Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall - Taipei (Taiwan)

While just sitting and planning the next possible trips, I decided to put some light on my favorite places that I've been to. This time we'll go to the capital of Taiwan - Taipei.

Taiwan is a truly exotic Asian country and it matches the typical far Asian country stereotypes pretty well; crowded streets, flashy and colorful high-tech advertisements hanging everywhere, lots of traffic and motorbikes on the streets, smell of food from many nearby restaurants or food courts, Asian-style Peace (or Victory) posing in front of the cameras, street sellers, trendy and fashionably dressed youth, etc. I mean it's all about technology, gadgets, food, pretty Asian girls and noise...

If you've been to Taipei, you may easily get lost. Unless you speak bit of Chinese and understand all those Chinese signs. Or you need some local guide to take you around in this maze of streets and buildings, where even travel guide books may become helpless sometimes. Once you live there for a while and become able to find your way around, then that's the place to live and enjoy. In fact many foreigners don't know how much happening city is Taipei! How many interesting hidden secrets it has. I'll reveal some of them in my future posts. But for now, let's get to know more about the gem of tourist attractions in Taipei - CKS Memorial Hall.

aibek-on-bridge.jpg, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev

Well, you should know about Chiang Kai Shek if you have studied your World History lesson at school. This far I can say here; he's the founder of Taiwan, and accepted as the country's "Father". But not all the people see him as national hero. He was the leader of the ruling party Kuomintang of ROC (Republic of China) which is current China. Then he lost the power to Communist Party inmainland China and escaped to Taiwan island with his government and continued ruling the ROC (another name of Taiwan) in this island. Check out the history sources to learn more about him.

What amazed me in this memorial hall was not the identity of Chaing Kai Shek himself, but the design and architecture of the memorial complex. Simply stunning! Chinese-style oriental architecture, beautiful Chinese gardens with a lake, grand buildings and mighty entrance gates in the same style. The complex consists of CKS's mausoleum and museum, national theatres, wide open square, lake with a bridge, and the grand entrance gates. Once you step into the area through the main gates, you feel that you are entering the imperial palace of some kind of forgotten kindgdom, and for a moment you are distracted from your reality that you are in a megapolis. Far in front of you above the stairs, and facing the gates, stands grand building with sky blue roofs. It has wide and very tall entrance, and if you look carefully you can notice the giant man sitting on his throne and looking at you ( That's Chiang Kai Shek. His grand statue. And the building is his mausoleum. There is a musem in the bottom floor) .



Right after the gates from both sides stand two great Chinese style buildings with beautiful roofs. These are the theaters. On the right side behind the theater there's Chinese lake with lotuses and a nice concave bridge. Other parts of the complex consist of gardens.

dsc00721ld, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev

Whenever you go there, you can always find many people. You come in the very early morning, and you'll find many elderly people practicing Tai-chi under the melody of flute. No wonder why they live so long. You come during the day, and it's full of visitors. There's always something going on there; exhibitions, concerts, performances, festivals... You come in the evening, and it's the popular hang out place for Taiwanese youth and couples. Young people will be practicing their hip hop dances, and couples will be enjoying the quietness of the place. Just walking around the complex takes some time, and it's also good place to get lost in thoughts and wander around aimlessly... It was one of the places I loved to take my visitors.

More photos;

View from the stairs that leads to Chiang Kai Shek's mausoleum. Notice the ornaments on the grass lanes on the sides. You can also see how huge the square is.

Resized_DSC01150, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev
Front gates of CKS Memorial Hall

P2160204, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev
This was taken during the Lantern Festival

dsc01613br, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev

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Race for dominance in tallest structures!

You hear endless debates and claims about the tallest buildings and towers in the world. Here's the story that tell some facts and comparisons based on few sources including Wikipedia. There are no overall agreed global standards on this, and too many factors to consider; should it be only the buildings or also the towers and other structures, should the antennas be counted or not, etc. But there's one truth; humankind has been ever since competing for dominating the heights either this or other way.



It started long ago with Snofru's Red Pyramid (105 m) (see picture) and then Giza Pyramid (146 m) both in Egypt (2600-2570 BC), then England took over the dominance with Lincoln Cathedral (160 m) in 1300. Many tall buildings and structures were built as the years went on and the record changed many hands, but I will only pick the ones that brought visible changes in height race. In 1884 Eiffel Tower hit 300 meter record. US joined the race and took over the flag with Chrysler Building (319 m) in 1930 and Empire State Building (381 m) in 1931. As it was the days of Cold War, Soviets were trying to beat US in every field, so they built Ostankino TV Tower (537 m) and it still holds the record in Europe! If you have ever been to Moscow even on transit then you might have seen this tower when landing to or taking off from Sheremetyevo Airport. Shortly after that in 1975, Canada said it was never late and built CN Tower (553 m) that kept the record of the tallest structure till last year. And it seems like the dominance is going back to where it belonged once - Middle East! Dubai is already building few tall buildings (not just a structure or tower, but a building!) and Burj Dubai will be the highest structure, building or whatever you call it. Last year its completed part already overtook CN tower's record. Its height is kept as secret, but estimated to be higher than 800 meters! I am looking forward who will break the 1 kilometer record next!

Burj Dubai and other skyscrapers of Dubai

??? Now what about other buildings that were known to be the tallest buildings at certain periods?! What about Taipei 101 (509 m) in Taiwan, Petronas Twin Towers (425 m) in Malaysia, Sears Tower (527 m) in Chicago and World Trade Center (526 m) that was destroyed later by terrorists?

