More than coffee, books and music - Taipei 2013 part 2

Coffee Megane

I am beginning to sound like a broken record, but the only way to begin this post is to still declare Taipei as the favourite city away from home for us amps.

In true urbanite fashion, I thought it was all because all good cities are defined by their coffee, books, and music (and art). For this trip, armed with several new recommendations from CP, we thoroughly enjoyed and admired the following old haunts and new finds:


Nineteentael performing at Witch House

• Coffee Megane/眼鏡 A beautiful interior, quiet service, simple food made with care, in a residential area. 
• Booday/Mogu Just off the busy Zhong Shan station is a calm but active street. On the ground floor is the shop for Mogu, the magazine publisher, and just above it is its cafe, Booday. Already into its 10th year, it still feels real and independent - and relatively unchanged since our last visit 3 years ago. Another testament to this city's staying power!  
• Good Cho/Simple Living Pretty much the life of Si Si Nan Village, Good Cho extends its activities beyond the busy cafe to a laidback Sunday market.
• Witch House/女巫店 Each time we visit Taipei, we make sure to spend at least 1 evening at this little cafe to listen to a Taiwanese band. Unlike the bigger venues, Witch typically features lesser known independent acts. We've caught a college band, several folk groups, and this time round, 2 bands that told great stories - Smokering and 十九兩／Nineteentael. 
• Eslite. The 24-hour ZhongXiao DunHua branch seems to have expanded their film section and added a rather decent new+used vinyl collection.  As if we needed more reason to visit and revisit this bookstore.
• White Wabbit Records Along a narrow lane off the ShiDa Street is the office and shop front of Taiwanese music label White Wabbit. If you want a one-stop shop to stock up on all genres of independent Taiwanese music, this is a good place to sample CDs and ask questions. As a return favour, we introduced them to our very own Observatory,  Concave Scream and Hanging up the Moon. 
• 下北澤世代／Shimokitazawa Books We didn't manage to visit this bookstore as they were shut. We wrote to them and were somewhat surprised with the prompt reply explaining that they are in the midst of a move and other things of life. The personable reply only made us more curious about the store. 

But of course, what matters most are the folks behind the coffee, books and music - and whatever it is which informs their interactions with strangers like us. These stores are fronted by young Taiwanese under 40. They are knowledgeable about their work, friendly, generally helpful, and appear to take pride in what they do.

It is so easy in any city to develop an aggression and fight for the little space that you think is yours to have and own. It is easy to blame someone else for a bad day when there's so many "someone else" around you, in the packed train, in the distracted elevator, in the hurried traffic stops. It is easy to just give up, and let the force of the crowd behind and ahead of you carry you along.

So if I were a Taipei resident, I would be proud, not of my city's coffee, books or music in the first instance. Instead, I would be proud of my city's ability to protect the "priority seats" in trains and buses for the people who need it more than me - its compassion; to contain so many small creative enterprises/street hawkers/shopkeepers taking ownership of the things they make - its dedication; and to retain that air of dreamy optimism and action - its imagination. And the coffee, books and music will naturally follow.

Then again I deceive myself. There are no good cities.


J's living free 

Never let me go - Taipei 2013 part 1

City as palimpsest - all images in this post by J

It has been almost 3 years since J and I were last together in Taipei - or any foreign city, for that matter. (Click on the Taiwan label on the sidebar to read about our trips/recommendations in 2006, 2008 and 2010)

And I am glad that Taipei has remained largely unchanged in the last 3 years, which is unusual to citizens on our small tropical island... And with all the recent discussion on our island about heritage preservation, nostalgia, identity and displacement, here are three spots we visited this time in Taipei that offer this city's take -

(1) Ri Xing Type Foundry


The narrow streets in the area between the Zhongshan and Taipei Main Stations are a little like Balestier and Jalan Besar in Singapore. The stores specialise in machine parts, tools and other hardware. In Lane 97 of Tai Yuan Road is just another of such stores with its iron grills, fluorescent tube lights, and the glint of metal. But its not just any other store specializing in machine parts, it is Ri Xing/日星 supposedly the last Chinese letterpress type foundry with the complete set of lead type.

How could we resist a visit?

Level 1 and the basement just has shelves of Chinese lead type in various sizes. English alphabets are sold by their weight, but the Chinese type is sold per piece and priced according to its size. When we were there, the lady boss was making out an invoice to a middle-aged man, while the boss was watching tv in the basement. He did look up to smile, but promptly went back to his tele, leaving J to take photographs.



We gave the lady boss our request for "安普乐设计工坊" and in under 1 minute, she managed to find all these characters. We chatted a little and complimented her for preserving this important bit of print heritage.

LB: 哎呀， 笨蛋的人才会这样做。aiyah, only stupid people will do this.
J: 哈哈，楼下的那位笨蛋吗？ the stupid guy downstairs?
LB: 对啊， 对啊。哈哈。 correct, correct.... 不然早就把这里租出去，不用在等钱赚啊。we could have rented this place out, instead of waiting here and making so little.

