Indonesians & Indigenous Taiwanese Share Taichung Park

    

     Yesterday, while I was bike riding up the Han River to read a book, my wife sent me a Line message; would I like to visit Bobao in Taichung Park? "Of course," was my reply. I feared another boring weekend day in the condo avoiding the crowds around Taiwan. Instead, I took a deep breath and when I got home from my ride, we hopped on the scooter and headed over to Yi-Song Street for lunch before crossing Jin-Wu Road into Taichung Park. 

     Bobao is the Tai-Ya man we met in Guguan
http://taichungjournal.blogspot.tw/2015/08/a-trip-to-guguans-hot-springs-and.html, the one who makes the traditional Jew's Harps called le-ong and does cultural tours around Taiwan and the world introducing Taiwan's indigenous people's culture. There was to be a fair at the park with his booth included among the other colorful traditional clothing and homegrown produce; tangy apples from Pear Mountain. 

     Taichung Park is tiny

compared with Prospect Park in Brooklyn, but it is still big enough to lose your way once you enter. Like blind-man's bluff with an elephant, one side of the park feels like a sports center with tennis courts, another side has shrines left from the Japanese park's creators, defaced by the Kuomintang, of course, replaced by the DPP, of course. Another side of the park has a running track for Guang-Fu Elementary School. To the center of the park lies the heart of Taichung, the landmark twin pagodas on an island in the middle of a rowboat lake, high fountains, and birds in shady trees. Where was Bobao's booth? 

      The Facebook post said Bobao was near the red bridge leading to the pagoda island. Entering from Yi-Song Street, one first passes the running track and sees the large twelve-year-old goat lantern. Alas, we found tents and heard a sound stage. Surly Bobao was there. We crossed a green lawn
  with dozens of picnickers' blankets, hundreds of picnicking people with snacks, beverages, some alcoholic, even some smoking cigarettes and bidis, the traditional smoke of Asia Minor. We realized we had walked into the weekly Sunday gathering of Indonesian guest laborers enjoying their day off from the factories they toil at in Tan-Tzu, Feng yuan, and areas around Taichung. From miles around, Indonesian guest laborers, many of them practicing Muslims, make their way on Taiwan Railroad and walk the mile or so through the downtown Taichung business district to Taichung Park. With their finest clothes, men and women in modern t-shirts and caps, the more orthodox women in saris and burkas, they don't feel alone far from home. Too bad the good Han Chinese of Taiwan are having none of it. 

     To most Taiwanese, Taichung Park has been 'taken over' by the foreign laborers on weekends. Having already 'lost' Taichung Park on weekdays to homeless people, the nights to prostitutes and unsavory sorts, local Taiwanese have painted themselves into a corner in this; one of the most beautiful gifts left by the Japanese when Taiwan was their colony from 1898 to 1945, a colony fully incorporated into Japanese territory with amenities for the locals such as parks, shrines, railroads, department stores, willow washes.
     The Indonesian government will be ending their foreign worker contract with Taiwan in 2017 because of the booming economy and the need for more workers back home, but until then, the 174,662 Indonesian foreign care workers (30% of the 580,000 migrant workers; another 20% Filipino) will continue their 'blood-sweat' jobs for decades of their lives working more than ten hours a day caring for Taiwan's elderly, with little time off and exclusion from protection under the Labor Standards Act. When they leave Taiwan, they will be replaced by migrant workers returning from Vietnam, and now Myanmar and Cambodia to help ease the labor shortage in a rapidly aging population. 
     Sunday is their glorious day, thanks to Allah, to socialize in Taichung Park. 

       Taichung Park had had its Taiwanese heyday in the sixties and eighties until downtown was abandoned by Far Eastern Dept Store after two fires, the movie theaters closed, and seedy pachinko parlors catered to errant youth lost in modern western schlock culture, on amphetamine. Even Sea King Restaurant and McDonald's restaurants fled the Taichung's skid row as the affluent-minded, Mayor Hu, abandoned the beautiful old city hall building and moved Taichung's government to the Westside. The politicians gave up downtown and Taichung Park; not the people. The underworld and foreign laborers then took it over. 

Curious Indonesian Onlookers 

     Now with the downtown revival movement picking up steam, thanks to our new Mayor Lin, Taichung Park is benefiting from the rehabilitation with the space used for the Lantern Festival, and events such as the Indigenous Festival we went looking for yesterday.   

