Fulong Sand Sculpture Art Festival

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I decided to push this post ahead of the others I have waiting to be published as this weekend will be a big one at Fulong Beach on the North East Coast of Taiwan with summer in full swing as well as having both the Fulong Sand Sculpture Art Festival (福隆國際沙雕藝術季) and Fulong Full On (福隆海灘派對) happening at the same time. 

With it being a July weekend and having two summer festivals happening simultaneously at the beach you can imagine there will be large crowds of people. If you are making plans to get yourself to Fulong for the festivities make sure you get on the train or the bus early so that you're sure to get yourself there. 

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The 2015 Fulong Sand Sculpture Art Festival (福隆國際沙雕藝術季) has been on since May 12th and will finish up on July 12th. The event is held annually at Fulong Beach and features beautifully designed sand sculptures artists created by artists from around the world.

The theme for the Sand Sculpture festival this year is "Toy Nations" and 27 artists from 13 countries were invited to take part in the event designing sand sculptures from their childhood memories. 

Considering most of the artists are likely my age they have designed sculptures with Lego characters, remote control cars, teddy bears, robots, toy soldiers and the Monopoly board game as well as some traditional Taiwanese sculptures.  

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The sculptures are large, beautifully designed and quite impressive to someone like myself who has no idea about the art form. I've seen ice sculptures in Carnaval de Québec and at the Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival (哈爾濱國際雪節) which are also quite impressive, but it seems to me that it'd be a bit more annoying to design a sculpture with sand than it would be with a block of ice. 

The best thing about the Sand Sculpture Festival is that when you are done checking out the sculptures you can enjoy the beautiful beach. Fulong is probably the best beach in Northern Taiwan and it is easily accessible by train as the Fulong Train Station (福隆車站) is across the street from the beach parking lot. 

Sand Sculpture Art Festival Website

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Fulong Full On (福隆海灘派對) is an all day event taking place on Saturday July 4th starting at 12:00pm. The event is being organized by Taipei Trends and will feature water balloon tosses, relay races and sand sculpture competitions, etc. with food, drinks, live music and DJs. 

The purpose of the party is to promote beach culture, get people outdoors and to network with each other in order to bring together the community of expats in Taiwan as well as our Taiwanese friends. 

For more information about the event check out the event page linked below or read the article from the Taipei Times which describes it in greater detail. 

Fulong Full On Event Page

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If you are looking for something to do this weekend, why not take a trip to Fulong and enjoy the beach and the two events that are taking place? I won't be there personally as my skin is about as red as a cooked lobster from hanging out at the beach all day earlier this week. I hope if you go though that you have a lot of fun and meet some new friends! 

For more info about how to get to Fulong and what buses and trains are available check the Fulong Full On event page on Facebook where they have done an excellent job preparing information about getting yourself to the beach. 

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Gallery / Flickr (High Res Shots) 

Papa's Secret Lover (阿爸の情人)

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This post is for all of you who have come and gone, those of you still here and especially for those of you thinking of coming back!  

Today I want to talk about a restaurant near where I live that holds a special place in not only my heart, but all the great people who have come and gone over the years. 

If you're one of the lucky people who have spent a year or more here in Taiwan and have had the chance of visiting this place, I hope some of these shots I'm sharing will bring back some great memories and a bit of nostalgia about your life in Taiwan. 

For the rest of you, I'm about to introduce a legendary restaurant here in Zhongli - one that is held in extremely high esteem by both Taiwanese and foreigner alike!  

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Papa’s Secret Lover (阿爸的情人) or "Ah Ba" is a Hakka-style restaurant in Zhongli (中壢) near the traditional market in the old part of town. The restaurant looks like it has been open for decades, it is actually hard to tell how long it has been open, but for as long as anyone can remember, Papa's has been a constant fixture of life here.  

Papa's can be busy at times, but if you are one of the many who have made Papa's part of your going-away celebrations before leaving Taiwan, you probably don't have to make reservations and they will gladly take care of the forty of fifty people you have showing up - even though there might not be seats for everyone. 

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國父您好～ Sun Yet Sen must be hungry watching everyone eat. 

