Betelnut Girl

Betelnut is a palm nut that is grown in much of Asia.  The nut is chewed for its stimulant effect, usually by working class men.  The betelnut is the second largest cash crop in Taiwan and therefore important to the agricultural economy.  Unlike the rest of Asia, Taiwan has a very unique cultural phenomenon known as the Binlang Xi Shi or Betelnut Girl.

In Taiwan, there are more than 100,000 roadside stands that are nothing more than glass cages with neon or bright, colored flashing lights.  Inside the glass cage is a young woman dressed in a bikini, underwear or similar apparel, ready to serve the betelnut to passing customers.  The customers are typically taxi and truck drivers, or construction and factory workers beginning their shifts.

The Betelnut Girl wearing minimal clothing, originated in the 1960s, but flourished in the 1990s.   Two changes in Taiwan at that time likely contributed to this: 1) commodity Taiwanese factory work was transferred to China, limiting the job potential for uneducated women and 2) martial law ended in 1987 paving the way for democracy, which created a period of time with limited government control over some activities.

International interest in the Betelnut Girl came after the 2001 movie Ai Ni Ai Wo (Love You, Love Me) was popular in Asia.  The movie was released to the west as Betelnut Beauty.  The movie featured some aimless young people in Taipei, including some of the characters working the trade.

The stands are considered a front for prostitution, and while they most likely were, and probably are to a lesser extent today, that is how they are viewed by the local population. A great deal of energy has gone into the debate of whether these young women are exploited or are exercising  the same freedom given to fashion models and women of other occupations.  One well respected university in Taiwan has built this trade into social science classes.  Photography shows in Taiwan have featured pictures of the women.

After the attention the movie created, many politicians attempted to shut down the practice of roadside stands.  The farm lobby is very strong in Taiwan and opposed these efforts, and organized crime became involved, selling protection to the women.  The Betelnut Girl is alive and well, though presumably tamed down somewhat from several years earlier.  While most all travel guides enjoy describing this unique piece of culture, the educated local population is embarrassed by the attention brought to Taiwan.    

As a side note, chewing betelnut is a leading cause of oral cancer in Asia and a growing health risk.  I did not take any photos for this blog, however I have attached some links to sites if you want to see how it looks.

www.betelnutgirls.com

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJo7ZkLwkng

Lost in Translation

The Taiwanese and Chinese people are eager to translate many things into English. I believe this is indicative of their helpfulness, especially the Taiwanese, but also a form of status display.  If you are able to advertise in both Chinese and English, then you are a globally sophisticated person or company.  Please understand that I am not complaining; having an English translation, regardless of how bad it can be, is more helpful to me than a group of Chinese characters.  Regardless of my poking fun at translations, I still sincerely appreciate them.

Menus can be humorous.  In mainland China, the spelling and grammar are often poor.  I counted one page with 36 errors.  Taiwan English translations are usually technically correct, however they are worded much different than native English speakers are accustom.  A restaurant offered a “comprehensive mushroom pizza”.  I love mushrooms on pizza, and to know there are many types is better than few, but comprehensive is the best.  Another menu offered the “meats of mammals”.  Technically correct yes, but helpful no, even to this carnivore.   “Hamburgers made of real meat” is probably not as strange as you would think, especially if you have been served one of those fake vegetarian versions of hamburger.

I take public transportation all of the time in Taipei.  When exiting, the message in English is usually “please carefully alight through the door”.  I believe alight is a holdover from an old English maritime term for getting off the ship, but that is just my guess.  I carefully alight almost every day.

For those that enjoy Doug Lansky’s travel writing, you know that he posts funny signs provided to him by his readers.  Here are some signs I found:

Taipei Pot Plant Auction-when I was a teenager, I always thought you had to grow them yourself.

Flying Cow Ranch-see Taipei Pot Plant Auction.

Center for Human Appearance-this sign was found in a hospital and I thought it was the birthing section.  Actually it is an often used medical description for reconstructive surgeries.

When the Crowd is Very Thick-We Will Take Crowd Control Temporarily-nothing wrong with this.  I love discipline and control.

Wholesale Treasure-I always thought of treasure as something controlled by pirates and kings. If you need to obtain treasure by exchanging some of your wealth, rather than murder and plunder, then I would prefer to pay wholesale than retail.

Heading to the Future-aren’t we all?

Mansion of the Fortune-Chinese are obsessed with prosperity and the display of wealth.  What better place than the mansion of the fortune.

Whole Dog Journal-my first thought was cookbook, but it probably is a dog lover’s attempt to teach us Fido wellness.

 

 

Temple of the Golden Pavilion

In Kyoto we visited what may be the most famous temple.  It is not the oldest or most important place of worship; however the Golden Pavilion is one of the most photographed temples with an interesting story and movie made about it.

Kinkakuji is covered in gold leaf, and it was built as a retirement villa for a powerful shogun, and includes beautiful gardens and a lake.  After the shogun’s death in the early 1400’s it was converted to a zen temple and has remained in use since.

