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Thursday, August 23, 2007

On a clear day you can see Changhua

Betel nut stand on Wu Chuan W Rd.

Sepat cleared our skies, making Wednesday a beautiful day to take pictures....

Hard at work at the famous Lai Lai Snacks on Wen Hsin Road. This chain is found all over the island and has opened branches in China now.

Until a typhoon blows in, it is possible to live in Taichung and never realize that we are bounded by towering peaks.

The sky was clear and the day was cool. Good views. Naturally.....

....I made a panorama of this spot.

On a beautiful day like today, everyone is indulging in the national sport.

Stopping at the university to drop summer grades, I took a moment to again make one of my favorite panoramas: the city of Taichung seen from the south.

Heading back into town, I collected this pan of the rivers heading to the sea from Taiping and the mountains behind.

On my way over to Chunghsing University to visit a friend, I stopped at the wholesale market downtown by the train station.

I used the panorama function to capture the northern end of the market, making this composite of three images. With so many people on the move in the market, lots of people were cut off ghostly by the seams.

Shoppers crowd a fruit stand.

Helmets are mandatory on Taiwan's streets, but not yet for vegetable sellers. Still, with all the scooters zipping through the market, it's probably not a bad idea.

I walked around the market shooting the vendors.

Taiwan's markets are always crowded...with motorcycles.

Three amigos.

Lots of vendors sell a little of everything.

Pomelos, a great favorite of our family, arriving a little early in the season.

A yam what a yam.

Cleaning the product.

Dirt lends authenticity to the product.

Vendors enjoy a laugh together.

I've never seen these before -- some kind of nut?

Although largely a fruit and vegetable market, there are a few butchers and a couple of clothing vendors.

Mother and child reunion.

The cabbages of Li Shan are famous.

The southern arms of the market.

Lots of vendors make samples to hand out to prospective customers.

I grabbed these shots from the bridge on Fuhsing Rd.

I left that market and headed over to Minyi Street, full of stalls selling clothing and trinkets. One arm of this market terminates in a traditional wet market that is accessible from Taichung Road south of the train station.

Motorcycles are common in local markets. Despite what you may here from more westernized Taiwanese, as my friend and local scholar Clyde Warden pointed out when we discussed them later that day, traditional markets remain the main food retailing channel in Taiwan, just as they still are strong in Hong Kong. One reason for this is the convenience of motorcycling in....

A shopper scans a shop.

The market.

I always wanted a geode.

An underwear retailer adjusts his stock.

In every culture, humans love to adorn themselves.....

A vendor walks through the market selling sushi.

After visiting the markets, I ran over to Chunghsing to visit my friend Clyde. One of the first universities of the postwar period, Chunghsing started as an agricultural university.

A lake on campus.

Clyde took me to the library so I could enjoy some of the views. If you're ever there on a clear day, the views from the seventh floor are fantastic.

Here's one shot from the seventh floor of the library.

Chaoyang U., my university, on slopeland above Wufeng (background).

Southern Taichung and Tali.

Same street, different angle. I did two panoramas from the library that turned out real well, I think....

This panorama shows downtown Taichung seen from the seventh floor of the library. Looking north toward the city.

On a clear day you can see Changhua.... Panorama of southern Taichung county and beyond, looking south with the central mountain range on the left. A gorgeous day.

UPDATE: My beautiful and intelligent student Joslin informed me of what the strange nuts are: 蘋婆. This website here has some beautiful pictures of the nut, known as Sterculia nobilis. Thanks, Joslin!

11 comments:

  1. nice pics as always.
    I've never seen that nut(?) either. Hopefully someone who knows will comment here.

    I took some panoramas of Taipei before the typhoon, but they really didn't turn out so good. I'm going to try to get up the mountain behind my house and take a new set tomorrow AM.

    Can I ask what settings you used for those you posted today?

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  2. what a pleasant post :) thanks for brightening up my day,
    ~ed21x

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  3. Something you never see it before is call"Ping-pong", in chinese is"蘋婆" .
    That's inside is like vitellus and taste is like chestnut.
    But the ping-pong i haven't seen before too. The information is my co-worker tells me and you can see the detail in following webside.(your student....Joslin)

    http://www.hljh.tcc.edu.tw/teach/%E6%A0%A1%E5%9C%92%E6%A4%8D%E7%89%A9/%E8%98%8B%E5%A9%86/%E8%98%8B%E5%A9%86.htm

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  4. I saw that unidentified fruit in Kaohsiung last trip. The Taiwanese name I don't remember; but the Mandarin was either identical or nearly identical to the word for "apple," pingguo.

    Everyone that walked by it asked what it was, but I didn't see many sales. Poor vendor ...

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  5. Hmmm...I shot the panoramas using the panorama function on the S5. It locks in the settings so the light is identical in every picture. Unfortunately I didn't save the originals, so I don't know the settings.

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  6. Great pics. And wasn't that weather great. I can often see the wind turbines on the coast from my place in Changhua (I'm on the eastern edge of the city near the christian hospital and universities), but this week I saw mountains to the east that I've never seen before - and I've been living in the same area for almost 5 years (only 1 week in this apartment though).

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  7. Thanks for the enjoyable walk. So different from my home.

    -M

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  8. CFImages:

    I'd love to be a featured photographer, but not the first one! Nor the second nor the third. Like maybe the thousandth. It should go to someone with real talent, like dans.photo or this guy.

    Michael

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  9. "Until a typhoon blows in, it is possible to live in Taichung and never realize that we are bounded by towering peaks."

    That reminds me of my first visit to Taichung back in 1998. For nearly two weeks I was ignorant of the fact that the city is surrounded by mountains. Then one day the smog lifted and...

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  10. Great post Michael. I gave up on the hypermarkets long ago in favour of the local markets but ended up at Carrefour last Saturday. The silly Ikea-esque setup of these monstrosities makes getting anything a long and tortuous ordeal. One thing I noticed was that people didn't seem to buying much. It seems to me that families go there for a family outing and not to do serious shopping.

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  11. Lovely images. I miss it out there.

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