Scootering in Taiwan: New Helmet Technology

I’ve been riding a scooter in Taiwan now for a little over a year. Riding a scooter is the best way to get around town. Generally, parking isn’t a huge issue, especially if you have a scooter designed for disabled people, like I do. I have parked in a place where a lot of other scooters were parked, albeit, illegally to see all the scooters, except mine, towed away and their license number written on the street in chalk. The towing guys are a bit more compassionate about disabled scooters than they are about the regular scooters. As for me, I can live with the special treatment, in this one case.

For all the time I’ve been riding I have been using the helmet that the Yamaha dealer gave me. It’s a standard round-headed helmet. In fact it makes my shadow look like Charlie Brown’s. Sometimes I like it well enough. I know it’s a safe helmet and will protect my head, but it has its disadvantages.

First because of its construction it whistles as I ride. The way the faceplate is attached restricts airflow and there is a constant whistle. I ride with the faceplate up it catches the wind and tries to fly.. I feel the helmet getting lighter on my head and I have to reach up and pull the mask down a little so the wind hits across the plate and it loses lift. Finally, it just isn’t cool looking. I see all these Taiwanese kids with cool helmets and I think, “Hey, I want to be cool, too.” Then I see my shadow and well, I look like that other famous blockhead…Charlie Brown. So after all this time I decided I needed…I know what you’re thinking…I NEEDED not WANTED. I’m sticking to that story…a new helmet.

There’re a lot of different helmets you can get. There’s one that looks like a strawberry, it even has some felt leaves up on the top. I might get one of those for Emily. There are some with cool pictures on them. Some of them look like a hardhat with a chinstrap. I’ve even seen some with a Mohawk. Some have words misspelled on them, though, I don’t think that’s intentional. Of course, Hello Kitty and a lot of other cute girly stuff are available, but I wansn’t in the market for that. One thing that’s interesting is that I see a lot of tough looking bin lang chewing guys wearing pink helmets and rain gear, but I’ll save that for another post. .

I finally chose one. I found it at Costco. It’s Glossy black but it isn’t a Charlie Browner, it’s kind of space age looking. I’ve seen this type around but I didn’t realize what it all meant. On the top are two raised areas. They look like airfoils. In fact, that’s exactly what they are.

I didn’t know that when I bought it. It said what they were on the box, but I can’t read a lot of Chinese so I didn’t know. But when I put it on and went for my maiden voyage, I felt an odd sensation on the top of my head. It was cool. My hair, what’s left of it, ruffled slightly in the breeze. It felt cool and nice, and stimulated my somewhat lonely follicles. The helmet has vents in the front that scoop air into the helmet and it runs through and escapes out the exhaust vents in the back. Your head has a nice breeze while being protected.  The vents even run cool air down the inside of the faceplate, so your face can be cool.

But, you might think, what about when it’s cold and you want your head to stay warm? What if you don’t want cold air and rainwater rushing through your helmet stimulating all those follicles? There are two little switches on the helmet that when you switch them they shut off the vents and your head stays warm and toasty, although your follicles are constantly, by this time, crying out for more stimulation.

This is a great design in a place like Taiwan, where the weather can change in a matter of minutes. The summer has a tendency to be hot and humid and this ventilation will be a welcome addition to my scootering experience.

Other Posts you may be interested in:

Traveling With M13:  Custom Scooters of Taiwan
Random Asianess:  Valentino Rossi...Baby
Cultural Unawareness:  Ticked Off in Taiwan

Taiwan Travelogue: The National Palace Museum

A Brief History of the National Palace Museum:

Thirteen years after the founding of the Republic of China [Taiwanese History: Double Tenth Day: October 21, 2010] the last emperor Pu Ying was exiled from the Forbidden City. All cultural artifacts within the palace became the basis for the National Palace Museum in the Forbidden City. The Museum was inaugurated on October 10, 1925. The mission of the National Palace Museum was to preserve the artifacts and make them available to be seen by all citizens of the Republic of China.

In 1931 the decision was made to crate all of the objects to make them ready to move in order to protect them from falling into Japan's hands as during the Japanese Invasion of Northeast China.

