Firefly Season

I was amazed by the number of fireflies flashing in the HuiSun Forest Station about 10 years ago. It was nothing like being occasionally visited by a lost lighting bug in a suburban area; hundreds of thousands of little fluorescent lights shimmering in bushes at the same time making the scene a festival like a Xmas lighting show. A few years ago, I visited the DongShi Forest Area and was touched by these fallen stars dancing around in the forest and the craving for a firefly trip tickles me whenever the temperature raises. Last week, I took a vacation and paid a visit to these long-lost friends in DongShi and HuiSun Forest Areas.

There is a good bargain to be had if you reserve a room on the DongShi Forest Area's website. A cabin with 2 king-sized beds, breakfast, entrence fee and parking, Spa, tour and coupons for a meal and tea are all included in the package of an overnight trip for only NT$2,999 for 2 persons (NT$3,999 for 4 persons). The firefly tour starts at 19:00 and 20:00 daily in front of the registration building. There are 4 trails for firefly seeing in DongShi Forest Area and are well indicated with direction signs. (Map of DongShi Forest Area)

There are two trails for firefly seeing in Huisun Forest station. With red LED lights along the trails, it's easy to find your way back without a guide. Group tour is given daily at 18:50 in the parking area across the shop. Light polution from cars driving by makes Huisun forest a less enjoyable venue for firefly seeing but the beautiful formosan blue magpie makes it worth it.

The Luciola cerata Olivier is the most common species that can be seen all over Taiwan from the begining of April to the middle of May. The peak of firefly courtship is from 19:00 to 21:00. I tried to catch these horny fairies with my camera by long time exposure, luckily the moon light helped to present the depth of view by lighting up the forest a bit. Here are some tips for firefly shooting: ISO 400 or above; aperture: as big as possible; exposure: 2mins to 10mins depending on ambient lighting and ISO/aperture combination; focal length in 35mm film: 50mm or above (fluorescent lights are indistinguishable from the background when the focal length is too short (example); too much zoom-in limits the number of fireflies on screen); focus: Manual (set to infinite); flash light: off.

Venues for firefly sighting in Taiwan

View Firefly Sighting in a larger map

The Sound of Ocean

There are many drumming teams in Taiwan but I have never seen a performance like The Sound of Ocean before. The Sound of Ocean is the masterpiece of the U-theatre which contains 5 parts: Collapse, Flowing Water, Breaks, Listening to the Ocean Heart and The Sound of Ocean. Each part was connected with sounds of drum, gong or singing and instruments for each part were placed in position during these interludes insensibly. Stories of rain drops gather into a stream , a river flowing to the ocean were told by sounds of drums whereas waves of the ocean were presented with the engulfing sounds of gongs. Performers integrate martial art into their performance as dance/movement and stillness of meditation, making The Sound of Ocean a feast of both sound and vision.

See for yourself: A clip posted on Youtube by slave2fashiondolls


Photos taken in Tainan on Apr. 22

The U-Theatre itinerary 2008

The U-Theatre traveled on foot through 25 western Taiwan townships in 1996 and through 35 mountain districts in eastern Taiwan in 1997. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the U-Theatre is embarking on a round trip throughout Taiwan on foot this year to share its glories to people who live on the same land through the sound of their heavenly drums.

The trip is divided into 3 routes; starting at 6:00 every morning, 100 townships will be visited in 50 days. The first route started in Taipei on March 23rd, stopping by Yilan, Hualien, and will be ended in Taitung on April 13th. The journey continues on April 14th in Pingtung stopping by Kaohsiung, Tainan, Chiayi and stops in Yunlin on April 28th. The 3rd route starts in Changhua on April 29th, stopping by Nantou, Taichung, Miaoli, Hsinchu, Taoyuan and back to Taipei on May 11th. It is still possbile to join the 2nd and the 3th routes by registering before March 31 and April 15 respectively. Contact 02-2938-8188 for detail.

30 performances will be given for free in this 1200km journey except for shows performed on March 23 and May 1. Performances mostly start at 19:00 and locations are labeled on the google map below. The masterpiece, the sound of ocean, will be performed in Kaohsiung on April 19th.