They were indeed accepted as the tallest buildings in one or more out of 4 categories of CTBUH (the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat). In this system, communication towers and other structures are disqualified, only buildings are considered.
These 4 categories as listed in Wikipedia;

1. Height to the structural or architectural top (including spires and pinnacles, but not antennas, masts or flagpoles)
2. Height to the highest occupied floor
3. Height to the top of the roof
4. Height to the top of antenna

And the table showing the record holders in each category between 1996 and 2003 (Wikipedia);

Date (Event)	Architectural top	Highest occupied floor	Rooftop	Antenna
2003: Taipei 101 completed	Taipei 101	Taipei 101	Taipei 101	Sears Tower
2000: Sears Tower antenna extension	Petronas Towers	Sears Tower	Sears Tower	Sears Tower
1998: Petronas Towers completed	Petronas Towers	Sears Tower	Sears Tower	World Trade Center
1996: CTBUH defines categories	Sears Tower	Sears Tower	Sears Tower	World Trade Center

Taipei101 at night (taken by Highwayman)

Above the clouds at Taipei101 Observation Floor (89th floor)



Highwayman's Video: View of Kuala Lumpur and Petronas Towers from TV Tower observation deck (it is located on the hill)



Highwayman's Video: Close view of Petronas Towers

Sources & some photos from; Wikipedia, www.emaar.com

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Lantern Festival in Taipei

This is a follow-up to my earlier post about Lantern Festival. I went there twice with friends. Although my initial expectations were big, not many lanterns were there, but still some worth seeing. There was also street market during the festival which sold all sort of food. I bought a some dried mixture of black sugar, rose, and chinese herbs from which you can make some tasty drinks, they say it's also good for throatache. Thanks for those who joined.



Main lantern of a dog( this year is Dog's year) and a taiwanese kid.


different angle...


lanterns of chinese girls playing instruments


lantern of a some kind of protector


street market at the festival
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Kyrgyzstan duo

Fyodor is another guy from Kyrgyzstan, when I leave Taiwan he'll be the only one left. He's network security specialist, good friend, speaks Chinese well, does Chinese drawing art well, etc. So I leave the flag to him :). Keep Kyrgyzstan pride alive, dude!
To Fyodor: Nu eto ya tak, poznakomil tebya so svoimi chitatelyami ;).
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Lantern Festival in Taipei

Thanks for Sharon (TPLC) for sharing with this informative article about Lantern Festival happening in Taipei. We'll go and visit some lantern shows tomorrow, I will post some photos later.
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Lantern Festival, also known as Shang Yuan Festival, takes place on the fifteenth day of the first moon. Last in a series of springtime celebrations, this "second New Year" is widely celebrated by families all around Taiwan. On the night of the festival, decorative lanterns depicting birds, beasts, historical figures, and any one of a number of different themes are carried by children or adorn temples. To highlight these glowing works of art, competitions are held .

The Taipei Lantern Festival, held annually at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Plaza and the largest and most famous of these competitions, is attended every year by thousands of lantern-watchers. The Lantern Festival is further enriched by the customary lantern riddle parties that are held on this night. The night sky on Lantern Festival is also illuminated by the Tainan Yanshui Fireworks Display and Taipei Pinghsi Sky Lanterns - known together as "Fireworks in the South, Sky Lanterns in the North," as well as many other regional folk activities.

In addition to displaying and appreciating lanterns, Lantern Festival is also celebrated by eating tang yuan, an important custom symbolizing family unity and indispensable to the day's festivities. The varied festivities and customs practiced on Lantern Festival not only provide celebrants with rich entertainment, like the historical-theme lantern displays and riddles, but are also instructive, by their expression of ancient wisdom. The variety of splendid lantern features different folk art techniques, impressing these arts deep in the hearts and minds of the people.

Shang Yuan is the birthday of the God of Heaven. Beginning in the T'ang dynasty, the fifteenth day of the first, seventh, and tenth lunar months were known as Shang Yuan, Chung Yuan, and Hsia Yuan respectively. Rites are offered to the God of Heaven on Shang Yuan, to the Earth God on Chung Yuan, and to the Water God on Hsia Yuan. Local temples all hold celebratory festivals on these dates to worship each of the three gods. Though decorative lanterns have traditionally been made from bamboo, electric counterparts have become more popular in recent years. Countless different designs are used for the lanterns, but most can be generally divided into iconic lanterns and depictive lanterns. Iconic lanterns are modeled after animals, dragons, flowers, people, machines, and any number of other objects; depictive animate lanterns on the other hand depict scenes from popular stories such as the Legend of the White Snake, The Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden, and The Romance of Three Kingdoms. These stories are all didactic in nature, teaching filial piety and other traditional values in a colorful and entertaining manner.

Famous temples around Taiwan - such as the Lung Shan Temple in Taipei, Cheng Huang Temple in Hsinchu, and Chao Tian Temple in Peikang - have long displayed an array of decorative lanterns during Chinese New Year. Perennial favorites are the lanterns depicting animals of the zodiac and elaborate electric lanterns.

In 1990, the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communication held the first Taipei Lantern Festival at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Plaza. Due to the event's overwhelming popularity, the festival has been expanded every year.
Each year, this festival showcases a new theme based on the zodiac animal of the year. The main event of the festival is the Lantern Lighting Ceremony held on the first day of the display with a fusion of color, light, and sound that attracts universal applause from onlookers. It is a show of dazzling color remembered by all. Combining traditional art with modern technology, the Taipei Lantern Festival carries on a centuries-old folk custom, and has become a major activity marking the beginning of the Chinese New Year.

