Gentlefolk,
This post describes our main activities during the month of May 2024.
The highlight of our month was the Trip-a-Deal tour of Taiwan, 16 - 25 May 2024. Photos and details below.
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| Author of "Lydia's Child" Valentine Kirychenko interviewed by Jennifer Rivers at the Woden Library. The book is primarily about his mother Lydia's life (1910 - 1958), but of course his father and Valentine are also covered. |
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| Frank enjoying the Pork Knuckle at the German Club restaurant, He polished off the whole meal, while I could only manage half! |
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| I attended Mike Burgess's funeral. I met him when I joined the Department of Trade way back in 1971. Good guy. When he was 70 Mike fell in love with rowing. He went on to win many Master's championships. |
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| We went to Sydney a few days before our departure for Taiwan, and had Mother's Day lunch with Andrew, Caz and the kids; Yum Cha at Westfield Plaza which included chiken feet! |
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| Andrew & I went to the Waratahs v Brumbies game at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney on Saturday night 11 May. The Brumbies won a tough & wet game!!! We are having another good season, sitting third on the ladder, the best Aussie team again. Some Aussie teams have beaten Kiwi sides this year, so maybe the gap is closing a bit. This season we beat the Highlanders and the Hurricanes, but got thrashed by the Chiefs and the Blues. |
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| Jay is learning basketball at a church hall in Bondi Junction. She also does Netball. |
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| Seeing Eddie and Jay off at Waverley Public School in Bronte Road. |
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| Andrew dropped us off at Sydney Airport on 15 May for our flight to Hong Kong and on to Taiwan. |
Here are photos of our Trip-a-Deal tour of Taiwan 16 - 25 May 2024 (with some Taiwan - Australia comparative statistics further down).
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| Our tour itinerary: Taipei - Taitung - Kaoshiung - Chiayi - back to Taipei. |
DAY 1 Thursday, 16 May 2024
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| The Capital Hotel Songshan (658 Section4 Bade Road, Taipei) is the middle building. Small rooms, but well located near the Songshan MRT station and the Rohe Night Market. |
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| The street outside the Capital Hotel Songshan. |
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| This was where guests had breakfast every morning (average food). We couldn't understand why it was packed every afternoon - turned out that the Hotel served a Vegetarian Buffet from 2.30 - 4.30pm - an odd time, surely? - which was very popular. |
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| The advertisement for the Capital Hotel Vegetarian Buffet - a bargain for A$15! |
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| We accompanied Sandy & Lou on the 4km long Maokong Gondola. It terminates at the Muzha Tea Plantations, where we enjoyed a pot of local Tie Guan Yin oolong tea. |
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| View of Taipei from the gondola. |
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| A rugged mountain range dominates the length/centre of Taiwan, most of it covered with thick jungle. |
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| That night we ate dinner at the Raohe Night Market, just across the street from the Capital Hotel. Wonderful range of food which is freshly cooked while you wait. Lots of people milling around, bright lights, noise, an busy atmosphere. Eating at the Night Markets was the highlight of Taiwan for me - good fun, delicious food, and inexpensive. |
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| One of the dozens of food stalls - delicious freshly-cooked food |
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| Another typical food stall. Lots of people moving through the market. |
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| Sandy and Lou shopping at the Night Market. |
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| Vera & me enjoying street food at the Night Market. |
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| The following morning, the stalls were gone, and the street is open for traffic again. Everything very clean and tidy - amazing transformation given the dozens of stalls and big crowds the night before. |
DAY 2 Friday, 17 May 2024
We met the whole group this morning - 35 people - all Aussies except for a couple from New Zealand.
Bus to Pingxi, then an old diesel train the 15 kms along the Keelung River to the small town of Shifen. This town is known for launching sky lanterns. Then bus to hill town of Jiufen for lunch.
Back to the Night Market for dinner.
