I was both touched and deeply reflective upon reading this photo-poem. You see, I was in Taipei once, living in the Tien Mou District and doing what all expatriate Guai Loh do when in the ROC: teaching English (and studying Beijing Hua). I was also consulting for Taipei Adventist Hospital, working for the (I presume now defunct) SERTEK Computer Company, and constantly (secretly) in love with the hundreds of beautiful Shiao Jie who inhabit the city. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to be in love with me…although at first, when I sat down at the local McDonald’s for lunch, I was flattered that so many delightful creatures amazingly chose to sit next to me, all a-smiles and ear-to-ear grins. Then it finally dawned on me that what they were really interested in wasn’t me, but the chance to get a free English conversational lesson from a professional teacher! Thus ends the artist’s world: Zhè jiùshì shìjiè de jiéjú! :)

In your images, I looked upon the street scenes that were then so familiar, with seemingly hundreds of motor-scooters zipping by, many with couples and also a few with pigs and livestock! All apparently just about 5 seconds away from a horrendous crash with a negligent car driver and yet always snatched from the jaws of fate at the last split second!

I am secretly an artist myself, a hopeless romantic who haunts side-walk cafes looking at all the passing faces with a scarce-concealed hunger for that magical contact with someone, anyone who can feed my soul and inspire my art. Unfortunately, I never connected. The Ming Chuan girls simply passed me by and eventually I left Taipei to return to vapid, ignorant America.

To this day, I still look back on those days with an insatiable desire for more times like that…the perfect food for an artist’s soul: unrequited, unfulfilled love for that special muse. Although my art (writing) has since blossomed forth, how much more I would have been capable of if those ‘China Nights’ had been shared with someone special. To paraphrase a hoary old chest nut of an aphorism: “Regret is a dish best served warm.” Thank you for prompting all these treasured reflections with your images and words. 谢谢你，非常祝福