DVD player on the fritz, so it was time to buy a new one. Actually, before that I asked some Taiwanese acquaintances about repairing the old one, and to a man they all thought I was crazy. Absolutely bonkers.
Think of the time, the expense, and the possibility that it’ll break down again. "Foreigner," they said, "don’t you know? New is better."
So off to Carrefour I went.* When I got back home I checked through the blogroll, and ran across these videos of protests against the store over on the wrong side of the Taiwan Strait. [UPDATE: those particular clips have since been pulled from YouTube, but the site has others which can still be viewed]
Thursday’s Taipei Times had this disturbing bit of news:
In the southern city of Zhuzhou, protesters reportedly attacked a young US teacher on Sunday evening after he emerged from a local Carrefour.
Happy to report that there were no protests against us foreign devils at the TAIWANESE Carrefour where I went. Friendly service inside. And outside? Well, I guess there was ONE incident that I could mention . . .
Outside, a Taiwanese guy saw me and decided to impress his girlfriend with his machismo — by showing her he had the guts to say, "Hi," to me. In English. And to me, ME!, a complete stranger.
Oh YEAH? Well, TWO can play at THAT little game. So I gave my snappy trademark, "Hi – Ni hao," right back at him!
Pretty scary stuff, let me tell ya. Guess the locals aren’t receiving enough of that Chinese patriotic edumacation.
* I wasn’t being a big ole pushover here. The old DVD player’s been fixed once before — only a year and a half ago — for the same problem it has now. Hate to throw it away (it was expensive!), but I also hate to throw good money after bad, too.
Good luck finding a new DVD player that isn’t made in China.
Ironic, isn’t it, that so many of the products in that store are made in China — especially electronics.
You might also try National, AKA E-Life Mall:
http://www.elifemall.com.tw/
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Actually, I wound up getting a player from Carrefour. Didn’t mention it in the post, because my main point was that the Taiwanese don’t seem to be up in arms about the disruption of the Olympic torch relay.
(Within the last couple of weeks, the China Post had an editorial saying that ALL Chinese EVERYWHERE were upset by the protests. Heh — following that logic then, there mustn’t be ANY Chinese at all here.)
Anyways, thanks for the link. Too late for me now, but maybe next time.