Tall Tales From A Short Canadian

Bonjour,

Below is a picture of Nic and I on a street in Taipei. Can you see it? No, not my smart new hat… the ROCK on Nic’s finger! She wanted something a bit unconventional, so I picked her a shiny blue sapphire. And I dropped the big question after I presented the ring at the Ring. It’s a long story. Anyway, we’re engaged to get married, and I’ll keep you all posted on the date and whereabouts, but in the meantime, enjoy the photos, and if you hang in till the end, I’ll describe the wonderful engagement surprise–er, sort of–in more detail and with pictures at the end of this entry.

OUR TRIP TO TAIPEI

Let’s begin.

Above, the first thing I saw after I exited the airport bus. I was firing shots with my camera before I even smelled Taiwanese air.

Above, the gates of the C.K. Memorial. I think it was built to honour Taiwan’s first… important… guy…?

The crowd above was centered around some hunger strikers. The majority of Taiwanese people want the current Taiwanese leader to step down. I’d elaborate, but I cannot.

She’s not French, but Dutch. And Hot. And engaged…

The memorial structure itself, above. There was a big statue of the important guy inside.

We saw all of this within an hour of getting off the bus, so eager were we to see all of Taipei’s main attractions during our short 3 day visit.

Later that same day, Sandra accompanied us to Taipei 101, which is presently the tallest building in the world. Below, you can see two photos of it, and one more taken from the 89th floor.

The next day Nicole, Sandra (both seen below), and myself visited the National Palace Museum. It houses the largest collection of Chinese artifacts in the world, featuring stuff like vessels from the Bronze era, jade swords, and Ming Dynasty ceramics. They also had a book section, which contained many ancient and important texts, including very old and beautiful hand-rendered-and-bound editions of important Buddhist sutras: the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra.

This poor guy had to wade around with the carp and collect garbage. Nicole felt that he had a zen-like demeanor and a happy rapport with the fish, however.

This weirdo (seen above) kept getting in all of my pictures!

The picture above does a little to illustrate the transportation reality of Taipei, which was buzzing full of scooters that often carried entire families harrowingly through dangerous intersections at obnoxious speeds. But, alas, being tied up at the tourist destinations, I failed to get many good traffic pics.

Above: our gracious and generous host and hostess celebrating with us following my grandiose proposal to Nicole, which I’ll describe later…

Here they are again the following day during our uncomfortable trip out to Fulong Beach. It was interesting to see all of the temples along the way. Below, a little household temple, and below that, a hillside covered in strange little temples.

Fulong is Taipei’s most popular beach, as it is gorgeous and easy to get to. We were there on a Saturday in July. Wait till you see the pictures I took of Haeundae today (a Monday in July)! No comparison! Fulong was mellow and relaxing, and I dodged very little garbage in the water.

Bored and suffering from accute TMJ (Ouch! Look it up…), I wandered to a temple at the end of the beach. Chinese temples are awesome!

I took some photos of the crazy looking bearded deities inside, but in my state of nervous excitement, I shook, and the photos look like crap. Aaiiiiiiishhhh!!! (Note: This is my favorite Korean expression. Translation: Aw shhhit!).

The next day, Sandra, Nicole (my fiancee) and I went to the supposedly must-see-while-visiting-Taipei Longshan Temple. It was incredible.

Everybody was doing prostrations before a variety of Buddhas and other Chinese deities. They were chanting and bowing deeply, with great reverence.

That was about it. Our experience of Taiwan was great, and truly we were initially unhappy to return to Korea. Korea has been good to us, to be sure, but Taiwan generally had a way more open, liberal, laid-back feel. I felt more relaxed and at home in Taipei (except for the language barrier) than I generally do in Korea (mind you, I was on holidays). While many Koreans are awesome, helpful, and friendly, the lack of xenophobia in Taiwan was immediately apparent. I generalize, but I think Korea needs a big collective hoot or something. Undo that top button. It’s ok to wear your grubbies once in awhile. Don’t stare. Get over it! And discipline your kids, for the love of God! Stuff like that… Oh yeah! The wedding proposal…

THE WEDDING PROPOSAL

Originally, I had planned to surprise the shit out of Nic with the ring I bought her. I sent a heads-up to Warren via email, and he and Sandra responded with some proposal location suggestions. I read the email at school one day, and when I got up to talk to Joe, Nicole went over and opened that very email message and read it. Surprise bust number one. Warren then suggested via email that he cook us a meal at his restaurant in Taipei, which specializes in weddings and engagements, and we surprise Nicole by having the ring come out on the platter with dessert. Great idea! The second night we were at Warren and Sandra’s house, and Warren started to tell us in detail about the meal he would soon cook us at our engagement dinner. Surprise bust number two!

While the surprise element lacked, the night was fantastic. We ate an incredible five course Euro-style meal (too good for my unworthy tongue… Warren, you kick ass) by candle-light in a restaurant that was empty save for the staff serving us, and was auspiciously named the Ring. Following dinner, we were lead out through a chapel to a backyard garden with a small pool. The ring came out, a gigantic bouquet arrived, I proposed to Nicole to the applause of the entire staff, and we got tipsy on champagne. It felt like reality TV. Contact Nicole if you want more details. Come on, it’s chick stuff, really!

We’re back in Haeundae now. I swam at the beach today and dodged garbage bags, socks, children in tire-tubes, and wooden chopsticks in the water. It has to be seen to be believed. I shall post photos soon. I have to go to sleep now.

Nic, Sandra, and four friendly jeuveniles from Taiwan say: PEACE!

xoxo

suteebun

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note regarding viewing my older photos… My suggestion is this: avoid the photo albums! Blog.com is a fantastic resource, but the album layout is poorly planned and difficult to navigate, and you’ll find yourself stranded and unable to get back to the safety and hospitality of “Tall Tales…”. 

