Many Stars in the Taichung Baseball Sky

     I went to see the Taiwan All-Star game yesterday with my son who is visiting Taiwan from Shen-Zhen. He is a big Yankee fan and had been asking about going to a game in Taiwan since there are no professional baseball teams in all of China and little interest among the sports-minded.

 The first night my son was in Taichung, I made a nice dinner for us and we chatted. We even watched part of "Kano" until I saw he was yawning and suggested he go back to his hostel room on the other side of Taichung. The next morning he was due back for breakfast at 9 am to watch the American Major League Baseball All-Star Game which was broadcast on TV here. Meanwhile, Leona helped get tickets for the Taiwan All-Star game on July 25.

     At my Forth of July barbecue, one of my guests expressed interest in seeing a baseball game with me while my son was here in Taichung. He checked the schedule and saw the last game in Taichung in July was the eleventh. He didn't tell me about the upcoming CPBL All Star game to be played in Taichung.

     A few days later, at a Family Mart store, I noticed a sign advertising the All-Star game. I texted my guest, Wayne, and asked him if he wanted to go. He said 'yes.' I asked him a few times to confirm the date and he told me to buy a ticket for him which I did.

A few days later, Wayne texted me that he had forgotten a wedding party he had to go to; he couldn't go to the baseball game that he had asked me to buy a ticket for him. He offered to try to sell the ticket but I asked him to wait; I would see if I could get someone else to go with me and Ariel. I thought of my American friend, Robert.

     Since it was Robert's birthday, and he loves the Boston Red Sox, I contacted him to buy the ticket. He hadn't gotten back to me yet and it was the last day to sell back the ticket. My wife asked her brother if he wanted to go to the game. She didn’t want to go to the game. It would be complicated to get a refund so I got back to Wayne and told him to sell the ticket himself.

     Through a Facebook event posting I learned Robert had decided to host an event Saturday evening and wouldn’t be joining Ariel and me at the Taiwan All-Star game. He though it his event would be more fun than hanging out and seeing a live baseball game with my son. Robert would miss the fun of going to the game with me and the enlightened discussion the die-hard Red Sox fan would have had with Ariel, a life-long Yankee fan. In this contest, the Yankees definitely won. In this ex-pat world of denial and ignorance, Robert wouldn’t care and could never be told what opportunity he had missed. Wayne would miss it, too, and would be out 600 NT if he didn’t sell the ticket I bought for him. 

     Robert responded with the obvious that he wouldn’t use the third ticket I had for the Taiwan All-Star game Saturday evening; after his post about hosting an event, I knew. Wayne hadn’t sold his ticket yet. I would be happy if Leona went but she was still not interested. If Ariel lived in Taiwan, it would be better for him and me. I would have someone to play with when Leona, Robert, Wayne or whoever.

     Yesterday was  the All Star game at 5:05pm. Wayne just sent a Line message to Leona that he couldn’t sell the ticket that he backed out of using; he had confused the dates with the wedding he was attending Leona has no intention of reversing her stand and joining us at the ball game. I will try to sell the ticket outside the ball park
    Robert, Wayne, and Leona foolishly passed on going to the All-Star game yesterday. Wayne will be out 600 NT for forgetting he had a wedding to attend. Leona should have gone to the game as my wife, Ariel’s step-mother, as a baseball fan, and to let Wayne off the hook. Robert blew the chance to become a closer friend and, as a result, made himself more distant. When Ariel leaves Taiwan I will again have no one (other than Leona) to do anything with. Ariel and I had a great time at the game.

MLB legends light up CPBL All-Star weekend event By Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

US Major League Baseball legends Jason Giambi and Ivan Rodgriuez were the special invited guests for the ceremonial first pitch at yesterday’s opening of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) All-Star Weekend festivities at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium.

The two retired superstars and former teammates of Taiwanese pitcher Wang Chien-ming in the US were greeted with applause and enthusiastic cheering from the more than 12,000 spectators in the ballpark.

Giambi and Rodriguez, who is also known as “I-Rod” or “Pudge,” were joined at the ceremony by Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung, CPBL commissioner John Wu, World Baseball and Softball Confederation president Riccardo Fraccari and Johnson Fitness chairman Lo Kun-chuan.

Befitting his reputation as a power hitter, Giambi was the batter at the plate for the ceremonial first pitch, while, in another setup, Rodriguez replayed his familiar role as a star catcher to receive the pitch tossed by Lin.

Giambi and Rodriguez were all smiles in front of the near-capacity crowd, saying afterward that they were moved by the fantastic atmosphere generated by Taiwanese baseball fans at the event.

The two former American League MVP’s and MLB All-Star players are lending their luster to Taiwan’s own version of the “Midsummer Classic,” as the MLB All-Star Game is also known, and both are to participate in this weekend’s main event — the Home Run Derby, which is to take place today from 5pm at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium.

In the warm-up event yesterday afternoon, Team Speed defeated Team Power in the base-running competition.

In the CPBL All-Star Game, Chinatrust Brother pitchers Cheng Kai-wen and Chen Hung-wen started on the mound for Team Speed and Team Power respectively.

Lamigo Monkeys slugger Lin Chih-sheng blasted a solo home run in the second inning to equalize the game at 1-all, before Team Power scored again in the seventh to take a 2-1 victory.

New Han River Bike Path and Bridge

Han River Poems : riding the new bike path along Han River east:   riding the new bike path along Han River east as outsourced gardeners slash weeds  on the western mall cool typhoon winds whipping west...

