The reason I think this city often gets the nickname ‘very nasty’ is because of a two-dimensional paradigm. First, the roads alleys are all narrow, with little or no room to walk, and second, cows/pigs/goats/dogs/monkeys/people all share these roads and alleys together. The biggest culprits are the cows, who have no discretion whatsoever as to where they will or won’t lay waste. But being as they are ‘holy,’ the thought of eating beef in India must be akin to eating a dog burger or a cat sandwich in the western world. But the cow pies don’t all go to waste (pun intended). They are harvested and dried in a patty form to be sold and used for heating sources as well as cooking fuel. Here is a pic of someone’s rooftop cow pie factory:

Cow Pie Roof Varanasi

Cow Pie Roof Varanasi

Talk about a crappy job!…..oops there I go again with the puns. Poop jokes are too easy.

Varanasi is also home to extremely devoted Hindus. We visited several temples but again, out of respect, photos were not allowed inside. However, walking through this city and its temples, witnessing people worshiping, chanting, and performing their daily rituals, brought a very dark spiritual feeling over me. Talking to one Hindu temple goer, he told me how the ‘god’ of that temple is believed to get up every morning from the water and walk to the altar in the middle of the temple where she can be worshiped. When I asked the gentleman how he knew this, he didn’t have any answer, but just said “It is believed to be true.” It seems as if anyone can build a temple, create a ‘god,’ and then proceed to create any story about said ‘god,’ and then people will come to worship there. No doubt there are many gods in Hinduism, but just how many? I’m not really sure. And EVERYONE in India has a religion, in fact it could well be the most religiously diverse country in the history of the world. Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Judaism, Buddhism, and the list goes on including various mixes of a few. The fascinating part is that they all live together quite harmoniously. There is some unrest in the northern areas of Kashmir near Pakistan, but that’s mainly due to disputes over land and years of unresolved border squabbles. And this country has been drawing in spiritual seekers from all over the world for decades. In fact I felt rather out-of-place seeing as I was the only foreigner who didn’t have dreadlocks and couldn’t play a sitar (only a slight exaggeration).

Despite a lot of spiritual darkness, and my shoes getting stolen while I was in a restaurant (had to take them off to go inside), Varanasi is quite a curious city. If you go:

1. Stay down on the ghats over the river at one of the many inexpensive guest houses.

2. Check out all the temples by hiring an auto-rickshaw driver for the day.

3. Take the boat up the river in the morning. Even though it’s exceptionally touristy and a bit strange being in a sea of people who are all snapping photos with their multi-thousand dollar cameras of locals doing their daily bathing routine, it’s just one of those once in a lifetime things one has to do. When in Rome….

4. Get up on a rooftop and watch the pigeon callers! These guys are all over the city in the morning yelling at pigeons, seemingly competing, trying to see who can call in the most birds.

5. There is a fire dance performed each night on the ghats at 7:30, just follow the loud music and fire.

6. Watch your shoes!!!!

DO NOT: Swim in the Ganges river. The water has been tested and was found to have one of the highest concentrations of bacteria in the world, not to mention an average of 100 bodies are put in there each day, times 365 days a year, times………how many years????? You can do the math. Enjoy some more pics below:

The other unique trait of Taipei is that you can be in the midst of the hustle and bustle one minute, then take a 30 minute train to the nearby mountains for some R&R, hot springs, and hiking. Here is a dandy little town called Ruifeng that is an amazing place to spend a day away from Taipei, case and point:

Taipei has almost anything and everything to do, from kite surfing in the harbor to my personal favorite, a multi divisional ice hockey league with loads of local players. If you go:

-Stay at a hostel called “Eight Elephants.” Amazingly clean and friendly place in a great location.

-Go eat at the Shihlin night market. The Shihda market is bigger but they just moved it into a fancy new strip, so the crowd and atmosphere is not as interesting or traditional, it’s more crowded, and has less to offer the food junkie.

-See Taipei 101, Chiang Kai Shek memorial hall, and also the Palace museum for an amazing collection of Taiwan’s history.

-Take some day trips to Danshui or Ruifeng (or loads of others) to try the local cuisine and see a bit more of the chill suburban pace of life.

-Try something crazy or just get lost in the city, and find your way home later. If you can think of it, Taipei probably has it if you just ask around a little.

