Taoyuan

On Still Having One Job

There be dragons

Wednesday, July 12, 2013

Taoyuan, Taiwan


Outside the Game:
I had to get up relatively early this day for the train back up to Taipei, so it was with murder in my heart that I was awoken by a person in the next room being amazingly loud in the shower. Upon looking at the clock and discovering that it was only two minutes before my alarms were due to go off, my violent rage passed into the sullen determination to stay in bed the extra two minutes until the alarm sounded "officially."

I eventually finished the last of my packing and dragged myself downstairs for the breakfast buffet. It was a more modest affair than in Tainan, to be sure, but it got some pork, dairy, and carbs into my system successfully, so there is only so much criticism I can have for it.

I checked out and made my way to the largely deserted subway station, which seemed particularly odd since it was a quarter to nine-ish on a workday. I got the train up to the high-speed rail station, negotiated far too many stairs with all my bags, and eventually dumped myself into my seat on the train for the super-express ride back north that was only scheduled to take about an hour and a half. The trip was alternately spent sleeping and typing.

I was dumped out into Taipei Main Station yet again, and I took the subway to the north end of town. In my previous stays, I was in the Old Town and East Taipei, so I picked a place in the Zhongshan district in the north of the city. In keeping with my policy of getting nicer and nicer places as the trip went on, I was staying in a five-star hotel in the posh part of town. Posh or not, I found out that it was raining pretty heavily when I eventually exited the subway station.

My hotel was a bit of a walk up, located halfway between the subway line and the parks that run along the north river that borders that end of Taipei. Most of it was covered, so the rain was less of an issue, but I could have done without dragging all my bags all that way. I got to the hotel entrance, and several people in suits were falling over themselves to help me get into the lobby and out of the rain. As with my other rather posh hotel, even though it was mid-morning, they were more than happy to let me check in early and help me get my bags upstairs.

Upon arriving in my room, I immediately grabbed out some pants and shirts for the hotel laundry, as the last couple of days in the heat had done a number on my dwindling wardrobe. I called housekeeping to pick them up, got my rain gear and my guide book out of my bag, and went out to spend my afternoon.

As I was a short distance from a couple of museums in the art park just to the north of the hotel, this seemed as good as any indoor place to spend the day. I marched up a bit until I reached the south end of the park, and then wandered around a bit to find the museums in question. Some construction had altered the paths directed by the signs, so it took some doing.

My first stop was the Story House, a Western-style house dating from the Japanese-occupation era that has been turned into a curiosity museum with rotating exhibits on various topics, such as comics, matchbooks, or the like. This seemed a slam-dunk to me, so it was my first stop. Upon entering from the rain, I found out that the exhibit at the moment was greeting cards. The museum was interesting in equal parts due to the subject matter of the exhibit as well as the house itself, which in turn was interesting because of both its historical value and how out of place it was in Taiwan. Given that the exhibit was on historic greeting cards, I suppose I should have been prepared for how inappropriate some of them were, but even with the amount of expectation I had, the actual items were still surprisingly discordant with modern sensibilities.

The past is horrific

While I was on the second floor of the house, one of the staff saw me looking at one of the displays and stepped in to show me that there was another bit to it that I was missing, as some of the panels actually opened up as well, which showed the other half of the display. As can happen, we started talking. He wanted to know where I was from, and when I told him, he was very impressed that I was visiting their little museum. I told him that it was in a very popular guide book in America, and it sounded interesting, so here I was. He thanked me for coming and then asked about why I had come to Taiwan. I took a deep breath and told him that I was there for the baseball, and that I was a writer visiting all the baseball stadiums. He didn't think that anyone would actually pay me to go visit all the baseball stadiums, to which I replied that it wasn't my "real" job, but something for which my real job paid. He thought that I must appreciate my real job a lot if it let me do all these things, and then I felt intensely guilty.

Taipei Fine Arts Museum

After my fill of the Story House, I essentially went next door to the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. The rain had finally let up, so I didn't have to re-don all my rain gear; I just went across the plaza and paid the small admission fee to go in. Now, fine arts museums aren't really my thing, but I always attempt to try again every now and then because that's how you don't stagnate. Everything seems to happen for a reason on these trips, so I just went with it. Most of the museum was a lot of modern art that I didn't quite get, but could at least see what they were trying, but the conceptual exhibits just tried my patience beyond all endurance.

Here comes an art rant. Skip to the next paragraph should you not care about such things. I fully acknowledge that I am not really a "high art" person; I am far more a craftsmanship person. And even within that limitation of my capabilities (that I readily acknowledge), I can usually still appreciate art, if only from that perspective. This piece of art was done with great skill, or this piece of art was done with this concept in mind. At least on that level, I can always get behind it. I even can even get behind some abstract expressionism after reading Breakfast of Champions. I am also a person of above-average intelligence and something of a literalist. If I have to do homework or have additional information to "get" what you are trying to convey with your art, you have already failed. There was one piece on one of the museum's upper floors that was a foldable ruler unfolded and at an angle on the wall. No. There is no way I can possibly get your point without some extra information, and as it was, it just wasted my time. I just looked at a ruler. I realize that it doesn't make me avant guarde, but I will live with that burden.

After visiting all the exhibits in the museum, I had a late lunch in the cafeteria in the basement and then headed back to my hotel to get ready to head out for the game that evening. I put away my waiting laundry, showered, changed, and grabbed my game bag to head out into the late Taipei evening.

My game for this evening was in Taoyuan, a city west of Taipei that holds the international airport. It was a little too far to be connected to the Taipei subway system, but it was the second stop on the high-speed rail line that runs from Taipei. It was a scant twenty minutes away on that frequently-running service, and the trains continued until midnight, and even after the trains stopped, Taoyuan's proximity to the airport ensured access to cabs should they be necessary. The train fare was also a little under $10 for a reserved round trip, so it wasn't even expensive.

