I have a new computer. I'd like to say that my old computer going on life support was the reason I haven't been posting here, but actually the state of my files and the editing program I use for them were not much affected by the transition. So again, just lazy. Laziness is bad, m'kay?

February 9, 2009 - Both of these lomos are from the southern bank of the recently re-opened Keelung Riverside Bikeway, before they were closed! In fact, I think this was shot before they built a pedestrian/bike ramp from where I'm standing to the catwalk of the bridge shown, allowing people to cross the river here. Bah, the photographic evidence of the shadow in the foreground clearly shows the ramp had already been built by the time I took this shot. Tres convenient. That tower across the river used to be the chimney for waste disposal (trash incineration), and now has a revolving restaurant on top of it. Go fig.

Neither shot was taken from a place that was closed, but to get to these areas from where I live was a pain because of the flower expo. Now that the whole thing is open again, it's a part of my regular 20-25 mile training rides, hopefully building up to extended rides outside of Taipei.

This shot is right about where the bikeway was closed for the flower expo. That's the Grand Hotel across the river. Above are MRT tracks of the Danshui Line, and the red towers aren't supporting a bridge, but what I can only gather is a water pipeline. Again, go fig.

Like the First Time (T-ara)

looking sorta up

January 16, 2009 - Dazhi Bridge crossing the Keelung River. Finally, the Taipei International Flora Expo is OVER!! It was a major horticultural show and even though it was criticized for corruption and practicality, I hear it did turn out to be a tourism success, good for the economy, although I wonder how much of that tourism came from China, bad for Taiwan's independent status. The current president seems bent on making Taiwan more reliant on China.

My personal peeve about the flower show was that it closed the riverside bikeway on the south bank of the Keelung River (other side of the river to the right of the bridge) for over a year and a half. By the time I got back from the U.S. this time, the show was over and I rode over to the site and asked a worker when the bikeway would be open and he said it should be open by June.

February 9, 2009 - Taiwan Beer Factory! Mmmm, beeeeer. That's Taiwan pop singer A-mei shilling for Taiwan Beer. For most part, I hate pop music, but I've given A-mei's music a chance and some of it is listenable. Some of it is god awful. Like her song "The Power of Love" just made me think about the power of crappy music to make me hurl. But of course my fandom of K-pop has stripped me of much of my credibility and towering music authority, if not taste, so I should probably just shut up.

Mind you, I am full aware that there is plenty of crappy K-pop. Mind you, there are also very, very few legitimate rock acts from South Korea that I know of (I can't say anything about North Korea, although I hear Kim Jong-Il fronts his own heavy metal band that every North Korean knows every lyric to).

There She Is (Witches): legitimate South Korean rock band. Singer has a cool ass voice.

Flew into Taipei a couple days ago. It was raining when I landed and it's been dreary since, but I don't mind. It's May, so as soon as the sun comes out, it'll get plenty hot plenty quick around here, so I'm not complaining if the clouds are keeping temps just warm.

I really need to change my life around here, I don't want to go back to doing just what I was doing before the trip to the States, and I think shooting more may contribute to that end. Shooting = Getting out of the apartment during daylight hours.

I already bought more color rolls for the Fisheye and I also have my brother's Nikon D80 DSLR to try to shake things up. I think maybe I stagnated with black and white film because of too much coffee and too much stress over whether a shot is worth using a frame of film.

Ironically, the D80 allows a flexibility that I've criticized about DSLRs before, which is it allows mindless shooting of endless frames, and inevitably one of those shots is going to be usable. But that might be what I need now to get over the paralysis and indecisiveness of wondering whether to take a shot or not.

But this is not about black and white, this is lomo, and I still have about 4 rolls of unposted fisheye (only 4 rolls over the whole of 2009-10! bleah.), while I dust off the fisheye 2 and see if I'm seeing anything.

Taipei overview:

December 9, 2008 - Jiankang Street and Nanjing East Road. I still consider this my neighborhood as it's within walking distance, although towards the outer range of my walking distance. 

