"Foreigners" Getting a Credit Card in Taiwan
Banks in Taiwan generally refuse "foreigners" credit cards. I guess they're afraid they won't be able to recoup money (I would think this line of doubt should be extended to any customer, regardless of his or her skin color). Taiwan's constitution states in Chapter I, General Provisions, Article 5: "There shall be equality among the various racial groups in the Republic of China (Taiwan)." But it doesn't seem to have had much bearing on this issue. The card hawkers who set their tables up at the doors of Taiwan's department stores, outside theaters or even on sidewalks seem to shiver with fear when they see a "foreigner" approaching. I've discussed the absurdity of this w

Postcards from Taiwan
I received an interesting request a few weeks back from a blogger in Malaysia: "How are you doing? I’m from Malaysia. I’m a postcard collector. I’m trying to collect postcards from all over the world. I have not yet got postcard from Tuvalu. I would be grateful if you could send me a postcard from Tuvalu, and I will send you a beautiful postcard from Malaysia as a return". The sender has a blog with postcards from all over the world. I sent him one of National Taiwan Democracy Hall ( 國立台灣民主紀念館): http://kajang-postcard.blogspot.com/2009/09/taiwan-07.html

Teenagers on the Playground, No Seriously
This is the scene I've been describing in recent posts: teenagers who actually play on the playgrounds. I took this film on my cell phone a couple weeks ago in Manka's (Taiwan) Youth Park. It's all guys; the girlie voice is actually "Pig Boy", a pre-pubescent 14-year-old. There's a sign about five feet from the play apparatus clearly stating that nobody over six years old or 30 kilograms is allowed to play on the stuff. (These guys were playing tag.) The main reason it bugs me is that other parents are afraid to take their kids on the equipment.The teenagers have told me that they don't have anywhere to go, which is nonsense. Youth Park has

Bo Pi Liao Street in Manka and Its Taiwanese Ghosts
Bo Pi Liao (剝皮寮) Street, some 300 years old, has got to rank in the top ten for oldest streets in Taiwan. Once the main artery in Manka, one of Taipei's two oldest communities, the name Bo Pi Liao expresses the chip or skin-the-bark-back process that went on in lumber production a long time ago. The name is based on what what was happening in Manka construction at the turn of the 18th century, when construct