Next Sunday's Kaohsiung International Marathon

A bicycle I acquired just prior to the Chinese New Year of the Tiger. My intention in buying it was to have a second "old" bike that I could use to get around town, and have an extra bike available should friends or family visit from afar.

This Sunday, February 28, is a special day in Taiwan to remember an unfortunate incident that occurred in Taiwan 63 years ago, and which led to thousands of Taiwanese being killed by Mainland Chinese who had only recently taken control of Taiwan following the withdrawal of the Japanese at the end of the Second World War. It is also the first time that the Kaohsiung International Marathon is being held. While I am not a marathon runner and I currently do not have a lot of interest in running, given the event is being held on my back doorstep, as someone who has at least completed an Ironman, I would have to come up with some very good excuses not to enter the event.

A photograph of an official memorial for the victims of the "white terror" in Taiwan that I took a few months ago in Taipei. The "white terror" refers to the suppression of political dissidents and public discussion of the 228 incident (referred to above) under the period of Martial Law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987. I lived in Taiwan for 5 of those years. Not that I was threatened in any way, but either people knew very little of what had happened historically, or else they (or the vast majority at least) kept their mouths firmly shut.

While I was in Hawaii until almost 3 years ago, I regularly took part in triathlon events, tending to prefer the shorter events (under 90 minutes if all three disciplines were involved). Like most in the local triathlon community, I tried my luck at the longer, more prestigious events, and qualified for the Hawaii Ironman three times, although I completed it only once, on my first attempt in 2004. The second time I twitched my knee towards the end of the bike and could not run, even though I spent nearly 6 hours on the run course before giving up, and the third time, for visa reasons, I could not stay long enough to have another attempt at the full distance.
With three sports to train for, I tended to mostly swim and bike as I enjoyed them more, and I constantly found I just did not have the time to do much serious running.

The weather in Kaohsiung is generally quite hot much of the year. Although the winter is a little cooler than in Kona, Hawaii, the winter is also short, making it possible to swim the whole year round outdoors. In addition, except for the summer school vacation, there appear to be few people swimming in excellent pools like the one above, which makes swimming all the more enjoyable.

Kaohsiung is not an ideal place for running. The city is fairly heavily polluted (although it is slowly improving, as there are fewer factories, and the government is encouraging people to cycle or buy electric mopeds). However, while many bike paths have been established in various parts of the city, it seems that few people (apart from junior high school children or the elderly) use bicycles, unless they are going on a Sunday afternoon family outing. A gasoline-powered scooter is much more convenient for most people, and people always seem to be in a hurry. So the bigger roads are full of scooters, motorcycles, cars and trucks.

From this photo of the city of Kaohsiung (the tall building on the left is 50 stories), it can be seen that this is hardly the place to run a marathon. Fortunately, the marathon will be held Sunday morning, so perhaps most participants will be almost done by the time the city of 1 million wakes up and all the gasoline/diesel-driven engines roar into action.

There will no doubt be some "nice" spots along the course. In fact, for people moving at a snail's pace like myself, it will be a time to appreciate at least the steps that are being taken in the right direction to make this a better city for its many inhabitants.

A contrast in biking styles. On the one hand, a gleaming Harley Davidson Fatboy 1,584cc, designed for the ultimate ride, parked next to my rusty 18-speed MTB on the other. There is no doubt which one is better, but at the same time the Harley would cost more than one thousand times what my bike cost.

The city of Kaohsiung is not a great place for training on a bicycle. One does see quite a few people in full cycling gear on their road bikes, but hopefully they are biking out of town to places where they do not have to compete with traffic. However, I occasionally hear about accidents, and so I am not too keen on going riding, unless I am planning a really long ride. About 50 kms south of Kaohsiung, there are some great roads for riding and it gets better and better the further south one goes.

The bicycle is, however, a great means of transport for getting around the city, for instance when going to the bank, or to the swimming pool, or for shopping in the market. In the above photo, my bicycle is laden with several kilos of potatoes, carrots, onions, apples and bananas. I have bought more this week, as I will try to carbo-load as much as I can in the last few days before the marathon.

