News
29 Sep 2008
by Jason Tan
It was all cheers, noise and flamboyance when Asia's largest pride parade took to the streets in Taipei last Saturday. Fridae's Taipei correspondent Jason Tan witnesses yet another significant milestone in the community's history.
Pre-typhoon rains apparently failed to dampen the spirits of Taiwan LGBT Pride Parade last Saturday with the largest ever turnout of 18,000.
This is a new record compared to last year's 15,000 participants, again cementing the Taiwan march the largest in the region.
Despite occasional rains brought by Typhoon Jangmi which lashed Taiwan the following day after the parade, huge crowds - in rain coats or with umbrellas - streamed into the Taipei City Hall Square around 1pm, an hour before the parade started.
"People started to call in the morning to ask if the parade would be called off, but we told them: the march was on - rain or shine," said William Shen, aka "Gofyy," president of Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association, the event's co-organiser.
And he was right.
Marchers in wheelchairs, beefcakes clad only in tiny swim trunks, and a sizeable amount of expatriates were all spotted at the parade, which started to march along Ren Ai Road, An He Road, before pausing at Zhong Xiao East Road - a busy shopping/dining district similar to Singapore's Orchard Road, or Hong Kong's Causeway Bay.
Parade floats, which carry drag queens and half-naked macho men, proudly broadcast to the passersby and shopkeepers along Zhong Xiao East: "We are gays and we are proud!"
Twenty two-year-old Tony, who hails from Switzerland and arrived in Taipei two weeks ago to study Mandarin, was excited about his first Asian parade.
"I have joined parades in Europe and there were loads of fun," he said.
"I heard President Ma Ying-Jeou (then Taipei mayor) showed face to support the gay parade in Taipei before, so I am looking forward to this event."
Yes, paraders' spirits were high and its flashy carnival atmosphere grabbed media attention, but Taiwan LGBT community has indeed come a long way.
When the parade started off in 2003, only 500 people took part. The number grew to 3,000 the second year and 5,000 the third.
"The parade is a platform to educate the community, training them to be confident and proud of who they are," Gofyy said. "We want them to live and breathe as anyone else, and make their views heard by the society."
Indeed, over 80 LGBT groups signed up this year, doubled from last year's 40-plus, the organisers said. And title of the parade, for the first time, was changed from "Gay Pride" to "LGBT Pride," extending reach to bisexuals and transgenders in the family.
"Bi the Way," Taiwan's first-and-only bisexual group formed in June last year, is determined to let the society aware of their presence this year.
"People would think that bisexuals like us are enjoying lots of 'choices.' But if we tell our gay friends that we may fall for the opposite sex, they would despise us," Chen Lo-Wei, one of the founding members, told Fridae.
"We are being sidelined... Therefore, the parade gives us an avenue to find strength and support," she added.
Observers such as Hongkonger Denise Tang, applauded the progress of LGBT movement in Taiwan.
"In Taipei, we have LGBT-related parade, seminars, media outlets and supporting groups... These make the community vibrant," said Ms Tang, an assistant professor of Graduate Institute for Gender Studies at Shih Hsin University in Taipei.
Whereas in neigbouring Hong Kong, declaring that "I am gay" would require tremendous courage in the largely conservative population, she added.
Highlights of the event included the significant moment when a 90-metre long, 4.5-metre wide rainbow flag covered through the parade crowds. After that, marchers gathered again at the Taipei City Hall Square around 5pm, and the second half of the party had just started.
Invited performers including singer Chou Hui and drag queen/entertainer Topper took to the stage to vow support for the community. Performing in the parade for the fourth year straight, Topper wowed the crowds with flashy drag queen outfits and as usual - before stripping to only tops and hot pants to conclude the event.
"I had goose bumps seeing so many people here... They have their own views and they are not afraid to voice it out loud," said Angela Hsu, a 19-year-old college student who turned up to do project research with her fellow classmate.
These three to five years, when more of her friends dating the same sex, she started to contemplate on the sexuality issue and the importance of breaking stereotypes.