But more than Taipei, I wanted to analyze a few differences between Taiwan and mainland China. Much debate has ensued over the years about whether Taiwan is indeed a part of China or not, and people are still quite divided on it all over the world. The Olympic committee recognizes them as one country, the USA tends to side with Taiwan as an independent state. So are they or aren’t they? Depends on who you ask. A mainlander will emphatically and undoubtedly say that Taiwan is China, and always has been despite what the history books say of its occupation by Portugal, Spain, and Japan to name a few. In fact, it’s predominantly Chinese culture stems from mainlanders who fled their motherland in search of a new home. Not to mention that natives from each side or their respective ‘lands’ need a passport and visa to enter the other. So what makes a country a country? My opinion on the subject doesn’t really matter, and they are obviously very similar cultures in most aspects, but I’d like to highlight something that was rather intriguing. I visited Taiwan at a rather unique time as they were in the midst of ‘voting’ for their new ‘president’ in what seemed to be quite a democratic process. Campaign signs everywhere, diehards with loudspeakers and megaphones propagating every their favorite candidates platform day and night, and constant conversations about who would win. Something that would never be seen in the mainland obviously with a 1 party system.

Here’s a great one of the Taiwanese presidential candidates Ma Ying Jiu on the right (who eventually won) and Chinese Chairman Hu Jin Tao on the left with yours truly.

Even the Taiwanese seem to be divided on the issue of whether they are truly a part of China or not. One of the hot topics of division in their political party system was whether or not they supported closer ties to the mainland or more independence. Can’t we all just get along? Anyways, here are some other little cultural differences I noticed:

1. Girls smoking everywhere in Taiwan. This is sort of taboo for girls in mainland China, but almost expected for men there.

2. Churches open to one and all in public.

3. No trash laying around everywhere. 

4. Extremely sanitary restaurants and food stalls in Taiwan. I’ve seen too many questionable kitchens in the mainland.

5. Very little poverty in Taiwan (that I saw). Everyone seems to have a job and be relatively and contently middle class, which ironically is the bread and butter of Marxism. The Mainland has a rising middle class, but still a HUGE wealth gap exists.

My advice? Go check out Taiwan for yourself. It’s friendly, easy to get around due to its small size, and has loads to offer the multicultural enthusiast.

While trying to find this confusingly marked place, I ran into a girl who happened to be from Mainland China, studying at a university in Hangzhou, but taking a semester abroad here in Taiwan. If you know your Chinese geography, then you know Hangzhou is just an hour ride on the Gaotie 高铁, or Chinese high speed train from my locale of Shanghai. We were both equally as lost, so we decided to hang out and check out the sites together, which was awesome for me as it allowed me to practice my Chinese ALL DAY LONG!!!

After dark, we’d heard about a site called Chuhuo 出火 where natural gas leaks up through the soil constantly and has been burning for ages, an eternal flame of sorts. I know it sounds sort of stupid, but we were curious so we hopped on the scooter and cruised up to check it out. Admittedly, I had extremely low expectations, but it was actually rather interesting. There are exceptional factors that made this lame sounding site even more exceptional: 1. It was at night, coming during the day would be pointless as you would probably barely notice the flames, and 2. It was during the low season, which apparently means you don’t need to obey any of the site rules. There was a circular chain encompassing the ‘gassy’ area that clearly said “Do Not Enter,” but of course we didn’t see that until afterwards (obviously there to prevent misguided tourists from wandering in and igniting themselves on fire). There was also signs clearly forbidding people from touting things, but the moment we got down there we saw an old hippie guy selling popcorn that you could cook yourself over the open flames. There weren’t many people around, so we just walked in and warmed up after the cool scooter ride. We took a few snapshots, and it turned out to be one of the highlights for me, as it reminded me of cozy spring time (or fall) campfire. Check it oooot!:

The one on the left looks curiously like a horse on its hind legs.

After that, it was back to town to hit up yet another night market (every city has one in Taiwan) for amazingly cheap and even more amazingly tasty treats. The typical routine was followed. Step 1: stuff my face full of as many different foods as I could find. Step 2: Waddle back to the hostel to digest and settle in for the night.

After Kenting, I parted ways with my Chinese friend Jiajia as she had to go back to her university in Taichung and finish up some exams before she headed back to mainland to celebrate CNY (that’s Chinese New Year to the lay person). I decided to skip the 2nd biggest city in Taiwan, Kaoshiung, and instead head to the former Taiwan capital of Tainan for 2 days. There was loads of history in Tainan and more temples than you can shake a stick at.

