{"id":29,"date":"2007-03-04T23:49:04","date_gmt":"2007-03-05T04:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/?p=29"},"modified":"2018-03-24T09:15:25","modified_gmt":"2018-03-24T14:15:25","slug":"korea-and-taiwan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/?p=29","title":{"rendered":"Korea and Taiwan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/lotus_white.thumbnail.JPG\" alt=\"white lotus\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The characters in my Chinese name Hua Se Kai roughly translate to &#8220;open thinking flower&#8221;. Hua is pronounced &#8220;Hwaaa&#8221; similar to how Taiwanese pronounce my family name Ward.\u00a0 Se Kai ran together sounds like Skye.\u00a0 I made this discovery on my first visit to Taipei in 2004. I have found that each return visit offers new discoveries and insights. My rapidly approaching East Asia trip promises to be just as extraordinary.<\/p>\n<p>In March, I will make my fourth and fifth annual trips to Taiwan and Korea respectively. I will travel on business but have cleared my agenda for a few days of checking out the local and underground scenes.\u00a0 How does a &#8220;soul sistah&#8221; keep it real in Seoul, Korea?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And, just how does an English speaking dreadlocked Afriles navigate East Asian culture and business protocols?<\/p>\n<p>Iban and Tongzhi<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/rainbow.thumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"rainbow.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>What is it like to be living out loud in the Iban and Tongzhi communities in Korea and Taiwan?\u00a0Did you know Taiwan&#8217;s first public gay &#8220;marriage&#8221; took place in 1996; the couple received a letter of congratulations from the mayor of Taipei.\u00a0 Would you feel comfortable patronizing a Taiwanese lesbian bar called \u201cThe Jailhouse\u201d? The bar entrance accessible via stairs in an alley in central Taipei.\u00a0 Another bar, Esha is described as a tomboy club for women only.\u00a0 Uh, does that mean one might find femme tops on the premises too?\u00a0 Look for my upcoming dispatches from these countries in late March.<\/p>\n<p>Now, let&#8217;s see how culturally savvy you are. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/skyegallery\/Photo%20Quiz\/index.html\">Click here for a photo quiz<\/a>. Answers forthcoming in Skyeview.<\/p>\n<p>Chant peace.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/?p=29&amp;page=2\">Korea \/ Taiwan Links<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/giant_banana_cutflower_4.thumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"giant_banana_cutflower_4.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Links<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Korea\n<ul>\n<li><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.seoulsisters.org\">Seoul Sisters<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.seoulsisters.org\/sex_toys.htm\">Sex toys on the down low<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/goasia.about.com\/library\/weekly\/blseoula.htm\">About Seoul<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.lifeinkorea.com\/travel2\/Pusan\">About Busan<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/wk.koreaherald.co.kr\/SITE\/data\/html_dir\/2004\/06\/26\/200406260002.asp\">Iban Community<\/a> (LGBT)<\/li>\n<li><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.utopia-asia.com\/tipskor.htm\">LGBT Advisory<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.utopia-asia.com\/womkor.htm\">Lesbian Resources<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Taiwan\n<ul>\n<li><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.utopia-asia.com\/womtaiw.htm#taip\">Lesbian Resources<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.travelgayasia.com\/destination\/gay-taiwan\/\">Gay Taiwan<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Buddhism\n<ul>\n<li><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.natureproducts.net\/Forest_Products\/Nympheaceae\/white_lotus.html\">Buddhist sacred trees and flowers<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The characters in my Chinese name Hua Se Kai roughly translate to &#8220;open thinking flower&#8221;. Hua is pronounced &#8220;Hwaaa&#8221; similar to how Taiwanese pronounce my family name Ward.\u00a0 Se Kai ran together sounds like Skye.\u00a0 I made this discovery on my first visit to Taipei in 2004. I have found that each return visit offers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travelogues"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1c8Xx-t","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":912,"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions\/912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}