Taiwan Day #1

I recently got back from the Women Make Waves Film Festival in Taipei, where I spent four and half days touring the city and enjoying the festival. This trip marks my third trip to Asia, which my mom likes to think is a "record" (I told her that three really wasn't much of a record but she says it is for our family, so I guess we can pretend).

I visited a college friend for two weeks in Hong Kong 11 years ago right before they reunited with China, and as I covered in my blog last April, I went to the Women's Film Festival in Seoul, Korea. Despite the similarities between the countries, they are still so distinctly different. Compared to the culture in Seoul, Taipei seems to be several decades ahead in terms of women's rights and GLBT issues. I also learned that Taipei has the largest gay pride parade in Asia.

The culture in Taipei also seems more Westernized - there weren't the same formalities that I found in Seoul. For example, I noticed that people didn't think twice to pour themselves a drink whereas in Seoul it was a definite faux pas. Also, there was a certain awkwardness in the social rules concerning handshaking in Korea that I didn't find to be the case in Taiwan. My volunteer guide did ask me, however, if I minded that she call me by my first name, whereas in Seoul my guide automatically assumed otherwise. Status issues between young and old, male and female, gay and straight, seemed much more pronounced in Korea, and as a result Taiwanese culture, at least in the city, felt very similar to America despite differences in language, religion, and cuisine.

So I'll start at the beginning. Here's the view from the plane as I left L.A. -


After a 14 hour plane ride and a 15 hour time change, I arrived in Taipei late at night and ready to go to sleep and get on schedule with the local time. The next day I woke up at 8AM (something I don't do at home) and was ready to tour the city.


My first stop was Longshan Temple, the oldest and most famous in Taipei. I expected something similar to the Buddhist temple I visited in Seoul, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was completely different. For starters, the religion at the temple was Tao. Buddhism and Tao are the two main religions in Taiwan, with Buddhism at 35.1% and Taoism at 33%, according to wikipedia.




Since my guide came from a Taoist background, she was able to tell me about the various customs in the temple. It was very crowded that day because it was one of the god's birthdays.







Most people carried several sticks of lit incense, which they carried around and made a wish on before they tossed them into a fire.




In Taoism, there are several different gods, each with their own specialty; you pray to one god if you want to do well in school, another if you want to find love, another if you want to have children, etc. All of the gods were at one time humans, and they are pronounced as gods after they die. From my understanding, there is also an overall God that was not ever human.







Bringing food for the gods is very customary.





Including prepackaged boxes of Chocopie.



I asked my guide what happened to all of the food at the end of the day. She told me that whoever puts it there can come back and take it.


Flowers are also a common gift to bring. These women are making small arrangements outside the temple to sell to visitors.


After the temple, we still had most of the day left to sightsee and enjoy the film festival. I'll continue with that in my next post.

Korea Day #5

Today was my last day in Korea. I had a screening later in the afternoon, but that morning I had time to visit a couple more places.


First I went to a Buddhist temple, the largest one in Seoul (Buddhism and Christianity are the two most popular religions in South Korea. 54.5% of the country is religious; out of those people, 29.3% are Christian and 22.8% are Buddhist, according to Wikipedia).



Outside were several canopies of paper lanterns.




The lanterns were all handmade. Here are some people making more.


Inside the temple, I heard some chanting begin. I took my shoes off and went inside to check it out. Sitting on the floor near the front was a Monk leading the service.


Dozens of people sat on the floor with pillows while they meditated to the chanting. I took a pillow from a small stack and joined them for awhile.


After the temple I went to Sanchon, a restaurant that serves traditional Buddhist Temple food. The restaurant is somewhat famous and outside there was a poster with some of the press it has received.


Like the Buddhist temple, you take your shoes off before entering. Then you sit at a low table with a pillow on the floor. I didn't find the sitting position too comfortable, but it all added to the experience.




For lunch, there was only one choice on the menu - a full course vegetarian meal in many tiny bowls.


As soon as I thought the waitress had brought all of the food, she brought more.


Then more...


I counted 27 bowls total. I tried to take one bite of everything before getting full (it wasn't easy - 27 bites is still a lot!). A spread like this cost $20 - a bargain I thought for all that food, but considered expensive in Korea. The food was good and I would definitely go back, although next time I will bring someone to share with.

After lunch I headed over to the theater for Butch Jamie's 2nd screening, which had just as good of a response as the first. Compared to my screenings in the U.S., more people wanted to talk about the issues in the film as opposed to the filmmaking process. One question that I thought was particularly interesting was one that asked about Jamie's line in the movie - "Do you believe in truth?"

The idea "Do you believe in truth?" came to me after a friendly discussion out at a bar. I had said something - I don't remember what it was, but something that seemed to surprise my friend with my blatant honesty. I remember saying half-joking, half-serious - "I'm pro-truth!" to which she retorted "I'm pro-good feeling!" It planted something in my head about how not everyone believed in, or was as concerned or enamored with, the way things are.