December 17, 2008 - Freedom Plaza with the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in the distance. The whole plaza used to be dedicated to Chiang Kai-shek, but he's a controversial character and I thought it was appropriate for the government to take some of that back and dedicate the plaza to freedom and democracy. Chiang Kai-shek was a dictator and a ruthless butcher, but without him, Taiwan's current democracy might not exist.

Oh, and that's a group of Tibetan protestors at the foot of the gate, lobbying Taiwan to protect Tibetan refugees who have escaped from mainland Chinese repression. 

Needless to say, this construction is all complete now. The riverside bikeway on the lower left is complete and open, and the bridge on the middle right -- I forget if that's what they were tearing down or putting up. I think maybe they were putting that one up, and where I was standing was the bridge that eventually came down to improve traffic flow over the Keelung River.

Rock U (Kara)

November 15, 2008 - Approaching the end of the Keelung River bikeway at the east end of Taipei. I was going on a ride out to the east coast of Taiwan. Look how nice the weather looks.


But on the east coast it was all cloudy. Reminded me of San Francisco, except I lived under the overcast, and rode out to the sunshine.

No sunshine now. It's a typhoon day in Taipei, Typhoon Morakot, and I don't have to work because my Friday shift got switched to Thursday earlier this week. I wonder who's the sucker who got stuck with the typhoon shift. I think they're going to try to knock-off early tonight, at around 11, but it won't make a difference, the typhoon is going to hit in the general area of tonight.

I still ended up riding home in the rain last night because I wanted to get my bike home and not leave it out during the typhoon at work. But I only started riding home because it wasn't really raining so bad when I left. But then it started picking up and picking up and I was pretty soaked by the end.

During typhoons it's all rain and wind, but pre- and post-typhoon, it's really touch-and-go. It may be calm as a lamb one moment, and then raging gusts 15 minutes later.

I have a different mentality during typhoons, which assumes getting soaked. We might have some rainy weather that I wouldn't think of riding my bike or going out in, certainly not without an umbrella, but during a typhoon, it might be much worse and I'll go skipping out into the rain; wind blowing in gusts tempting me to break out in a Michael Jackson imitation.

So I'm apartment-bound for the duration. I think it may still be stormy by my shift tomorrow, so I'll take a bus to work, dress like I'm going for a swim.

I Am One (Smashing Pumpkins)

September 20, 2008 - More riverside bikeway. I think this is in Beitou District in northern Taipei. Not having car, girlfriend with car, nor willing to transport by car, I'm not sure what the roadway is overhead, but no doubt it's some bit of freeway to make a few miles go faster. *sigh* what ever happened to US$150 per barrel oil? Funny, though, that bend in the freeway actually looks straightened out by the fisheye. It's actually a pretty sexy line.


Guangdu Temple, a famous Taoist temple in northern Taipei. I haven't been riding this year. I just started running again, but, alas, no motivation to take my bike out yet. I think part of it is psychological. I don't want to just repeat what I did last year. I don't want to get out on my bike and ride the same routes I did last year, and I covered most of them last year. I can't think of many routes that I've noticed and didn't do last year. But I think once I get out on my bike, I'd be happy doing anything. Well, like with running, I won't force anything. It's not like a dog that you have to take out for a walk whether you like it or not. I'll take out my bike when I do.

September 20, 2008 - Keelung riverside bikeway, clean up about a week after a typhoon last year. Being a relatively large river with a wide flood plain, the Keelung River wasn't so impressive during the typhoon, it just filled with lots of water, and the clean up wasn't all too dramatic either. Some large pieces of machinery pushing debris into piles.

The Keelung River flows east to west through Taipei, with one south to north kink. This is where the south to north part kinks back westward, with Neihu District on the right, north of the river. Rivers in cities fascinate me. Whenever I go to a new city, the first thing I want to know about is the rivers and the role they play.

Like when I went to Geneva, I had to see where the Rhone met the L'Arve, and it was a beautiful confluence since the waters of the Rhone were clear and blue, and the L'Arve was brown and muddy. And in Hiroshima, of course, the Genpaku Dome (ground zero for the atomic bomb) was right at a confluence of rivers.