Lantern riddles are, as their name implies, riddles stuck on the surface of lanterns for people to guess while enjoying the Lantern Festival displays. The key to the riddle may be found in a single word, a line taken from a poem, the name of a place or an object. Since guessing the riddles can be as hard as shooting a tiger, these brain-teasers have been nicknamed "lantern tigers." Lantern riddles today cover a wide range of topics and come in a plethora of different forms, and provide stimulating, entertaining, and interesting lantern festival activities. Newspapers, magazines, and department stores all come up with riddles for the public to solve. Together with the lantern riddle parties held at temples on the night of Lantern Festival, these activities add to the air of festivity on this occasion.

Yanshui Fireworks Display
The most spectacular "audio-visual" show of Lantern Festival is without doubt the YanShui Fireworks Display, or " beehive of fireworks". It is told that in 1875, the village of Yanshui in Tainan County, was stricken with a pestilence that lasted for twenty years and nearly wiped out the town's entire population. The few survivors that remained prayed to the Goddess Kuan Yin to come to inspect the ravished land. On the day of the Lantern Festival, the town residents entreated the deity Kuan Kung and the deities of Heaven to come to earth to witness their plight, lining the route with signal fires and firecrackers to help the spirits ward off evil and rid the town of disease. When all was done, the plague was nowhere to be seen, and ever since , the people of Yanshui invite Kuan Kung to inspect the land every year on Lantern Festival, lighting firecrackers to herald his arrival to earth. This custom is continued today in the unique and spectacular Yanshui Fireworks Display.

The festival begins at dusk with the setting off of the fully-adorned spirit palanquin and driver, and continue all the way up to 5:00 or 6:00 AM the following morning. Throughout the whole event all one can see or smell are fireworks. The most impressive of all the fireworks set off on this day is the "cannon wall" which is lit to thank the gods for their blessing. The scale of the cannon walls vary, though most consist of tens of thousands of firecrackers which pound the sky with a deafening roar. Every time the spirit palanquin approaches the cannon wall, the wall custodian pulls open the red cloth and lights the firecrackers, releasing an explosion of light and color that is the climax of the fireworks evening.

During Lantern Festival, beautiful sky lanterns light the still night sky over the village of Pinghsi creating a scene of unusual beauty. Located in a remote mountain area outside of Taipei, Pinghsi developed slowly and was not very accessible. Originally inhabited by indigenous people, the region was later developed by Han settlers who were often the victims of murder and robbery during earlier times. Since access to the region was inconvenient, these pioneers came up with the idea of releasing "sky lanterns" to let others know that they were safe and sound. Through the years this practice evolved into a popular cultural tradition celebrated annually during Lantern Festival. Sky Lanterns are also known as "Kung Ming lanterns," since some say they were invented by Chu Ke-liang (also known as Kung Ming) during the Three Kingdoms period as way of communication during war time. According to another story, the name came from the resemblance of the lanterns to the hat worn by this famous prime minister. Despite the remoteness of the Pinghsi area, the sky lantern festivities draw huge crowds thanks to wide reporting of the event in the media. Not only do the number of lanterns increase with every event, their size continually grows as well. The lanterns are decorated with colorful pictures, the names of their owners, and wishes such as "The higher the lamp flies, the higher your business will soar."

Central to the customs practiced during Lantern Festival is the eating of yuan hsiao ( eaten during the winter solstice ) to symbolize peace and unity.
Each locality its own distinctive way of making yuan hsiao, but all include glutinous rice dumplings filled with bean paste, sesame paste, peanut powder, fish or, meat. Generally speaking, yuan hsiao are rolled out on bamboo frames whereas tang yuan ( eaten during the winter solstice ) are kneaded in the palm of the hand. The final product of both methods is a perfectly round dumpling which can be eaten either in soup or deep fried.


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мои города - мои дома

У нас на форуме была тема про города где мы живем и оценка этих городов в некоторых пунктах. Я коротко поделился о своем мнении о Сингапуре, Тайпейе и Бангкоке. Решил закинуть и сюда.
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- Сингапур
1-впечатление, производимое городом - 7/10
2-красота и климат местности - 7/10
3-экономический и образовательный потенциал - 9/10
4-ритм жизни и количество увлекательных занятий - 6/10
5-благоприятные условия для отдыха и туризма - 8/10
6-общая безопасность и дружелюбие жителей 10/10

Сингапур - крохотный остров 100 км от экватора, один из самых безопасных, чистых, красивых городов с замечательными людьми. Город-страна очень богата и является экономическим и индустриальным хабом в юго-восточной Азии. Климат - тропический. Основную часть населения составляют китайцы, потом малайы, индусы и люди европейского происхождения. Долгое время Сингапур был коллонией Великобритании. Символ города - Мерлайн (лев-рыба). Другие интересные места - островок Сентоза, театр Эспленейд, всемирно известный сингапурский зоопарк, заповедник МакРиччи, ЧайнаТаун, Литтл Индия, Араб Стрит, Чайниз Гадн, и тд.