Bobao's le-ong stall

     Finally, we found it, across the stone bridges over the lake, near the entrance to the park on the east side, there was Bobao's stall occupied by he and his lovely wife, drawing interest in the bamboo creations he had on display, playing his le-ong, holding a mini-workshop for the much too few Taiwanese

Taiwanese checking out their indigenous culture

who came to be part of the festival. Meanwhile, the Indonesian guest laborers looked on in curiosity, basically leaning on the ledges of the bridges and the walkway behind the lake, not getting involved much with 

the Indigenous festival, though there were some brave souls who literally crossed the bridges to join the other side. As few as there were, there were hardly any Han Taiwanese who crossed the other way besides an enterprising lottery card hawker. Taichung is not going to become an international city so long as there is suspicion and prejudice against the two sides. It seems like only Taiwan's indigenous people are capable of bridging that gap, though they have to learn some sensitivity, too. 

     Whoever had the idea to roast a whole pig and display it near the festival was unaware of the un-halal pork to the Muslims from Indonesia. Call it half-assed planning, but whoever oversaw these two festivals on either side of Taichung Park, spent no time interfacing or incorporating the two. 
     It almost felt like a Sunday afternoon in  Central Park, NYC, where steel kettle drums share the space with t'ai-chi dancers, hipsters, sunbathers, rollerbladers, and families on their way to the zoo. Taichung Park can be just like that, but someone in government has to try harder to do so. Mayor Lin is trying.

    Mayor Lin has the idea of turning First Square into an international food court.  First Square is the old First Taichung market built by the Japanese and used for years by locals for the freshest produce and meats. It has come into the old pattern of not being kept up with the times and becoming relegated to the second-class foreign laborers, and shunned by Han Taiwanese.

     Mayor Lin, feeling the strength of Taichung’s powerful international community, is making First Square into a palace. The old adage applies: "When the good Lord gives you broken lemons, you make lemonade." The foreign laborers are already here; let's give them their place at the table and integrate them into Taiwan's mosaic. But will the Han Chinese of Taiwan balk?There is a lot of prejudice that has to be exposed, dealt with, and overcome.
     Making an international food court for Indonesian, Filipino, Cambodian, Indian, Japanese, Myanmar, Korean, Thai and Indian Asian neighbors is the ticket home! The color barrier that Han Taiwanese put up must be put into its racist grave. If they are not part of the solution, they are part of the problem. 

Downtown Taichung: No Longer Going Down the Drain

Moon Festival Birthday Party

9-27-15 

     We had our now annual Moon Festival party last evening. Leona's father came with her brother, sister-in-law and daughter, her aunt (mother's sister), her female cousin with her daughter (but not her son) her male cousin with his wife (girlfriend?), her friend with her husband and son, and towards the end of the evening, her nephew came followed by his brother, both of whom were returning from a bushiban. In all, there were 14 guests here. 
     The food was great, both bought by us and brought by guests. The fresh oysters in the shell and kaoliang sausage from my wife's friend were notably excellent, but everyone brought something. My matzo stuffed Portobello mushrooms sucked; we had no bread crumbs! Everyone loved the 'water bamboo' brought by the male cousin; it looked like corn grilling on the barbeque and tasted a little like bamboo. Mr. and Mrs. Ma didn't come nor did Leona's other aunt (father's sister) or her cousin's son. Wayne didn't respond to my IM invitation and Miss Lee rightfully ignored it when I flippantly invited her in class. 

     Leona has really taken to these parties that we have on New Year's Eve, The Fourth of July, and the Moon Festival. It took some work to get her to realize it would be fun. Our condo is large enough to have different circles of activity in the dining area, living room, and outdoor patio. The indoor patio would be a logical center but there are no activities there outside from CD's I put on. If there was a pinball machine there, the guests would love it, especially the youngsters. Not being given one for my 60th birthday is still my regret. 

      The people who came to the party are her family and our support system in Taiwan. The party also served as a birthday party for her male cousin's wife and we had a big cake and sang the song. We were able to see the moon, though not full until tonight, and even saw fireworks being lit; there may be a typhoon obscuring the view of the moon tonight. 

     The air is cool and dry in Taichung now; the sky is clear. A reminder of the last cross-island typhoon is the branch from the palm tree that was bent and broken; it came off yesterday. This typhoon, originally heading north towards Japan, made a sudden left turn and came west towards Taiwan. At last report, it was supposed to hit land tomorrow; a shame because of the three-day weekend it will interrupt, especially in Taipei. 

Another Big Typhoon

9-29-15 7:48 am Mon.

