The Fool's Paradise 愚者的樂園

2009-10-10 Wang Ye Boat Burning Ceremony (東港王船祭) Part II

2011-05-22T05:29:00.004+08:00

Donglong Temple’s Wang-Ye Boat Burning Ceremony in 2009 was an eight-day event. It included different rituals. We attended the last two days of event and the rituals. I did some research before our trip and found we missed an interesting ritual called Wu-Du-Da-Shen(五毒大神), literally means Gods of the Five Venoms, that performed in the first or second day. According to some articles, the origin of the Gods of the Five Venoms was long time ago, five children in a village saw the God of Plague poisoning the well water that villagers drank, they told adults what they saw, but no one believed them. They threw themselves into the poisoned well to protect villagers, so they became the Gods of the Five Venoms. The story is about how children saved people from plague, so the ritual is performed by children in the ceremony.

Here is a video I found.

Those children are about 8 to 10 years old and they have to practice after school for few months before the ceremony.

We arrived at Donglong Temple in the morning and the square was full of people. The street before the temple was narrow and everywhere was crowded, I tried hard to take a picture of Donglong Temple’s golden gate without taking in many visitors. I was fascinated by its beauty. It is covered of gold leaf and its carvings are very beautiful. At the time I was taking picture, I was amazed. I learned the Wang-Ye Boat was huge (I checked afterwards, and the data I got showed its length was about 6 meters and its width 3 meters) and placed in the Boat House, boat carriers would move through the gate and turn it in 90 degrees on the narrow street. I couldn’t image how they could do it and didn’t know I would take a perfect spot in the midnight to witness the grand moment.

2009-10-10 Wang Ye Boat Burning Ceremony (東港王船祭) Part I

2011-05-21T00:32:00.005+08:00

n October 2009, Robert, Chris, Kitty, Katannya and I went to Donggang in Pindong to see Wang-Ye Boat Burning Ceremony(東港王船祭). The triennial ceremony was held by Donglong Temple(東隆宮) which is one of the most important religious center in southern Taiwan.

Note: Robert has an article called “Buring Boats Ward Off Plegue” published on “Taiwan Review” that introduces the tradition.

Part One: http://taiwanreview.nat.gov.tw/ct.asp?xitem=68767&ctnode=1337&mp=1

Part Two: http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=70310&ctNode=413

Robert and Chris were interview by local TV station.

Blog Reboot

2011-05-20T17:07:00.001+08:00

I haven't posted anything new on my blog for almost two years. The main reason is my study and work occupied most of my time. I didn’t have time to write because I usually do extra research to make sure the information I provide via my blog is correct. Doing research and translating them into English is time consuming.

I passed my thesis defending few months ago and I had been thinking to resume blogging since, but I didn’t do it because I didn’t have a clear thought about what to do with my blog.

Few days ago, I got emails from a reader in Amsterdam. I was surprised and happy to receive those emails. They encouraged me to restart blogging and gave me a lot of constructive suggestions.

Thanks to his encouragement and suggestions, I decide to resume blogging.

I will fill in the two-year blank to tell what happened and also share something happened recently.

2009-05-31 Cloud 9 Campsite (九雲露營地)

2009-06-01T15:12:00.033+08:00

Yesterday, the Hiking Club had a get-together at Cloud 9 Campsite in Pinglin. Robert, Chris, and Kat got there from Muzha, but I didn't meet up with in Muzha, instead, I took Road No. 9 (北宜公路) to Cloud 9.

When I was a kid, Road No. 9 was notorious for its bad condition and always assoicated with horrible car accidents and scary ghost stories. (You can get a lot of ghost stories if you google it.) I still had some vivid pieces of memories of the road from my childhood--leaves and ghost money dancing in the wind as big trucks passing by or from Taiwanse movies--female ghosts in white dress waving down trucks and asking drivers for a lift and various consequences follow suit.

But Road No. 9 has changed, now it's a popular route for cyclists in Taiwan. On my way to Cloud 9, I barely saw big trucks or cars, but a lot of cyclist and big bike riders.

I love to see more and more Taiwanese people getting into cycling and want to become one of them. I have been checking some bike models and soon or later, I will enjoy cycling.

I bumped into a female cyclist who traveled with her toy bears. I thought it's very interesting and asked her to let me take a picture. (Her two bears were placed beside wheels).

Everytime I go to Pinglin, I always like to stop at some specific spots to take some pictures.

The first place is Shuang-Feng elementary school (雙峰 [Twin Peaks] 國小). As the school's name indicates, there are two identical peaks near by the school. I am obsessed with taking pictures of the twin peaks because of David Lynch's Twin Peaks.

Yes, I know, I should've erased those lines by photoshop. It looks not pretty with those lines.

The second place is Er-ge Park(二格公園) where I can overlook contiguous ridges and tea farms in Shidin.

The third place is Yun-Hai elementary school (雲海 [a sea of clouds] 國小). where I can see a sea of clouds in right weather. But I didn't take pictures of seas of clouds because it was bright sunny day.

The forth place is a spot where I can overlook Fei-Cui Reservoir (翡翠水庫). The water level was terribly low as I took this picture below. I read that there is a trial in the reservoir and hikers only can get there when the water level is low. I don't think hiking through Fei-Cui Reservoir is a good idea due to the importance of drinking water source, but it might be this could be right time to hike there.

Well, to be honest, I actually got into the revervoir once via a path well-known by Taiwanese hikers. It was very beautiful.

The fifth place is 灣潭 (Wantan) where I can take pictures of a elegant S-shape river bend. The place is named after this river bend. Because of the drought (No rains in May rain season), the river is drying out.

This is a picture I took in 2007, Wantan was full of water and beautifully looked like a serene paraidse.

I spent too much time stopping by those spots and taking pictures, so I was late to meet my hiking partners at Cloud 9.

Cloud 9 is a very nice campsite where right next to a sidestream of 北勢溪 (Beishi Stream). There is a complex network of hiking trails near by which hikers can explore in days. I've stayed at Cloud 9 few times and completely enjoyed the relaxing envorinment there.

This get-together is a great event. I finally met Peter, his wife and daughter--Sophie and Emma. I also met Holger and his family. After a short greeting, everyone soon got the riverside, chatting, enjoying sunlight and the beautiful scenery.

It's a 夜鷺 (Ye-Lu) in Mandarin, 暗光鳥 in Taiwanese (English name: Black-crowned Night Heron, scientific name: Nycticorax nycticorax). It's commonly seen by riverside in Taiwan. I know it well because its Taiwanese name--暗光鳥 literally means dim light bird--sound lovely in Taiwnese. (I love to say it in Taiwanese.) It watched us playing, chatting for a long time yesterday.

Actually, the main purpose of the get-together was to meet Peter's daughter: Emma. Peter told me once Emma is named because one of his favorite novels is Jane Austen's Emma. I think he chose the right name. Emma is the happiest Jane Austen's character who has great fortune. She is rich, clever, handsome and lives without worries. She doesn't have annoying mother like Elizabeth's and she is rich and isn't like poor Elinor and Marianne or Fanny. Emma is happy.

And the little Emma was very happy playing in the water at Cloud 9 in company with her parents.

After the get-together, the Hiking Club embarked on an exploration of the Bei-Shi Hiking trail, but I didn't join in them because of some reasons. Even though I missed the hike afterwards, I still have a great relaxing getaway at Cloud 9. It was a very good morning.

Few notes for my friends.

有陣子沒更新Blog，消失很久，像是人間蒸發。但在端午節假期，有和幾位會看我Blog的朋友見面（世平、秀芬、若瑜），所以也有交換近況。比較沒機會見面的，大概是一中吧！不過，還是有些狀況沒機會聊到，所以就簡單作些說明。（這招是學亦順的。）

1. 因為前陣子留言版被駭，所以關掉comment的功能。

2. 終於做完情緒圖片的前測，已經花掉將近一年的時間。終於要開始進行第一個正式的實驗。但是實驗的幾個pilot的結果都很奇怪，數據方向很亂，汪老師跟我都擔心實驗會沒有效果。

3. 要離開惠雅老師的輔大研究室，轉到台大的葉老師的實驗室。

4. 暑假起要學眼動儀，到葉老師的實驗室，可能要學腦波儀。這意味著，我會繼續消失。

5. 計畫再一年，完成碩士學位，不過，我還在拖啊！逃避啊！論文只寫一行，真的只有一行。XD

6. 有計畫要繼續念博士，不過會轉念交大的工工管的人因工程。所以除了寫論文，還要準備考試。哈哈，真的是把自己搞到書永遠念不完。

2009-04-29 MY Lab Party

2009-05-23T14:47:00.003+08:00

2009-04-29 MY Lab Party to celebrate Hon-da getting admission of gradute school of Psychology of NCCU.

2009-04-05 U-Theatre in Bitan

2009-04-06T11:07:00.007+08:00

Yesterday was the second day of 2009 Xindian Riverbank Cultural Festival (新店碧潭水岸文化節) and the most inviting show there was U-Theatre's performance in the afternoon.

Patty and I went there around 3 p.m.. Because of the gloomy weather, we thought we would have few tourists there and we could enjoy a quiet afternoon, but out of our expectation, the audience was huge there.

I don't like to jostle with strangers in the crowds, so I rarely have experience of taking pictures in the crowds. I liked to take some pictures of their performance, and tried to find a good spot of picture taking, and eveutally, I realized I was too short, and a lot of taller people in front of me blocked my view.

It was the first time in my life I wish I was a tall person. But it was interesting to see those poeple with cameras taking pictures of peformers.

I found another good spot of taking pictures, so I moved to the other side of the venue

But unfortunately, good places were taken. (David told me he is in the picture. It's a great coincidence.)

An old lady in front of me concetrated on filming of the performance via her small camera.

I eventually stopped taking pictures and concetrated on their peformance. I love their performance very much. Their drumming, singing, and movements brought me into a meditative status. The feelings was relaxing and refreshing.

I haven't had chance to go to their performance venue in Muzha mountains, but after I saw the show in Bitan, I thought a fitting environment is very important. The venue there yesterday was too noisy and crowded, and I couldn't completely enjoyed it. It was like being tore with meditation and reality. So I plan to see it again this year and hope I can reexperience the soothing and refreshing performance again.

2009-03-24 Well.....

2009-03-24T23:51:00.004+08:00

I've not updated my blog for a long time. That's mainly because I've been working on my thesis lately and partly because I've been sick for days.

I finished my pilot study and had a first glace at my result. The result isn't promising. I will have try to overcome some problems soon after I recover my health. I've been sick since last Saturday, and I haven't felt so bad for a long time. It's probably because I spent most of my resting time on bed and watching House MD. Every case in the show is severe illness and it makes me feel bad.

I finished watching its first season so I will have to watch something optimistic and makes myself happy.

Well...I am not feeling well.

2009-02-08 Fuba Hiking

2009-03-04T21:38:00.003+08:00

2009-02-07 Cherry Blossom in Guangxing, Wulai

2009-02-07T16:19:00.005+08:00

Around 11:30 a.m. I went to Guangxing (Guangsing) Riverside Park with my friend and her 4-year-old girl. It rained in the morning, but the rain eventually stopped as we approached to the park.

Guangxing area is famous for chicken farm restaurants along Guanxing road. A lot of Taiwanese people like to drive there and have dishes and soups made of chicken mixed with various kinds of ingredients. I am not into food from those resturants, but I was baffled by one cuisine called Bag Chicken(布袋雞, Bu-dai-ji). My friend and I saw a lot of signboards printed with 布袋雞 as we walked to the park. I tried to figure out what it meant, but I couldn't; so I asked my friend what it meant. She didn't know it, either. But we pictured some horrible scenes that chickens were put into bags and beaten to death, and then a cook took them out to boil them, pulled out their feathers, and took out their guts, etc. Really horrible, it's not a good imagination around lunch time.

(Note: I checked what Bag Chicken means after I got home. It's a kind of cuisine made of a whole chicken. A cook takes out all bones without cutting the chicken open. The cook only can cut off its head, neck, and rump, and left two holes, but takes all chicken bones out via those two holes. This special cutting method makes the chicken like a bag.)

Wulai has become a popular region for cyclists, and we found that Xindian city government developed few bike pathes in Guangxing region.

Most cherry tress along the road to Wulai were in blossom, and cherry blossom is more accessible along the bike path we took to the park. Those flowers looked fabulous after the rain.

2009-02-03 Rescued Stray Cats

2009-02-03T00:12:00.003+08:00

Three of my friends rescued two stray cats in the vicinity of my school. I have been a cat-sitter (Okay, I coined this word.) for one of their cats several times, so they asked me if I could take care of them for few days, and they will try to find people who are willing to adopt them. I am packing and will relocate myself to other place, but I still live in a roomy apartment now and have spare space for those two kittens, so I told them I could take care of them until I move to new place.

Soon my friends bought those two kittens to my apartment. It seems that they are brother and sister. They weren't timid even though they were surrounded by four people. They explored every corner in my apartment soon after they came out of carrying box.

They were really cute and energetic.

As we were busy with preparing litter box for them and trying to figure if they need toilet training, the brother came to my guest room and poo on my blankets, and soon the sister follow suit.

It seemed that they love the blankets.

They played for a while and eventually got drowsy.

When I took pictures of them, the sister already fell into sleep.

