After a lovely piano concert at the Taipei National Concert Hall, we emerged onto the plaza to find the Taimei Tribe elementary school rehearsing for their concert the following day.  The evening air was gentle and the subdued atmosphere perfect as they performed this Taimei traditional wedding song.  My iphone recording skills are horrible, but I think that their beautiful voices more than make up for it.

Hi friends! I'm excited to present Formosa Sketches, a project that I've been talking about starting for quite some time now. Follow me as I draw and write about Taiwan, via Tumblr at http://formosasketches.tumblr.com or via Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/formosasketches.

I'm (finally) slowly but steadily wading my way through the backlog of photographs.  These are from back in May, when my cousins took me to Sanxia District to walk the famous (and very touristy) Minquan Old Street.

Built during the Japanese occupation, the street is lined with beautiful brick archways, typical of Japanese colonial architecture in Taiwan.

My little nephew had just knocked out his front tooth by a bad fall the previous day, and was not in a very happy mood.  All is momentarily forgotten, though, when ice cream is present.

Walking out of the main street and towards the Zushi Temple, passing by stall after stalls selling croissants and pig's blood cake.

We lazed on the sunny bridge for a good hour or so, watching the spintop man do his spintop throwing tricks -- a real performance complete with rope, fire and balloons.  It was a perfect afternoon.

the brutal summer has finally passed, and it seems that overnight, all the golden rain trees on DunHua NanRoad erupted in bloom.  it brought a huge smile to my face on my way to work.

the yellow flowers are in perfect harmony with the yellow cabs and the yellow construction barriers.

the golden rain tree, or "flame goldrain tree" as this sign declares, is native to Taiwan (hence "formosana" in its latin name).  eventually, the yellow blossoms will turn purple, then dark red.  i've never seen it used so effectively as a street tree.  the passersby must have been amused seeing me taking photos after photos on my iphone.

Dun Hua Nan Road is one of my favourite boulevards in Taipei.  The right-of-way is wide enough to accommodate not one, but two of these linear parks in between the one-way roads.  Though not very practical for pedestrians who are trying to get from place A to B, these parks are perfect for those seeking a little solitude in the middle of one of the city's busiest financial cores.  Lately I've begun to take afternoon strolls here when I need a break from the office.

the view from my office window.  Fall, my favourite season, is here at last, thank goodness.

one thing about working late at the office and getting home past midnight here in Taipei: you get to know the local 7-11 fast food choices really, really well.

Taiwanese onigiris totally beat Japanese ones.  Just look at the flavours: Korean bugogi? ja yi chicken rice? double fillings of black pepper tuna and American lobster? I don't think I've really ever enjoyed onigiris until I discovered these.

this one particularly amuses me: a Korean style maki roll, packaged in Japanese and sold in Taiwan.  Yup, that's pretty normal over here.

so, what they say about asian work culture is true.  basically, "work = life" sums it up quite nicely.  between meeting deadlines and site visits to China, finding the time to do the laundry and take out the garbage has been challenging.  now that i'm finally feeling more settled in, i've resolved to get back into blogging.  i'm already losing much of the fresh first impressions of becoming Taiwanese that i most wanted to capture!  so, here is my vow: i will blog at least twice a week, on wednesdays and sundays, because those are the nights without any garbage collection.  (garbage collection...ah, i'll post about that another time.) 

above are some photos from Jiu Fen (九份), where i took my friend Peter on his quick visit to taipei.  (it was a good while ago, as you can tell by the long-sleeves; right now taipei is 36 degrees celcius!)  i really do love it there, even if it is overcrowded with tourists all days of the year.  it used to be a mining town, and all the small alleyways winding up the mountain are so picturesque they make me itch to sketch.  i must make a sketching trip back there by myself before i leave taiwan.

(posting some sketches that i've finally gotten around to scanning.  and i shall be resurfacing and writing about taipei adventures.  soon.)

On the flight over from Toronto to Taipei, I stayed up to watch a Japanese film called "Hanamizuki", purely because I felt like I've heard of it somewhere before.  I realized halfway through the film that the story was based on a quite lovely song of the same name by Hitoto Yo, the ultra-talented Taiwanese-Japanese singer and songwriter.  (This above version is a duet that she did with Tokunaga Hideaki, another legend in the Japanese pop-music scene.)

Coincidentally, I watched a film starring Hitoto Yo about half a year ago -- "Cafe Lumiere", one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen.

That night, after watching "Cafe Lumiere", I wrote in my journal: "I have a sudden urge to go traveling through Taiwan, and drawing and documenting all the every-day, common things in my native country... like the scooters whizzing by rice fields... like the stickiness in the air in the brilliant light of the night markets... like the humming and rhythmic clatters of the prayer triangles and hymns at a temple... I want to capture it all, and write, and show off my homeland." 

(Not that the movie was about Taiwan.  Well...maybe a little.  But mainly, undoubtedly, the movie is about Tokyo.)

"Hanamizuki" wasn't quite as arresting as "Cafe Lumiere", though a not badly filmed love story and very typically Japanese.  Twenty-four hours later in Taipei, though, I am listening to the song again nonstop, and I can hear Hitoto Yo saying, "Hey sister, you're back in Taiwan now, aren't ya?  Well, this can be your new theme song.  I'll be waiting for you in Japan next.  Good luck!"

Greater Taipei area, as seen from Mao Kong, with Taipei 101 visible in the background

I've not yet finished posting about my last trip to Taiwan (I've since been home in Toronto), and now I will be ahead of myself -- I have accepted a job offer from Taipei, and will be flying back there tomorrow evening.  Back to the city where I was born, and where I spent the first seven years of my life!

I'm a tad nervous about the challenges ahead, and sad to leave my friends and family here in Toronto; mostly, however, I'm extremely excited to be beginning a new adventure, and to rediscover my own culture that has become so alienated from my adult self.

As a friend wisely told me recently -- when we are feeling challenged, we are actually growing.  When we cease to be challenged, we cease to grow.  (And if we cease to grow, we eventually wither away.  And if we wither away...)

No trip to taiwan is complete without a visit to the night market.

I shot this video in Jee Long Night Market, one of the many night markets that I got to visit during my one week in Taipei.  I think I visited about six in all.  Boy, was my appetite thoroughly satisfied on this trip.

Hot red bean + taro balls soup at the side stall (it is winter in Taiwan after all).

Stinky tofu, a Taiwanese street food MUST.  So good and stinky.

This booth had huge lineup, and my brother darted into line immediately.  They were making black-pepper buns, baked in a clay well.  A bit salty, but so good when devoured in the rain.

Taiwanese clam omelet -- my favourite

You choose what you want, and they fry it for you.  Taro, chicken, tofu, squash, oyster mushrooms, tofu cutlets, fish sticks...

Giant, old-fashioned, just-cooked mochi hot out of the stove, dipped in black sesame and peanut powder.  Heaven on a dish.