In 1948, the civil war between nationalist troops and communist troops took a turn for the worst for the Republic of China and all artifacts were evacuated to Taiwan to preserve them.

In 1965 The National Palace Museum opened in Taipei, Taiwan where it remains today. The National Palace Museum has one of the largest collections of Ancient Chinese Art in the world. It’s a world-class museum and ranks as one of the finest in the world. There are many notable pieces from the Song (960–1279), Yuan (1279-1368), Ming (1368-1644), and Qing (1644-1912) Dynasties.

Notable Artifacts

The Jadeite Cabbage

The Jadeite Cabbage was made during the Qing Dynasty as a gift for the emperor. The White and green coloring of the Jadeite was used to make this carving look like a Chinese White Cabbage. Hidden in he leaves of the cabbage are crickets. The detail of this piece is amazing, when looking closely at the cricket you can see the ridges that make the cricket’s sound on the back of the legs. The crickets represented the wish for children for the emperor. The Jadeite had a number of flaws; the artist incorporated the flaws into the design hiding them.

The Carved Olive Boat

This is small carved boat. It is the size of a small walnut and has been graved by hand in approximately 1737. If you look at the boat you can see doors that open and people who have been carved into the interior of the work. The people all have different expressions on their face. There is a text of more than 300 Chinese characters carved into the bottom of the boat.

The Peach Vase

This vase made in the Qing Dynasty is made of ceramic clay. There is beautiful artwork in glaze on the sides of the vase. It is a branch of Peach Tree containing four peaches and peach blossoms.

The museum is located at No.221 Sec.2 Zhisan Road, Taipei. It can easily be found using Taipei’s system of public transportation. The Hours of the museum are 8:30 am to 6:30 pm. General admission is $160 NTD however, disabled people and one attendant can enter for free. The museum has wheelchairs available for disabled guests. Food and souvenirs can be purchased at the museum.



Other posts you may be interested in:

Taiwan Travelogue:  The Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine
Taiwan Travelogue:  The Taipei 101
Taiwan Travelogue:  The Taipei 101 (Part 2)

Taiwanese History: The 2/28 Massacre

Taiwanese Flag flies at half-mast over the National Palace Museum 2/28/2011,

Yesterday, Taiwan commemorated the 228 Incident. It is also referred to as the 228 Massacre. The incident is called that because it took place on February 28, 1947. As recently as 1995, this incident, which was officially taboo, for many years, became the catalyst for the Anti-Chiang Kai Shek sentiment in Taiwan. Chiang Kai Shek was the leader of the Kou Ming Tang party and president of the Republic of China in 1947. This was prior to the communists under Mao Tze Tung defeating Kou Ming Tang troops and the subsequent removal of the Republic of China to the island of Taiwan.

Taiwan has a somewhat complicated history. A number of countries have controlled Taiwan in the past, such as Portugal (when the island was called Formosa) and most recently, by the Japanese. prior to the Republic of China’s rule It was at the end of the Japanese rule that the events were set for this event.

At the end of the Sino-Japanese war in 1895, China turned control of Taiwan over to Japanese leadership. By the twenties, Japan had put down all armed resistance to their rule and began to build the economy and raised the standard of living for the Taiwanese people. Many Taiwanese people of that time spoke both Taiwanese and Japanese.

After World War 2, the defeat of Japan necessitated that Taiwan come under the rule of the Republic of China in order to provide stability in the vacuum created by the defeat of the Japanese Empire. The Governor-general of Taiwan arrived October 24, 1945 and the Japanese governor of the island signed the surrender papers and turned the island over the the Republic of China. However, Japan did not renounce its sovereignty over the island until 1952. Many Taiwanese viewed the Japanese rule favorably, because of the economic benefit to the citizens and harbored anti-Chinese sentiment, because they considered the Chinese government to be backwards and corrupt. China's economic mismanagement led to a huge black-market, runaway inflation and food shortages in Taiwan. In addition, Republic of China soldiers were undisciplined and participated in looting, and stealing.
These were the conditions that the people of Taiwan were enduring on February 27, 1947, when the Tobacco Monopoly Board sent armed officers to confiscate contraband tobacco products being sold by a widow named, Lin Jiang-mai. In addition to the contraband, the agents also confiscated her life savings.  As she begged for her savings, a tobacco agent cracked her skull with a pistol. The bystanders rose up and chased the agents from the scene. The crowd already frustrated with Chinese rule, complained to Police and received no response; violence flared. The protest moved to the Governor-general's office where troops opened fire on the unarmed demonstrators killing several.

