The dogs give chase

Today’s adventure came late in the day. I had been working in my room on the computer for a while and decide that it would be nice to take a bike ride. It was around 10 PM, so it had cooled down quite a bit. Everything went well for the first half, while I was on the major roads. I had just finished working on a map of the bike paths, so I thought I would try a couple out, thinking they might be well marked, and trusting in the fact that I had been studying them for about an hour. I went south out of town, then north on a road that led north, but stayed east of the town. I didn’t know exactly where I was, but I had a good idea and I could see the mountains for bearings. Then things went downhill. I wasn’t sure where I was, but I was beginning to reach the road up into the Yellow Butterfly Valley, which leads into the mountains. About that time I rode by a house and three big dogs decided to chase me. I had already had a couple encounters with dogs, but these meant business. I rode quick as I could and came out unharmed. Not only that, I could see a temple that I recognized. Unfortunately it meant I was at the base of the YB Valley, and had to turn around and run the dog gauntlet again. The next half hour or so I picked my way through a village recognizing some things, but unable to find my way out. Finally I found someone to ask directions from. Now remember, I don’t speak Chinese. I said Meinung, and he could tell I was long. He replied “Meinung something, Meinung something”, and I think he was asking if I wanted Meinung town or something else. I just stood there looking like an idiot, and tried to get him over to the less than helpful bike path map about 20 feet away. He wouldn’t budge, but used hand signals to show which direction, and that I was to turn right at the intersection. Sure enough, as soon as I turned I knew exactly where I was, about a minute away from the temple guesthouse. That is the end of late night solo bike rides for me.

Food and More Food

Yesterday started with a banquet at a local temple, where the food just kept coming. At one point the plates were stacked three high in the middle of the table. At the end they brought out bags to take stuff home, but since we don’t have a fridge, we couldn’t take any. The little ladies were circling, just waiting for us to leave. In the afternoon we had an open house to show our design proposals and get feedback from the community. After that the Next Generation (Meinung youth organization) threw an Indonesian barbeque. The food was fantastic! Some of it was standard fair, chicken, lamb, and beef, but there were also skewers of chicken intestine (a bit to chewy) and a local dish which is made from rice and duck blood. The consistency reminded me of Cream of Wheat cookies. After that a group rode out of town to an irrigation ditch where we wallowed around in about a foot and a half of water. It may sound strange, but it felt oh so good. There is silt in the bottom of the ditch, but the water itself is clean, and it is one of the few chances to immerse in cool water and stave off the heat. On the way home I got a push from one of the guys on a scooter. He rode up beside my bike and put his foot on the back fender, and I just coasted along. Beats peddling like a chump. Since it was Friday we went to the night market. At one point I was the only foreigner in the group, and even Payee (sp?) couldn’t understand everything because the others were speaking Hakka (dialect). We ate hot-pot and played a game similar to pachinko. All in all a good day.

Pigeons
We have started working more intensely on our projects, which I am not going to write much about today because it has been a frustrating process and would probably bore most of you. Instead I will write about the fascinating world of pigeon training. There are weird structures on top of buildings that look like little houses. Some of them are quiet interesting, while others look like they are about to fall apart. They are pigeon houses, and the pigeons are being trained to race. The picture shows the pigeon house next to our studio. The pigeons in the top house are the best, and they go out every day. The building below is filled with pigeons as well, but apparently they are either too young, or not trained enough to fly with the big boys.
When the pigeons are let out to fly the trainer stays on the top of the house and watches them. Sometimes they try to come back to soon, and he waves them off with a flag. The other trick is to launch bottle rockets at them, only the bottle rockets are much louder than the ones we have at home. Apparently this teaches them not to be scared off course by competitors or thunderstorms, etc. At first the sound of exploding fireworks at any time of day was unsettling, but now it doesn’t bother me. I wonder if it even registers with people who live here. When the trainer wants the birds to come in he blows a whistle and they all come back. I don’t understand how the actual racing works, but I imagine they are taken out of town and are timed how long it takes to get back to there roost. Of course that means there is no common finish line.

Kaohsiung
This weekend we went in to Kaohsiung, the big city. It is the second largest city in Taiwan, and is about an hour bus ride from Meinung. The day started out a bit rough, as we were unable to find the tourist info center. In the end it didn'’t matter because we realized that had it been where the guidebook said it was (which it was not) it was not open on Saturdays. Our quest for pizza was also problematic, and I we ended up at McDonalds. Some of you may know that I do not usually eat at McDonalds, because I think they are an evil company. For the sake of avoiding group mutiny I agreed to ignore my one man boycott, admittedly I was interested to try a sandwich made from sliced beef, with sauted onions and sticky rice cakes in place of the buns. I have to admire McDonalds for at least including menu items that acknowledge the culture. The day improved when we located a bookstore that carried English language books, and an expat restaurant with pizza. Our last stop was Holiday KTV, for a bit of karaoke. Unfortunately we missed the bus back to Meinung, so we had to take a cab. If you think cab rides are scary in New York....

This is the studio building, which is also my project. (top)
Jeff (the instructor) showing the water line from the flooding at the studio. (bottom)

Today I woke up to sunshine for the first time in about a week. Of course that means it will be hot again, but its still nice to get rid of the gloom. Yesterday was the fist day without continual rain since the typhoon, so we spent the morning cleaning out the studio. It was a wreck, and it took several people several hours to get the mud out. Still it was nice to do something active for a change. After the cleaning we worked on a preliminary proposal for our site. This morning we are presenting our proposals to each other for feedback before we meet with members of the community next week.

Typhoon Haitung has past, but the rain continues. Although we are technically no longer confined to the guesthouse, I still haven't ventured far. This afternoon I plan to ride in to town, rain or not. The important part is that the wind is gone (it's not that the wind is blowing, it's what the wind is blowing). We are supposed to start working on our projects, which means I need to get in to the studio and start building a model before the presentation on Friday. Quite frankly I am tired of being cooped up, and I'm curious to see the condition of the studio. The last group that went in said the water was only a couple inches, but as they left it was rising again. The rivers are all topped off, so any rain and run-off from the mountains causes more flooding. The weather report says the rain will continue through the week.

This is the Temple where we are staying.
Rather than writing everyone the same thing, I have decided to finally enter the blogging world, but only while traveling. I will try to avoid pontificating about politics and the like, because I’m sure the world could care less about my thoughts on Bush and the waning days of Babylon.
For those who do not know, I am in Taiwan for a summer studio until Aug 6. After that I am hoping to go to Japan for the World Expo, and I will return to the US on Aug 15th. While in Taiwan we are living in Meinung, a farming community in the south. We are working with the Meinung Peoples Association
http://mpa.ngo.org.tw/english/e-index.html
on several projects involving redevelopment, tourism, and water management. My project is a redevelopment proposal for the space we are occupying as a studio. My teammate and I are proposing a community center, with a rec center for youth, community rooms, library, and an office for the neighborhood manager or an NGO. The site used to be a tobacco grading station (tobacco was a cash crop before the WTO) but has been vacant for several years.
Last weekend was the yellow butterfly festival, and I was part of the group that led the prime minister to the stage. The picture shows the prime minister leading people in throwing flowers into the river. The previous day we walked up the river and swam around in the pools. The river is really low in the photo, but it is probably overflowing now because of all the rain. The festival was created 10 years ago to raise awareness of the butterfly habitat, which is essentially an arboretum, developed during the Japanese occupation. The trees were collected from all over Asia, so it is a really unique place. If the dam is built the valley will be filled. And if there is a big earthquake (5 faults run through the area) and the dam broke the entire valley would flood.