the end (preface)

dear readers of etc roc:
my alien residency has reached its end and i have until 6/30 to leave taiwan (tomorrow). therefore, e.t.c. r.o.c. has also reached its sweet ending. in case you are interested, the final steps of my asian fantasy entail:
1. taking a 10 hour boat from big taiwan island to far-out little taiwan island of matzu (right next to fujian province & never colonized by the japanese)
2. taking a 1.5 hour boat from matzu to fuzhou (ROC to PRC-- the changing of the visa guard!)
3. traveling in china for a month with michael long (fujian- guangdong/my ancestors' village- guilin- tiger leaping gorge- chengdu pandas- tibet- xi'an- beijing- shanghai)
4. visiting lauren trampe in south korea for a week
5. laying over in hawaii
6. repatriating via california (*LIV & RILEY* my cherished niece/zhinu and nephew/zhizi), wisconsin (mom janet & radio adam), and finally... NYC!

thank you, everyone.
feichang xie xie.

special dedication

happy dragon boat festival 2: boats, drums, and dumplings

there is another story that accompanies the dragonboat festival. this one does not have a happy ending, or a heavenly intervention, or even a smoke machine. this other story is the sad tale of a chinese statesman and poet named qu yuan who lived during china's warring states period. qu yuan was so distraught over the incorporation of his own state into a larger, stronger one, that he drowned himself in the miluo river. his fellow citizens tried to paddle to his rescue, beating the water with oars and throwing rice to divert hungry fish, but to no avail. people now hold annual dragon boat races and eat sticky rice dumplings called zongzi to commemorate qu yuan. last weekend in taipei, i joined a team of 17 foreign rowers relying on high spirits and north american girth to lead us to victory... we walked away dazed, exhausted, and enormously proud of our 4th place standing (4th of 4). sometimes finishing really is everything.













yesterday was the official duan wu jie, so i went to visit my friend may in donggang, home of taiwan's 2nd largest harbor (and october's boat-burning festival). thanks to the abruptly blazing blue sky, we had the stands to ourselves while everyone else took shelter under a tent. we watched dragon boat races for a while, noting the rowers' clever synchronization and lack of fatigue.













watching strong people row under a hot sun gets pretty tiring, so we left to eat mango ice and balance some eggs. donggang is known for its spectacular mango ice and a great gold-plated temple archway. the egg balancing is just something people say can be done at noon on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. it didn't work.

zongzi are glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves. they're stuffed with tasty items including chestnuts, pork, egg yolks, peanuts, and mushrooms, and then steamed. they can be set on a small table as an offering to the ancestors, along with incense and paper money. they can also be set on a large table and consumed in mass quantities, with a sweet, spicy sauce on top.
















eating too many zongzi and watching world cup soccer while strong people row under a hot sun can also be exhausting, so we headed to the shrimp fishing warehouse. may's husband is an avid indoor shrimp fisherman. he caught 3. he's also quite good at the claw-hand-grabber game. he grabbed 2. the guy pictured above, however, really had the best technique i've ever seen.













donggang's great big harbor means a great big gigantic fish market. you can pick up ANYTHING in any size, quantity, or state of aliveness. we opted for sashimi, shrimp, razor clams, and crabs. we could have had desalinated mullet roe (a delicacy), fish stomach, sting ray, eels, lobsters, deep fried caviar, oysters, octopus, squid, fish tail, seaweed, lobster, or pretty much anything else under the sea. to top off our seafood dinner, we had a dessert from outer space-- astronaut ice cream from NASA.

duan wu jie kuai le!
*happy dragon boat festival*

photos: dragon boat race on taipei's danshui river; blue skies & dragon boats in donggang; liang, may, guang, and may's husband; donggang's gold plated temple arch; liang blowing incense; zongzi feast; may's husband's two passions in life; giant fish eyeballs, purple crabs, and rainbow fish at donggang's fish market; guang & his marvelous grandpa; guang and liang getting acquainted with astronaut ice cream; donggang's last dragon boat race

happy dragon boat festival 1: the legend of white snake

once upon a time, on a misty precipice of Emei Shan (located in southern sichuan county, about 130 km southwest of chengdu), there lived a pair of snake goddesses. the sisters weren't satisfied with life as snakes, or as goddesses-- they aimed higher. they wanted to be GIRLS. relying on the good old-fashioned magical incantation of "presto chango," they transformed themselves into earth dwelling maidens named White Snake and Green Snake.


