Random streets outside of Taipei

October 21, 2008 - Keelung, Taiwan. Keelung is east of Taipei on the coast, about 40 minutes on bike. It's a port city with a seedy old Chinese city feel.


December 27, 2008 - Either Yonghe or Zhonghe southwest of Taipei in Taipei County. Not at all seedy or old, just modern, urban and choked in exhaust from burning fossil fuels in mobile vehicles.

I'm starting to feel after 3 years in Taiwan, I really should start venturing out of the greater Taipei area. Or Kaohsiung visiting family. It's a tiny island and transportation is decent, I should just try picking a destination and heading out one morning, planning to come back the next day or a couple days later. I guess it's called travelling. I'm not sure the photography would be any more varied than the above shots, though.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Wake Up Dead Man (U2)
2. Little Green Men (Steve Vai)
3. Bitter Suite (Marillion)
4. Scratch-N-Sniff (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble)
5. Death in the Park (Archers of Loaf)
6. A Sorry Heart (Wonder Girls)
7. Animals (live) (Talking Heads)
8. Welcome to the Jungle (Guns N' Roses)
9. Asylum (Supertramp)
10. Parkdale (Metric)

December 24, 2008 - Taipei 101, Taiwan. Well, we can't call it the tallest building in the world anymore since the Burj Dubai has officially surpassed it in height, but we still can call it the world's tallest occupied building in the world, as I found out from our proud, local media. No doubt we'll be calling it that until the BD goes into business, which may yet take some time.


I thought I ought to clear out the holiday lomos before they become totally irrelevant in the warming weather. This was a wish tunnel, where they set up a corridor lined with lights and wires, and at the end they supply things that people can write wishes and aspirations on and hang them up to create the walls. This was a long exposure with the 2 braced on the stand that people could write on.

Not being a Christian country, Christmas itself isn't a big deal here, but they know it's a big deal elsewhere, so they use it as an excuse to do something using the various imported themes, catering them to local tastes, which means something on the lines of going out and doing something with the family - much better than making it an excuse to shop.

Although that gets taken care of by the extreme "couple culture" here, and young couples buy into the notion that they should buy gifts for their partners. Chinese culture used to frown upon public displays of affection, but Taiwan youth, in its emulation of Western culture, saw Western youth engaging in it, and then they ran with it to gag-worthy extents. In the U.S., yelling "get a room!" is a cliche, but they need to find an equivalent expression for it here. Especially for the high school students.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. For No Reason (Joanna Wang)
2. Call Me Names (Echobelly)
3. Heart Setsunaku (Yuko Hara)
4. Get 'Em Out By Friday (live) (Genesis)
5. Never-Ending Math Equation (live) (Modest Mouse)
6. 3rd Planet (Modest Mouse)
7. So Far Away (Carole King)
8. Baby Love Child (Pizzicato Five)
9. 4:47 A.M. (The Remains of Our Love) (Roger Waters)
10. Shake (Kristin Hersh)

August 19, 2008 - The building fascade of the Indian Beer House on Bade Road, near Jianguo North Road.


August 26, 2008 - I've never been inside, but I hear the decor is also of dinosaur bones. Where to go for a brontosaurus burger.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. She's Lost Control (Joy Division)
2. King Porter Stomp (Benny Goodman)
3. Last Match (The Aislers Set)
4. Show Me the Way (Peter Frampton)
5. The Vision (Victor Wooten)
6. Cello Suite No. 2, II. Allemande (J.S. Bach)
7. Bag Lady (Eryka Badu)
8. Travis Walk (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble)
9. The Spider (Kansas)
10. Black and Grey (Deadweight)

December 27, 2008 - Construction on the Dahan Riverside parks/bikeways, Taipei County, west of Taipei city. The Dahan River spurs to the southwest of the Taipei region, and its riverbanks are getting the park/bikeway treatment. This is on the east bank looking west where there is a strip of cities in Taipei County before going into Taoyuan County.


