Ma has admitted to having a green card during his time as a student in the US, but said it was automatically invalidated in 1985 when he applied for a visa to travel to the US. Hsieh maintains that Ma's green card is still valid, arguing that the KMT presidential candidate has not completed an I-407 form to relinquish his permanent residency or had the green card invalidated by a US immigration court.If he can prove that his green card has been invalidated, the current president of the Republic of China, Chen Shuibian has threatened to resign. That's just silly. Don't they have real issues to attack each other on, rather than technicalities of the laws of a different country? I guess the US is equally silly, but Taiwanese elections just seem absurd to me... Full story :Taipei Times - archives
Today in Taipei, the head of the KMT said that he might kill himself if Ma Yingjiu loses the upcoming election. Is this ridiculous or what? Sometimes I wonder if people will take him seriously, but then I remember that, when it comes to Taiwan politics, one shouldn't ever be surprised.
Earlier this year, one politician threatened to jump into the sea if his party failed to win any seats in Taipei. They didn't win any, and he jumped into the sea and apparently survived. Quelle drama!
KMT lawmaker threatens suicide if Ma loses presidential election - The China Post
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- A Taiwanese opposition lawmaker said Friday he will consider suicide if party presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou loses the presidential election on March 22. Alex Fai of the opposition Nationalists said he felt extremely sad about the controversy surrounding an opposition invasion into the Taipei headquarters of Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh on Wednesday. If the incident costs Ma his presidential victory, Fai said, "I will not exclude the possibility of ending my own life." Ma enjoys a 6-8 point lead in opinion polls.
I walk a mile with a smile.
I don't know I don't care where I am,
But I know it's all right.
Jump the tracks, can't get back.
I don't know anyone round here,
But I'm safe this time.
I very much miss my good friend Chen. Everytime I see him in Taiwan, we get along famously and laugh like idiots. Plus, he reminds me a lot of myself, actually. And he's a bit weird. Last time I stayed with his family, he repacked my suitcase because my dirty clothes "were too messy"... or something like that... While looking for a shot of the time that Coco Lee checked me out on the street, I came across this photo I took of him and his sister ascending the staircase in the pedestrian tunnel underneath Zhongxiao West Road right near Taipei Train Station. I was about to say goodbye to them for the foreseeable future and we were all quite sad (but full, after eating duck for lunch).
Flying out of Taiwan Taoyuan International Aiport for Hong Kong...
The old Terminal One, captured in a wide-angle lens. It's modelled after Dulles International Airport in DC.
Good Morning, China Airlines! Lots of big planes ready for a busy day of flying...I love airports in the morning. The light is great and there's this newness in the air...
My reflection in the airshow display, showing me clearly over the Taiwan strait.
Flying through a typhoon, we were at 38,000 feet and still in clouds. It was crazy, and bumpy.
But I still got my "Oriental" vegetarian meal [1]
[1] I'm not a vegetarian, but I think meat doesn't travel well on airplanes, especially long-haul flights. It just gets gross at the end. I'll soon blog my encounters with duck on an airplane flight. Yuck.
Some random photos I took around Tainan.
Not paying enough train fare, due to a mistake I made, I needed to make a fare adjustment
This sign rocks.
Have you had your morning boob cow?
This one's actually Taoyuan, but no one needs to know that. :-P
I had a dream about this mall in Gaoxiong (Kaohsiung). I also had a dream I got my university diploma delivered to my house, but it was wrapped in plastic, like a newspaper and I found it on my front lawn. needless to say, it was the best dream I've had all year. The feeling I had when I woke up was crushing.
I visited my good friend Nick in the dinky (100,000 pop) town of Gangshan. It's a small town by Taiwan standards (only 10 7-11s!). It's always nice to visit him, as he always has an interesting place to show me. This time, we went over the mountains east of Gangshan to this mud volcano, then to a small hakka town. It was really hot and humid, but on top of the mountain, it was lovely and cool.
On the way back, we stopped at a small temple where the guy only spoke Japanese and Taiwanese. He was pretty surprised to see me, speaking to him in Mandarin. I ended up lighting some incense in the temple and I got a really mediocore fortune (it said that travelling would be bad luck).
We went to Gaoxiong (Kaohsiung) twice in the evenings. It's a city I totally don't understand. I think part of it is that the locals use Taiwanese. When I speak to them in Mandarin, the respond in Taiwanese. I'm not sure if they think that one through, though. I can't speak Taiwanese, so if you speak to me in it, I only get a little bit of the meaning. It's kind of crazy.
I went through 1 1/2 typhoons down south... it was a bit rainy and annoying, but the weather was fascinating. Plus, I got my wish of getting to go through typhoons again. Dumb wish on my part, eh? Eventually, I headed north, and got wet from another typhoon... then flew through that typhoon... and got wet from that one when I was in Hong Kong. :-( Tough.
In a break between typhoons, I found this sign:
"WOW" Means when you see
designers' ideas about "wow"
you will say "wow"!!
All the products are designed by
street artist eho come frome
Taiwan. They love to show their
inspiration by graffiti. The style of
their products is colorful and fecund.
Watch out!! "Wow" Get You!!
I had to look up fecund. Apparently, I thought it meant the exact opposite of its true definition.
I'm in Taipei presently and aside from the heat and humidity, I'm enjoying myself quite a bit right now. I'm staying with my really good friend Matt in Shilin, he's got copious amounts of A/C and great company. I had forgotten what an awesome friend he is. I'm in and around Taiwan until the 10th of August.
Travelling to Xi'an was a bit of a disaster. I will write on it more later, but it was fairly frustrating in all. I've decided that I need to change my plans to return to Beijing 24 hours earlier in order to give myself enough time to avoid delays, as every time I've travelled in the PRC, I've been 3+ hours late. Ugh.
Everyone loves the area around Honglou in the Ximen part of Taipei. Especially us gays. It's really nice and fun... and guess what? The Taipei Times wrote an article about it.
I loved photographing it.