For me, part of believing in truth means acknowledging and accepting who you are, beyond appearances or false pretenses. For Jamie, she finds truth in choosing herself over her fantasy, and the same choice is presented to Jill as well (which will be followed-up with more in the sequel). When Jamie asks Lola if it's OK if someone believes something that's not true as long as they're happy, Lola responds that real happiness is only possible through truth. So in a way, if I had to say what the theme of the movie is, that would be it - real happiness is only possible through truth. I wish I would've remembered that theme bit when answering that question in the Q&A.

After the screening, I went to see Tick Tock Lullaby from lesbian filmmaker-actress Lisa Gornick. The film explores the ambivalence about having a child, a decision that one may regret either way. It also laments the overly-planned, clinical process that same-sex couples go through. The film is nostalgic and introspective while at the same time witty and smart. I really liked it, although it's gotten some flack from lesbian purists about a lesbian's sex scene with a man.

Here's me and Lisa with a group of festival volunteers who I think may have seen one or both of our movies and liked them.



To conclude my last night in Seoul, a few of us went out for drinks afterward. Lisa and I engaged the rest of our party in a lively discussion about sexuality, identity, and all that other drunken intellectual stuff.



Things I learned today about Korea -

- South Korea has the highest percentage of people with plastic surgery in the world (I checked this fact online which said that by some estimates, as many as four out of every ten women in South Korea have had eyelid surgery to make their eyes appear bigger)

- Because status is tied to age, it's not necessarily a compliment to tell someone they look younger than they are. I'm sure it varies person to person, but a Korean woman I spoke with who is 31 (30 in U.S. age, as I explained in Day #3) had worked hard to style her hair and choose clothes that make her look her age. She thinks that if people think she is younger, they will give her less respect in her job, as well as possibly look down upon the company because of it. After I told her that I thought she looked her age, she humbly said "Thank you." (However, later when someone started to say they thought she was older, she laughed and said that wasn't a compliment)

The next morning I caught the 11AM shuttle back to the airport. I had such a fantastic time in Seoul - a nice balance between touristy sightseeing and engaging in the local nightlife. While I was there, I met a woman from another film festival who mentioned possibly flying me out to another country this Fall. Who knew that Butch Jamie would be my ticket for world travel? Even if the film doesn't make much money, getting to do things like this makes the whole endeavor priceless.

Korea Day #4

I started my day off by going to Namsangol Hanok Village, a Korean Folk Village with traditional-style houses. The houses were transported from other parts of the country and reconstructed here as a free tourist attraction.





In the old days, kimchi (spicy, fermented cabbage that is still a common side dish) was placed in pots and dug into the ground to keep it refrigerated. The pots were then protected by a small hut like this one.



In the background below you can see N Seoul Tower.




After the folk village, my guide and I went to Namdaeman Market, an open air flea market that is popular with the locals.




This is a boiling pot of beondegi (silk worm pupae), which is a popular street vendor food.



The way the pot was boiling, it looked like they were still alive and moving around. I didn't try any, but the smell gave me enough of an idea.

After the market, we took a subway over to the theater for my interview with Cine 21, another popular film magazine in Korea. Outside the theater, we found a group of volunteers cheering about the festival to publicize the event.


During the interview, I was given a translater. Here she is explaining my responses in Korean.


For this magazine we also did a photo shoot with a silk flower, although the poses were more low key than my previous photo shoot.



Although the magazine article wasn't printed by the time I left Seoul, the festival had it printed in a festival news pamphlet the next day.



That night I met up with some people to go out for karaoke. As you may know, karaoke in Asia isn't like in the U.S. where you sing in front of the whole bar. Instead, you and your friends rent a small room where you sing to each other.







This is me and lesbian filmmaker Lisa Gornick, singing the duet Summer Lovin' from Grease.



Things I learned today about Korea -

- Koreans often say "kimchi" when taking a photo, similar to how in the U.S. we say "cheese."

- It is appropriate for people to address people older than themselves as Mr. or Ms. so-and-so. Today my guide (who is college-aged) called me Miss Ehlen, a formality that surprised me especially since we've been hanging out for a few days and have otherwise had informal interactions.

- While Asian culture as a whole seems to be more "polite" than western culture, one thing I noticed is that it is not inappropriate (as it is in the U.S.) to make a reference to someone about them being overweight. While thinness seems to be emphasized even more than in the U.S., my friend told me that references to one's weight are more of a matter of fact than anything. For example, one night when we were out, someone told me that I may be her friend's type because she likes chubby girls. Not the kind of pickup line that I usually hear, although I suppose its originality tops "Come here often?" and "Did you come here alone?"

We were all a bit tired from staying out late the night before, so we returned to the hotel around midnight. I was glad to get to bed at a decent time as the next day was my last day in Seoul and I wanted to make good use out of it.