Taiwan Angler

My friend Chris has started a blog called Taiwan Angler. Chris is rediscovering his passion for this sport. He's already put in a lot of effort to come up with an interesting site. I think it might be the first in English on this topic too. In the future, look for lots of information on angling around the beautiful country of Taiwan. You'll find his Web site at this address: http://www.taiwanangler.com/

Chris is a smart guy, so expect insight on how concepts of marine biology can and have affected our economy, what tackle to get to attract the big ones or even what beer to chug whilst chasing a lazy Sunday away on one of Taiwan's streams, lakes or ponds.

Do Consumers Need to Accept Mei Ban Fa (沒辦法)?

Pretty much nothing gets my back up like being told "mei ban fa (沒辦法)." If you translate mei ban fa, you'll come up with something like "this problem cannot be solved." Spend some time in Taiwan and see how mei ban fa (沒辦法) is used. Eventually, you'll discover mei ban fa  (沒辦法) is something closer to:

a. I don't feel like helping you

b. I won't help you because if I take initiative, I could get in trouble

c. Get lost, because you can't win this pissing contest

I've been mei ban fa-ed three times in the last 20 hours, two times when I went to pick up pizza at Pizza Hut last night and a third at Costco this morning. In all three cases, the individuals doing the mei ban fa-ing worked in customer service. Before I give a rundown, I'll offer a few suggestions for those out there facing a mei ban fa (沒辦法) of their own. First, explain to the customer non-service rep. there is no such thing as a problem too impossible to solve. Then offer to help them come up with a solution. If that doesn't do the trick, ask to speak to a manager. Remember that you could be getting screwed when being mei ban fa-ed.

My mei ban fa (沒辦法) grief began when I ordered Mexican and American double salami pizzas last night. The bill came to NT$720 (US$23), so I pulled out my wallet to pay. While doing so, I asked about my points (I have a VIP card, which I paid for, so I can get free side dishes from time to time). "The card is under my wife's name," I told the guy at the cash register, just like I have every time for the past couple of years. "Here's her phone number." 

"Ah. Ms. Cheng," the guy at the till smiled, after keying in the information. "Do you have your card on you?" 

"I don't think I have it anymore," I answered. "No worries. You can see her name on the screen. I normally just give the phone number," I said, starting to feel a bit weird. I hadn't paid yet for the pizza. My wallet was out though; the order had been placed. Who in their right mind would jeopardize a sale with this kind of pettiness?

"I'm sorry sir," said the clerk. "If you don't give me your VIP card, mei ban fa (沒辦法)!" he declared, like he had just uttered something decisive. 

"There's no such thing as mei ban fa [沒辦法]," I explained. "By the way, I can't accept this kind of service, so get it sorted. This street has lots of pizza places."

"Uh, okay. No, I mean mei ban fa."

A couple minutes later, the assistant manager, Mr. Hsieh, appeared. After filling him in, I said: "I want to complain about this clerk. He's providing poor customer service and wasting my time. I don't agree with this kind of attitude." 

"I'm so sorry about that," said the assistant manager, reviewing the computer screen and not listening at all to me. Then, still not listening, he picked up the phone and called my wife. 

"Give me that," I said, taking the phone. Then to my wife, "The pizza place is being silly. I'll be home in a while." All of this was over a few points on a VIP card. I mean I was ready to pay. What on earth was their problem? 

"Sir, sorry. You can place your order, but you can't accrue any points on your VIP card," said the assistant manager.

"Okay. Okay. Let me speak to your manager," I said. I knew it had crossed the line of "it's not worth it," but the pissing contest was now on. I pulled out my iPhone and hit the film button on the camera function.

I don't know if the manager was more reasonable or it was the camera. Or, it could have very well been that she's the only one with license to authorize anything, even when it's just a few crummy points on a VIP pizza card. "Do you know what these guys are putting me through?" I asked her. "My VIP card is recorded in your system. I have cash in my hand."

Here's the answer she gave me, before giving me some points and side order of bacon bread: "There has been a lot of pizza card fraud recently."

I'm not going to get too much into the Costco mei ban fa (沒辦法) tale because this is giving me a headache. I will say the nonsense was about the same. My time was wasted. I was offered silly excuses. Then I received the external drive that I had purchased earlier -- the external drive that already belonged to me.