I took the subway down to the high-speed rail station and bought my ticket for the next train that stopped at Taoyuan, and then I went quickly and boarded said train, as it was leaving in ten minutes. I got in my seat and just stared out the window for the short ride out to the Taoyuan high-speed rail station. Upon exiting, I made a bee line to the information counters, which were plentiful since the station was this close to the airport. There was a lot of information for visitors, not to mention kiosks for some of the major airlines that let you do some check-in activities before you even got to the airport proper.

I got a time table with the schedules for the trains and then went to the tourist booth. I asked what the best way to get to the baseball stadium was, and he said that one of the free transit buses at the back of the station was the way to go. While I headed off to the buses, I was looking at the map I had from America, which showed that the stadium was pretty much a straight line down a road. But that road turned out to be a highway, so it was probably not the best route to take. At the bus pen, I couldn't figure out which was the correct bus, nor what the correct stop was, and not thinking I was able to walk, I decided to go back into the station and get an area map and either walk it or take a cab.

It was then that the drizzle that had been falling turned to honest-to-god steady rain, and I retreated into the station to get my poncho on before proceeding any further. I went back to the tourist counter and asked for a map and told him that I was probably taking a cab instead of the bus. I headed out the exit for the taxi stand and was standing under the cab stand overhang looking at the map it when the tourist staffer sprinted out and told me that the game had been cancelled because of the rain and not to go. Well, check mark for customer service, right there. I thanked him and rather annoyedly retreated to the station to figure out my options. This wasn't a big deal, as there were two more games this week being played at Taoyuan, which is why it was good to have some flexibility worked into your schedule.

Waiting out the rain

Of course, I had just missed a train to Taipei, so I had to wait about twenty minutes. As I was buying my ticket, some other damp people came in from the rain in baseball gear, most likely fellow fans who just made it back here when the news about the game being called came through. I bought my ticket and went to the MOS Burger in the station to get some dinner. I put in my order and went to the tables in back by the windows and started quite angrily at the rain that was still falling heavily outside.

Xingtian Temple

I ate and got on the train back, and I think I may have taken a nap, or not. I remember nothing about the train ride except being annoyed. When I got out of the subway by my hotel, the rain had, of course, lessened. I returned to my hotel fairly early, as the game had been called at least an hour before gametime, so it was before seven. With an open evening ahead of me, I decided to take a trip down to Xingtian Temple, which was a bit of a walk from the hotel. Along the walk, I passed a business called "Monarch Butterfly," which just made me remember that after two years, there were finally new Venture Brothers episodes airing, and I would have to wait until I got back to America to see them.

The Monarch

I got to the temple, and even with the rain having just stopped on a mid-week evening, the temple lived up to its reputation as one of the busiest in Taipei. Even with humid steam wafting from nearly every surface, the exceptional building was bustling with people. As with most of the noteworthy temples in Taiwan, it was an explosion of color and detail. I forget how much time I spent just wandering around there and looking at things.

Ching Kyang Night Market

Even after spending my fill of time at Xingtian, there was still some of the night left to be had. I stopped at the Ching Kyang Night Market to get a snack or two on the way back, and then tried to make it to Jing Fu Temple by the hotel, but I only got there as it was closing up, which was an interesting enough experience, as I had never seen a temple be closed up for the evening before. It was finally getting late, so I took the short walk back to the hotel to call it a soggy, unsuccessful evening.


The Accommodations:

Imperial Hotel

For my final stay in Taipei, I decided on a luxury hotel in the north end of town, the only area I hadn't resided in previously. I got a great discount deal on the impressively-monickered Imperial Hotel that lay just south of the major parks in that area of the city. And impressive it was. I got another amazing rate on the hotel from Agoda, but I only got a regular room and not a suite for that price.

Not that it was anything to shake a stick at. I got the ginormous bed opposite a dresser, desk, and flat-screen TV. There was a proper wardrobe that held the de rigur fluffy bathrobe and several drawers for clothes (that I used to stash all my purchases so far). The cabinet under the TV held a full drinks and tea service, while the end table had a plastic-covered New Testament, along with the HBO Guide. The bathroom to the left of the entrance had an electrical toilet from the future from Japan, a marble sink, and a combo bath and shower that was of the correct size for Western stature.

There were two floors of restaurants downstairs, along with a sweets shop in the lobby. When you checked in, you get a voucher for a free packet of pineapple cake, which was, surprisingly, the first time I tried it while in the Taiwan. A fully-stocked, high-end gift shop was also on the first floor, for those that couldn't be bothered to leave the hotel and go a block or two to the dozens of shops that lined the streets around the hotel.

There was also a sign welcoming FedEx to the hotel, no doubt being housed there as part of the conference. The hotel was used to hosting foreigners, as they not only had hotel cards that one could give to the taxi drivers, but they also opened up to include common tourist destinations, so you could just check off where you wanted to go and give it to someone in the lobby and have them arrange a taxi to take you exactly where you wanted.

And as if I was meant to be here, the hotel also had a bit of baseball lineage. A wall of photographs of famous visitors included the NY Yankees coaching staff, various Japanese baseball personages, and Taiwanese baseball teams. It is funny how these things manage to come together.

My only real disappointment was that breakfast wasn't included in my package, so I never got to see what kind of spread they put out, and if it challenged the Tayih Landis for the most elaborate ever experienced.

On Succeeding at One Job

Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium, 2013

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Brother Elephants vs. Lamingo Monkeys
Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium
Chinese Professional Baseball League
Taoyuan, Taiwan
16:35


Outside the Game:
After the rain-out the night before, I was absolutely ecstatic to wake the next day to a half-hearted rain already falling. But since it pretty much rained nearly every day I was in Taiwan, I tried not to think too much about it.

My pre-game itinerary for the day was to start out with the Taipei Confucius Temple. It took a bit of navigating from the closest subway stop, but I found it fairly readily. It was one of the largest temples I had seen in Taiwan, and in addition to the temple, park, and grounds, there were several buildings that went in-depth on every aspect of Confucianism, talking about the basic tenets, history, and ceremonies, as well as each of the Confucian arts, including calligraphy, math, archery, and chariot driving. It was all very interesting, and more importantly, each of the exhibits on the arts had interactive stations where you could practice them. You could write some calligraphy, prove out the square roots theorem with blocks, try drawing a bow, and, my favorite, play a video game that simulated chariot driving. You raced slalom courses or had to hunt pigs, and it was way more fun than it had any right to be.