Kinkakuji was burnt to the ground in 1950 by a monk, who immediately attempted to commit suicide on the grounds, but survived.  Yukio Mishima wrote a book titled The Temple of the Golden Pavilion in 1956 and several movies and operas were subsequently made based on the novel.

The story written is a piece of fiction and quite bizarre.  A bullied, mentally ill child is taken to the temple during World War II by his Buddhist priest father, and the temple is described to him as the most beautiful in the world. The son has visions of the temple being burned by U.S. bombing raids.  The boy’s father dies and the young man takes over his father’s responsibilities.  The young man is conflicted by the need to protect the temple as a monk and his visions of the burning.  The war ends with the Japanese surrender which further tortures the young monk.  After the war, a U.S. soldier visits the temple with his pregnant Japanese girlfriend, and the GI orders the young monk to stomp on the woman’s stomach to abort the fetus.  As you can imagine, this causes great stress for the young monk. The story continues with women putting their breast milk in tea for service to others, priests involved with geishas and lovers committing suicide due to shame of their affair.   There is further shame and confusion for the young monk by numerous other strange events.  Finally he is haunted by words from a famous zen master “When you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha”.  The young monk had enough going on in his head and now with the need to kill Buddha, combined with the visions of a burning temple, he had no choice but to burn it down.  I have seen some very dark Japanese movies in the past and this story fits well.

In reality nobody knew why the monk actually burned the temple.  It was rebuilt and looks better than ever.  A phoenix tops the building, which seems appropriate.  I was hoping for some snow for my photographs, but the weather didn’t give me that chance.  I will return when it snows.

Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year period ended this week.  The New Year starts on the 2^nd lunar month following the winter solstice and lasts for 15 days.  The celebration begins on New Year eve and ends with the lantern festival.  It is the most important holiday of the year for Chinese and many businesses, schools and government agencies close for at least a week, often for the full 15 days or more.   Chinese working away from home will typically return to spend the holiday with their family.  The year of the dragon was welcomed on January 23 and the celebration ended February 6.

There are several historical references to the holiday’s origin and meaning, but the most common belief is a welcoming of spring after the end of winter.  New Year day occurs between late January and Mid-February. Homes and businesses are typically cleaned to rid the buildings of bad luck and make room for good luck.  A lion dance troupe is often invited into a home or business.  We witnessed a series of business have the troupe, dressed in Dragon costumes and accompanied with  a percussion band, enter through the front door and exit through the back.  A red envelope of money is given by the business to the troupe to promote good luck and prosperity.  I referred to it as extortion and was told the businesses are very happy to do it.

Red envelopes of money are given by the married members of a family or close group of friends, to the unmarried (typically children and teenagers) people.  Red is a favorite color in China and wards off evil.  In Chinese countries that do not have a one child birth policy, such as Taiwan, a family with numerous uncles, aunts, grandparents, parents, etc. means a child will likely receive a significant amount of money.

The Chinese people have a New Year eve dinner of fish and numerous other dishes, usually with family and close friends.  At midnight they eat the traditional jiaozi (dumplings), which represents wealth.  Our neighbor had a New Year eve dinner for family and close friends, however we were returning from Japan that night and couldn’t attend.  The next day is a day to remain home and be lazy, and we had a meal with our neighbor and his family.  On the second day, daughters return to their birth families.  In Chinese culture, daughters and not considered part of the birth family, but rather obtain a family when they marry into the husband’s family.  This is practiced by older and traditional Chinese, however is not part of modern Taiwan’s mainstream thinking.  We traveled to China to be with my wife’s family for 8 days.

Everywhere in the Chinese world, decorations adorn parks and buildings.  Most parts have large dragons and numerous lanterns are hung-there are often many lanterns even during non-holiday periods.  The holiday ends with the lantern festival, which are attended by millions of people.  In Taiwan, one city each year is selected for the country’s lantern festival and our city was selected last year.  Major cities have a smaller scale festival.  A traditional sweet, sticky rice cake is served during this time. Thousands of unmanned hot air balloons are released during the lantern festival.  People write their wishes on a piece of paper, attach it to the lantern, and send it to the heavens. In Taiwan, only one city is allowed to release lanterns, I assume for fire protection reasons (city is near coast).  As a child, I made a hot air balloon out of a dry cleaning bag, kite sticks and birthday candles.  I attached a kite string to it and it quickly soar the full length of the string.  I wasn’t satisfied with this, so I let go of the string and watched it disappear into the night sky.  Afterwards I gave thought about burning candles landing in some dry grass and for the next 24 hours, I watched the local news intently, expecting to hear about some devastating grass fire that I started.

Throughout the holiday fireworks and firecrackers are prevalent, more common than the 4^th of July in the U.S.  There are different stories about the meaning of the firecrackers, though they are often viewed as bombing certain gods for good and bad reasons.

