243. KEELUNG, TAIPEI

 

A large port city, just outside its capital city of Taipei, where I flew into from Singapore...flight time slightly over 4 hours...arriving around 6am due to an hour's delay at departure...

It was wet and rainy, chilly, windy, grey - end Winter early Spring...

I'm in Keelung to participate in this event, organised by Chankerk Teh of My Art Space together with local organisers in the same industry. Paul Wang of Everfun Holiday which is associated with the Evergreen group of companies, took care of the ground arrangements and arranged some really nice rooms for us facing the Taiwan Straits. Several photos taken by him are reproduced in this post.

Other photos are from Ong Wee Teck and Chankerk, with a handful from fellow participants.

Photos from Wee Teck Ong...

Street food - a cultural heritage

What a sight for bleary eyes after an overnight flight! Aptly named Rainbow Cafe - our Taiwanese host Paul Wang, bought us coffee allowing us to relax, enjoying the really beautiful view in front of me. The passionate sketchers got to work right away!

The cafe itself was like an art gallery with curios and paintings on its 2 levels

The cafe and the hotel are still in Xmas mood...! My sense is - the Taiwanese are frugal, not wasteful people. They are environmentally aware. If the decorations are still up it could be due to storage space, it's wasteful to dismantle them and a problem with disposing of them and bad for the environment to dump them someplace...

We walked across a narrow bridge which connected the 'mainland' to Heping Island, to this little eatery operated by a former boat Captain and cook who's attachment to the sea was strong so what better place to operate a small, simple eatery serving simple fare with what came out from the sea which was at his doorstep. He was almost ready to close but obliged with a few simple dishes which we gobbled up quickly. It wasn't enough so later in the afternoon, we headed across the hotel to a really nice cake cafe where we indulged in good cakes and coffee. The coffee culture in Taiwan seems popular and wide spread - there seems to be more such joints than their bubble tea places...

I like that Teh Chankerk's philosophy is to support small local businesses, especially those mom and pop stalls...it's something I subscribe to...

Their legendary street food meals on wheels and holes in the walls are part of the landscape...really inexpensive mainly hot meals...a meal is from S$2-3

Eatz!

More eatz!

holes in the wall businesses. All he needed was a massage bed and voila! he's in business!

3 seats for pedicure/feet massage - cosy and homey!

When there's a lull, this tailor takes a snooze - I'm sure she started early and closes before dark...

Such businesses can be found in the older shopping complexes in Singapore particularly in Bugis Village and it's full of character. In the older housing developments, little shops are part of the market set ups and it's nice to see. Another area I like are the shops above Tekka Market and Food Center in Little India, Serangoon Road. Colourful, chock-a-block with merchandise, vibrant...it's good to have an entrepreneural culture and should be encouraged with rents kept affordable. Small businesses succeed due to their products be it food or merchandise or services not because of fancy decor or paraphernalia or gimmicks...

Brought them out for an airing...

Like a time tunnel...

There was a reprieve from the wet weather and I went for walkabouts led by our host artists, Chu Chichu and Wang Chieh and our jovial ground agent Paul...

A little bit of history a little bit of culture on the walls - took us to some nooks and crannies tucked away in some corner still occupied by residents...this too is full of character...

Air raid shelters cum ammo dump. They had a tumultuous history and were under the Japanese as a colony for 50 years...and then some...those were warring times, the strong swallow the weak as in big fish eat small fish. The alpha males are all about power, control and dominance as is so in the Animal Kingdom...it is so with the Human Mammals. It's an Evolution of the human mammals as they are passed through the crucible to emerge into a finer product...every tribe in every nation has gone through this, some are still struggling to emerge from that crucible (as in events in the Middle East) how long they stay in that crucible of fire depends on the collective karma of that particular tribe...

Artist Wang Chieh put up this story board of tiles about this neighbourhood and a person, Xu Zisang (Khoo Tsu-song) who lived at the top of the stairs, whose home we were about to visit, now abandoned...he was a Mayor of this district during the Japanese colonial period.

Although a prominent figure from a prominent family who contributed much to society, this family mansion was never restored. I suspect it's politics although the official reason was the legal status of the house's ownership...

The only way is UP and up again! The sign at the bottom of the stairs announces the Historical Home...

Up the stairs took us to this abandoned residence...Paul Wang has a write-up here...he didn't tell me he'll be posting my mug shot here and elsewhere, he took the pics with his camera so I suppose it belongs to him...his camera does make me look youthful...!

It's peaceful, silent - no breeze, no birds, no insects...just verdant greenery and that's healing...what men built on Mother Nature's body is reclaimed by her once it's abandoned and neglected. Nature grows over it, reclaiming the land...

Location location! - in it's heyday it would have been a gracious family mansion for an important public figure...holding court with officials, entertaining visiting VIPs...

At the very top was a view of the port and surrounds...Paul Wang had this to say in his charming poetic style from translations...

This art decor style caught my eye...

A whole day of drawing was spent on the 19th floor of the hotel feverishly trying to complete this panoramic view of the port.

I preferred to view and appreciate the beauty of the surroundings - how ethereal it looks in the rain, how grey it is and how colourful it will get once Spring comes along...

Our host artist Wang Chieh explaining his interpretation of the same view - each one had a slightly different perspective from the 19th floor...

After this 'stressful' day on the 19th floor, I was thrilled to go out in the rain to explore 2 old Taoist temples! There's so much art in Taiwan! It's people too are appreciative of artworks, whether classical, modern or avant-garde

Chu ChiChu masterclass in the temple...

Another masterclass taking place with Wee Teck, Ong...

Keelung Ma - Mother - the female Yin energy - she exists in every belief created by the humans - by different names, different looks - as Kuan Yin, as Mother Mary, as Goddess Kali and many other Goddess forms...

Pensive - where to begin...

Wherever, whichever house of worship I visit, I offer thanks - be it mosques, Sikh gurdwaras, any temples, any shrines, any church...

For avant-garde displays, stopped at this former tobacco plant, now a happening place for the arts...the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park. The venue supports creative people and their original, unique ideas by offering resources to help start their business and to connect to like-minded people like content creators and product developers, innovators, manufactures etc. 

Same sex marriages was legalised in Taiwan...

My feeble attempts...

Mr Chu giving me a helping hand - I struggle with perspectives...away from the chilly wind and inside this cafe with a hot coffee, I could stay the whole day...!

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