Taipei Flora Expo Part II

{In which John and I are interviewed by a Taiwanese reporter}

Continued from Taipei Flora Expo Part I.

The photos above are from the Korean pavilion. For some reason the Taiwanese seem to hold some prejudice against Koreans. While we were there, a reporter and cameraman from Taiwanese TV station 民視 approached us (well, John, actually). Probably because there was no one else in the area.

The reporter whipped out his iPhone and showed us a Youtube clip where the water wheel pictured above running backwards.

"Isn't that strange?" the reporter asked. "What are your thoughts about this video?"

I didn't see what the big deal was and said as much; it was clearly not the answer he was looking for. John played along though, nodding and smiling while I shot the reporter skeptical looks.

But I guess John wasn't saying the right things either, because the reporter finally said, "Look how unnatural the water wheel is in the video, it's turning the wrong direction. And look at the wheel in front of you now, isn't it going too fast to be water-powered?"

I shrugged noncommittally, losing interest, while John squinted at the water wheel and said, "Yeah, I see what you mean, it's turning pretty fast."

The reporter declared, "The water wheel is probably powered by a motor! It's not run by water at all!" He leaned in and stuck the microphone in our faces. "Don't you feel... deceived?"

I scoffed, incredulous that this could qualify as news. Were the Taiwanese news stations really that desperate? I made a few statements along the lines of "so what?" and tried not to roll my eyes.

John, however, widened his eyes at the reporter as if struck by an epiphany, and said, "Now that you mention it, it does look like the water wheel is fake! I guess I do feel lied to." Very obliging indeed. I tried not to laugh, though I had to hand it to him — he said all this with an eager innocence that the reporter and cameraman ate right up. Needless to say, they liked him a lot more than they liked me.

But for the rest of the day, whenever we found any imperfections at the Expo, we joked about notifying the reporter so he has more material to work with.

For example, this tree with the fruits tied on to its branches. If that's not fake, I don't know what is.

So you're probably wondering where all the photos of flowers are, given that it's the Flora Expo. Here are a few, but they're not great.

I have better flowers of photos from outside the Expo. I guess I wasn't really that interested in photographing flowers that day. I blame John; our conversation was so much more fascinating than any of the gardens or pavilions. 

The Expo wasn't super exciting, but I'm glad I went anyway — John's ability to entertain did not disappoint me at all. :P After we'd seen most of the park, John took me to his favorite cafe in the world, where we had an intense conversation while waiting for his friend Mavis.

Oh and after I got home, I found the Expo e-postcard we made in my inbox:

When I showed it to John, his reaction was, "We make that stupid seed look good." 

Knowing he didn't think very highly of those things he claimed looked like poop, I laughed and said, "You mean we look so bad that they look good in comparison?"

"No, I meant that we look so good that the crappy seeds don't look as stupid as they usually do," he said. 

I guess that works too. :P 

Anyway, the day didn't end with leaving the Flora Expo. After Mavis arrived at the cafe, she took us to the oldest district in Taipei and we had a fun photoshoot — see Wanhua and Monga for the photos!


with love,
linda