"We all will eventually fall for someone. And by then, whether it's a he or she, it doesn't matter," she added. - Text by Jason Tan
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
''Love of Siam'' catches on in Taiwan
26 Sep 2008
by Jason Tan
Why would five Taiwanese dig into their savings of NT$1 million (US$31,000), just to screen Thai flick The Love of Siam in theatres in Taiwan? Fridae's Taipei correspondent Jason Tan finds out more.
It was a warm Christmas in Bangkok last year. Taiwanese tourist Kyan Zheng and friends decided to catch a movie there and chanced upon The Love of Siam.
"I could relate to the movie as if it were telling my own story," he told Fridae when the movie opened in Taipei on Sept 19.
The Thai film, which combines family drama and a teenage romance between two boys (played by Witwisit Hiranyawongkul and Mario Maurer who is of Thai-German heritage) who had lost touch but reunited in later years, touched Zheng so much that he and four other friends decided to pull money together to make it into the big silver screen.
They had to invest US$15,000 to repurchase copyrights from a local movie distributor, who decided not to release the movie on concerns of a sluggish box office market.
Generally, major Hollywood productions would fare well in Taiwan, despite a ticket price of NT$270 (US$8.50). There are a handful independent theaters that screen non-mainstream foreign titles, including those on LGBT issues, but box office takings tend to be unpredictable and typically lacklustre.
These five friends - who happen to be colleagues - are determined to make the movie accessible to the public. They made use of their network in their advertising firm, pitched proposals to different movie houses, produced promo billboards and wrote publicity material for the screening.
They had even managed to fly actor Witwisit Hiranyawongkul and director Chookiat Sakveerakul from Bangkok to hold a meet-the-fans autograph session last Saturday on Sept 20.
"It is all hard work... We are all inexperienced in distributing a movie, but it is worth it," said Wendy Chen, one of the five who have brought the film to theatres.
All the bills add up to NT$1 million (US$31,000) in total, meaning they each have to shoulder NT$200,000.
But their efforts have not gone unnoticed.
Three hundred toys, replicas of a toy featured in the movie and remade for Taiwan's premiere, were nearly sold out before the first screening. Over 1,000 tickets were also pre-sold in the first week, an achievement considering Thai flicks aren't really crowd pullers in Taiwan.
Now, box office is their least consideration as these five young executives are ready to part with some of the investment - if not all.
"We knew that some have watched the movie on the Internet, but we want to make it into the big silver screens for public viewing," Chen said.
Opening on 146 screens in Thai cinemas last November, The Love of Siam was the No. 1 film at the Thai box office that weekend and dominated domestic film awards last year. It won Best Picture category in all major awards: Thailand National Film Association Awards, Starpics Magazine's Starpics Awards, Bangkok Critics Assembly Awards and Star Entertainment Awards.
Bangkok Post commentator, Nattakorn Devakula, said the film contained important lessons for Thai society. "The point that the film attempts to teach viewers - and a largely conservative Thai society - is that love is an evolved form of emotional attachment that transcends sexual attraction of the physical form."
When director Chookiat (flanked by actor Witwisit) met fans in Taipei, he told the audience what gave birth to the tear-jerking title: "I wanted to find out what is love. And if two boys have feelings for each other, does their love count?"
The two and a half hour story intended to connect to the audience by also touching on the love of family, parents and siblings, he said.
Indeed, one moviegoer was moved by the film's depiction of "love in all forms."
"I saw the music video in Thailand and it aroused my curiosity of the movie," Lin, a 25-year-old, told Fridae while queuing up to get the poster autographed in Ximending - a hip-and-happening teenage hangout in downtown Taipei.
So when he learned of the movie premiere in Taiwan, he was eager to purchase tickets to feel the big screen impact.
http://www.fridae.com/newsfeatures/2008/09/26/2128.love-of-siam-catches-on-in-taiwan?n=sea&nm=jason+tan
Beijing, the cheap and IT way
Don’t worry if you don’t have deep pockets. Wowed by the technological conveniences available, JASON TAN shows how you can still have a good time in Beijing
GREAT Wall, Summer Palace, bird’s nest... Yes, the Olympics fever may have receded from Beijing, but it doesn’t deter me from experiencing the China capital for the first time.
