The Sun's Back

It's sunny all day long, there's a light breeze along the river, and it's more than 20 degrees. Perfect weather for a naturist.
Am I lying to you? No way. That's the way some winter days go here in Taiwan. You have several days of grey, wet weather when you just want to stay inside - even though there's no heating and it's sometimes just as cold inside as outside. But after suffering through those few days, the sun is back in all its glory and it's naturism time again.
I just spent more than a week in a country that doesn't even have anything resembling a winter - Malaysia. Like most Southeast Asian countries, the temperatures reach over 30 degrees any day of the year without any effort. Unfortunately, because of the conservative nature of its culture, it's definitely not a naturist destination. It has gorgeous beaches and well-known beach lovers' haunts such as the island of Langkawi and the resort of Batu Ferringhi on Penang's north coast, but textile is the way to go. Penang is even popular with holidaymakers from the Persian Gulf states. Kind of unexpected to find women covered all over in black walking close to a sunny beach. The local Malay Islamic ladies are slightly more relaxed, still wearing a lot, but at least in more colorful hues than black.
Still, Malaysia does have its naturists, as you can judge from online naturism forums, but it's only that they are not allowed to do their thing, just like here in Taiwan.
And on the subject of returning to Taiwan, today's excellent weather allowed me to take a walk along the river, be it all dressed in shorts and short-sleeved shirt. Taiwan is so crowded that it's hardly ever possible to practice naturism in nature, unless you take a long drive up the hills. So today, instead, I left my naturism at home, and for the first time in 2007, I failed to dress up at home and did my writing and relaxing as a true naturist would.
Happy Year of the Pig!

Naked Sunday

No, this is not an international naturist festival coming up this Sunday, though I probably will be naked part of the day if the weather stays the way it is now.
The naked Sunday is actually what American pop star Christina Aguilera and her new husband, one Jordan Bratman, have each week to make their life more exciting. They just lie in bed and do nothing much at all for that day each week. That news must've been one of the most reported news items across the world, because you can find it on a number of Web sites.
As long as the weather is fine and as long as I don't veer outside a certain area of my home, I can have any day of the week and of the year naked, if I want to, and I'd really want to. Despite heavy fog early in the morning, the recent cool temperatures seem to have left Taipei, and in the middle of the day it's now a decidedly summery 28 degrees centigrade. If you need the example of Christina Aguilera to spend the day naked, feel absolutely free to do so. The message is there is no need to feel ashamed about not wearing any clothes when you don't have to. And that's the natural in naturism. Wishing you a happy naked whateverday, wherever you are!

Nude Woman Scares Taichung

A nude woman scared the central Taiwanese city of Taichung today, if we have to believe Taiwanese television.
Actually, it was the picture of a naked young woman on a huge ad for a new women's lifestyle program on Discovery's Travel and Living Channel. The show is bound to feature food and fashion more than naked people, but nevertheless the station chose a clothesfree lady to advertise it.
Reaction in the streets of Taichung was rather negative, with female motorcyclists shielding the eyes of their children against the 'indecent' picture.
It must be said here that the ad was nothing racy compared to what you might see in Europe: the woman was sitting down, pictured from the side, and her arms were positioned so they covered up most of her breasts.
Some of the protesters said the picture was too titillating because the woman was holding the fingers of one hand close to her tongue, as if making a provocative gesture.
The local authorities have promised to look into the case, but they were reportedly focusing more on the allegedly illegal size of the poster rather than on its content.
I take the opportunity here of wishing all naturists and other people a Happy Chinese New Year. Since it's gotten much too cold in Taiwan to be involved in any form of naturism outside the bathroom or the hot tub these days, I'll be spending my holiday in sunny Southeast Asia. And yes, I'll keep you up to date on how my booking is going. Once the holiday is over, I should speed up the process of looking for a publisher.