2009-02-01 Hiking In Maokong

2009-02-01T22:42:00.005+08:00

Today is the last day of Chinese New Year vacation, Patty, Kitty, Chris and his friend, and I went hiking in Maokong region. We started our hike at NCCU around 10:00 a.m. and took Tea Pickers Trail to Maokong. There weren't a lot of tourists because of Maokong gondola's breakdown. We arrived at Maokong station about 11:30. and had lunch at 小木屋 restaurant. After our lunch, we climbed up to Erjiaoge shan(鵝角格山) whose trail is steep way up to the ridge and slippery down to it foot. I love this trail because I can see most part of Maokong gondola cable line on the top of the mountain. After hiking up to Erjiaoge shan, we went to Xinghualin and turned to Zhangshan temple, and then got back to NCCU about 5:00 p.m..

I didn't take a lot of pictures because I didn't want to slow down my pace and I wanted to build up my ability and strength so that I can do longer and challenging hikes in the future. Here are pictures I took during our hike.

The day was balmy, we enjoyed the warmth of sunlight and soothing breeze of the day. A lot of stray animals came out to enjoy the nice day, too. A stray cat came out and had sunbath, it was completely relaxed and wasn't alerted.

This is a view of Maokong gondola line from the top of Erjiaoge shan. There was no cable cars shuttling back and forth over the valley now. I took a picture of same spot last year which I still could see a lot of cars in a line. It will take me approximately one and a half years to see cable cars again.

This is where landslide happened, which has made Maokong gondola stop running for months, and Taipei City government decided to rebuld pillar forward about 30 meters.

I took this picture while I was strolling on the campus of NCCU. A kite without a runner. (I shoud find some time to read The Kite Runner.)

2009-01-26 First Hike of CNY And A Strange Taiwanese Accent

2009-02-01T20:53:00.008+08:00

Today is the last day of the Chinese New Year vacation. It's been 9 days since the eve of Chinese New Year. Time flees.

I hiked to Jiajiuliao alone on the first day of the vacation, and I revisited Jiajiuliao hiking trail with my hiking partners: Robert, Chris, Kitty, Katannya and her sister. Both hikes were pleasant even though it rained lightly.

The river bank near by the trailhead of Jiajiuliao hiking trail is known as Red River Valley (Hong-he-gu 紅河谷) by Taiwanese hikers. I read an article online that gives the origin of the nickname. The article says that the scenary of Hong-he-gu looks like few scenes from Red River, a John Wayne movie directed by John Ford in 1948. The rocks dotted in the riverbank are red in bright sunny days, but I don't think the scenary there looks anything like scenes from Red River. At any rate, it gives an possible explaination.

When I hiked alone on the trail on the first day of Chinese New Year, I ran into few Taiwanese hikers. When we gave greeting to each other and exchanged conversations, I spoke to them in Taiwanese at times. I was told by one hiker that I had a strange accent when I spoke Taiwanese. My Taiwanse is rusty because I have rare chance to use the language in Taipei, but I didn't realize it became so bad until the hiker pointed it out.

I listened to myself carefully and tried to figure out what my Taiwanese sounded like. My Taiwanese is under the influence of Mandarin. I think my Taiwanese now sounds like reading Chinese and speak what are read in Taiwanese. I found a clip that a choir sing a Taiwanese song when they read its lyrics in Chinese on Youtube. Their Taiwanese are with Mandarin accent, and it's what happened to my Taiwanese.

This song, In Love With North Raiway (戀戀北迴線), has beome famous because of Sunrise Record Store Event happened on December 4th of 2008.

Sunrise record Store is located on Zhongshan N. Road. This store doesn't have grand window to deplay albums it sells, but it has great music ablums ranged from local Taiwanese music to world music. The store usually plays some songs to promote some albums and pedestrians usually can hear melody when the pass by. During the period of CHEN Yuen-lin's visiting in Taipei, some policemen took extreme measures without consulting legal process. On December 4th of 2008, Some policemen broke into Sunrise record store and Sunrise record store was force to shut down, and some facility were taken away by policemen because it played this Taiwanese song. This event stirred up a lot of Taiwanese's anger.

(I try to translate the lyrics into English, I would make a lot of mistakes, please pardon me.)

戀戀北迴線 In Love With North Railway

詞/曲：黃麒嘉 Written by HUANG Qi-jia

火車載阮要來去 The train is taking me to

台灣的後花園 Taiwan's rear garden

世間尚水的所在 The most beautiful places in the world

攏置彼一屏 Are all located there

瑞芳金瓜石 Rui-fang, Jin-gua-shi

溫柔可愛的基隆河 Tender and lovely Keelung River.

濛朧三貂嶺 Misty San-diao-ling

青青雙溪水 Emerald green water of Shuang-xi

悠悠擱綿綿 Extended and continuous

親像一首詩 Like a poem

行到福隆 Arriving in Fu-long

看見著海邊 Seeing the seashore

轔轔嚨嚨 (describing noise made by the train)

搖過基隆河 Passing through Keelung River

唭唭喀喀 (describing noise made by the train)

攀過三貂嶺 Climbing and passing San-diao-ling

船隻漂來又漂去 Boats floating back and forth

海風帶鹹味 Sea breeze carrying salty smell

海面金金地閃熾 Surface of the ocean flickering with golden light

(To Be Continued)

日頭浮上天

北關的海湧

歸工歡喜地唱歌

熱情龜山島

陪咱鬥陣行

礁溪洗溫泉

宜蘭買膽肝

來到蘇澳

海產尚好呷

悉悉沙沙

海湧地唱歌

嚕嚕啦啦

礁溪洗溫泉

大山大海大港灣

花蓮到台東

大橋大溪大塴崆

塴崆黑籠籠

遊賞太魯閣

散步迷人的鯉魚潭

坐船秀姑巒

台東摘金針

世外的桃源

美麗的台灣

自由自在

幸福台灣人

卿卿硿硿

火車鑽塴崆

吧哪吧吧

火車地相閃

2009-01-25 Wei-lu And Ponyo

2009-01-30T21:02:00.009+08:00

I've been on Chinese New Year vacation for 5 days, and only two more days-off left. Looking back what I've done during my days-off, I found I had lived in a nice slow pace but done a lot of things: dinning with friends, seeing movies, hiking, reading, writting, and packing. I didn't disturb my circadian rhythm even though I didn't control my diet well, too much sweet cockies, pies; but I am trying to get my diet back to right track.

On the eve of Chinese new year, the year of cattle, I attened to my friends' family dinner. The dinner we had were really great and rich food. We sat around a round table, around a hotpot on the middle of the table, which let me understand what Wei-lu (圍爐) means. I never sat around a round table to dine with my family for many complicated reasons, and I will never be able to do so. My friends unconditionally shared their family warmth and happiness with me. I really appreciated my friends' kindness.

After dinner, I went to see Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea, Mr. Miyazaki's animation. I expected that I would be the only moviegoer at the time because most Taiwanese should be Weilu with their family. I was happy because I would enjoyed the movie completely with myself. The room was empty at first, but at the last minute, eight to nine young kids came in. Fortunately, they didn't cause too much noise, and I could immerse myself in the movie.

Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea is a very good movie, and I think it's Mr. Miyazaki's best work so far. It reminds me of feelings I had after I saw My Neighbor Totoro—delightly to revisit children's innocence. I was amazed with how Mr. Miyazaki tranformed daily ordinary things into vivid scenes, and he fulfilled a lot of day-dreams that kids have in his movie. He brought my memories of childhood back to me: the first taste of honey, the first sight of Keelung harbor. A lot of experiences that made me eyes bright and made me smile came back to me.

Trailer of Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea with English Subtitles

Theme Song of Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea

2009-01-25 Taiwan Radio

2009-01-25T12:32:00.002+08:00

I was a part-time worker in a Taiwanese radio broadcast company. I had to work every Sunday. I quitted this part-time job few weeks ago because I wanted to have more free time to study and to go hiking. But I occasionally substitute for some of my former co-workers when they need a break. Today is Chinese New Year Eve, and I substitute for one of my former co-worker because he has to help his father's business in traditional market. So now, I am in my studio, listening to radio programs, taking notes. My responsibility is like Big Brother, monitoring if there are illegal contents in programs. Most programs made by this company are in Taiwanese, and most of them are programs that hosts sell medicine to Taiwanese listeners. But there are few good programs that introduce Taiwanese cultural events or histories.

One of my favorite program is Taiwan Radio (台灣Radio) whose host introduces Taiwanese songs popular in different periods of time or organize songs in different themes, like broadcasting Taiwanese songs about Spril or about Traveling spots. The host has collected Taiwanese songs more than 40 years. Most of his collections are out of print. His collections are really precious. Every time I listen to his program, I always feel delighted and touched. Sometimes I feel proud of being Taiwanese because I get sensation of being rooted in those cultural Taiwanese song performances.

When the show is live, a lot of his listeners like to call in to chat with the host. They talk in Taiwanese or Japanese. I sometimes can't understand the content of their conversation, but I have a feeling that the story of Cape No. 7 is about this group of people even though I don't comepletely agree with the portraits of Taiwanse that Cape No. 7 depicts.

My mother tongue is Taiwanese, I rarely speak in Taiwanese now. But when I listen to those Taiwanese songs, I can sing along easily. I think those cultural elements surrounded around me since I was a kid, and they have influence on me even though I'm not aware of them.

I like to find some popular Taiwanese songs that come to my mind, and bring back some of my childhood memories. Thanks to the Internet and Youtube, I can accomplish the task easier than before.

The song displayed below was a popular song in the 90s. It's mixed with Taiwanese religious elements. Young Taiwanese love it, but it's said that elder Taiwanese think it's a kind of taboo song. Its melody is adopted from songs used Taoism rituals like leading ghosts of family members dead in strange lands back home or summoning gods' protection or possession. I think it was unprecedented at its time.

Title: 倒退嚕 (Moving Backwards)
Singer: 黃克林 (HUANG, Ke-ling)

There is a old lady waving a fan in this music video, she is 阿匹婆, a household name of those whose age is above 30.

Lyrics

倒退嚕

ㄟ~拜請拜請拜請東海岸西海岸北投西帽山鶯歌出土炭草山低勒出溫泉
拜請哩東營兵東營將西營兵西營將北營中營兵中將
起雄兵這個九千九百九萬千滴滴工擱勒春無玲神ㄟ兵噢神兵啊
火過火路靈火過火路靈鳳梨西瓜平欠錢不要還
尖嘴是雞喔扁嘴是番鴉灣灣是豬肉四角是豆干白白是麵線
拜請勒~你也大仙王爺公小仙王爺子
我是假影請你那來我就加了餅
(天頂天公地下母舅公北海岸有十八王公)

拜請哩~拜請拜請拜請
阮孝生去愛著阿琴的查某子不知有影也無影
有影就喊三聲（沒影沒影沒影）紅ㄟ千ㄟ喔紅千喔
四果排甲歸桌頂紅柿那芭樂甲龍眼要吃就自己撿三碗兩碗做你排
煙雞股柳來殺沒錢我不愛紅包大個做你來拿ㄟ來喔~~
阿公啊對阮有啊有交待
叫阮咧麻雀粒啊不通黑白排
碰啊你塊碰啊到啊我塊到啊槓頂塊開花是加一台喔

草埔嗎跑阿馬嗎草啊青青草埔啊路上啊草啊掛墘
有孝的媳婦是三餐燒不孝的媳婦是過路搖啊過路搖搖你著搖過橋喔~
獻紙來你嘛燒錢去啊獻紙啊燒錢是要買路去啊
獻紙來你嘛燒錢去啊獻紙啊燒錢是要買路去哦行你著行過橋喔~

牛頭馬面啊二將軍還有日夜啊雙遊巡啊
燒酒排哩咧銀啊紙獻啦阿公啊對人是很啊隨便
行你就行你就乎伊過橋噢

草埔嗎路上阿草啊青青草埔啊路上阿草啊掛墘
有孝的媳婦是三餐燒不孝的媳婦是過路搖啊過路搖搖你著搖過橋喔~
獻紙來你嘛燒錢去啊獻紙啊燒錢是要買路去啊
獻紙來你嘛燒錢去啊獻紙啊燒錢是要買路去哦
行你就行行到觀音佛祖廟喔~

拜拜哦
來拜觀音菩薩哦

2009-01-24 NT$3,600 Shopping Vouchers

2009-01-24T23:28:00.002+08:00

My NT$3,600 shopping vouchers.

After my glasses broke, I found my hot-water heater broke down as well. Well, it's funny that I always encouter strange problems in Chinese New Year holidays and also other Chinese holidays. I am thinking I should leave Taipei or Taiwan next year.

I had a lot to say about the voucher policy, but I will be busy with fixing my glasses and water heater, and pay the bills with those vouchers. Ah....a lot of thoughts in mind, but I don't know how to express them. Dealing realistic problems is the best policy for me now.

2009-01-24 Broken Spectacles

2009-01-24T21:09:00.006+08:00

I haven't undated my blog for a while. I thought I could do it in the past two weeks, but many things went out of my expectation. I made a breakthrough in my research progress, thanks to my advisor's push. I worked on my experimental design for a while, and I revised it by following my advisor's suggestion, and the design became feasible. I am working on collecting proper stimuli, and soon I will have to learn E-Prime to write computerized experiment program.

Things have gon well when it comes to my study.

I still have some free time, but I would rather go hiking than stay home or at lab in front of monitors; so I haven't write things about hikes I've done recently, and I haven't uploaded pictures I took during my hikes, either.