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| Our guide, Laurent (Cheng Jyi Tsuen). At university he majored in French and Business; he spent some years in Export / Import companies, and finally became a tour guide. He told us that he held the rank of Second Lieutenant when he did National Service 20 years ago. At that time, all eligible young men had to do 2 years; subsequently it was reduced to 4 months; recently increased to 12 months. Vera & I liked Laurent, although some of the group thought his English was not quite up to scratch. |
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| Welcome to Shifen, sky lantern town. |
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| The lanterns have 4 panels for writing wishes; we shared with Sandy & Lou. When ready, some 'paper money' is lit and the lanten takes off. Quite a sight to see dozens of lanterns rising into the sky. |
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| Bus to the hill town of Jiufen - we were not the only visitors! |
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| The town of Jiufen is built on a hillside. Most of the group went up the hill, but we stayed near the bus station; had lunch with Victoria. |
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| Sampling and buying Pineapple Cake products; we were enthusiatic after our cooking lesson. |
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| Visit to Long Shan Temple un Wanhua District, Taipei's oldest temple. Originally built in 1738, it was completely destroyed by Allied bombing in 1945 - but the statue of Guanyin, Goddess of Mercy and of the Sea, miraculously survived. The temple was rebuilt in 1957. According to Laurent, over 90% of Taiwanese believe in a combination of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism - several of the temples we saw contained images of all three beliefs. The temples all seemed pretty busy, with many people, young and old, praying. |
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| The statue of Guanyin which survived the bombing in 1945 is the centrepiece of the rebuilt temple. |
DAY 3 Saturday, 18 May 2024
This morning we visited the National Palace Museum and the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. Lunch at the main train station, and then by fast train to Taitung, 320km south, on the East Coast. |
| Sun Yat Sen statue near the entrance to the National Palace Museum. He is regarded as the "father of modern China" - the first President of the Republic of China in 1912, following the end of the Qing Dynasty. When Chiang Kai Shek fled to Taiwan in 1949 following the Communist victory in the Civil War, he took many historic treasures from the Forbidden City in Beijing which are now housed in the National Palace Museum. It was Saturday, and a free day, so big crowds in the Museum. The following are some of the artifacts we saw, all in wonderful condition. |
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| Next we visited the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. Dedicated in 1980, on the 5th anniversary of his death, the 76 meter high hall dominates the extensive landscaped gardens. Inside is an imposing bronze statue of former president - reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. |
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| Walking up to the CKS Hall. |
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| Statue of Chiang Kai Shek (1887 - 1975). In 1949 he fled to Taiwan following the Communist victory, and ruled with an iron fist until his death in 1975 (this period was later called 'the white terror'). When the Korean War started in 1950 the USA guaranteed Taiwan's security and also supported it financially. Chiang's statue is smiling, but I doubt he smiled often in real life. |
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| On the front terrace looking towards the Ming-style gate. Two magnificent structures in classic Chinese palace style, on the left the National Concert Hall and on the right the National Theatre. |
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| The impressive formal changing of the guard, every hour, is a major visitor attraction, |
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| The basement of the CKS Memorial houses a museum, half is devoted to CKS himself, and the other half to "the long road to democracy", when free elections were finally introduced in 1992. This picture is of Chiang's inauguration as President of the Republic of China in May 1948, with his wife Soong Mei Ling. Eighteen months later they fled to Taiwan. Chiang vowed to retake the mainland, but it never happened. His old enemy, Mao Ze Dong, died in Beijing in September 1976. |
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| With Vice President Lyndon Johnson, May 1962. The USA saved Chiang Kai Shek with military and money. |
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| One of Chiang's official cars, a 1955 bullet-proof Cadillac. |
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| Huge rally in 1992 in front of the CKS Memorial - the people finally demanded (and got) free elections. |
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| We took the "high speed train" from Taipei to Taitung (325 km). Top speed was 130km per hour. Comfortable ride. We stayed two nights in The Travellers Inn - basic accommodation, but well located in the centre of town. The Night Market was close by, as was a shopping mall, and the Tienhua Music Village just behind the hotel. Vera's feet were hurting so we bought a pair of sandals, which helped. |
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| Musical entertainment at the Night Market in front of the Sheraton Hotel in Taitung. Surprised to see a Sheraton Hotel in a relatively small town - an impressive hotel, it seemed to be well patronised (rooms were not cheap at about A$170 a night). |
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| Local musicians at the Blues Club behind our hotel. |
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| An illuminated garden near the Music Village. |
DAY 4 Sunday, 19 May 2024
Bus to the town of Chishang, north of Taitung. Shared "Thomas the Tank Engine" electric buggy with Sandy & Lou. Banquet lunch at Golden Harvest cooperative - delicious! Sightseeing at the Lu Ye Plateau.
