TheNHBushman.com

Or, “Don’t Bother Me, I’m Eating!”

I probably wouldn’t be writing this article if it weren’t for Fili, who has 2 excellent articles this week on a similar subject. I suggest that you read those articles to get some background information and another viewpoint.

A few days ago Hui-chen and I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie at the Hsinchu Vieshow theater complex. The theater is in a mall and there are some good places to eat before the movie, and that is just what we did. Enjoying my lunch at the excellent Wasabi restaurant, I was surprised to look up and find a woman standing way too close to me, with that dumb smile on her face that only a local person can give to a person they perceive to be a “foreigner” when they are “admiring” them. If you are not native born and spend any time in Taiwan, you know exactly what I mean. A pandering, condescending smile that is akin to “Awww, isn’t it cute?” that just frosts my ass.

I’ve lived in Taiwan long enough that my personal Chinese conversational skills are sufficient to handle just such occasions.

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Photos by MJ Klein and Hui-chen – ATTENTION: FOOD PHOTOS!

This series is a bit out of order.  It doesn’t really matter because we did write about some things just as they occurred, such as our 2 trips to Cabela’s.  So, to set the timeline straight, now would be when we went on the road trip up to West (by God) Virginia and to Cabela’s.

After we returned to North Carolina, Hui-chen and I relaxed for awhile before my brother John arrived from Florida.  Hui-chen decided to make some more Taiwanese style food, since we were really missing home.

This is Hui-chen’s famous stew, with pork and vegetables.  It’s as good as it looks and even better!

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Forecast Position Update and Satellite Photo:

A dangerous typhoon is approaching Taiwan. From the looks of things, it will sneak around the west side and hit our most populous areas – with no protection from the mountains!

Bushman’s Typhoon Blog: Typhoon FENGSHEN (FRANK) now over Metro Manila-Bulacan [Update #007]

+ FORECAST OUTLOOK: FENGSHEN is expected to pass over Bulacan around 8-9 AM
this morning before moving into Angeles-Pampanga area on or before noontime
today. It shall be over Zambales this afternoon.

The sudden Northerly turn of Fengshen was due to the long-awaited weakening
of the high pressure steering ridge located over Taiwan which was supposed
to weaken yesterday..and the development of a peripheral steering ridge
southeast of Fengshen or just to the east of Mindanao.

Above is a chart predicting the probabilities (in percent) that Typhoon FENGSHEN will pass within 120 km of Taiwan area during the 72 hours starting at 2008/06/22 18 UTC.

Please take the necessary precautionary measures!

I discontinued the forum due to lack of participation.  I want to thank the ones who did frequent the forum and who did contribute.  It was largely an experiment to see if comments would be extended there or not.  It was fun while it lasted but now is not the time.

The link for the forum has been replaced with a link called “Video.”  This new page features our high-resolution videos that are hosted on Vimeo.  Enjoy!

We spend months under cloud cover, winds, humidity and cool temperatures only to be thrust into the middle of a heat wave! Yup, that’s Taiwan for you! How do you deal with the heat?

The sun in Taiwan can burn you to a crisp. I’ve never seen anything like it. Even 6 degrees off the equator in Malaysian Borneo wasn’t as intense. Readers of this blog know what we’ve been in Thailand many times and yes, that place is hot! But there is something very deceptive about the sun in Taiwan. It seems like you are OK walking around and suddenly, you feel sick to your stomach – a sign of sun poisoning.

Fortunately there are things that you can do to beat the heat!

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I cannot tell you how many times I have seen people walking the streets of Taiwan while casually unloading a piece of trash right on the street – without so much as a single thought about it. I’ve even stopped people to ask them to pick up the trash they just threw, and they responded as if I’m a crazy person. Who would even think of putting a piece of trash in their pocket or holding it in their hand until a proper place to dispose of it could be found? Just about no one….

Restaurants like Shao-hui’s may have individual trash cans at each table

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Photos by MJ Klein

“Getting there is half the fun” as they say, but I for one am not so enamored with air travel. As much as Hui-chen and I have traveled, and as much as we do enjoy going to other countries and experiencing different cultures, the actual flights are long and boring. One good factor in favor of going Northwest to the US from Taiwan is that I get to see Kansai, my favorite airport in the world.

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