Saturday Musings

Got up this morning and decided to rest today after a week of tough biking, and wondering....

Why are there no seagulls in Taiwan? Did they all get eaten? Is it the pollution?

On May 17th, in the anti-Ma march, I got into a debate with one of the marchers. He fell in beside me and we started to talk about the state of things here, and then he said "Obama! All Obama has to do is say one sentence! Just one sentence!" He gave the thumbs up. I pointed out that (a) Whatever Obama said, it wasn't going to make Taiwan independent and (b) he wouldn't do it anyway, US Asia policy now being thrall to Beijing. Instead, I explained that the Taiwanese would have to stand up, that only the Taiwanese could create Taiwan independence. That did nothing to dent his faith. Always the invocation to outsiders -- the UN, Obama, whatever, to come save Taiwan.....

Foreigners who say annexing Taiwan to China will create peace deliberately ignore the violence that is likely to occur here if China does annex us. As Arthur Dent pointed out yesterday, the League of Nations UN reaction to the China-backed Sri Lankan violence against its Tamil civilians has chilling implications for the prospects of a Chinese takeover here.

People often talk about the staggering beauty of the mountains and the east coast and what potential there is for biking and hiking. But yesterday I biked up to Sanyi, then went over the ridge on 130, and zoomed down the other side to the west coast and 61, the Shi Bing Gong Lu. As we rolled through bright green Taiwan farming country, then down to the rice fields near the coast, and then back through Dajia city and the empty, endless rice fields along the Dajia River, my friend Ryan and I were remarking how there might also be a market for a different kind of ride through the Real Taiwan, the Taiwan of the earth god shrines and farms and factories and outre temples and roadside stands and crazed drivers. I enjoy that Taiwan very much.....

Yumaowu supermarket in Taichung makes awesome Italian-style bread. 85NT for a loaf about 70 cm long.

Greg Earl in the Australian Financial Review article about Korea's Roh and Taiwan's Chen above (click on it to go its Flickr page) gets it: it is possible to be both guilty and the victim of a political prosecution. Speaking of Chen, not a day goes by when I don't thank the KMT for detaining him -- not only driving home with each new detention the political nature of the charges against him, but also keeping him safely muzzled in jail where he cannot run around saying nonsense and dividing the DPP even more by desperately attempting to remain the center of attention.

________
Daily Links

• Ma meets with 8 Congressmen in the US
• Taiwan News with excellent piece on Taiwan's economic structural problems. Neither ECFA nor a global upturn will solve these. Don't miss their editorial on why Taiwan needs a referendum on ECFA.
• The Wild East claims the English teaching markethere has melted down. Wild East, it is not necessary to have a native speaker teach English; that is merely a Taiwanese foible.
• A couple of foreigners build mountain bike trails in Taiwan

_______________________
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!