Taking Care of the World Tour

[Iron Horse]

No problem guys; louis, yeah it's something that makes Taiwan different from China, is the subtle Japanese influences here and there. 

[oomslokop]

off to a great start @Iron Horse! @Maynard Friedman didn't even blink at all the food pics!

[Iron Horse]

Thanks guys; more food pics for Maynard incoming 

Had a bit of time to go out in the evening so I headed to Ximending (West Gate Field); starting near my home:

Got to the Beimen (North Gate) area near Ximending; people here circulated a photo of this spot last year online as a meme to show the differences in aesthetic appreciation between the KMT and everyone else. On the left is a post office built during the Japanese colonial period; next to it is a red gate built during the Qing Dynasty; next to that is some moldy box built by the KMT, and then finally a modern building 

Turn around and you're at the site of the Japanese-era railway repair factories and headquarters, which is currently being renovated and will be opened as a museum:

After a short walk I was in Ximending, or Ximen for short; this area is sometimes compared to as a little cross between Akihabara and Harajuku. That might be pushing it, but it is the place to be for teens as it has lots of movie theaters, clothes shops, arcades, collectibles stores, a skate park, designated graffiti areas, etc. During the Japanese colonial period it was a theater and "entertainment" district modeled after Asakusa and developed from the ground up as when they first arrived it was just open fields, hence the name.

A number of theme cafes to be found here, like this one where everyone sits on swings with giant stuffed animals. (I forgot to take a photo of Modern Toilet Restaurant where you sit on toilets and eat out of little toilets, including chocolate ice cream )

 

Crowds:

Psy's back with his brother:

Been eating Chinese food lately so I went for some udon noodles instead:

Hey, some familiar stuff:

That's all for now!

[Maynard Friedman]

This really is great IH. The juxtaposition of those buildings is fantastic, you couldn't make that up (avoids [pre-]fabrication joke), the concrete one really is grim though.

What food pictures? The advanced ignore function works a treat!

[bartlebyyphonics]

enjoying IH posts greatly; historically informative and much culinary montage. sad no shots of ice cream at toilet foodie spot. excited for what else will come. 

[LQW]

On 9/8/2017 at 1:17 AM, Iron Horse said:

Yongkang Park has a partially defaced statue of Chiang Kai Shek, former military junta leader of Taiwan.

What Taiwan is, legally, is kind of a complicated issue. This is kind of long but here goes: Taiwan's original inhabitants were Polynesians, usually referred to as aboriginal these days. About 400 years ago, people migrated from China, especially nearby Fujian province, mostly fishermen and tea farmers, but did not colonize the entire island because of its rough terrain and pushback from native people. The Spanish, Dutch, British, and Japanese all tried to colonize Taiwan in the next few centuries but mostly failed for the same reasons. During this time, China's ruling dynasties didn't really care much about Taiwan and considered it mostly a wild and untameable place with few natural resources, though they did extract some tribute. 

At the end of the first Sino-Japanese War in 1895, Japan stipulated to the Qing Dynasty that it wanted Taiwan as part of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which from all accounts didn't bother the Qing very much. Japan was trying to become an imperial power at the time in the mold of Europe's imperial nations and saw great value in Taiwan. It would serve as a stopping point between the Japanese mainland and its prospective territories in Southeast Asia; raw materials would be taken from SEA, through Taiwan, and then on to Japan proper. Taiwan was also a source of timber, including the Camphor tree, which is used to make camphor, or menthol ointment. What's more, Taiwan was to serve as Japan's model colony, unlike Korea. The local people were treated well, so long as they didn't rebel, and Japan introduced railroads, standardized education, Taiwan's first universities, irrigation, running water, and much more. Of course, in turn the local people were educated in Japanese. This lasted until 1945, when Japan lost in WWII, and as part of its surrender it had to hand Taiwan over to the US; at the same time, in China, the Chinese government which succeeded the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China (ROC), led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek, was in a civil war with Mao Zedong's communist People's Liberation Army. The communists won, establishing the current People's Republic of China (PRC) and the ROC government fled in exile to Taiwan. While Chiang's reps had accepted Japan's surrender on behalf of the Allied Powers, the US never officially handed over Taiwan to the ROC, so one could make the case that legally it's still a US protectorate. At any rate, the ROC (or Kuomintang) became Taiwan's government starting in 1949 as a military junta and treated its stay as temporary with the intention of one day taking back China, though that was really a pipe dream. It was a one-party dictatorship, though better than the communist one back in China, and democracy and other parties were not introduced until 1996. The current Chinese government maintains that Taiwan belongs to it, though the PRC never had control of Taiwan at any point, making it a dubious claim, so for all intents and purposes Taiwan is a de facto independent nation with its own government, flag, passport, currency, immigration laws, etc.