- Бангкок
1-впечатление, производимое городом - 7/10
2-красота и климат местности - 8/10
3-экономический и образовательный потенциал - 5/10
4-ритм жизни и количество увлекательных занятий - 9/10
5-благоприятные условия для отдыха и туризма - 9/10
6-общая безопасность и дружелюбие жителей 8/10

Бангкок - центр туризма в юго-восточной Азии. Круглый год сюда едут туристы со всего мира. Неподалеку находится пляж Паттайа. Тайландцы очень приветливый народ и улыбаются при любых обстоятельствах! и почему-то всегда кивают головой даже если они тебя не понимают. Город экзотичный, Бангкок река - отличное место для прогулки на лодке, к тому же лодки один из самых быстрых передвижений в городе. Есть и мотороллеры-такси которых называют "тук-тук". По сравнения с другими городами Азии, в Бангкоке все очень дешево (почти как в Бишкеке). Интересные места; замок Гренд Палас, храм Уат Арун, Бангкок река, утренный базар на лодочках, ночные клубы, массаж салоны (везде!), субботний базар, можно на автобусе поехать в Паттайу или в дрейний город Айуттайа, муай-тай бокс шоу, кабаре шоу (парни переодетые как девушки танцуют), и тд. Если вы будете в Бангкоке, то обезательно попробуйте тайский массаж! (в марте еду в Бангкок на новую работу! ).

- Тайпей
1-впечатление, производимое городом - 7/10
2-красота и климат местности - 7/10 (город красивый, но климат плохой)
3-экономический и образовательный потенциал - 8/10
4-ритм жизни и количество увлекательных занятий - 7/10
5-благоприятные условия для отдыха и туризма - 7/10
6-общая безопасность и дружелюбие жителей 9/10

Столица Тайваня - один из самых редких точек где можно увидеть настоящию китайскую стиль жизни. Но только без знания китайского языка будет трудно, поетому если вы едете сюда надолго, то советую сразу же учить самые элементарные вещи на китайском. Тут поистине полюбите чай (зелёный, уулонг чай, и тд.), у чая есть своя отдельная культура. Больше всего мне нравится тайванцы сами, народ, один из самых дружелюбивых народов к иностранцам. Заметил огромную симпатия к американцам и Америке, и к остальным людям европейской внешности. Девушки - красавицы! Если бы не было барьера вроде религии, то невесту бы брал из Тайваня. И меня тут любят . Интересные места; вышка Тайпей101, храм Лонгшан, тёплые рудники(ключи), хайкинг на горах Йангмингшан, река Даншуей, мавзолей Чианг Кай Шека, нац. дворец-музей (очень богатая коллекция, когда партия КМТ и многие китайцы бежали от коммунистов из Китая в Тайвань, они захватили с собой почти все ценное что находился на императорском дворце в Пекине (Forbidden Palace), сейчас эти сокровища находятся в этом музее), Змеиная Аллея, и тд.
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Tips for a weekend in Taipei

best way to spend your sunday:
- sleep till 11:00 am
- have a traditional taiwanese breakfast at 12:00 am (which can be accpeted as a lunch too :))
- meet 2 buddies at 1:00 pm
- arrive at Yangmingshan national park at 2:30 pm
- conquer highest peak of Yangmingshan National Park at 3:30 pm (after long and tiring hiking up there)
- visit these volcanic hills with steam coming out from the ground (many hotsprings in Yangmingshan)
- stretch your legs, relax your body and get some body treatment in outdoor hotspring pools in the evening at Xinbeitou.
- last but not the best, take a long train/bus ride home.

View of part of Yangmingshang national park from Mt.Cising Peak

On the way to the peak

Partners in crime, Luiz (Brasil) n Diego (Colombia)

View of Taipei from the peak

Peak

volcanic hill?

Steam rising from the ground

Xinbeitou hotsprings

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Taipei Metro warnings

some rules are there to be broken... some people are to be reminded by red warnings... some are just making fun of this situation...
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New year's eve!

It was nothing much interesting besides the super fireworks show on Taipei 101. That was worth seeing, and fortunately, we managed to take its video, here you can download and watch it.
Also, I had an opportunity to meet this amazing Thai AIESECer - Weaw, she soooo reminds me of Triin :).

Some pics here;


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Cycling to Danshui

finally I managed to cycle to Danshui, with Stephanie (swiss) and Aries (malaysian).
we started from huazhong riverside park (near Longshan temple), continued along Danshui river upto Taipei bridge, there we turned back to city and cycled to Yuanshan MRT station. initial plan was to cycle all the way up till Danshui, but as usual what was shown on the map was not there, and no cycling trace along the MRT red line. so we took train north till Guandu and continued from there till Danshui, short break there, then to the far end of Danshui river (Fisherman's wharf). well done, Stephanie and Aries! it took about 5 hours, and nice weekend exercise! most part of cycling trace is nicely built, you can enjoy more of nature on the way.
to those local Taipei friends, if you need a guide to get around in your city, feel free to buzz ;).


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Merry christmas!

to all my Christian friends, Merry christmas!
from Taiwan with love.
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IT-expo

Last weekend we had IT expo in Taipei World Trade Center. Basicly it was full of people attracted by big discounts in prices, by latest advances in gadget technology and by pretty models promoting the products. It is one of those rare opportunities that people wait for to "upgrade" themselves with latest technology, I was too much seduced by gadgets (not models!), yet I could only force my limits by buying IBM Thinkpad notebook and iPod shuffle mp3 player. Yet the product that is left inside my mind was DV-camera which could take 85 min high quality video with 1 GB flash card, also can be used as digital camera, as web cam, as mp3 player, etc. and it is size of normal digital camera (photo is attached below).
Also, the truth that "sex sells" is highly accepted and practiced in Taiwan. any kind of shows/displays/promotions definitely involves pretty taiwanese models. Well, it works here. For example, basic strategy in this fair was to bring model to your booth's stage first, then the model would either dance or waves her hands to crowd while people hungrily will take her photos. Once the necessary crowd is gathered, next comes free gifts (cheap toys, pens, etc.). the model will keep throwing them to crowd and at the same time promoting the company's products. I think it makes sense to somehow collect people who are wandering around hundreds of booths.
Well, if I will be somewhere in this region, I will drop by to Taipei for next year's IT expo.