The décor of the restaurant is best described as a 'blast from the past' and whenever someone new walks into the restaurant they likely feel as if they just walked out of a time machine! 

Every thing you see on the walls has historical relevance and are probably all from the early to middle 1900s. There is no real order to the way things are displayed and a lot of the picture frames seem to be crooked or falling off the wall. 

There are portraits of both Sun Yat Sen (孫中山) and Chiang Kai Shek (蔣介石) on walls opposing each other and they seem to be staring each other down. Having these portraits there is quite telling of the history that the Taiwanese people have endured over the last 60 years. 

Apart from portraits of political figures, the walls are full of wedding photos - of who know one really knows - and old movie posters and advertisements. There are posters of long-forgotten celebrities from 1960s-1970s Taiwanese pop-culture. 

My favourite piece on the wall is the old painted cigarette advertisements with the modern-looking ladies in Qipao's - something straight out of Shanghai in the 1920s. 

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Fresh Tea

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Peanuts to start

The tables and stools always kind of feel like they're going to fall apart, but truthfully the only time I've ever seen a broken chair in that places is one of the newer plastic stools the boss bought.

The wooden tables and chairs have obviously been loyal soldiers to the owners of the restaurant and they are probably all older than I am! 

The music playing in the restaurant has been exactly the same for as long as I've been in Taiwan and without fail every time you visit, you will hear the same songs over and over again. I actually have no idea how they haven't worn out the CD or whatever it is they use to play it. 

The music is likely a compilation of Taiwanese-language oldies and despite not understanding any of the words, most foreigners who have been going to the restaurant can sing the lyrics by heart after they've had a few Taiwan beers. 

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The atmosphere, although extremely cool in the restaurant isn't what keeps people coming back though. The food is the main reason why everyone returns time and time again.

To give an example of how awesome the food is, I've heard stories several times of people showing up to Papa's a few hours before a flight and getting some food to go in a dish for a friend back home who used to live in Taiwan. Even if the food is cold and transported across continents, it is still amazing. 

You're not likely to find Hakka cuisine as good as what you'll find at Papa's and the dishes are so consistent that they taste exactly the same today as they did when I first showed up ten years ago. They don't mess with perfection. 

Everyone has their favourite dish but as far as I'm concerned, after travelling all over Asia, I can easily say that I've never had fried tofu as awesome as what you get at Papa's and it is on the table in front of me each and every time I visit.

Other people may not agree, but the great thing about Papa's is that there aren't any dishes that aren't awesome, so when you go with friends people will always share their favourites. 

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I've introduced quite a few Taiwanese friends to the restaurant and it is always a bit hilarious to see their reaction as I take them through the front door. Most of them want to turn away thinking that it is the entrance to someones home or that it is too old and dirty to actually be a restaurant. 

On anyone's first visit to the restaurant they usually sit there with wide eyes in awe of the whole experience – When the food comes out however, they immediately fall in love. The food is always described to me as 「古早味」which is best described as old-style home cooking with flavours that are not as common today as they used to be. 

Foreigners don't really appreciate the old-style flavours as much as Taiwanese people do, but what we can appreciate is that the food is amazing and the restaurant has been the site of a lot of great times and good memories over the years. 

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If you haven't tried Papa’s Secret Lover yet, make sure to get yourself over here to Taoyuan to have some great food in one of the strangest restaurants you'll ever experience! 

If you're back home in North America looking at these photos, I hope they bring back some fond memories of your time in Taiwan! 

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Cheers! (乾杯!)

Address: 中壢市中山路401號二樓  

2F #401 Zhongshan Rd. Zhongli City.  

