasing and types -for the Baseball World Cup can be found here (English).

下一項

Final Costco (好事多) post, I hope.

The grand opening for the Taichung Costco is November 11. Hours are 8:30am-9:30pm.

• Memberships purchased by the 8th will still include an extra membership card. So, if you purchase a membership you will get a primary, secondary and a gift membership for $1,200NT (personal) and $1,000NT (business)
• Regardless of when you obtained your Taichung membership card, it will be valid until the end of November 2008. Mine was purchased in August and I will not lose any months because I purchased it before the store opened.
• There will be a free "Western" breakfast for the first 6,000 cardholders. 8:30-10:30am
• They will also give away to the first 20,000 cardholders... 10 eggs. Yes, 10 eggs.
• The temporary office has been moved into the actual Costco building. So, if you want a card, go to 台中市南屯區文心南三路289號 and the office is on the 1st floor.

下一項

"Too much garlic is not enough." Me. A long time ago.

I love garlic. A lot. And now there is some initial research that garlic can be really good for us. Researchers at UAB found that garlic juice injected into human red blood cells prompted them to emit hydrogen sulfide, which causes blood vessels to relax. They also say that after crushing or chopping the garlic, you need to wait at least 15 minutes to allow the reaction that produces this release. Here are two articles discussing the study. The first is more general and the second a bit more specific.

However, do not view this as a coronary panacea. Garlic has no effect on cholesterol and also this:

Eric Block, professor of chemistry at the State University of New York, Albany, has also done extensive work on garlic. He called the paper "provocative" but expressed some concerns.
For example, he said, "the benefits of garlic on cardiovascular disease remain controversial, because they have not been established by the gold standard method of placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical studies," he said.

My mother told me that while she was in Saudi Arabia the Saudis would swallow whole, peeled cloves of garlic to aid their digestion. While my wife was talking to a farmer near Taichung about a natural make-up remover and cleanser, he started talking about garlic. Now we have a bottle of garlic wine in the mail. They might be on to something. Drink up and reek not of booze, but of garlic.

Rodin Exhibit Address

Former Taichung Municipal Building, #97 Min Chuan Rd., next to the city government building - 台中市役所(台中市民權路97號、市政府旁)

Hola Carrefour

Firstly, I think that I should be thanked for not posting about this morning's visit to my hematologist which quickly revealed my versatile doctor to be every bit as eager as Jack Elam to deploy his middle digit in The Cannonball Run. Really. Thank me. Or you will hear about it.


This morning's clump of fliers included Carrefour's and their obvious attempt to deflate the impending opening of Costco in Taichung. Costco will open in November, though the actual date was not set when I went there. They do have an office open to view products, watch their videos and sign up for membership. If you are interested, here are the details.


Personal Membership (Gold Star Member) - $1,200NT a year. This will include two photo ID cards. But if done before the opening, they will give you a third card you can give to a friend or a family member. Split it three ways and it's $400 apiece. The next year's membership is $1,200 for the two cards and the gift card recipient will also have to pay the same if they would like to retain it. However, if you use your China Trust credit card during the year to make purchases of $90,000NT, the next year's membership fee is free. This is not limited to purchases at Costco, but anything purchased with the China Trust card. Costco accepts, cash, China Trust cards and AmEx (pretty sure it's AmEx. I just know we didn't have the correct kind of card). Nicely enough, the people helping you complete your membership are actually China Trust employees. A China Trust card is now in the mail. I just hope it's more than the $500US limit on my other one.


Business Membership - Not sure. I think they give it to you free with an X-Box. I did see a $500 figure on the sign for businesses but just figured it was that or the X-Box.

Back to the Carrefour flier. The online cover features Max Von Sydow dressed like Uncle Sam beholding a bag of Friday's Quesadilla Chips. Here, let's a look at one of the pages.


What do we have here? Chicken enchiladas, black bean enchiladas, a bean and cheese burrito and cheese quesadillas. And all made in the USA - see the red, white and blue ovals with 美國製造? It doesn't say where in the US so I guess I'll go and sample one and see if they have more info.

Bonus pic for our Canadianer friends in Taichung. Heard Special Dinners have become scarce.

"Chili" cook-off results

1st place went to the dish from Sahara Restaurant. I guess Chris from South Africa made it. Pictured on the left is a plate of beans, cheese, some sort of herbs and more beans. Click on the photo and guess the number of beans. The winner gets the tequila from the guy on the right.

