Hear in Taiwan

The Lin’antai Historic Residence is a rare quiet spot in the middle of Taipei.

An overview of the Lin’antai compound.

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Up for some Taiwanese twists on French bread? Try the breads at the boulangerie Le Gout in Neihu.

 The variety of bread is right on the wall, and some include local ingredients like longan. Some wonderful fresh French breads with a local twist. Bon apeitit!

Recently I visited a neighborhood hospital to get some medicine. Out of consideration for patients who need a chair to sit while filling in some basic information, the hospital  has some chairs in the lobby and those chairs are especially for people like me who visited the hospital for the first time. However, I think the hospital must have different philosophy of curing diseases because I had a hearty laugh when I saw the sign that says “the first visit patient fills in the chair.”  Yes, laughter is the best medicine.

Taiwanese people like to protest and to protest just about anything. And they are not ashamed of protesting alone. Is it the same in your country? I wish I had taken pictures of lone protestors whom I have encountered a couple of times. One carried personally made banner and even brought his own foldup chair to sit in front of the government agency (I forgot which one it was) in silent protest. He was wearing all white, even down to a white bandanna tied across his forehead with the big words “Protest” in Chinese across it! The picture below was taken while in the car on my way home and down the boulevard from the Presidential Office.The people were protesting about the recent electricity price hike. I guess that’s no surprise because who would be happy about any utility price hikes, let alone any drastic changes or new policies imposed by the government. What I am impressed is that even if it’s just a measly number of people (like below) or a loner, they’re truly bold enough to hold a protest by themselves. If it were I, I would never have the guts to do it.

We've messed with your noodles

Oh yes we did: we dunked them in a mouth-numbingly spicy broth. That’s right, you were expecting that we’d do what people normally do — remove the dessicated noodles from the packet, drop them in boiling water, add the seasoning packets, wait three minutes, then serve them up.

But no. We went all crazy on your noodles. We dunked them in the spiciest broth in Taipei — “ma la huo guo” (or numbing spicy hot pot). It’s a insanely spicy broth that incorporates fresh and dried chili peppers as well as a kind of tongue-numbing pepper called “pricklyash” or “Chinese pepper”.

To be honest, I don’t really get the attraction of spicy hot pot. I prefer the non-spicy half of the pot, and that’s where you’ll find my instant noodles.

I guess this is the part where I say that I really don’t know what the instant noodles are doing there in the first place — can’t I cook those myself at home? Read the rest of this entry »

Photo courtesy of The Liberty Times

Here’s a look at some of our favorite stories in this past week’s Hear in Taiwan program.

Taiwanese people love singing, and they want you to sing too! A taxi in Taipei is wowing local and foreign passengers with its in-car karaoke system. The taxi driver (pictured) gives you tens of thousands of songs in four languages to choose from,so there’s absolutely something for everyone. To learn more about the karaoke taxi, click here.

Abalone is considered a delicacy in Taiwan. But it’s certainly not for everyone because of its huge price tag… Do you really want to have some abalone? Just ask President Ma Ying-jeou. Here’s the story (in Chinese).

Ever heard of the Chinese restaurant syndrome? I thought for a long time people in Taiwan have been skipping MSG, which is known to have a bad effect on your health. So imagine my shock when I learned that quite a lot of restaurants in Taiwan, including the most famous ones, are still using MSG or other forms of flavor enhancer. Read the story here (in Chinese).

You can listen to Hear in Taiwan by visiting our website.

Big brother is watching you.

Big brother’s name is Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation, but most people call it by its street names—the MRT (mass rapid transit) or the Taipei Metro.

I was walking down the stairs at a metro station the other day, and as I was about to step off the last stair, I noticed that a fleet of closed-circuit cameras were staring back at me.

Nothing about these cameras themselves strikes me as odd. After all, closed-circuit cameras come in all sizes, shapes, and forms, but I do have a problem with where these cameras are located.

In my book, a good surveillance camera should be installed like this:

  Read the rest of this entry »

Grab a pair of divination blocks and get ready to explore temple culture.

That’s right, those little red crescents aren’t apple slices. They’re painted blocks of wood that, according to traditional belief, are a medium to communicate with the gods. The blocks, which are flat on one side and rounded on the other, are tossed to the ground by a believer after he or she makes a wish. If they land with one side up, one side down, it means “yes.” Of course, you can just keep tossing until you get the answer that you want. Read the rest of this entry »

Taipei has so many wonderful cafes. I went to a cool one in Neihu recently, called Moooonriver.

It’s a great place to read and have afternoon tea.

And it has alot of books and magazines

The Taipei City Government has decided to designate  more “priority seats” or seats for the elderly on public bus in the future. The move is part of the city’s plan to cope with Taiwan’s growing aging population. In Taipei, public buses have at least four seats for the elderly and the figure will double in September this year.

I have seen people offer their seats to the elderly almost everyday, a tradition that is highly-valued in Taiwan.