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| Cruising around the rice paddies with Thomas. |
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| Lou & Sandy. |
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| Lou found a friend! |
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| Nice views from the LuYe Plateau. This is a popular area for hot air ballooning and hang gliding. |
DAY 5 Monday, 20 May 2024
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| Some decided to just walk along the coast - the beach was rocky, not attractive. From left: Vera, Barbara, Jodie, Graeme, Aiden, Al, and Pauline. |
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| I joined Sandy and others for a bike ride around Taitung Forest Park and along the beach. Afterwards we had lunch in a small restaurant near Taitung Train Station. A kind of bento box was A$4 - tasty. Later had a look at the nice orchid display at Starbucks. |
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| On board "Breezy Blue" a refurbished train from the 1950s, so called because open windows provide the cooling! |
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| We stopped at a village and learnt something about the local Paiwan indigenous culture. The Govt recognises 15 indigenous tribes which represent about 2% of Taiwan's population (most are located in remote and hilly areas). After years of neglect there is now an effort to revive traditional languages and customs. |
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| Sign of a group of indigenous in front of St Joseph's Cathloic Church which seemed to be the focal point of the Village. |
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| Our journey on "Breezy Blue" continued up the West Coast to Fangliao; from there by bus to Kaoshiung the 3rd largest city in Taiwan. Mangoes are valuable and farmers cover buds with white plastic bags - looked like snow! In Kaoshiung we stayed at the Guide Hotel, a big newish hotel but it took us three goes to get our room key to work (the hotel installed a new system which had teething problems). Big spacious room with king size bed! That night we joined Xie Si Jing and Lao Wu for dinner in a small family-run restaurant - delicious dumplings for A$4 per person. Si Jing told us that she was studying in Sydney in 1989 and accepted PM Hawke's offer of permanent residence for Chinese students after Tiananmen. Her husband joined her later. Their daughter studied veterinary science, did well in government, and now runs a lobby group in Canberra. |
DAY 6 Tuesday, 21 May 2024
Half-day tour of Kaoshiung (hot and humid today); lunch in an upmarket mall (delicious Thai green curry for A$14 pp, sat with Terry & Judy); then bus to Chia Yi. Visit to Hinoki Village, a Japanese -style complex made of wooden buildings (really, an outdoor shopping centre); Japan aquired Taiwan when it defeated China in 1895, and ruled it untul 1945.
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| In Kaoshiung we visited Lotus Lake, saw the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas, and the Qi Ming Tang Temple. It was a very hot and humid morning - unpleasant. |
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| The magnificent Qi Ming Tang Temple which is dedicated to Buddhism, Taoism and Confucius (all bases covered!). There are lots of beautiful temples in Taiwan. Our guide said that they were all built and maintained by the local community - impressive. |
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| A group of women were chanting - Buddhist nuns??? |
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| Hinoki Village in Chiayi was just another shopping opportunity. |
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| The "wishing wall" at Hinoki Village. |
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| The Holiday Inn in Chiayi was the best hotel of our tour. |
DAY 7 Wednesday 22 May 2024
We spent the day in Ali Shan, a hill area not far from Chiayi. The road climbs steeply from sea-level to about 2,000 meters, quite an feat of engineering. Nice vistas, old and new forests, walking paths. We were lucky to miss most of the showers which were intermittent during the day.