      I was awakened around 2am by Leona talking in her sleep. This time the typhoon is predicted to start hitting in four hours; around noon. I took almost everything off the patio and removed the fence from around the ledge; part of it got destroyed last time.

      I got four well-wishes from the states from five friends.

      It is 10:00 am and the rain is falling. Leona said the typhoon is moving faster than expected. The winds haven’t come yet.

9-29-15 7:32 am Tues. 

     It is raining outside and has been since the typhoon came through around 10am yesterday. Now it is all rain but little wind. For eight hours yesterday, it was mostly wind with a little rain; that is how typhoons go. I'm sitting in the enclosed patio filled with three rolled up sections of plastic fencing I removed from the ledge on Saturday; it would have been blown away and destroyed if I hadn't removed it. The only things that were blown away were an unused cat litter box and a few plant leaves. 

     Classes at public schools and colleges have been canceled in Taichung today. I'm not sure if I have to go to American Eagle tonight. I don't have Mandarin tutorial this morning anyway. My last ride up the Han River was Sunday. This will be the second morning without a bike ride.

9-30-15 6:38 am Wed. 

     The patio is back to the way it looked before I dismantled it Saturday in preparation for the typhoon. It only took about fifteen minutes to remove the fencing around the ledge but it took almost four hours to put it back up. The old plastic fence had become crispy over months in the Taiwan sun and I had to close many holes with plastic fasteners. It was my exercise for the day. Placing the palm tree down saved it from damage in the wind. The only thing we lost was an empty litter box that blew away. I don't know if one damaged plant will survive; it was in bad shape even before the storm tossed winds. Now he's down to a few leaves at best.

     Again, I didn't ride the bike up the river. In the evening, there was no American English class to ride to.

10-18-15
      There is a woman on the roof of the ugly building across the alley from me leaning over the ledge and talking on the cell phone. She doesn't care that it is 7:18am on a Saturday; she does it without consideration of anyone else but herself. The lot next to her building, which had its tattered aluminum corrugated fence partially blown down in the last typhoon, was reported by someone for tall weeds exposed within. I heard that the owner got a ticket. Men were sent to cut the mosquito forest down. They did so earlier this week without protecting themselves or anyone outside the perimeter as debris and rocks were strewn helter skelter onto the lane where Leona and I were getting her scooter ready to leave. The crumpled fence lies on the ground of the lot covered with unswept leaves and grass from the mowing. It will not be removed; it will rot there until new mosquito colonies invade. Ah, the woman on the roof has moved, but I can still hear her 'ums' and uhs' as the person on the line does most of the talking.

The Double-Ten Weekend That Wasn't

10-8-15
     It would be nice to go to Sun Link Sea tomorrow for a night. There is the annual meteor shower that we witnessed last year that I would love to see again from the cool, fresh, clear, dry mountain air of Sun Link Sea. I will mention it to Leona but she won't want to go. I wish I had a friend who would join me for some celestial observation. No one I know in Taiwan (and perhaps only a few friends in America) would go with me and I won't go alone. Maybe I'll contact a friend I met here two years ago, on a whim, just to see what he says. I just sent him an e-mail. There may not be any rooms there, anyway, because of the holiday. It would be a change from staying home for three days, though I like riding up the river.

10-10-15

      My flirtation with my first friend in Taiwan was starry-eyed but brief. He slinks back into his  existence with a reminder that he does come into Taichung once a week, without suggesting a plan, just to cover his karmic tracks. The vague invitation he gave to the Tibetan restaurant he'd forgotten we'd gone to was his parting shot. Too bad the Taiwan holiday crowds and weather ruined what could have been fine meteor shower gazing. I don't regret contacting him though; he's the closest thing I have to a friend in Taiwan. 

     Because of the three-day weekend, and weekends in general in Taiwan, there is nowhere to go that won't be overrun with families out of their workplaces to lend meager purpose to their otherwise bland existences. There are dark blue clouds to the west that might mean rain is heading this way.

      It has been pouring in Taipei up north with President Ma and his entourage donning cheap cellophane-wrap rain ponchos to make speeches for the 104 birthday of the Kuomintang. The Chinese across the Strait have been celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of WW II and the birthday of the People's Republic. Their holiday is longer. Leona says there is a rumor China will curtail tourist trips to Taiwan until after the January election, as they did four years ago, to highlight the dependency Taiwan has on their economic stimulus. To us, it means we can travel more comfortably without buses of rude Chinese tourists mucking things up, especially if we go on a week day in which case even Taiwanese tourists will be held at bay by their jobs and schools.