Trips

So in the last couple of weeks in Taiwan during August, we planned several trips mostly to the central mountains. We went on a one day trip to Alishan with my dad's friend, and the next day we went to Sun Moon Lake (been there every summer since 2008) to stay at a fairly luxurious hotel for a night.

Alishan's trip was supposed to contain 特富野古道, which is a trail used during the Japanese occupation periods to transport Hinoki logs (檜木). Unfortunately it was under renovation until November... so photos of the entrance counts right?... yea I'll definitely go back there next time!

Sun Moon Lake trip was very fun. We reserved a room in the hotel that faces the lake. Go out on the porch and you see the water beneath you! And the best part is that we saw fish, hundreds, in the clear water in the morning. Anyways The hotel package included a boat tour of the lake ticket to the new Sun Moon Lake Ropeway (gondola) traveling to Formosa Aboriginal Culture Resort (九族文化村), and tickets to that resort. And this year also marked my third time in a row taking a boat tour of the lake...did that previous two summers too.

What a wonderful feeling it was sitting on the porch watching the calm lake in the morning...

Well all thanks to dad for planning and driving, and mom for...allowing it to happen haha. I mean, I was leaving Taiwan again, so we got to do something! And since the beaches was too hot...

Majestic

新竹二日遊

南園人文休閒客棧

This resort located in the outskirts of 新竹 has everything designed in traditional Chiness style from buildings to gates to ponds and bridges. It used to be a retreat for 聯合報. But after it ran out of business, the garden was enlarged and a residential building was added to accomodate tourists.

The residential building has only 20 rooms of various sizes. The rooms are very comfortable with a mix of modern and retro design. The staff and service made us feel exclusive and special, like the whole resort was serving the dozen of customers. But it also means that it is expensive! About 13,000NTD for a night! 3pm was the room check-in time. At 4pm we went on a tour of the garden. 6pm was dinner and there were only about twenty people eating and staying for the night there. After dinner there was another night tour of the garden which I went with my dad, but it was the same garden so nothing more interesting other than changed lighting.

I think if you like to see traditional buildings designed according to 風水, that's a place for you. I like how small-scale the lodging is, and that we could just relax outside without getting bitten by mosquitos. It was surprising that I didn't see any mosquitos there.

六星集Spa新竹會館

The next day we went to a foot-massage place next to Hsinchu science park. The place has a Bali style design. I asked for a male massagist and I think he made the loudest noise hitting my legs. Every punch he took at my thigh was pretty loud, but with a tempo too! It was also my first time to this kind of place.

Both of these places are hidden in mountain roads or small alleyways that, if you're not a local, you wouldn't know about them. But they're more interesting than the average tourist attraction spots!

庫肯花園

Ok I went to this place (庫肯花園) about two weeks ago (7/14) with several friends from NCKU BME lab. It is tucked in a alley on 大學路, but the exterior looks very lovely. We sat on the second floor which unfortunately didn't have much interior decoration. The first floor was much prettier. Food was pretty good. Actually I loved the soup. It was a pumpkin soup and I could actually taste some chunks still hadn't been scrambled. We all got spaghetti, so next time I have to try the steaks.

But the main focus is of course meeting friends which I haven't seen in a year. Sure I've talked to them online but when actually talking in person, they bring back this familiarity that one cannot forge just by cross-distance chats. One year may seem short (some friends from elementary school I haven't seen in 10 years!), but still enough time has passed so that we have something interesting to reveal.

下雨天

下雨天, 早上跟Dee坐在大學路Starbucks二樓聊天, 聽著外面的雨聲, 一杯Starbucks的香草密斯朵, 配一塊西點麵包. 中午時晶片中心辦主任歡送會, 吃喝玩樂沒上到什麼班. 晚上衝去波哥(Bog)品嘗茶飲小點, 之後上二樓的誠品書店逛逛, 看了許多攝影書, 瞄了一些小說, 還研究了一本墾丁旅遊書, 準備八月中去墾丁玩!! 逛完後突然決定看電影, 選了特務間諜(Salt). 蠻緊張刺激的動作片, 可是結局讓大家很傻眼@@

豐富的一天, 謝謝Dee騎車載我! (喔對Luke也是, 麻煩他們倆啦!)

