Really famous people in Taiwan

By really famous, I mean those that touch all our lives, have done for years, and probably will for a long time to come. I don’t mean those flash-in-the-pan starlets on TV etc.

To start I’d like to give special mention to the Bus Uncle. If you’ve ever been in or out of CKS airport, you know the guy. He’s worked for Taiwan Motor Bus Co. since the wheel itself was invented. (That was a Taiwanese invention if you didn’t know). He’s the who actually does his job, making sure everyone knows which bus to get on, where the buses are going to stop, which luggage compartment people should stash their suitcases in and so on. He’s heavyset, overweight, wears glasses, has a terrible haircut, looks generally dishevelled, and takes shit from noone. His voice is monotonous and droning after having delivered the same lecture on the bus system a hundred times a day, six days a week, since the airport was built. That voice carries throughout the arrivals side of the old terminal building and there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that HE IS IN CHARGE. A living legend. :notworthy:

So local famous people?

That’s good, cause foreign really famous people can’t get into Taiwan, the HK visa office won’t give them a visa lest they run away and try their hand at teaching English.

HG

[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]So local famous people?

That’s good, cause foreign really famous people can’t get into Taiwan, the HK visa office won’t give them a visa lest they run away and try their hand at teaching English.

HG[/quote]
Unless they are porn stars.

Ah yes, good point!

:laughing:

HG

Does anyone know the guy old guy in Gaoxiong who keeps saying hello?

I saw him EVERYWHERE. He’s kind of tall, old and crazy looking. Sometimes he rides a bike. He always moves slowly.

I saw him at the train station, in Zhong Shan uni campus, at the temple near Zhong Shan uni, shops around Gaoxiong and on nearly every street inbetween.

He always says “Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.” until you acknowledge him or get far enough away so that you can’t hear him. He always tries to shake your hand and just keeps holding his hand out until you shake it.

Is Igor still around?

When I first got here there was a scary guy in the main station underground mall who used to chase me and scream “Hello Ni Hao”
I wasn’t scared of him at first but one day he grabbed my hair and was pulling it so hard I thought my head would come off. By the time anyone stopped to help me my scalp was bleeding and I was on the floor.
The guy wasn’t mean. He was just mentally challenged to a point that he should have been in a home… or at least better taken care of. The only lady there who spoke English told me that he thought my hair was pretty.
When I told the story EVERYONE knew who I was talking about. I avoid mainstation like the plague, so I have no idea if he is still there. But I don’t ever walk around with my hair down. He is partially why.

[quote=“smell the glove”]Is Igor still around?[/quote]OMG, if you mean who I think you mean… that is one creeeepy dude! :astonished:
That long-haired guy, bent as a US$9 bill, used to hang out at DV8, went around lying about everyone behind their backs and generally stirring shit? I haven’t seen him in over ten years, thankfully.

Holy hell Fob, that’s some scary shit. I don’t recall ever seeing the guy, but I can see how you’d want to stay clear.

[quote=“redwagon”][quote=“smell the glove”]Is Igor still around?[/quote]OMG, if you mean who I think you mean… that is one creeeepy dude! :astonished:
That long-haired guy, bent as a US$9 bill, used to hang out at DV8, went around lying about everyone behind their backs and generally stirring shit? I haven’t seen him in over ten years, thankfully.[/quote]
I just knew someone here would know who I was talking about. :smiley: Igor was a one and only, definitely a famous local person. I haven’t seen him in at least that long either. And he wasn’t just at DV8 - he used to go from bar to bar every single night and make himself known to every foreigner he’d see, so you couldn’t go out without running into him. One scary dude. I think he actually used to work at Fubar.

Okay, here’s another one. Not a local person, but anyone remember the priest who used to write checks for cash?

[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]So local famous people?

That’s good, cause foreign really famous people can’t get into Taiwan, the HK visa office won’t give them a visa lest they run away and try their hand at teaching English.

