Second Floor

I already saw many kinds of parking places for cars and high-capacity storage carousels for them as well, though it was first time when I've seen anything similar for bicycles. One can find it close to 劍潭 (Jiàntán) MRT station and they've built lately another in 公館 (Gōngguăn) station too (that's the place where I took a picture).


You can park roughly as twice bikes as before and it seems to be way more organized (and instruction table is available), you will just miss fun taking out your bike from the huge pack :-)

k.


Soundtrack: Moby - Lift Me Up

Weekend With... Ys

Time to try something new. Joanna Newsom and her Ys. Basically it's all about her voice, the lyrics, perhaps better to say stories, and the harp with backing orchestral arrangements. Her voice is sort of recalling Björk (though that impression wasn't so strong as when I heard Gollum's Song by Emiliana Torrini during The Two Towers final credits).

I see the blossoms broke and wet after the rain
Little sister, he will be back again
I have washed a thousand spiders down the drain
Spiders ghosts hang soaked and dangelin'
Silently from all the blooming cherry trees
In tiny nooses, safe from everyone
- nothing but a nuisance; gone now, dead and done
Be a woman, be a woman!

She asked me for the attention. I cannot just sat back and ignore her as she's offering two simple options -- join her or let her walk away. One of best moments: two vocals at the end of Only Skin.

Recommended for night listeners...

k.

Thin Yellow Line

As usually in subway, in Taipei MRT system (Mass Rapid Transit) there is a line on the platform which you shouldn't cross. In the most frequent stations, there is even barrier with automated doors between the platform and railtrack. At some places one can see staff with whistle supervising the traffic (on the other hand, there are no "pushers" with white gloves which you can see in Japan). The entire system seems to be very well organized.


The others noticeable features are the screens all around the platform announcing ETA for the next train (perhaps the main reason is to make people watch the ads going on over and over) and the fact that train is suppose to stop each time at the certain place. Then, people waiting for the train in small line-ups (see the white stripe -- 候車線 (hòu chē xiàn)) can just walk in.

k.


Soundtrack: Fatboy Slim - Right Here, Right Now

Pour Féliciter 2007

Pour Féliciter 2007


Thanks for the picture to 瓊慧 (Qióng Huì).

Water Machine

They say that tap water here isn't suitable for drinking (especially for long-term using) and I've actually never tried. There are many water machines available providing basically the same: cold, warmer, and hot water (with approx. temperature 7, 22, and 100 Celsius according to the indicator) which suppose to be clean. You just need to push the right button (blue, white, and red).


There goes cleaning routine procedure (I don't know much about it, it seems that machine's cleaning its pipes with boiling water for one hour and half) every night after midnight. For sure, there's another required maintance in order to keep the filters working.

Happy drinking!

k.


Soundtrack: The Chemical Brothers - Push the Button

Měli by ze mě radost...

... kdyby se to dozvěděli. Aneb Novosvětská v mém novém světě. Minulý měsíc se v Taipeii zastavil Královský orchestr z Holandska a na programu měl Dvořákovu symfonii č.9 a Svěcení jara od Stravinského. Toho skladatele jsem znal jen po jménu a nevěděl jsem, o co se jedná ; definitivně mě ale zaujala fakta, že premiéra "způsobila legendární poprask poprask" a "...hudba na posluchače v prvních řadách hudba působí doslova fyzicky." Shodou okolností jsem pak ve třetí řadě seděl. O koncertu mi pověděla učitelka na čínštinu a protože vím, že má Dvořáka ráda, dvakrát jsem se nerozmýšlel a zeptal jsem se, zda by nechtěla jít. Chtěla.

Rozumějte, tohle bylo pro mne velká událost, symfonie Z Nového světa je ta nejkrásnější hudba, kterou jsem kdy slyšel a hudba, která mě dokáže rozplakat. A tentokrát to bylo poprvé, co jsem ji slyšel živě. Pozorovat dirigenta a orchestr při hraní důvěrně známých tónů bylo doslova magické, navíc umocněné blízkostí, ze které jsem je mohl sledovat.

A kdo by ze mě měl radost?

• moje máma, která se ze mě s oblibou utahuje, že nemám hudební sluch a hudbě nerozumím (té to povím :-) )


• všechny ty partičky českých vlastenců a nacionalistů (ti si to mohou přečíst)


• já před nějakými dvanácti lety, pokukujíc po jedné atraktivní vyučující -- ovšem bez nejmenšího ždibce odvahy ji někam pozvat (tomu to již bohužel do minulosti nepošlu)

V neposlední řadě mají jistě radost všichni ti, kteří jsou již unaveni z anglicky psaných postů. Tohle je ale zrovna případ té jedné vlašťovky, která ještě jaro nedělá. Omlouvám se...


k.

7/11? 24/7!

7 Eleven is the brand of small shops which are literally everywhere (talking about Taipei). Their opening hours is 24/7 and another advantage is its service: from food to the toothpaste, magazines and newspapers, and at some places ATM and copy machine.

There are several shops in NTU campus (providing 7 or so % discount for the students), which is useful especially for those students who keep to study till late night. There are some others brands, such as Hi-Life, Family Markt (全家 -- Quán Jiā).

^.^ k.

P.S. The view from the other side -- taking picture of 7 Eleven can be interesting for me in the same way as for Chinese people can be witnessing a foreigner taking picture of something so common.