I am getting busy and busier, I won't be able to update my blog regularly. It's been two years since I started my blog, so I don't want to close it. I am thinking what specific feature my blog has and what I should do to maintain my blog. Most of my articles are about my hikes. It's not necessary for me to give information about hiking in Taiwan in English, my written English is poor, and Robert's blog, Pashan, gives way better stories about hiking in Taiwan. My blog isn't as informative as his blog is, and will never be.

Since few weeks ago, I've started using twitter as an alternative interface. I am thinking about adopting similar format here. A post with one picture or two about hikes or life in Taiwn with few comments cost me little time. I think I can manage that.

This is my second broken pair of glasses. Well, I can't believe that I broke it twice. It seems that some accidents always happen when I get extra income. I got NT$3,600 shopping vouchers and then I broke my glasses. I will have to get it repaired and use vouchers to pay off this unplanned expense.

I think I should take some pictures of my shopping vouchers for memorial before my use them all. They are sperical things for all Taiwanese resulted from critical period of time.

p.s. When was posting, there was an earthquake.

p.p.s Second earthquake.

2009-01-17 Chingtiangang Revisited

2009-01-18T22:57:00.002+08:00

2009-01-04 Chingtiangang (擎天崗)

2009-01-18T18:25:00.004+08:00

2009-01-04

2009-01-10 Lab Outing in Hemeishan, Xindian

2009-01-11T09:52:00.001+08:00

Thanks Denny for this great picture.

2009-01-07 Disequilibrium

2009-01-07T23:35:00.005+08:00

I've been experiencing a very strange sensation. It's weird, and I couldn't describe it well in the past two days. Tonight, I finally came up with a phrase to describe this kind of bizarre sensation: A soul of sorrow confined to an exuberant body.

2009-01-06 Daily Photos

2009-01-06T14:17:00.009+08:00

昨天下午才從法院書記官處得知，我必須在開調解庭之前遞送陳報狀，這意味著，我今天必須寫完並準備好附件資料。我其實是很會拖縮 (ㄊㄨㄚㄙㄨㄚ)的人，所以整個晚上都在逃避現實，喝咖啡、吃起司蛋糕、吃巧克力，然後到政大書城窩著，看些書，耍自閉，然後買幾本書，降低壓力。（我發現自己龜縮的模式大概就是這樣吧！看起來，頗無害，不過甜食吃太多些。）

今天起一大早，開始認份地寫陳述狀。我只要專心做事，可以很有效率地寫完陳述狀。重新看過陳述的內容，還頗滿意的。這些年來，經歷這麼多繁瑣的法律事務，準備資料，也算是得心應手。（真不知道該是高興，還是難過呢！）

準備好資料後，便出發前往台北地方法院的家事法庭。除拖縮一整晚，逃避現實外，另一件幫我調整心情的事情是：家事法庭離我家蠻近的，走路約10到15分鐘即可抵達。減少舟車勞頓的壓力，我可以較正向的態度來處理事情。

出門的時候，很幸運的是：雨停了！我的心情會因為下雨而變差，出門時，還看見一塊藍色的天空。啊！真高興！

另一件讓我高興的事是，看見一隻很醜，但是睡的很可愛的貓。在我走往家事法庭的路上，經過一家餐廳，我看到餐廳裡有隻醜醜的貓咪，睡的好可愛！餐廳還沒開始營業，但是貓咪醜的可愛，我禁不住地摸進餐廳裡，用手機照相機拍下貓咪可愛的樣子。貓咪睡得很熟，一臉幸福的樣子。

老闆娘走過來，看我在做啥。當她知道我喜歡貓咪的時候，她也就放任我拍貓咪照片。老闆娘告訴我，這隻貓原本是流浪貓，她撿到這隻貓，也就留下這隻貓。看貓咪睡的很熟、放鬆的樣子，真替牠感到高興，幸福的貓咪～

我心滿意足地帶著貓咪照片，繼續前往法院。離開餐廳後，我回頭看餐廳的招牌，心想著要再次到這家餐廳看貓咪。發現這家餐廳叫做「圓滿」餐廳。啊！正向情緒字呢！高興！高興！

果然，營造促發正向心情的環境，能激發正向心情；在正向心情狀態下，能營造促發正向心情的環境。這是一種互動的動態關係。

這種大家視為理所當然的事情，可是有研究文獻的喔！請參考：

Tamir, M., & Robinson, M. D. (2007). The happy spotlight: Positive mood and selective attention to rewarding information. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33(8), 1124-1136.

總之，我已經盡人事，把資料送出去後，決定權就在法官手上。現在只能等待後續的通知或裁定。我應該繼續進行我另一個載逃避現實的事情，正在拖縮我的實驗設計。不能再拖了！XD 得趕快把剩下的部分寫完。

2009-01-03 Daily Photos

2009-01-05T10:47:00.005+08:00

My friends from university and I planed to go hiking in Yuan-shan (鳶山) in Sanxia. After I met them at MRT Fuzhong station, I thought it was not proper to go hiking in this circumtstance that most of them were in wrong shoes which could make their knees or ankles injured.

We could only walk the the entry of Yuan-shan hiking trail, and then we turned back to the old street and hade our dinner at Pation 28. So the trip turned out to be a half-day trip in Sanxia.

Even though we didn't complete Yuan-Shan hiking trail, we reached the Bell of Yuan-shan, and it was a 3.2 km walk.

Sheena was not used to long walk and partly she has been busy with her stressful work, she was tired and got drunk after having a half bottle of beer. I didn't take pictures of her when she couldn't stop smiling in Pation 28. Well, but she was funny and cute.

P.S. Mike, I posted pictures of them as I promised. We talked a lot about you during the trip. We are looking forward to the date you come back to Taiwan and to having happy get-together and to enjoying your stories happended to you in UK.

2009-01-03 Hemeishan 碧潭/和美山

2009-01-03T22:30:00.007+08:00

Our lab semester-end outing will take place next Saturday. I was desiganted to organize the outing and I have been looking for a proper spot that would fit every lab partners' needs. The final tourist spot I have singled out is He-mei-shan near Bitan in Xindian.

There are some reseaons. First of all, it has easy access that everyone can take MRT Red Line to Xindian, the terminal station of MRT Red Line. Secondly, He-mei-shan is a small hill whose height is approximately 150m that is not too difficult for my lab partners who rarely go hiking.

Even though He-mei-shan is a small hill, it has great views that hikers can overlook Taipei City and they even can see Guan-yin-shan clearly if the weather is fine. And the trail in He-mei-shan is short that hikers probably only have to spend 30 minutes completing their hike.

After go hiking in He-mei-shan, we can have lunch along the riverbank. And after lunch, my lab partners can take a stroll in Bitan. Bitan has been regenerated and tranformed into a beautiful park. It is pretty nice to take a walk along the riverbank both during daytime or night time.

I am the organizer of this event and I don't like plan going wrong or things get out of my control, so I took a walk in Bitan and went hiking in He-mei-shan this morning, that will help me to visualize most possible situations.

And I try to provide some information for them before the outing, and the below pictures are especially taken for them.

Beautiful Bitan

Bitan Suspension Bridge

I am a Xindianian (I made up this word). I was born and grew up in the vicinity of Bitan. This bridge always brings my childhood memories back to me.

It has become a popular spot for bikers.

To be honest, I really hate those tall buildings.

The trailhead is at the end of 33-1, Bitan Road.

The relic of Bitan Amusement Park. It's was a very popular amusement park.

The entry of the trail

The trail is very easy for novice hikers or visitors. The only difficult part is the few steps long stairs shown in the above picture.

The great views vistors can get on the top of He-me-shan. (I only spent 15 minutes getting to the top.)

Visitors can see Taipei 101 and my apartment when the day is clear.

Visitors actually can see Nan-shi-jiao-shan(南勢角山) and Guan-yin-shan(觀音山).

The overlook of Chingtan (青潭) region.

This is Gordonia (大頭茶), one of Chris's favoriate flowers. They often blossom on the top of trees that hikers can't spot them easily, but they often sprinkle over hiking trails. It's a kind of beautiful scenes.

This is Gordonia's stem and leaves. When Robert and I were on National Zhao-yang hiking trail (朝陽步道), we tried to differentiate Gordonia from other kinds of similar plants, and I couldn't do it well, so I took this picture for reference.

This is where we will have lunch. I haven't had meal in this restaurant, but aparazzi took pictures of famous Taiwanese singer and host dining here, it's probably good.

2008-12-27 Yunxin Waterfall 雲心瀑布 PART 2

2009-01-02T17:21:00.005+08:00

2008-12-27 Yunxin Waterfall 雲心瀑布 PART 1

2009-01-02T17:15:00.003+08:00

Last weekend, the weather was really nice, the sky was blue and dotted with cloud. I was about to start writting my experimental design, but I couldn't resist the temptation of this beautiful day, I decided to take a walk along a bike path near my apartment after having my brunch and planed to start my design after the stroll.

Caption: The entry of the bike path near where I live.

It was a warm and sunny day. I found a lot of bikers riding their bikes along the riverbank and a lot of birds foraging along the riverbank as well. I was really happy as I enjoyed the balmy and sunny day and appreicated the wonderful lifeforms living in my neighberhood.

Caption: This is merged from two pictures. I was playing with some photo management software and came up with this picture.

When I was sitting on one rock on the riverbank, enjoying the observation of those birds' amazing behaviors, my cellphone suddenly rang. It was a phone call from my friend and they told they were in the vicinity of my apartment as they were on their wat to the Full Moon Park, and they wondered if I would join in their trip to Sanxia. I decided to join in this outing and dashed back home.

After a short break in my apartment, three of us headed to Sanxia. We took Road No. 110 (安康路) and turned to Road No. 3 (台三線) to Sanxia, the it only cost us about 30 minutes to get to the intersaction of Zhong-zheng Road (中正路) and Jie-shou Road (介壽路) .

Caption: The Intersaction of Zhong-zheng Road (中正路) and Jie-shou Road (介壽路) .

Then we took Zhong-zheng Road (中正路) and turned to Road No. 7 乙 (台7乙線). We passed Cha-jiao village (插角里) and got to You-mu village (有木里), where those two villages were pretty with lush hills and tea farms. (Note 1)

Caption: Taken in Cha-jiao village (插角里) .

Caption: Taken in You-mu village (有木里)

Note 1:

2008-12-03 MY Lab Meeting

2008-12-31T18:38:00.005+08:00

Our lab members have a weekly meeting every Wednesday. We usually have to present research articles we read and research progress we've made during our meeting. But sometimes we have special occations that we can all get relaxed.

(Note: MY Lab meeting doesn't mean MY. It's from our advisor's initials.)

In this week's lab meeting, we celebrated one of our lab member's success in gaining the admission to NTU's graduate school of Psychology.

This is our winner.

They are my lab partners.

This is my advisor.

Recently, my lab partners and I have been playing a game. That is we match everyone's with characters from Jin Yong's martial art novels. Everyone gets their nickname from characters from The Legend of The Condor Heros (射雕英雄傳), The Return of The Condor Heros (神雕俠侶), or The Deer and The Caldron (鹿鼎記), etc. It sounds stupid, but it is fun, and it helps to release us from stress resulted from research works.

2008-11-22 Took A Stroll In Man-yue-yuan, Sanxia 滿月圓漫步

2008-12-28T22:40:00.002+08:00

Robert, Chris, Kitty and I went hiking in Sanxia, our destination was 威赫神木群 in 北插天山(Bei-cha-tian-shan).

北插天山 is one of Taiwanese hikers's favorite training routes in Northern Taiwan. Before hikers take the challenges of 台灣百岳 (The Top 100 Mountains of Taiwan), hikers train themself by taking the route of 北插天山 to build up their physical strength. And it is also a popular route for those who love to yellow forests. In every December, a lot of visitors hike to 北插天山 to see beech forests. Their leaves dye the forests with their yellow leaves. The beautiful scenary is always breath-taking. (Note 1)

We started the hike at Full Moon Park (滿月圓 Man-yue-yuan). Unfortunately, I was terribly out of fit and suffered from motion sickness, I I knew myself well that I was incapable of finishing the hike, so I told Robert and Chris that I decided to stay in Full Moon Park, enjoying the beautiful afternoon. (Note 2)

I like Full Moon Park very much. The pathes there are well-maintained, and the forests there are lush and provide good shade.

When we were in the Full Moon Park, we saw several hikers with heavy backpacks, it was obvious that they were heading to 北插天山.

Caption: Kitty energeticlly climbed up

The day was very nice, I love the scene that sunlight shining through the leaves.

I picked up a lot of cute nuts as I walked in the park. I felt very relaxed and appreciated the natural wonders.

I usually can't spend a lot of time taking pictures when I hike in the forest. But I had plenty of time exploring my camera's functions with which I am familar. I like to take pictures of natural objects that sunlight makes them shining. I love this shining flower of hibiscus (木堇). (Note 3)

When I strolled in the park, I enountered a lot of Taiwanese hikers. Most of them were friendly and told me a lot of stories happened to them when they hiked along the route to 北插天山. It's really great to learn from their experiences. I saw this strange stem full of fungi and took few pictures of it. When I was taking pictures and thinking if they were precious 靈芝 (Ling-zi, Ganoderma), a couple of hikers walked to me and said: " Wow! That's 靈芝! You should bring them house." (Note 4)

Caption: This is 滿月圓山 (Man-yue-yuan-shan), it got its name because of its resemblance of a full moon. And Full Moon Park is named because of this mountain.

