I was in Taoyuan (桃園) for something work related today. I grabbed this shot at the train station just before I left. I think it's an unusual if not cool fountain.
Shooting the breeze, I asked our sales representative what one does for fun in Taoyuan. He answered, "Go to Dashi." Dashi (大溪) was in the news over the weekend. The papers were charging its vendors with serving up tainted dried tofu, the place's signature dish. According to news reports, two people died eating it. Another individual grew sick, but pulled through. When I put this to our sales rep, Mark, he became animated. "That's just sensational b.s.," he sputtered. "I eat Dashi dried tofu all the time and look at me, the picture of health!" My wife backed this up. It appears several newspapers ran with the story without bothering for a second to double-check the facts. Now they're apologizing, saying it could have been the clams.
I want to come back to Dashi on a later post. I have blogged about it before. It was here, in the markets, that Aboriginal flesh was being sold 110 years ago (see Owen Ritter). During WWII, my grandpa was sent out on a mission to bomb it. They couldn't see the town due to cloud cover, so they turned back. His squadron, the Jolly Rogers 90th Bombardment Unit, completed the mission by hitting the military airport in Gangshan (岡山), just outside of Kaohsiung, on July 9, 1945.
The ashes of Chiang Kai-shek and his son are kept in a mausoleum just outside of Dashi. This place is well worth the visit if you're interested in recent Taiwan history or if you just want to appreciate beautiful scenery.