Yingge (鶯歌), Taipei County. I think this is the last city in the southwest corner of Taipei County, known for ceramics. It's as far as I've ridden in that direction, crossing that bridge there in either direction and then heading back towards Taipei city. This is on the west bank of the Dahan River, which is more or less done, looking south-southwest-ish.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Diamonds (Princess Princess)
2. Dance to the Music (Sly & the Family Stone)
3. Lenny (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble)
4. Underground (Men At Work)
5. Good Morning, Good Morning (The Beatles - Anthology)
6. Down and Out (Genesis)
7. Beach Bum (Sakura)
8. Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Fugue #4 (J.S. Bach)
9. Crazy (Versus)
10. White Light, White Heat (live) (David Bowie)

August 8, 2008 - Taipei, Taiwan. A small street market, near where I worked, off Zhongshan North Road, north of Mingquan East Road. Unlike other night markets, this one stayed open really late. It was often still open after I got off of work after midnight, but I never went to it to eat after work.


September 3, 2008 -A closer view. It's small compared to other night markets, it's just for people with the munchies. Oh yea, and it just occurred to me that it's right next to the closest thing Taipei has to a red light district. It's called the "Zone" or the "Combat Zone", and it's not as infamous as it once was, I gather, but I hear it's still the place to go for a quick pick-up. So yea, that's probably why it stays open so late. And another reason for me not to go there after work to eat.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Jump for Joy (Duke Ellington)
2. Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Fugue #16 (J.S. Bach)
3. Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Fugue #14 (J.S. Bach)
4. (The Gift of Sound) Where the Sun Never Goes Down (David Byrne - "Music for 'The Knee Plays'")
5. Funky Bird (Galactic)
6. London's Burning (The Clash)
7. Eric's Trip (Sonic Youth)
8. Rocks in My Bed (Duke Ellington)
9. High Time (The Grateful Dead)
10. Shine Like a New Pin (Camera Obscura)

August 7, 2008 - In front of Taipei Songshan Airport at Minquan East Road and Dunhua North Road, on my way to work in the late afternoon.

I just started a new roll in the fisheye, and the 2 shots in front of the Taiwan High Court posted earlier are, indeed, probably because it was at the beginning of the roll. I take a shot and then wonder if I advanced the film enough, so I take another just to be sure.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Velvet Days (Kristin Hersh)
2. Oh Yeah (Nokko)
3. No Aloha (The Breeders)
4. Higher Ground (Stevie Wonder)
5. Rapture (Blondie)
6. Leif Erikson (Interpol)
7. Drugs (Talking Heads)
8. Stairway to Heaven (live) (Led Zeppelin)
9. Limelight (XTC)
10. Big Spender ("Sweet Charity")

December 17, 2008 - Public art at Linsen and Zhongxiao East Road? The sun was behind me so I had to lie down on the ground to avoid getting my shadow in the lomo. Sometimes you have to lie for your art.


December 18, 2008 - Public Santa outside the Living Mall sphere.

I guess it was wishful thinking Spring had arrived. It had, but like it is everywhere, Winter has to sneak in one last sucker punch to remind us that optimism and forward-looking needs to be tempered. In Taipei, Winter means cool temperatures and overcast, rainy days.

And still it's not as bad, so far, as my first two years here. I'm optimistic that this current drear will not become a constant drear like before.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Well-Tempered Klavier, Book 2, Fugue #2 (J.S. Bach)
2. Kicked it in the Sun (live) (Built to Spill)
3. Horses (Tori Amos)
4. Else (Built to Spill)
5. Dance Hall (Modest Mouse)
6. Habit (Pearl Jam)
7. For the Turnstiles (Neil Young)
8. Losing My Mind ("Follies" - Sondheim)
9. I'm the Man Who Murdered Love (XTC)
10. All Her Favorite Fruit (Camper Van Beethoven)

January 11, 2009 - Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Lomo of taking wedding pictures for my cousin's wedding. During these my cousin remarked that all he could see was an array of Canon and Nikon. He obviously wasn't looking at me.


I'm happy for my cousin, I've known him as long as I've known anyone aside from my nuclear family. He's my uncle's son on my mother's side. It was still a drag for me to be there, though, since I was the only one who didn't speak Mandarin or Taiwanese. If I opened my mouth, I would draw attention to myself because I would force people to speak English, and whatever I said might have nothing to do with the conversation that was going on. So it sucked, I didn't need to be there, I was there for my parents, and left as soon as I could.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Nothingman (live) (Pearl Jam)
2. Love (John Lennon)
3. Suffragette City (live) (David Bowie)
4. Bicycle Race (Queen)
5. Look a Ghost (Unwound)
6. Down By the Water (PJ Harvey)
7. Mica (Mission of Burma)
8. Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
9. Land of Canaan (Indigo Girls)
10. To Whom it May Concern (Black Sheep)