I have worked in lots of customer service jobs. I tended bar in university. I have also worked the front desk at The Holiday Inn. When customers had a problem, I simply asked them what it was. Then I tried to make them feel less unhappy. I didn't bother to bother the manager. As a bartender, I usually refixed the drink if they didn't like it, adding more soda, an extra olive or lime, or what have. Sometimes I gave the customer a second drink for free. It never occurred to me to be stubborn or give them flak. At the hotel, I just upgraded their room. When that didn't work, I gave a discount. I didn't say things couldn't be done and problems couldn't get solved because that would have been disingenuous. 

Monga Traffic

Banged Up Crosswalk Light in Monga (艋舺), originally uploaded by Patrick Cowsill.

I took this picture today in front of the 85 Degree Cafe on Wanda (萬大) Road in Monga (艋舺), Taiwan. It looks like a right-turning bus or truck gave it a good scrape. I hope the district has some cameras in place so we'll know who to bill. 

The proposed Wanda MRT Line might help to alleviate some of the traffic in Monga; it'll also cut back on the buses we need.

Taipei, Taiwan

Taipei, Taiwan, originally uploaded by Patrick Cowsill.

Lots of urban farming going on right now in Taipei, Taiwan. I took this shot just east of Warner Village, in the Hsin-yi Distict (信義區). A friend told me today that it's the most expensive real estate in Taiwan. It's going for NT$6,000,000 a ping (meaning close to US$200,000 per tatami mat of space). 

I think I should follow up on urban farming, seeing that I've taken hundreds of shots of how it has occurred around Taipei over the years. One of the reasons that property in this district has shot up in price is related to the MRT line, going down its main vein, that is going in as I write. The MRT line'll be up within the next couple of years. This land was once zoned as "agricultural." It's value obviously went up once it was relabeled as residential. 

Taiwan Has Spoken?

Today the people of Taiwan voted. To me, it seemed like a referendum on our President, Ma Ing-jeou, and his China leaning policies (some have even called them appeasement). I am not very politically minded. I will say I'm glad it's over. The loudness of the extravaganza has been unbearable. Here in Monga, we've been putting up with loud speakers that intrude into our homes deep into the night, smarmy palm-pressing politicians at every MRT station (in the mornings, no less) and all kinds of annoying chest beating. Last week, I had to, get this, listen to how Taipei IS Hau Lung-pin (郝龍斌) and that Chen Shui-bien is still corrupt. The rally actually took place on the common grounds of my apartment building, and lasted until around eleven o'clock. (Hau Lung is the son of 郝柏村, Taiwan's premier 20 years ago who fought tooth and nail against democratic reform.) Later that night, when my wife sent me out on a beer run, I couldn't help but notice all the garbage left behind. This garbage was cleaned up by janitors employed on my, and other occupants of my apartment complex, dime the next morning. 

Anyway, my wife was simmering tonight because Taipei, where she and her ancestors going back 300 years have lived, is still KMT-land. I rented "Formosa Betrayed," an interesting new film about how Taiwan and its inhabitants have been colonized and controlled by invaders from China the last 60 years. After watching "Formosa Betrayed," she was on low boil. She told me that she was once educated to revere the KMT, that she had been taught to see the Japanese, who built Taiwan into Asia's second most economically powerful place, as scoundrels. She had even gotten into arguments as a young girl with her grandma. According to Grandma, the KMT were not saviors but rather "beggars and thieves." Later, when my wife learned about the 2-28 Massacre, when the KMT murdered 30,000 Taiwanese intellectuals in an early power grab and the 38 years of martial law that ensued, she came around to a new way of thinking. 

I don't think all is lost. There are some interesting statistics emerging from tonight's election. The most telling is that the DPP, the pro-Taiwan party here, has actually won the popular vote. Here are the latest tallies: 

Taibei
中國國民黨:795,403 (55.65%)

民主進步黨:626,075 (43.81%)

Xin Taibei

中國國民黨:1,115,536 (52.61%)

民主進步黨:1,004,900 (47.39%)

Taichung

中國國民黨:730,284 (51.12%)

民主進步黨:698,358 (48.88%)

But, in Gaoxiong/Tainan DDP pulled ahead:

Gaoxiong

民主進步黨:821,089 (52.8%)

中國國民黨:319,171 (20.52%)

Tainan

民主進步黨:619,897 (60.41%)

中國國民黨:406,196 (39.59%)

I pulled these totals off Michael Turton's comment section. Michael also has some interesting insight into the KMT-related gangster shenanigans that led to the shooting in Yong-he last night of a KMT official's son: http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2010/11/sean-lien-shot.html