 

Awesome pics, Iron Horse! More importantly, I wanted to give props for the background you gave concerning Taiwan. Being Taiwanese and growing up in the States where few are familiar with cross-strait relations it can be discouraging to hear things like "Taiwan is a part of China since their ancestors are Chinese" or "Taiwan is the democratic China" (equating Taiwan with the ROC) or "Why not let Taiwan be a SAR like Hong Kong", etc. Not because those persons aren't entitled to their opinions, but  discouraging because those persons probably got their opinions (and often misinformation) from some random reddit comment and now they are that much more closed-minded about the issue.

Any clear, reliable background like yours (even on a forum for denim enthusiasts!) is a step towards raising awareness regarding Taiwanese political/cultural identity and I send you good vibes.

Edited September 12, 2017 by LQW

[Iron Horse]

9 hours ago, LQW said:

Awesome pics, Iron Horse! More importantly, I wanted to give props for the background you gave concerning Taiwan. Being Taiwanese and growing up in the States where few are familiar with cross-strait relations it can be discouraging to hear things like "Taiwan is a part of China since their ancestors are Chinese" or "Taiwan is the democratic China" (equating Taiwan with the ROC) or "Why not let Taiwan be a SAR like Hong Kong", etc. Not because those persons aren't entitled to their opinions, but  discouraging because those persons probably got their opinions (and often misinformation) from some random reddit comment and now they are that much more closed-minded about the issue.

Any clear, reliable background like yours (even on a forum for denim enthusiasts!) is a step towards raising awareness regarding Taiwanese political/cultural identity and I send you good vibes.

Thanks LQW, it's something that takes a while to explain for sure! Of course, step one is reminding people Taiwan is not part of Thailand. 

[Iron Horse]

Had to work yesterday but I did get lunch out and then went to pick up my re-soled boots at Dr. Sole:

Sunny day, the view if Taipei 101 from my home:

And the view of Yangmingshan, the volcano people like to hike on:

Morning coffee at home:

Got lunch, a kimchi dan bing:

Fit pic:

Dr. Sole:

Re-soling display and finished boots and shoes waiting to be picked up by customers:

Boots and shoes waiting to be re-soled:

Soles and heels customers can choose from:

Simple Sample, their own line of women's Goodyear-welted boots and shoes:

Re-soled boots:

Dr. Sole showing off one of his favorite shirts  He says he's worn his The Rite Stuff shirt almost every day this summer riding his scooter to protect himself from the sun:

Shop paraphernalia: 

 

 

[bartlebyyphonics]

^^

very very nice shoe repairing business!

thanx for sharing

[jigsaw]

 

@Iron Horse 

I love this kind of update and wanted to know how long is the resoling process with Dr.sole gonna take?  wanted to resole some of my boots with them whenever i visit Taiwan. 

[Iron Horse]

32 minutes ago, jigsaw said:

 

@Iron Horse 

I love this kind of update and wanted to know how long is the resoling process with Dr.sole gonna take?  wanted to resole some of my boots with them whenever i visit Taiwan. 

Hey Jigsaw, I think this took me about a month. Obviously they have a lot of boots to resole, but I think the max I've ever waited was 2 months for my Chippewa rebuild.

[Iron Horse]

Part 1 of today:

Got some of HK's famous Jenny Cookies the other day, couldn't help but nab some:

And some chick cakes from Tokyo:

Finally got out to Taipei 101; when it was built in the '90s it was the tallest building in the world. It's since been surpassed a few times by other buildings though. The design is meant to look like bamboo, but a lot of people commented after it was built that it looks like a pagoda for the dead (bad luck!) There are 101 floors, hence the name. Along the lower level are four giant ancient Chinese coin designs (the circle with the square) and along each other break is a ruyi symbol, which is a carved wooden talisman meant to bring good luck.

