TheNHBushman.com

I am leaving this evening for the Kingdom of Thailand. If one would be so inclined to call me from Taiwan, it would be better to use my Thai mobile number to reach me:

+66-4-792-4841

I will be blogging from there as availability permits. See you back in Taiwan soon.

When most people think of Taiwanese woodwook, they think of Sanyi or Dasi. Yesterday Hui-Chen and I went to a place in Shin Fong, a city not generally known for its woodworking kung-fu. This factory and store looks to be 30-some years old.

Taiwan tea culture and wood culture are linked by the utensils created for making tea, such as the cha-pan. We saw an entire area devoted to such tea plates and even a few tables with tea making areas carved into them.

Here we see an entire wall filled with tea plates (and there were a couple shelving units like this). These have been here quite some time and therefore exhibit some of the fungal growth that Taiwan is famous for. This will wash off with no harm done to the woodwork, but it does look pretty crappy when you are shopping for something.

Notice the dragon carved in the center of this one. Pouring water on the surface behind the dragon will cause it to drain out the mouth, literally off the tongue. Most of the tea plates in this place were like this configuration. While the wood itself is very good quality and also quite aromatic, this style isn’t my cup of tea (sorry, I couldn’t resist that).

In this lovely shot of Hui-Chen we see a traditional style curio display (closeup of the opening shot). This kind of display sends me a clear message: I need more teapots!

I don’t see these kind of traditional old-style miniature pieces very often. This type of product sets this place apart from either Sanyi or Dasi, which are not known for these kinds of products.

The number of tables carved from tree trunks was substantial. If you allow your mind to ignore the logistics of trying to get a 2 ton piece of wood into your home, 8 floors high and through a window, you might enjoy the shopping experience for one of these tables because they are really quite impressive.

There is also a ceramics section, and they had some giant items worth seeing.

Input N 24.90438 E 121.098498 into your GPS to get there.

Hui-Chen and I were eating in Jhubei near our home when we decided to go around to the rear of the restaurant to take a closer look at a sign that I spotted from inside the restaurant.

Yes, this is a real sign, photographed with the only camera I had on me at the time – my S700i moble phone.

This is a little test using a Gaim plug-in. I wrote this entry from a chat window in my client.

The first one went back to the store last night. You’ll have to trust me on this one: oolong tea and plastic flavors do not match!

This new machine came with an instruction booklet that described a method of removing the plastic taste using lemon juice. I am going to try this method this evening and see what happens.

This puppy came with more stickers than a rock star’s guitar case. I don’t know what the deal is with Taiwanese and stickers, but they also tape the crap out of everything here. You can’t open a candy bar without cutting tape.

I do like how this one looks, better than the other one. The fit and finish are also better. I just have to peel off all those stupid looking stickers!

Since I haven’t posted a recent cockpit shot of my bicycle with the GPS attached, I offer this photo. It was taken in the same parking lot as the tank photo, with my mobile camera/phone. I’ll get some more shots of the bike and GPS soon because the weather is now finally getting good enough to go riding every day (about time!).

Riding my bicycle today, I was reminded that you can never know what you will find in Taiwan. I didn’t have my Nikon with me, so you have to deal with this photo taken with my Sony-Ericsson S700i mobile phone. Needless to say, the sight of this monster is considerably more impressive than the photo lets on. This was the last thing that I ever would have expected to see.

Recently our friend Mr. Gan went back to Japan and got some new teapots from the old masters there. Last night I bought one of them. There was also a matching gong-bei so naturally I had to get that too! Matching items are so rare that if you ever find them, you should buy them.

What makes this teapot so unusual is that its 2-toned, and also that the master painstakingly gave it a peened finish, all by hand.

On this side it looks very dark.

Here you can see that its basically 1/4 red color.

Notice the hand peening on the surface. The lid fits very well and this pot pours like a firehose.

I just could not pass up this very unusual gong-bei!

Notice the matching color and peened surface. I’ve never seen a gong-bei with a spout before.

I also got some of the new Taiwan spring tea. This is the best oolong tea that I have yet experienced. It is unbelievable!

We got our first hot water dispenser for the new apartment. The last place that I lived had a very convenient large filtration/heating/cooling system for the whole building and it worked very well. This machine…. well the water tastes like plastic. If anyone can tell me how to get rid of the plastic taste I would certainly appreciate it. The water bottle on my bicycle tastes better than this machine.