TheNHBushman.com

Photos by MJ Klein

Hui-chen and I visited the Taipei Cycle Show yesterday. It was fun, and tiring!

Taken from the elevator in the main hall, this shot shows an overview of the exhibitors.

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This shot was taken from the second floor.

My friend Mr. Kevin Kao runs a company called TW Bents, which manufactures recumbent bicycles. Mr. Kao holds several patents for his designs.

This is a closeup of a recumbent tricycle, or “trike.”

Here we see two trikes and a recumbent bicycle. The seating positions are very comfortable and that is the main point of recumbents, also known as “bents.” Recumbents are also very fast designs and hold all of the world’s bicycle speed records. I won’t get into the idiotic politics of bicycle racing (which makes Taiwan politics appear logical), but recumbents are actually banned from competetive racing – the only sport that I can think of where the fastest designs are excluded. As a result, diamond frame bicycles get all the attention, and much of the public is either mis, or malinformed about recumbents, and all because they are looked down upon by the racing community (as if IGAF about what they think). I want one of those trikes!

Here is a random shot I took while walking down one of the main drags. After awhile it gets overwhelming. There is just so much to look at in this, the largest bike show in the world!

I was dissapointed by the obvious lack of “race queen” beauties at this show. Besides these 2, I only saw 2 others who looked really nasty with their tattoos…. <sigh> Thank goodness for NOVA promotions.

This is the coolest mountain bike I have ever seen!

technorati tags:Taiwan, Taipei, cycle, show, bicycle

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I had occasion to ride the THSR again, and of course, I took more photos.

Look closely – the cars are getting dirty.

I like the HSR a lot, but its alreay looking ratty on the outside.  Airlines know that clean planes fly more efficiently, so why has a fair amount of dirt been allowed to build up on these cars?

Remember when I mentioned that my GPS had several stations marked on the base map, but didn’t exist?  Here is one of them:

The dirt parking lot is the Yuanlin station.  It looks as if the land has been allocated but the station has not been built yet.  There is a similar cleared area on the opposite side of the track.  This view faces east.

And this is the Chuanghua station.  Unlike Yuanlin, it doen’t look like any land has been secured for the station.  I’ll check out more of these phantom stations as I take more trips on the THSR.

technorati tags:Taiwan, highspeed, rail, HSR, THSR

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Sorry, but Hui-chen and I have been very busy with both our business and personal lives.  I have, however uploaded a bunch of new photos on Flickr.  You may click on the link to the photostream on the left sidebar to see them.

As time permits, I will go back to blogging on some of our most recent travels.

technorati tags:thenhbushman, flickr

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UPDATE:  This is the saddest update to a blog post I have ever had to make….

Suicide confirmed in Delp’s death By Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa Thursday, March 15, 2007 – Updated: 01:29 AM EST Brad Delp lit two charcoal grills in the bathroom adjacent to his master bedroom and committed suicide via asphyxiation last week, according to New Hampshire police who yesterday confirmed that the lead singer of the band Boston took his own life. “He was a man who gave all he had to give to everyone around him, whether family, friends, fans or strangers,” the singer’s family said in a statement. “He gave as long as he could, as best he could, and he was very tired. We take comfort in knowing that he is now, at last, at peace.” Delp, 55, a Danvers native, left two sealed suicide notes taped to a door and letters to his family and his fiancée, Pamela Sullivan. But Atkinson, N.H., Police Lt. William Baldwin said the cops were not told why he took his life. Toxicology tests by the state medical examiner’s office showed that Delp died of carbon monoxide poisoning. “It’s very sad for all of us who loved this guy,” said ex-Extreme drummer Paul Geary, a close friend of Delp and his family. “Whenever I called him for anything he’d drop everything and help, and whenever he called me it was for someone else.” Friends said it was Delp’s constant need to help and please people that may have driven him to despair. He was literally the man in the middle of the bitter break-up of Boston – pulled from both sides by divided loyalties. Delp remained on good terms with both Tom Scholz, the MIT grad who founded the band, and Barry Goudreau, Fran Sheehan and Sib Hashian, former members of Boston who had a fierce falling out with Scholz in the early ’80s. Delp tried to please both sides by continuing to contribute his vocals to Scholz’ Boston projects while also remaining close to his former bandmates. The situation was complicated by the fact that Delp’s ex-wife, Micki, is the sister of Goudreau’s wife, Connie.

Suicide confirmed in Delp’s death – More Inside Track – BostonHerald.com

March 14, 2007 UPDATE: Boston’s Brad Delp’s Death Ruled a Suicide The family of Boston lead singer Brad Delp issued a brief statement today saying that his death last Friday was a suicide. According to Lieutenant William Baldwin of the Atkinson, New Hampshire police department, Delp took his life through intentional carbon monoxide poisoning. He left two notes, the contents of which were not released. The statement was issued on behalf of Delp’s mother, children and his fiancee, the last of whom found his body. It says, “He was a man who gave all he had to give to everyone around him, whether family, friends, fans or strangers. He gave as long as he could, as best he could, and he was very tired. We take comfort in knowing that he is now, at last, at peace.”

star103fm.com: Music

Dear Brad took his own life….
——–

Today is a very sad day indeed…..

Brad Delp, the lead singer for the rock band Boston, was found dead on Friday in his home in Atkinson, N.H. The Associated Press reported that a police spokesman said Mr. Delp apparently died alone and that there was no indication of foul play. The cause of death is under investigation and a report is to be released Monday, The A.P. reported. Mr. Delp was 55.

