TheNHBushman.com

My friend Saumen woke up this morning to find that someone had hit his car during the night. He heard nothing. Witnesses said that a man was “very drunk” and had run into his car with a scooter. Badly injured, the man left the scooter behind and was taken to the hospital by the police.

Noteworthy is the amount of blood at the scene, both on Saumen’s car and on the scooter - which is very well wrecked. Its a pretty new Kymco 100cc model.

The man’s sister agreed to pay for the damages to Saumen’s car. Apparently, her brother has a habit of driving drunk and getting into accidents. Some people never learn, and people die every day because of stupid shit like this.

This time he was lucky he didn’t kill himself. Check out this nice face-print in the windshield. Notice that the wiper has been broken off the arm due to the force of his face hitting it.

Over the past few months I have been watching the progress of a new wind generator farm in the Taichung area.

Driving down the freeway (payway, in reality) this is what you see of the wind farm. I took this shot out of the window of my car at speed.

Yesterday, I got off the highway and ventured down on the flatlands for a closer look.

These look very impressive in person, trust me.

Although I do wonder why they haven’t been finished yet. The ones that appear to be fully assembled are not spinning, and I have never seen them spinning.

Remember, each one of these costs approximately US$1M.

The other day I had an opportunity to take a drive on the coast near Yong An. As readers of our blog know, I am facinated by large machinery. So, naturally I had to take a look at the 3 wind generators in the area.

If you have ever wanted to see the generator section up close, click on this photo.

This is a full sized shot, showing how these things dwarf everything below them.

Nearby is a temple with a very interesting line of deities. I have seen something similar to this in Thailand. A monk came out to see what I was doing, but I was only shooting a few photos.

A fisherman braves dangerous surf along a jetty, hoping to bring home a nice dinner.

A stark reminder of Taiwan’s military past, in a park along the ocean. This is a great place for a picnic.

Take a drive along the coast sometime and enjoy the sights.

Today, Hui-Chen and I went to one of my favorite places: Sanyi. We heard about the wood carving festival and decided that it would make a great Sunday afternoon outing.

The drive down there was nice enough, but when we got to the exit ramp for Sanyi, we found that the area was choked with traffic. I have never seen this much traffic in Sanyi before. This is a shot of the main street where all the shops are. There was a line of traffic in either direction as far as the eye could see.

We parked our car and walked around, but nothing seemed any different on this day than any other day in Sanyi, except that it was packed with people. There sure were a lot of cars and people but I couldn’t tell you what they were there for.

Hui-Chen and I stumbled upon this sign that was placed outside of a corrugated fence (like the kind used at construction sites), so we figured that the “festival” must be inside of this area. We went in.

Once inside we saw some examples of different types of wood, and some plaques giving some information about the wood types (all in Chinese). Here we see Hui-Chen standing by some large pieces of root wood used in the local shops. This is a piece of camphor wood and it smelled awesome.

What we found inside the fenced area was a few wood carving artist stalls, with no carving going on, and no artists around (except one, who was on his lunch break, apparently). None of the signs were in English or even Japanese. Just a bunch of children sitting at some tables, playing with toys. Nothing related to wood carving, and certainly no festival. This is a shot of one of the woodcarving artist’s booths. I could hardly contain my excitement as I took this shot.

This stage is all set up for something, but no one knew for what. A veteran of many professional concerts, right away I noticed that there was no lighting for a night show, so whatever is going on here must be during the daytime. Nevertheless, there were no schedules posted, no flyers available, or any information whatsoever, anywhere! There was no information booth or informed people available. This is typical of Taiwan, where something is going on but you can’t find out what it is. This place needs some serious help with development of tourist attractions, because these organized events are lacking in both organization, and actual things to do. If we had information about what was going to happen, and when, we could have made an informed decision about whether or not to stay. It soon became clear that the best decision we could make was to go home.

We learned from one of the shop owners that President Chen was supposed to drop by soon. We ran across this group of new shooters and decided that it was time to do the cutout. I don’t like reporters in Taiwan because they start shouting “shoot the foreigner!” and I don’t want to be that kind of entertainment. I did have to ask a few stupid people to please stop laughing at, or talking trash about me. I am always amazed when Taiwanese just say stupid shit about me to each other while I’m standing there (because they think I can’t understand them). Today was no exception.