Still along the Keelung River splitting Zhongshan District across the river on the left with Shilin District to the right. Currently, this stretch is unpassable due to construction. Pisses me off. Last year, Taipei was so good at having miles and miles of seamless bikeway, but recently they've closed huge sections for construction. They had to do it all at once? They don't recognize the importance of the bikeways for Taipei's recreational life and promotion of cycling? It's what I've come to expect of Taiwan, but I was hoping for something better.

typhoon pics

September 14, 2008 - Keelung River and Maishuai Bridge #2 during a typhoon. I thought the Keelung River would be interesting during a typhoon, but it's too big. It was impressive, but not exciting like the smaller Jingmei River where I used to live, which turned into a raging torrent. The Keelung River just got really full.


Opposite view looking at Maishuai Bridge #1. I don't remember the name of the typhoon - too far back, one of the disadvantages of not posting closer to when I shot - but I think it was a really slow moving typhoon and I went out shooting when the eye was over Taipei for like 3 hours. The storm picked up again later.


Maishuai Bridge #1 from the other side. I still had to go to work that evening, as a daily newspaper has to come out no matter what. I think the storm had died down by the time we finished, and I probably took a bus home no problem. I think the newspaper was willing to pay for a taxi if it was still raging outside.

Everything has changed since then. I took some time off and worked part-time for a while. Now I'm back at about 80%, working 4 days a week, and that suits me fine. New boss, and changing format. It may get interesting.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. DMV (Primus)
2. Citizen Erased (Muse)
3. Soma (live) (Smashing Pumpkins)
4. Texas Flood (live) (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble)
5. Counting Out Time (remixed) (Genesis)
6. Static (Sahara Hotnights)
7. Midnight Rambler (The Rolling Stones)
8. Anata ga Koko ni Ite Hoshii (Chitose Hajime)
9. The Seven Sisters (Rainer Maria)
10. In My House (PCS Nitrogen Starlift Steel Orchestra)

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)

December 27, 2008 - I tend to go on and on about the riverside bikeways and parks, but don't give enough love out to the riverside garbage trucks. They are a terrific stink to ride by if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction.


February 9, 2008 - Fortunately, I don't think there are any in Taipei city. The top lomo is along the Dahan River in Shulin, southwest of Taipei, probably, and the bottom is along the opposite bank of the Danshui River in Luzhou.

Speaking of garbage, I wonder why I haven't heard any commentary connecting the Madoff scandal and the Stanford/Antigua scandal with the global financial collapse. Could it be there is no connection?

Could be, how can the greedy acts of a few bad apples be connected to the global financial crisis/credit meltdown? Personally, I don't think it's a coincidence. It's just a gut feeling, since I'm no financier or econ major, but I think it may be indicative of a systemic fault in capitalism.

When things first started going south, Bush and Wall St. kept emphasizing that the fundamental basis of capitalism was sound. I find that an odd first thing to defend when people are just panicking about their money, not the basis of the capitalist system.

I look back at it now, and it sounds to me that they were just saying the equivalent of "capitalism still works . . . on paper". Of course, communism works on paper, too, but put it into practice and you need a repressive, authoritarian regime to implement it because people just don't live their lives according to communist ideals.

Maybe what's happening now is the completely logical outcome of free-wheeling, unregulated capitalist theory, and these scandals are also an inevitable and logical outcome. When you can juggle around money in a now-you-see-it, now-you-don't magic show, people are going to take advantage of it, people are greedy.

I do think the world economic system is on the verge of a revolution, and in several decades, we're not going to be gauging wealth and growth in the same way as we are now. The size and growth of the economy won't be nearly as important as sustainability. That will be the new key word for all industry. Enterprises won't start up on the basis of growth and profit, but they will need a plan for sustainability and longevity. And energy and environment is also going to play a key role.

How is this going to happen? Strict government oversight and regulation. Sound repressive? Sound authoritarian - the government telling you how to run your enterprise? In several decades, it may just sound smart and necessary.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Soul Survivor (The Rolling Stones)
2. Turn Your Lights Down Low (Bob Marley & the Wailers)
3. Momen no Handkerchief (Shiina Ringo)
4. Ladyflash (The Go! Team)
5. Ai Suru Hito Yo (Sakura)
6. Weekends of Sound (764-HERO)
7. Out of Range (live) (Ani DiFranco)
8. I Can't Explain (live) (The Who)
9. Mission (Rush)
10. One (Sakura)

July 7, 2008 - Xindian riverside bikeway near the Gongguan entrance.