I am wowed by not only the magnificent ancient and Olympics architectures, but also the technology convenience in place, which enables me to travel two weeks within my budget.
It is a relaxing, no-frills trip and travelling within my limited budget is the priority of my first trip to Beijing. As I am travelling from Macau, using www.ctrip.com – one of the largest travel booking websites in China – solved the flight and accommodation issues. (Other major sites such as Elong.com are another option).
Ctrip, for one, offers tremendous useful information such as discounted domestic flights, hundreds of hotel choices and introduction on hot destinations. No wonder its business is prospering with a base of 20 million members.
Thanks to tie-ups with 28,000 two to five-star hotels worldwide, Ctrip members enjoy discounts with online hotel bookings.
My decent, neat single room at the busy Guloudongdajie is at 170 yuan (RM88) a night — far cheaper than the walk-in rate of 230 yuan.
The website’s search engine also allows you to easily narrow down hotel choices by choosing areas to stay in, preferred pricing and members’ ratings.
Cheaper Connection
Buy a local SIM card... outside of the airport. Using a local SIM card will save us money compared with international roaming.
You need not hit the telecom counters as soon as you set foot in the airport where the China Mobile SIM card on sale is 120 yuan (with stored value of 50 yuan).
If you can patiently wait until the bus rolls into the city centre, you can easily get one for 90 yuan (50 yuan stored value) or even lower at most news stands/grocery stores/convenient stores, etc. Top up your card when the credit runs low as incoming calls are charged a fee.
Getting Around
Another way to travel real cheap is to hop onto the local transport. Taking a cab (flag-down rate is 10 yuan) to the Great Wall is convenient and comfy, but it will not allow you to get a taste of local life (like getting used to people shoving and being sandwiched against one another during peak hours).
Get yourself the IC transport card. With this card, I pay only 4.8 yuan for a one-hour bus trip to Badaling of the Great Wall (fare is 12 yuan without the card). It also allows you a cheaper fare of 0.4 yuan on public buses compared with one yuan in cash payment.
There are eight subway lines (including the airport express) crawling around Beijing. Signs and broadcast of each station are in Chinese and English, so it shouldn’t be a big issue to navigate around these lines after a few rides.
And the plus (or minus) side is that you can experience the “post Olympics” feature if you take the subway. All commuters are required to have their bags go through the electronic security machines – exactly the same as the one in the airport – a measure set up in June last year for Olympics. There are at least two staff members manning each entrance to make sure no explosives or radioactive materials make their way into the trains.
Swim Like Phelps
Speaking of the Olympics, you can dip into the pool that Michael Phelps swam at the 2008 Beijing Games. National Aquatics Centre, aka Water Cube, boasts the latest in green technology currently used to save significant amounts of energy.
Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) is a light-weight polymer foil, around 250-microns thick. It is stretched thin and then folded to create giant air pockets that allow light to pass through while trapping and storing heat. Some 3,000 such air bubbles have been created in three layers for use in the walls of the Cube.
One of the pools – so called a warm-up pool – is open to public for a “test swim”. So I join the locals and expats for a dip, hoping to relive the Olympics excitement. The admission ticket is 50 yuan but loitering in the facilities after two hours will incur a penalty.
After passing through security checks (again), we are required to pay another 20 yuan to get a deep water pass. In Beijing, swimmers have to go through a 200m swim test to obtain the pass if they want to swim in deep water pools. This warm-up pool is two metres deep.
The sensor technology of the lockers is fairly impressive. The elastic band you carry has a number to the locker. There is a small magnet-like button on the band and its built-in sensor will open up the locker door for you. Much cooler than the common key-lock system!
Swimming buffs, hurry though. The Cube’s test swim ends in mid October. No official word on what will happen after that.
http://travel.nst.com.my/Current_News/TravelTimes/article/Outbound/20090825092248/Article/index_html
GREAT Wall, Summer Palace, bird’s nest... Yes, the Olympics fever may have receded from Beijing, but it doesn’t deter me from experiencing the China capital for the first time.
