Arrival

Hehheh here I am in Taiwan! And it's great to be back in the cold again =D

Heh on the plane I was watching the Thin Red Line, though SIA does have a huge selection of movies. They even had a few French films in their repertoire! But I was watching the war movie firstly cos Ms Ong recommended it, and secondly cos it conveniently satisfied the conditions for the Hist S reviews =P But it was like how long...I was stuck on that movie for the whole duration of the flight, and as it were, I hardly managed to finish it.

Hmm...the movie raises some interesting questions about the conflict between political history, social history and personal history, who tend to override each other in certain circumstances. Especially the so-called 'big' history and the personal history. Most of the time the personal history just takes place under the formal history, and is lost in time because no one has the time or the avility to record the lives of normal people, and not history-movers. And in the movie, the personal histories of the soldiers from both sides of WW2 in the Pacific are brought into the limelight, and juxtaposed with the political and military shifts that were taking place above their heads. But more on that when I get back.

First impressions...well, the first bit of Taiwan we saw was the huge concrete slab of Chiang Kai Shek airport. But we had our first surprise there too...the Nangang people jumped out from behind some planters and surprised us with their welcome =P Me, I was nearly bowled off my feet. Hehheh, it's really good to see everyone again.

Taipei city is quite like Hong Kong, with the colourful street signs sticking out everywhere, and the winding roads. Except that there aren't many skyscrapers here...in fact, Taipei 101 is just a tower sticking out of a forest of medium-rise buildings. Heh, that and the fact that everyone drives on the other side of the street, and at, shall we say, invigorating speeds =P In that, there are echoes of Lea Till speeding down that French highway...

I think the thing is that life here is more down to earth. It takes place at street level, while in Singapore, where HDB flats are ten storeys high, it takes place in the clouds. And because of that, the colourful and cheerful life that is my first impression of the Taipei lifestyle risks being obscured by the grimy facade of Taipei. And that's quite a pity, that the buildings here are old. But then again, it does add character, and what's inside the buildings is most comfortable!

Young has a great family. The mum and dad are super friendly, and he has an older brother who reminds me of me =P Their house is modest, but eminently comfortable. It does exceed my expectations somewhat, the extents to which they are going to make my stay comfortable. And the thing is that I don't expect we'd be spending that much time at home. Ah well, but their family is nice. It looks like I struck it lucky again =D

Ah...and it's good to see all of them again. Young, Yvonne and Enlai, and the others from the other schools. We all met each other again at the welcome dinner yesterday, where I got royally stuffed with all kinds of delectable seafood =P Heh it seems like we just picked up where we left off in Singapore three months ago - has it already been three months? It's most cool, to be back in their company again!

Heh I expect that I may not have the time to type so much here from now on...though this place is impressively wired up, but like I said, I think we'll be out most of the time. There's still my sketchbook to record the stuff that happens, though. Heh...later we're going out to see more of the city, and to eat. Yesterday we went to watch Quill in this enormous cinema...think Cine-sized building stuffed with nothing but cinemas from one company =) But today, there'll be more happening. And I'm eager to get going, so toodles, everyone!

pondered by phoenican @ 21.11.04