What a waste of time, and what a shame, too. I love Sanyi and I expected to see at least one artist carving something, you know, at the wood carving festival! In fact, there weren’t even any food vendors in the enclosed area - now that is just wrong!

This festival is 9 days long. If anyone figures out what the festival actually is, I would appreciate knowing.

Michael Turton wrote an excellent article called Scams in the Family. This article is very worthwhile reading. There are a couple of things I find amazing, not only about the story, but about life here in general considering this topic. The fact that scams are so rife, and apparently there is no moral restraint upon people to lie, cheat and steal in more and more unique and creative ways is one thing, while there seems to be no shortage of people who are dumb enough to fall prey to them.

Michael is fond of saying how there is no social culture in Taiwan. Its as if people don’t know how to act. Every day I see stuff like 2 guys sitting at a table with 37 empty 700ml beer bottles strewn all around. No one needs to drink that much, but there are no restraining factors (such as common sense) to tell them when they have had enough, nor upon the owners of the establishment to stop selling beer to drunken people. Apparently mothers don’t teach these things in Taiwan. People communicate here by committing violent acts upon the property of others, such as gluing door locks or smashing windows. Again, no restraining factors on their behavior. Why should there be when nothing happens to them? These people have never had a gun stuck in their gut, with a lunatic’s finger on the trigger like I have. These people have never really had to deal with the consequences of an enraged opponent, armed with deadly force. So, they just fuck with people…. unrestrained.

There are other ways that Taiwanese relate to one another, such as this afternoon. My building had the power turned off for several hours while the local power company changed out a transformer. There are no emergency lights in the hallways. No sooner had the power gone out, than some kids distributed debris on the stairways, hoping to cause someone to fall and hurt themselves. Here you can see 2 milk tea boxes, and quite a few straws. Mind you, this shot was taken after I walked up the stairs and had kicked some of this shit out of the way. There are probably double the amount of straws that you can see in this photo.

The truth is, I could have fallen down these stairs today and really hurt myself, with the result being some entertainment for the local kids, and absolutely nothing more.

By the way, the hallways are filthy and no one takes any responsibility whatsoever to clean up outside of their door, not to mention putting their discarded shoes out of the walkway. For the most part people in Taiwan think only of themselves.

Dear readers, please bear with me on this one….

I am trying to do this without causing embarrassment to the intended party, who knows nothing of this undertaking.

Recently a good friend of mine was diagnosed with leukemia. He immediately underwent chemotherapy and is now suffering from symptoms of the disease and also the cure. Unable to work as a result, his brother has stepped in to support him financially. Needless to say, even though this kind of burden is a burden of love, nevertheless it is difficult. Every little bit helps out this situation.

I have been thinking about what crazy idea I can come up with to raise money. One of the tools that I do have is this blog, and the fact that Hui-Chen and I are somewhat famous because of our international readership. So, I have decided to auction off something of mine because I think that out there somewhere, is someone who would be interested enough to want to own something belonging to the Bushman, and compassionate enough to make a donation to a dear friend in the process.

The auction will be conducted by the brother of the afflicted, so you may be assured that 100% of the proceeds from this auction will indeed go to the intended sufferer and not spent on any “administrative” costs. I am donating the item for the auction and sending it to the winner at my own expense. Here are the details of the item for auction.

I am auctioning off one of my famous bush shirts. The shirt is size XL, Tall.

For many years I have worn a special shirt, made by Cabela’s and known as the Serengeti Safari™ Shirt. I have worn a group of 4 shirts since 2002. I have kept these shirts alive by frequently repairing them and they definitely show the wear and tear of traveling! These 4 shirts are from before the time when Cabela’s re-engineered the shirts, and the color “Olive” is longer offered. If you check out the above link, the 2 colors that I am currently wearing are “Tan” and “Dune” and are very different than the military-like olive color of my 2002 shirts you see in the following photographs.

One of the shirts is now dead, due to wear. I have 3 of them left, and out of those 3, one of them is in the best shape. It is wearable but absolutely looks like it has been worn by an international traveler. It has! I like to wear this particular shirt for that very fact - it looks “real.”

I want to show you where these shirts have been. The following are photos of me wearing one of these shirts in various countries. Bear in mind that this is only a sampling of where these shirts have been.