As with any city, I am sure Taipei has its share of greed and ruthless enterprise, but it also has more than its fair share of 笨蛋的人/stupid people.

(2) Si Si Nan Village 

In the Xinyi District, or more specifically, in the shadow of the Taipei101 building, is a cluster of  small houses for mililtary dependents known as 四四南村 （literally 44 South Village). The residents had moved out in 1999, but persuaded by members of the "cultural circle", the city government preserved the buildings.

It now houses a small museum, a gallery space and Good Cho's/好丘, a cafe and shop. On Sunday afternoons, the courtyard hosts Simple Living, a tiny market featuring local produce and creative products.


The buildings are repaired insofar as new roofs are installed, unsafe fixtures fixed, and a new coat of bright red/sky blue/green paint is layered on the wooden window frames and doors. But the grime, battered cement, rusty wire fences and verdant moss remain.

In some ways it is still prettified. And Taipei's contemporary lifestyle business in the form of the charming Good Cho's cafe and the Simple Living market are adaptive re-uses that have come to define the buildings for tourists and the young. But I like how the place is allowed to continue to age - and dirt is an inevitable part of aging. 

(3) Ping Xi 

After so many visits to Taipei, we thought we had run out of possible day trips. But I chanced upon a write up of Ping Xi, a tiny coal mining town on the Ping Xi train line (there are stops for the cat village/Houtong and Shifen as well). It was probably made popular by the movie 那些年我们一起追过的女孩/Apple of my eye, where the couple had a date at Ping Xi involving ice cream and the lighting of a sky lantern.

If you are the sort who needs things to "do", then there really is not much to do at Ping Xi except walk down the old street and buy a sky lantern to send your wishes to the clouds. We didn't do that - I figured it was pollutive. Instead, we wandered into a strange warren of tunnels beside a temple, scrambled down some stairs to the river bank, took silly photographs of the many murals scattered, and waited one whole hour for the next train to arrive at the small, narrow platform built during the Japanese colonial era.



On the train back, we chatted with an old man in his late 60s or 70s  (let's call him Z) who volunteered to help us get on a faster train route back to Taipei. Z has a small plot of land in Jing Tong (the last stop on the Ping Xi line) left to him by his ancestors, which he now tills and grows vegetables on in his retirement. When the weather is good, he takes the train from Keelung where he lives to Jing Tong to work on the land. He used to ride his scooter but he is now not able to take the 1hour drive. The Ping Xi line, he remembered, used to be quiet. And Ping Xi, he said, was completely dead.

On the train, we met also a young man who has brought his toddler to visit her grandpa at Ping Xi. 

Honestly, Ping Xi still looks like and smells of decay. It is a dying town, kept alive by a fickle tourism. There are many of such tiny sleepy towns in Taiwan. The grandpas and grandmas of Taiwan continue to live by and cultivate the land today. And when they die, creepers or condominiums will overtake them. For this, it is not about heritage or its preservation. It mirrors instead the daily realities or rhythms of a community and society, and starts from living together as a family.

run run run

One Sunday almost a year ago, J and I decided we would postpone a visit to the art museum, abandon our bikes, and instead, take our running shoes to the MacRitchie Reservoir.

And that was the start of my slow conversion to enjoying the run (Ok, that plus J's nagging and the lure of new gear).

There's something about the singularity of the path during a run. Cement, asphalt, or in the case of our favourite route at the MacRitchie Reservoir, gravel, rock and dirt. It leads from the reservoir itself, up and down some varied slopes, to the boundary of the Singapore Country Club. It is the same 3.5km back to the reservoir.

There's the certainty of the start and the finish. It is a linear narrative. The story is framed the same way each time. And there's something reassuring about this.

Yet there's nothing monotonous about the run.

Especially on a trail through a reserve like MacRitchie. Around a bend where the path widens significantly, some days you can hear the cicadas' song grow louder. Through the leaves, early along a gentle stretch of the trail, there are glimpses of the water's edge. The light that filters through the foliage sometimes leave an accidental painting; sometimes it is a butterfly. One week the growth of bamboo is still, the next, the one has fallen across the path and the growth looks disheveled and shaken. The humidity sometimes surprises by giving up in a sudden downpour. Of course, monkeys - don't stare them in the eye.

All this while during the run, you can hear your own breathing; navigate your body through this environment; know well what is within your control; and by extension, what is not.

During this Sunday's sermon, the pastor recounts his running route around Mount Vernon and the adjacent Bidadari cemetery (when it was still a cemetery...), and the irony of striving to keep fit in an environment that speaks only of the certainty of death.  It is a singular path for the body.

