I haven't done a "scenes" post in a while so...
Here are some photos from my recent visit to Hualien City in Taiwan. It's a smaller city of about 110,000 people including the students who provided an example that there is a significant difference between Taiwan and Mainland China in the availability of online services such as Facebook.
The photos aren't intended to be representative. Given that Hualien City is a common base for several nature sites popular with tourists, I tried to focus a bit on other aspects of the city. A few capture daily life, a few capture some scenes that struck me as remarkable in some way, and a few show some of the retail & marketing that can be found there.
Here are some photos from my recent visit to Hualien City in Taiwan. It's a smaller city of about 110,000 people including the students who provided an example that there is a significant difference between Taiwan and Mainland China in the availability of online services such as Facebook.
The photos aren't intended to be representative. Given that Hualien City is a common base for several nature sites popular with tourists, I tried to focus a bit on other aspects of the city. A few capture daily life, a few capture some scenes that struck me as remarkable in some way, and a few show some of the retail & marketing that can be found there.
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| One of the busier street intersections |
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| Definitely the best van I saw in Hualien. |
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| A street famous for its food |
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| Just a regular street |
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| Apparently Nike believes "Just Do It" does not need translating into Chinese. |
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| I haven't seen a Blockbuster in Shanghai (easy to think of reasons why). |
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| Wal Mart went for the pink look. |
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| Birkenstock stores appear to be common in Taiwan. |
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| The Hollaback Girl hair salon - I believe walk-ins are welcome. |
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| Just what I was looking for |
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| Not what the sign was indicating but this is good enough. |
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| Some Hualien high school students who are excited to go shopping. If they look familiar, they should. |
Brian. I find your photos are getting pretty addictive. What camera are you using, or is it more about composition?
ReplyDeleteHow you can put Italian and Chinese food in the same sentence, I don't know, as I am definitely not a fan of the latter at all.
Even after 7 years in the PRC, I found the smell of a lot of Chinese food to be off putting.
KingTubby, my more recent photos (most that I've posted) were taken with a Panasonic GF2. It's a micro four thirds camera -- essentially a way to get almost SLR quality in a smaller size. The main weakness is that it is not as good as an SLR in low light conditions, but otherwise I'm very happy with it. Earlier photos were taken with a 6 year old Panasonic FZ5.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the food... I think the comparison of the role of food in different cultures can hold true regardless of whether people from each culture would enjoy the other's food.
I'm not sure I would last 7 years in a place if I strongly disliked the local food. And for what it's worth, I've had a number of Chinese dishes that I think most people in the West could enjoy without realizing they're eating Chinese food.
Maybe that's a post for another day...
Brian.
ReplyDeleteThat seven years. I'm was a homebody and am a good cook.
Probably overstated things since I like Korean and Vietnamese food a lot.
Taiwan sounds like a nice place and some of the shops with greenery in front remind me of Korean small cities.