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- Food Shots from my iPhone - 

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Kung-Pao Chicken (宮保雞丁)

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Deep Fried Tofu (炸豆腐)

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Ginger Intestines (薑絲大腸)

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Spicy Oysters and Tofu (蔭豆辣蚵)

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Papa's Stir Fry (阿爸炒)

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Beef with Pickled Vegetables (酸菜牛肉)

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Sweet and Sour Spareribs (糖醋排骨) 

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Ginger Beef (薑絲牛肉) 

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Stir Fried Clams (炒蛤仔)

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Gallery / Flickr (High Res Photos)

Dragon Boat Races (龍舟競賽)

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Dragon Boat Festival (端午節) is a traditional holiday on the Chinese calendar with an over two thousand year history. There are various origin stories that dispute how the festival began, but one thing that all the stories agree on is that they all involve aspects of virtue, honour, loyalty and love for your family and friends. (Click the link for a better description of the various origins) 

The festival is celebrated as a statutory holiday here in Taiwan as well as in Hong Kong, Macau and (more recently) China while the traditional aspects of the festival are also quite popular in countries where there are large Chinese-speaking communities   

The Hong Kong Tourism Bureau reinvigorated the modern races in the 1970s and since then they have become somewhat of a world-wide phenomenon transcending racial and cultural barriers!

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The team captain shouting orders. 

In Taiwan, the holiday is named "Duanwu Festival" (端午節) in Mandarin rather than "Dragon Boat Festival" (龍船節) as it is more commonly known in English. This can lead to a bit of confusion about the name of the holiday as the Mandarin and English names refer to different things. Never fear though, they are the same thing and while our Taiwanese friends will always call it "Dragon Boat Festival" in English. 

To explain a bit though, "Duanwu Festival" (端午節) refers to the lunar calendar and the time of the year when the holiday takes place - Which means that the holiday falls on a different day every year.  

Duanwu (端午) refers to the time of the year when the sun is the strongest, the days are longer and summer is in full swing.

In Ancient China, they believed that the sun, much like the dragon were representative of a man and that the summer solstice was the time of the year when a man would experience the peak of his sexual prowess - so the holiday falls on an important time of the year when dudes are more prone to be doing their thing. 

These days we have viagra, so its not much of a big deal to be at your sexual peak year round! 

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An all female team grabbing the flag. 

Some foreigners may get confused that the Dragon Boat races are actually only a small part of the actual holiday while other traditions tend to be more important. 

In Taiwan, the most popular activity during the holiday is probably the preparation and consumption of "zongzi" (粽子) - sticky rice and other ingredients wrapped in lotus leaf. Families will get together and prepare the treats and eat them together and also share them with friends and neighbours. 

Another popular (yet somewhat strange) activity is balancing an egg on a flat surface at a specific time of the day. If you check Facebook or Instagram on Dragon Boat festival you are likely to find quite a few people posting shots of eggs standing up with some exuberant thumbs up and happy faces! 

Most people use the holiday as a chance to get away and travel to other places around the country with their family. Traffic is always a bit crazy during the holiday and if you plan on going anywhere during the days off, it would be a good idea to book tickets or hotels early as space runs out pretty quickly. 

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A triumphant return to the dock

Different counties throughout the country will sponsor Dragon Boat Races and the races attract thousands of people who crowd around to see their friends and family taking part. Local governments will also allow vendors set up offering food to visitors before ending the festival with fireworks display after the championship race. 

I've been to the races in a few places around Taiwan over the years, but my favourite race is here in Taoyuan at the Longtan Lake (龍潭大池) The lake here covers a large area and offers better facilities and more space for visitors as well as better traffic control! 

The size of the boats vary but it seems like a 14-man team is the standard in Taiwan with twelve paddlers, a steerer and a drummer (although boats in other places could have anywhere from 22 to 50 people) who practice weeks and even months in advance of the holiday to put on a good show for the spectators. 

The races here in Taoyuan take place over a period of two days with a champion being crowned on the final day before the fireworks and the closing of the festival. 

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A winning boat watching their competition finish the race. 

North Americans likely view Dragon Boat races as an event that happens in summer where groups will get sponsors to take part in the race with all the money going to a specific charity. The races here take on a different role as they are a cultural even and is an important way of keeping traditional culture alive - especially for younger people who tend not to care as much about its preservation. 

Whether you're in the audience or a lucky member of a boat crew, the dragon boat races are always a great cultural event to take part in here in Taiwan and if you have the time to check out the races be sure not to miss them! 

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Gallery