J claims that running is, for him, a time to resolve issues, problems and...design briefs! I don't think about much else when I run outside of the running itself. And that's what I enjoy. The focus on the mechanical. But when I do think of anything else, it is mostly when about the beauty of the natural world around me in a place like MacRitchie, and how amazing is the God who made it all.

the 3rd space

J's Neighbourgoods will be popping up at the Christmas Pop Up store at The 3rd Space at 18 Cross Street on 15th December (2-9pm). Have a cup of coffee, do some shopping, make some craft, and sit back to enjoy some music with friends!

forget me not

My grandma, once a Teochew opera performer, has dementia. It started when my grandfather passed away and she started talking aloud to him at the wake. I don't even remember them talking much to each other when he was alive! A while later, she became unusually affectionate for a Chinese old lady. She hugged and kissed everyone, even if she could not remember your name. Several years have passed and she spends her day mostly at her favourite armchair, asleep, staring into space or fiddling with a cloth baby doll my uncle gave her. A baby.

I don't see my grandma often. And don't think often of her - or her dementia. It is not her who has forgotten - I too have forgotten.

Before we forget: Grandmother's Garden and other stories (ed. Jeremy Boo. Hachisu: Singapore, 2012) and 忘記書 (read: Wang Ji Shu/Book of Forgetting. ed.劉鋆. 依揚想亮人文事業(有): Taiwan, 2012)  are more than reminders not to forget those among us with dementia.

Before we forget is part of an initiative by Jeremy Boo and Lee Xian Jie comprising an exhibition and documentary that tries to raise conversations about dementia. The book contains some really lovely, moving, sad, powerful vignettes about mothers, fathers, grandparents suffering from dementia. They are reflections of loss, even regret, but mostly love. This doesn't make the cheeriest of Christmas gifts, but given that some 22,000 on our little island live with dementia, it is right that we know more and talk about it.

If you read Chinese, 忘記書 is an "autobiography" of 劉樹田 (Liu Shu Tian) who suffers from Alzheimer's. But each chapter - starting from his birth in pre-war China - is lovingly written by his children, grandchildren, friends and students. So it is part (auto)biography, part ventriloquy for a well-loved man who had obviously shared his life and stories with many.

I should also add that they are both beautifully made books, especially 忘記書 which - as with many Taiwanese books - us amps wished we had designed it!

treasure chest

Years ago (2005/6?), we bought a little safe to keep the money collected from sales of ampulets-supplies merchandise. The intent was that whatever we collect would be plowed back into producing the next object.

Since then, J has started his own design studio and ampulets-supplies has resurrected in the form of Neighbourgoods. 

But in anticipation of Neighbourgoods' launch of the Good Sweat hankies this 29 November, we dug out our war/treasure chest from a rather moldy drawer..

It took a while finding the key. And when we opened the little grey, steel, brutalist-design box, we found $261.40 for the Good Sweat launch party, including a ship-series $10 paper bill still bearing then-Minister of Finance Richard Hu's signature.

What a treasure!

why sweat?

Warning: Lots of links in this post!

It's been some months since James' graphic design studio ampulets started a modest product label Neighbourgoods to make objects that we've always wanted to and to be preachy while we're at it! With Neighbourgoods, we also have another premise or excuse to make new friends and collaborate with the folks we've always admired.

And Good Sweat #2-6 was a perfect project for all of these reasons!

Neighbourgoods worked with the following inspiring individuals who shared with us the phrases that reflect their values or attitudes in work or life:

(1)  Bob Lee (aka the Fat Farmer or Jiuhukia), a photographer whose work and words have moved us with their honesty, down-to-earth goodness and solid values. His images, whether from his days in the press, or now as an independent photographer, reflect a vision that is empathetic and generous.

(2) Rebecca Toh, founder of Casual Poet Culture. We first learnt of Rebecca's work when we visited a cafe in Chinatown she had started during one of our domestic tourism jaunts, and was impressed by its spirit of independence and freedom. Since then, her writing and work, including the magazine Casual Days, have continued this admirable spirit.

(3) Jackson Tan, co-founder of BLACK Design and member of phunk probably needs no introduction. Besides his amazing art and design work, we've always loved how friendly and easy-going he is, and his 江湖 spirit of 意氣... plus the common love we have for Taiwanese music.

(4) Yah-Leng Yu, co-founder of Foreign Policy Design Group, also needs little introduction. We respect her work and attitude towards it - the impeccable taste, the dedication to good work and craftsmanship, but also the humility. Fierce!

Of course, we couldn't resist taking part in this ourselves.

Friends, go to www.neighbourgoods.sg to check out the 5 designs as they are unveiled. We think they make great Christmas gifts!

This year, we will be selling Good Sweat #2-6 for S$30 each, or S$28 if you pre-order and collect it at the launch party on 29 November (Thursday).  They are in a limited edition of 100 each only, so order soon! To order, write to James at info@ampulets.com.

All the folks involved agreed that profit from the sales will go to a charitable cause. So in good faith, we made an "advance" donation to the Chen Su Lan Methodist Children's Home to support arts enrichment programmes for their kids next year.  And we will continue to donate any profit above this sum to this Home or another charity.

p/s Remember the first Good Sweat project? Read about it here.