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recently...

I can divide my life in Taiwan into 2 phases, first part is the one I spent with my ex girlfriend, and the second part is with AIESECers and trainees. thus I had a chance to get to know more all those people whom previously I didn't join much. it actually brought back Aibek who always enjoyed to meet new people, to explore places more and to spend free time in a quality way. and AIESEC is an environment where I can learn new things everyday in every event, in every gathering, in every simple dinner, even if sometimes acting as an "experienced" person in sessions. the reason is variety of people here, from different ends of the world. I learn from junior AIESEC member like I learn from experienced AIESEC alumni, or like from a trainee from, say, South America or Scandinavia. it is part of self-education and self-development process. anyway, let me focus on more fun part. so recently I have been hanging out with many different people a lot. Pictures worth more than thousand words;


Watching Turkey-Switzerland 1st game.


Matthias(Switzerland) and Arif(Canada).


Turkey scored!!!! Turkey conceded... viva Ultraslan!!!


Mathias's farewell party


After Mathias' farewel party, on the way to "Roxy".


After "Roxy", morning at CKS Mem Hall.


Played "Mahjong" with Mathias, Elmo, Arif and Heather after "Burger night".


promoting AIESEC in Taipei streets ;)
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AIESEC trip to GuanDu-Bali-Danshui

...visiting Guandu Bird park...


...who are you checking out with a binocular, dude?! no wonder...


...on the roof of SSH archeological museum...


...visiting SSH archeological museum...


...group photo... (famous act among Taiwan youth :) )


...Elmo - copy+paster, stealing art...


...sunset...


...view of Danshui from Bali...


...big kids...


Heather, Arif, Aibek, Eugenia


Pretty CCLC girls
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new sport that I started to love

Last weekend we went to Taipei Arena for skating. It didn't take much too long before I started to skate on the ice, was easy to learn and more fun than I always expected. Basic 2 rules is to learn how to walk and stop, rest you can figure out yourself :). Will go there on my first free weekend.

Well, it was my first session, I had to wear a helmet, just in case...


me, Elmo (AIESECer with trainee soul) and Arif.


me, Elmo and Heather.
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Morning at C.K.S. Memorial Hall

Chiang Kai Shek (C.K.S.) Memorial Hall is one of my favourite spots in Taipei. Wide open area, windy, quiet corner in the city, and has 3 beautiful buildings inside; maouseleum, theatre and museum.
After Halloween party last week, we went to karaoke till morning, then I went to CKS memorial hall in the morning as it was on my way home. Also I wanted to see morning tai chi session there.








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Taipei Zoo

Last weekend i went to zoo with Diego, Evgeny, Teemu, Arif n Heather. Zoo itself doesn't give you much to see, but as we have heard that they have panda(!) there, that was the main attraction I was looking forward to see. No pandas there... Yet I managed to catch an interesting view at chimpanzee cage; bored chimpanzees were sitting as a group and observing people :). it comes to "who is watching whom?"


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Religious tolerance

Above photo was taken in front of Longshan Temple in Taipei. It is rare to see a Caucasian monk in Taiwan, and collecting money for the temple. this photo immediately brought a question in my head "what is the conversion rate to Buddhism? or what is the conversion/growth rates between the religions in general?...". Quick googling brought me to http://www.religioustolerance.org, where I found approximated rates n population info;

Religion	Date Founded	Sacred Texts	Membership 5	% of World 6
Christianity	30 CE	The Bible	2,039 million	32% (dropping)
Islam	622 CE	Qur'an & Hadith	1,226 million	19% (growing)
Hinduism	1,500 BCE	The Veda	828 million	13% (stable)
No religion *	No date	None	775 million	12% (dropping)
Chinese folk rel.	270 BCE	None	390 million	6%
Buddhism	523 BCE	The Tripitaka	364 million	6% (stable)
Tribal Religions, Shamanism, Animism	Prehistory	Oral tradition	232 million	4%
Atheists	No date	None	150 million	2%
New religions.	Various	Various	103 million	2%
Sikhism	1500 CE	Guru Granth Sahib	23.8 million	<1%
Judaism	No consensus	Torah, Talmud	14.5 million	<1%
Spiritism			12.6 million	<1%
Baha'i Faith	1863 CE	Most Holy Book	7.4 million	<1%
Confucianism	520 BCE	Lun Yu	6.3 million	<1%
Jainism	570 BCE	Siddhanta, Pakrit	4.3 million	<1%
Zoroastrianism	No consensus	Avesta	2.7 million	<1%
Shinto	500 CE	Kojiki, Nohon Shoki	2.7 million	<1%
Taoism	550 BCE	Tao-te-Ching	2.7 million	<1%
Other	Various	Various	1.1 million	<1%
Wicca	800 BCE, 1940 CE	None	500,000?	<1%

It is hard to predict actual real rates as it is not something mechanical or procedural. Anyways, for me most important thing is that all of us live in harmony n feel empathy towards each other respecting others values, beliefs...
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Taiwan, Taipei

View on the way from office to home. Lonely beauty - Taipei101.