People will schedule their life events based on the lunar calendar, marrying on good days and avoiding unlucky ones.  The dragon in considered good by the Chinese and many things will be planned for this year.  The tiger is considered bad, so births are fewer during the year of the tiger.  This actually has unintended favorable consequences, as a low birth rate year means it is easier for teens to get accepted to the best schools.

My China

Following our return from Japan, we went to my wife’s hometown in China.   The trip was originally planned to spend Chinese New Year with her family, however her father was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer before our arrival and the trip suddenly had a different purpose.

I was unable to access my blog, social media, and other websites due to China’s censorship, so I apologize for some delayed responses.

I have previously enjoyed traveling to China; however I believe I am now beginning to understand this country slightly better.  My father-in-law is a retired medical doctor and has the means to live comfortably.  However, he chooses to live in an apartment in the less prosperous (far less) part of the city.  We spent an extended period there giving my wife the opportunity to help with his care. The streets and alleys of his neighborhood are teaming with the small street vendors selling food, cooking meals and offering the necessities of a simple life.  You can buy a live animal cheaply (slightly more expensive if you act like it will become a pet), buy meals for less than one dollar and purchase a variety of pirated goods.

This city has not seen foreign investment and the large groups of westerners common along the coast.  I had a chance to walk this small city for more than a week, and got a sense of the people’s daily routine.  I was the only foreigner.  Old people stopped what they were doing to point and stare at me.  Children practiced their English; I responded to “hello mister, how are you?” numerous times.  Everyone at the hotel was well aware that a foreigner was staying there.  Nobody in this city over the age of 16 speaks English and I only know Mandarin greetings.

My wife attended the large city high school where she was the equivalent to valedictorian and class president.  When in town, many of her classmates ask her out to lunch and dinner.  One night while she was having dinner with some friends, I decided to have dinner at the hotel restaurant.  I made the universal gesture of spooning food into my mouth, hoping to be seated.  Within a few minutes six young women surrounded me and they had someone on the phone.  I liked the attention however after more than 10 minutes had elapsed, I was not close to being seated.  I’m sure the restaurant workers were talking with the hotel management and trying to decide what to do with the foreigner.  I waved goodbye and walked to Dekes (a KFC knockoff) where I could point to the picture of a chicken sandwich.  Even at Dekes I needed a 10 year old to help explain to the worker that I desired takeout.

Life can be very difficult in the China that hasn’t benefited directly by global trade.  I walked by some construction and found a several hundred year old brick open sewer that became exposed by the digging (see picture). I followed the sewer to find it emptying into the river, where a local construction worker had stopped his bridge building to fish, at the point sewage was flowing. 

People say that the Chinese don’t follow traffic rules and I respond there are no rules.  Traffic is like the game rock, paper, scissors.  Trucks beat cars, cars beat motor scooters, which beat bicycles which trump pedestrians.  Unlike rock, paper, scissors, the pedestrian doesn’t beat trucks.  On a previous trip to China, I counted 31 accidents witnessed in 19 days.

Almost everyone smokes cigarettes. If you are looking for a taxi without smoke, then you must walk.  We found a private driver with a nice clean car and thought we would hire him for all of our needs.  Unfortunately the next day, he wrecked his car.  People urinate on the side of the road, though I had a guy relieve himself one meter from me while eating lunch outside in Germany two years ago.

Despite the issues I describe, there is so much good to discover in the unexplored China.  People are very willing to make you a nice cup of their special tea whenever they see you.  All tea in China is special; I don’t know what they do with the average tea.  Restaurants are often attached to the owner’s home and they are more than willing to open at midnight to make you a wonderful dinner for four that cost $7 USD.  Grandparents fill the parks along with their grandchildren; grandparents are traditionally the daycare for young working adults.  The parks are beautiful-see the picture of cactus at one park we visited. The street markets are filled with very fresh and delicious food; the Chinese won’t usually accept the processed meats and old fruit that Americans buy daily.   I feel totally safe anywhere at any time in China.  The real China has so much to offer, but many westerners traveling to China don’t experience it.

Attached are pictures of a typical bicycle street vendor selling chestnuts.  I love the street vendors.  A parent is selecting a balloon for his little girl.  I watched the man and vendor work for 10 minutes to get the right balloon.  These are the simple pleasures that are universal to most of us.

The Chinese are very frugal people, though they love luxury brands and conspicuous consumption.  Because purchasing a well known luxury brand and not spending money is a conflict, pirating thrives.  They don’t see buying a pirated item as stealing, since either way, the luxury brand owner won’t get their money.

Many times I have listened to a business executive talk about their recent trip to China and how they got to see what the real China is all about.  They saw construction cranes erecting buildings from the 89^th floor window of their room at the Grand Hyatt Shanghai or Peninsula Hotel, drove around in a chauffeured Audi A8 and ate at very expensive restaurants.  These executives talk about the sacrifices they witnessed; someone had to drink Johnnie Walker Black Label rather than their preferred 25 year single malt scotch.  They don’t know the real China and I am just beginning to learn myself.  I used to be an oblivious executive.