Contrasts

Walking tour around SE Taipei. Maybe 8 miles on hard sidewalks in shoes that are not built for it, in heat (Seattle version) and heavy jeans. My feet and ankles are so sore. Took the MRT south a few stops and then walked to AnHo Rd and through a great street market. I then went to Taipei101 to see if there were any Occupiers in the 99%. I did get caught up in the middle of a street protest, but it was a pet advocacy group dressed up as cats and walking their dogs. Lots of press so I may be on TV here because my crowd crossing the boulevard merged with theirs at a big intersection and I was caught in the middle. If you are watching TTV, I am the tall white guy without whiskers.

At Taipei101 I walked the high-end, air-conditioned shopping mall for a while to cool down and then decided my theme for the day would be contrasts (as it usually is in Taipei) – this time inspired by going from a traditional chinese street market to street protest to a foofoo shopping mall in 10 minutes.

Walking back to the apt, I went through the Sun Yat Sen Memorial (where the Taiwan Emmies were held last night) and stumbled across some of those now sought-for contrasts.  I tried several takes with the vidcam but I did not get a single version that captured it right. So instead I posted unedited versions of two (both contain a big verbal FAIL in terms of Chinese political history – the answer is in this paragraph).

Not sure I am clearing the ‘fascinating’ bar I set Monday but watch both vids to hear me try.  
Esp after 1m15s in the 2nd video.