On the right is Carlito, on hiatus from the WWE, taking 2nd place with his KMT Election Special Chili. Originally not even in the top three, Carlito jumped to number 2 after dispensing free shots of tequila in exchange for your vote( there's the bottle next to the cooler). The votes were recounted and he bought himself 2nd place.

Taichung City TaiKe Tourism Season 台中市台客觀光季

April showers bring...what is it again? Oh, yeah - TaiKe Rock 'n Roll! Taichung has designated May as TaiKe Tourism Season (Chinese link). What is TaiKe? Let Red A answer. What is TaiKe Tourism Season? Let the city government explain: The Season coordinates multiple life and recreational arts in the City into the delicate presentation of all-aspects and colorful innovations.

Who cares about - or understands - that? May 5th and 6th will see the main attraction of the Season. TaiKe rock featuring Wu Bai and China Blue (English Wu Bai site, and a Chinese one - sign up required). Look at the dude. He is TaiKe. I freely admit I love the guy and band. I used to listen and learn the lyrics so I could sing along until someone took (or hid) my CD. Here's a video of a typical Wu Bai Taiwanese song. And here is a classic, not his, but his cover is the most famous. This is the song that I sang to my wife, the lovely Petra Sue Lynch, when I proposed to her over the telephone from the States - Love You 10,000 Years (愛你一萬年). The video has the lyrics. Learn them and impress your Taiwanese spouse or whoever needs impressing.

P.S. - Garland, I want you to watch the Love You 10,000 Years video and give me your opinion. Tell me what you think, you won't hurt my feelings cause if you don't like it I'll say you're wrong.

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And now, a joke. First in Chinese and then in English with explanation (mandatory of all Chinese-language jokes for non-native speakers).

為什麼800壯士變成300壯士?

因為伍佰跑到去開演唱會 (You may now laugh.)

Why did the 800 warriors become the 300 warriors?

Because Wu Bai left to give a concert.

Explanation: The 800 warriors are China's version of the Spartan 300. In 1937 a group of 800 Chinese soldiers withstood thousands of Japanese for four days as the invasion of Shanghai began.

Wu Bai (伍佰), the singer mentioned above, has the same pronunciation as the characters for the number 500 (五百).

Get it? Did you laugh? I didn't. But every Taiwanese that I've told the joke to did laugh - about 5 people. It was originally told to me by my 6th-grade student and I don't know if she was repeating a joke she heard or if she made it up.

Strictly Taichung

The registration deadline for the inaugural Goofy Group Wedding nears. This year's title is " Group Wedding Ceremony for Citizens and Public Staff•Athens European Romance in 2007." Here are some highlights:

• This year's theme : May Love and Fulfilled Destiny•Honey in Athens


• Everlasting memories : Mu Gui-Xin, Director of Civil Affairs Bureau, decorated as a European duck, stated that the Athenian romantic group wedding would blow the horn... throughout the whole year
  
• Wedding day orgy : ...and welcomed all intending couples to register for the romance in the Large Conference Room
  
• Authenticity : (a) classical Greek romantic wedding in a ‘Roman palace' in the Round Theater
  
• Gaiety : Couples dancing to palace horns and Mayor Hu dressed as Roman royalty

When he's not busy dressing up in a toga, Mayor Hu continues to battle the crime rate in Taichung with boldly redundant ploys such as (granting) gift certificates or books worth 1 thousand NT dollars to encourage police colleagues each time when they were found to actively concern themselves with those in need of assistance.

I wonder if this includes officers emptying their clip before handing over their firearms to criminals.

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Amcham Taichung's response to my query regarding the China Bowl :

No wonder they're registered as a service organization instead of a business one. No... that doesn't work either.

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Lastly, our friend, Malcolm Schreiber, started a blog for the sole purpose of detailing his latest trip to Thailand. Check out his account and photos here.

mona hu?

I've been seeing this image of Taichung mayor Jason Hu superimposed on the Mona Lisa for months now...unfortunately I didn't get a chance to read the bottom or even shoot it, as you can see... it must be for the Art Museum on Wu Chuan and Ying Cai ... this was taken at the RT Mart on Zhong Ming... hope no one chokes on their dan bing.