The tree is decorated with Bird Nest Ferns. (Note 5)

When it was near sunset, I saw a troop of monkeys playing on the top of trees, jumping around on the cliff. I was so happy. I kept looking up and tried to pictures of them. Kids around me were cuious and looked up to where I was looking at. Soon they found those monkeys and kept crying out "Monkeys, monkeys."

A young boy and a cute came to the spot where people gathered to see those monkeys. They standed next to me, and I could overhear their conversation clearly. They flirted with each other. It seemed that the young boy wanted to impress the cute girl. He told the girl that he could throw bottles at those monkeys. I was already annoyed by their silly loud conversation. When I overheard that he was about to throw things at those monkeys, I got angry, and I told him stop doing things to harm those innocent creatures.

After Robert, Chris, and Kitty got back to the Full Moon Park, we went to Marc's Pation 28 for our dinner.

Patio 28 is a Belgium restaurant newly opened in Sanxia. Marc, the chef of the restaurant, provides his guests with delicate meals and great belgium beers. (Note 6)

This is Chris.

And this is Robert.

This is Marc, the chef of Patio 28. He is a also a great photographer.

This was the set meal I had after the hiking event. Nice bread and great goulash, and I love the blueberry pie!

On our way home, we had pleasant talks about various perspectives. Chris recited a peom in the car and I was very touched by the poem.

I didn't know the poem's title and who it's author is. Chris told me its title and author afterwards. It's Percy Bysshe Shelley's Ozymandias.

Percy Bysshe Shelley 's OZYMANDIAS

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"Nothing beside remains: round the decay. Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,The lone and level sands stretch far away."

Nothing lasts forever and ever. It's sarcastic and sad.

But I was very content with the day I had, it's a great day.

Note 1: Beech 山毛櫸 in WIKIPEDIA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beech and here is a picture site of pictures of beech forest along 北插天山 http://ms1.ctjh.tpc.edu.tw/~uank3/041107map.htm.

Note 2: I didn't complete the route to 威赫神木群，but Chris's blog gives details of the hike. http://bubbhainasia.blogspot.com/2008/11/hike-to-big-trees.html

Note 3: Hibiscus 木堇 in WIKIPEDIA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus

Note 4: Lingzhi in WIKIPEDIA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingzhi

Note 5: Bird Nest Fern is 鳥巢厥 (Niao-chao-jue) in Chinese, and it's also called 山蘇 (Shan-su) . Katannya taught me its scientific name few times, but it's Latin, I couldn't memerize it well. I think it probably is Asplenium nidus.

Note 6: Patio 28's address is 台北縣三峽鎮愛國路2-8號1樓 (No. 2-8, Ai-guo Rd., Sanxia, Taipei Country) and its telphone number is 886-2-86719323. Mondays closed

2008-12-24 Go to See A Doctor Of Traditional Chinese Medicine 看中醫

2008-12-26T21:28:00.001+08:00

Last week, I went hiking in Sanxia and explored the region around Yunxin Waterfall. I was very happy that I got to this beatiful waterfall.

Caption: Yunxin Waterfall in Sanxia.

It's a popular spot for Taiwanese photographers, and a lot of photographers were there taking pictures of the waterfall when I rested close to the waterfall.

Unfortunately, I twisted my ankle on my way home. I sometimes injure my right ankle during hiking in forest, I think it is because I have a weak right ankle, and it is resulted from a car accident I had several years ago. It seems that I never completely recover from the bone crack I had from that accident.

I knew I must protect my ankle from further injury and I managed to get back home and tried to get a good rest for the sake of my right ankle; however, I still felt sharp pains in the following days. I decided to turn to a doctor for help.

I went to see Dr. Chen who was one of my acquaintances. He was a clinical psychologist before he accepted traditional Chinese medical training, and He started to practice for a while. I think he is pretty good because he takes care of his patients's physical problems as well as their feelings.

I went to his clinic at the intersection of Roosevelt Road (羅斯福路) and Fu-zhou Street (福州街), it's a cozy place that people won't be intimidated. The first thing I saw as I entered the consulting room was the blossomy flowers, and it immediately made me feel relaxed.

Hello Doctor!

Nice to see you!

I am joking, of course.

This is Doctor Chen.

There are many different ways for traditional Chinese doctors to observe their patients's physical conditions—checking their eyes, observing their faces and feeling their patients's pulses as well.

Because I had acute pain, Dr. Chen decided to give me acupuncture therapy after he examined my conditions.

Dr. Chen pricked several points on my feet with needles. It looks horrifying from those pictures I took; however, they didn't cause pain at all, I only had some funny sensations. I felt it incredible that every points bought different kinds of sensations to me. Sometimes it is like an electric current flowing though my arm, sometimes it is like a short electric shock on my foot.

My injury happened to my right ankle so most of those needles pricked on my right ankle, around the region nearby my right heal.

Yes, heal, my Achilles' heel, my weakest part when it comes to get engaged in hiking.

It looks pretty scary, isn't it? But I felt much better after accepting acupuncture therapy.

After Dr. Chen retrieved those needles, I felt my acute pain stopped. It worked like a charm.

After the acupuncture therapy, Dr. Chen kindly explained some ways how to take care of injured heel to me.

I felt much better these days and I think I can get back to hiking soon after I finish writing my research proposal.

2008-12-21 躲貓貓 A Hidden Cat

2008-12-21T11:39:00.006+08:00

跳到我家冰箱上的大白貓不是我的貓，是嘉琳家的麻薯 a.k.a. 王小薯。王小薯常來我家作客。這週，因為嘉琳家裡有事，得回台中幾天，所以王小薯再次來到我家作客。

只要和食物有關的事情，王小薯是很聰明的貓。可是，其他方面，王小薯有時會笨的很可愛。
王小薯喜歡躲在箱子裡、櫃子裡、抽屜裡還有高處。這次，王小薯跳到我家冰箱上，覺得沒有人會看到牠，她可以很安心觀察環境。其實，她的一舉一動，都在我的觀察中。

王小薯愛巧拼、愛躲在箱子裡，也愛躲在窄小的地方。王小薯發現我有個紙箱收納著不用的巧拼，覺得就像發現天堂似地，三不五時地往箱子裡鑽。很好笑的是，她以為躲在箱子裡，大家都看不到她。可是，她卻露出一雙耳朵，暴露她的藏身之處，笨的很可愛。

王小薯被發現後，心不甘、情不願地爬出紙箱。這幕讓我想起「愛心動物醫生」裡的一段關於貓咪：三毛的躲貓貓故事。可愛喔～

2008-12-14 Christmas Party in Katannya's Apartment

2008-12-14T22:08:00.011+08:00

Katannya, one of my hiking partners, threw a Christmas party in her apartment. The reason that she had this party several days before Christmas is because she planned to hike Jade Mountain during Christmas holiday, so that she won't be available at that time. A lot of her friends, co-workers, hiking partners were invited. It's a fun party with plenty of delicious food that many people from different background getting together, exchanging ideas and thoughts on a relaxing occation.

Caption: Our generous hostess, Katannya.

Caption: This is Katannya's home-made , er....I don't know its name.

Caption: It filled with cheeze and vegetable.

Caption: Katannya and her sweetheart, and our Christmas turkey.

Caption: This is Katannya's 仙草 (Xian-cao), she is very energetic and friendly and smart.

Caption: This is Katannya's 小不點, she is kind of nervous when there were a lot of guests around, but she is cute and happy when Kat and I walked her and 仙草 outdoor.

Caption: Kat's drowsy cat. Sorry, I can't recall her name.

Caption: Kat's shy cat.

Caption: Kat's home-made lasagna and her friend's turkey. They were really, really good.

Caption: Those lasagna were really good. And the turkey matched the cranberry jelly perfectly.

Caption: Everyone was happy in conversation while helping Kat serving Christmas meals in the kitchen .

Caption: Kat was making one of our desserts

Caption: One of our desserts, fresh strawberry mixed with yoghurt. Yummy!

Caption: Cute babies always get the spotlight.

Caption: Friends, families, babies, dogs. It's a relaxing and happy party in a cozy place.

Caption: She is a baby full of curiosity. She explored everything surrounding her. She almost got it.

Cpation: Cute note written by Kat's student.

Thank you, Kat. We had a really good time at your party.

2008-12-11 Old Wuta Hiking Trail and National Zhao-yang Hiking Trail in Nanao

2008-12-12T18:22:00.051+08:00

第一部：驚嘆之旅—南澳，舊武塔登山步道

PART I: The WOW Hiking Event

The Marvelous Hiking Trail: Old Wuta Hiking Trail in Nan-ao

幾天前，Robert在Forumosa.com談到於本週週四，他將探勘南澳地區的仲岳溪登山步道的路況；同時，他也提到歡迎有興趣的山友參與。這週以來，氣候狀況非常良好，即使連經常霧濛濛台北天空，都是一片藍天白雲。我不想放過在這樣美好天氣裡，到自然環境探索的機會，在調整值班時間後以便報名參加。這次的登山活動是在非假日，大多數的山友無法參與，所以當天只有我和Robert能夠成行。
Few days ago, Robert posted on Forumosa.com that he would go to explore Zhong-yue Stream (仲岳溪) hiking trail in Nan-ao (南澳), and hikers who would like to join in the hike were welcome. I had great interest in the hike and felt like to come along. The weather has been really nice for days in Taipei. The sky of Taipei city has been brightly blue dotted with some white clouds. The grayish sky that Taipei city used to have was gone. I didn’t want to miss this chance to explore unknown natural region in such a fine day, and I want to enjoy warm sunny day outdoor; so I readjusted my working schedule and took part in the hike. Thursday is regular work day for most people, so Chris and Kitty couldn’t make the trip. It turned out that only Robert and I could go hiking in Nan-ao.

我們八點時，在木柵集合。在木柵地區上高速公路前，因為是上班時間，車流量大，我們的行車速度不如預期，但是在上高速公路後，路況良好，我們很快地抵達宜蘭頭城。繼續往蘇花公路行進，後轉南方澳，再抵達南澳。由於Robert是第二次到這個地區，所以我們這次的車程，比之他和Katannya的南澳溯溪行順利很多(詳情請參考部落格Pashan)，這樣的路程大約花費我們二個小時的時間(不過，出門在外，迷路總是難免，詳情請參考本文第二部)。我們很順利的沿著產業道路找到登山口，沿途的風景十分美好，而且路面狀況良好，我們一致地認為這段自行車旅行的天堂。
Our rendezvous time was 8:00 in Mu-zha (木柵)。We were slow down because of the heavy traffic during rush hours. But after we hit the highway to Yi-lan (宜蘭), there was almost no traffic, and we arrived at Tou-cheng (頭城) approximately in one hour. We took Road No. 9 (台九線：蘇花公路段) and headed to Nan-fan-ao (南方澳) and then got to Nan-ao. This trip was Robert’s second or third time to visit Nan-ao, so the drive to Nao-ao was smooth, and it was much better than the drive Katannya and he had in their trip to Nan-ao river-tracing few weeks before. (Please refer to the blog: Pashan for further details) We only spent about two hours getting to the country road leading to the trailhead of Zhong-yue Stream hiking trail. The scenery along the country road was very nice, and the road’s surface was well-maintained, we both thought the road was perfect for cycling. Soon we got to the trailhead without encountering any obstacle.

在抵達仲岳溪登山口後，由於前方尚有小徑，Robert基於好奇心，便繼續直行，看察前方的路況。我們車行至產業道路底，前方出現二條小徑，其一是通達河床的小路，我們先前往河床看查，這條河應該是南澳南溪。看到眼前的美景，我們兩個人神速地拿出相機，啪嚓啪嚓地按下快門，希望能把眼前這片美景帶回家。
After we arrived at the trailhead of Zhong-yue Stream hiking trail, Robert found the country road seemed to continuously lead to other places. Out of his curiosity, he decided to move forward to see what kind of surrounding at the end of the road would be. As we got to the end of the road, two branch trails appeared. One of them was a short path leading to a riverbank (Note 1) . We took the trail to the riverbank to check the surroundings out. As we saw the beautiful scenes unfolding in front us, we spontaneously took our cameras to take pictures of this great spot.

註解:Robert很專注地拍攝河邊風景，因為Robert穿深色的衣服，他的影像實在是不太清楚。
Caption: Robert was concentrating on taking pictures of beautiful scenery of the riverbank. However his image doesn’t stand out in my picture because he wore dark-blue clothes.

註解:從河邊眺望遠山
Caption: Looking at the distant mountains from the riverbank.

註解:河水清澈，我的相機可以輕易地拍攝水中小蝌蚪的影像。先前在三峽滿月園時，我也看到成群的蝌蚪，興沖沖地拍了很多照片，但在回家後才發現，但是受到水質混濁的影響，照片裡的小蝌蚪都糊掉了。Caption: The stream was very clean. I could take images of those tadpoles in the stream easily with my not state-of-the-art camera (Note2).

另一條小徑，則是舊武塔古道。
Another trail at the end of road was Old Wuta hiking trail.

這條古道是舊時泰雅族人的取鹽之道，在清代和日據時代，則被作為用征討與警備泰雅族人的道路。山裡的武塔村等其他泰雅族部落，由於住民陸續地遷出，現在只剩下過去的部落遺跡。
In the past, Atayal people traveled to coastal regions in order to fetch salt. It was important for Atayal people to contact with other regions. However, the Ching government and Japanese colonial government took the advantage of the trail respectively to intrude Atayal villages. (Note1)

另一條小徑，則是舊武塔古道。Another trail at the end of road was Old Wuta (舊武塔) hiking trail.