December 20, 2008 - Same bridge, but from the south.

As they say in Taiwan, "Spring has sprung!". Oh wait, they don't say that here, that's what we say in the U.S., they say "春天到了", which means Spring has arrived, but to make it more interesting, the whole phrase is indicated by the character for "Spring" upside-down, since the character for "arrive", 到, is a homonym for "to turn upside-down", 倒.

Geddit? They sure go a long way to be clever.

So with nice sunny and warm days (before humidity and sweltering tropical heat kicks in starting around next month), I've been trying to get out on my bike as much as possible during the day. I'll switch to night riding once the daytime gets too hot.

Not that it's been that long since the last real ride, December - I usually stop riding during the Winter and have to train back up to form come Spring - but I'm doing a "training" regimen of 100 miles on the flat riverside bikeways, and then once I accumulate 100 miles, I start hitting the local hills, and then after that I'll start doing the longer rides and bigger mountains.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. We'll Let You Know (King Crimson)
2. Green (Throwing Muses)
3. Plane Crash in C (Rilo Kiley)
4. Free Four (Pink Floyd)
5. Kokuu (Katsuya Yokoyama - shakuhachi)
6. Want More (Bob Marley & the Wailers)
7. Long Knives (Rainer Maria)
8. Emerald Lies (Marillion)
9. No Language in Our Lungs (XTC)
10. Ritual Dance (Michael Hedges)

July 7, 2008 - The final shot from this day of shooting on the bikeways. In the past bunch of shots, you can note the sun progressively setting. This shot is along the Keelung River and it is a long exposure shot when the sky was quickly approaching darkness. That said, the sky was actually a lot darker than is seen here, and in this darkeness, of course, none of the roller bladers can be seen zipping along the track. It was really neat watching them do laps in several waves of groups. I'm a little surprised that absolutely no trace of them can be seen, as when one group was going around, one or another group was waiting in that area just inside the track. But I guess that shows how dark it was, as none of them registered on film. The brightness of the sky here is purely from the long exposure.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Revolution 1 (The Beatles)
2. On Mercury (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
3. Country Death Song (Violent Femmes)
4. Fuckin' Up (live) (Pearl Jam)
5. What I Like About You (The Romantics)
6. Nothing Is Good Enough (Aimee Mann)
7. Shogunade (Ryuichi Sakamoto)
8. Fly Me to the Moon ("Neon Genesis Evangelion")
9. Blue Flow (Heart of Air)
10. Rebel Music (Bob Marley & the Wailers)

July 7, 2008 - A plane flies over the Danshui River on its approach to Taipei's Songshan Airport (regional).


And a plane flies over the riverside bikeway. On the right is the floodwall that would protect Taipei in case the Danshui overflooded.

The Taiwan government is giving out NT$3,600 shopping vouchers (a little over US$100) to every Taiwanese citizen (and foreign spouses, I think) to try to give a boost to the economy. I thought it was a great political move. It makes everyone happy because they get a hundred free bucks, but they have to use it for shopping, they can't just save it. Although I hope there's a stipulation that people can't get cash change if their purchase is less than the voucher value. They should have to actually spend the value of the voucher or more. Otherwise most Taiwanese will use a voucher, buy something a fraction of its worth and get the cash change and save it.

