Taiwan Sound Diary 2012 / 2016
Chinan River, Taipei
Sunday 24 July 2016
Shenkeng, Taipei
Monday 20 August 2012
Shenkeng, Taipei
Monday 20 August 2012
Shenkeng, Taipei
Monday 20 August 2012
Luodong Night Market, Yilan
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
Lingyen Cave - Basian Caves, Changbin Township
Monday, 13 August 2012
Frogs. Insects. Water.
Wind Turbines, Anxi Rd, Lukang
Tuesday 19 July 2016
The sound of air.
Ring tones on one of my mother-in-law and father-in-law's telephone
Some of the many variations available on my mother- and father-in-law’s doorbell.
In Taipei the daily arrival of the garbage truck is announced by an electronic recording of Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska’s ‘A Maiden’s Prayer’, played from a loudspeaker. Residents are called by the tune to throw their rubbish into the back of the passing truck.
A vendor making spring onion pancakes. His recorded message, broadcasting from a megaphone hung from the stall’s awning, proclaims the supreme quality of his goods.
Recorded Buddhist chants play in the largest of the eight Baisan Caves against a background of distant waves.
Chauyin Cave - Basian Caves, Changbin Township
Monday, 13 August 2012
Former Lianqin Hotel, Kenting
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Nanmen Road, Tainan
Friday, 10 August 2012
Assembly Hall of Tainan Municipal Jhongyi Elementary School
Friday, 10 August 2012
Jinghai Temple, Baxianshan National Forest Recreation Area
Thursday, 9 August 2012
The Basian caves were first occupied 30,000 years ago, and still provide a home for those who maintain the shrines that can now be found there. The name of this cave translates as ‘sound of the waves’, because of the way it echoes the sounds of the sea nearby.
Kenting
Sunday, 12 August 2012
In a field opposite the abandoned Lianqin Hotel the stridulation of insects is reminiscent of the sound of bells.
The Lianqin hotel is now abandoned. My wife and I had stayed there in 1999, spending much of the time sheltering from a typhoon. Now the buildings stand empty, creaking and ticking in the wind.
Children gather around a street vendor making sweets from sugar.
Drumming practice in a school hall next to the Confucuius Temple.
Water trough at the Jinghai Temple in Baxianshan.
Baxianshan National Forest Recreation Area
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
Syueshan Sacred Tree, Daxueshan National Forest Recreation Area
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Daxueshan National Forest Recreation Area
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Daxueshan National Forest Recreation Area
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Daxueshan National Forest Recreation Area
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Yakou Observatory, Daxueshan National Forest Recreation Area
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Parking lot, Daxueshan National Forest Recreation Area
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
The sounds of the Jiaboa river and insects in the surrounding forest. We often associate natural environments with a feeling of tranquility - here the soundscape is alive with the energy of running water and insect life.
Daxueshan National Forest Recreation Area
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
Dawn chorus and early morning rain in Daxueshan forest.
Drops of rain begin to fall around the Syueshan Sacred Tree - a 1400 year old Formosan red cypress.
Water falls.
Babble.
Birdsong echoes across a mountain valley against the sounds of a distant waterfall. A truck passes.
A viewing platform in the mist. Voices of unseen visitors; on the count of three they jump into the air for a group photograph.
Above the cloud line. Still and silent.
Daxueshan National Forest Recreation Area
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Guanxi Service Area, National Freeway No.3
Monday, 6 August 2012
Shenkeng, Taipei
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Shenkeng, Taipei
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
National Central Library, Taipei
Tuesday, 31 July 2012
In the early hours of the morning I admit defeat and turn off the dehumidifier that keeps our small wooden cabin dry. Its two minute cycle builds to what seems like a deafening crescendo in the tranquility of the forest night.
Guanxi Service Area, National Freeway No.3
Monday, 6 August 2012
Pedestrian crossing at the Guanxi Service Area. The music indicates when it’s safe to cross, at the same time animating pedestrians by communicating a sense of urgency, and thereby generating controlled panic.
Insects and musak at a motorway service area.
A fan provides some relief from the intense heat of summer nights in Taipei. With each sweep of the room its breeze lifts a nearby picture frame away from the wall, dropping it back with a gentle clunk. In the moments before falling asleep, I seem to hear more clearly the constituent elements of the fan’s sound drift apart - the hum of the motor, the whirring of its blades, the movement of air.
A typhoon hits the north of Taiwan. In the early hours of the morning windows flex and rattle in the wind. Rain water drips from the balconies outside.
‘Please Speak Softly’ notice above public telephones in the Library foyer. Wind whistling between plate glass doors at the entrance.
Baxianshan National Forest Recreation Area
Thursday, 9 August 2012
Insects in bamboo forest.