Favian-tech

Favian is an 8th-grade student at the school I teach at in Taichung, Taiwan. Having taught their class several times, never regularly, I discovered that the class had problems with the English language. Most did not recognize that English was a language, and those that did, did not realize that they were being taught English by us.

My colleague, the Commander, is now "in charge" of this class. As part of the unit on technology and gadgets, the Commander assigned them to go home and make a list of all machines and gadgets in their houses. Favian, who is rather large for his age, and his list stood head-and-shoulders above the others. Favian's list has two columns of 25 - maybe one for each of the universes he inhabits - with each entry in English and Chinese. There you will find nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, exclamations and some 18th century English. Here is Favian's complete list in his own handwriting and below are a few excerpts.

• cell phone : high-tech
• yo-yo: low-tech
• the sun: Favian-tech
• TV : high-tech
• orange : Favian-tech
• aircraft carrier : high-tech
• different : Favian-tech
• f*ck : Favian-tech
• piss pot : low-tech
• yacht : high-tech
• America : Favian-tech
• Sabah : Favian-tech

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For all those who reside outside of Taiwan, please go here and read Michael Turton's letter to the Taipei Times. It's excellent in its portrayal of news concerning Taiwan. I don't know if it's laziness, antipathy, prejudice, ignorance or a combination of these that is responsible for this kind of reporting, but when looking at CNN's Asian bureaus, I'm sure laziness and ignorance play a part.

Tidbits

21 Point ( 21 點) is a Cantonese eatery featuring dim sum and Cantonese snacks. All food is cooked after ordering. My wife and I tried this the other day and found it good, but not great. However, as stated, nothing is pre-cooked and they have a good variety. Most dishes are steamed, but they also have baked and fried dishes as well as soup. I enjoyed the sticky-rice chicken steamed in lotus leaves. The meat balls and all shrimp items I ate were also good. For those things that I didn't really cotton to, there was some spicy yellow Chinese mustard to help it down - something that's pretty hard to find in restaurants in Taichung. It's pretty fast and moderately priced - a good change when you don't have the time to go to a proper dim sum restaurant. This is a good one-page overview and this is their own site where you can order online. They offer free delivery within the city with a surcharge for Taichung county.

The address is 台中市青海路一段10號, on the corner of Han Kou Road, Section 1 and Ching Hai Road, Section 1, about a block north of Tai Chung Gang Road.

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Congratulations to the Nazareth Swiftettes, who set a national record with their 18th state basketball title.

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Wes Welker, former Texas Tech star, has been traded from the Miami Dolphins to the New England Patriots. This puts me in a dilemma. I stopped caring about the Pats when they got rid of Pat the Patriot and replaced him with the swooshie wraith-like guy. I started actively disliking them when they began winning Super Bowls and everyone proclaimed Tom Brady the best QB ever ( never mind about the rest of the team or coach). He's very good, yes. The best? No. Great? Probably. But leave it at that. Now Wes is going to play for them and I can't root against a Tech boy, except against the Cowboys, and it's gonna be difficult to get used to. But, it does provide more incentive to get to the China Bowl in August. Has anybody arranged that yet?

Da Du ( 大肚) Day

The Berlin Pet Club sits on top of 大 肚 (Big Belly) Mountain in Taichung near the DMV. Pet clubs, restaurants and spas for pets and owners are very popular in Taiwan at the time. I've been to several and most are either a fenced-in area with tables and chairs or indoor businesses that are filthy and horrid smelling. This one is a bit different. It has a big grassy area with ramps, jumps and things like that. There is also a swimming pool that is kept clean and has a operating filtration system - something that many apartment pools do not have. There are DIY washing and drying facilities, kennels which offer A/C in the summer, a patio and main office / kitchen / dining room. Dogs are allowed everywhere except the latter, something that most other dog clubs do not enforce. The grounds are kept very clean with attendants standing by to mop up and spray bleach water on any pee that happens outside of the field. The patrons are very good about policing the grounds also as doo bags are stationed throughout the grounds. It's $100 NT for small dogs and their owners and this is credited to anything you would like to order. The food is surprisingly good. Their chicken sandwich beats most that I've had at restaurants in town. Take your dog and relax or just go to watch the others play. On the way up the mountain, you can stop and view the Taichung Women's Prison and the Taichung Juvenile Detention Center.

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Who says the Taiwanese aren't taking the Chinese threat seriously? I think denying them food and drink is a good first step.