豆花

Here's an interesting story...

Tonight I was at a restaurant reading some magazines and came across a column about 豆花妹 (蔡黃汝), a newcomer celebrity who just became famous this past year. I saw some of the shows she hosted like "電玩快打," and apparently she'll have a new song album out... So one of the sentence was like "她2008年7月時在台灣故事館打工賣豆花, 之後受很多網友熱愛, 應此一路紅到今." Wait...台灣故事館(Taiwan Storyland)...I've been there two times and the first time was in 2008.

Flash back to August 3, 2008. I was at Taiwan Storyland with a few of my friends from Taiwan Tech Trek summer internship. I distintively remembered that I saw a cute girl selling 豆花 at a food court. After buying a bowl from her, I took a pic of the stand with her in it.

So after reading that bit in the magazine, I went back home, took out the external hard drive, and searched in my pile of photos from TTT 2008. I found the pic, connected the two and mystery solved! Funny how a seemingly insignificant photo would finish the puzzle haha.


(Left: August 3, 2008 from my camera, the focus wasn't that great but oh well. Right: 2010 from eh...facebook)

Also, I think it's amazing how some could become well-known in less than a year or so. But if they are not humble about it or don't put the effort keeping up, their several years of fame could very well be the average "5 minutes of fame." I guess this means that we can still make piles of money if we start working in small vendors...just kidding, best persevere at our own work and we'll eventually find 0ur moment!

花季冷泉會館 (Spring Hill Hotel)

高雄縣大崗山有一家2009年開幕的溫泉旅館, 今天跟我爸媽和他們的朋友一起去享受午後泡溫泉的感受. 我們的房間是專泡湯的, 沒有提共床過夜, 房間裡咖啡, 茶, 水, 應有盡有, 地面還是用木板鋪的, 裝潢散發著日式的風味, 而設備又有西洋的fu.

房間供我們用90分鐘, 裡面有分冷池跟熱池, 邊泡湯邊喝杯梅花茶 真是享受無比呀!

另外值得誇獎的是 它們整個溫泉區都很乾淨, 比起關仔嶺蟲蟲聚集的湯屋, 這裡真是舒服百倍. 泡完之後跟大家一起在外面涼椅下欣賞風景, 吹個微風, 聊個天, 讓星期天下午畫下了美好的句點!

山水心燈

Taiwan Pavilion (台灣館)


The Taiwan Pavilion in the 2010 World Expo looks pretty amazing. It combines modern technology to create the rich cultures and diverse environments of Taiwan. I really want to check that place out...hopefully people put more videos up so we can see more of it. Taiwan often carries a motto of 小而美, small but beautiful. The actual building is not that big, but the effort put into it seems concrete and substance, deep.

A major attraction is the 4-D, 360 degree viewing of sceneries, people, and festivals of Taiwan. One may experience water droplets, flower scents, gushes of wind, and other events that truly places the audience in Taiwan.

A part I think will be spactacular is the virtual release of thousands of sky lanterns (天燈), carrying our hopes and wishes up to the sky. The lanterns would be shown by millions of LED lights. Though if I want to truly experience 放天燈, I'll go to PingHsi (平溪) in Taipei county during Lantern Festival hehe.

The Pavilion has already generated a lot of positive feedbacks and an estimated of over 70 million poeple will visit through October. 台灣加油!!

你今天吃奇異果了嗎?

發現了一個好笑又catchy的廣告
很搞笑

March

...of the Penguins? No not really, though I think that film is pretty heart warming. I'm just catching up on stuff since February. Let's see...oh yea spring break was from March 18 to 28 and was probably the only thing worth mentioning out of that month.

At the end of December last year I finally told dad how to download some Taiwanese shows like 豬哥會社, 綜藝大哥大 and 綜藝大集合. That gave him something more to do to fill up his daily activities. And since the internet at home is no doubt provided by Turtle Inc., he had to wait several hours...hmm make that more than ten hours to download a two hour show. He used the computer my sister didn't want anymore and was that computer a raging firetruck! The cooling fans must be running on Red Bulls because it was just too loud!! He mitigated the annoying sound by putting up our Blu-ray player container next to the computer to block the sound when they sleep. That was hilarious! I brought the HP computer back home during spring break so they could use that to download instead.

