For this issue and the next one in which my column appears, I am going to let Jim Barton (Van Nuys, CA) tell the story of his recent trip to Taiwan. Truly, it must have been a wonder experience for him!

"The world is a museum,. he who stays at home looks at only one picture." See F. Cheng

I first met See F. Cheng back in 1987. He was born in Taiwan and lived there until the mid-1970's, when he moved to the United States. Since then, he has made many visits back to his homeland, and on several of those occasions, he would bring his friends with him. In 1992, it was my turn to take a trip to Taiwan with him and his friends, Eddie and Ralph, so after several delays and false starts, we chose September 24 as our departure date. 

See, Eddie, Ralph and I left my house at 11 p.m. September 23rd to catch the "redeye" from Los Angeles to Taipei. Each one of us had our own primary goals to accomplish on this trip. Eddie wanted to take a vacation; this was his fourth trip to Taiwan. See wanted to visit his friends and family. Ralph was looking for a job as an English teacher; this was his third trip and he wants to move to Taiwan. And I, of course, was hoping to bring back some insulators as well as have a great vacation. (I already had some ideas as to what insulators were on Taiwan: fellow collector, Daniel Van Beers, recently went there himself and brought back some white porcelain fog bowls that are absolutely beautiful.

During the fourteen hour flight, we lost a day by crossing the International Date Line, so it was 8 a.m. September 25 when we got to Taipei. We were met at Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport by Y.K. Lee, a friend of See's. Back in June, Y.K. visited the United States and on two occasions came to the apartment that See and I share. He was amazed at my insulator collection and said that he'd never seen anything like it and also stated that it was the first time he'd ever seen insulators made of glass instead of porcelain. Anyway, he picked us up and drove us to Taipei, where we had a little tour of the downtown area before checking into a hostel (Taiwan's answer to our motel) .

Our first couple of days in Taipei were rather quiet, as we all had cobwebs in our brains from the long flight during which we had little sleep. I was able to get a good look at the power system, an installation that will forever leave me shaking my head and wondering how it works at all; let alone how it works as well as it does! It's the messiest power system I've ever seen, particularly low voltage distribution lines. These wires are usually just wrapped around street lights or simply draped over building signs or tied to any old object that would hold them up -- and there are so many of these wires -- that in some parts they looked like giant cobwebs with building signs, trees and street lights tangled up in the mess! I saw one wire hanging so low over a small lane that a delivery truck (about the size of a typical UPS truck) actually brushed it as it went by! The wires even touch each other as they crisscross over the streets! It's a lineman's nightmare that has to be seen to be believed -- it looks like so much spaghetti.

Fortunately, the higher voltage distribution lines aren't quite as messy and I had a grand time looking at the white porcelain fog bowls that are universal throughout Taiwan. They're beautiful insulators, and boy, how I wanted one! It was early in the trip and I figured that sooner or later, my friends and I would run across at least one line crew working on the wires. Incidentally, most of the telephone poles on Taiwan are made of concrete instead of wood. While there are some wooden poles, those are few and far between. My guess is that the reason for concrete poles is because of the typhoons that frequently hit the island. A major typhoon is essentially the same as a hurricane in the U.S., and such storms can snap wooden poles like toothpicks as recent hurricanes in Florida and the Hawaiian island of Kauai have demonstrated.

For several days we toured the city of Taipei -- the Museum of Fine Art, an open-air street market, witnessed the changing of the guard at the Martyr's Shrine. Our guide, Mr. Chou. a friend of Y.K.'s wondered why I was photographing telephone poles. Later, back at the hostel, I told Mr. Chou more about insulator collecting. Of course. I was armed with pictures of my collection, some common glass insulators, and even some back issues of Crown Jewels of the Wire. He thought it was an interesting hobby.

On September 29, See, Eddie, Ralph and I checked out of the hostel in Taipei and went to the Taipei Railway Station to catch the train to Tainan. a city nearly 200 miles away, near the other end of the island. The Taipei Railway Station may be the largest in the world -- it's large enough to hold two football fields. It was the first time in my life I ever rode a train. 

Along the route, I saw several poles with small pin-type insulators on them. These were small white porcelain insulators, somewhat like British telephone-type insulators. They were common when Taiwan had open-wire communication lines, but today, the open wire lines have pretty much disappeared; as a result, these small insulators are scarce. (Daniel Van Beers has one of those; the one he has has a Chinese character written on it.) One pole that had the insulators was clearly abandoned -- it was by itself, with no wires! I'd give away half my Hemingrays for a chance to raid that pole!! 