U-Theatre’s performance of “The Sound of Ocean” earned the Best of Show award at the Festival d’Avignon in 1998 and, in 2000, U-Theatre accepted the “Audience Choice” award at the Biennale de la Danse in Lyon. Performances at the Berlin Art Festival Amphitheatre of “The Sound of Ocean” during August 2003 overwhelmed Berlin theatre-goers. One article proclaimed “The Sound of Ocean” the “preeminent performance of the week in Berlin theatre.”U-Theatre’s 2002 work, “Meeting with Vajrasattva,” earned first prize in the performing arts category in the first annual “Taishin Art Awards”. In naming U-Theatre as their top choice, the judges noted that the group, “beautifully expressed tranquility within movement and movement within tranquility in the confines of a performance stage.” U-Theatre has achieved a unique melding of visual, audio, and performance into one outstanding form of performance art.

The Orange House

I got an email inviting me to exhibit my photos in a restaurant in Kaohsiung, so I stopped by the restaurant and talked to the owner, Marcus, about the exhibition.

According to Marcus, he started his first restaurant years ago in a basement of a hostel in Kaohsiung. The color of the walls were orange and why he named the restaurant the orange house. A few months ago, he relocated the restaurant to its current address, 121 Shihcyuan 2nd Rd, and painted the walls orange. Knowing his family originated from Holland, it makes perfect sense to me all the sudden that the appeal of orange to Marcus, even though he is a Canadian.

Not only a restaurant, the orange house is also an interesting combination of a hostel and a Dojo for Aikido, Yoga and Kung-Fu. The ambitious man blends his interest in Aikido into his businesses; a strategy of attracting people who have different interests to the same place.

The lighting and setting in the room makes the orange house a cozy restaurant. A fireplace DVD playing in one corner creates an illusion of warmth in the room. Black paper bands running across the center of the glass doors add a degree of mystery to the atmosphere by partially obstructing views; allowing those inside to be somewhat isolated from pedestrian distractions as only legs and feet are visible and conversly drawing the eye of passersby from the outside, a curiously inviting sense.

One thing I like the most about the restaurant is that the atmosphere changes everytime the theme of art exhibition changes. Currently, photos of my Mysterious and Mighty Street Dancer series are exhibited (photos below).

For more information, check on the restaurant website.

2008 Lantern Festival

The 2008 Lantern Festival is held in Tainan County (Solar City, Southern Taiwan Science Park) from Feb. 21 to Mar. 2. To accommodate the enormous daily flood of visitors from all over Taiwan, the Taiwan Railways Administration even built a temporary station (NanKe station, located between the Shanhua and the SinShih stations) next to the venue. Passengers can buy tickets for any non-express trains to Shanhua (South bound) or Sinshih (North bound) and get out of the trains at the next stop.

The theme lantern of this year is "Good Fortune in the Year of the Mouse" and the secondary themes are Heavenly Descent of the Kylin, Striving Towards a Distant Goal, Nine Carps Forming a Dragon, and One Hundred Birds Attending the Phoenix. For more information, click on the following link: http://taiwan.net.tw/2008TaiwanLantern/abouten.html

Chi Wei Mountain

On sunny days, the white pavillion sitting at the very top of Chi Wei Mountain lures me every time I drive by, being the only man made structure on the mountain chain surrounding this valley, it sits like a crowning jewel, attrating all eyes to it, despite that, I've never had the courage to climb the mountain alone.

The pavillion looks like a miniature of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, A.K.A. the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall, standing on top of the mountain overlooking the stretching mountains and towns of Chi-Shan and Meinong. On cloudy days, parts of the pavillion are veiled in mist of ever changing perspectives.