Main temple

After spending most of the morning at the Confucius Temple, I went across the way to the Baoan Temple. In between the two was an odd little park that wasn't labeled on the map, though I assume that it belonged the campuses of one or the other temple. The park was laced with pool and canals, with small, odd little pathways leading up rock outcroppings and through waterfalls. All along the park were tiny dioramas of people, and tigers, and monkeys. I'm sure it would have been interesting to know what it all was about, but it was just as interesting not knowing. They were setting up a stage for some performance later on. I wandered across the way and eventually visited the Baoan Temple itself, with its notable statuary, landscaping, and architectural details.

Nice tiger

As early afternoon was upon me, I stopped off for a quick lunch and then headed down to find the Dihua Markets, one of the few streets with old merchant buildings on it from various periods in Taiwan's past that still specialize in Eastern medicines and traditional wares. The markets end up right near the City God Temple, and I managed to arrive there right as a festival procession was arriving. Several musicians in adorned cars were driving up to the temple, to be met by several elaborately painted performers who came out to meet them and get on the cars to continue to the procession. It was pure tourist bait, and I saw more white faces in that ten or so minutes than I saw the entire rest of the trip. Perhaps distracted by that, I didn't notice I was standing close to a mesh basket into which someone from the temple threw a match, which set off the fireworks to ward against evil spirits that were inside. They are also effective at warding off effective hearing for a minute or so if you are inadvertently standing too close.

Festival

With a little more time to kill before I had to head off to the game, I wandered down to the river, because I hadn't actually seen it yet in all of my stay in Taipei. I headed over to Dadaocheng Wharf and spent some time walking around and watching a musical performance that was taking place in a small riverside pagoda.

Suitably relaxed, it started to rain on me. I just left myself to fate, and realized I need to get back to the hotel pronto, so I hailed a cab and gave my hotel card, and in under five minutes, someone in a suit was holding the door for me as I ducked out of the cab and away from the rain. I showered, changed, and hopefully grabbed my game bag, as I headed back to the train station to try Taoyuan again.

I got a ticket for the same train I took the day before and hoped for a different result. As I went up the escalator to the surface-level station in Taoyuan, I was relieved by the lack of rain so far. I decided to just hail a cab to get to the stadium, and after a bit of pantomime bat swinging by the cab driver to make sure he was taking me to the right place, I made it to the stadium. The ticket office being open, I secured a seat on the home team side of the park in the infield and then went around to take all my pictures.

After the game, I wasn't quite sure how I was getting back to the train station, but I knew now that the CPBL usually ran shuttle buses back to the city after the game. As I exited, sure enough, there were the buses. I almost got on the wrong one, as the first one I saw was actually going to downtown Taoyuan. I eventually got pointed in the direction of the buses behind the stadium, which were going back to the train station. Halfway to the buses, I saw a cab, and decided to just grab the cab back so I wouldn't have to wait. After another bit of pantomime on her part to make sure she was taking me to right place (I was getting pretty good at bi-lingual pantomime at this point), she took me back to the high-speed rail station quite quickly.

I got a ticket for the next train back to Taipei, which thankfully was leaving in about ten minutes. I stopped in at the 7-11 in the station to get some drinks and snacks for the trip and had an uneventful ride back to Taipei. And a similarly placid subway ride back to the hotel, where someone in a suit held the door for a sweaty American dragging a bag and a camera back up to his room.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium

Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium is the newest ballpark in the league, and it shows in its more contemporary styling and amenities. Its problem is that it is located in the middle of nowhere. Well, technically, it is part of Qingbu Sports Park, which is in the middle of nowhere. It is a little over a mile from the high-speed rail station, which is a little over a mile from the international airport, but it is also not really near anything else. Downtown Taoyuan is over five miles away, so it is just the sports park and nothing else around except for the train station.

The park itself has an erector set vibe going for it, with exposed ribs circling the park in its middle section, and an angular shade roof extending inward over the park. There's a big pavilion in front of the park, filled with bat sculptures, a circle of flagpoles, and mitt-shaped concrete benches. The tiled walkway goes all the way around the stadium, and it is actually a second level over a lower level where parking lots and the bus parking all lie underneath.

The ticket booth lies just to the left of the main entrance, and other entrances, vending machines, and bathrooms extend around the stadium at fairly regular intervals. The vending machines were a new twist, as for some reason, there weren't any at all in the other stadiums in Taiwan, nor many vending machines in general. Around the back of the stadium is the entrance for the bleachers and nothing much else. On the road to the right of the stadium, freelance food vendors set up before the game for the budget-conscious.

There were two other ballparks surrounding the main park. There was one that looked like a little-league field in the back, but there was a rather old-looking but professional number next door. Since the sports park and the main stadium were relatively new, I assumed that this was the old ballpark for a previous incarnation of the team, but I'd been unable to find any information on it until I got home. (It turned out to be just another park they built next to the main one.) It looked a bit run down, but was still all together, but it seemed anyone could go in if they wanted. I did poke around a bit until I got to a playground that was between the old park and the new that was occupied by a rather sizeable pack of wild dogs, and I decided on discretion being the better part of valor and went back to the main stadium.

Once inside the main entrance to the park, you are greeting by a giant flat-screen TV that was showing an extra-innings Dodgers/D-Backs contest this night. I'm not exactly sure who this was to appeal to, outside of general baseball fans and the occasional American who wanders in. The drop ceiling in the entrance way was done in a bat and ball pattern. The desk for the fan club was also located in in the foyer.

The main walkway extended out from here in both directions. Various concession stands lined the walls and kiosks stood on their own in the hallways. The official Monkeys concession stands had drinks, salads, and snacks, and something called a "Subber," that was some manner of submarine sandwich with meat and vegetables. And then there was a giant corn dog stand, and you sort of felt like home.

