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Photos by MJ Klein

Hui-chen and I were in Nantou and we basically stumbled upon the 921 Memorial Park in Mingjian. Actually it’s not exactly named that, but that is precisely what it is - a park dedicated to the memory of the 921 earthquake. 2,416 lives were lost in the 7.3 magnitude quake that occurred at 01:47 local time. That’s after midnight, folks. I’ve been in quite a few earthquakes, and some of them big enough to be frightening but can you imagine being awakened by a huge earthquake in the middle of the night? Surely the high numbers of people lost were due to the fact that they were home in bed when their building collapsed.

The 921 earthquake has special meaning for me. I first traveled to Taiwan in April of 2000. I visited some sites in Taichung, at the northern end of the fault line and personally saw the destruction and also some of the repair efforts underway. I will never forget looking at a landslide while someone told me that there were several hundred people still unaccounted for, and they were presumed to be buried under the landslide.

This photo is of what is called (in English) the Tilting Electric Tower. It’s a fitting memorial to the earthquake and demonstrates the extend of the damage. This tower is the centerpiece of the park, and I took a short walking tour of the park with the specific goal of reporting on it. So please join me as I take you thorough the park and we get a closer look at it’s features. But first, I want to show you some historical photos I took in 2000.

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Photos by MJ Klein

With this gorgeous weather, I was up on the roof grilling my dinner last night. Of course, I had my Nikon with me.

We see gorgeous sunsets like this all the time, but the view is always ruined by wires.

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Photos by MJ Klein

I was exactly one year ago today that I took this famous photograph:

I think it’s safe for me to say that I do not accept the results of the official investigation: “pilot error.” In every photograph where the position of the rudder is able to be determined, it is in the same position: “left.”

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Photos by Huang Shao Mao, Hui-chen and MJ Klein

This article has it all - music, drinking, food, and babes!

Introduction

I am producing the Fong band’s new recording sessions. This is the first production gig I’ve had in Taiwan, and I hope to get more. I’ve really missed producing and it felt great to get back into the studio, although these days “the studio” is a lot different from the 2″ analog tape and huge mixing consoles I’m used to.

In the past, given my considerable experience, I sometimes have performed on records that I’ve produced. This is nothing unusual, and in the case of the Fong band sessions, I played the backing guitar parts, mainly because it would be faster and much more consistient. It remains to be seen whether either of the two guitar players will add some parts to the recording, but at this writing, I personally played all the guitar parts. Needless to say, I won’t be doing any singing on these records because the songs are in the Thai language. I’m sure that I could learn the phonetic pronunciation and fake it but there isn’t any need for me to do so. These guys can sing quite well and we used 3 of them in a “gang vocal” configuration that you’ll see later (with photos taken from video stills).

So I hope you enjoy this article about what we did over the weekend. I enjoyed doing all these things for sure!

Bryan Chen, owner and engineer of Wellrick Studio

It was a weekend full of music and fun. It all started out on Friday (which was a holiday here in Taiwan). First, it was guitars, guitars, Burns and VOX mayhem and more guitars!

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Food Photos by MJ Klein

I know it’s been awhile since we showed you any homestyle Taiwanese cooking. So, we’re going to make up for that right now! Hui-chen’s sister Hui-ling and her son were visiting. The sisters decided to do some cooking, so they made a ton of dumplings, including wontons.

Without any further delay, let’s get right into the photos!

This is the base meat, consisting of ground pork and spices.

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Photos by MJ Klein

On our little trip to Wulai, we’ve seen that there is a lot more to the place than simply the waterfall for which it is famous. Wulai has hot springs, a river that is used for bathing, a downtown shopping area and an historical passenger railroad, in addition to the waterfall. Also many people don’t realize that you can see several other waterfalls within a few kilometers of Wulai. There are some excellent trails in the area for hiking.

We’re going to take a look at a few things on the way down to the waterfall. One of them is another shot of what’s been called “the cutest little train” the Log Cart.

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Hui-chen and I decided to go out for some Western style food last night.  We like steak and in nearby Jhubei is the Outback.  We’ve blogged on it before and we’re convinced that this will be the last time, unless they seriously upgrade their menu and service.

First, I ordered their “jacked potato” which is a stuff baked potato.  10 minutes later I was told that they were out of all potato items except “chips” (french fries).  He asked me what I wanted.

“I want you to go out and buy some fucking potatoes!” was my literal response.  I was pissed mostly because it wouldn’t occur to the waitstaff to check with the kitchen first so they can rely that information to the customers as they are ordering.  When he asked me what other stuff I wanted instead I told him I didn’t care (in Chinese).  Also, in Taiwan, restaurants are always going out and getting more stuff from the local grocery store.  I guess it was just too much to ask for them to have what I want, get what I want, or tell me when I’m ordering that they don’t have what I want.

The really weird part is that all of their boned steak items are gone.  You cannot get a T-bone or a Porterhouse steak at Outback.  This is stupid!  A butcher told me that Taiwan cannot import steak from the US with bone.  OK, so give me a choice!  I’ll take an Australian T-bone or Porterhouse steak over a NY strip any day of the week. Out of desperation, Hui-chen and I ordered prime rib. OMG, that was an exercise in diplomacy in itself.  You can’t get the grilled prime rib medium rare because the base roasting is medium.  We spent almost 10 minutes in 2 languages to finally figure out what combination of crap we needed to order so we could get a couple of decent medium rare steaks.  I was ready to go to My Home Steak and get some shitty T-bone fried on an iron plate and buried with pepper sauce, like our Monday night market.

What arrived on my plate was a quivering mass of fatty flesh that looked so awful, I shall spare you any photographic evidence.

Next time we’ll blog on Ruth’s Chris in Kaohsiung!

Photos by MJ Klein

In Part I, we took a look at the beautiful waters of Wulai, and the downtown tourist and shopping area.  History buffs will know that Wulai has it’s own narrow-gauge rail system, known at the Log Cart.  Please click on the above photo to open a larger size for reading.

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Photos by MJ Klein

Hui-chen and I took a little sight-seeing trip to Wulai after our return from China recently.  If you haven’t been there in awhile, you should take a visit and see for yourself, what a lovely place Wulai really is.

Besides the famous waterfall, Wulai is known for these emerald green waters (and wires!).  These photos are un-processed and the colors are just how the Nikon D80 photographed them.

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Photos by MJ Klein

Part of the Taiwan Mini Parks Series

Hui-chen and I were driving along the mountain ridge in Hsinpu near our home when we ran across a new park being built.

View of gun boat turrets from the road

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