their first step as humans was to check out the scene at the classically beautiful West Lake of Hangzhou (southwest of shanghai on the hangzhou bay). they were not disappointed. White Snake immediately fell for a foxy scholar named Xu Xian, and her green sister helped out by magically conjuring up some matchmaking rain. the sisters promptly stole away with Xu Xian's heart and his umbrella. Xu Xian, for his part, ignored Fa Hai the Monk's sage advice to keep away from this snake-in-disguise, and married the bewitching girl of his dreams.

after the wedding, the happy couple was blissful as can be... until, that is, the day of the dragon boat festival. that day, White Snake noticed everyone on her block setting out sprigs of the traditional magic-blocking ai cao. she got herself home quick as can be, and, against her better judgment, took a healthy slug of the traditional xiong huang jiu that Xu Xian passed her way. she should have known better. the jiu made her pass out and turn right back into a snake, and Xu Xian went ahead and DIED at the sight of his wife slithering and squirming around on the floor. White Snake eventually came to, and when she did, found some special chinese medicine to revive her man. just then...










Fa Hai the Interfering Monk showed up! Fa Hai not only kidnapped Xu Xian, but summoned up a Heavenly General and his crew of Heavenly Henchgods. 5 to 1, they fought the lovesick White Snake in a turf war over poor Xu Xian. at that moment, who should appear? none other than...

yes. MICHAEL JACKSON. in all of his white gloved, moonwalking glory. the heavenly battle came to a screeching, mesmerized halt just long enough for White Snake to lock Fa Hai and the Heavenly Helpers into a pagoda and throw away the key.

White Snake and Xu Xian, of course, lived happily ever after.






photos: billy and angel on Emei Shan; justin as xu xian meets and then marries billy the snake girl; billy snake knocks back a dragonboatini; xu xian keels over; vicky as fa hai gets a little help from the heavens; the smoke machine overtakes GES; happy as MJ; our audience on the edge of their folding seats; bravo GES cast and crew! **set design by chung, costumes by alexander**

ni hao, 紐 約!

after months of big city living back in 紐 約, mike came down with a bad case of the taiwans. he just had to get back to the fruit, the heat, the xiao pengyou, the shushu, and the gugu. so one fine friday night, he landed in taipei for an adventure that would come to include fuming volcanic vents, cinematic glory, and killer monkeys.

the stinky, sulfurous, gorgeously volcanic mountains of yangmingshan were our first stop. yangmingshan national park is a city bus ride from taipei main station, and most attractive for its mountains and hot springs. we did it all: the city bus from downtown, the hike up natural gas-burping mount qixingshan (northern taiwan's tallest), and the hot springs that left my jewelry black and hair sweetly smelling of sulfur for days to come.


our next stop was yehliu village, home of the queen's head rock and other peculiar rock formations. the rocks were stunning, but even more captivating were the packs of tour bus tourists and the rock formations' names-- gorilla rock, bean curd rock, filial-piety rock, and fairy shoe rock. the wind, the sea, and the human mind are all capable of beautiful and mysterious feats.



next was gaoshu. mike loves gaoshu, and gaoshu loves him right back. this time, mike had a serious mission: to make a movie depicting the daily life of students at gaoshu elementary school. i wrote and directed, mike filmed and edited, but of course, the real stars were the kids. they delivered lines in english and chinese, brushed their teeth and took naps right on cue, and in the end made their school look like the extremely fun, child-centered, and kid-powered place that it is.



taiwan would not be taiwan without FRUIT. highlights of the season include pineapple, mango, lychee, and papaya. nearby cishan is always good for its famous banana ice, which is banana flavored ice smothered in sweet red beans and sweetened condensed milk. pictured here is mango ice from "mango's hometown," yujin-- 5 forms of mango in one very lucky bowl.

taroko gorge had been calling mike's name since he last visited. a heavy mist enhanced the intense beauty of the steep and overgrown marble walls. the rivers were thunderous, which was especially exciting when we emerged from a series of claustrophobic and interminable black, dripping tunnels and saw the baiyang waterfall high up in the hills.