On the visitors side, in addition to the food stands, there was the table for visiting team merchandise and a model of the stadium. The further back towards the outfield you went, the more abandoned the hallway started feeling. On the "home" third base side, there was a table and rack selling jerseys, and then a more upscale merchandise shop with dim lighting and muted colors that sold all manner of Monkeys trinkets. Further down the same hallway was a hip shop for parent company "La new" that sold some of their signature sneakers, for people who wanted to buy shoes at the ballgame.

The seating areas were separated into the segregated outfield bleachers, and an infield grandstand and upper deck. The outfield bleachers had actual seats, and were split into two section by a walkway in left and right-center, and, for some reason, three sections in right, with an added level in the section right next to the scoreboard. Both the outfield and the upper deck infield were closed off for this game, likely due to lack of demand. A medium-sized foul ball fence extended from the home-base netting all the way down to the outfield seating.

The lower-deck infield seats had one path that separated the seats into an upper and lower level, as well as an upper walkway at the top of the seating bowl. There were some concession stands perched on the top walkways for everyone stuck in seats at the back. They also had an entrance into the luxury boxes that lined either side of the press box behind home plate. There were two scoreboards: a large, detailed game scoreboard in left-center, and a big video number out in right-center.

There were the prerequisite stages build into the home and away dugouts where the cheering squads held court. The Monkeys had an MC and a cheerleader group, as well as the nominal monkey mascot, who spent most of the game either dancing with the cheerleaders or out and about the entire home side of the field, meeting and greeting fans. One negative point was that they had speakers to pipe in additional crowd noise. The Monkeys are the youngest team in the league (and also the worst), so I don't know if they are having problems getting people in the seats, but, man, pre-recorded crowd noise is never the answer. The crowd was about half-full on the home side, and the visiting Brother Elephants from just down the road in New Taipei had about a quarter of the seats on the visiting side filled.

Mascots and cheerleaders

Songs and cheering were pretty standard for Taiwan, although they did have a more Western-style "Let's go" chant (in English), and in the middle innings, they had everyone whip out their smart phones with their Monkeys app and did a sing-along while they swayed their phones in the air. Asia, man. Asia. The victory celebration included a small fireworks show (that no doubt terrified the feral dogs back there) in addition to the normal MVP awards.


At the Game with Oogie:

"Corn dog"

After all my ramblings around to take pictures, there was a line at the main entrance to get into the stadium. I managed to find myself positioned right before a busload of schoolkids who were lead by their teachers or chaperones or whathaveyou into line right behind me.

This was inevitable. All the kids started whispering to each other and pointing, and it was just a matter of time before one of them got up the nerve to do it.

"Hello," one said.

"Ni hao," I said back.

I was clearly doing it wrong, as he looked confused.

"HELLO," he said again.

"Hello," I said back, giving them what they wanted.

And that was all it took. They all started shouting "Hello" at me, and I had to answer them all until we got into the stadium.

I spent a bunch of time and money in the swank merchandise shop. Of all the teams in Taiwan, the angry gorilla branding was easily the most compelling. T-shirts, buttons... it all went in the bag.

And when you have a giant corn-dog concession stand, you have to get yourself a giant corndog, especially if you're in Asia.

When I got to my seat, I was surrounded by families, and there were a couple of guys out for a night of baseball next to me. Somewhere in the middle innings, the guy next to me tapped me on the shoulder while I was writing away on my scorecard. The monkey mascot was in the aisle and would not leave until I gave him a high-five. High-five collected, he went on his way down to schmooze with the other fans in the area. So that, children, is how I high-fived a guy in a monkey suit in Taiwan.

Also somewhere in the middle innings, the home fans were getting quiet as the MC and the cheerleaders took a break from the heat. It was then that an older white guy got up and sarcastically said how he liked it over here because it was too noisy on the Elephants' side of the field. I can only assume that he was the father of one of the American players on the team. Or maybe he was just an insane baseball fan like me. I'll never know.

He proceeded to go back and forth in the cheering section and whip the crowd into a frenzy and lead the cheers himself. People came up to him and gave him high-fives or hugs, and all by himself, he had the crowd back in it just as the Monkeys pulled together a big inning. I'm not saying that Turbo Whitey was responsible for the big inning, but I am noting that it happened right after he got the crowd back in the game.


The Game:

First pitch, Elephants vs. Monkeys

The Monkeys and the visiting Elephants faced off for the first time this trip, and, for the most part, it was the most conventional game I saw. The Elephants started with just an infield single to show for the top of the first, while the Monkeys got a walk and a single with nothing across in their half.

I say "conventional" game, and then there was the top of the second. A leadoff double was followed by a booted ball by the shortstop to make it first and second with no out. In good Asian fashion, the next batter bunted them over to second and third. And then the next batter lined a shot to third. With the lead runner going on contact, the third baseman threw over to first, who threw back to third to get the slow runner from second on a routine 5-3-5 DP. The lead runner scored before the end of the play, leaving the visiting Elephants in the lead, 1-0. The Monkeys got a leadoff single in their half, but he was eventually erased on a one-out grounder to short where he tagged the runner from first and threw over to first for a little "6t-6-3" double play.

The Elephants got a one-out single to center in the top of the third, and the runner promptly stole second. A two-out single to left scored him, but the new runner promptly got picked off at first after a small rundown, leaving it 2-0, Elephants. The Monkeys went weakly in order in their part of the frame.

In the top of the fourth, the Elephants scattered two singles to no effect, and the only runner the Monkeys had in the bottom was on an error by the third baseman. The Elephants went in order in the fifth, but the Monkeys put together quite an inning. There was the leadoff single to right, moved to third on a double to left. The pitcher struck out the next batter, but then fell apart. He hit the next batter to load the bases, and then, after an epic at-bat that went into double-digits pitches, he walked in a run. Then he walked the next batter to bring in another run. Finally, the catcher let one get away from him to bring in another run, before the pitcher settled down to get two more outs in order. But the damage was done, and the Monkeys went ahead, 3-2.