Anyways it was very enjoyable watching those shows with them during the nights that week. Those shows really gave them something to look forward to after a long night of hard work at Lai Lai Restaurant, and they certainly end the day with fun and somewhat nostalgic note.

二姊 moved into their new house in San Jose area. I would have to say it is a really nice place: nice front/back yard, great view of the mountains, and convenient anywhere you go. They painted Tesla's bedroom baby blue, and Tera's pink. I would say Tesla's bedroom feels like going to Hawaii. It has that nice, relaxing, and refreshing feel whenever I walk into the room. Another thing is that 大姊 and Erika live 10 minutes away so they often have dinner together. And on Fridays mom would be like a caterer bringing everything over there for dinner. What a task!

Oh and I also get to go to Toys 'R Us and BestBuy. That Samsung 3D TV in BestBuy was gorgeous. Though you look weird having to put on the glasses every time you want to watch 3D. I think the TV comes with 2 glasses, so unless you want to pay more, only 2 will get to watch 3D...well, unless you switch around or something..."alright 5 minutes! my turn!!"...When will glassesless 3DTV come out??

Mom, dad, big sis, and Erika are in Taiwan right now (went back on March 31). They'll stay in Tainan for a month! I have my 200-minute prepaid calling card ready...wow I've already used 100 minutes of it O_O

蠟筆小新 (クレヨンしんちゃん)

第一次看到這本漫畫是國小一年級時 (1995年), 好像是看了第四集. 當時一看完就愛上了這個爆笑漫畫, 決定把一到三集也買下. 之後我也會時時到書店裡看有沒有新出書. 2000年到美國之後, 我也繼續收集, 每當一回台灣時一定去我常去的台南的展華書局報到, 問有沒有新的一集「蠟筆小新」.這本漫畫伴我一起成長, 也是我唯一有在收集的漫畫.

「蠟筆小新」把日常生活中遇到的事都描述了出來, 並以帶點諷刺的角度來解釋, 加一些搞笑的故事, 帶來給我們無比的歡喜. 小新愛搞笑又有點黃, 可是他也有懂事貼心的一面.小時候只是覺得小新舉動有趣, 說話又獨特無理, 可是最近一再回味前幾集, 發現在表面笑笑當中藏著一些諷刺: 社會對小孩的觀點, 小孩對社會的觀點, 上班族的生活, 婦女的形象, 以及各國文化的差別等等.

作者臼井儀人把這些觀念以及人物的情緒, 一個一個的畫到那些簡單的方形格子裡. 然而我們讀者所學的不是如何學壞, 而是如何在任何情況下以樂觀堅強的態度像小新一樣度過難關, 以客觀的方法面向社會.

臼井老師不幸身亡, 讓我們少了一個成長當中的夥伴. 今年八月底買的「蠟筆小新」49集也是他完成的最後一集. 以後如果有人持續下去, 應該也會感覺不一樣啦. 謝謝小新給我一個有趣又溫馨的童年回憶.

May you rest in peace!

Nostalgia

Just watched Toy Story with my niece this afternoon. I have to say, after 14 years I still think it is a solid movie. This current viewing evoked similar emotions and laughters that I had felt when I was 7 years old. Couldn't believe now that a computer graphic animation movie would have nostalgia factor...after all, it seemed like just not long ago that I went to the theaters for it.

But the nostalgia factor seems to be a positive one. You know how sometimes when you haven't seen something or heard something for a long time, and you experience them again...the end result wouldn't be as well as you imagined it to be? Well this isn't one of them...maybe because this doesn't rely on pop culture references, one-trick-ponies, or jokes, but the most important aspect is that it has a strong story. Take our situation for example. When my 3-year-old niece watches Toy Story, she reacts to what the screen is showing. And while she might not understand what Buzz or Woody are talking about, she knows what and why they are doing. Story propels the characters' actions. A good story could be told with actions instead of words, and this is also apparent in the Pixar short films. After going to Pixar 20 Years of Animation Exhibit in Taipei, Taiwan, I could understand the efforts that went into creating unique and compelling stories (and the world surrounding them) for every one of their films.