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| Tea plantations at Ali Shan. |
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| Hello, hello! |
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| Oolong Tea tasting. They served two green teas and two black teas. |
DAY 8 Thursday, 23 May 2024
Bus from Chiayi to Sun Moon Lake; visited temples; boat ride on the Lake. Then on to Taipei; stopped at Taipei 101 and Duty Free Shop (no one bought anything). Dinner in the Night Market. |
| A view of Sun Moon Lake. |
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| This mural showed the wonderings of the monk who brought Buddhism back from India. |
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| Temple overlooking Sun Moon Lake. |
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| Boat ride around Sun Moon Lake. |
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| We stopped at Taipei 101 which at 508 metres was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2020. There is a viewing platform on the 89th level (A$30); but it was raining and none of us went up. |
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| Night view of Taipei 101 from the "Aerial Garden" on Level 11 of Capital Hotel. |
DAY 9 Friday, 24 May 2024
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| We wandered around Taipei Zoo for about 3 hours. A good selection of animals, and seemed to be well housed - see following photos. |
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| The Keelung River was only a block from the Capital Hotel. It has been nicely landscaped, and has good cycle/jogging/walking paths on both sides. |
DAY 10 Saturday, 25 May 2024
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| Saying goodbye to Victoria (Perth) and Jennifer (Brisbane). |
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| Bus to the Airport - Taipei has impressive infrastructure: extensive road and rail systems. We had 3 hours in transit at Hong Kong Airport, then on to Sydney, Arrived at 6am on Sunday. We were through the Airport by 7am. |
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| Took the 8.30am Murray's bus from Sydney International Terminal to Canberra; arrived at 11.30am and we were home before midday. Did a wash, then went to the Old Bus Depot Markets for lunch - what a disappointment after the wonderful street food in Taiwan! |
Comments on our tour of Taiwan.
I was hoping to get a sense of the common person’s attitude towards China, but it was actually difficult to meet locals as we had a busy program. We saw little evidence of police or military.
The highlight for me was the street food in the Night
Markets: the hustle and bustle of the Night Markets was addictive and the food
was so tasty and inexpensive.
Other observations:
We saw lots of temples. Chinese temples are
intricate/ornate, works of art. Four TV channels seemed to be devoted to
Buddhist teaching, and at least one TV channel to Christianity.
Good infrastructure – road network and subways.
The people seemed friendly. There wasn’t as much English as I
expected.
Good personal security – we never felt unsafe (but we kept
to busy areas and not late at night).
Only saw a couple of largish solar farms, and a few wind
turbines. I thought the hilly terrain would be conducive to hydro? Most of
their power is still generated by fossil fuels (which must be expensive).
Convenience Stores, especially Seven Eleven and Family Mart, are everywhere - they really are convenient!
Good toilet facilities, plentiful, clean and free!
The Museum at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial is half positive
to him, but also half negative – described his dictatorship and the long road
to democracy.
All in all, we had an interesting and enjoyable 10 days in
Taiwan. We had a friendly group. But we feel we have probably seen most things, and were able to get a feel for the
country. On the way to the Airport our guide, Laurent, asked who intended to
return? No one responded! He was mortified. We feel the visit was definitely worthwhile, but we won’t rush back.
How do Australia and Taiwan compare? Find out below..
Taiwan –
Australia statistical comparison
Source: CIA World Factbook (cia.gov/the-world-factbook)
accessed 26 May 2024
Note: figures have been rounded; figures
may also apply to different years – check source for more detail.
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Key indicators |
Taiwan |
Australia |
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Area |
35,980 sq km |
7.7 million sq km Tasmania is 68,400 sq km |
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Land Used for
agriculture, of which: ·
Arable land ·
Permanent crops ·
Permanent pasture |
23% 17% 6% - |
47% 4% 0.04% 43% |
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Irrigated
land |
3,820 sq km |
15,210 sq km |
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Population |
23.6 million |
26.8 million |
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Labour force |
11.5 million |
14.1 million |
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Population
growth rate |
0.03% |
1.13% |
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Urbanisation |
80% |
87% |
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Life
expectancy at birth |
81.6 years |
83.5 years |
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GDP at
Official Exchange Rate |
$611 billion |
$1.7 trillion |
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GDP at
Purchasing Power Parity (To get PPP the World Bank
adjusts GDP to allow for different cost structure in each country) |
$1.1 trillion |
$1.3 trillion |
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GDP/PPP per
capita |
$47,800 |
$51,100 |
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Composition
of GDP: ·
Agriculture ·
Industry ·
Services |
2% 36% 62% |
4% 25% 71% |
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Exports |
$389 billion |
$465 billion |
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Imports |
$309 billion |
$368 billion |
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Electricity
generation, major sources: ·
Fossil fuels ·
Nuclear ·
Solar & wind ·
Hydro |
82% 11% 3% 2% |
75% 0 17% 6% |
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Military
expenditure |
2.4% of GDP |
2% of GDP |
Taiwan’s National Day is 10 October (1911) commemorates the
start of the revolution which, a few months later, resulted in the collapse of
the Qing Dynasty and its replacement by the Republic of China with Sun Yat Sen
as its provisional leader.
