Godspeed You! Black Emperor played KL Live, Kuala Lumpur

the enigmatic Godspeed You! Black Emperor played at the heart of Kuala Lumpur last night and the experience was mind blowing. the band opened the show with a wall of ambient noise which i presume was used to set the mood and perhaps disorient the audience a little bit. in the midst of the wall of noise and darkness shrouding the stage, the word "hope" was projected onto the background in intervals - suggesting that among all the chaos, darkness, and disorientation, that there is still hope. a pretty bold statement, seeing how the current global (and possibly local) political situation is at its tipping point. but Godspeed have always been skewed towards the more political/social side of the world agenda, so it was no surprise to see such a statement. to think one word could bring such a huge impression, despite the band having zero interaction with the crowd.

their music, to say the least, is abrasive yet beautiful. the jarring feedback and noise drone coupled with beautiful string and guitar compositions add layers of emotion to their music. and they translate effectively when played live. the live renditions of their tracks don't vary much from their studio recordings, but they pack equal punch. immediately after the Hope drone segment, the band effectively segues the drone with Mladic - a tune off their latest release. it was an epic opener and the adrenaline rush from listening to it live was overwhelming. throughout the gig, the music was accompanied by film projections in the background which many describe as pretentious, but for me, it gives their music some context. the band's closing song, World Police/Friendly Fire was coupled with a projection of a burning factory and it pretty much speaks for itself. i was enthusiastic at how the band chose to play segments of Static from their Lift Your Skinny Fists LP, but unfortunately at the cost of not playing Gathering Storm, which is my favourite Godspeed song of all time. nonetheless, it was a great show and i walked away wanting more of this experience. i hope to see them again in the future. provided they don't break up again.

Taiwan: Taipei

our ultimate destination in our travels in Taiwan was Taipei - a modern and vibrant city teemed with lively young people, culture, where the old stands side-by-side with the new, and simply a joy to get lost in. as we touched down in Taipei at noon, we were forewarned of the high possibility of ongoing showers but fortunately it didn't rain during the times we needed to get to our destinations on foot. i, at least, was adamant in getting myself to the Taipei 101 observation deck, irregardless of rain or shine. unfortunately for us, it was rather misty while we were up on the observation deck, but we could see enough of Taipei and i can happily cross off Taipei 101 off my list of skyscrapers to visit! the Burj next time, perhaps?

Taipei in all its hustle and bustle is a very clean and well organized city and it greatly reminded me of my walk in Melbourne - streets lined with cafes (or kopitiams), narrow but quaint alleyways, grid organization of blocks and roads, and charming city details (like graffiti and gig posters). it was a shame it rained quite a bit in the evening which greatly irritated me as it was close to impossible to take any night pictures of the streets and night markets without getting my gear or even myself wet. and to be frank, the rain certainly killed my mood for doing anything else on our only night in Taipei. nonetheless, we had plenty of time to kill before our flight the following morning, so we decided to prowl the streets of Taipei early in the morning.

Canon AE-1

Kodak Colorplus 200 + Kodak Ultramax 400

Taiwan: Modes of Transportation

we spent quite a bit of our time in Taiwan chasing various modes of transportation. i have to say that Taiwan boasts some really efficient public transportation services - timetable and fare information are easily obtained from the internet, punctual departure of the various transportation vessels, exemplary cleanliness, and tourist-friendly signage make our commute a breeze. i suppose a non-Mandarin speaker like me could get by without much problems, by it certainly helps to know some phrases if you plan to travel to the less tourist-y spots in Taiwan.

Canon AE-1

Kodak Colorplus 200 + Kodak Ultramax 400

Taiwan: Sun Moon Lake

the unfortunate accident of me completely ruining a roll of exposed film by ripping it in half in my camera had caused me to blank out for a period of time upon our arrival at Sun Moon Lake (and not to mention the terrible motion sickness i suffered on the way down from Alishan), nonetheless there wasn't much i could do about the spoilt roll of film but to stick to our itinerary. we decided to hop on board a boat taxi that would take us around the lake to two major piers (of which the names escapes me).

pier number one's major attraction are its old streets laden with food stalls selling a myriad of street food. it was along these streets where to my complete dismay i ruined a completely exposed roll of film as i was winding it back into its canister. for some reason (excitement, i presume) i had completely forgotten to unlock the spool lock and force wound the exposed film back into its canister - in the process ripping the film into two parts. i suppose this was merely bad luck in my part, but to lose a roll of vacation pictures would certainly break a person's heart. it was also along these streets where i caught a whiff of the infamous stinky tofu, which even though i had earlier on planned on giving this interesting street cuisine a taste, completely slipped my name as i wandered the streets mourning my lost roll of film.

i pondered on giving said roll of film a burial at sea, but that would've been littering.

what good would all this mourning do?, i asked myself as i got on the boat taxi to pier number two. our ultimate destination was to be the Ci-en pagoda - purportedly the highest vantage point in all of Sun Moon Lake. getting to the pagoda involved a sizable amount of hiking at a very short amount of time as we had to make our way back to the pier to catch the last boat taxi back to Shuishe pier where our accommodation was situated at. and so, it was without pause that we made our way up to the top level of Ci-en pagoda, spent nary three minutes taking pictures of the rather misty view of Sun Moon Lake, made our very hasty descent down to the pier, and finally hopped on the last boat taxi back to Shuishe with fortunately 30 minutes to spare.

and finally, we spent the night exploring Shuishe cracking our heads in deciding a place for dinner, having coffee at the local Starbucks joint, taking long exposure photographs of the pier, and me basically being lost in translation as i try purchasing fridge magnets and ordering a cup of hojicha green tea latte.

Canon AE-1

Kodak Colorplus 200

Taiwan: Alishan

our first stop in Taiwan was the Alishan Forest Recreation Park which sits atop mount Ali. a short and mountainous (and not to mention, motion sickness inducing) bus ride from Chiayi city would bring you directly to the center of the recreational park - with its old and charming forest railways that go to different parts of the park. one of our main intentions here was to observe the blossoming of the cherry blossom flowers (like how they do in Japan), but alas we arrived at the end of the blossoming period. however, that didn't mean that we didn't have anything left to do! the park is riddled with hiking trails that lead you through cypress forests that are at least a thousand years old. it certainly was a splendid hike through the park, with the cool mountain air and fresh forest scent enveloping you. and to take a ride through the forest in an old charcoal train simply adds a more "sentimental music video" feel to the journey (please forgive my lame analogy).

it was however, a little bit disappointing when we weren't able to catch the sunrise from mount Ali the following morning due to rain and thunderstorms. the morning was misty and the rains sporadic, which meant that a hike through the forest trails again would've been a little bit more hampered. it occurred to us that a misty forest would make for a rather interesting hike, but by the time we realized that, it was too late to hike out to the forest as we had to catch our cab down Alishan.

though i find myself catching my breath occasionally from the immense amount of walking and hiking up and down steps, at the end of the day i was thoroughly satisfied with our first destination in Taiwan. what a beautiful park! how i only wished that the cab ride down Alishan didn't induce as much motion sickness as i had to endure!

Canon AE-1

Kodak Colorplus 200