Another month draws to an end, and so it’s time to download a new calendar. One of the torii gates near the harbor in Hualien. If there’s anything you’d particularly like to see as the monthly calendar, let me know and I’ll see what I can do. Also, is anyone interested in iPhone sized wallpapers? Let me know in the comments.
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As a travel and documentary photographer, I regularly come into contact with a wide variety of people from all walks of life. The more I travel and learn, the more it reinforces the idea that people everywhere are essentially kind, generous and willing to give of themselves. Stopping to take the time to talk with people reveals some great stories and everyday heroes.
This man is one such individual. Friendly, generous, selfless and patient, he was happy to be repeatedly photographed while he told us a few stories. He is one of Taiwan’s indigenous people living on the east coast. Operating a small market stand in a sea side night market, he crafts aboriginal jewelery and handicrafts to sell to tourists.
As well as making and selling handicrafts, he’s also a member of an Aboriginal dance troupe and a puppetmaster, offering short, impromptu puppet shows for anyone interested and dancing in a regular show.
This is not all he does however. During Taiwan’s long, hot summer, he works as a volunteer lifeguard on the beaches of the East Coast. Scores of people owe their lives to this mans generosity – in one day alone last summer he saved 30 people from drowning.
It’s people like this that serve to remind everyone that everyday heroes can be found everywhere.
If you have any stories you’d like to share, feel free to leave them in the comments.
]]>Considered a delicacy in Taiwan, Japan and Korea, but banned in the EU, the ocean sunfish, or mola mola, is found in temperate and tropical waters all over the world. The mola mola is the heaviest bony fish in the world, weighing up to 1 ton (1000kg) due to a diet consisting of large amounts of jellyfish. The average length of the ocean sunfish is 1.8m although specimens up to 3.3m have been recorded. It is a pelagic fish, swimming at depths up to 600m in waters warmer than 10°C. Life expectancy in the natural world is unknown but in captivity may live up to 10 years. In the water, the ocean sunfish is not considered to be a threat to humans – in fact the only known case of a sunfish harming a person was when one leaped out of the water and landed on a boy in a boat. He was shaken but unhurt.
The meat of the sunfish is a delicacy in East Asia, with Taiwan and Japan being the two largest markets. Up to 95% of the fish can be used for either food or traditional medicine. In Taiwan, the fish is most readily caught of the coast of Hualien due to geographic features of the seabed and the workings of the Kuroshio current. In 2002, the Hualien county government decided to officially promote the fish and after a public vote, the name “mambo fish” was chosen.
What follows is a series of images from Chisingtan, Hualien showing the mambo fish being offloaded, weighed and moved onto a truck for shipping.
A hint of Japan on the coast of Hualien, Taiwan.
