Partie du Champagne.,.+*

[ 願望. 起飛! ]
Launching all of your best wishes for the new year! Cheers to all the things in the past and to the things to come. The moment your sky lantern leaves the floor and flies so far away in just  few seconds would make you feel "wow, I don't think I was ready!" But it's done... (unless you go get another sky lantern). x)


After four posts talking about one single day, we're finally here! I have wanted to fly the sky lanterns in Pingxi  for a long time because I want to take photos of all the glowing lanterns launching all at once and flying off to the distance in a way like messengers to the other world (whether real or metaphysical). Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival (平溪天燈節: 1/26-2/9) has always been big and people often choose not to go because the place always appears crowded, and going all the way there just to heat some paper balloon so it can fly away in a few seconds just don't seem to be a great motivating factor. But I'm sorry to tell them but they just robbed themselves with that false thinking. There was NO traffic, hardly any difficulty in getting the bus (didn't have to line up for too long), there was a lot of people, but not overcrowded to an unbearable degree. & We...

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[ 洞房花燭夜 ]
... 很像吧? 不過不是啦~! 這可是日據時代達官貴人才能來 hang out 的菁桐太子賓館 (原名:石底俱樂部).
我們很悠閒的在這晃了一下午, 實在是個很讚的外拍景點! :D


This club for the upper class back in the Japanese occupation period is among one of the few that are actually open to the public nowadays. This "Palace" was built in 1939 and much of what remains now are pretty much from its old days. You could easily spend a whole afternoon here, just going from room to room and taking in all the details of this palace and the different themes and sceneries. We had so much fun "directing" each other to pose in certain ways for cameras and had our relaxing afternoon tea/dinner in this small palace. You could basically sit...

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[ 這也是我的願望嗎? ] (笑)
The writing on the wishing bamboo (one of the hundreds) by the old railroad reads: Find a man who treats me well (p.s. & got $$$).


On the last day of the first month of 2009, we traveled (or rather moved ourselves) to a small mining town called Jingtong (菁桐) in the Taipei County for one of the major events of the annual Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival (平溪天燈節). More on the story of the festival in later posts. Some say a small town like Jingtong or Pingxi will bore you after 2-3 hours. When we were there, we wonder how this could possibly be true? There's so much things to experience and see. They must be missing out on what these small towns are about. We planned on...

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[ 寒冷的台北年貨大街 ]
There was more people on the other end of the street.  We went there in the morning of the last day of the market fair.  Some of the items exhibited at these temporary stands are quite fun to see and you can even find some....




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最近要過CNY (Chinese New Year) 所以我也來個 e-world 大掃除. 把一些舊的email 該刪的刪一刪, 該封存的封起來. In the process, 我居然挖到一些之前寫在 N-Years-Ago blog 上的東西, 看到真是快笑掉下巴了,. 差點不想承認那是我寫的. 在 Birmingham UK 時期寫的一些還真夠有 "home is where the heart is" 的催淚的成份, 雖然其他時候有點不太確定那時我到底是哪根螺絲鬆脫還是線路短路. 不過有些其實寫得還不錯, 改天來個百年回顧我再來讓它重見天日吧~! 

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[ 迷失. 鼓浪嶼 ] Lost in the Island full of Pianos.
Piano = A keyboard instrument.  Piano = [Italian] Take it slowly.


Gulangyu is a small island but it's full of exotic colors. It was home to the many of the foreign embassies and it's one of the places in the world with the highest concentration of piano. You won't see any cars or bicycles on this island; it's simply not allowed. You might feel that you cannot stay here for long but you'll see: this tiny place slows down your daily pace. You need to stroll on the quiet streets, take in the scenery of this artisy island and listen to the sounds of quiet music playing behind the old brick walls. An...

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[ Amoy, a year after ] 廈門 在相隔一年後


I have just realized that I was out of the country at least once every month, starting from November - Germany; December - US & Beijing; January - Xiamen. No wonder we're not going anywhere for this upcoming 9-day long Chinese New Year holiday. Traveling can get very tiring. I think it shows. But I am and still will be traveling. Last time that I was in Amoy was a year ago when we were just planning to move into this apartment. Then it became my first and last time staying at this apartment. My colleagues were moving to another apartment nearby a few days after I left. My room for the short stay was...

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[ 漸層的八里夕陽 ]
That sunny Saturday, we went to the left bank of Bali. It's quite different from what I imagined from the name but the oceanside park was spacious and a nice space for family activities; the museum of archaeology was interesting although not really stuffed with enough fascinating things; the street where you can buy all the good snacks was crowded with people; and the nightview of Danshui across was spectacular. This is another...

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[ 宮廷內的故事 ]
Lots of stories about the Emperors, the Empesses, the Palace... especially of the last Chinese Dynasty. It's only when you are here, in front of these magnificient and overpowering buildings that you would feel that those that you ever studied in school or books are based on people who, apart from their social status at the time, are not much different from ourselves.


When you are in Beijing and if you want to see lots of things, you cannot avoid one thing: walking, and walking long distance. There are a lot of historical sites but they can be quite spread out. Even at one attraction, it can take you over half a day just to walk (and I mean nothing else; no looking around to the sides) across to the other end. This was the case for...

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Day 4 - Outside of the Bird Nest.


Beijing has a lot of very impressive buildings. There was a documentary on the design and construction of the Bird Nest, the Water Cube and the hall used for archery competition, all were built for the Olympics. When you see these buildings infront of you, you will understand why are they often talked about. When you go to Beijing, you'll see impressive architectural designs are not limited to the buildings for the Olympic games, there are...


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