LIVE HAPPILY AFTER

(Little Emily)

(Emily and Sam)

Emily, one of my cousins just had her engagement banquet on December 28, 2008. As a reliable cousin and a decent photographer, I made a short film for the banquet and took lots of photos for her. Emily was a good model since she was a little girl, and so is she now.

Wish her live happily after!

RELAXING MOUNTAIN DAYS

It was 10 degree in Celsius, but I did not feel cold. I was enjoying the sunshine, the sound of running creek, the ending maple season and the European/North American style view. Where was I? I was at Wuling Farm (武陵農場)which is 1700m above sea level.

Last visit to Wuling was in my high school days. Now Wuling Farm has become a recreation area instead of a pure farm. Green mountains and clear creeks make Wuling Farm a nice place to free your mind and go hiking.

Also, accommodation cost is inexpensive at Wuling Farm. We spent only NTD3,980 (USD120) for one night at Hoya Resort Hotel Wuling(武陵富野度假村); including one room, and 2 meals(dinner/breakfast) for 2 persons. And the hotel was so nice to arrange a concert and star watching during the night time.

I will recommend my friend to visit Wuling Farm and stay at least one night to enjoy the Rocky Mountain view in Taiwan. Wuling Farm shows its beauty in various styles during different seasons, so I am sure I will visit Wuling again some times.

More photos of Wuling Farm

MET MIKADO PHEASANT (台灣帝雉)

We went hiking to Taoshan Waterfall (桃山瀑布; 2200m above sea level) when visiting Wuling Farm (武陵農場). When we approached the final destination of Taoshan Waterfall, we saw a "bird" walking around. We realized it was the Mikado Pheasant (台灣帝雉), the national bird of Taiwan which is shown on NTD1,000 bill.

Mikado Pheasant now is in the list of lower risk/near threatened species, so I think we were quite lucky to see it. Hope it is a good sign of coming 2009!

WAITING FOR GOOD DAYS

Heard nothing but bad news recently; negative GDP growth, no-pay leaves, layoff, bankruptcy... 3 of my friends lost their jobs in 2 weeks. This made me feel worse about recent recession. How long will it take for us to wait for the good days?

BEITOU(北投), THE HOT SPRING SITE IN TAIPEI CITY

(Beitou Hot Spring Museum)

(big bath house on the first floor)

(Japanese style rest area on the second floor)

One Japanese friend told me that people living in Taipei City are so lucky, because they can enjoy hot spring in Taipei City without taking a long trip like the people living in Tokyo. That is quite true for a hot spring lover to have this comments. The most popular hot spring site in Taipei City is Beitou(北投).

In Beitou, you can not only enjoy hot spring at many hot spring hotels, but also can learn about the hot spring history of Beitou at Beitou Hot Spring Museum (北投溫泉博物館). The building of museum was a public hot spring bath house built in 1913. It is a quite an interesting building; European style exterior, Japanese style interior design on the second floor and the first floor in Roman style.

Here are the photos of Beitou Hot Spring Museum.

THE VILLAGE (寶島一村)

The Village is the new play of Performance Workshop Theatre Taiwan (表演工作坊). It tells a story about a very special sub culture in Taiwan, "Juan Chun" (Compound village, 眷村). When KMT government withdrew from Mainland China in 1949, many military people with their families immigrated to Taiwan from many provinces of China, and were allocated at many "Juan Chun" around military bases.

Those people were far away from home and with different background, so this blended culture formed a new Juan Chun culture in Taiwan. This play tells the stories happened in one of the Juan Chun.

My father came to Taiwan when he was 16 and lived in one of Juan Chun with my uncle, so some of my relatives also a part of Juan Chun culture. This makes me feel so close to the story; something did happened in my and my relatives' families.

I started to watch the plays by Performance Workshop Theatre Taiwan since their first play in 1985 and I still enjoy it. I will recommend people to watch this play, no matter you are familiar with Juan Chun or not. Because it is a part of Taiwan history.

P.S.: you will get a free bun after watching the show, because bun is a key element in the play.