This will be a marathon I have not trained for. I just found it very hard to generate the interest to go out and train, feeling that swimming and biking (to the pool and back) are much more suited to my schedule and longer-term goals. I also have to watch for injury when running, having had to drop out of the Ironman once due to knee pain (even though I found the problem had gone the next day). I don't seem to get any injuries swimming (maybe because I swim like a crab), and biking only gives me problems if the bike is too small (as the one I used for the Ironman races was), which puts a strain on my knee when riding long distances. I will wear soft knee braces for the marathon, and I will go slow and do whatever I can to delay the onset of bonking (still not sure whether the race organizers will supply anything other than water). I will carry my own supply of food and Gatorade if needed. I will probably look like some old grandpa, but I am not particularly worried. I have heard Mike O'Reilly call my name before, followed by "You are an Ironman!" Once an Ironman, always one, I guess.

Recently, I have been wondering what it is like to run/walk a marathon in a big city, full of buildings, vehicles and the hustle and bustle of city life. Recently, when I visited the recycling yard where I rescued the bicycle I am now using to get around, I found the owner's cat sound asleep amongst the huge pile of electrical cables that have been sorted to await further collection. The cat at least can make the best of far from idyllic surroundings, and it will be my turn to do the same this weekend. (This cat looks very much like our own. Since this cat lives a little over a mile from us, it might be our cat's older cousin).

Christmas Letter 2009

In spite of 2009 being a difficult year for many in view of the global economic recession and various natural disasters, this year will certainly be one that we as a family will have many good memories of. It was our second year as a family living in Kaohsiung in Southern Taiwan. Jocelyn was able to buy a good bicycle and to discover the joys of riding relatively long distances in sometimes difficult terrain. I myself also bought a "real" mountain bike and one that was the right size for me. In addition, I was able to swim the whole year outdoors in two different 50 meter pools.
Occasionally, Jocelyn and I were able to get away from the city of Kaohsiung, even if it was just for a couple of days a couple of hours away. Both our boys applied to colleges and were accepted, with James going to Surrey, England to study for a BA in filmmaking and photography, and Morrison going to Elmhurst in Illinois to study international business. I was able to work hard throughout the year, mostly from home or wherever else in the neighborhood I felt able to concentrate, and to meet all their tuition, accommodation and general living expenses by the due dates.
In my generally busy life, I was sometimes able to appreciate the beauty of flowers, like these bourgain villea, as well as banana trees. I enjoy eating bananas, and so I am thankful for the many banana trees that flourish in the warm weather here. To try to maintain some balance in life and not let work completely take over, I tried to swim for about one hour per day about five days per week, and also went on quite a few bike rides, mostly with Jocelyn, in addition to using a bike to get around town, usually to the swimming pool, as going to work mostly only involved going up or down stairs.
Jocelyn was able to become increasingly involved in counseling younger women and church ministry activities and to develop her many unique giftings in these areas. She was also able to help with a fairly difficult translation I was given to do, as well as to work for the local city government as a counselor among some of the many indigenous peoples displaced by the disastrous landslides and flooding in the mountains not far away from us in August this year.
Ten years ago, at the start of the new decade, we as a family were still getting used to living in Hawai'i, where we had only been a couple of months, but subsequently stayed for another seven and a half years. When we returned to Taiwan in 2007, James had finished high school, but Morrison still had one year left (of home schooling). At that time and especially for the boys, the future looked somewhat threatening and uncertain. We are pleased with what happened this year, and thankful for having great friends, great supporters (through work) and a great God. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Confucius' Birthday 孔子誕辰日

As the world was getting ready to go to work on Monday morning, a gathering of faithful disciples of the great sage and teacher Confucius, ceremonial participants and a smallish group of curious onlookers made their way to the Confucius Temple in Tsoying, Kaohsiung to commemorate the day of his birthday about 2,560 years ago.
I was a little in two minds as to whether to go or not. I wasn't sure if the ceremony would be held here and thought it might start very early, say at 4:00 a.m. However, since I could not take good pictures in the dark, I waited until nearly 6:00 a.m. before leaving for the 15 to 20 minute bike ride to get there. I was greeted by this huge gate. Fortunately, the smaller red gates on the left had been opened and in I went.
This brought me into the following courtyard, and another gate. These gates weren't open and I had to go round to the left and enter the Temple forecourt from there.
I thought I might as well have been standing somewhere like the Forbidden City in Beijing. It was about 6:20 a.m. I was told that the ceremony would start at 7:00 a.m. sharp. At least I hadn't missed it.

Just before the 50-minute- long ceremony commenced, various participants took their positions.

The people dressed in red appeared to perform various duties like carrying incense, etc.

The people dressed in yellow appeared to be elementary school children. At least they hopefully can carry on the tradition in the future.