I met another American traveler, Tom, at the Iris Tower hostel and we hung out and saw the sites together. Since I’ve lived in China for nearly 3 years now, I’ve had my fill of temples and shrines, as well as seen enough preserved brick walls in dirt. Yes there’s lots of history there, but at the end of the day, everybody is standing around a fenced off area staring at old bricks laying in dirt in a hole. The sites didn’t particularly interest me, but if you are really into history, particularly Taiwanese history, then Tainan is a must see. Nonetheless, we saw a good chunk of the city then headed off once more to yes, you guessed it, the night market. Tainan has a couple of really big night markets that were buzzin! Some of the food stall lines were long, and the lanes were packed with both fashion and food shoppers alike. Since I have no fashion sense, and more importantly a huge appetite, I opted to stick to the food vendors, and was greatly rewarded for it. Everything I ate was something new, from a bacon cheese crepe, to a sweet beef burrito, and God knows how many different foods on sticks. I got exceptionally stuffed before retiring back to the hostel, and giving my bipedal appendages a rest. No scooter today boys! Here are some highlights from Tainan:

Boys playing a beach game where each round you lose, you must take one step closer to the water.

Keep posted! More updates to come about Taipei and India!

The one thing everyone always talks about when they reminisce about Taiwan is the FOOD. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect as it takes a lot to impress me, but Taiwan’s variety and price of street snacks simply cannot be beat. Most things are no more than a buck or two, which means you can stuff your face for usually no more than $3-$4 USD. Taiwan is all about night markets, night markets, and more night markets. The majority of all shopping seems to be done at night when the streets and alleys come alive, vendors touting deep fried goodies and bubble tea, clothes, shoes, and just about anything else you might want to buy in an Asian travel destination. Here are a few beauties:

This baby is called the ‘coffin sandwich.’

Limitless supplies of teas, fruit drinks, and smoothies.

Squid on a stick.

Bustling night market.

The other great thing about Taiwan: The scenery. Taiwan is a little volcanic rock off the southeast coast of China, with a pretty comfy subtropical climate. To my surprise, despite Taiwan’s small size, it’s central mountains reach peaks over 3800 meters, or nearly 12,000 feet. Not bad for an island only 99 miles wide. On the eastern side lies a little gem of a town called Hualien, famous because of its beauty and proximity to the Taroko gorge. For a few Taiwanese dollars I was able to rent a scooter and buzz up into the gorge for a day. It’s spectacular, in a word. Crystal blue waters have been carving these mountains for thousands and thousands of years, here is the result:

This last shot is the Qingshui cliffs on the coast near the gorge entrance.

This quaint little town was chalk full of friendly locals and special foods that are only cooked there. In fact all of Taiwan seems to be infected with some sort of happy virus. From street vendor to hotel receptionist to convenience store clerk, almost everyone is willing to help out a poor lost foreigner. Actually I haven’t been too lost yet, thanks to the fact that Taiwan’s national language is Mandarin, which I happen to speak a bit of. But besides that, it has been a real breath of fresh air being here and meeting so many friendly people. Mainland China is ripe with kindness too, but my current city, Shanghai, seems to have its own little subculture that isn’t always so welcoming to foreigners. For example, most of my experiences at restaurants, on the subway, in a cab, or on a street with locals seldom develop into any meaningful conversation in Shanghai. I could count the number conversations that have started on a Shanghai subway on one hand, and I’ve surpassed that mark within 3 days in Taipei. People are quite entrepreneurial here and take a lot of pride in their work. I see so many in Shanghai who look bored out of their minds at work; either completely discontent with life or have given up altogether, it’s depressing. Must be something in the water here in Taiwan.

Now I could get into the politics of whether or not Taiwan is a part of China or not, but I won’t. I will say though, that it seems much more like the socialistic ideologies have been achieved here even though it is a democratic society. Everyone seems to have a job, not too poor, not too rich, happily living and raising their families where the cost of living is low, and having a free national health care system that, from what I’ve heard, is unmatched by many. Perhaps you could say Taiwan is the land of the infinitely happy, smiling, contented middle class. Indeed, everyone who has come Taiwan seems to have caught the sickness too.