這條古道是舊時泰雅族人的取鹽之道，在清代和日據時代，則被作為用征討與警備泰雅族人的道路。山裡的武塔村等其他泰雅族部落，由於住民陸續地遷出，現在只剩下過去的部落遺跡。
In the past, Atayal people traveled to coastal regions in order to fetch salt. It was important for Atayal people to contact with other regions. However, the Ching government and Japanese colonial government took the advantage of the trail respectively to intrude Atayal villages.(Note3)

註解:舊武塔古道介紹說明板 Caption: The introduction board of the Old Wuta hiking trail

Robert在看完登山口的介紹後，當下決定捨棄仲岳溪步道，改為探勘舊武塔古道。Robert read the introduction board and changed his mind immediately. He decided to explore the Old Wuta hiking trail instead of Zhong-yue Stream hiking trail.

我們取道舊武塔登山步道，Robert穩健地大步向前，可是我不像Robert那樣自信滿滿地。我不知道前方的路況，對未知的恐懼和興奮湧進胸口。我像一隻小老鼠般地畏畏縮縮地摸索向前，深怕一角踩進陷阱；但又蹦蹦跳跳地，覺得前方有好吃的起司，尾隨在Robert之後。
We took the Old Wuta hiking trail. Robert confidently moved forward in big strides; however, I didn’t have confidence as he did because I didn’t know what would be waiting for me on the road and I dislike things out of my control. Fear and excitement came to me simultaneously. I felt like I was a timid little mouse tagging along behind Robert, flinching from stepping into traps, but reluctantly moving forward because of my anticipation of the beautiful scenery along the trail.

步道的狀況良好，林相優美；而且黃葉繽紛，隨風飄搖落地，面對這樣的景色，我是驚嘆不絕。往左看，我只能說，這真的是太美了！再往右看，我只能說，這真的是太棒了！
As we hiked on the Old Wuta hiking trail, I found that the trail’s condition was pretty good. The trail was not as challenging as I was afraid of. The forest was graceful and had multiple facets. I could see lush forest in different tones of green, and I could see rains of yellow and orange leaves swinging and falling down on the ground.

The path was full of wonders!

"This is amazing!" I exclaimed with excitement as I looked at the trail's left side.
"That is wonderful!" I shouted as I looked at the trail's right side..

And I repeatedly said: "This is paradise!"

I think I was very noisy and talkative that day. I thought reason must be that I had too much coffee and was caffeine overdosed.

But the region is ABOSLUTELY like a paradise. That's the really reason why I was so excited.

註解:古道狀況良好。

註解:古道的青蔥翠綠林相。

註解:古道落葉繽紛(抱歉，我的相機太差，無法捕捉到落葉的影像。)

行進不久，我們抵達支流的河床。在支流之上，山崖之間，有座頹敗失修的木橋，我心想不知這座木橋，是否就是是過去泰雅族人與清漢人與日人之間通聯的遺跡。

註解:木橋在照片下方(抱歉，這張拍的不夠好。)

註解:老大哥裝可愛，我不打算把這個註解翻成英文，不然會被K的。

在涉過支流後，我們繼續前行。其實我心底對於前方的路況完全沒有概念。只能小心翼翼地往前行進。但是沿途美景是最佳的誘因，我亦步亦趨地前，心懷期待地等著另一個美景的出現。

我後來發現，舊武塔古道的路況很像加九寮步道，路況其實很好，雖然有幾處坍方，需要很小心地攀爬，但它的展望比加九寮步道好，有很好的視野眺望遠方山巒，細察蜿蜒河谷。

註解:由遠至近看南澳南溪

我們出發時，從河床向上攀爬，逐漸進入平緩的林道，緊接著，往下抵達另一處河床。這時已經是下午一點，，我們花費約2.5小時的時間抵達支流河床。我們決定在這裡吃午餐，在午餐後稍作休息，便啟程返回登山入口。

這裡是我們享用午餐的好地方。

註解:照片裡的眾多小黑點都是蝌蚪，因為溪流非常清澈，我不需要特別的相機，就能把小蝌蚪拍得很清楚。

在用過午餐，離開河邊時，已經是下午兩點。冬天的日照時間比較短，我們回程時，陽光已經從不同的方向照進山谷。雖然山巒的色彩已經不如早上的豔麗，但是看見陽光一塊一塊的照進山谷，光和影的交錯變換，也是讓我驚嘆不絕。

由於我們還有第二個行程：朝陽國家步道，所以回程時，以較快的速度返回登山口。途中遇到美景，我們稍作暫停，將美景銘刻腦海，然後繼續前行。我們大約花費1個小時又45分的時間，便抵達登山口。
註解：在重返登山口後，日光已經稀微，但是天空還是一樣的湛藍迷人。

我們回到登山口後，重新整理行裝，準備往第二個目的地出發。就在我們打理裝備時，一個聲音問到：「你們要去哪裡啊？」原來是一位泰雅族人從通往河床的步道前來，向我們提問。這位泰雅族人帶著一隻獵犬，背著竹簍和一支土製獵漁槍，帶著關心的笑容問著這個問題。我猜想他可能覺得我們是迷路的旅人。

Robert想知道關於舊武塔古道的細節，所以要我問這位先生一些問題。這位先生的中文雖然帶有一些腔調，但是我可以很清楚地理解他所陳述的內容。(記得有一次在阿里山上遇到一位可愛的原住民小姐，她不會說中文，只是用「感恩」來回應我。)他所陳述的大概內容是古道串連的泰雅村落：舊武塔、舊金洋，到四季等。以他們習慣山路的人的腳程來說，要花兩天的時間才能往返舊武塔村，像我們這種肉腳，要花的時間會更多。古道沿途，早無村落，現在所留下的只剩當時村莊的斷垣殘壁。但是，他們泰雅族人常會循著古道，回到過去祖先居住的村落，祭拜祖靈。

往朝陽步道的路上，我們看見一座頹敗的木屋。這座木屋很有趣的是在於它的是由筆筒樹所支撐。我們興致勃勃地停車拍照。這時，又有人聲問道：「你們要去哪裡啊？」三位騎乘摩托車的泰雅族原住民好奇地問著我們。大概又是擔心我們是迷途的人。我們在說明後，問他們是否知道是誰構築這座木屋。他們說這是護溪的人隨便搭造的，臨時做來晚上過夜遮蔽用的，現在已經無人使用。天色漸漸昏暗，我也好奇地問他們要去哪裡？他們告訴我他們正要前往山上的薑田工作，工作是噴灑農藥。我在用英文向Robert解釋他們即將進行的工作後，Robert跟我說他和Richard和原住民互動後的經驗，而我只能默默無語。

備註：右邊的貓是Robert的寵物貓Ping，聽說這隻貓很活潑可愛，Robert有一次把貓咪的照片放在flicrk上，被我下載下來。這次，我拍到Robert這張照片，跟Ping很像。果然，主人和寵物之間，是有類似的行為模式。

Note1: http://lan-yang.myweb.hinet.net/new_page_2-3.htm is a link of a webpage which gives it readers a brief history of Atayan in Chinese. It gives some details about Atayal people's combat against Ming-chuan Liu (劉銘傳) in 1890. The below paragraphs are brief translation write by me.

In 1889, LIU Chao-dai (劉朝帶), LIU Ming-chuan's nephew, led a team about 500 soldiers developed a path in mountainous region at Xiao Pi-nan-tang (小埤南塘) in Xiao Nan-ao, they tried to find a route to reach San-pu-li village (前山埔里社). In search of San-pu-li village, LIU Chao-dai and his men were attacked by Atayal people of Lao-gou-fan village (Lao-gou-fan, 老狗番, literally means old dog barbarian) at Dong-si-ren-keng (Dong-si-ren-keng, 凍死人坑, literally means freeze to death in Chinese). Approximately 300 soldiers were killed in this encounter which included LIU Chao-dai himself.

LIU Ming-chuan was furious as he learned the news and decided to punished the Atayal people from Lao-gou-fan village.

In 1890, LIU, Ming-chuan turned to the Navy of Fu-jian province for naval support. He acquired armed forces, weaponry, salary, and food supply. His troops stationed in Su-ao(蘇澳)

外部資訊連結(External Informative Links)：

在安全返家後，因為超喜歡這段登山步道，所以我特別上網蒐集一些關於舊武塔古道的資訊。舊武塔古道是比亞毫古道的東段，在林務局的國家步道系統中，有相關的介紹和簡圖說明。

國家步道系統 (中文) http://www1.forest.gov.tw/nt/TR_F_02.aspx
National Trail System (English) http://www1.forest.gov.tw/NationalTrailSystem_En/TR_F_02.htm

I wrote this additional information in English and I don’t translate them into Chinese because this additional information is written in Chinese.

Lanyang Museum News Letters(蘭陽電子報) http://ilmuse.gov.tw/~epaper/form/pastnews.htm

Among the news letters, a issue titled with 2008年2月第37期電子報(南澳鄉巴博凱凱社) is articles about a investigation of the Atayal village--b' bukeykay in Nanao.
A very simplied translation into English by me.
The author led a team to go to Nanao mountain region and the route they took is below:

Day one:
1. 舊武塔古道 (Old Wuta trail, I learned from the article that this trail is the Eastern part of 比亞豪 Biyahao古道old trail, Biyahao trail starts from 金洋村 Jinyang Village to 四季 Sici, this trail is planed to be renovated by Forestry Bureau.)
2. 合流溪(Heliu Stream) to 新楠子駐在所(New Nanzi police station, set up by Japanese)
3. Atayal Gugus village via Japanese police patrol path
4. 布蕭丸溪 (Buxiaowan Stream) to Taipower hut in 砲台山 (Paotai Shan)
5. Camped at Taipower hut because of a member's muscle cramp.

Day Two:
1. 布蕭丸溪 (Buxiaowan Stream) to 舊楠子駐在所(Old Nanzi police station, set up by Japanese)
2. 和平北溪 (Hepin Northern Stream)
3. Atayal haburns' lus village, set up a camp site.

Day Three:
1. 和平西北溪 (Hepin Northwestern Stream)
2. 各姆河 (Gemu River)
3. Atayal b'bukeykay village

After their investigation at Atayal b'bukeykay village, they took same route back to Wuta village.
Note: They had to do river tracing whenever they encountered rivers or streams.

Here is the site of this river tracing group, two teams from the site took trip along Old Wuta trail and got to a hot spring fountain called Mohe Hot Spring Fountain(莫很噴泉). The site provides with few interesting videos of the hot spring fountain
http://dar999.pixnet.net/blog/post/14386004And this team's pictures give their readers great understanding of the route's condition.
http://dar999.pixnet.net/album/set/13515671

This team took similar route that taken by the abovementioned research team.
According to the aritlce from the river-tracing site, there are great hot spring and hot spring fountain in Buxiaowan Stream (布蕭丸溪) and Mohen Stream (莫很溪).

第二部：海底總動員之旅
PART II: Finding Nemo

我們在順利的探訪舊武塔古道後，繼續往朝陽國家步道前進。Robert拿一本地圖給我，交代我要把路線看清楚。我很快的找到朝陽國家步道的位置，步道的登山口似乎離南澳市區不遠。我估計著，心想以這樣的距離，大概是要花30分鐘吧！所以，我們還是有機會攀登依山傍的朝陽步道。我問Robert以這樣的距離，大概要花多久的時間？他說只要10分鐘就可以到。我是大感吃驚，從地圖上看來，登山口離我們很遠，後來，我才知道，我忘記參考地圖的比例尺(又學了一課，看圖要搞清楚比例關係。)

雖然不會看地圖，但是我還是很高興，因為我覺得可能有機會看到夕陽。然後Robert又說：那裡面東，沒辦法看夕陽。啊！我馬上又出槌。可是，我突然有新的領悟。如果是看日出的話，那麼步道應該念作朝(ㄓㄠ)陽步道，而不是朝(ㄔㄠˊ)陽步道。Robert不知道這兩種發音的不同，我心想：哈！哈！我贏了吧！(這句當然也不會翻成英文，不然鐵定被K。)，我當然是很有耐心地用我的破英文解釋這破音字之間的不同。

備註：往朝陽國家步道的路上，看見連綿不絕的芒草花。

我們穿過市區的7-11後，往海邊的方向前進。我心想，可以看到海的步道，一定可以是在海邊附近。所以，我們車行便朝著海邊，一路直行。可是，莫名其妙地，鄉間小路前慢慢浮現山巒。地圖上的指標，都沒有出現在我們行進的路上，說不一定，小路是繞過山巒的，繞過山巒後，海景就會在眼前出現。所以Robert一路直行，最後，到最後—死路一條。

我們下車，看看四周的景象，試著尋找可能的方向。一隻小狗拼命的在後方狂吠，左邊是荒田和公墓，右邊是野地和破敗的鐵皮屋。在眼前的水泥橋上，我看一個「朝」字，我高興地告訴Robert，那一定是往朝陽國家步道的方向！可是，我發現，我們正在一條田間小路上，前方已無路可行。我們得要繞回先前我們錯過個岔路，往另一個方向走，才能上橋。Robert試著要倒車，要我在旁編指示方向和距離。我們花了一些時間，想辦法要把車子掉頭。但是，這路實在是太窄，他放棄把車子掉頭，並決定要倒行回到岔路口。當然，原本計畫抵達朝陽步道的10分鍾，早就過去了。

在當時，我覺得這樣的狀況實在是很好玩。一個人在一輩子裡，會有多少機會可以遇到這樣的蠢事(亦順遇到這樣的事情的機會可能比較大)。我還很高興地說：我要拍照，我要把這樣好笑的事情拍下來做紀念，想當然爾，老大哥是不理我。所以沒有照片，但是我畫一張圖以資紀念。

Robert要我上車，因為他要開始倒行。這時候，他就像被Marlin附身，然後我就像是Dory附身(人物性格，請參見海底總動員)。因為小路兩旁雜草叢生，我們看不清楚邊界到底在哪裡，所以他很小心地要我看右邊的路況。他很小心地開車，我則是在旁邊唱：「鄉間小路」Take me home, country roads，我在那當下有一種他想掐死我的感覺。然後，他要我報告車身與邊界的距離是否恰當，我又不知到為什麼，學Dory在海底總動員裡，和鯨魚講話的方式，Robert很緊張地說，拜託你看窗外好嗎？（雖然是疑問句，但這是個命令）。We…Are…Good…, Keep…Going…。總之，Robert很小心地開車，然後我玩得很高興。

最後，我們很安全地回到岔路口，謝謝Robert，很小心的以安全為優先。

我們從岔路出發，轉往朝陽路，直接抵達朝陽漁港，天已經黑了，但沿路上，我們都沒有看到登山口的指示。最後我們決定放棄，要回台北。車子往回行走時，我們突然看到登山口的標示，我們很高興地要一探究竟，這時候，天開始下雨(突然覺得這趟旅行，可以媲美亦順的李歐納柯恩Leonard Cohen演唱會之行)。

To be continued.