Tainan and Anping Fought Back

Tainan Train Station

     The Taiwan Railroad brought us back from a three-day vacation in Tainan. It takes two hours to get from Taichung to Tainan, Taiwan's most picturesque city. The High Speed Rail would be faster but it leaves you at a station more than five kilometers from downtown.
     I sit in the Hotel Rich dining room on the first morning of our trip to Tainan. I didn't necessarily want to visit Tainan, even though I like the city, but it was as good as going anywhere and much better than going nowhere during summer vacation. My wife decided we would go there and made all the plans.

Kangyo (Land) Bank

 There was a typhoon predicted to be going towards Tainan with major rainfall possible the next few days. We were prepared to cancel our second night there if the weather deteriorated, but by the end of the first night on the comfortable hotel bed, I was inclined to stay. The only drawback to our room is there was no window to see when it was dawn or if it was raining yet. 
     The day we arrived, we walked from the 1936 Japanese built train station in the North District a few blocks and checked into the hotel at 114 Chenggong  Road. Our luggage stowed, we left to walk the streets of old town Tainan while the weather was still dry. 

Hayashi (Lin) Department Store

     Initially, downtown seemed like any other downtown area in Taiwan - a Family Mart, a jewelry store, a pharmacy, a scooter repair shop - but then we started to notice some differences along Zhongyi Road. 
     Among the many temples along Zhongyi Road is the shrine to Koxinga, the 17th century Chinese military leader who drove the Dutch out of Taiwan, the Dutch and the seven foreign European "companies,"  the enslavement and massacring of indigenous and Chinese.

A Dutchman surrendering to Koxinga

     As I left the shrine, I felt a thump on my chest. I experienced an itching sensation. When I scratched it, I got a burning sensation as if from Szchuan chili pepper under my nails; my wife said my chest  looked reddened. 
     As the feeling dissipated, we joked that Koxinga's spirit may have thought I was another red-haired foreign invader and dealt  me a warning. This is the undercurrent of our Tainan-Anping visit is the violence and exploitation introduced to Taiwan by Caucasian enemies. The story of Koxinga must be told. It doesn't make you proud.

Declassified  U.S. bombing missions 

Map of declassified U.S. bombing missions

    When we reached Jhongjheng Road, we saw the Land Bank, originally Kangyo Bank built in 1928, its Neoclassical architecture, the rows of grand columns shielding the enclosed sidewalks from the Taiwan sun and rain. Catty-corner to it is the refurbished Old Lin's Department Store, another Japanese structure damaged by American bombing raids in WW II, though "American" was deleted from the English translation to not offend anyone who couldn't read Mandarin. The five story structure, with original elevator and rooftop shrine, are a must to visit for a feel of 1930's pre-war Japanese Taiwan progress, the kind the Chinese invading troops admired, but destroyed, in awe. 

     The American bombing of Tainan is written all over the Hayashi (Lin) Dept. Store with each inch of cement that was replaced. A number of buildings have been preserved in Tainan. Taiwanese commemorate the bombing of Taipei by American planes; the thousands killed and injured, the hundreds of historic buildings flattened; it happened in Tainan, too. 

Five of the seven European "trading posts" still stand

      It is not the Taiwanese fault that Japan did more for Taiwan in fifty years of rule than the KMT/DPP with America did for seventy years since. If the threat of Western imperialism and colonization didn't force Japan into a "Hail Mary" in World War II, Taiwan would be a happier annexation to Japan, an Asian democracy with socialist undertones. Instead, the Taiwanese live deep in the bowels of the beast and, like us in this hotel room without windows, have no idea how the skies look in the real world. 

As it was, the Dutch post in Anping

     People here know the deep oppression that would slaughter them again if they flinched towards true independence, from America or China. It is the biggest insult in Taiwanese history. They don't want another "White Horror."

Sailing the German flag into Anping.

     The Dutch, along with Angelo-Saxons and other European marauders, ruined indigenous world history for five hundred years. It will be coming to an end, soon. When capitalism crashes and self-management (anarcho-syndicalism) returns profit to the workers who earn it, we, the people, can get back on track. The ruling class partners in stolen lands won't give up their power easily; the killing will continue, but we must try. 
     You can see what the Dutch West Indian Company did in Tainan by visiting Anping; the history preserved so well. Koxinga caught the Dutch off guard, but was just another Taiwan oppressor. 

The Taiwanese girlfriend waiting for her red-haired lover to return 

     The preservation of the history of imperialism and colonization in Taiwan is imperative to give inquisitive youth an understanding of the current phony two-party neo-liberalism, despite the attempts of revisionist history the KMT Chinese want to revert to.
      Would China protect Taiwan from further abuse or has Western propaganda done damage so deeply to Taiwanese culture that the people would go against their cultural identity and language cohorts to fraternalize with the enemy? 

Bullfight Steak House is no bull

On a quest for the perfect steak in the Taichung area? I found it! After trying overpriced American beef of Ponderosa or Outback (the place with the Oz name but no Oz beef)  my choice is Bullfight Steakhouse in Feng-Yuan, three stops north of Taichung Station. When you get off the train go to the only department store in town, Pacific, and take the elevator to the 11th floor. 

     Let me tell you about the steaks at Bullfight. You need not put any sauce on it to taste the flavor. There's  a choice of American or Australian beef. When you ask for a medium-well, that is exactly what you get. The meal includes soup, drinks, bread and dessert. You will not be regretful if you go. The prices are low and the atmosphere is good, clean, with friendly waiters. 
     Bullfight's owner has moved most of his business to China (turncoat!) but there are three steak restaurants left in Taiwan. Catch it while you can.