On a different note, David on Formosa is promoting blogs for a "Best Blog of Taiwan" contest. I think it's cool to promote Taiwan related blogs. I should probably read up more on this subject. If I were to vote, I think I'd give the nod to http://danshuihistory.blogspot.com/. Eyedoc, the curator, runs a terrific history-based site. David put up his mentions here; I'll give the link: http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2010/11/some-great-taiwan-blogs-in-2010/

Historical Cheng De (承德) Road

I took the above shot today on Cheng De (承德) Road in Taipei's historic Dadaocheng (大稻埕) District. I strolled the length of the street, from the Keelung River (基隆河) in the north down to Taipei Main Station, and this was the only place I saw that seemed to predate the 1960s. These days, Cheng De is lined with gaudy, glassy, grimy 1960 and 70-ish architecture. 

If you take the stroll, you will of course come across Cheng Yuan (成淵) High School. Established in 1898, just three years after the Japanese colonial possession of Taiwan began, Cheng Yuan was once a rustic double-story, A-frame schoolhouse, much like you might have seen in the American Mid-west at the turn of the 20th century. I think the school was in fact funded by an American Christian group from thereabouts, but I'll have to follow up. Cheng Yuan was blown up on May 31st, 1945 by the US Army (the Air Force didn't exist in those days) on probably the single most devastating day of bombing Taiwan saw during the Second World War, and that is saying something as 75 percent of her infrastructure was wrecked in around a year's time. For those of you that are familiar with Taiwanese history, you'll recognize this date. Both the Presidential Building and Lungshan Temple (龍山寺) were also hit on May 31st, 1945. 

As Cheng De used to be the eastern-most thoroughfare in Dadaocheng before, and after, the city was walled, it once was an energetic center of commerce and culture. In the 1860s, Formosa was internationally renowned for its tea. And Dadaocheng was her foremost packaging and shipping center. Hundreds of companies, many of them located on Cheng De, operated out of the neighborhood to serve this purpose. Times have changed. Technology and finance are now Taiwan's bread and butter. Most of its small, though still renowned tea industry, is based elsewhere. No shipping takes place from the wharf of Dadaocheng anymore, as it is now too silted up for ships to arrive anywhere in her vicinity. 

This is the mailbox of the place mentioned above, which I am guessing is the oldest remains of a store or business along Cheng De Road.  Notice how the mailbox is taped up.

When I dipped into an alley running off Cheng De (承德), near Ming Chuan (民權) MRT Station, I found lots of quaint buildings. In this structure, a tree had taken root in the roof.

An old building in an alley off Cheng De.

Righteous Temple in Monga, Taiwan

A picture of Righteous (集義) Temple in Monga, Taiwan

I live in Monga, one of the three oldest neighborhoods in Taipei. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that we have many places of historical note in our midst. Having said that, I should point out that we really don't have much in the way of classical architecture. Until the 1990s, there was no emphasis on historical or heritage preservation in Taiwan. It was all development, with lots of speculation sprinkled on top. Thus a lot of Monga's, and Taiwan's for that matter, most precious streets and buildings were scraped off the landscape. I will say this though: there is no shortage of old and beautiful temples in Monga. Off the top of my head, I count half a dozen within walking distance of my home, like the Righteous Temple (pictured above), which my daughter and I pass almost every night on our way home from school and work respectively. Righteous Temple was built 110 years ago. 

Inside Righteous Temple, you'll find the statues of three Tao figures, the righteous men from which the temple draws its name: Messrs. 朱, 池 and 李, who lived during the Tang Dynasty (607-917) in China. According to my wife, our daughter likes to "make wishes" at the alter when she and my mother-in-law go by, something she doesn't do when she's with me. I don't really have a problem with this though. I do think it's an interesting way to describe praying. I'm pretty sure that Grandma is behind the "wishing," as she's tried to make me do it a time or two (which I don't as it makes me feel self-conscious). Nevertheless, if my daughter wants to "wish," I'm cool with it -- that is, if she enjoys doing so. My daughter can make up her mind own about religion, whether that happens to be now, 10 years from now or whenever. 

I'm afraid I digress: If you want to visit Righteous Temple, take the MRT to Longshan Temple. Leave the station from Exit Two. Go straight, passing the fire and police stations, for about a block. You'll see it at the first intersection.