2008-12-08 Chrysanthemum Show in CKS Shilin Residence Park (UPDATED)

2008-12-08T19:28:00.002+08:00

I went to CKS Shilin Residence Park this morning before I got in my lab.

CKS Shilin Residence Park was a horticultural research center in Japanese colonial period, it was selected out to be a residence of Mr. Chiang Kai-shek (I don't know if I should call him the former president or the ditactor of Taiwan, so I use Mister.) and Madam Song in 1950, and it was open to the public in 1996 and was turned in to the first Park of Ecology in Taiwan.

Taipei City's Plum Blossom Show, Orchid Show, and Chrysanthemum Show are held annually in this park. I went there for the 2008 Chrysanthemum Show this morning. This year's Chrysanthemum Show took place during 15, November to 30, Novermber. It seems weird that I went there this morning. That is because I don't like to jostle against strangers in a crowd of visitors, I went there near the end of Chrysanthemum season to capture beautiful images of those flowers.

The opening hours of CKS Shilin Residence Park:
Daily Hours are from 8:00 to 17:00
Holiday Hours are from 8:00 to 19:00

Visitors can take MRT Red Line to get to Shilin Station. And take Bus 620, 304, and 255 near Exit 2 to go to the park. Acutally, the park is probably only 300m away from the station. Visitors can spend only 10 minutes walking to the park.

2008-12-07 The Tea Picker's Hiking Trail

2008-12-08T09:21:00.007+08:00

2008-12-06 Happy Get-Together At Patio28

2008-12-07T08:42:00.005+08:00

2008-12-01 Cixing Shan, Taipei 七星山獨行

2008-12-06T10:29:00.010+08:00

2008-12-04 梅蘭芳 Mei Lanfang

2008-12-04T23:36:00.007+08:00

Chinese Title: 梅蘭芳 Mei Lanfang
English Title: Forever Enthralled
Director: Kaige Chen

Kaige Chen, the director of Farewell My Concubine, has his newest movie come to Taiwan in the mid December.

The movie is a biopic about the life of the most famous Chinese opera actor—Mei Lanfang. I was glad to learn that he was making a movie about Mei. I am a huge Chinese opera fan. I had a great environment that provided plenty of opportunities to see Chinese opera when I was a kid. I remembered a put on my mother's skirt and imagine I was a elegant lady, singing and dancing in front of a mirror. In addition to my love for Chinese opera, I also love to see historical films. I was really looking forward to seeing Mei Lanfan in the movie theater.

However, when I knew the leading actor and actress were Leon Lai and Ziyi Zhang, my passion for the movie completely extinguished. Even though I occasionally see movies starry Leon Lai or Ziyi Zhang, I ever like their performance much.

Then, I forgot things about this movie for a while.

Few days ago, I accidentally saw the still pictures of Mei Lanfang, I was enthralled by one of its pictures. This is the one. I love it very much.

I am a Chinese opera fan who is used to see Chinese opera actors or actresses putting up heavy makeup and wearing beautifully embroidered costumes. I was amazed by this picture. I can't help thinking one quesiton: "Who is the man and who is the woman"?

In the story, Ziyi Zhang is a woman and Leon Lai is a man; and on the stage of this story, Ziyi Zhang is a man and Leon Lai is a woman. I love this kind of surreal confusion.

And this still picture stirred up my curiosity, and then I saw few of the movie's trailers online.

My enthusiasm for Chinese opera and historical films came back to me immediately.
Yes, I am going to see this movie when it comes to the theater.

2008-12-03 Bougainvillea

2008-12-03T16:58:00.003+08:00

今天早上出發往實驗室，經過士林的雙溪公園時，一叢火紅豔麗的九重葛捕捉了我的眼光。這叢九重葛非常美麗，所以我禁不住地用相機捕捉它迷人的姿態。
I went to my lab this morning for my weekly lab meeting, and a shrub of flaming Bougainvillea captured my eyesight. This shrub of Bougainvillea was very gorgeous, and I was bewitched and can't help taking picture of them.

這叢豔麗的九重葛，攀生在雙溪公園的男廁。有趣的是，一位小姐從男廁裡走出來，一臉狐疑地看著我，表情似乎說在說：「這女孩子是偷窺狂嗎？為什麼在男廁外拿著相機外猛拍照片？」
This shrub of Bougainvillea grows over the men's toilet in the park. A lady came out from the men's toilet when I was taking pictures of Bougainvillea. She was baffled and her facial expression seemed to say: "Is this girl a pervert? Why on earth is she taking pictures out of the men's toilet?"

她的表情凌厲，我也不甘示弱地用我的眼神說：「小姐！你都可以上男生廁所！我為什麼不能在男廁外面拍照！？」
Her facial expression was forceful; however, I didn't want to be regarded as a loser. I made an eye contact with her, and delivered a message: "Lady, you can get into the men's toilet. Why on earth can't I take pictures outside of the men's toilet!”

九重葛 Bougainvillea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bougainvillea

2008-12-01 The Pillars of the Earth PART 1

2008-12-01T21:03:00.004+08:00

我終於聽完一本40小時又10分鐘的英文有聲書：聖殿春秋。（在網路上搜尋相關訊息後，發現這本書的中譯本似乎已經沒有繼續出版。）聖殿春秋的作者、故事大綱以及人物介紹，可以參考Wikipedia：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillars_of_the_Earth，所以我就不綴言介紹。

I finished listening to a terribly long audio book: The Pillars Of The Earth written by Ken Follett. The book’s running hour is 40 hours and 10 minutes. After I did search online about its Chinese translation version, it seems that its Chinese translation version is out of print. The information about the author, introduction about its protagonists, the story’s background, and the plot are available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillars_of_the_Earth (Wikipedia), so I will spare my poorly written English paragraphs and give no more details about the book. However, I would like to share some experience and inspiration I gained after listening to this book.

我通常是在搭公車或捷運的時候，聽有聲書，一方面不會浪費這每天兩小時的通勤時間，另一方面可以隔絕車廂內喧囂的噪音。最近，騎摩托車的時間變多，搭乘公車或捷運的機會變少，所以，通常要花費約兩個星期的時間，聽完一本15到20小時左右的有聲書。但是我在兩個星期之內，就聽完這本書。Ken Follett有條不紊地敘說在聖殿春秋裡出現的各樣人物的故事，說書人John Lee適切而不誇張的表演，鮮明地展現12世紀的英國社會。我只要一有時間，就會打開電腦或MP3 Player，急切地聽著故事的發展，希望能趕快知道接續又有哪些事件發生。我對英國歷史並沒有很深的涉略，但是也大略知道發生在Queen Maud和King Steven，King Steven和Henry二世以及Henry二世和Thomas Becket之間的衝突的結果。然而，預知結果，並不會減損故事的吸引力，反之，故事的轉折，往往是出乎我的意料之外。雖然，我被作者對暴力的露骨描述所震撼，但是，以另一個角度來看，如果當時社會的女人是如此弱勢，又何必遮遮掩掩地不敢揭露。

I usually listen to audio books when I take MRT or bus, so that I don’t waste my daily 2-to-2.5- hour commute time, and I can shield myself from the noise around me as well. Recently, I have had more chances to ride my scooter to my office and school, I have had fewer chances taking MRT or buses, so it usually takes two weeks to finish listening an 15-to-20-hour audio book. But I finished listening to The Pillars Of The Earth within two weeks. Ken Follett well organizes his story and smoothly navigates among different storylines. He gives his readers vivid portrayals of his protagonists and ties those protagonists’ critical life-events to historical events happened in the 12th century England. John Lee, the narrator of this book, has marvelous performance that brings out those protagonists’ emotional turmoil. The people and the town are splendidly presented in front of me. The story is a cliffhanger, I was eager to know what happened to the people or the town, I listened to it as long as my laptop or MP3 player were available

The story’s development of The Pillars Of The Earth is tied to the conflicts happened between Queen Maud and King Steven, King Steven and Henry II, and Henry II and Thomas Becket, and the consequences of those conflicts. I am no History major and have little knowledge about British history. I have learned a little about the conflicts and their consequences. Even though I had learned the background information, the pleasure of story listening wasn’t diminished. On the contrary, I was often surprised by the twists and wanted to learn more about what happened next.

I was overwhelmed by some parts in the story because the author gives his readers very graphic description of violence happened to female characters. I was pretty upset and had some nightmares for few days. To be honest, I was shocked and afraid that the same situation would happen to me. I thought about if it’s necessary to go into the details of violent events, and now I think if it really reflects women’s poor situations in that historical and social context, it’s what really happened to them, there is no need to avoid revealing the truth of them.

P.S. Peter O’Toole分別在Becket (1964) 和冬之獅 (1968) 飾演King Henry二世，有興趣的人，可以找DVD來看看。

P.S. Peter O’Toole plays King Henry II in the movies Becket (1964) and (The Lion in Winter, 1968). You can get DVDs and watch his excellent performance if you have interests in this kind of historical drama.

2008-11-29 Outing with Friends in Sanxia Old Street

2008-11-30T15:07:00.009+08:00

Captions are coming up soon.

2008-10-12 Daily Photos

2008-10-16T23:14:00.004+08:00

My schoolmates and I went to have hair cut before Angus's birthday party. I tried many times to get a colorful picture in a dim room without using flashlihght. Finally I got the above picture. I quiet like it becuase of its colors, my schoolmate's gesture and her facial express.

We went to Tajana's place to celebrate Angus's birthday. Our birthday boy is the one in the middle. His girlfriend was cheerful because she won the game.

Snakes Getting High-Tech

2008-10-09T00:06:00.004+08:00

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Christmas is two-month away, it's not laughter from Santa Claus. It's laughter I am having as I am writing this blog. I am happy because I am updating my blog. Finally, I managed to get some time to write.

This picture was taken when I still worked in a school. I left this position with having a copy of it. My ex-coworker kindly sent me a copy few days ago. I finally got this photo back. It's one of my favorite pictures. This snake sneaked into a graduate student research room and had a rest on a keyboard. It was not the first time for us to find snakes in this room. A room next to the research room was an animal house (not the movie Animal House) that belonged to the Department of Microbiology. Students of this department kept a lof of mice there for experiments, and those poor mice often attact unwanted vistors.

I think this snake must arrange a mouse feast, and it try to send its invitation via emails. Poor mice!

A Room With A View

2008-08-04T19:52:00.003+08:00

I have been busy working on different projects so that I hadn't updated my blog for a while. I would like to share a lot of things; however, I have so little time. Sigh....

I had this beautiful view from my window in the evening. It's splendid.

2008-07-13 Wantan Hiking & River-Tracing

2008-07-27T16:29:00.001+08:00

Before I could complete my stories about a day trip in Taipei City and a river tracing in Wantan, I departed for a 5-day trip in Southern Taiwan. I found out that Robert and Chris had posted articles about our river tracing in Wantan, so I don't have to report it in details; I would like to spend more time completing my stories about the day trip in Taipei City and vacation in southern Taiwan.

Visitors who have interest in the river tracning can visit their blogs: Pashan and Chris in Asia.

Here are the pictures I took during in that afternoon.

2008-7-3 Sheena's Birthday Party

2008-07-14T16:25:00.001+08:00

The day was Sheena's birthday party and Mike's farewell party as well. Sophie, Bob, Mike, Sheena and I had dinner together at Grazie in Shilin. The food there was okay, nothing special. After our dinner, we went to sheena's place to watch Wimbledon tennis games and to play some card games.

Our birthday gal, Sheena.

Mike has gone to St. Andrews in Scotland for his MA study.

Sophie and Bob. Sophie is a freelance translator, and Bob is a graduate student who studies something about two-timers in NTNU now.

I always thought Mike could be a great Taiwanese film director if he got involved in Taiwanese film industry. However he chose different career path. Anywan, I hope he would do great marketing job for Taiwanese films after he finishes his marketing study.

