Taiwan on Fujichrome 100

[cooltouch]

I was going through a bunch of boxes of slides the other day, after finally deciding to organize them and put them in archival sleeves. And I came across a bunch of slides I took when I visited Taiwan way back in 1994. I was there with my wife, who is a native of Taiwan, and my daughter, who was two years old at the time, visiting my wife's relatives and friends.

I shot Fujichrome 100 exclusively. The camera I used was an EOS 650. I had only a couple of EOS lenses, so I bought a Tamron 24-70 aspherical right before I left for the trip. I used it for most of my visit there. It proved to be a very good lens for walking around photography in the environs of Taipei. Sorry, some of the slides are dusty and I haven't had a chance yet to clean them properly.

Taiwan's National Museum is pretty much a "must see" site if a person visits Taiwan. Nestled into the hills along the eastern edge of Taipei, it sits there like an old dynasty palace. When Chang Kai Shek fled mainland China for Taiwan, he took most of the country's treasures with him. And most of those can be seen at the National Museum. Relying on 22-year-old memories, I recall seeing many beautiful pieces of art, including many exquisite carvings and sculpture. But getting to the museum involves the climbing of many steps. Many, many steps. Some of which I show here.



And there's still a long walk before reaching the museum proper.


Here's a rock garden and koi pond I discovered somewhere in Taipei. Sorry, don't exactly remember where.



And that was pretty much the extent of my touristy photos of Taipei and Taiwan. Taipei is like any other major international city. It has its sleek skyscrapers and posh shopping districts and nice housing areas. But most of the city is much less glamorous, full of the life and living of the people who make up the vast majority of the city.

I was out wandering around one day, trying to find my way down to the river that runs through Taipei. I was north of the city, though, in a district where my wife's mother lived, which was more rural. On my way to the water I ended up walking into what I think was probably the abode of one of the fisher folk.



Some of the fisher folk's homes and boats:

[Attila]

[stingOM]

Great series. Thanks for sharing.

[kds315*]

Wonderful series!!

[cooltouch]

I have more slides I haven't duped yet, but here are some more that I have.


I liked visiting the open-air shopping areas of Taipei. Some (most) of them had sidewalks that also doubled as streets for the motorcycle and scooter traffic.






A more typical city street


As you get away from the busy streets into some of the more quiet housing areas, often you'll run across places where it just looks like the houses have sort of grown together somehow.


In the neighborhood where my mother-in-law's apartment was, there would be four or five vendors who drove trucks up and down the streets, plying their wares, each selling rather specific items. Here's a truck that sold various food odds and ends. My wife, in the green, is examining some tidbit, with my daughter clinging close.


Each of these trucks had music they would play over loudspeakers as they drove through the neighborhoods. I got to where I knew which truck was coming based on the music I heard playing. The "stinky tofu" truck was the one that played the coolest tunes, I thought, but I didn't even want to get close to that truck because of the smell.

The fresh seafood venders would lay out their offerings in laundry baskets. Seeing baskets full of live crabs was a very common sight. Whenever my daughter would spot one, she couldn't resist playing with the crabs. Fortunately, the vendors would tie the claws closed with bamboo leaves.