Anyway, I didn't know if I was eligible. I applied for citizenship in April, but the vouchers are being given out through family registries, and I don't think I was placed on our family registry in Kaohsiung. I just got a notice in the mail from the Immigration Bureau that I am eligible and it told me where to go to get my voucher. Thank god, because my bike tires are as bald as I want them to get, and they're picking up glass (cheap rubber) and sliding on wet patches, so I know how I'll be using my voucher.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. King of Birds (R.E.M.)
2. San Tropez (Pink Floyd)
3. Mustang Sally (Wilson Pickett)
4. "40" (U2)
5. Television Man (Talking Heads)
6. Who Will Buy? ("Oliver")
7. Left of Center (Suzanne Vega)
8. Conditioner (Wu-Tang Clan)
9. Last Train to London (Electric Light Orchestra)
10. Death of a Clown (The Kinks)

July 7, 2008 - Taipei, Taiwan, along the Danshui River at Dadaocheng wharf. This is a famous place for photographers to shoot the sunset. Serious photographers come here and set up their tripods and fancy cameras so that they can all have the same beautiful, perfect, usually digital shot as everyone else.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Pale Marble Movie (Seam)
2. The Moth (Aimee Mann)
3. Life By the Drop (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
4. Distant Early Warning (live) (Rush)
5. Galileo (live) (Indigo Girls)
6. I Shall Scream! ("Oliver!")
7. Panic in Detroit (1979) (David Bowie)
8. A Pillow of Winds (Pink Floyd)
9. The Hard Way (live) (The Kinks)
10. The Tracks of My Tears (The Miracles - Motown)

July 7, 2008 - Xindian River, west of Taipei, close to sunset. Missing Summer days in the wet, wet drear of Winter. It's been raining for just several days, definitely not as bad as it has been in previous years, when sometimes it rained for two weeks straight, more or less.

My shoes are supposed to be waterproof. They very prominently claim to be "waterproof", but every time it rains, my feet get wet, so I figured maybe they're waterproof from the inside, so once water gets inside, it can't get out. But recently I looked at the sole of my right shoe and there's a hole in the sole. A small rectangular piece of the rubber sole fell out, so when I walk in the rain, the spongy insole just sucks up water. You know, the man who had no feet doesn't have problems like this.


I think this is the reverse view of the top lomo. I thought they may have been taken a few steps away, but it looks like I might have just turned around and shot the warm evening Summer light. Mmm, Summer.

Sometimes these dark, cold, rainy nights with the constant patter of rain in the alley outside make it feel like Winter will never end. Mmm, patter.

Hey Joyce, check out the Korean hip-hop:

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Silent Anticipations (Michael Hedges)
2. Aishite Aishite Aichyatta no Yo (Southern All-Stars)
3. It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) (Duke Ellington)
4. Cakewalk Into Town (Taj Mahal)
5. God (Tori Amos)
6. Dazed and Confused (BBC live) (Led Zeppelin)
7. Since I've Been Loving You (BBC live) (Led Zeppelin)
8. Paris (Epik High)
9. Hoshi o Kudasai (The Blue Hearts)
10. Ghost World (acoustic) (Aimee Mann)

July 7, 2007 - Overtaking someone on the Xindian riverside bikeway close to Wanhua.


And here is definitely by Wanhua. This is right by a major entrance gate, and there's sort of a plaza, so a lot of people congregate around there. Meaning cyclists should slow down and watch out for people trying to get kites in the air.

As I've mentioned, I think Taipei has a world class riverside bikeway system, which may or may not make up for the bike-unfriendliness of Taipei streets. And greater Taipei continues to extend and develop their riverside parks and bikeways.

In these lomos, I was riding by the Xindian River to my left. Across the river, outside of Taipei in Taipei County, a different entity than Taipei City, there's also another great bikeway, but when I last rode on it a year and a half ago, it only went to the end of the Xindian River, where it flows into the Danshui River, along with the Dahan River, which comes from a different direction.

Today, I found that I can continue on the other side beyond the end of the Xindian River, where it turns left and goes along the Dahan River. It was really excellent finding this new bikeway, parts of which are still being developed, and that it almost goes as far as I've been down the Dahan River on the opposite bank to Ying Ge. Ying Ge is the last town in Taipei County in that direction, more than 20 miles from where I live, making it a 40+ mile ride.