Click here and here for more random photos from my life in Taiwan.
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AIESEC newie camp

I was invited to join for AIESEC newies camp for an English discussion and traineeship sharing sessions for 6 northern LC combined camp. During discussion held in english, 3 different questions about world citizenship were asked to different teams.
Few things that I noticed;
- most of them, as also other people outside, are not aware of main attractions and beauties of Taiwan that foreigners are urging to see. One question was about how to prepare a Taiwan tour for a foreign friend visiting Taiwan. Only 1 group mentioned about Taroko Gorge and Green island (and famous seawater hot spring on the island). Noone mentioned about Alishan mountain. Normally you'd find these places as top destinations in travel books. And nothing much was suggested about hot spring resorts here. There was even suggestions to take a visitor to Taipei zoo :))). There was a big surprise when I gave them 1 day itinerary for Taipei trip (Taipei101 -> CKS memorial hall -> Beitou -> Danshui -> Fisherman'sWharf -> Longshan Temple -> Snake Alley) which we already did with Gitti when she came to Taiwan. And of course, most of them suggested introducing stinky tofu to the visitor as they really love to do it here (why? coz it stinks, that's why!:)).
- another question was about the disaster in India, how they would react and how it would affect the region. nice ideas about volunteering, moral support, donations, etc were said. Although some said they would feel pity for them and keep on watching for more news (no actions?!), and also some assumptions about people's drop of faith to God after this disaster(huh?!). Another good point was made by some of them who assumed that recent earthquake will lead to some peace among India and Pakistan for the dispute over Kashmir.


Then there was a traineeship sharing time. I prepared presentaion the night before but couldn't upload/attach it from Mac (couldn't understand the reason, and noone around to help with Mac in chinese), so had to scratch some stuff just before the session. another mistake I made was the language, I should have kept in mind the level of English of my audience, they were full of enthusiasm at the beginning, but after a while I noticed a drop of interest among some of them. I realized later that most of them couldn't understand me at all, and I double checked by asking to raise the hands who can understand me, and no hands raised!:))) I repeated the same question in more slower way and saying each word clearly, then most of them raised their hands...
Diego and Aries were also sharing their traineeship stories, also Jazzie, who has been to Turkey for 2-month traineeship recently, was there to share.




the night before was aiesec party with cross-dressing and drinking competitions.



few more things;
- well, here AIESEC party means, it starts at 7pm, some AIESEC dances, and at 10pm party is over :). then you will be kindly asked if you need someone to take you to MRT station :).
- we formed a trainee team for drinking competition, it included Evgeniy (new trainee from Russia, can anyone beat russians in drinking?!!), Teemu (Finnish dude), Andre(from the States), Diego (Colombian buddy, also can drink well) and myself (I don't drink alcohol, but I always participate with Coke).

So we were sure that noone could beat us there. 1st round easy! and then while expecting to get cups of drinks for next round, they put a huge pudding(!) in front of us, suddenly a drinking competition turned into a sucking-pudding-with-a-straw competition!! and it was a kind of jelly-like pudding that I (and later I learned other teammates) hate! We were about to puke afterwards. Well, no need to say that we somehow managed to lose to another group that had some girls. later we heard some specs that they were more than 5 people, etc. But the point is that of course you will win if you give foreigners the pudding they hate and ask them to suck it whole in less than a minute?! :)) it is and it should be a drinking competition, and worst of all, all of us hadn't had the dinner and was hungry at that time... :)) be ready for surprises!
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фестиваль луны и "лунные" пироги

As many of my friends are informed much about the chinese moon festival and mooncakes, I will post about it in Russian for those who are less informed. Below pix; mooncake box and red envelope given by my company for this festival.
у китайцев/тайванцев есть такое событие - фестиваль луны. Они отмечают его в 15ое число 8го месяца по китайскому лунному календарю. везде можно увидеть сверкающие красные фонари, и везде продают "лунные" пироги (mooncake).
это как раз и есть традиционное лакомство для этого фестиваля. В Тайване обычно все компании раздают по коробке этих лакомств своим сотрудникам и конечно же традиционный "красный конверт". А что там внутри - конечно же деньги! Хотя не так и много, но очень хороший обычай, и типичный для китайцев/тайванцев которые так и обожают деньги (не зря они желают друг другу во первых "процветание"- prosperity). А история про этих "лунных" пирогов началась во время династии Юань (А.D.1280-1368). В то время в Китае рулили монголы, и лидеры предыдущей династии Сунг (А.D.960-1280) решили организовать восстание. Как раз приближался фестиваль Луны и они решили изготовить специальные пироги для этого и распространить записки с планом атаки в этих пирогах. В результате они удачно восстали и прогнали монголов и династия Минг (А.D. 1368-1644) пришла в власть. До сих пор люди готовят эти "лунные" пироги в честь той легенды (спасибо за рассказ Терезе Ли).
Ну и мне достался коробка "лунных" и конвертик красный, было там около 20 баксов - хватит на хороший ужин!
Кроме этого, тайванцы любят посидеть всей семЬей за барбекю в этот день, но иногда все получается не так-то чисто и аккуратно.
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good place to spend a night