On March 29, 1947, The New York Times reported that Republic of China troops arrived in Taiwan, on March 7, under orders of the president of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai Shek, and indulged in three days of killing and looting. The New York Times reporter said that everyone on the street was shot at and that the streets were littered with dead. They reported beheadings, mutilation of bodies and women raped. According to the New York Times 10,000 people were killed.*

Formosa killings are put at 10,000". New York Times, March 29, 1947. http://www.taiwandc.org/hst-1947.htm

Other posts you may be interested in: 


Taiwanese History:  The Chiang Kai Shek Mausoleum
Taiwanese History:  Double Tenth Day
Taiwanese Travelogue:  The Revolutionary Martyr's Shrine

Hey, What Are You Some Kind of Capitalist Pig or Something?

 I don't want to appear to be crassly commercial. But I have to tell you, I've wanted to find a way to use the blog to make a little money, for a while. I'm really not expecting to make much, but I've decided to add some advertisements for Amazon.com to the blog.

It's not just that I'm some kind of crazy capitalist. This thing takes an enormous amount of work. I research or travel. I take photos. I upload them. I write and do the best that I can as a writer. It all takes time and, believe it or not, I think my time has value. So I decided to try this.

Christine Gambito aka "Happyslip"

I chose this program because I can control the content of the ads. One of the problems I have is that I don't want the ads to be some product or some thing I don't believe in, or wouldn't want to support. I watched Youtube's "Happyslip" struggle with the site she used as a base, for running ads that were contrary to her belief system. I certainly don't want to contribute to the exploitation of young Taiwanese women by having an ad that says, "Find and Marry Hot Taiwanese Girls." I want all the content on this site to be something reflective of my values.

With Amazon.com I can choose what I want to advertise and I will advertise something that goes with the blog post or the blog. But I need your help. You seem to be a quiet group. I ask for comments on content or format and nothing. Silence ensues. No comments at all. I guess if people don't like it they just stop looking at it. But I don't want that. I want you to read and learn about Taiwan's beauty, history, culture, traditions and people.

If you are going to buy something advertised at Amazon.com anyway try to use the links I put in for you. If you don't like it contact me my email address is in the "Contact Us" link and I'll stop doing it, rather than lose a lot of readers. There is an example in my last post, Eating My Way Through Taiwan:  Buddha Jumps Over the Wall [Feb 19,2011].

Photo Credit:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdaffphotos/sets/72157608069319936/





Eating My Way Through Taiwan: Buddha Jumps Over the Wall

I know this sounds more like a post on exercising, but really it’s about food. Over the Lunar New Year, I was invited to a number of traditional Lunar New Year meals.

There are a number of foods that are traditional to Lunar New Year. Many of the foods that are eaten have a purpose. They are representative of something. Here is a list of Traditional foods for Lunar New Year.

Mustard greens – They are served as a vegetable, and they represent long life. The eating of Mustard greens is a wish for the long life of those eating the meal with you.

Taiwanese Black Chicken

Whole chicken – Usually a whole chicken is served in one form or another. In all of the Lunar New Year meals I ate, the chicken served was a Black Skinned Chicken prepared as a soup. The Chicken symbolizes starting a new family and for those already married, bringing wealth to the whole family.

Fish – The Mandarin word for fish is Yu, which is pronounced the same as the word for abundance. It is noted that although every family prepares fish, it is symbolic to not eat all of it as this ensures you leave something for the remainder of the year.

So, nearly every Lunar New Year meal includes these foods. I was invited to three Lunar New Year meals this year and all of these things were included in each one. But there was one other common food that was served. It is a special dish that is peculiar, I think to Taiwan, and it's called "Buddha Jumps Over the Wall," or in Mandarin Fo Tiao Qiang (phonetically: Fwu Teeow cheeahng). There is a story that goes with the name:

A Fu Zhao scholar was picnicking with friends. He took all the food that he had, put it in a wine jar and heated it over a fire. The smell drifted off the food and across the landscape until it reached a Buddhist monastery. The monks smelled the food and couldn’t resist inviting themselves to the picnic. So they jumped over the wall and descended upon the picnic. A poem was written to commemorate the meal. There was one line that was written in praise of the food that went like this, “Even Buddha himself would jump over a wall to taste this dish.” I didn’t realize that Ancient Buddhist Monks were such poetic souls.