The tennis game we watched at that night was Zheng Jie vs. Serena Williams. Even though Zheng Jie was defeated, we all thought Zheng's performance was great. We concentrated on the game that we almost forgot playing card games.

2008-07-07 Erge Shan (二格山)

2008-07-07T23:17:00.004+08:00

I was upset because (a) Roger Federer, my all-time favorite professional tennis player, didn't garner his sixth Wimbledon championship yesterday; (b) I am not satisified with my original proposal of cognitive training project which I will have to summit within a week, but I still have no good idea about how to adjust my proposal; (c) I wrote the third part of Day Trip in Taipei City with Dr. Gauthier and Dr. Hayward last night, but it was gone because of Blogspot.com's malfunction; (d) Dr. Fung from Chinese Hong Kong university published a new research report which is similar to my current work. I will have to adjust my subject and have dicussion with my advisor on Friday; however, I still have no new idea.

I wan't in right mood for doing things, and I wanted to cheer myself up so I decided get up to Erge Shan this morning. Hiking in natural and beautiful hiking trails always help to refresh myself.

There is a Twin Peaks elementary school on the Road No. 9 (北宜公路). Two peaks that resemble David Lynch's Twin Peaks are right next to the school. Every time I take Road No. 9 to Pinglin or Erge Shan, I always take pictures of them.

Twin Peaks
Wutu (烏塗)
On my way up to Erge Shan's peak, I saw a spider having its lunch. The spider spun silk to wrap up its prey. The nature is amazing.

A lizard had cool posture for me.

It's butterfly season, I saw a lot of different kinds of butterflies along hiking trails.

The withered leaf in the picture actually is a moth in disguise.

Nice view from the peak of Erge Shan. The ridges like continous green waves, splendid!

Feicui Reservoir

Taipei Basin

It's a little bit hazy, but I could see the estuary of Danshui River. (You can click the picture to see it in bigger size.)

I spent a morning on Erge Shan, having lunch there, then I got home to clean myself up. I felt relax and left home to my school.

I took pictures of great clouds on the way to my school. The clouds were amazing!

2008-06-28 Day Trip In Taipei City PART II

2008-07-05T18:46:00.002+08:00

After browsing splendid collection of Chinese artwork in National Palace Museum, we had our lunch in Silk Palace—a restaurant next to the first exhibition building newly open this month. The food in Silk Palace is a mixture of Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine. We had pretty good Cantonese and Taiwanese food there. (I didn't take pictures of dishes.)

During our lunch, Dr. Gauthier and Dr. Hayward learned what research interest of my advisor, Denny, and I have, and they kindly shared their thoughts with us. They explained to us their universities' various admission approaches, which is very useful to me because I have plan to study overseas after I complete my Master degree. Dr. Hayward introduced Dr. Fung's research to me because my interest is in Positivity Effect. (I learned that Dr. Fung published her new research finding in newest issue of Psychology and Aging few days after the trip; however, the subject in her research report is similar to what I am doing now, which means I will have to adjust the contents that I have been working on.)

When we were having our lunch, we had some Taiwanese dishes that I couldn't explain them in English very well. I found and learned some things about them after the trip so that I could introduce them well next time I encounter similar questions.

絲瓜 (Si-Gua) is the first thing that I couldn't explain well. We had a dish called 炒絲瓜 (Chao Si-Gua, means stir-fry Veggie Sponge) which is a common but delicious Taiwanese cuisine in every household. Veggie Sponge sounds really funny, but it is Si-Gua's English name for real. I looked into several websites and dictionaries, all of them indicate Si-Gua is Veggie Sponge. Veggie Sponge's scientific name is Luffa cylindrical, and the link to its picture is here: http://www.e-penghu.com.tw/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=181

The second thing that I couldn't explain well is the Wulong tea making process. Here is a brief introduction of the Wulong tea making process in Chinese: http://www.teapot.com.tw/tea/tea_right_9.html
Here are web pages that introduce the Wulong tea making process in English.
http://www.canadiantea.com/tea101.htm
http://wu-yiteablog.com/wu-long-tea-making-process/

2008-06-27 Playing Card Games

2008-07-04T14:31:00.006+08:00

Being graduate students in Taiwan can be stressful, different students have their various coping strategies to deal with stress. Some would occasionally rely on alcohol or cigarrete. The coping strategies of my classmates' and mine are playing some fun games, playing sports, and traveling.

It was in the evening, everyone had worked whole day for their thesis. It was time to relax. Joanne and Erin had almost completed their thesis so they thought it was okay to have a short break. We played some card games with the rules that winners could draw patterns on losers' arms or back or put doct tape on losers' faces.

Erin had a handful of good cards, she was excited and showed me her cards.

As what she expected, she won a game.

Valongtine lost a game and got duct tape on her face.

Joanne lost games and got a cute cow on her back.

Eventually, Erin lost games and got doct tape.

It was funny that I didn't lost games in the evening so I didn't get painted or doct tape on my face.

Joanne lost game again, and Erin was the winner. She was busy drawing animals on Joanne's back.

Joanne's colourful back. She got an elephant and a cow.

It was a funny evening, we kept laughing at each other. It was a very good way to lighten up.

After a short break from study, we all had to continue our current work. Joanne was done with her work so she turn to help Angus to work out his chaotic data.

We will travel in Kending at the end of July, I can foreseen that we probably will spend most of time playing games and making fun of each other.

2008-06-28 Day Trip In Taipei City PART I (UPDATED)

2008-07-04T01:51:00.002+08:00

Last week, my advisor and I attended the 13th Conference on Attention and Perception in National Chung-Cheng University in Chayi (Jiayi), Taiwan. This year's topic was Faces, Objects, and Consciousness, in the conference, two keynote speakers—Dr. Isabel Gauthier from Vanderbilt University and Dr. William Hayward from Hong Kong University—gave the audience inspiring talks. I want to learn more about the subjects after listening to their talks.

My advisor hosted a day trip in Taipei for Dr. Gauthier and Dr. Hayward, and my advisor had asked me to plan the trip for them few weeks before this trip. I was pretty anxious. Even though I have met many foreign friends in Taiwan, it was my first time to organize day trip for prestigious professors from foreign countries. In concern about the terribly high temperature and humidity, I planed different traveling routes for them, of course, my advisor was the one who could make the final decision. I thought it was an important job at very beginning, but the trip turned out to be a very pleasant trip. Dr. Gauthier and Dr. Hayward are very nice people. The day trip was great because of their great sense of humour and friendliness.

In the morning of last Saturday, my advisor and I went to Taoyuan to pick up Dr. Gauthier and Dr. Hayward, and then we went to Taipei, started our trip around 10 a.m.

Our first stop is National Palace Museum. (I don't post Dr. Gauthier's and Dr. Hayward's pictures because I don't have their permission.)

I actually took those pictures a day before our day trip because I went there to preparation for their day trip. I tried to figure out best visiting route in the museum.

National Palace Museum

Falun Gong members in Taiwan posted protesting banners on the rails outside of the museum, asking stop persecuting Falun Gong members in China. The slogans were written in various languages.

Buildings block great view of lush hills in front of the National Palace Meseum.
When I was a kid, after those buildings were built, there were rumours circling among Taiwanese. According to those who believed in Feng-Shui the National Palace Museum was nestled in a Dragon's Notch, however; those buildings ruined the museum's great Feng Shui. The Qi of the country (or KMT at that time) was demaged; it was an ominous sigh and led to the power's downfall. I don't believe that, but it is interesting to think about it or tell friends this anecdote.

A view that looks out through transparent glass and drawing-like calligraphy. I quiet like the calligraphy written on the glass, it is too bad that the backdrop is buildings, but not lush hills.

When I was a kid, this history textbooks I read introduced Chinese culture had five-thousand-year-long history. The banner here says Chinese culture has eight-thousand-year-long history. I know that there is new evidence from anthropology and archeology that dated the beginning of Chinese culture back to eight thousand year before. I don't know the details though. :-(
I should spend some time updating my knowledge about Taiwanese and Chinese cultures.

My ticket, the price of student ticket is NT$80, and NT$150 for general visiters. (As far as I know, the National Palace Museum has free entry time from 5:00 p.m. to 8 p.m. every Saturday.)

We spent about 1 hour in the museum, there were many goureous art pieces. I could spend a day there if I had had more time. We browse art pieces made in different dynasties, and we were especially attracted to calligraphy.

We talked about how to recognize Chinese characters, how to determine the criteria the evaluate great calligraphy. I couldn't explain how Chinsese determine great calligraphy well. I pretty much rely on Wikipedia, here is some introduction in English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calligraphy#East_Asian_calligraphy

I had some ideas coming to my mind that those exhibits demonstrate the progress of Chinese technology, but not science. Why didn't Chinsese culturefacilitate the development of science?

After browsing of different exhibitions in the museum, we had our lunch in Silk Palace right next to the first exhibition building.

Note: About Dragon's Notch

I am not a Feng-Shui master so I don't know the definition of Dragon's Notch very well. And I don't know if I translate Long Xie into Dragon's Notch really deliver its meaning well.

I know that a place defined as a Dragon's Notch must have mountains shried it in its right and left and back sides, and there must be a river flowing in the front. The mountains in the left symbolize Qing-Long (青龍) which means indigo dragon; the mountains in the right symbolize Bei-Hu (白虎) which means white tiger; the mountains in the back symbolize Xuan-Wu (玄武), a black tortoise-like mythological creature; and the flowing river in the front symbolize Zhu-Que (朱雀) which is a scarlet phenix. I don't believe in Feng-Shui; but I think this kind of terran actually forms best spot for living or for military purpose.

Weird Idea:

I think Helm's Deep in J. R. R. Tolkein's Middle Earth is like a Dragon's Notch.

Farewell! My Manga Collection!

2008-06-23T23:25:00.001+08:00

I am going to move to Muzha this summer. My new place is much smaller than where I live now, I won't have enough space to store my collections. I will have to get rid of some (or much) of my collections of manga, books, CDs, and DVDs.

Last weekend, I cleared out my manga collections from a storage room and book shelves; I planed to sell them. I finally realized I have a lot of mangas. (The mangas in the pictures are only 1/3 of my collections.) Giving away or selling my collections is tormenting, I checked every set one by one to ensure I won't regret getting rid any of them.

As checked my collections, I started reading them again. Eventually, I spent more time on reading those mangas than on reorganizing them. I only cleared out small section of my collections, it seems that I will spend A LOT OF time doing this cleaning job.

My Lullaby

2008-06-15T20:06:00.005+08:00

I love Beethoven's music a lot, but recently I spent most of my time listening to Tchaikovsky's violin or piano concerto. Every time I listen to them, I imagine I am the player immersed in the music, feeling like what Billy said at the end of Billy Elliot, disappear, like electricity.

I wish I could played piano or voilin well. I have a lot of plans about what I would like to do after I finish my master degree. One of them is that I hope I can pick up piano lessons after I finish my master degree.

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 Mikhail Pletnev with Moscow Radio Symphony Vladimir Fedoseyev

David Oistrakh plays Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35: 1st Movement

天涯歌女 The Wandering Songbird

2008-06-15T15:51:00.012+08:00

Lust, Caution

One of the greatest moments in Ang Lee's Lust, Caution. She has no country; she has no family. She is a lonely soul drifting in the wartime. But she has the man's real-self and affectionateness when their hands hold. It's the moment two lonely souls come to attached to each other.

When I searhed for relevant clips on Youtube.com, I found two Chinese legendary actresses, Zhou Xuan and Li Xianglan, also sang the song. The song in different context delivers very different messages.

I never saw any movie starring Zhou Xuan or Li Xianglan in theaters, because they were great stars belonging to my grand parents' generation. But I often read stories about them when I read articles or references regard to Chinese film history.

天涯歌女(The Wandering Songbird) By 周璇 (Zhou Xuan)

Zhou Xuan on Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Xuan

The clip is from a movie called Street Angle. Zhou Xuan is very cute and her voice is sweet in this film.

天涯歌女(The Wandering Songbird) By 李香蘭 (Li Xianglan, a.k.a. 山口淑子)

Li Xianglan on Wiki, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshiko_Otaka

2008-06-07 Friends' Graduation

2008-06-07T23:13:00.008+08:00

My lovely friends had serious postures when they were taken pictures with our professor.

They are fun and sweet people, and most of them graduate this month. I will miss them very much after they leave our department.

Mementos PART I

2008-05-31T23:42:00.005+08:00

The tie and the card were given by a man I liked nearly 15 years ago. I put them in my Mementos Box, and I somtimes take the box out of a desk drawer and check each piece of my mementos one by one. Every time I touch the tie, feel the soft silk, and reread thoe notes in the card, a bitter-sweet feeling springs out from the deep of my heart. It was heart-wrenching; but after those years, memories of some moments become colourful sparklings that jewel my life.

The Voice of Music PART I

2008-05-31T21:54:00.004+08:00

There are few fabulous actresses whose voices are voices of music. Every time I listen to them speaking, I am always enchanted and wish I would be able to speak as they do when I speak English. They are Julie Andrews, Emma Thompsons, and Cate Blanchett.

Julie Andrews

Julie and Carol at the Carnegie Hall
I love their performance; it's elegant but also hilarious. Both of them were really talented.

Julie Andrews and Gene Kelly - Tapping Game
This short film always makes me watch The Sound Of Music and Singing In The Rain again. Those two musical films are classic.