Once I got to the end of the bikeway in Tucheng, I was able to get on the roads and find my way to Ying Ge, and rode back north along the west bank of the Dahan River. It's not perfect, there are some things that greater Taipei can do better, but it's definitely impressive and probably a lot better than what many cities offer in terms of recreational cycling.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. A Little Buzz (Victor Wooten)
2. Intergalactic (The Beastie Boys)
3. Poor Napoleon (Elvis Costello & the Attractions)
4. Warrior (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
5. The Long and Winding Road (The Beatles - Anthology)
6. Harbor Wind (Keiko Matsui)
7. Torikoshikurou (Shiina Ringo)
8. Try Not to Breath (R.E.M.)
9. Joyful Girl (live) (Ani DiFranco)
10. Whipping (live) (Pearl Jam)

July 7, 2008 - My shadow along the riverside bikeways.


Outhouses along the riverside bikeway.

It's odd how everything is politicized in Taiwan. There was a fire in the National Taiwan University Hospital last week and a patient died in it. The daughter of the victim held a press conference blaming the hospital and had a member of one of the main political parties with her, as if blaming the other party for the fire.

I thought the U.S. was bad about shameless politicization. It seems that sort of thing happens more here than other places. It could be politicians are particularly opportunistic and swoop down on personal tragedies to push forward some political agenda.

I also read that it's the same with public TV here. It's not independent like it relatively is in the U.S., U.K., Japan and other places. Public TV which is supposed to be public interest for the betterment of society and not corporate profit, is apparently used as a mouthpiece for whatever political party is in power here.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. The Infamous Date Rape (A Tribe Called Quest)
2. The Giddybug Gallop (Duke Ellington)
3. Walk On (U2)
4. Digging in the Dirt (live) (Peter Gabriel)
5. Double Suicide (Mercy Killing) (Versus)
6. 4th of July (Aimee Mann)
7. Not a Day Goes By ("Merrily We Roll Along" - Sondheim)
8. Cowtown (They Might Be Giants)
9. Surf (Sakura)
10. Looking for Someone (Genesis)

July 7, 2008 - Over the shoulder shot along the Xindian Riverside bikeway.


The bikeways can get crowded on weekends with families and groups of friends, making them not the ideal place to, you know, "ride". You have to remember they're for recreation, people are recreating. En masse. If a cyclist wants to "ride", they should stay off the bikeways on weekends. A measure of patience and tolerance is required, safety should always come first, especially when children are involved.

There was a picture in the newspaper in a local English-language newspaper this past Friday of a college friend of mine at Oberlin, Bi-khim Hsiao. She was in the news because she used to be in the legislature and she's still involved with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and she was trying to convince a judge against the continued detention of another DPP member who is under arrest and investigation for corruption. The article was only partly about that, the headline was that her bike was stolen. Anyway, the funny thing for me was that she was wearing a pink Oberlin College sweatshirt!

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Yes, My Heart ("Carnival")
2. Secret World (Peter Gabriel)
3. Man Overboard (Blondie)
4. Sway (Shriekback)
5. Scratch-N-Sniff (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble)
6. It Takes All Kinds (Aimee Mann)
7. Providence (Sonic Youth)
8. Addison's Trip ("Bounce" - Sondheim)
9. Mind Power (A Tribe Called Quest)
10. 我要快樂 (A-Mei)

May 12, 2008 - An update pic along the riverside bikeway where the Keelung meets the Danshui River.


Continuing on the same part of the bikeway. They reminded me of when the Simpsons used the opening theme of The Sopranos. I call this section of bikeway the "5 mile extension" because there is a shortcut from the Danshui to the Keelung rivers, but taking this route adds 5 miles.

I tried quitting my job yesterday, but apparently something got lost in translation. That, or people in journalism hear what they want to hear, and don't hear what they don't want to hear. So I have to go in tomorrow with a more forceful declaration that I'm going to quit.

Working at that newspaper is an interesting study on brainwashing. It's a blue newspaper, and I consider myself center-leaning-green. Now I find myself reading green oriented news and it seems incredibly biased and practically fringe. They make Taiwan's president look like a cross between George W. Bush and Stalin. So now I'm hopelessly delusioned by Taiwan politics, and probably better off that way.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Bones of Her Hands (Archers of Loaf)
2. Vamos (The Pixies)
3. Poisoned Rose (The Costello Show featuring the Attractions)
4. East New York Stamp (Jeru & Afu Ra - "Ghost Dog")
5. Lugu Lugu Kan Ibi (David Darling & the Wulu Bunun)
6. Five Years (live) (David Bowie)
7. Mr. Blue Sky (Electric Light Orchestra)
8. Omedetou (Judy And Mary)
9. Dust in the Wind/Acoustic Guitar Solo (live) (Kansas)
10. Sea and Sand (The Who)

May 12, 2008 - Taipei, Taiwan. Keelung left bank-Danshui right bank bikeway.