HG[/quote]

Oh no, there’s a lady there who is famous with everyone. I don’t know her name, but she is always referred to when having to do a visa run to HK. Everyone has a story to tell about her.

Nama, you mean the infamous Dragon Lady of the visa section in HK? :shiver:
I always used to take two tickets a couple of numbers apart so if I was called to her window I’d just take the backup number. She could be pretty nasty.

STG, I met Igor a couple of times in Taipei, like you say he was pretty hard to avoid. Then he came down to Taichung when (I heard on the dl) there was a contract out on him. I heard he had started some rumors about a model or an actress and she was connected, and… I haven’t seen him since. It was a long time ago and I don’t remember all the gory details. :astonished:

[quote=“redwagon”]Nama, you mean the infamous Dragon Lady of the visa section in HK? :shiver:
I always used to take two tickets a couple of numbers apart so if I was called to her window I’d just take the backup number. She could be pretty nasty.[/quote] yea probably that’s her. Woman so scary Hell will pass on her.

Igor went to jail for awhile… then he was in Kenting at a surf shop… But’s that’s the last I saw of him…

[quote=“Serial Killer On Parole”]
Igor went to jail for awhile… [/quote]As crappy as that sounds, it’s better than what I thought had happened to him. :wink:

[quote=“tetsuo500”]Does anyone know the guy old guy in Gaoxiong who keeps saying hello?

I saw him EVERYWHERE. He’s kind of tall, old and crazy looking. Sometimes he rides a bike. He always moves slowly.

I saw him at the train station, in Zhongshan uni campus, at the temple near Zhongshan uni, shops around Gaoxiong and on nearly every street inbetween.

He always says “Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.” until you acknowledge him or get far enough away so that you can’t hear him. He always tries to shake your hand and just keeps holding his hand out until you shake it.[/quote]
Gaoxiong? Other than the location and the part about the bicycle, that sounds exactly like an old man in my neighborhood in Banqiao. I call him “handshake guy.”

He looks like he’s about 80, but he’s quite spry. Picks up trash for a living. I’ve never heard him utter any other word than “hello,” no matter what language I speak to him in.

Why hasn’t anyone mentioned one of the most handsome men in the universe as well as potential gold medal runner in the 2008 Olympics, brilliantly educated at Harvard, available with hard hat and special jacket for every natural disaster in Taiwan and making an appearance at every CPop concert held outside his office all the while promoting a coup in Taiwan.

You know whats his name.

I don’t know if this guy is “famous” in the strict sense of the word, but I thought he’s worth mentioning because I see him all the time on the pedestrian overpass on the corner of Keelung and Xin Yi … close to Taipei 101… even closer to The Tavern. He just sits there with a hat or cup in front of him.

He’s more infamous I guess. I heard people say he tosses off in public right there where he sits… :s

[quote=“stan”]I don’t know if this guy is “famous” in the strict sense of the word, but I thought he’s worth mentioning because I see him all the time on the pedestrian overpass on the corner of Keelung (Jilong) and Xinyi … close to Taipei 101… even closer to The Tavern. He just sits there with a hat or cup in front of him.

He’s more infamous I guess. I heard people say he tosses off in public right there where he sits… :s[/quote]

I can confirm this. :noway:

[quote=“jdsmith”][quote=“stan”]I don’t know if this guy is “famous” in the strict sense of the word, but I thought he’s worth mentioning because I see him all the time on the pedestrian overpass on the corner of Keelung (Jilong) (Jilong) and Xinyi … close to Taipei 101… even closer to The Tavern. He just sits there with a hat or cup in front of him.

He’s more infamous I guess. I heard people say he tosses off in public right there where he sits… :s[/quote]

I can confirm this. :noway:[/quote]

Then he IS truly famous!

Tell!

[quote=“stan”]
He’s more infamous I guess. I heard people say he tosses off in public right there where he sits… :s[/quote]I guess that makes him a famous performance artist then. :laughing: Yuck.