June 13, 2009
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Culture Club
You've got to love Taiwan and the Chinese culture. In one James Bond movie, the one with that gorgeous Malaysian babe Michelle Yeo, the evil one jokes about the Chinese, always eager to save face. But it is like that - losing face is about the worst thing that can happen to people here.
So when some beetle-nut-eating Taiwanese nob ran a red light, causing me to brake hard and avoid him, I hit the horn, and flipped him the bird. Eager not to lose face, he zoomed in behind me and got stuck in traffic. Alas I also got stuck at a red light, and watched in my mirror as the guy got out of his mini van, filled with similarly beetle-nut-eating Taiwanese guys, and walked towards me.
With my crash helmet and shades, I was not immediately visible as a non-Asian, but as soon as he got to me, I turned around and - in English - said "WHAT?"
His face for an instant was saying "Oh shit - what do I do now?"
And then he made the mistake of having a go at me.
So I retorted in Chinese, green and red are not the same. You see a red light, you stop.
Beetle Nut Guy wanted more, and tried to shout at me. Rob remains cool.
"Red Light. Stop Car"
Beetle Nut turned and walked away. Tosser.
Last weekend saw a company excursion to the riverside park just outside the town of Ping Lin, famous for tea. As I had a client in, I was able to not have to wake up as early as the other guys. This trip was mandatory, as the company had given us 2 days off the previous week, instead of the one which was official from the government.
I had arranged to take my client to Shenkung, famous for tofu, and then we would head up to Ping Lin. To his credit, my client did not mind the ride on the Suzuki, so we went to see Mr Chen, whose food was once more simply fantastic.
The weather was amazing, and so we then took the mountain road to Pinglin, a ride of about 20 km, winding our way along until we caught up with the road that heads down to Ilan, hardly used now thanks to the tunnel that reduced driving time from an hour to 15 minutes. I called up the guys from the office, told them to find me, and we met at the tea museum.
I then followed them a short distance until we got to the others, where fish were being grilled, as well as bamboo and meat and all sorts of stuff I would rather not know about. Having just eaten, I was once more excused having to partake in eating this weird crap, which was just fine for me!
Given the heat, the office staff was all playing with water, filling buckets and trying to drench the others. Rob strips off the football shirt, puts the money and cellphone in a dry place, and jumps in to the river. Despite not having the finest body in the universe, it got the desired looks from some of the girls in the office, who were quite taken aback by this audacity from the foreigner.
Apparently Chinese - despite the fact that it is hot and there is a river in the midst - will not strip off to the waist. They rather get absolutely drenched and then uncomfortable. The sun dried my body afterwards, and so back went the football top, and I looked the same as before. Unlike a lot of my colleagues, who looked like drowned rats.
But at least they saved face. I'm just wondering how (if indeed at all) I lost mine
