Erlin 二林, Changhua County

A small hidden Confucius temple

Erlin 二林 is a small township in Changhua County, located close to Taiwan's western coast and next to Lukang and not too far from Changhua City. In case you wonder how come I ended up in this godforsaken little town, it's because my wife and I went to Lukang during Chinese New year, but all the hotels there were either booked or overpriced. So we found a home stay near Erlin. The next day we took a bus from there to Changhua City. Since we had an hour to kill, we decided walk around. I made few pictures along the way and this is what we saw. Erlin has nothing interesting to see, the life is very slow-paced here, but people are very friendly.

Historic building from Japanese times - former police station. Now in decay.

The Erlin bus station.

Easy riders.

The Erlin boulevard equivalent

They also sell HTC here.

A day market... on the street.

Baozi vendor with no business.

Mother and daughter.

A bigger day market.

Japanese colonial remains and an old Bimmer.

A temple gave us some shade.

A stray dog passing by the temple.

Almost like old Japan...

Your generic Taiwanese small town atmosphere.

The new modern Police station.

Modernity again.

Shoemaker was busy.

Waiting for the bus.

And that's how Changhua County looks like.

[MAP][My TAIWAN TRAVEL post][TAIWAN][All photos by MKL, 2012]

Continue reading>>

Chiayi Conficius Temple 嘉義孔子廟

A small hidden Confucius temple

The Chiayi Confucius Temple 嘉義孔子廟 is a small temple located in Chiayi park. It was built in 1964 and is one of the newest Confucious temples in Taiwan. There used to be another temple in Chiayi already built in 1706, but was later converted to a hospital. The current is small and simple in design, featuring clear lines and a classical Chinese architecture. Nearby you can find the Sun Shooting tower and the Kagi Shrine.

See some of my photos of Chiayi Confucius temple:

A pavilion nearby.

Rising dragon.

Image of Confucius.

The altar.

Another side.

From distance.

A Dragon-Horse? Perhaps.

[CHIAYI post][My TAIWAN TRAVEL post][TAIWAN][All photos by MKL, 2012]

Continue reading>>

The Jeremy Lin effect

Funny yet thought-provoking videos

The videos below were made by Fung Brothers and they do have a point! Although they are funny, the highlight the effect that Jeremy Lin might have on certain race relations and stereotypes driven by media, especially in America. What this means for Taiwan, has to be seen. Enjoy thesr two

Jeremy Lin effect on Asian guys as basketball buddies to blacks.

Jeremy Lin effect on Asian girls to drop white guys for Asian.

Read also: [Is Jeremy Lin Taiwanese or Chinese][Linsanity in Taiwan]

Continue reading>>

Racist Starbucks' clerk drew slanted eyes - Korea abuzz

Today I've read on The Expat's blog, that a Starbucks' in Georgia (USA) had two Koreans (from South Korea) ordering coffee. Instead of the usual practice of writing names on the cups, he draw slanted eyes (or as Americans call them "chinky eyes"). According to The Expat, the Korean netizens are currently going haywire over this racist incident (and rightfully so!), read more about this on his blog.

This photo is circulating around the Korean web.

Not to condone the action of the above mentioned clerk, we have to be clear, that there are a lot of racist incidents in South Korea as well (read: Be white, Tips to avoid being assaulted in Korea, No foreigners photo, Americans not welcome poster), so it's no time to point fingers at others. This is about one clerk's ignorance, it's not about whole Starbucks, even less so about America in general. I'm fine if bloggers use this matter for an intelligent discussion, but those who want to lash out and and counterattack with racism, are no better than the clerk.

Racist poster of a "Korean pop act" (Source: Bambizoozled).

And then we have the current Jeremy Lin craze on Twitter, that among tons of crazy comments produced the disturbing photo below. It was made by the porn actress Carmen McCarthy:

Click on photo to be redirected to Twitter.

As some of you probably know, I hate people who make fun of Asian eyes. I wonder how long will people do this annoying thing before they realize it's offensive. Her photo is also suitable for the blog I'm not racist, but...

Sheesh, people! Can you stop with gestures, that point at someone's physical appearance related to race? It's annoying. What a week!

Continue reading>>

She buffed the whole football team?

This rare gem on Formspring caught my attention:

Check out more weird questions and funny answers here.

Continue reading>>

Chiayi Tower (Sun Shooting Tower)

Chiayi's landmark

Chiayi Tower or 射日塔 is Chiayi City's landmark building. It's located in the north of the city, in the Chiayi park and on the holy soil of the Kagi Shrine. This 62m tall phallic symbol is called Sun Shooting Tower in Chinese and was placed on the exact same spot, where the former main hall of the Kagi Shine has stood. The tower was built in 1998 and features very interesting design elements (source).

The leaning tower of Chiayi.

On the top of the tower is an observatory with a small café.

My wife decided to go up there and have a look. I concurred. So we went inside, paid a small fee and took the lift. Up there it's quite interesting: Nice view with a coffee... Ooh la!

If I were a monkey, I'd climb.

Donald Duck.

View down was dizzying!

The love spiral, so deep and wet.

This is on the very top: A small garden, the most beautiful garden of Southern Taiwan.

The view over Chiayi is amazing here.

Chiayi's urban jungle.

Look to the south.

Possibly the temple of Saint Konfuczinski?

This happens, when you compare a 62m tall stump with a 378m and 509m supertall skyscrapers. According to the artist they're all the same.

The coffee looked good, taste was ok.

Observing the world at your feet.

Calligraphy

[My TAIWAN TRAVEL post][My CHIAYI post][All photos by MKL, 2012]

Continue reading>>