The visitors scattered a single and reached on error in the top of the sixth, but the Monkeys kept their train running. A one-out single chased the Elephants starter, but his replacement gave up another single to center to make it first and third with one out. A grounder to second got another out, but the runner from third scored. A strikeout closed the inning with the Monkeys now up 4-2. The Elephants had something in the seventh, though. A leadoff single was followed by a one-out single and a walk to load the bases and chase the Monkeys' pitcher. A sacrifice fly brought in a run and the new pitcher uncorked one to move the runners up to second and third, but he got a ground-out to third to end the half, 4-3 Monkeys.

The Monkeys had something of their own in the seventh, with a leadoff walk and then a hit batsman that chased another Elephants' pitcher. The new pitcher walked the bases loaded, but a numerically satisfying 1-2-3 double play gave him some room, and a fly out to second ended the half with no one across. In top of the eighth, a leadoff walk was followed by a one-out hit batsman, but a more conventional 4-6-3 double play ended the threat by the Elephants. A new Elephants' pitcher struck out the Monkeys in order in their half.

The Monkeys closed it out by getting the Elephants in order in the top of the ninth, cementing their 4-3 win.


The Scorecard:

Elephants vs. Monkeys, 06/13/13. Monkeys win, 4-3.

As always, I was using the BBWAA scorebook. This was more a game of odd double plays. I'm not sure I had ever got to write in a "DP 1-2-3" from the seventh inning of this game before, and I know for a fact, I never did a "DP 5-3-5" before. There was also a "CS 1-3-6-3" in the top of the third. The only other scoring bit of note was the epic at-bat by the Monkey's third baseman in the fifth inning where he drew a walk to force in a run. I just used the gem symbol ("!") in his frame.


The Accommodations:
I was at the Imperial again this evening. I didn't spend much time in the room at all except for sleeping, both in the afternoon and evening.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2013 Taiwan

Tainan

On Secondary Achievements

Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium, 2013

Sunday, June 9, 2013
Lamingo Monkeys vs. Uni-President 7-11 Lions
Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium
Chinese Professional Baseball League
17:05
Tainan, Taiwan


Outside the Game:
I had a weird night of sleep for whatever reason, but I got up with plenty of time to grab breakfast, pack up, and head off to the train station. This would be my first adventure on the Taiwan high-speed rail system, so I decided to give myself some leeway for unforeseen situations.

High-speed

I got the station very early, so I killed some time at the waiting area reading the Interwebs and whatnot and then boarded my train. As with every other rail service in Asia, it was quick, clean, timely, and painless. I found my seat, and we were soon underway. The ride was a mixture of naps and staring out the window, especially at some rather unwelcome rain. As fast as we were going, it would be sunny one second, cloudy the next, unable to see out the window due to the rain in the next moment, and then back to cloudy and sunny (though damp in the wake of the rain storm we'd just gone through). And eventually, it was just back to sunny, but not directly affecting me at the moment, as I was in a nice, air-conditioned train.

I eventually got off at the station in Tainan and made my way over to the tourist counter to collect my maps and work out how to get to my hotel. The high-speed rail station is actually about a half hour or so from downtown, and there is no mass transit to speak of in Tainan, but there are free shuttle buses to get you to where you're going in the city proper. I had to find out what stop on the shuttle to get off at for my hotel (which was the rather swag Tayih Landis in the center of downtown), and it turned out that the hotel actually had a booth right in the rail station next to the tourist information center. Now that's service. The woman there gave me a map, and told me which stop to get off at for the hotel, and then urged me to hurry over to the buses, as the next shuttle was just about to depart.

A quick sprint over to the buses later, the driver was good enough to re-open the doors for me and pop the cargo hatch so I could stash my luggage, and we were all off for downtown Tainan. I spent most of the first part of the bus ride blankly staring out the window, and then, having most of the late morning still available to me, I started flipping through my guide book to see what I should visit until I had to head out for the ballgame. One gentleman saw me reading the book, and, if the being white and dressed as a tourist didn't tip him off, took this to mean that I was a tourist. He came up next to me and asked where I was going. I told him the hotel, and he said that it was a very nice hotel and that I was probably spending a lot of money there. I told him I had gotten a deal, and he was very happy for me. He asked what I was going to do in Tainan, and I mentioned the baseball. He seemed to take that in stride, but he also told me that I should visit a museum outside of town that we had just passed. It didn't seem polite to tell him that I had no way of getting out there to see it, so I mentioned I would go if I could make it, which seemed acceptable. He got off several stops before me, but before leaving, he told me how many more stops I had to go, and where to go once I got out. The stop was apparently right across the street from the very big hotel, so I thought I'd be okay.

Several stops later, we arrived at my destination. I got off the bus, got my luggage from the carrier, and promptly had no idea where to go, and for the life of me, I couldn't remember what the man on the bus had said. There was a big building across the street, but it was labeled something for a party store, or so it seemed. A passing woman saw me looking at the map, and then told me that the building behind that party store-looking one was the hotel. I eventually worked out where the entrance was, and had the door held open for me by someone in a suit as I went inside. I expected to leave my bags and go about my day before check in, but they let me check in early, so up to the room in the really nice elevator I went to disgorge my bags. I had managed to spill some ink on my pants on the train ride down, and because of the unceasingly hot weather, I was running short on pants that I could wear in public without shame. I took off my inked pants and a pair that I had committed war crimes against to this point and had them and one or two overshirts picked up for laundry service. I donned my last pair of semi-acceptable pants to go out into the day and see the sights.

My guide book had a suggested path to see the best that Tainan had to offer, so having no agenda of my own, I decided to follow that. It started up near my hotel at the Tainan Confucius Temple. While the Buddhist and Taoist temples and their grandiose ornamentation are always a spectacle, I have a soft spot in my heart and a predilection,perhaps, in my aesthetics for the more modest designs of Confucianism, and, no doubt, its penchant for intellectualism. It was not bland or unornamented by any stretch of the imagination, but it was sedate and unified. I spent a good part of the late morning exploring the extensive grounds of the temple, and, given the extensive heat of the afternoon, I capped it off by visiting the cafe adjacent to pound some liquids and load up on some more for the rest of the afternoon.

