Summer Xpat

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Xpat: From the Desk Spring '08

Design by Matt Gibson
http://matt-gibson.org/

US defence expenditure 2008: $643.9 billion

Increase from 2007: 2.84%

Cost of eliminating starvation and malnutrition globally: $19 billion

Cost of providing education for every child on earth: $12 billion

Cost of providing access to water and sanitation: $15 billion

Cost of reversing the spread of AIDS and Malaria: $23 billion

Amount Americans spend a year on cosmetics: $8 billion

Amount spent on pet food in Europe and the United States: $17 billion

Amount the world spends on Narcotic drugs: $400 billion

Taiwan’s military spending in 2005: $7.574 (18th of 170)

Biggest importer of US arms from 1981 to 1985: Iraq

Iraq imports of US arms from 1981 to 1985: $23.9 billion

The total household waste generated in Taiwan in 1999: 8.88 million tons

Average daily waste produced per person: 1.082 kg

The total household waste generated in Dubai in 2007: 14 million tons

Top ranking countries for the amount waste generated per person per year (2000):
#1 United States: 760 kgs
#2 Australia: 690 kgs
#3 Denmark: 660 kgs
#4 Switzerland: 650 kgs
#5 Canada: 640 kgs per

The number of males for each female in Taiwan aged 15-64: 1.03

The number of males for each female in Dubai: 2.8

The number of people who recently started a relationship when an Italian team of scientists tested for levels of a protein called nerve growth factor (NGF): 58

Symptoms of NGF: sweaty palms and butterflies in the stomach - commonly associated with romantic love

Of the 39 people who were still in the same relationship after a year, their levels of NGF: normal

Percentage of people who say they want to be rid of their current partner: 8

Percentage of Australian married men who have sex at least twice a week: 43

Percentage of Australian single men who have sex at least twice a week: 26

Percentage of people who claim to be satisfied with their sex life: 49

Average number of times French people have sex every year: 130 (the most in Europe)

USA White Wife-Asian Husband: 174,000

Asian Wife Asian Husband: 2,493,000

Since 1962, six actors have portrayed James Bond in "official" films

BASE stands for: Building, Antenna, Span, Earth

Fine for BASE jumping in a national park in the United States: up to $2,000

The current BASE number: above 1,000,

The number of people who have died while BASE jumping: 120.

The highest BASE jump off Pakistan's Trango Towers in 1992: 19,000 feet (5791m)

Feet higher than most skydiving planes go: about 4,000 feet (1219m).

The lowest feasible jump: around 250 feet (72m)

Jumps completed during KL Tower International BASE Jump Merdeka Circuit 2007: 2780

Jump that killed the “father” of BASE jumping Carl Boenish in 1984: Troll Wall, Norway

Year that BASE jumping from Troll Wall was made illegal: 1986

Number of hotels in Dubai: 302

Number of hotel rooms in Dubai: 30,648

Xpat: Letter from the Editor, Spring '08

Design by Matt Gibson
http://matt-gibson.org/

Full text

Favourite Billboard

One of my favourites, if only for the name of the business:
Pants Kingdom

Caption reads:
"Even the Biggest of birds can if in our pants."

Note:
"Bird" is a euphemism in Chinese for penis

I Can't Believe it's not... "I Can't Believe it's not Butter"

Foguanshan

This is a big temple, about half an hours drive out of Kaohsiung.

If you drive out towards Maolin National Park, you won't be able to miss the giant golden statue on the hill:



It would be easy to spend a whole day wandering around but we did the shortened tour on a Saturday afternoon.

Must see-s include the Gates:



Off to one side there's a weird tunnel walkway explaining the path to enlightenment, the Buddhist deities and the original cast of the temple:



Then head onto the main temple:


where you'll find three giant golden Buddha statues:



The room is lined with thousands of tiny Buddha statues:


It's really quite impressive:


Then head over to check out the view at the big Buddha statue that looks out over the country side:



An guess what, there's a few more Buddha statues:


I'm sure there's more going on than just statues. There's some great gardens and it looked as if they run retreats for foreigners as well.

So, if you've got some spare time around Kaohsiung county, check out Foguanshan. It's worth a visit.

Ma's Birthday Vid-e-card from Kaohsiung

East V. West

I did a "cultural awareness" workshop for work and came across this simple illustration of the key differences between east and west. It was produced by Chinese-born graphic designer / artist, who lives in Germany.

Click here to see the full set

Daniel Lee -Mamals

We were up in Tainan, on the weekend. It's the next town north of Kaohsiung.

We were lucky enough to catch and exhabition by Daniel Lee who was born in China but raised in Taiwan.

This one was part of a 15 minute video called "origin" which showed a fish morph into a man.
http://daniellee.com/Origin.htm


Pretty creepy but interesting, none the less.

The main theme of the show was "jungle" as depicted below:

http://daniellee.com/Jungle.html

If you get a chance, check it out.

Container Art

Kaohsiung owes much of its wealth to
containers

It's no surprise that they hosted the
2007 Container Art Festival

This is one of my favourites:
the container cosy

"Kaohsiung was the world's busiest container port in 1999,
but has since fallen to sixth,
partly due to a 50 year ban on direct shipping with China."
-Xpat Magazine
Summer 2007

Our Temple

I was scooting along one day and this caught my attention. Enjoy

View from the Peak

Kaohsiung Fireworks