This was the future once.
At its peak, Houtong was a thriving and often fatal mining town, at its height under Japanese rule. Now, it’s silent and decrepit. BUT! It’s now a super duper tourist attraction because it has, wait for it, CATS! Yes, there’s a bunch of semi-feral cats and people now tour out to pet them. Oh the high life. On the upside, aside from on Canon 5D MkII and some weird Olympus people, it was solid Nikons. Are we cat people?
Enjoyed shooting in B/W with the D300 again today. The colour pic was with the Canon S90.
Taiwan has its ups and downs: trade huge cockroaches, typhoons and earthquakes for epic scenery, hot springs and great food. Taiwanese food draws from all regions of China, Japanese food it inherited from the occupation and many others besides. Here’s a good selection we had at a restaurant at the Sogo department store. To me, the menu kinda chose itself. From left to right: Hakka-style squid, fried tofu in black bean sauce, three cup chicken, stir-fried greens and braised pork belly. It was good!
It seems that when I’m in Taiwan I end up involved in newsworthy stuff giving me the opportunity to post to Demotix. The folks I know here are politically active, concerned that Taiwan maintain its independence and countering the propaganda from China regarding Taiwan’s status. This activism extends to maintaining strong links to others who are struggling against tyrannical Chinese rule such as Xinjiang and Tibet. I’ve filed stories regarging Tibet and the internal struggles in Taiwan. Last night I got to add another one: Xinjiang and the Uyghur struggle.
Let’s get this straight, and if you know me you know I have little truck for religion in any form: the Uyghur people may be Muslim but they are not and never have been involved in terrorism.
Anyhow, check out the story and follow the links there. If I get a copy of the DVD, I’ll inflict it on you when I’m back in London. It’s a very moving story and a worthwhile read.
If we all have a dirty little secret photographic cliché, then sunsets are mine. I’ve shot them in California, Taiwan and assorted points in Europe. They are always different and always lovely.
This one was shot 300m up the mountain at Maokong after a lovely tea with the local brew. And cake.
On a photographic note, I was trying out new UV and polarising filters on the Nikon D300 and the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8. Jury still out on that.
So we had the torrential rain again. If you look at the satellite picture, Taiwan is surrounded by cloudless ocean and there’s a blob of cloud parked over the island. Ho hum. Still, it just cleared and we got a lovely bit of golden hour sun. I dashed up on the the roof and shot some sky. BUT! The camera was still in B/W mode and I got this:
I rather like it. I’ve another frame that’s exposed brighter but I prefer this. Click on the pic for a larger version.
Luckily, I was in RAW+JPG and got the colour version too.
What do you think?