Dacheng Gate

My next stop was the Great South Gate, a fortification of the old city dating back to when it was the provincial capital of the island. Then it was to the nearby Wu-fei (of "Five Concubine") Temple, dedicated to the titular five concubines who committed suicide to show their allegiance to one of the failed contenders for the 17th-century Ming throne. After exploring the temple and small park on the grounds, I realized that I had to get back to the hotel to switch up for my game bag, as the weekend baseball games started up an hour earlier, and after the lesson of my first game in Taiwan, I was not going to arrive late and not get a good seat.

Five Concubine Temple

So I headed on back to the hotel in the afternoon sun, drinking down water as fast as I could sweat it out, and my dripping and uncouth self had the door held for me again by gentlemen in suits. I dragged myself up to the room and had to put myself through a rather vigorous spin cycle in the shower to feel human again, dressed up, grabbed my game bag, and went back out into the sun. As luck would have it, I was to find that the Five Concubine's Temple was just down the street from the stadium, so I could not have planned my excursion any worse to ensure that I would do the most walking around in the most heat for no reason.

I eventually found the stadium, and the trip back after the game, while in the deepening night, was not nearly as bad as I was expecting. On that walk, I passed several interesting stores, including an open-air video arcade just sitting in an alley, a casket store, and a full-in Internet gaming parlor as one would find in Korea. The exterior of the hotel was lit with blue LED crystals to lead me back to my room. I showered and got changed to visit one of the restaurants in the hotel for dinner, but thanks to the very necessary shower, I got there too late for the last sitting. Not to be put off, I went to the large food court in the mall next door to the hotel and had a big duck and rice dinner before retreating back to my room. Still relatively early, I spent the rest of the evening soaking in the tub.


The Stadium & Fans:

Home plate to center field, Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium

Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium was more the product of its environment than any other stadium I saw on this trip. In the temple city of Tainan, it had an elaborate pagoda archway framing the entrance to the stadium grounds, which were tucked off of a main street in town. The largest area of activity was along the right corridor next to the stadium on the first-base side, shaded by trees and dotted by a stage and several concessions. Along the left side of the stadium was more of a parking lot, and it was also the location of the visiting team entrance and merchandise stands. Further around the more disused back of the stadium, it was quite worn down, with the paint flaking off rather heavily in some places (especially when facing the afternoon sun), but this area was mostly garage and storage areas built into the base of the stadium under the seats.

The VIP entrance was at the front of the park, by home plate, and flanked by a tea concession on one side, and some mascot picture spots and a wall commemorating their Taiwan Series win on the other. There was also the big stage set up so that you could try your luck at a skill game to win some bottled tea or other 7-11 food. Across from that was the ticket booth, which was right next to the main infield entrance to the stadium. A little further down from that was the team store, which had a smaller, glass-doored, air conditioned indoor part, and a much larger explosion of tables and hangers selling stuff outside, next to the fan club sign-up table.

Once inside, the park had some quite interesting features. The outfield seats were once-again completely segregated from the infield grandstand, served by their own entrance in back and several stairwells that led out to the seating area. What was particularly of note was that it was a bi-level bleachers, with another level of bleachers completely underneath the first that extended as far as the regular bleachers did. This is no doubt helpful for those who want to sit in the cheap seats but get a bit of shade as well. An unexplained inflatable alcohol bottle sat perched at the top of the left-center bleachers.

The infield grandstand seating was one section of seats served by a central walkway at the base of the seats. There was a shade overhang that extended almost around the entirety of the grandstand, stopping about three sections short on either side of the field. The home team was on the first base side, and the visitors the opposite, and both sides had a rather large stage area built over the dugouts, which were nearly completely inset into the stadium structure.

There was "VIP" seating behind home plate, and a small selection of luxury boxes by the press box behind home. Two of them flanked the home base seats and jutted out a little towards the field. The park had a "Food Court" in an area completely indoors behind home plate that offered a modest selection of boxed foods for park grub needs, as well as sausage vendors dotting the infield. Stairs led down from the food court into what looked to be a players area, or at least the luxury box area, and memorabilia of past important games (such as a scrimmage with the Japanese Tokyo Yakult Swallows) were commemorated on the walls.

Most of the seating looked fine, but there were a couple of stunted rows of seats right next to stairway walls that no doubt offered obstructed views of the field. But to be fair, none of them seemed to be sold for the game. The visiting seats for the Monkeys were about a quarter filled, and they seemed to bring a contingent of their cheering squad. The home side had a more sizable turnout, including a hardy contingent hiding under umbrellas in the top bleachers in right. A family "K" crew was stationed out in the lower deck of the bleachers, putting up the appropriate letter as the number of strikeouts increased in the game. Cheering was organized by the MC and his crew on the dugout, and the fans seemed quite drilled in the songs and choreography throughout the game.

Sing-a-long

There were roaming vendors during the game selling merchandise and food. One particularly egregious example were the "ice cream girls," young ladies in short shorts and skin-tight, nearly missing tank tops who sold ice cream in the stands throughout the game. No one seemed particularly embarrassed by this state of affairs, so who am I to judge?

Mascots, ho

A male and female lion performed the mascot duties, and were more heavily involved in the pre-game festivities and the between-inning dance numbers with the cheerleaders, not the mention the post-game celebrations. It was pretty unique in that after the game, both the mascots and the cheerleaders were stationed in the front of the stadium to pose for pictures with fans. I'm not sure if this was something they did because they won, or something that always happened either way. There were someone longer breaks for grounds keeping maintenance every three innings in lieu of a seventh-inning stretch was also in effect here.

In a bit of nostalgia for Shea Stadium, there were semi-regular fly-overs of planes heading to Tainan International Airport a short distance away. You can't go home again.

Living dangerously, and unlike most other baseball parks in Asia, there was only netting directly behind home plate and out to the dugouts, similar to American ballparks. I'm not sure why this part wasn't done in the Japanese and Korean manner (with foul fences or netting all along the lower level), but no one was killed by foul balls during the game, so it seemed to be working out okay for them.