The three major political parties are DPP, KMT and TPP. The
DPP candidate for Presidency (William Lai Ching Te – his inauguration took
place on 20 May, during our visit) was elected with 40% of the vote (his predecessor got 57% at the last election)(; the KMT
got 34% and the TPP 26%.
In the current Congress (Yuan) the KMT hold 52 seats, the DPP 51 and the TPP 8. So the electorate seems conflicted: they elect a DPP President but don't give him a majority in the Congress, which will make governing difficult.
News items which caught my eye in May 2024.
($ are US
dollars unless otherwise shown)
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Global
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UK: PM Sunak announced a General Election will
be held on 4 July; Darren Rentz caught
a 64kg catfish near Malden, Essex; Manchester City won the Premier League, Arsenal
was second, Liverpool third. Canada: charged 3 Indian nationals with the
assassination of Sihk separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Vancouver in
June 2023. Mexico: bodies of 2 Australian brothers (Jake &
Callum Robinson) and an American friend were found in Baja, Mexico. Brazil: extensive flooding in southern Brazil, 80+ dead
and 850K displaced; Madonna free concert on Copacabana Beach attracted crowd
of 1.6M! Israel: UNRWA closed its office in East Jerusalem
following attacks by locals. Israel dropped restrictions on settlements in
norther West Bank. UN: The UNGA voted to support Palestine: 143 YES,
25 abstentions, 9 NO (USA, Israel, Hungary, Argentina, Czech Rep, Nauru,
Palau, PNG.and Micronesia). Ireland, Spain and Norway formally recognized Palestine. Fiji: Former PM Frank Bainimarama was jailed for
12 months. Eurovision: Song contest won by Nemo from
Switzerland (first non-binary). India: signed a long-term contract to manage Iran’s Chabahar Port; might face sanctions? India's General Election is held over 6 weeks, final voting finishes tomorrow. Thailand: monarchy reform advocate Netiporn
(28) died during hunger strike. Iran: President Raisi and other officials died in
a helicopter crash. France: 84+ police injured in rioting in Noumea, New Caledonia, a French Pacific
territory; Macron visited. Singapore: severe turbulence hit SIA flight
SQ321, 1 dead, 104 injured. PNG: huge landslide in the Highlands may have killed over 500. Tennis: Rafa Nadal (37) was beaten
by Alexander Zverev (27) in the first round of the French Open – Nadal has won Paris 14 times, end of an era?
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Israel – Hamas (Gaza) |
Colombia joined Bolivia in severing
diplomatic ties with Israel over Gaza. Turkey suspended trade with
Israel, for its actions in Gaza. Hamas accepted a ceasefire deal
proposed by Egypt and US, but rejected by Israel. USA threatened to ‘pause’ bomb shipments to Israel if they launched a ground attack on Rafah, but Israel went ahead anyway. IDF seized Rafah border crossing – now controls Gaza’s entire border with Egypt; aid convoys down by two-thirds; humanitarian crisis worsens. Despite moving to IDF-designated "safe zones" many Palestinians killed and injured by IDF attacks. The UN's International Court of Justice is considering issuing arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders for “crimes against humanity”. It was revealed that for years Mossad has conducted a secret campaign to denigrate the ICJ. Evidence emerged that Gazan detainees were
shackled and abused in Military hospitals. The pier built by the US Army
Engineers for aid into Gaza was damaged by rough seas and will be out of operation until repaired.