This was shot in May before I discovered the benefits of night riding, which I've been doing most of the Summer. Now, in October, the days are cooling down enough that day rides are possible, i.e., more potential for ride lomos. I guess with the Fisheye 2, it's possible to take night lomos with long exposure, but I think night shots would mostly be a bunch of indistinct flecks of light.

This week I've ridden a total of 95 miles. 54 of those were on a day ride to Jinshan on Taiwan's northeast coast. Day rides being possible doesn't make them more enjoyable than night rides, though. True, I can enjoy scenery; true, I can shoot some lomos; but the choking on motorscooter exhaust fumes on major roads is something that is avoided by night riding. When I ride Route 2 from Danshui to Keelung, it's going to be a night ride.

I went exploring the bike paths along the Dahan River last night. They're not as seamless as Taipei, and they're not paved for smooth riding. They basically laid down concrete for multi-purpose recreational use and pat themselves on the back for supporting cycling, even though they're not really clear on the concept. But the further south I went, the more interesting they got, and they're worth more exploring. I went down as far as Yingge, which is as far as Taipei County goes, then returned on Route 3, getting home at a little after 5 in the morning.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Revenge (live) (Archers of Loaf)
2. She Loves You (The Beatles - Anthology)
3. Wandering Star (Portishead)
4. Holiday Gone Well (The Aislers Set)
5. Hamse Hai Sara Jahan ("Jo Jeeta Woh Sikandar" - Bollywood)
6. Oom-Pah-Pah ("Oliver!")
7. Does He Love You? (Rilo Kiley)
8. Flowers (New Radicals)
9. Vanity (Smashing Pumpkins)
10. Lost Ones (Lauryn Hill)

May 12, 2008 - Taipei, Taiwan. Riverside bikeway along the Keelung River with, I think, Mt. Guanyin across the Danshui River ahead.


The left bank of the Keelung River ends here at the confluence with the Danshui River. They've developed it into a little park, which is nice.

You know, when I first started riding around Taipei after I arrived two and a half years ago, there was room for improvement in the riverside bikeway system. I can't be too critical about it, because such recreational facilities and urban beautification projects are a luxury in many urban settings. But there were problems with access, maintenance, and passage as construction was ongoing.

Two years on, now I want to know where else in the world is there a recreation bikeway system that tops Taipei's. I haven't gone around the world looking for them, I don't know what other cities have them aside from San Francisco and New York, but in my ignorance, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Taipei has one of the world's best recreational bikeways.

Some ridiculously high percentage of Taipei's riversides are now dedicated to recreational use, thanks to the rivers not being commercially viable, of course. The bikeways are extensive, and I do want to measure them one day. Along both banks of all the rivers - some of which I haven't even been on yet, particularly along the Dahan River, I think the mileage may come close to 100 miles.

As development and construction is completed, they are becoming increasingly seamless. Just the other night, at 2 in the morning, I realized I could "time trial" 27 miles from where I live by the Keelung River to where I used to live by my old apartment in Xindian on the Jingmei River. I couldn't time trial it (I just mean prolonged riding at a relatively high pace; over 20 mph is a high cruising speed for me) during the day because there's too many people, but at night, it's more or less a straight shot, albeit with places requiring slowing down.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Don't Let Me Down (The Beatles)
2. Give Peace a Chance (John Lennon)
3. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight (live) (Genesis)
4. Underdogs of Nipomo (Archers of Loaf)
5. In My Body (Smashing Pumpkins)
6. There Goes a Tenner (Kate Bush)
7. Pressure (live) (The Kinks)
8. The Fly (U2)
9. Will You Love Me Tomorrow? (Carole King)
10. La La Love You (The Pixies)