The first day of the 2008 lunar new year, I made my pilgrimage to the mountain from the west side entrance which takes about 40min to reach the pavillion. The track starts with an easy winding road that is paved with concrete. A gate that was installed to keep goats from messing up the mountain separates the concrete road designed for warming up for the challenge--941 steep steps that leads to the pavillion. Big gaps between the steps, tilted and crumbled, and a stiff wind coming from nowhere made the last 1/3 of the track the hardest part of the trek. Views from the pavillion were stupendous: a skyline of stretching mountains from the northeast; Meinong valley from the southeast and Chi Shan township from the northwest, provides a 360 degree panorama. Even the mighty wind couldn't be a match for the fortification and softened into a light breeze. That was the perfect start for the very first day of the 2008 lunar new year.

Chi Wei Mountain belongs to the Yushan mountain group. From a distance, the shape of the mountain looks like an ancient flag flying in the wind, so it was named “Flag Tip Mountain.”

Starting from either the east or the west side entrance, a visitor can walk up for about 40 minutes and reach the pavilion at the west end of the mountain. From there, one can embrace views of the Central Mountains all around you, and if the weather is good, the Taiwan Strait and an 85-floor skyscraper in Kaoshiung City may also be visible.

Two new entrances have been opened recently; they also lead to the pavilion and continue further to Lei Yin Temple. It takes about 3 hours to finish the trip.

http://www.maolin-nsa.gov.tw/maolin/content.php?L2_CODE=0009691&lang=en

Office Jungle

Based on the studies of animal behaviour, an article published in the New Scientist Carriers Guide, It's a jungle out there..., has concluded that the office and the jungle are suprisingly similar in certain ways: both are ruled by stringent hierarchies; they are grounded in the need for cooperation; and complicated by the drive to compete. Add in the risk of hostile takeovers, a marketplace of favours and favorites, branzen social opportunism and a long-held tradition of brown-nosing; the office is a brutal battlefield and in order to survive, one should adapt 6 rules from the wild.

Teamwork Pays
Altruistic behaviour can be used as an investment- It's a business strategy. However, there is a dilemma: you do want to be at the top of your corporation, but it has competitors. If you don't get your act together within the company, it's going to go under.

Be nice, and show it!
Being seen to be good at cooperation appears to be just as important as the act itself. So buying a round of drinks for your colleagues might be more important than you think: it shows you are willing to pitch in for the group. Still, you will be judged for your cooperation skills on the job though.

Sucking up can pay
Brown-nosing in the corperate world might seem despicable, but keeping yourself in good grace with the executive set can be useful -they are part of the team too.

Be a good boss
Never knowing when or why your boss is going to explode is a strong incentive to always stay in line. But though this behaviour might bring you supreme power, excessive boorishness carries its own problems. Being a good boss is a careful balancing act of control, leadership and motivation. Keep briefcase throwing to a minimun. Because unlike monkeys, workers can quit.

Kiss and make up
Conflict resolution is more likely to occur in close relationships, between highly cooperative relatives or members of coalitions. It is vital to repair critical working relationships. Studies on primates show reconciliation reduces stress and decresses the chances of subsequent flare-ups.

Play fair
Don't take undue credit for jobs done collectively, or people will likely stop wanting to work with you.

Despite the fact that the 6 rules mentioned in the article are cliche, the idea of learning from the jungle is quite interesting and maybe it's the first/only article that confers scientific basis on these rules. In reality, however, the office rule 101: Boss is always right, should be followed and practiced upon any other rules in most scenarios. An open letter from a boss to his employees published in a very famous business magazine in Taiwan mentioned that the boss isn't always right, and it's the employees' obligation to remind their boss before projects have been implemented and there're no turning back. It's a very straight forward idea yet it takes a CEO from the top 5 businesses in Taiwan to preach to his employees and got published in the business magazine. The truth is not every boss can stand correction and the risk is not something every employee is willing to take. It's a jungle out there, feast or be the feast.

Struggling, Taiwan managed to be one of the little 4 dragons in East Asia. We also created lots of spoiled bosses in the process. A common phenomenon in Taiwan is that most people can't(or won't) take all of his/her given vacation. An unspoken consensus in the office in Taiwan is that only dispensable people can leave their works for over a few weeks and are never short of supply as replacements. The idea has become rooted in the minds of both bosses and employees making vacation requests an art form.