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Russian invasion of Ukraine |
USA imposed sanctions on 12 Chinese
companies for supporting Russian military. Russia is spending 6.7% of GDP on
military.
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USA
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Judge Juan Merchan finally fined Trump $9K for violating his gag order in his NYC criminal hush money trial. Trump removed the offending posts, but is getting huge publicity through his actions. On 31 May the jury found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 criminal charges relating to the falsification of businees records in this hush money trial. Sentencing is scheduled for 7 June 2024. Florida judge postponed Trump’s trial on mishandling classified material after he left the
White House. Continuing pro-Palestine protests
on campuses; thousands arrested. Students want their universities to divest
from military-related investments. The Federal Reserve kept interest
rates steady – no change since July 2023. Preliminary statistics of 2023 US
trade: Exports $2,051B goods + $1,003B services; Imports $3,112B goods +
$715B services = Trade deficit $773B (goods deficit $1,062B + services
surplus of $288B) of which deficit with China $279B. President Biden hugely increased tariffs
on $18B imports from China in strategic sectors such as Steel, Aluminum, Chips,
EVs, Battery components. Tariff on EVs will be 100%. After 8 weeks, the container ship
which hit and damaged the Baltimore Bridge was refloated. Over 1 million homes in Texas were without power following severe storms. A third person has tested positive for bird flu related to the disease in dairy herds. The Dow Jones Index lost 1,000 points in the last 3 days of May, to 38,111.- stock markets are jittery.
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Australia |
Following a meeting of the
National Cabinet (PM + State Premiers and Chief Ministers) Govt announced
funding of A$925M to help women to leave abusive relationships. The Treasurer Jim Chalmers handed
down the 2024-25 budget: projected A$9.3B surplus (second surplus, after A$31B in current financial year). Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan
appeared before the truth telling Inquiry by Yoorrook Justice Commission. In his 2021 annual security assessment ASIO chief Mike Burgess said that a “nest of spies” had been uncovered. Commentators speculated that they were either Russian or Chinese. But an American source now revealed that they were actually from India, and that 2 Indian diplomats had been expelled (India is part of the Quad Security Group: Australia, Japan, USA and India). Questions raised about the
remuneration earned by University Vice Chancellors (most over A$1M pa), given
that many Universities record budget deficits. Aust Govt cancelled A$3B in
student HECS debts; in future HECS will be increased according to the CPI or
WPI, whichever is the lower. Qantas will pay penalty of A$100M
for selling tickets on cancelled flights. Govt allocated A$160M to establish
a national firearms register. Cumberland Council in Sydney
decided to ban a book on same sex parenting from their libraries. There was a
huge outcry, and the decision as reversed a week later. David McBride, former Army lawyer and
whistleblower, was sentenced to 5 years jail. Central Coast Mariners beat Melbourne Victory 3-1 to win A-League Soccer.
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China |
China launched the Chong 6 rocket
to bring back samples from the far side of the moon. President Xi Jin Ping visited
France, Hungary and Serbia. 5 day holiday for Tomb Sweeping Day, to commemorate ancestors.
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On May 1 we watched 2015 documentary “The Dalfram Dispute 1938”. In November 1938 waterside workers at Port Kembla refused to load pig iron destined for Japan on the Dalfram, believing it would be used to make bombs and bullets against China. A long and acrimonious industrial dispute followed, during which Robert Menzies gained the moniker ‘Pig Iron Bob’. The doco included interviews with survivors of the 1938 Nanjing Massacre, in which hundreds of thousands of Chinese were killed.
Afterwards Penny Lockwood hosted a Q & A (the doco was based largely on her father’s book).
Monday 27 May (the day after our return) was "Reconciliation Day" a public holiday in Canberra. It was a gorgeous autumn day, and we went to Commonwealth Park and watched performances by indigenous musicians. There were a few food stalls, but none compared with the wonderful street food we had in Taiwan!
Tonight (31 May) we attended a production of "Mother & Son", based on the marvellous TV series from years ago. It was performed by an amateur theatrical group, who did a fine job entertaining us.
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| Vera with Bill, one of the actors in "Mother & Son". |
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That's it for this post.