The people in black were modern-day disciples of Confucius, people no doubt who study Confucius' writings in depth. Many of them looked as if they could have been university professors. After all, you almost have to be one to understand the Four Books.
This was the first time I had ever tried to attend this ceremony. Many years ago when I studied Chinese in Taipei, the ceremony there was held very early and there was no way that I could get up at such an unearthly hour.

This is the entrance to the "front gate" from the inside of the courtyard.

I very much liked the mix of colors - red, yellow and black.

When I was a student of Chinese in the early 1980s in Taipei, one of my teachers spent about six months teaching us a lot of passages directly from Confucius' writings in classical Chinese.
I also had a teacher named Kung (孔), who claimed that she was the 75th-generation descendent of Confucius. At least she was somehow able to trace her ancestry that far back. At the time she taught us, she was in her 60s, and was an expert in Chinese literature.
In the past, one of the research institutions where I worked held a conference on "Confucianism and Economic Development". While the evidence isn't conclusive, Confucianism is believed to be partly responsible for the economic success stories of Taiwan and several other Asian countries.

Carrying incense.

In the olden days, these axes would no doubt have been real.

Standing guard on the other side of the gate.

Several "consecrations" were held.

The children who participated posed for a photo afterwards.

I decided to get my photo taken, too, for the record.

Outside the temple complex is a wall with a lot of engaving on it.

This close-up picture of the wall reminds me of Confucius. That is how I imagine he was.

View from a bridge crossing the Lotus Pond. The building on the right is the one where the ceremony was held.

Looking towards Gu Mountain in the other direction from the Confucius temple. Although it was about 8:15 a.m. on a Monday morning, everything seemed so peaceful. Somewhere in the distance, the city of Kaohsiung was bustling with people going about their daily business.

"I would rather be a chicken's head!"

Not a big running track, but this track at the nearby Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages has a good surface and is completely surrounded by buildings so one doesn't hear the sound of cars. So far I haven't seen people use it (the summer vacation is very hot after all), but I do hope to try out my running shoes here as it gets cooler. I will need to bike home (5 minutes) to have a shower, as I haven't seen those outside showers like we had in Hawaii.

There is a well-known saying in Chinese that states "I’d rather be the head of the chicken rather than the tail of the ox." When I first came to Taiwan, I had not had much work experience before (as in the U.K.), but what particularly surprised me was that most people who gave me name cards had the title of "President" or something similar. Of course, a few might have been big powerful bosses, but the vast majority were "one-man bands" or else very small businesses with just a few family members as employees. However, it was these "small businesspeople" who had a huge part to play in Taiwan's phenomenal economic success story.

The Library at the Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages is less than five minutes by bike from my home. This is a great place to work at in the mornings, although one is never sure of being let in as they limit the number of outsiders who can use it on any given day. However, the library is full of books in French, German, Spanish and Japanese, if only I had the time to read them. If I cannot get in, I can usually bike to the Golden Lion Lake reading room (see below) in at most ten minutes.

When I finished college in England, I did not have a clear idea of what I wanted to do as a career, and at the time the only options were to be an employee of any firm that would employ me. Hopefully, the firm I joined would help me further my career, but invariably the firms I joined were at most stepping stones to an uncertain future and were usually quite slippery, meaning that I did not easily make it from one stone to the next.

The Golden Lion Lake, five minutes by bike from my home. This is the view from the bridge I ride across to go to the reading room where I often work late afternoons.

Even in Taiwan, after going back to school for a few years to study Chinese, I looked for a job that would give me a steady paycheck, and while I had some nice working environments (like well a air-conditioned office, and even a plush carpet in one case), I was generally in one of two situations. The first was where I had a steady, not-too-demanding job, but where it was not really possible to save much money or advance my career. The second was where I had a very demanding and challenging job with quite good pay, where I was able to save, but I had little security for the future as I never knew quite what would happen next.

The Golden Lion Lake reading room. This air-conditioned public reading room is open six days a week from about 8:30 am to 7:45 pm. A place I often go to from 5 pm until it closes (when there are few people). I can spread my work out on the table.

I guess that, apart from issues like job fulfillment, pay, career development, etc., I have never been a good team player. In most group activities, whether in paid or voluntary work, I have always tended to be at the far back of the orchestra, and in such situations I have felt frustrated, unable to follow my dreams and have felt my life has been wasted.

Burning paper money to appease the spirits during ghost month. This is so much part of the traditional Taiwanese culture here, that these kinds of fires are being seen all over the place.