I am wowed by not only the magnificent ancient and Olympics architectures, but also the technology convenience in place, which enables me to travel two weeks within my budget.
It is a relaxing, no-frills trip and travelling within my limited budget is the priority of my first trip to Beijing. As I am travelling from Macau, using www.ctrip.com – one of the largest travel booking websites in China – solved the flight and accommodation issues. (Other major sites such as Elong.com are another option).
Ctrip, for one, offers tremendous useful information such as discounted domestic flights, hundreds of hotel choices and introduction on hot destinations. No wonder its business is prospering with a base of 20 million members.
Thanks to tie-ups with 28,000 two to five-star hotels worldwide, Ctrip members enjoy discounts with online hotel bookings.
My decent, neat single room at the busy Guloudongdajie is at 170 yuan (RM88) a night — far cheaper than the walk-in rate of 230 yuan.
The website’s search engine also allows you to easily narrow down hotel choices by choosing areas to stay in, preferred pricing and members’ ratings.
Cheaper Connection
Buy a local SIM card... outside of the airport. Using a local SIM card will save us money compared with international roaming.
You need not hit the telecom counters as soon as you set foot in the airport where the China Mobile SIM card on sale is 120 yuan (with stored value of 50 yuan).
If you can patiently wait until the bus rolls into the city centre, you can easily get one for 90 yuan (50 yuan stored value) or even lower at most news stands/grocery stores/convenient stores, etc. Top up your card when the credit runs low as incoming calls are charged a fee.
Getting Around
Another way to travel real cheap is to hop onto the local transport. Taking a cab (flag-down rate is 10 yuan) to the Great Wall is convenient and comfy, but it will not allow you to get a taste of local life (like getting used to people shoving and being sandwiched against one another during peak hours).
Get yourself the IC transport card. With this card, I pay only 4.8 yuan for a one-hour bus trip to Badaling of the Great Wall (fare is 12 yuan without the card). It also allows you a cheaper fare of 0.4 yuan on public buses compared with one yuan in cash payment.
There are eight subway lines (including the airport express) crawling around Beijing. Signs and broadcast of each station are in Chinese and English, so it shouldn’t be a big issue to navigate around these lines after a few rides.
And the plus (or minus) side is that you can experience the “post Olympics” feature if you take the subway. All commuters are required to have their bags go through the electronic security machines – exactly the same as the one in the airport – a measure set up in June last year for Olympics. There are at least two staff members manning each entrance to make sure no explosives or radioactive materials make their way into the trains.
Swim Like Phelps
Speaking of the Olympics, you can dip into the pool that Michael Phelps swam at the 2008 Beijing Games. National Aquatics Centre, aka Water Cube, boasts the latest in green technology currently used to save significant amounts of energy.
Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) is a light-weight polymer foil, around 250-microns thick. It is stretched thin and then folded to create giant air pockets that allow light to pass through while trapping and storing heat. Some 3,000 such air bubbles have been created in three layers for use in the walls of the Cube.
One of the pools – so called a warm-up pool – is open to public for a “test swim”. So I join the locals and expats for a dip, hoping to relive the Olympics excitement. The admission ticket is 50 yuan but loitering in the facilities after two hours will incur a penalty.
After passing through security checks (again), we are required to pay another 20 yuan to get a deep water pass. In Beijing, swimmers have to go through a 200m swim test to obtain the pass if they want to swim in deep water pools. This warm-up pool is two metres deep.
The sensor technology of the lockers is fairly impressive. The elastic band you carry has a number to the locker. There is a small magnet-like button on the band and its built-in sensor will open up the locker door for you. Much cooler than the common key-lock system!
Swimming buffs, hurry though. The Cube’s test swim ends in mid October. No official word on what will happen after that.
http://travel.nst.com.my/Current_News/TravelTimes/article/Outbound/20090825092248/Article/index_html
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