Instead, visit the archives. The photos load fast, they appear at the optimum size, and come with commentary (which you can easily skip over if you feel inclined to).

suteebun

Bonjour,

Yesterday, Nicole stayed at home to write her exam, so I went into Busan to take some more photographs. I figured I had better get some of the main Busan postcard pictures while I am here. Unfortunately, the light was terribly flat and unflattering, and the Busan Tower, seen thrice below, lacks a bit of its usual majesty. This kind of lighting, created by a blend of fog, smog, and other toxic vapours, does capture something of the reality of living in Korea. Smells of dong (again, that’s Korean for poop) and garbage still linger in my big, German olfactory device. Below, a river of shit flows through Busan… and I’m being quite literal.

Apparently, not only couples don the ubiquitous matching pink shirts! Entire familes do it, too.

Chinese Checkers? Men playing this game are very commonly seen in parks throughout Korea . Korea has entire television channels dedicated to this game.

Many people in Korea, especially the men, have naps wherever and whenever they can. They are almost all overworked, and often hung-over as obligatory social events usually come with their jobs.

Busan harbour, seen above, is something like the seventh biggest container port in the world. If you drive a Kia, a Hyundai, or a Daewoo, it probably left this harbour.

The picture above is my favorite of the batch. The central lady had so much flair, and was really going at it with the belligerent old men. Koreans can be so kind and helpful, and sometimes even demure in the presence of foreigners, but when they have it out with one another, they make spectacles of themselves. These elders argued fiercely at length, and were still engaged in battle when I left the park. I have seen and heard so many street squabbles since being here. One of Korea’s national soccer slogans is “Fighting Korea”, which also fits their social and domestic ways of sorting out disagreements.

The above is a pretty standard tourist photograph. I’ve seen it many times online, but had to take my own. Walking from Yongdongsan Park to the subway station through a narrow alleyway brought me past a little Buddhist sanctuary, nestled in the midst of all the clamour and chaos of the surrounding markets.  

That’s all. Canadians, I urge you: don’t take Canada’s natural beauty for granted! We’re a lucky lot. There can be no price-tag for things like elbow room and breathable air.

Love,

Suteebun

Hola,

I wasn’t really too certain about the prevalence of cosmetic surgery here in Korea, despite the rumours of fellow expats, until recently. We watched a documentary on TV (in English! Yyyes!) that discussed the current plastic surgery boom in China. It really shed some light for me on the whole, weird phenomenon. I really didn’t think it was practiced much in Korea. After all, in general, the women here are very beautiful, and I couldn’t understand why any of them would want to look more like… us (don’t get me wrong… I prefer European girls, particularly Dutch ones). Well, western noses are coveted features, as are big (European) eyes and small chins… and all of these are for sale, and are amply marketed. I wanted to take a picture or two of the plastic surgery ads in the underground mall of downtown shopping mecca, Seomyeon. After the following shots, I stopped, but there were many, many more. How prevalent is it? I’d say 60-70% of all ads I saw in Seomyeon were for plastic surgery! Unbelievable.

Koreans are so fanatically patriotic and obsessed with identity, but it almost feels like they don’t have a solid identity and are shopping for one elsewhere. The new generation shuns all things traditional. Maybe being Asian underdogs for so long has left them a little beat-up and self-conscious of their old garb? For whatever reasons, they’ve pretty much adopted Western beauty and fashion as the ideal. Nike, Adidas, North Face, and Levi’s are the norm here, more so than in Canada. I think I’ll freak them out and start dressing like a traditional Korean!

Well, like the Dead Milkmen say: “We’re all living in a fucked up world!”

Keep it real,

suteebun

 Howdy Y’all,

I took this from our apartment window this morning.  Cool lighting, huh?

I took my new digi out for a walk on the beach and shot 100 pics in under an hour. FUN! Here are some of the results…

The crowds are starting to build, although (thankfully) the weather’s keeping ‘em down a bit.

Matching “couple t-shirts” are all the rage here. Nic and I have a set. Watch for photos soon. Anyway, some of the surf pictures are a bit pixelated because I had to crop so tightly to get anything salvagable,but I plan on getting a tripod and zoom lens next.

Peaceout,

Suteebun

Hi Boys n’ Babes,

On a rainy Saturday afternoon, my friend Joe and I (pictured below) went downtown to look for tripods and to check out video cameras. We also wanted to go to Jagalchi Fish Market (where I once ate poisonous fish… see past blog entry) to take some rainy day pictures. My Pentax film camera started bugging out as soon as we arrived, and in frustration, I went and bought a digital SLR: the Nikon D50. This picture was taken in the store, by the store owner, and doesn’t even come close to capturing my actual excitement at the time.

And here are the first few shots fired by my shiny new investment…

Finally, a photo of the infamous pigs’ heads. From my understanding, they aren’t sold for food but to place at the front door of newly opened restaurants for good luck and prosperity.

Above left, from a great distance, Busan Tower overlooking the harbour.

Ok. These skinned eels were alive and kicking when I took the shot. Totally Clive Barker. Disgusting!

Above, Joe, aiming his inferior, archaic film camera at something. Ha! Just buggin…

These pictures are nothing special, but the camera most certainly is. No more rolls of film. No more development fees. No more planning every shot like some sacred thing. Now I can shoot everything. Pkoo. Pkoo. Watch for more soon!

Above, our apartment view during monsoon season.

Anyounghee kaseyo,

Suteebun

PS I haven’t drank in 3 weeks and I feel… ok.