Spring

When I left NY, it was still dead winter. Then I came back and POW- flowers everywhere! This weekend X came to visit, so we took a stroll around town.






As we walked through Central Park, we enjoyed not only nice scenery, but also good music too!

oh wait, I forgot...

oh Wait, I forgot my detour to HK between California and Taiwan...

My hotel room and the view from my room.

I got there late, but you know me, I couldn't resist walking around. I think HK people don't sleep either. They eat!


oh and crazy thing- they use bamboo poles for scaffolding, uh....

(I don't know why, my memory card seems to be corrupted, so I can't access some of my pictures (ALL my day pictures.) I am hoping that either SanDisk or Nikon would know what's going on...)

Old Street

Master and I also went to Old Street. Apparently, the mayor of that town long ago pushed to have an ordinance passed, which prevented destruction of the facades of these old buildings.

The Master and his apprentice

So during my trip to Taiwan, I found a new master- Uncle W. He took me under his wings and started to teach this clueless apprentice all things Taiwanese. It's not that I didn't know anything; it was the fact that I didn't know SO much that went into the making of the current Taiwan. It's sad that this heritage might someday be gone because people are too busy fighting over party line than to preserve the fragile Taiwanese identity.

Uncle W took me to 台灣人權景美園區 (Taiwan Human Rights Memorial Park). Since it used to be a military detention center, it was architecturally uninteresting- typical utilitarian concrete blocks, but nevertheless historically significant in Taiwanese democracy. This is where many human rights/democracy activists were held (beaten)/tried (what a joke) /sentenced (if you are lucky to be alive).

When we were there, there was a special exhibit for Uncle W's friend who died 20 years ago. He published articles re: freedom of speech/ democracy and was persecuted by the KMT dictatorship. He ultimately committed suicide.


All those green doors are doors to jail cells. The cells are about 8 feet by 8 feet, with a semi open toilet and sink.

Many walls were lined with propaganda posters- gibberish re: overthrowing the communists, returning to china, silencing those who stirrup trouble etc...

Oh yeah, the prisoners were farmed out to do laundry.

(sorry for the over and under exposed pictures, I was too taken with everything around me to pay attention to what my camera was doing. I also did not take any pictures of the many excellent exhibits we saw. I was too busy absorbing the exhibits and my master's tidbits)

Night (day) market

Here are some pictures of the night market, now operating during the day also!


So there is this shaved ice stand that we always go to- I think the owner is a patient of dad. She wasn't there, but instead a younger woman made my ice.

Kaohsiung

On the first day, we went to southern Taiwan-Kaohsiung (高 雄) for the day, making efficient use of the ultra fast bullet train (高鐵). The whole ride from Taipei to Kaohsiung was merely 1 1/2 hours.The shuttle from Zuoying (where the train stopped) to the main shopping area took 45 minutes!!!!

We went to watch the sunset, right near where the British embassy used to be. (That girl is not me.)


That used to be the British Embassy- well, back in the 1900s.

Then we took a boat to a tiny island for dinner. We shared the boat with mopads!



We waited for the train at a park, where some musicians were entertaining the guests.