The only thing that I felt different was the vast improvements Pixar has since Toy Story: level of detail, surface textures, movements of the characters, and much more. Even Toy Story 2 improves a lot from the first one both animation and story. These are changes for the better. Hope that the upcoming Toy Story 3 will have superb graphics and most of all, a good story!

Upgrade

People like luxury...well most people do. That's why every type of tranportation has its higher-class seatings for the people who have more $$$. I used to travel back and forth betwen Taiwan and United States at least once a year before graduating from elementary school. In fact I think I have traveled roundtrip for more than 30 times!

Sometimes my family got enough mileage for an upgrade to business class, and that means horray for all of us! Since this year is the 50 year anniversary of China Airlines (中華航空), the mileage required for an upgrade was lowered...so my parents said why not and we're in for Dynasty Class.

Our flight was at 11:30pm on September 2 from Taoyuan International Airport. Since we live in Tainan, we have to travel down to Kaohsiung first and then take an airplane up to Taoyuan. This means two waiting period...and also two chances for VIP lounge...and our dinner problem is solved!

高雄小港機場華航貴賓室: very nice environment, less people so less noise, a little bit short on the variety of food, but overall a very enjoyable place.

桃園機場華航貴賓室: big resting areas, great food including various noodle soups, but did I just entered a 夜市? So many people walking around, taking food, talking on phones....這根本把好氣氛都毀了~

I guess it's better to come here during the morning, when there is no one sitting next to you, sneezing and coughing while going on facebook...and it was an uncomfortable situation during flu season @@

The Dynasty Class seats on the plane was a bit different from what I remembered. I didn't remember I could extend my legs completely without touching the front row before, and I'm sure my legs didn't grow shorter. But it was a change for the better. And yes, I kept taking pictures like crazy. The movie selection menu for our individual TV was outdated because this airplane was an older model, but it didn't prevent my from watching a lot of movies...eh...actually I watched only one movie: Running the Sahara (決戰沙哈拉), which was about three runners (one of them, 林義傑, is from Taiwan) that ran across the Saharan desert from St. Louis, Senegal to Cairo, Egypt in about 100 days.

I sort of felt guilty while watching them struggling to achieve the impossible while I was lying on a comfortable chair drinking apple juice. Their courage and perseverance could be discerned in their actions and I think this shows their character more than anything else. Going back to California means the end of a wonderful summer in Taiwan; it means the start of the ongoing advancement in learning. We need to exert the perseverance like those runners. At the end of the run, they've reach the oceans of Egypt and their reward comes with the sense of achievement and the cold ocean water. Our sense of achievement may have yet to come, but we should work towards it. 任何事都是先苦後甘啦.

這次回到美國後發現以後回台灣遊玩的機會不多了. 以後回台灣可能是找工作的時候了, 不過我也很期待這時刻的來臨.

六年八班

國小畢業後到美國讀書已經有九年了, 在台灣認識的同學也漸漸的往各自的方向升學...

到美國之後我是每年暑假或寒假都匯回台灣, 找一下還有再聯絡的好友, 也順便看著台灣各地流行,美食,娛樂,和觀光的演變. 但城市再怎麼改變,餐館再怎麼更新,親朋好友的感情都永遠不會變, 每次回到台灣跟朋友見面都是一樣歡樂, 只是現在做的事的不是玩玩具槍或電玩, 而是到餐館聊天, 但我們聊的內容除了最近的生活, 另外也都有談到小時候所發生的趣事.

每次回台灣都有以點不好意思邀小學朋友出來見面, 因為怕他們已忘了我了. 這次回台灣也是一樣,才打電話給兩三個朋友. 可是在台灣我的學校朋友也只有到小學而已, 所以更應該要不能失聯.

參加了兩次候鳥計畫讓我能回台灣實習, 每次都有不同的收穫, 認識了不少有趣的朋友, 去了不少地方

日月潭, 大雄....啊不...遠雄海洋公園, 台北淡水, 八里腳踏車, 皮克斯動畫展, 台中(看照片而已), 當然還有台南 我的故鄉.

最遺憾的是沒有機會去到南投的天梯, 而且因為莫拉克颱風的侵襲 讓中南臺灣災情嚴重, 希望受災地區能早一點重建完畢, 另外更要對那些熱心的義工們感激, 讓他們回復正常生活. 祝大家都身心平安.