So for the time being, I am "doing my own thing" as regards work, supporting my family and preparing for the future. I strategize and make plans on my own, and I mostly work on my own. I am not trying to further the cause of any organization, save my own reputation. I am, however, seeking to pursue excellence in what I do. In fact the work I do is little understood, perhaps not surprisingly since it involves the Chinese language, but I am convinced that if I can keep pace with the new developments constantly taking place, I am confident that as a chicken's head as opposed to an ox's tail, I can still continue to find my way in this increasingly integrated but at times unsteady world.

Tables laid out for an offering during the ghost month outside a temple next to the Golden Lion Lake.

I continue to swim regularly, although with both children now in full-time education, I am currently unable to devote as much time to sports as I would like, and work is often a higher priority. Hopefully, my swimming will not slow down too much before I have the chance to visit Hawai'i again.

Recap on the Last Two Months

It is over two months since my last blog post. I have recently been posting to Twitter, mostly so that I can write to myself and see what the few people I have been following are up to, maybe unknown to them. Anyway, I am thankful for the few friends who do follow me on Twitter (there is a link on the right), and no doubt they sometimes see my postings.

The main reason I have not posted on this blog is because I have been very busy. There just does not seem to be time to post things, and I sometimes feel bad about posting things, especially if it distracts me from my work. My swimming has been affected, too. While I still swim about 10 km per week, I often swim slowly and seldom feel out of breath, meaning that I go too easy.

A few months ago, our younger son was accepted to study at a college in Chicago (see the previous posting) and soon after that I thought we could just about afford it. Then our elder son attended a UK universities exhibition in our home town in Taiwan and was subsequently accepted by a university in South-East England to start an honors degree program this September. James has often tended to be a last-minute person, and this was no exception. We received the university offer for him only in June.

While this is of course good news, it has put added pressure on me. It's a bit like trying to ride the waves. If you can stay on the board, then it's great, but if the waves overwhelm you, then you sink! I am not one to consider borrowing money (even if it were an option), and so each day I have to be very disciplined with my work (fortunately I don't lack it), to make sure I am doing everything possible to make our children's university dreams a reality.

On this posting I attach a few pictures taken in recent weeks and months to serve as a reminder of some of the more interesting things I have seen or done in an otherwise busy life.

Kaohsiung (in south Taiwan) hosted the 2009 World Games and we attended the opening ceremony with 50,000 other people. This is only a few miles from our home. The wooden canoe is a traditional hand-carved boat used by the Yami indigenous tribe living on Orchid Island off the east coast of Taiwan.

A fisherwoman casts her net into Kaohsiung harbor. In the distance is the tallest building in southern Taiwan (85 storeys). The image is not very sharp as it was late in the day.

View from our rooftop. Not very exciting - naphtha crackers, a congested overpass, and some hills in the distance. Part of life in a big city.

Sunset over Cheng Ching Lake in Kaohsiung. Our home is about one mile behind the building sticking up to the left of the setting sun (the incinerator shown in other pictures below). I see this lake each morning on my way to the pool.

Not the moon, but rather the sun during a partial solar eclipse on July 22 about 9:30 a.m. Taken through 4 pairs of sunglasses on the roof of our house. A little hit and miss!

The gabage incinerator which is a major landmark in our immediate area seen behind a rice field. If you click on the image you will see that is carries an ad for the World Games.

A sign along the bike trail that goes along one side of Cheng Ching Lake, with the words being backlit by the setting sun.

Jocelyn standing with her bike next to two mascots of the Kaohsiung World Games. This was taken near the Love Pier by Kaohsiung Harbor, a place that we can bike to mostly along designated riverside bike routes.

The new wetlands park a few hundred meters from our house. The garbage incinerator is in the opposite direction to our house.
Not sure what these things are, maybe some kind of eggs. At least they have an important part to play in maintaining the ecosystem in these wetlands, something that has been neglected for too long.

Bananas, just yards away from the pink eggs. Grown privately on public land.

A excellent local jazz band performing on a stage set up by the river along which we ride our bikes. Well worth stopping to listen.

Jocelyn and me in our cycling gear on the sea wall having just arrived too late to watch the sunset over the ocean next to Kaohsiung's National Sun Yat-Sen University.

We are not doing anything special this summer, just spending time with the boys mostly at home as they get ready for the adventure of their lives. Hopefully, as time passes and more work gets done, there will be a little time to relax later.