We all know the great online auction pioneer ebay right? Here is their unmistakable logo:

Here is a popular Chinese site to listen and download music (we’ll discuss the in’s and out’s of downloading music at a later date). It’s called Sogou, and its looks curiously familiar:

Ok I admit, it’s 5 letters not 4, and different letters of the alphabet are used, but com’on! Couldn’t they at least pick different colors? They even used the same color order in the letters if you subtract the 2nd ‘O’.

How about everybody’s favorite German import car, the BMW aka Beamer:

There is also a popular car produced in China by a company called BYD, and their logo looks like this:

Sure there are a few differences, but…..you get my point.

But it doesn’t stop there! How about BMW’s evil twin, the Mercedes Benz:

And it’s Chinese counterpart, the JAC car company:

This is only the beginning, there are dozens of other Chinese copycat car companies (Seriously, click the link, it will blow your mind). The two posted above are just a few I’ve noticed around.

I would just like to point out that not all Chinese logos and designs are ripped off. In fact I’m sure there is plenty of this going on in other parts of the world including the United States. The main difference is how artistic rights are viewed, but again, disposable consumer income (and they ain’t got much) plays a huge part in how those views have come about here. If this happened entirely in the US, someone would probably lose their pants in a high profile lawsuit. But as I mentioned last week, the actual Toyota logo was used, unaltered, on a Chinese automakers car, and the impending lawsuit was lost by Toyota.

Hopefully creativity will flourish and views on artistic/intellectual property rights change as China grows into the materialistic behemoth it appears to be destined to. That’s a scary thought considering the 1.3 billion people they have, most of whom haven’t even come up above the poverty line yet. Internet shopping has literally just hit the scene, websites are popping up by the minute, and Chinese people are flocking to the internet to find the best deal on that new ipod cover. And with prices already dirt cheap and shippers that will literally deliver the product to your door the same day or next, it’s hard to blame them. What’s going to happen when nearly every Chinese citizen is driving a car and owns a Macbook? That’s a lot of metal and plastic, but believe it or not, it’s happening right before my very eyes.

And that’s how it’s going down in this great country we call the Middle Kingdom, and that’s why I live here. Stay tuned next time as we explore more in depth the materialism and consumerism of China in the next installment of ”Made in China.”

Now many people know the Chinese are legendary for their ability to reverse engineer and reproduce items to a ‘T’ at drop bottom prices. But with some things, that ‘T’ may become a ‘P’ or an ‘L’ or who knows what. What do I mean? I’d compare it to the western world’s fascination with Chinese characters. Generally, we don’t really care what it means, Chinese just looks cool! Same with English letters here, they just look cool so they are plastered wherever possible, often times with loads of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and typesetting mistakes.

Take the NBA for example. It is absolutely positively massively popular in here China, possibly even bigger in China than it is in the US if you can believe that. Now if you’re an average Chinese middle class family for example, what do you do when your son becomes an NBA fanatic and wants all the shoes and jerseys of his favorite player? Do you go out and drop $150 on some new Nikes and $60 on an authentic NBA jersey? Not likely, as that will certainly put a hardship on you and your family’s skimpy monthly stipend. The Chinese are very practical people (something I admire about them), so the solution is simple: buy knock-offs at significantly lower prices = same desired result. Now the lower price can, and usually does, mean lower quality…..in more ways than one. Here is one of my all time favorite examples from a Chinese boy I met at a summer camp I taught at:

I’m not quite sure where “Devner” is geographically, but I definitely want to visit someday.

Who can forget the Devner basketball great: Carmello Anhotny!

Now by this point, if you’ve stopped laughing, you’re probably entering a rage over this obvious crime against humanity and creative/intellectual property. While the merits of this can be debated, it needs to be stated that I’m not writing this to complain or degrade the Chinese culture in any way. In fact, I find this aspect quite intriguing as I’m constantly surrounded by it living here in China. And hearing the differing opinions locals have over these issues can keep one guessing as to what the next generation of Chinese will really value. It’s easy to hold and keep biases from my own culture in the US, but it’s a lot easier to get over them when you get outside your home, out of all you’ve ever known or been taught. For the record, I don’t hold anything against the Chinese for copying things like sporting goods and clothing. I don’t encourage it either. But let’s be honest, even the lower class Americans, or any westerner for that matter, has gobs more disposable income than the average Chinese person does. They love things from western culture here in China, they’re not rich, they need exercise, shoes, clothing, and they can’t tell the difference between a real and a fake one, so that’s the way it is………for now.