Taoyuan Nights

I’m a big fan of Stephen Chow (Chow Sing-Chi), and also of the co-actors that always show up in his films (Ng Man-Tat for example). Unfortunately, I’ve been feeling rather deprived recently, because the films that are shown on cable in Taiwan are unpredictable, in the sense that I have no way of telling what […]

Finally, I get my first links page written. 1 page down, 30 to go. Ouch.
Take a look - you might find something you like…
http://www.taoyuan-nights.com/links/

I was walking towards Yingko the other day, trying to track down a temple that was hammering out ‘bong, goink, bong, goink’ at an impressively loud volume across the hills of Gweishan. As I walked along, I noticed that in one case, the omnipresent rusty barbed wire surrounding the factories of the area had been […]

This week, like Michael Turton, I’ve been taking advantage of my post-exam-marking holiday by using the opportunity to wander around Taipei. I had barely taken a step from the train, however, when I came across a wondrous collection of books…

I’m not sure I want to try saying the name of this bookshop aloud.

An encouraging title.

Now, […]

Two months ago, Tealit weren’t very quick at updating their page of lottery numbers, so I went to find an alternate source that supplies them faster. It turns out you can find the Taiwanese Receipt Lottery numbers a day or so sooner, at this site.
For 11/12, 2006 they are:

43811818
14761884
26739963
83265253
Bonus 661

The rules are a little confusing: […]

I’ve been busy marking coursework for the last week, and now my laptop is off for a repair, so I’ve been a little bit quiet as far as the blog is concerned. This period of reflection has, however, led me to ponder one of the greatest mysteries of Taiwanese life.
Fact 1. It is part of […]

One of the greatest joys of shopping in Taiwan is finding things that repeatedly slipped through the safety net of good judgement. Particularly, I’m thinking here of the many films that simply should never have been made in the first place, much less duplicated en masse on DVD and marketed in a department store. Let’s […]

One look at this sign on a bus, tells you all you need to know - that it isn’t fun to be a duck with places to go in Taipei.

Photograph of blatant anti-duck propaganda on a Taipei bus service near Da’An MRT station.
These signs started popping up on buses around Taipei in response to the […]

One of the things I like most about the areas away from Taoyuan city centre, is being able to see the sky at night. If you were born in a densely populated city, rather than out in the country and away from bright lights, then you possibly don’t feel the same urge to stare into […]

I often find myself travelling around town on the number 7 bus, which links Taoyuan city centre with Ming Chuan University and the Guishan area. This bus takes a slightly roundabout route, and passes through a good part of the industrial area of Taoyuan that is near Guishan.

One of my favourite landmarks on […]