So what is Buddha Jumps Over the Wall? It’s a form of Shark Fin Soup. There is an extensive list of ingredients.

Shark's Fin, Abalone, Quail Eggs, Chicken, Ginger, Dry Sherry, Bamboo Shoots, Lamb, Pork, Ham and black Mushrooms.

That’s a lot of different ingredients, but here’s the real story! These things are added on the first day. It takes two days to make this soup:

On the second day you add Turnips, Carrots, Cinnamon Sticks, Anise, Chicken Stock, more Sherry, double dark Soy Sauce, Bamboo leaves, and a large Lotus leaf.

Apparently, you just walk through the traditional market and ask for one of everything. I think the reason it takes two days is because no one has a pot big enough to cook it all at once.

Buddha Jumps Over the Wall

Now for the thing for which you’ve all been waiting. Is it tasty? If you know me or you’ve read this blog for a while you probably will guess that I’ll eat anything, at least once. My philosophy is that if they eat it somewhere in the world it must be good to eat. Well, when I say good I mean it probably won’t kill you. I don’t like everything I try and I’m way too polite to say, “I wouldn’t eat that if it was the only thing between me and starvation.” I generally, eagerly try whatever is placed before me. But I wouldn’t be honest if I told you that I would jump over a wall for this soup. I think that Shark Fin is a little too strong flavored for me. Buddha seems to enjoy it more than I do.

Note: I have to get better at taking my camera with me everywhere. I sometimes feel that its rude to whip out my camera and start shooting the food and the people so I keep it put away or don’t bring it. Then I have “borrow” from other blogs to get the pictures.I always try to give credit. I may infringe copyrights but at least I’m polite about it.

Photo Credits:
Black Skinned Chicken.
http://www.sharemykitchen.com/worlds-most-unusual-foods-part-one/

Buddha Jumps Over the Wall
http://www.foodblog.sg/vegetarian/go-east-for-good-fusion-greens/

Thanks to these excellent blogs for these pictures.

Other posts you may be interested in:

Taiwanese Traditions:  Lunar New Year:  The Legend of Nian
Eating My Way Through Taiwan:  A Traditional Restaurant

Taiwanese Traditions: Lunar New Year: The Legend of Nian

Photo Credit:  http://hubpages.com/hub/the-story-of-the-nian-monster

I’ve talked before about Lunar New Year traditions. I’ve written about red banners, I’ve written about the monster. I’ve written about saying Gongxi. I’ve even compared Passover to the Lunar New Year Tradition. But I’ve never written about the legend that led to these traditions.

Last week I was talking to a Taiwanese friend about the legend and the why people practice the traditions that they do and she told me that most Taiwanese people do those things, but they don’t know why and don’t know about the legend itself.

The traditions of Lunar New Year date back more than three thousand years. In fact 2011 is the year 4708 by the Lunar Calendar. In the interest of education I will share the legend of Nian, which is the reason for the Traditions of Chinese New Year:

The Legend of Nian:

In the distant past, the people of Peach Blossom village lived in fear of the monster. Every year on the eve of the New Year, the monster, Nian, would emerge from the sea and kill people and livestock and tear the village up. The people, who were terribly afraid of the monster, would flee the village and head for the mountains. After the monster had passed the people would come down to the village clean up the mess and get on with life. But the affect on the village was devastating.



Photo Credit:  http://traditions.cultural-china.com/en/13Traditions474.html


One New Year’s Eve a beggar came to the village. An old woman gave him a meal and urged him to flee with them to the mountains. The old beggar told the woman that he could rid them of the monster if he was allowed to stay in the old woman’s home for the night. She continued to try to convince him to leave with the rest of them for the mountains. When she saw that the beggar wouldn’t leave, she left him in her home and fled with the others. Then the beggar began to prepare for the arrival of Nian.