Taiwan

Everyone knows that I live in Taiwan. This is Mr. Chen Sheou Yeao and I. He is the first Taiwanese friend I ever had. I met him in the US in 1976. This shot was taken in 2002.

Me playing a little travel guitar I brought to Taiwan in 2002. It has since died a horrible death for a guitar.

I have always been a friend of wildlife and these bush shirts are excellent for both travel and expeditionary work. Here I am admiring a small Green Island deer that someone is keeping for a pet.

Bushman in the Fushing area on one of the famous bridges.

Hong Kong

Shots of me weaing a bush shirt in Hong Kong are rare, but I’ve been there several times, and so have my bush shirts. Here I am in Kowloon, overlooking Hong Kong island. What a beautiful place!

China

I’ve been to China a couple of times and I’ve always worn my bush shirts there. This shot is interesting because I was the first and only foreigner to ever visit this man’s home. I am wearing a Cabela’s Safari jacket over the bush shirt (it was wintertime and rather cold).

This shot was taken at the border with Russia, on the Black Dragon River. I’m wearing the same bush jacket over the bush shirt.

Thailand

I have been to Thailand many times and my shirts have been there with me too. I’ve done so many things there, from hiking the trails….

…. to hunting for fossils in the national park.

I’ve also explored ancient ruins like Puey Noi,

Commissioned a wood smoker of my own design,

Played my 12 string guitar outdoors at a local restaurant, and all while wearing a bush shirt. You need one too!

Laos

I’ve been to Laos a few times, and of course, I wouldn’t go there (or anywhere) without my bush shirts!

Sitting in a cafe in the capital city, or

On the banks of the Mekong River, or

Enjoying the wonderful natural beauty, or

Dining on fine Lao cuisine - my bush shirts have been there with me.

You too can own a piece of history by winning the auction and getting your own shirt, personally worn by me in all of these places, and more! I need to add that your shirt will be professionally laundered for you!

Check this out! 2 storms originating from 2 different places, and forecast to converge upon Taiwan at the same time! Keep on the lookout for increasingly bad weather over the next few days.

For up to date reports on these storms, please see Bushman’s Typhoon Blog.

Yes, this is another post about my tea service, or cha pan as its called in Chinese. Apparently, interest in Asian tea has increased in the US, rather dramatically. One can find some of the teas that we enjoy here in Taiwan, but in the export only grade, which is decidedly lower quality than tea intended for the Taiwan domestic market. The same goes for tools of the trade, such as teapots, tool sets and of course, cha pans. As a result, my friend Colby is now importing these cha pans and we are finding that the interest in these items is growing in the US.

After looking at cha pans for quite a few years, I bought one in Sanyi, Taiwan’s famous woodworking area. Its natural for one to think highly of his own possessions, but when I look at this cha pan, I can honestly say that it is one of the best ones I have ever seen, at any price. The desirability of a cha pan is based upon not only its beauty but also its functionality. The beauty aspect is defined not by the natural features of the wood alone, but also on the cleverness of the wood carver to create a functional piece while preserving the natural attributes of the wood. Mine is made from a fine piece of root wood from Laos, which seems to also be increasing in popularity among the Sanyi carvers. I have seen several offerings from different carvers in Sanyi, made from Lao wood.

Today, I was cleaning my cha pan and I decided to shoot a few photos of it with absolutely nothing on it except the furniture polish.

Shot #1 is an overview shot showing the various sections for brewing tea, pouring and storing cups and teapots. The large area at the bottom of the photo is the main working area where you can work and store even large pots. To the left is an area where I store the large teapot when not in use (this post also shows some items in their respective places). I usually store the cups in the area just above the black spot in the center of the pan.

This is a closeup of the upper right section, showing the incredible grain of this wood. I usually place a gong-bei in the small round section and pour water in the larger section below. This is an excellent working area and its also close enough to the guests for them to get a clear view while working a pot.

The guest side of the cha pan is very important too. This shot of the front left shows some deep grain detail that is visible to the guests at the serving area.

This is an overview shot of the guest side directly opposite of the working side, showing the tea cup storage/serving area (that’s what I use it for). The cha pan is a bit shinier than usual because I just polished it.

For more information about how you may obtain your own cha pan, please see Colby’s blog.