REMENBERING DIANA

(cover of The Royal Wedding booklet )
(the stamps)
(a photo from one inner page)

Today's TV news talked about the memorial ceremony for Diana, the princess of Wales in England, then I realized it has been 10 years since Diana died in a car accident in Paris 10 years ago. I still keep a royal wedding stamp booklet issued by the British Post Office in 1981. At that time, the royal wedding seemed a fairy tale came true in real life; a princess married to a prince and would live happily after. But it turned out a tragedy in1997.

It seems even royal wedding can not guarantee "live happily after". No wonder there is no "Snow White part II".

WILD LIVES IN YELLOWSTONE

(bison and its calf)
(bear family)
(another bear family)
(can you find the wolf or coyote?)

We had our honeymoon trip in Yellowstone National Park in May, 2001. It was a wonderful 5-day trip. The most impressive thing was the wild lives there. So many many bison made us feel like in the movie "Dances with wolves". Because it was in early spring, so we also saw new lives!

Of course, bears are always expected by visitors in Yellowstone National Park. Whenever you see a lot of cars parking at roadside, then you know there is a bear or there are bears. Park rangers always there to make sure there is a safe distance between visitors and bears. We saw about 7 bears during that trip.

Talking about "Dances with wolves", we met something unexpected - a wolf! (or a coyote). We were hiking on a trail up to the hill to see the whole view of the Old Faithful Geyser. Suddenly I found we and a wolf (or a coyote) standing face to face. Because it was grey and standing near rocks, so it was very hard to see. When I saw it, we were just about less than 5 meters away each other. Be honesty, I was quite scared, because I was afraid there were more wolves around. I took out my pocket knife and ordered my wife back away to a safe distance, then I started to move back. Then...I took the photo shown here! What a close contact with wild life!

NASA 1992

(Space technology: what makes Americans proud)
(the huge assembling building)
(Space shuttle ready for launching)
(a tourist and an astronaut)

1992! yes it was long time ago. at that time I was a student in US and had my first Thanksgiving break. So I and a schoolmate drove from Georgia to Florida for a 5 day trip to Disney World and NASA . Disney was interesting, but visiting NASA was more exciting to me, because there is only one NASA in the world. And it was the first time I could touch space technology so closely.

p.s. It has been over 14 years since I took these photos, can you still recognize me?

VATICAN 2003

(Square of Vatican)
(St. Peter's Basilica)
(La Pietà sculpted by Michelangelo Buonarroti)
(Inside St. Peter's Basilica)
(Vatican Museum)

For a tourist in Italy and a Catholic, Vatican city is a must place you have to visit. I am a Catholic and also a tourist to Italy in 2003, so I visited Vatican city for sure! I remember that day was Sunday, but I went there in the afternoon, so I missed the chance to see Pope. But there were still a lot to see in the St. Peter's Basilica, the most important is the Pietà by Michelangelo. Because this valuable sculpture was attacked by a terrorist by hand grenade, now is well protected by bullet-proof class.

I also visited the Vatican Museum which collects a lot of sculptures and paintings related to Catholic history and others. Of course, the end of the Vatican Museum trip was visiting Sistine Chapel where you can see the "Last Judgment" on its ceiling; it is really an amazing artwork!!

THANKS FOR ALL THE VISITORS AROUND THE WORLD

I installed the ClustrMaps visitor counter for my blog on May 21, 2007. Till May 19, 2007, there are 2038 visitors around the world visited my blog. Thanks for all these friends' interest and hope you keep visiting my blog. I will keep updating new articles and photos, and hope all of you enjoy watching them. If you have any suggestions and ideas, please feel free to let me know.

Recently I purchased an all-in-one printer, so soon I will scan old photos to share something interesting in the past!

INFANTRY WEAPONS OF R.O.C (TAIWAN) ARMY

( T75K1 9mm pistol with laser sight)
(T86 5.56mm assault rifle with T85 40mm grenade launcher)
(T91 5.56mm assault rifle with night vision scope)
(T84A night vision scope)
(T93 7.62mm sniper rifle)

In TADTE, Factory 205 of Combined Logistic Command displays some updated infantry weapons which are designed and produced domestically; including pistol, assault rifles, and one brand new sniper rifles. I have been discharged from army for a long time, so I have not handled any weapons displayed there. But they really look much better than those rifles I used.

According to Factory 205, this 7.62mm sniper rifle is new designed weapon, I still feel it looks like Remington M700 bolt action rifle. Unless there is a certain quantity required by army, or it will be more cost efficient to purchase from foreign vendors.

NO. 100 STORY: TAIPEI AEROSPACE & DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITION

(Cloud Leopard with 40mm/7.62mm MG turret)
(Cloud Leopard with 105mm canon)
(155mm self-propelled howitzer)
(surface-to-air missile system)
(learn how to operate a DMS; Dual Mount Stinger missile)

It is the 3rd time I visit TADTE. This exhibition is getting less and less exciting every year. If defense department do not fully support, I think this exhibition will be less attractive than the regular survival game shows.

This year, the Cloud Leopard armoured cars are definitely the main attractions. Two new types of them displayed to public; one with 40mm grenade launcher/.50 machine gun turret, one with 105mm low recoil canon. Both of them are painted in digital camouflage (one jungle type, one urban type).

Also, there is a truck-based 155mm self-propelled howitzer which is quite a new idea of our army, though French army has done it.

Anyway, this exhibition is more like a carnival, to tell taxpayers how defense department spent their money, and all visitors can have fun through experiencing all kinds training simulations and taking photos with all these weapons.

Well, I think it could be a good idea to have a National Defense Festival instead of TADTE without any air shows and important foreign vendors.

HOOHA SURVIVAL GAME SHOW IN TAIPEI

(AK74 family from VFC)

(Inokatsu, big sales of M-60 machine guns and others)
(FN SCAR L from VFC, carrying case will be the standard accessory )
(KAC PDW from VFC, compact but ugly)
(Chinese army uniform with Germany style helmet in WW II)
(another Chinese army uniform with British helmet in WWII)

Visited the 3rd Hooha survival game show in Taipei today. Nothing special, just like a big flea market there. Only VFC SCAR assault rifles and CA SA 58 carbine got my attention, especially the SA 58. I am tired of seeing M-16, AK and HK. Finally we can get something unique. After fooling around for 1.5 hours, went home without purchasing anything(my wife was happy!), but glad to see some friends there.

MEGLEV TRAIN IN SHANGHAI

Took a 3-day business to Shanghai, China, so I had a chance to take the first (maybe the only at this moment) commercial operating meglev train in the world. The rail is between Shanghai Pudong Airport and Longyang Road. It takes about 7 minutes for this trip, and the train only takes about 3 minutes and 12 second to reach the top speed at 431 Km/h. It only remains the top speed for around 20 seconds, then starts to reduce the speed.

It is quite an exciting experience for this kind high speed on the ground. But the train becomes shaking after reaching the speed of 380Km/h. I am really curious about the safe speed of maglev train for a long distance operation.

Official website of Shanghai Meglev Train