There was one inexplicable bit to the proceedings. There was a pre-game... something. Here's where not knowing the language well was a detriment. This was either an actual proposal that involved a dance number, or a dance number that was themed on a proposal at a baseball game... There was a girl there with a lace veil in her hair, and there was a guy, with what I guess was his groomsmen, all dressed in suits. And then they danced... Maybe someone got married. Hand to heaven, I have no idea what actually happened there.


At the Game with Oogie:

Sensible sausages

I was wearing my Wyverns shirt to the game today, and while I was taking my pictures of the outside of the stadium, one of the Monkeys players came out, looked at the shirt, and gave me a thumb's up, which is a very American kind of hand sign. I gave him a thumb's up back and he went onto the bus. So there's that.

I had arrived early enough to get a ticket in the infield grandstand on the home team's side, in this case, first base. After I had taken all my pictures and had visited the team store for some portable trinkets, my thoughts turned to getting into the stadium.

As I stood there, staring at my ticket and wondering when I could get in, a young guy came up to me and asked if I needed help. Either the Taiwanese were really friendly, or I look a lot more clueless than I hoped I do. I told him I was making sure this was the right entrance to get in, and he told me that the doors just opened, and we could go in for batting practice. We both went in the stadium, and he took me over to my seat up by the end of the dugout. We both sat down, and I asked him if he was sitting there, and he told me he had seats down closer to the dugout, but he wanted to make sure I was okay. He asked why I was there, and I told him, and he seemed okay with the answer. There was a crowd of people forming up by the dugouts to get autographs, and I told him I had to go take pictures of the stadium, and he wanted to go down and watch BP, so we parted ways.

I put one of my white towels on my seat so I could easily find it again, and went off to do what I do. When I came back for the game, I had a family with a small child on my left, and a guy by himself on my right. All of them seemed particularly interested in what I was doing when I was scoring the game, but none of them either got up the nerve or knew enough English to ask me.

One of the families sitting in the row in front of me had a very well-behaved baby, who stayed awake for the entire game and did not cry, which makes him better than most teenagers at the park in America.


The Game:

First pitch, Monkeys vs. Lions

This contest pitted the visiting Lamingo Monkeys against the Uni-President 7-11 Lions, which just rolls off the tongue. It was my first time seeing both teams, and the last that I would see a team I hadn't watched before, as I had now seen all four of the league's teams in play.

The game did not begin fortuitously for the Monkeys, who went 1-2-3 in the first three innings. The Lions avoided the same fate  by getting a leadoff single in the first that was erased on a field's choice before two ground-outs ended their inning. They did share the Monkeys fate in the second, going in order, but the bottom of the third was a different story. A Lions' leadoff single was moved to second on a one-out single to left, and then a double to deep center brough them both home. A fly out got the second out before a two-out single scored the runner from second. A fielder's choice ended the inning with the Lions up, 3-0.

The Monkeys got their first baserunner in the fourth with a leadoff walk. The runner promptly stole second and was brought home by a single to right. A double-play cleared the bases before a strikeout ended the half with the score 3-1, Lions. The Lions had a leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth and nothing else, leaving the score as is.

A leadoff walk proved fruitful for the Monkeys in the fifth, as it moved to second on a single to right by the next batter. A double-play erased the first and last runners, but a two-out single to center brought the runner from second home before the batter was caught in a good-ole' 8-1-3-6 rundown to end the half. The Lions only managed a leadoff single (erased on a double play) in the bottom of the fifth with the score 3-2, Lions.

And then the Monkeys lost all momentum, going in order in the sixth and seventh. The Lions didn't fare much better, going in order in the sixth, and only having a two-out walk and stolen base to show for the seventh. It looked much the same in the eighth, as two strikeouts started things off for the Monkeys, but a two-out hit-by-pitch moved over to second on a stolen base and then third on an infield single to third. The starting pitcher for the Lions got chased, and a reliever got a pop out to short after a ground-out to first by the same batter was called back as a foul by the umpires.

Looking to get some insurance in the bottom of the eighth, the Lions got back-to-back singles to start the inning, leaving it first and third with no outs. A sacrifice fly to center brought in a run, and a two-out single almost set up some more damage before a fly-out to center ending the inning 4-2, Lions. Not content to go quietly into the... late afternoon, the Monkeys drew a leadoff walk from the Lions' closer. A fielder's choice changed up the runner at first with one out. A single made it first and second with only one out, but a routine grounder to short led to a double play to secure the Lions victory at 4-2.


The Scorecard:

Monkeys vs. Lions, 06/09/13. Lions win, 4-2.

I was using the BBWAA scorebook again, and while perhaps not as odd as the first game (or the ones to come) this one had some interesting scoring moments. The 2-5-3 double-play in the fifth was likely a first for me, as a failed bunt attempt led to a rather unique around-the-horn play. Yet another outfield assist followed on the 8-1-3-6 put-out. There was the play in the eighth, where the batter grounded out to first for a 3U, but it was subsequently (and after great arguments by both managers) called back as a foul ball before leading to a fly out to short.

Everything else was pretty much mundane from a scoring perspective.


The Accommodations:

Tayih Landis

As alluded to previously, I was in quite a nice hotel, the five-star Tayih Landis, part of the Landis chain of luxury hotels. It was smack in the middle of the city, right next door to one of the ritzier malls in Tainan. It was all first-class, from the huge entrance lobby, which had stores and a grand staircase leading up to the second floor, where more luxury restaurants lay, to the fitness center, which lay at the bottom of the atrium in the center of the guest rooms, visible from the top floor on down. (The hotel did have rope netting in the central atrium every few floors, whether a precaution against suicides or (more likely) drunk guests was never made clear.

My suite was in keeping with the surroundings. There were several large closets to the left at the entrance,  and the large bathroom had an entrance to the right. The spacious bathroom included a glass-walled shower to clean yourself and a big old tub to bathe in. Even the toilet had a satisfying giant big flush button located above the bowl.

The bedroom had two parts. Closets to the entrance was the huge-assed bed and opposite it was dresser space and a big flat-screen TV. In the back of the room was a set of easy chairs next to a table an ottoman, and a full-sized desk with glass work surface and fancy executive desk-chair.

