SPRING SCREAM INFORMATION
WHERE:Oluanpi Lighthouse National Park (鵝鑾鼻燈塔公園)
WHEN:Tonight until Sunday. Doors open at 3pm today; the music starts at 5pm tonight, 1pm tomorrow and Sunday. Shows run until midnight every night
ON THE NET:
www.springscream.com
TICKETS
Contrary to recent rumors, Spring Scream has not sold out of tickets and is not likely to do so. Tickets are available at the door and Family Mart convenience stores (全家便利商店) through Sunday. Prices are NT$1,790 for a three-day pass; NT$990 for tonight only, NT$1,190 in advance for Saturday (NT$1,290 day of the show) and NT$490 in advance for Sunday (NT$590 day of the show). You must purchase a three-day pass to use the campgrounds.
THE ‘REAL’ SPRING SCREAM
There will be parties all throughout the Kenting and Hengchun area; one party in Kenting even bears the name that translates as “Kenting Scream Spring Party” (墾丁吶喊春天派對). The original, official Spring Scream (春天吶喊2009) takes place at one location — Oluanpi Lighthouse National Park (鵝鑾鼻燈塔公園). If that’s where you want to be, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
GETTING THERE
Spring Scream’s chartered buses direct to Oluanpi are already full. On public transport, a fast way to travel for groups of three or four persons is to take the Taiwan High Speed Rail (www.thsrc.com.tw, (02) 6626-8000) to Kaohsiung’s Zuoying Station (高鐵左營車站) and then share a taxi to the Spring Scream site at Oluanpi Lighthouse National Park (鵝鑾鼻燈塔公園). The Taiwan Railway Administration (www.railway.gov.tw/en/index/index.aspx, (02) 2381-5226) also offers trains services to Kaohsiung, and buses run from Kaohsiung to Kenting from both train stations.
From Kenting, public buses leave for Oluanpi every hour. There is a bus stop near the McDonald’s and 7-Eleven.
Expect heavy traffic if you’re driving. According to the organizers, last year it took more than 3 hours to travel the short distance from Hengchun to Oluanpi by car during the day. The organizers highly recommend an alternative route, which starts east of Hengchun and passes through Qiaotou Road (橋頭路) and Jiae Highway (佳鵝公路). See the “traffic” section of the festival’s Web site for a map or visit www.springscream.com/doc.php?id=77. Consider late evening or early morning travel to avoid traffic snarls.
WHAT TO BRING
SUNSCREEN AND HAT: Err on the safe side when it comes to protecting yourself from the sun.
COMFORTABLE SHOES:A must, as you’ll likely be walking back and forth between eight different stages, which are spread throughout the park. Most of the food vendors are located at the entrance, while the campground is located at the far end of the park, approximately 500m away.
FLASHLIGHT:Useful for walking along the paths between stages in the evening and pitching a tent when it’s dark.
CASH: For food, merchandise and drinks available in the park grounds. There are no nearby ATMs.
SWIMMING ATTIRE: The hotel neighboring the park grounds has a swimming pool. There is also a beach near the park.
TOILETRIES:Shower and restroom facilities are located at the campground.
Acoustic guitar, ukulele, kazoo, etc: What’s an evening of camping without a sing-a-long or a jam?
Sleeping bag and tent: See below.
ACCOMMODATIONS
As of press time, the Uni-President Hotel (墾丁統一渡假村, (08) 885-1078) located at Oluanpi Lighthouse National Park has a limited number of rooms left. The Kenting and Hengchun areas also offer accommodation, but prepare to pay high-season prices.
Spring Scream organizers strongly recommend camping at the park’s campgrounds, which have soft grass, trees for shade, running water, showers and toilets. Camping fees are NT$1,000 per tent (not included in ticket price), payable at the Spring Scream entrance. All tent occupants must have a three-day ticket. Those who didn’t reserve in advance will have to provide their own tents and sleeping bags, as Spring Scream’s rental services were available only by advance order.
In Taipei, tents for eight people are available for rent at Hongye Mountaineering and Diving (弘野登山潛水) at 291, Dingzhou Rd Sec 3 (台北市汀洲路3段291號, (02) 2365-4358) or for purchase at Dengshanyou (登山友) at 18, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 1 (台北市中山北路1段18號, (02) 2311-6027).
In recent weeks the Trump Administration has been demanding that Taiwan transfer half of its chip manufacturing to the US. In an interview with NewsNation, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said that the US would need 50 percent of domestic chip production to protect Taiwan. He stated, discussing Taiwan’s chip production: “My argument to them was, well, if you have 95 percent, how am I gonna get it to protect you? You’re going to put it on a plane? You’re going to put it on a boat?” The stench of the Trump Administration’s mafia-style notions of “protection” was strong
Every now and then, it’s nice to just point somewhere on a map and head out with no plan. In Taiwan, where convenience reigns, food options are plentiful and people are generally friendly and helpful, this type of trip is that much easier to pull off. One day last November, a spur-of-the-moment day hike in the hills of Chiayi County turned into a surprisingly memorable experience that impressed on me once again how fortunate we all are to call this island home. The scenery I walked through that day — a mix of forest and farms reaching up into the clouds
With one week left until election day, the drama is high in the race for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chair. The race is still potentially wide open between the three frontrunners. The most accurate poll is done by Apollo Survey & Research Co (艾普羅民調公司), which was conducted a week and a half ago with two-thirds of the respondents party members, who are the only ones eligible to vote. For details on the candidates, check the Oct. 4 edition of this column, “A look at the KMT chair candidates” on page 12. The popular frontrunner was 56-year-old Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文)
Oct. 13 to Oct. 19 When ordered to resign from her teaching position in June 1928 due to her husband’s anti-colonial activities, Lin Shih-hao (林氏好) refused to back down. The next day, she still showed up at Tainan Second Preschool, where she was warned that she would be fired if she didn’t comply. Lin continued to ignore the orders and was eventually let go without severance — even losing her pay for that month. Rather than despairing, she found a non-government job and even joined her husband Lu Ping-ting’s (盧丙丁) non-violent resistance and labor rights movements. When the government’s 1931 crackdown
RSS