by the end of his trip, mike had checked off a lot of boxes on his wishlist. taroko gorge, wax apples, scooter transit, QT with shushu and gugu, coffee with the coffee guys, and a movie about the kids of gaoshu... but no monkey mountain. fortunately, on our last hike up to gaoshu's neighboring dajin waterfall, we got to share the spray with a boulder-chucking formosan macaque high up in the trees. he threw some friendly chunks of slate towards our heads, then swung back and looked on while we got under the falls. ahh... taiwan.

photos: qixingshan @ yangmingshan; geological rock formations; yehliu curiosities; filmmaker mike; my noodle ladies; getting down in mango hometown; banana ice monkey; taroko tunnels; aw yeah jinshan; dajinleen

seoul sister

this year, my dear friend lauren trampe moved to seoul for love. the added bonus of moving to korea for love was finding yet more love just down the way in the east china sea, in the form of me. about a month ago, lauren followed her asian destiny 1000 miles south, to southern taiwan. as should be expected of girls who bonded in a catholic girls' high school, we spent our time joyriding on scooters, slurping up taiwan beer & noodles, and nursing appletinis with taiwanese soldiers and their shattered dreams (just kidding, mike & myung!). lauren is fantastic for countless reasons, among those being that she insisted on a blindfold for the blind taiwan beer taste test (blue trounced green 2-0) and she agreed to sing "take me out to the ballgame" in front of my entire school (rained out, sadly). we hope to hangul out in east asia at least won more time this year, in south korea. stay tuned.
photos: lauren & eileen ride smile; lauren, pony & eileen's windswept photo shoot

pescadora penghu

penghu is a cluster of over 100 islands that forms a natural boundary between the south and east china seas, located about 45 km west of taiwan. penghu also goes by the portuguese pescadores, for "fishermen." my friend adora bravely lives and teaches on the biggest island in the archipelago. by her account, penghu is marvelously hot, welcoming, and beachy 6 months of the year, and fiercely windy, overcast, and grim the other 6. based on half of what adora says plus the basalt rock formations, fresh ocean breezes, and proximity to snorkeling, i entertained fantasies of staying forever... or at least the duration of another contract in taiwan.


finding-my-way-in-taipei karin and i spent a weekend exploring penghu on 50 cc's, with adora and adora's delightful mom. during this time, we learned about some of penghu's trademark distinctions:

penghu's official...

*karin's first time driving a scooter*

--flower: firewheel (gaillardia pulchella)

--tree: chinese banyan

--rock formation: basalt column

--ice cream flavor: cactus or aloe (i prefer aloe)
--cake: black sugar
--stone: agate (or more appropriately, "vein stone")
--festival: fireworks (during the month of may)

--construction material: coral chunk

adora led her guests on an artful tour of her island, penghu, plus baisha and si islands. we witnessed the long and important cross-sea bridge; a giant and ancient banyan tree that could easily be confused for a small forest; a traditional island village built from coral chunks (boasting cedarwood incense and splashy almond milk); a basalt formation called "whale cave" (our favorite theory was the one that says a whale's body was thrown against the rock, thereby punching a whale-shaped hole in it); and a white sand beach.

the weather was mostly gray with occasional sprinkles, but in my final hour, the skies cleared and the sun made a guest appearance. we dashed back to the white sand beach where our friend rod showed us a good and out-of-the-way place to snorkel. the coral was heavenly and both it and the fish glowed with electric colors. rod, who was wearing gloves, demonstrated how to make puffer fish PUFF. once puffed, they roll around the water like poky little balloons... puffer fish, according to rod, are as abundant as ants in penghu. the puffer fish in these pictures are drying, filled with pieces of coral to help them hold onto that timeless puffy look.

transportation options between penghu and big taiwan island are limited to sky (30 minutes to kaohsiung) and sea (4.5 hours). i chose the boat. the tai hwa was like a super-economy cruise ship, with restaurant, mini-casino, observation deck, and little bunks to sleep in (betelnut optional). my favorite parts were the flocks (schools?) of flying fish skimming over the water like nautical swallows, and the sight of a horizontal crescent moon topped off by the bright and beautiful planet venus.

"and then i went to bed."


photos: basalt coastline, tongliang village's 300+ year old banyan, gaillardia flowers & coral walls, us & our 50 cc mickey beasts, coral-crumbly erkan traditional village, drying incense, puffer fish pokers, attractive yet foul tai hwa smokestack, moon view from the 2nd floor deck, anonymous catnap in the tai hwa massage chair