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An American movie about Taiwan, and videos that capture my time in Taipei
I desperately need to see this movie. But since it's select showing, I'd have to go all the way to Boston, and that's just a pain. I might go anyway though. I've been waiting for this movie for awhile. TAIWANESE POLITICAL HISTORY, PEOPLE! The White Terror! A Hollywood movie about Taiwan, a place most Americans don't even know exists. It's amazing. I'm dying to see it.
~~~~~
I miss Taiwan a lot. And it hurts that I'm forgetting some of it. So sometimes I like to go on youtube, and watch random videos of stuff from my everyday life there. It's funny that some of my most common memories can be summed up in youtube videos.
This is the Taipei MRT. A very typical trip on the subway (though since this was filmed on an underused line, the Xiaonanmen line, there's a ton less people than what I would normally have seen).
STORY TIME! Because we rode the subway for at least and hour and a half each day (and I didn't sleep on the subway), I heard the regular announcements a lot. On the MRT, announcements are made in Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka, and English. I don't know if you've ever heard Hakka, but it's weird sounding, sharper and harsher than Mandarin or Taiwanese (Hakka begins at 3:15). Anyway, the announcement was about switching trains, and the Hakka version ANNOYED THE HELL out of me for some reason. The end of it is like a really nasally drawn out "tsaaaaahh"... You can hear the announcement begin at around 5:25, and the annoying part's around 5:36. (The whole announcement begins at 4:55, with Mandarin first, then Taiwanese, Hakka, and finally English)
One thing from Taiwan that never failed to amuse me, even after getting used to it, were the trash trucks. In Taiwan you take your trash out to the truck as it comes by (I saw a few instances where older ladies were running behind the trucks trying to throw their garbage away). To let you know it's coming, the truck plays a song. This is the typical Danshui song (which we heard the most), but I know other trash trucks play "Fur Elise"... And yes, we thought it was an ice cream truck the first time we heard it too. (Also pay attention to the side of the truck. Isn't it cute?! Fort San Domingo, a fish and a crab, and the Lover's Bridge... all symbols of Danshui!) I'm pretty sure I recognize that street...
The Danshui Old Street is where we went the most. It was really nearby, fun, and had good cheap stuff. It was also hell on the weekends when all the Taipei city dwellers come for a mini getaway. On the right you can see the place that sold traditional snacks (including the ubiquitous iron egg). On the right you can see the vendors selling the famous tall ice cream (which was good and super cheap, but not ice cream... it's hard to say what it was... if you ever go, DON'T get the green tea... Vanilla is way better). You can also kinda see the fruit juice vendors who were very vocal about trying to get you to buy their juice (everyone in Taiwan is very vocal about trying to get you to buy stuff). What you can't see is directly to the left of the person filming there's a fried chicken stall where there were ALWAYS and ONLY hot guys working. We figured it was a marketing ploy. This is typical busyness for a weeknight.
Carrefour was our go-to market. It was easy, since most of the packaging was also in english (carrefour is a foreign company), cheap, and good. Also really close to where we lived. I miss Carrefour more than I dar to say...
This is the Hongshulin Reserve (Hongshulin / 紅樹林 = mangrove). Basically I lived right across the street (and up a hill) from here. I love that there's a dog!
I fear only Lisa will enjoy this one. OMG DUDE, IT'S THE GLARING BIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!! (We saw this bird for the first time at school in Taiwan, and were amazed by it. And then it glared at Lisa...)
It's in Russian, but that doesn't matter, just look at how pretty the campus was at school!
And that's all I can think of for now...
~~~~~
I miss Taiwan a lot. And it hurts that I'm forgetting some of it. So sometimes I like to go on youtube, and watch random videos of stuff from my everyday life there. It's funny that some of my most common memories can be summed up in youtube videos.
This is the Taipei MRT. A very typical trip on the subway (though since this was filmed on an underused line, the Xiaonanmen line, there's a ton less people than what I would normally have seen).
STORY TIME! Because we rode the subway for at least and hour and a half each day (and I didn't sleep on the subway), I heard the regular announcements a lot. On the MRT, announcements are made in Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka, and English. I don't know if you've ever heard Hakka, but it's weird sounding, sharper and harsher than Mandarin or Taiwanese (Hakka begins at 3:15). Anyway, the announcement was about switching trains, and the Hakka version ANNOYED THE HELL out of me for some reason. The end of it is like a really nasally drawn out "tsaaaaahh"... You can hear the announcement begin at around 5:25, and the annoying part's around 5:36. (The whole announcement begins at 4:55, with Mandarin first, then Taiwanese, Hakka, and finally English)
One thing from Taiwan that never failed to amuse me, even after getting used to it, were the trash trucks. In Taiwan you take your trash out to the truck as it comes by (I saw a few instances where older ladies were running behind the trucks trying to throw their garbage away). To let you know it's coming, the truck plays a song. This is the typical Danshui song (which we heard the most), but I know other trash trucks play "Fur Elise"... And yes, we thought it was an ice cream truck the first time we heard it too. (Also pay attention to the side of the truck. Isn't it cute?! Fort San Domingo, a fish and a crab, and the Lover's Bridge... all symbols of Danshui!) I'm pretty sure I recognize that street...
The Danshui Old Street is where we went the most. It was really nearby, fun, and had good cheap stuff. It was also hell on the weekends when all the Taipei city dwellers come for a mini getaway. On the right you can see the place that sold traditional snacks (including the ubiquitous iron egg). On the right you can see the vendors selling the famous tall ice cream (which was good and super cheap, but not ice cream... it's hard to say what it was... if you ever go, DON'T get the green tea... Vanilla is way better). You can also kinda see the fruit juice vendors who were very vocal about trying to get you to buy their juice (everyone in Taiwan is very vocal about trying to get you to buy stuff). What you can't see is directly to the left of the person filming there's a fried chicken stall where there were ALWAYS and ONLY hot guys working. We figured it was a marketing ploy. This is typical busyness for a weeknight.
Carrefour was our go-to market. It was easy, since most of the packaging was also in english (carrefour is a foreign company), cheap, and good. Also really close to where we lived. I miss Carrefour more than I dar to say...
This is the Hongshulin Reserve (Hongshulin / 紅樹林 = mangrove). Basically I lived right across the street (and up a hill) from here. I love that there's a dog!
I fear only Lisa will enjoy this one. OMG DUDE, IT'S THE GLARING BIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!! (We saw this bird for the first time at school in Taiwan, and were amazed by it. And then it glared at Lisa...)
It's in Russian, but that doesn't matter, just look at how pretty the campus was at school!
And that's all I can think of for now...
Re: oh the vanderbeek!
I was way into Dawson's Creek in the day (and very much not into BtVS... that got remedied later on), and whenever I see him I still get adorable flashbacks to the creek and the totally unrealistic way the teenagers talked on that show...
Re: oh the vanderbeek!
Re: oh the vanderbeek!
Anyway, if you see it, let me know how it is!