After work we had company buffet-dinner in the Japanese sea food restaurant, choice and quality of food was top class there. Anyone can be spoilt by the variety of Japanese and Chinese food. (For those who is interested, it is in Taipei city Hall, inside Neo-19 shopping mall near Warner Village, cost is about 800 NTD (~25 USD), yeah it is expensive but worth it) After spending 3 full hours there, I returned back home. Unfortunately, I forgot my keys, and no one was at home. Here goes another waiting-in-front-of-door-for-flatmates session. I waited till midnight, MRT stopped. The next thing was to watch the road for approaching taxis with someone in to open this door for me. As I felt tired and there was no bench to sit, I sat on our neighbor's scooter. Struggling with sleep, tiredness and the mosquitoes, I waited till 2 am. Finally I accepted that I will spend the night outside, so started to look for hotels. Not many around my place, I walked a while till I got one. Price is 1550 NTD (~50 USD), no way! I just needed a place to spend till morning and definitely I wouldn't pay his money for the hotel. Almost similar prices in the next 2 hotels. Finally I came back to my neighborhood. Options for places to sleep were; 1- Park, 2- ATM booth, 3- Train station (was closed), 4- 24-hour open convenient stores, 5- office (too far), etc. I was thirsty, so I bought a juice. As I was enjoying the cold juice, it suddenly hit my brain; Eslite!!! excellent place to spend a night, besides I always wanted to spend night there. So I took a cab... Taipei is full of life at night too, traffic is big in central areas. There were still many people in Eslite. Well, Eslite is a huge 24-hour open bookstore. Many people go there to sit and read books or magazines, buying is not compulsory. How couldn't I think about it earlier?! Moral of the story; drink more juice!
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Sishou Shan - Four Animals Mountain

Last weekend, I finally decided to conquer Sishou Shan mountain near to our home. It is not that high, mountain with a forest and temples. I only knew the entrance to the trail, so backed up with basic equipments n umbrella, I started with Tiger Mountain. I didn't know that it was popular hiking place. There are no detailed maps or guidebooks in English with much info about this mountain. And as I couldn't understand maps in Chinese I kept walking trusting to my own intuition of reaching the top. The trail was built nicely at the beginning, easy to walk. I saw many "hidden" temples around, it looked more like a spiritual place. As I was heading straight to the top of the mountain looking for a closest path, I took any trails/paths which were heading towards there. Paths got smaller and more inclined, sound of city and people turned into a sound of nature, and it looked like I am in deep forest on a mountain. On certain point, there were cliffs in front of me with ropes, what started as a hiking pleasure turned into tiring climbing in a forest without knowing your way, and was about to turn into cliff-hanging. The ropes didn't seem reliable, but I didn't want to return back after 2-3 hour way inside forest...
As i reached the top of the cliff, it was almost the top of the mountain. I was thinking that not many people can take this challenge and come all the way up here. But to my big surprise(!), I saw some aunties walking on the top of the mountain with umbrellas and kids running around(!!!). So there was another way?! There were several ways, and much more easier. View of Taipei was amazing, you could see almost whole Taipei from Xindian to Danshui, and from Xinpu to Xizhi. On the way back I took the trail others take, it was easy and was a connection between temples. My legs were sooo tired, and it was nice weekend workout. The only negative thing is that my Converse shoes suffered a bit :). Below are some shots taken from that day;







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weekday mornings

Bus and traffic system in Xizhi (outside Taipei) sucks. Even 60-70 minutes may not be enough to reach office in the morning (normally it takes just 30 mins), and many companies have system to deduct 30-minute work hour payment from your salary even if you are 1 minute late. My work place is actually a big buisness center with hundreds of offices and thousands of employees. But reaching to that place is full of adventures;
There is only 1 bus BL-15 from last MRT station to my work place, and this single bus is supposed to arrive every 10-15 minutes, but sometimes and especially in the mornings it may just come after 20-25 minutes with 2 or 3 BL-15 buses in a row. Then comes waiting for 5-10 minutes in front of the railway for the train to pass (usually you are caught in busy morning traffic). Next is the series of traffic lights which are placed almost in every 100 meters (due to many intersections of roads), and assuming the huge traffic flow to Xizhi, you can imagine how slow the bus moves. Then comes "the cream on top"; the entrance to Far East World Plaza (buisness center where I work) carpark is facing the road and on the opposite site of the road(!), so it locks the whole traffic on both roads which creates a long traffic jam in the morning... At least, I found a small solution; to read a book (if lucky enough to get a seat in this crowded bus). In November we will move to new office which is near to my house ;).
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Gitti in Taipei

Last weekend, Gitti was in Taipei. First of mafiosi to meet again after I left Singapore. Sunday was very tiring after completing Taipei101 > CKS > Beitou > Danshui > Fisherman's Wharf > Longshan Temple > Snake Alley tour in 1 day. You can read more about this visit from Gitti's blog. After seeing her drinking snake's blood happily, I can add one thing; Gitti the Barbarian! ;)

View photos of Gitti's Taiwanese experience here.
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Chinese oriental architecture

One thing I like in Taiwan is the way they reflect their culture and identity on their architecture..


We can take Grand hotel in Taipei for instance (see above, captured from the train); it reflects Chinese oriental style with colors, curved roofs and drawings on it. Or Taipei 101 which resembles a bamboo with eight parts or looks like Chinese pagodas with chinese coins hanging on it and the corner silver parts look like dragon heads (learnt from last trip to the top of Taipei101, yes I have been to the top of world's tallest building-501 m.)


