MLO Special: Songs for Taichung
I want to give you an audio tour of the Taichung City which is my home here in Taiwan. To put you in the picture, Taichung is located roughly in the centre of Taiwan and it’s is the third largest city after Taipei and Kaohsiung. I’ve been living in Taichung since I arrived in Taiwan going on 7 years ago.
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00:00 Part 1 [Construction]
We start at my home which is on the 4th floor of an apartment building in Dali City, itself a suburb of Taichung south of the city center. I’m on the balcony and capture the sound of construction going on next door. Our neighbor is a pretty unsightly parking lot, but if you look at satellite photos of my neighborhood on Google Earth, you’ll see that what is now the parking lot used to be a rice paddy – probably until about 5 years ago or so. That explains the water tower and small pond under my my window.
07:05 Part 2 [Cycling]
Let’s get out and about. I invite you to hop on my bicycle with me as we brave the traffic and head out into the streets of Taichung. We’re armed with a sound recorder to capture anything of interest, so let’s see what we can find. Ready? Here we go.
12:10 Part 3 [Recreation]
Our first stop is Taichung Park roughly at the center of the City. The idea is to get out of the noise and traffic for a bit. My nerves are a little frazzled from the trip here, and I’m also a little frustrated that thus far we haven’t found too many useful sounds. While, I ponder where I should take you next I beat this tattoo on some exercise equipment the City Government kindly provides in most of Taichung’s parks.
16:53 Part 4 [Golden Years]
A little further along Taichung Park we come across some old folks who have gathered in the shade of the trees to play Chinese chess and to chat the afternoon away. Let’s stay a while and eavesdrop.
21:12 Part 5 [Commerce]
Hunting sounds like this is hot work – let’s quickly pop into a 7-11 and get something to drink. By the way, if you ever come to Taiwan don’t make the mistake my friend did and use a 7-11 as a landmark – there are literally hundreds of them everywhere in Taichung and around Taiwan.
27:08 Part 6 [Market]
It’s time to visit one of Taichung’s popular night market streets, Yijhong Jia. Hey, it’s only 3PM, but already Yijhong Street is crowded – there’s no way we can ride through the throng. Better to get off and push the bike.
32:54 Part 7 [Teawhistle] from Made in Taiwan (2004)
After a visit to Yijhong Street, it’s time to head back home. To my first apartment in Taichung, as it turns out, where an old gentleman used to come round every night with a with a big kettle mounted on the back of his bicycle. You can hear steam escaping from it with a whistling sound
Running Time: 37:00
I do hope you’ve enjoyed this small trip around my city. I haven’t come close to showing you everything, so maybe we can do this again some time.
This mix is made available under the following Creative Commons license: Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Taiwan (more details)
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