I took the photo from 44 South Village, a former military dependents village. These were buildings left by the Japanese (notice the black tiles) that the KMT took over after WWII and used as barracks for their soldiers. They added slapdash concrete to the buildings and then later abandoned them. Some, like this village, have been remodeled. This one has a restaurant, ice cream, a gift shop full of handmade and organic items and galleries. Inside, a shot of the jeans:

The restaurant's private dining room:

An alleyway:

Very sunny and hot! Kind of hunchbacked.

Moving on, went inside Taipei 101 to the food court. Caramelized duck tongue anyone?

How about chicken feet?

Got oyster omelet, fried rice, and fish ball soup:

And of course pearl milk tea in a light bulb with a flashing keychain attached for good measure (the tag reads "I'm super handsome"):

Edited September 23, 2017 by Iron Horse

[Iron Horse]

Dinner time! Maynard, food photos ahead.

When in Taipei you have to try xialongbao and Din Tai Fung is a great option, so is Jin Ji Yuan down the road:

The entrance downstairs, which is also the kitchen:

Jeans are holding up:

Started off with fried bread:

Fried chicken rice:

And of course, xiaolongbao, or steamed dumplings:

[Iron Horse]

I guess my leg is done (?) if so, who's next?

[jigsaw]

Damn thats fast, very niceeee leg @Iron Horse

[Bobbo]

Loved your leg Ironhorse.

Well, I think we're actually done with the original roster but I'd say it would be fun to keep them going for everyone who wants to do a leg.
If there's still someone who wants to try them out I'll talk with Inoue and tell him we will prolong it for a little while longer.

Currently we have Reverendglasseye, Louisbosco and FeloniusMonk that have stated their interest. Are anyone of you up for it?

[oomslokop]

miss dr sole on sufu! he used to be very active, dropping knowledge all the time on all things sole- and shoe-related. for the life of me i can't remember his sufu moniker though. anyone remember?

[Iron Horse]

22 minutes ago, oomslokop said:

miss dr sole on sufu! he used to be very active, dropping knowledge all the time on all things sole- and shoe-related. for the life of me i can't remember his sufu moniker though. anyone remember?

Here you go:

https://supertalk.superfuture.com/profile/160435-thinker0217/

[Bobbo]

@ReverendGlasseye @louisbosco @FeloniousMonk are either of you up for a run with the world tour jeans?  Or anyone else for that matter? 

[FeloniousMonk]

I think I will have to take on the next leg of the Roys world tour, so I'll pass on this for the immediate moment if that's ok.

[louisbosco]

i don't mind taking this leg so i can get it out of the way before the DWC2. would anyone mind posting current measurements on the waist?

[Iron Horse]

I'll measure them later but they feel like a 34 

[louisbosco]

hahaha. i'd hope not. i read somewhere while ago. it might be 30-31 or so..

[Paul T]

What a great set of entries and pix.

And i'm not just saying that becos it features my denim book!

[Iron Horse]

@louisbosco Yep, they measured at 31, but because of the high rise the waist feels loose on me and I'm a 33. 

@Paul T Thanks, I actually picked up your book at that magazine store several years back, but it's in Japanese and I can barely read it. 

[louisbosco]

alright. i can work with a 31. if no one else in line mind, i'd gladly take them for a month..

[louisbosco]

i hope this arrives soon. flying out to singapore for a couple of nights, would love to take them along..

[louisbosco]

so. the jeans arrived today. sadly this means i wasn't able to wear it with me to singapore. just tried it for fit. the waist is a tad loose, nothing a belt can't fix. the rest of it however, you can tell it isn't for me. but i might find a way to make it work. i'll play around a little to see how this goes..

 

 

in the meanwhile, here's some stuff to wheat your appetite

 

 

[Foxy2]

Kudos for trying!

Although, if you stick to sushi it will take a while for you to fill those pants...

[bartlebyyphonics]

indeed.

@louisbosco nice trying on. that loose look is the bizz in my books, but not for all!

hmmm nice looking sushi and sashimi. is that grilled eel i see... 

and i thought you didn't eat vegetables: scallions sneaking in that roll there...

good trip wishes...