Some random photos from my Taiwan visit in April/May 2008…
The plane I was boarding from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei
The plane I was boarding from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei
The 19th Golden Melody Awards, arguably the most prestigious recognition in Mandarin music industry, were presented in Taipei on July 5.
Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou was the biggest winner, bagging five awards, including song of the year and best composer awards.
Malaysian Gary Chau and Singaporean Tanya Chua claimed the best male/female Mandarin singers title respectively (pic); Tanya also bagged the best producer award.
Taiwanese band Sodagreen won the best group/band award; while Hong Kong star Karen Mok produced the biggest surprise of the night by winning album of the year award.
The awards presentation was shown live at my TV channel… but it was so so boring. The red carpet sucked, the hostesses sucked and the performers talked too much.
The funniest thing is seeing the celebrities pretending to be interested with what was happening on stage when most of them were probably bored to the max.
Some local foods in Jiufen, a small town in Taiwan which I visited in late April 2008…
Caramel haw (冰糖葫芦; bingtang hulu) is a traditional Chinese candy made by dipping haw-on-a-stick in hot caramel… it can be done with other fruits as well, obviously
2016 participants (1008 reflexologists and 1008 tourists) have set a new Guinness World Record in Taiwan on July 1 for having “most people receiving foot massage (reflexology) simultaneously.”
Tourists who volunteered for the event came from various countries, including Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong etc.
The attempt was organised by Taiwan Tourism Bureau to promote health tourism Reflexology is a popular practice in Taiwan for relaxation and improving general health; the activity is gaining popularity among foreign tourists in recent years.
There were no previous attempts made on this category; Guinness have set the requirement to have at least 400 participants with treatment for at least five minutes on each foot… which were met by the folks without much sweat.
MTV Asia Awards (MAA) 2008 is coming to Malaysia.
MAA, one of the most popular pop events in Asia, is making its debut in Malaysia. The show will be held at the Arena of Stars in Genting City of Entertainment, Malaysia, on August 2, and will be hosted by Jared Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars.
There will be nine regional favourite artist awards and seven international awards to be presented. Among the nominees are Avril Lavigne & Justin Timberlake & Leona Lewis (International), Chris Li (China), Andy Lau & Eason Chan & Joey Yung (Hong Kong), Big Bang & Suju & Wondergirls (Korea), Nic Teo & Siti Nurhaliza (Malaysia), Stefanie Sun (Singapore), Jolin Tsai & S.H.E (Taiwan) etc.
As far as I know, none of the celebrities have confirmed their attendance yet, but judging from the past experiences, most of the winners were pretty supportive of the show… it’s one of the largest of its kind in Asia after all.
It’s not easy to get a ticket though; it’s something that money can’t buy. The fans have to get the tickets via contests by voting for their favourite artists [details]… the fans need some luck obviously.
Karen Mok is going to co-host the event with Jared Leto. Electrico, Jabbawockeez, Leona Lewis, Li Yuchun, OneRepublic, Panic at the Disco, Pussycat Dolls, Super Junior, Stefanie Sun, The Click Five and The Script have confirmed their appearances.
Update - the winners.
A song from Taiwanese six-member band Sodagreen, released in their late 2007 album; the title (loosely translated) is “Incomparable Beauty”…
The lead singer has a very special vocal, and their music is not blindly following the flow of the pop scene, but with the own uniqueness.
They didn’t make it big when they first debut in 2003/2004… general pop still rules obviously, but they are gaining momentum gradually and is getting quite popular these days.
Sodagreen is nominated for six categories in the prestigous Taiwan Golden Melody Award in 2008 (yet to be announced)… the future seems bright for these peeps.
The Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Festival) is celebrated by the Chinese on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese calendar (June 8 this year).
The festival is celebrated to commemorate ancient poet Qu Yuan, who jumped into a river and killed himself after his country was conquered by the other.
Locals who admired his patriotism fed rice dumplings to the fishes in the river which he committed suicide so that the fish would not disturb his body… some others also rode on boats and beating on drums to scare away the fishes for the same purpose.
Visited a jade museum in Hualian, Taiwan, on May 1. Museum is an overstatement actually, it’s basically a big shop (really big) selling jades and other precious stones of different sizes and prices. A pretty interesting visit regardless…
Variety of jade vases and containers