Brad Delp, 55, Lead Singer for Boston, Dies – New York Times

‘We have just lost the nicest guy in rock ’n’ roll’

‘We have just lost the nicest guy in rock ’n’ roll’ – Music – BostonHerald.com

I met Brad Delp in 1978, on the next-to-last night of their first American tour.  He, Tom Sholtz and I discussed the music business at length, backstage after the show.  Brad was extremely interested in my personal exploits and offered to himself as a conduit directly to the appropriate persons in Epic Records.  Brad then took a pen and paper and gave me his home address, inviting me to send him any tapes or other promotional items, offering to personally present them to Epic.

That’s one point nobody’s about to argue: The singer, who was found dead Friday at his Atkinson, N.H., home at age 55, was famous for both his accessibility and the utter absence of any rock-star pretense.

‘We have just lost the nicest guy in rock ’n’ roll’ – Music – BostonHerald.com

I can personally attest to this fact.  Brad was himself, all the time – no pretenses, no showy displays, attitude, etc.  When you talked with him, you realized that this man has a genuine interest in what you say.  He’s not just being polite.  Brad was, in my opinion, one of the world’s most gifted singers.  Afteran hour and a half of singing to a crowd of 22,000, he wasn’t evenhoarse.  It was all in a day’s work for him.

We have lost a great man….

technorati tags:braddelp, Boston, suicide

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Photos by MJ Klein

Originally posted to The New Hampshire Bushman in Taiwan, on November 7, 2006:

Everyone loves a good outdoor village market. We found a great one, just outside of Erawang, in Loei Province, Thailand. Let’s take a look!

On the left are a few fruit and spice vendors, but mostly clothing, and on the right is the food section.

Walking along on the left, we found these large bags of spices. We are hoping that one of our Thai readers will tell us what this is!

Nothing beats fresh pineapples! We got 2!

After that, we decided to cross the street and see what was over there.

What we found was more varieties of spices and food than you can imagine.

Look at these wonderful fresh vegetables. Thailand is know for excellent cooked and raw vegetable dishes.

This woman is selling steamed local fish.

These are “snakehead” fish. You don’t want to know how bad this basket smelled.

This market has everything – including Taiwanese political t-shirts! Actually, we only saw this one, but it was totally out of place in northern Thailand.

Now, we come to the meat section. Here we see the usual pork stand offerings, including shaved ribs that have no meat on them.

And this is the beef vendor. No grill cuts, just pot fare, along with the required organ meats.

50,000 ways to burn your tongue beyond recognition!

On the way out, I noticed this small restaurant. Actually, what I noticed is the speakers for karaoke. I always thought that Taiwanese were loud people. Then I went to Thailand…. The entire time we were in the market, someone was playing ads though a PA system that must have belonged to Led Zeppelin because it was so loud my ears were hurting. No one seemed to mind at all.

All of 10 meters away though, it was back to village life as usual.

UPDATE: Hat-tip to Maddog Tim for pointing out that there is now a separate Taiwan listing!

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technorati tags:Taiwan, World66

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Taichung Fish Market on Flickr – Photo Sharing!

technorati tags:Taiwan, Taichung, fishmarket, eyes

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For years I’ve been too busy to attend Spring Scream.  I would really like to go this year, but I’m not sure if I can make it.  The dates are April 5 – 7.

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Spring Scream Double Pig 2007 ??????

If you’d like to go, please contact me through the blog!

technorati tags:Taiwan, springscream

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Photos my MJ Klein

Today we are going to feature some photos from Yangmei, Taoyuan county, Taiwan.  We’ve been to Yangmei many times of course, even so far as looking at homes there.    Yangmei is known for highrise buildings on hillsides, and good restaurants.  We had the occasion of being in the 12th floor of a building, and then driving around on our way back home.  Here are the shots:

Local residents have made this small plot of land into a productive garden.

This is the Yangmei container yard, including some nice bridge cranes.

On the way home we spotted a small temple market.

Fire burning fake money.

You should take a drive though Yangmei sometime and check out the sights.

technorati tags:Taiwan, Yangmei

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Photos by MJ Klein

Last weekend, we went on another geocache hunt with Michael Turton. This time, his wife and kids joined us. We had a really great time together, hiking the trails and hunting the Balance Rock geocache.

This is a map of the route we took. We began where it says “You Are Here” and hiked up trail #8. We came back down trail #7, so it was a nice loop with some great views.

Sylvia points out a new hospital being built in the area. You can kinda get the idea from the background that we are somewhat higher than the surrounding area, even though this is the very beginning of our hike.

The Turton’s live in an area that features many trails. This grassy section is really a nice place to walk through. On the other side are several trail heads.

Everything is well marked.

Michael is always on the lookout for critters to photograph.

I have spent years in forests in North America and Asia, and I have never met anyone who can spot insects like Michael Turton! He kept saying “see that one over there?” “Uh, no….” was my reply until took a good look. I would have missed everything that he saw without him pointing them out. Here you see what Michael does best: shooting spiders!

We walked long the trail and then came to the dreaded log steps! These steps suck! Fortunately they don’t go on for very long.

Eventually we reached the summit and saw the balancing rock. Apparently damaged in the great earthquake of 9/21, the Taiwan government put it “back” in place with an iron strap.

This is some kind of reference marker up on top of the mountain. It looks like the actual marker tag itself is missing.

I can’t show you where it is hidden, but eventually we found the geocache. Here we see Michaels’ children checking out the contents. Dan-dan is showing us what she wants to put into it: a Hello Kitty pin.

After recording our visit in the logbook, we packed the geocache back up and went back down along the other trail.

This is part of trail #7. Its a very nice walk.

Check out the views of Taichung.

On the way down, we passed these bee hives.

Not to mention, a karaoke-club-on-wheels. They were cranking out tunes at high volume while patrons drank Taiwan Beer and sang along with wireless mics. Ah….. I just love Taiwan!

technorati tags:Taiwan, Taichung, geocaching, hiking, Michael Turton

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