It gave me an idea of building a tourist village in Kyrgyzstan with nomadic "yurta" tents all around...
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Tribute to Einstein

Last few days we could see Taipei101 (world's tallest building) fully lighted up and on one side with huge E=mc2(square) formula of relativity. (you are right!, Einstein found it, wow, how smart! ;-)) I have no idea why, probably to remember him on 50th year of his death (18-April, 1955), or maybe they just found this formula ?! (sorry, too late ;)), or to attract world media attention, I don't know, but I remembered this great genius who has been an inspiration for me during my preparations for national physics olympiads.
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Taipei Ferris Wheel

Ferris Wheel in Taiwan, one of the options to see for those who will be coming to Taiwan in April and May. Nice view of Taipei at night. And there's direct shuttle to one of the main night markets - ShihLin.
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Night Markets in Taiwan

Very popular in Taiwan (you may wonder if they are closed during the day, yesss, they are!). What makes them popular is all-you-want-to-buy-is-cheap-here truth, all kind of local delicacy (I can even go there just for lamb soup!), entertainment booths (catching turtles, picking up soft toys(pure gamble!), etc.), pirate media resources, wholesale/end-of-season sales, etc. As a result place is very crowded and noisy. Ohh yeah, we shouldn't forget that on the half of the advertisement billboards you can see 3 sweet girls (yes, you are right, it's S.H.E.) which makes you sick of seeing them soon.



Another interesting thing is the way the salespeople of stores/booths try to attract people's attention; clapping hands, banging empty boxes, climbing up the ladders and shouting through speakers, hiring people to stand with a sign, etc. Funny and "original"! But one thing that is hard to resist is that you can find really nice stuff to taste there (although "wo bu chi zhu rou"). I am pretty sure that my Singaporean friends will love that place, shopping ah! My own look at Taiwan is as "the country of colors". Colorful clothes, colorful streets, colorful buildings, colorful food (ok, fine, only sometimes!:)) and colorful people (in terms of style n outwear). It sooo reminds me Cartoon Land ;).

See some more night market photos here.
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Flower festival in YangMingShan

Flower festival in YangMingShan mountain in Taiwan.


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Welcome party by AIESEC in Taiwan

My welcome party was organized by TPLC, just after the AIESEC E-Cup games.

It was very different than Lau Pa Sat welcome dinners in Singapore :). Most surprising thing was one of the AIESECers appearing with paper-made Kyrgyz national dress (for women) on when I was showing our national dresses during my country presentation slideshow. Will post those pix once I scan them. And Jane appearing from corner after not answering my phone calls that day. And I was given a gift with chinese gold and lots of glass chillis, they wished me a "hot n spicy year"...

And of course, a traditional "family" photo with the famous twix finger pose (inspired by victory pose). Looks sooo original, rite? :)

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Datatronics Technology Inc. - new workplace

New company, new job, new experience. Working environment is very different than in DHL Regional office in Singapore. I am working in R&D department, and here it looks more like a laboratory with parts of duplicator robots, circuits, computer parts all around comparing to white cubicals and desks full of papers/documents in DHL. Also we don't have drinks machines and kitchen with cookies and aunty who prepares sandwiches in the morning, but only hot water (not even sugar!). No stationery room, no toilets with music, no lifts which wishes "Good morning", no 14 days of annual leave, etc. Welcome to the real trainee life, Aibek! :) I do agree that DHL traineeships are the best in terms of facilities/salary/etc. But it is an IT company and directly related to my background, real technical traineeship, and if I can cross the language barrier then it looks like I'll learn and benefit from it a lot. Bismillah...
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Taiwan Trip - 1

Photos from the trip.

Taiwan is an island country which is surrounded by South China Sea from the south-west, East China Sea from the north, Atlantic Ocean from the east. Although China and many other countries don't accept its independence, Taiwanese people still think they are independent and they have their own government. But recently Taiwan has shown big development, especially it is one of the leaders in IT in the world. And when you are in Taipei City, capital of Taiwan, you can easily see the way IT tools are used in daily life. But let me go to the beginning of my trip, to the Changhi airport where I was sitting on the board of Eva Air Boeing-747 and waiting to depart Singapore to fly to Taiwan. After getting very cheap plane ticket (75$ only without airport taxes, because of agreement between Eva Air and DHL, I could get %75 agent discount! Well, I like my yellow company!:-)) Taiwan is a country that I always wanted to see. It has a rich culture and arts, colorful people (people wear colorful clothes and also different colors are included in all other decorations). Streets were colorful, full of Chinese characters highlighted on boards. It looked a little bit like Singapore without English, Malay and Indian writings. One could see a lot of motorbikes in the streets, they are very popular in Taiwan. It looked as I was expecting, like all those streets that you could see on Chinese martial arts films that are very popular in my country. I visited Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall (CKS is a leader of Taiwan who did important things in Taiwanese history), tourist night markets where we tasted different kinds of Taiwanese food (mainly fried) and visited snake alley(with real show of feeding python with alive chicks), Taipei 101 - world?s tallest building, really tall and nice architecture reflecting Chinese architecture, Taipei discovery center where we had chance to catch 360 degree rotating screen film show, Ximen street - colorful and crowded street where usually youngsters hang-out, in some IT stores full of gadgets of local brand with reasonable prices. But the best part was our visit to Jui Fen which is a popular weekend place for Taiwanese. It is a place with a wide sea view, place on a high hills near to coast, with green nature and cool weather (after 3 months of tropical weather, I felt back at home:)). It has street markets where you can find real Taiwanese delicious food, all kind of souvenirs reflecting Taiwan culture and history. We stayed in a nice house with real Chinese rooms (small rooms, high from ground level with sliding door, etc.) with a garden with sea view. It was amazing to be in countryside of Taiwan. I traveled a lot on the trains, walked a lot, ate a lot of Taiwanese food, and it was tiring but great 4 days?
?Plane was ready to take off. I was leaving Taiwan. Every good thing should be short, it was short but memorable. I left her back at the airport, but we agreed to meet for new travels and next destination would be Cambodia or Thailand. I was relaxed, fully rested and ready to get back to work.
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