As night fell, our train pulled into Tainan. Even though I had a cold and wasn't feeling great, I noticed that the tourist book indicated the location of the telephone company office in Tainan. By the afternoon of the day following our arrival, I was feeling better so I decided to try walking to the telephone company office.

It was only a mile away by my calculations, and I figured if I followed the map very carefully, I could navigate there on my own even though the street signs are in Chinese characters. I figured correctly, and with only a little trouble in finding the building, I eventually came to the telephone company and found an employee that spoke some English. I explained to him that I was looking for insulators and showed him the pictures of my collection. They didn't have any of them (specifically, those small ones like I saw from the train), but the fellow was kind enough to point me in the direction of the Taiwan Power Company building just a block away. I left a Brookfield CD 102 as a gift and wandered over to the power company. It didn't seem to have a storage yard or anything like that, but I decided it was worth a try. 

After a short wait for the place to open after lunch, I was able to talk to several people about insulators and that I was looking for some to add to my collection. Again, I brought out the pictures of my insulator collection, and within seconds, I had a crowd of at least half a dozen Taiwan Power Company employees passing those pictures around! I definitely blew their minds! They could not believe that someone would collect such things for fun! Unfortunately, they had no insulators available, and they seemed genuinely sorry that they didn't. But they all wished me good luck (one young lady even said, "You have a very special hobby.") and said they hoped I would get some insulators to take back to the US. I left them a blue Hemingray 9 for their trouble, which thrilled them -- I'm sure it was the first time some of those employees ever saw a glass insulator in their lives. So I came away with no insulators on that walk, but I definitely left an impression! There was still a week to go, though, and I was confident that I would get at least one insulator. 

On October 1 I saw an abandoned telephone pole right on the busy main street of Tainan we were driving down! The pole had small pintype insulators, just like the white ones I saw from the train two days earlier! Somehow, this pole escaped being removed along with all its companions and it stood alone alongside this busy street running near or past National Chengkung University in Tainan.

Less than five minutes later, we were back at the hotel. There was still plenty of daylight left, and that combined with my new confidence in finding my way around a foreign city (thanks to the insulator hunt to the telephone and power companies the previous day) made me decide to seek out that abandoned pole. I studied the map of Tainan and picked a likely street (I wasn't sure of the exact street that the pole was on). I walked over to the street I thought the pole might have been one, about a mile from the hotel, but after a few minutes, it was clear I had the wrong street. 

Then I saw them! Atop a six-foot brick wall and attached to the side of a building behind the wall that belonged to National Chengkung University. Half a dozen white porcelain insulators with a red stripe around them! Most of them had a heavily insulated cable attached to them, but two of them (one crunched, unfortunately) had no wire at all! And the ones on the wall were actually close enough to touch. Unfortunately, they were cemented to a metal pin embedded firmly in the wall, and I was unable to get one! Talk about frustration! Being able to TOUCH those beauties but being unable to get them! I immediately decided to come back the next morning and talk to someone about the insulators!

So early the next morning, I walked back to the National Chengkung University, armed with camera, a McLaughlin 19 and the pictures of my insulator collection. As I approached the' wall with the insulators, I saw a gate open in the wall and a man on a scooter emerged. I tried to talk to him, but he was in a hurry and took off. I waited a while and eventually, an old couple came by. He was cleaning the sidewalk with a rather primitive broom, and she was riding a scooter with a large garbage bag balanced precariously on the seat behind her. They wanted to know why I was hanging around by the gate, so I showed them the white porcelain insulators with the red stripe and told them I wanted one. They pressed a buzzer on the wall that I hadn't noticed before and a minute later, the gate opened to reveal a little old Taiwanese man. I tried to explain to this man that I collect insulators and told him in (very) broken Mandarin what I wanted, pointing to the good insulator with no wire attached. The man made a brief effort at removing the insulator but was unsuccessful. I tried to explain that he needed a hacksaw, but he didn't understand and closed the gate. I hoped he would bring someone else, but no such luck, and after a long wait, I had to get back to the hotel, as we were going to take a drive to Kaosiung.

(Part II in August issue)

Red striped insulator on wall at University