He put red banners on the doors of the homes. The monster was frightened by the color red and wouldn’t go near it. He made firecrackers and placed them throughout the village. Then he waited for the emergence of the monster.

When the monster came up out of the sea he was immediately confronted by the red banners, then the firecrackers were ignited and the noise and color drove him back into the sea.

When the villagers returned they saw that village was left intact; that the beggar had protected the village. From that time on the villagers prepared every New Year’s Eve by placing red banners over their doors and lighting firecrackers.

Unfortunately, as in many other nations, people have forgotten the reasons behind their traditions. But every year, in Taiwan, people hang red banners alongside and over their doors and light fireworks. Every year the greet each other by saying “gong xi,” which means congratulations, the meaning is that the person has survived another year without the monster getting them. Finally, the word Nian, in Mandarin, is translated as year.

Other posts you may be interested in:

Taiwanese Traditions:  Ghost Month
Taiwanese Traditions:  7/7 Valentines Day
Taiwanese Tradititons:  Xin Nian Kuai le
Random Asianess:  Walking the god
Random Asianess:  Oh Sure, Now We Decorate

Traveling with M13: Custom Scooters of Taiwan

Custom Scooters – Part two of a three part series.

As in America there is a certain group of people in Taiwan that like to customize their vehicles. Most people spend a lot of time on their scooters so people like to customize them. I’ve seen a number of them on the road. Some are just body and paint customs, some use LEDs to cause a glow on the street below the scooter. Some have custom engine parts and some are done for racing.

As I said before my scooter has a bit of customizing done on it. But mine was customized in order for me to ride it. I needed some structural modifications to compensate for physical disabilities. (The third part of this series will center on bikes modified for disabled people.) So, customization is for more than just looks, or to stand out in a crowd. There are good reasons for customizing. If you’re bike calls attention to itself, then maybe drivers will see it more easily and avoid squishing it which is especially important if you happen to be riding it.

Sometimes though, people get carried away. Mordeth13 has a video that shows a scooter covered with crystals. This scooter has a sale price of $1,500.00 USD without the modifications but with them the Bike sells for $15,000.00 USD. I wonder what the thing weighs with all those crystals on it.   I wonder how easy it is to ride. I wonder if the owner of that bike rides it at all.

More than 100,000 Swarovski Crytals source: http://www.privilegedclub.com/)

When I was a kid, I had a friend that had a totally customized Volkswagen Beetle. It was awesome; well, as awesome as a ‘70s era Volkswagen Beetle could be. Beautiful paint job, the engine completely chromed. The thing was, though, he never drove it. It just sat in his garage, until he trailered it to some car show. I bet the owner of that crystallized scooter doesn’t drive it, either. I haven’t seen it on the streets, I can tell you that.

I think I’m going to do some minor customization on my bike. I want to put some blue LEDs under it to get a nice blue glow on the street at night. I want people to be able to see me easily. Customization with lights makes you more visible at night. Improved visibility equals improved safety. Plus it looks cool, which is equally as important.

Mordeth13 and his hot custom bike, Hello Kitty?

You Tube’s Mordeth13 has customized two of his scooters. His wife had an older scooter that was weather beaten and worn looking and he took it in got a fresh paint job, a seat recover and new floorboards and it looks brand new. The paint is kind of a pearlescent white. It really looks very nice. Then, he realized that her bike looked so good he needed to do one of his own, as well. He was looking for something that would match his image. After all, he’s You Tube’s motorcycle bad boy; the scourge of the Taiwanese Police and media darling. The press in Taiwan reports on his every move.

But not all customizing jobs work out. Not everyone has taste and style. Some guy in my neighborhood has customized his own bike. I’m not sure what he was going for but you can’t miss the bike. On the front by the handlebars is a small altar to some Taoist god. And the back looks like it has rockets. I think all the tinfoil is a nice touch, though.

Thanks to Mordeth13 for the use of this video and patiently allowing me to photograph him for this blog.
Photos by Emily and Brenda Banducci

Other posts you may be interested in:

Traveling With M13:  Finding Toad Valley
Traveling With M13:  The Sequel:  Return to Toad Valley