The closets, of course, held a big fluffy robe that was my primary clothing whenever I was in the room, usually because I had just taken a shower or a soak in the tub, and getting into regular clothes meant admitting I was going back out into the unending heat and humidity of the Tainan days.

All gods welcome

The nightstand by the bed included a Bible and two copies of the teaching of Buddha, in addition to an emergency flashlight and some manner of safety hood for escaping fires, so I felt relatively secure. The small table by the easy chairs had free Dutch cinnamon cookies, and no matter how many I ate, every time I came back to the room, there seemed to be more of them. I didn't question it too much, because perhaps that would make the magic cookie fairy stop coming to my room.

On a Day Off, My Feet and Otherwise

Tainan from my hotel

Monday, June 10, 2013
Tainan, Taiwan


Outside the Game:
After the second game of the trip, I had another day off, thanks to Monday being an off day for baseball in Taiwan, as well as all of Asia for some reason. Last year, I went to Jeju, and the previous two years, I spent in Kyoto. Tainan, second only to Lukgang as a temple city in Taiwan, was as good a place as any to spend the day off down south.

The much complained-about drought in southern Taiwan got some love with a torrential rain storm early in the morning. It was over before I went down for breakfast, and what a breakfast it was. It was in the basement restaurant at the hotel, and the restaurant took up what looked to be most of the floor. It was easily the biggest breakfast buffet I had seen in my life. Each individual station was as large as a regular buffet, and there were about a dozen of them, for Chinese breakfasts, Japanese breakfasts, Western breakfast, vegetarian, eggs, cereals... it went on and on.

Small breakfast

I loaded up within an inch of my life, and then went to my reserved table. A young Chinese family were next to me, with their young daughter. She apparently found me alternatively amusing and terrifying gauging by her reactions. I ate my breakfast and read my free newspaper, and then went back up to my room.

Madame Linshuei's Temple

With the Monday devoid of any baseball, I set back out to complete my tourist sweep of the town that was interrupted by going to the ballgame the day previous. The first stop was Madame Linshuei's temple, who was some sort of patron for children. Even early in the morning, there were expectant mothers there asking for the Lady's protection. Nearby was Koxinga's Shrine, dedicated to the general of a deposed Ming dynasty line who came to Taiwan and tossed out the Dutch invaders. He, like Chang Kai-Shek after him, never lived to retake the mainland.

Koxinga

Tainan was similar to Lukang in that there were some many cultural treasures to see that you almost got overloaded with them. I rifled through so many that morning: Dongyue Temple, the City God Temple, the Altar of Heaven, and the God of War Temple. Each of them were alternatively tucked in little side roads or along long passageways, and they all were just filled with details and artwork that could keep you staring at them for hours, which is pretty much what I did.

Altar of Heaven

The last stop in town was the Chihkan Towers, built around the foundation of the old Dutch fort. It was one of the only Western-style buildings I saw in the country, so it was interesting in that regards, as well as the historical import of the site. The Towers shows off the archaeological Dutch foundations and the other masters the site has had throughout history. One building has been converted into a temple to the sea god, and there are several turtle statues with stellae on their back on the grounds as part of it.

Dutch-style window

As it was only early afternoon at this point, I decided to try and get to the other center of Dutch colonial buildings that were located in the west of the main city, across the river. Now, there would be those among you who would point out that there are tourist buses that go out there, or, barring that, convenient taxis that could take a person there. And all of those people would be quitters, because I thought that even though it was on the long side, I could easily walk the distance to Anping.

Which may have been true if I had gotten the route right. I decided to stay directly on roads that would take me straight where I wanted, which helped me make good progress, until I decided to take what I thought was a short cut. This, of course, threw me straight off the path, and, while wandering around with my map out, I managed to catch my foot on one of the uneven "sidewalks" on the road and roll my ankle pretty good. And here my excursion to Anping ended. With about half of the trip left and nothing compelling me to go out there, I decided to turn around and head back to the hotel for some R&R.

Which I did, and promptly made a wrong turn and went in the entirely wrong direction before discovering my error and heading back in the other direction. After all the extra walking, and my previous running about all morning, I was just about dead when I made it back to the hotel, where a nice person in a suit held open the door for my injured, sweaty self, and I crawled up to my room.

The clothes I had sent out for laundry were pressed and ready for me back in my room, and I promptly ignored them as I ran a hot bath while I took a shower. I settled in for a long soak, hoping my ankle wouldn't swell up, and the timely application of a long, hot bath seemed to help. I bundled myself into my fluffy bathrobe, and sat on the bed with my ankle elevated while I watched some late-afternoon TV. Convinced my foot wasn't likely to break in half, I got dressed in my clean new clothes and went across the way to the ritzy mall to walk around for a bit to test out the leg.

In the course of wandering around, I found an arcade/entertainment complex on one floor called "Tom's World." You had to change all your money into tokens, and then you could play video games or standard boardwalk games of skill (skee ball, coin pushes, etc) to win tokens that could be redeemed for prizes. After being addicted to the iPad skee ball application for so long, I felt compelled to play a bunch of that in real life, as well as other nostalgic games. There was also an action baseball game at which I spent a lot of time and tokens. It had a plastic cricket-like bat and a tube that used air to levitate up some hollow plastic baseballs. You then had to hit the balls into a scoring grid on the other side of the game in order to get tickets. I spent way too much time at that game. After all my shenanigans, I found myself with 60 tickets, which was just enough to get me a small pad of sticky notes with the "Tom's World" logo imprinted on them.

World of Tom

I took my outrageous winnings back to my hotel room, and decided to just order room service. A steak, a crème brule, and a Scotch soon made it up to my room, as I transitioned back into my bathrobe for the remainder of the evening. As I sat and looked out of the Tainan evening, drinking my Scotch and eating my steak, I though that, ankle aside, this wasn't that bad a day.

Small dinner

The Accommodations:
I spent a good deal of time today at the Tayih Landis later in the afternoon after the aborted attempt to go west and the incident with my ankle. Not to mention the room service I had for dinner. Look, I'm in a five-star hotel; I might as well enjoy it.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2013 Taiwan