Mama Cass Elliot and Julie Andrews
The sound quality isn't good, but their voices still linger in my mind. I often hum the songs they sang. I wish there is a DVD of their performance available.

The Who - The Kids Are Alright

2008-05-31T21:05:00.001+08:00

I was too young to be there. Thanks to those who share the music videos online. I love them very much.

Who Are You

Won't Get Fooled Again

Baba O'Riley

2008-05-17 Lionhead Mountain 新店小獅頭山

2008-05-18T16:01:00.006+08:00

2008-05-02 Kin's Birthday Party

2008-05-18T14:43:00.001+08:00

2008-04-30 Lab Meeting

2008-05-18T14:26:00.002+08:00

2008-04-18 Choutoushan in Pinxi 臭頭山，平溪

2008-05-18T14:25:00.004+08:00

筷子的功能 The Function of Chopsticks

2008-05-03T22:33:00.007+08:00

I recently watched King Hu's few classic films—Dragon Inn, Come To Drink With Me, Touch Of The Zen, and Legend Of The Mountains. After watching those films, I have an interesting idea of collecting classic scenes from some martial art movies. One of classic scens cross my mind is catching dart by using chopsticks.
最近連續看過胡金銓的幾部經典電影：龍門客棧、大醉俠、俠女和山中傳奇。看過之後，突發奇想地想蒐集一些經典武俠場景。閃入我腦海的經典場景的其中之一就是用筷子接暗器。

In many martial art films, chopsticks become a tool to demonstrate protagonists' outstanding Kung fu.
在許多武俠電影，中國人的筷子不再是單純的吃飯用具，往往變成展示主人翁高超的功夫的媒介。

龍門客棧(Dragon Inn)

大醉俠(Come To Drink With Me)

I vaguely remember that there are similar scenes from Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill and Kill Bill II, but I don't have enough free time to watch them again and pick out those scenes. I will update the pictures when I have more free time.

我隱約記得在李安的臥虎藏龍(Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)，還有在Quentin Tarantino的追殺比爾(Kill Bill)，追殺比爾II(Kill Bill II)有類似的場景，但是最近沒什麼時間重看這三部電影。等我比較有空，找到其他類似場景，再作更新。

2008-04-25 攀岩不成 No Rock Climbing

2008-05-03T22:31:00.001+08:00

Out lab will be move to a new building in July, so I feel like to take some pictures of our lab.
我們實驗室在今年七月就要搬家了！所以我想趁著搬家前，拍攝一些照片留念。

This research room is a haunt of two professors' graduate students. It seems to be the most busy and popular place in our department.
這間助理室是兩位老師的研究生常出沒的地方，應該是系上現今最熱鬧活絡的研究室。

Graduate students have chats in the room and enjoy the relaxing time when the bosses are away.
研究生們慵懶地在研究室裡聊天，享受老闆不在家的悠閒時間。

Almost at every Friday nights, we have dinner or have some activities together, so we can relief stress accumulated during our daily work or study. We plan to go rock climbing at a newly-opened indoor rock climbing venue in Shilin after dinner.

週五晚間，我們這群研究生有時會相約一起用餐或從事一些休閒活動，釋放一些平時因為工作或唸書所累積的壓力。今天我們計畫在晚上用過晚餐後，到士林新開的一家室內攀岩場攀岩。

I was injured few weeks ago and haven't recovered from it completely, I can't do rock climbing. I still determine to attend this activity because I always want to learn some basic rock climbing skills though, especially after I joined in Hiking Club.

我因為受傷的關係，當然是無法攀岩。但是在加入Hiking Club之後，我一直想學基礎的攀岩技巧，我秉持著好奇心，跟著一起參與這次的活動。

We have our dinner at a Shabushabu in Shilin. After dinner, we learn that the indoor rock climbing venue is still under renovation. We can't do rock climbing tonight.

我們一群人到士林的一家涮涮鍋店吃飯。吃完飯後，我們才知道這家室內攀岩場正在進行整修，我們沒辦法在今晚從事攀岩活動。

We think over other options, and then we decide to go to YZ's place and watch comedy movie and play PC games. Before going to YZ's place, I learn that JL and JH must go home to feed their cats. I want to see their cats, they invite me to their place and I can play with their cats a while.

後來，臨時起意，決定租影片，然後到YZ家看電影，玩大富翁。
YZ到家前，我知道JL和JH必須先回家餵他們家裡的兩隻美貓，我想看他們家的美貓，所以跟著去他們的住處，和他們的貓咪玩耍。

JL and JH's gentle cat, Mazhu. JL和JH的可愛溫和美貓：麻糬。

Another beautiful cat, FyFy. She is a bit of paranoid and untouchable. 另一隻美貓FyFy，有點神經質，比較難以接近。

We get to YZ's place, and spend our Friday night listening to YZ's singing, watching The Simpsons, and playing PC games. It's relaxing and leisurable time.

我們到YZ家，整個週五晚上，聽YZ唱歌，看電影，打電動。在慵懶和放鬆的心情下，輕鬆度過。

搬家嗎？

2008-04-29T21:18:00.000+08:00

我妹昨晚突然打電話來，劈頭就問我要不要搬家。原來他們夫妻新開室內設計公司，在萬芳醫院附近租下一間套房作為登記的公司，套房內有些空間，他們夫妻覺得浪費，希望我能搬去，幫他們看管，同時他們也盤算要把我現在的住所出租。

我不知道應該說我妹是急驚風，還是有高超的行動力。她想到啥就做啥，鮮少考量前因後果。上星期她突然想到要處理家裡的事情，急著打電話找我。我因為在上課，手機沒有開。下課，回家後，手機開機。哇！12通未接電話，真的是奪命連環叩。她想到就要做，但弄到最後還是我到戶政事務所，地方警局申請相關文件，可能不久後，要我上法院開庭。

我一想到要處理這些麻煩事，就覺得煩。只是，這些事務因為外在或內在的因素，一再拖延，十幾年就這麼過去。這樣延宕或擱置不處理，似乎也不是辦法。（或許有時真的要像她那樣衝動，才能完成某些事。）這次，她建議我搬家，也是在一夜之間冒出的念頭。

我對於她的建議，倒是有些動心。因為時機恰好的關係吧！她打電話來前，我正好被管委會的老伯伯煩一陣子，我原本就有不喜歡現在住所環境的感覺，被煩後，感覺變得更強烈，想搬家的心情開始醞釀。只是，整理一個居住將近20年的地方實在是一件大工程。

我原本就在整理我這些年所累積的蒐藏品：漫畫、CD、DVD和中外文書籍。昨天晚上很認真的估算我到底有多少蒐藏品，算下來，還真的嚇一大跳。CD是最少的，大約200張左右（不包含放在學系辦公室，賴著不肯拿回家的部分），漫畫，數百冊，中外文書籍也有數百冊，數量最龐大的是電影和影集DVD，已經朝向1500邁進。我和室友S.F.，兩個人分近30坪的地方，我總是覺得不夠大，原來空間在不知不覺中被這些蒐藏品佔據。

現在，要裝箱打包為數眾多的蒐藏，真可怕！我每天整理家裡的某一角落，一塊一塊的整理，希望能逐漸的清理出空間，然後也藉這機會列出我的蒐藏品清冊，建檔管理。到工程完畢時，翻閱自己的厚厚一疊的蒐藏品清冊，一定會很有成就感吧！（唉啊！真的是大工程！）

氣象預報又一台

2008-04-28T22:56:00.000+08:00

幾年前的交通意外事故，讓我的右腳踝變成很準確氣象預報台，我個人評估準確率有達85％。這現象要部分歸咎於當年的固執和逞強，沒有適切的照料患部。現在，每當濕氣過重時，或者雨天來臨前，腳踝和小腿都是一陣隱隱的酸痛。

幾個月前，在三峽滿月園扭再次傷腳後，原本的酸痛變成刺痛。所以，氣象預測的警報變得更明顯易懂。

有這氣象預報台的唯一好處是，不會忘記帶雨傘。

前陣子，很愚蠢地在家滑倒，造成左手手肘受割傷。從外觀看來，傷口癒合的狀況良好。但是，昨天晚上，我的左手手肘發出一陣的刺痛，右腳腳踝則是一陣的酸痛，這樣的左右夾擊，讓我整晚不得安寧。

今天，下雨。

我想，現在我有兩台氣象預報台可參考，不用再看氣象新聞。

2007-10-28 Fengtoujian in Pinxi 鋒頭尖, 平溪

2008-04-27T02:53:00.002+08:00

The Hiking Club went hiking in Choutou Shan (臭頭山) in Pinxi (平溪) on last Saturday. I am going to write an article about our hike. I found that I would refer to a hike we did in Fengtoujian (鋒頭尖) in Pinxi about 6 months ago. I posted a story about this hike on a forum before, but I decided to report this hiking event on my own blog so that my friends or other browsers will know better when they read my article about hiking in Choutou Shan.

Last year, on October 28th, Robert, Chris, Kitty and I visited the eastern peak of Fengtoujian (鋒頭尖). We started our hike along the Dongshige Trail (東勢格越嶺步道) along Gualiaokengxi (瓜寮坑溪, Gualiaokeng Wadi was its name on the map; however, Chris and Robert said the translation wasn't correct. They wouldn't use wadi to describe the stream).

It's a beautiful day and hikers could walk along with the lovely and clean stream. We had a nice walk along the trail, it's a great enjoyment to see the sunlight shining into the woods so that the leaves gleamed golden light and the stream glimmered sliver light. It's gorgeous. We passed by a disused office and a tunnel which are the traces of the coal mining industry of Taiwan in the old days. It a peaceful and relaxing walk in the woods, and I didn't realize I would learn what Great Challenge means.

TheLovely Dongshige Trail (東勢格越嶺步道)

The View of Shisunjian (石筍尖)

After we passed by the disused office and tunnel, we turned to the trail leading to Jiantoufeng. At this point, we started our way climbing up all the way to the eastern peak of Fengtoujian. The trail in front of us was blocked by slippery big rocks. Thanks to the help from all the members of the Hiking Club, I could climb up those slippery big rocks. The trail behind those rocks was steep, but we could still WALK on the trail, and when we look back, we were all amazed by the spectacular view of Cimufeng. When I saw it, I felt it looked like a mother holding her baby, and according to Mucha Man, the name of Cimufeng was actually from some events about CKS.

We made our way to the eastern peak of Fengtoujian which only could accommodate 3-4 people, and there were no barriers or ropes around us, only short bushes. We carefully sat in the right place and had our lunch. The view at the eastern peak of was amazing.

The View of Zhongyangjian(中央尖)

After lunch, we continued our hike, I started my TRAINING DAY—A Long Walk Along Steep-Slippery-Razor-Like-Narrow ridge. The trail extending in front of me was a scary steep narrow ridge. I can't remember how I passed through the ridge exactly. I only could remember how my feelings and reactions changed.

At first, when I looked at the view in front of me, "WOW! Hxxxx Sxxxx!" came into my mind. I tried to laugh to cheer myself up, and tried to focus on the task of passing though the ridge. I told myself to keep calm, I believed I was competent to overcome any difficult challenges.

Kitty Bravely Passing Through One Part of The Ridge

After I passed through the first section of the ridge, another section was presented to me, and the fears started taking over me. I could feel one part of myself wanted to give it up. I had the thought that I didn't want to go any further for few seconds. I got stuck for few times, I thought I would cry after I went through this ridge. And then, I started murmuring, like a little cat getting stuck on a tree and meowing and crying for help.

I murmured in Mandarin. I was in a very weak self-control so I turned to my mother-tongue for communication. And I childishly protested and said I had nothing to hold in a very thin and quivering voice. Other Hiking Club members immediately came to help me to go through the point of nearly breaking down. It's funny to think back my reaction to fears, but not it wasn't fun when I was stuck on the ridge.

After I passed through the ridge, I found I was shivering. "WOW!" came into my mind. At that moment, the feelings were really complicated. That included the feeling of appreciation for the help and support from other Hiking Club members, the feeling of happiness of successfully going through the ridge and the most interesting feeling of amazement to see my true nature of a human being through the great fears, and I also felt I pushed the line of my limitation further. The feelings were REALLY GOOD.

The Eastern Peak of Fengtoujian (Where We Had Lunch)

The protuding of the peak in the middle of the picture was where we had lunch. It's was really dangerous but amazing.

We finally went through the most challenging part of the hike and took a steep way down to the valley. I developed a funny skill which I named it SIT-AND-SLIDE. I spent most of my time sitting and sliding down to the valley. It was cool but muddy.

Near the end of the way down to the valley, we had to walk on a really narrow path along a cliff whose splendid view was a terrific treat to refresh us.

I had some thoughts afterwards and posted it on a forum. Here are those ideas I wrote at the moment of recollecting memories of the hiking event.

This the morning before the hike, Chris asked me why I go hiking. I told him I like the peaceful and relaxing feeling in the woods, and the feeling of concentration. It's a kind of mediation that I could filter out of daily noises in mind. I also like the feeling of empowerment because I can accomplish tasks that I once believe I am unable to complicating, it's a sense of self-enhancement. But after Sunday's hike, I realized I was too arrogant. I relied on other Hiking Club members' helps and instructions a lot. They taught me how to overcome challenges, shared their experiences with me and helped me went through difficulties. I think both I enjoy the sense of trust and reliance as well as the sense of self-enhancement. Excellent Hike!! :)

p.s. I can't fall into sleep and I don't want to waste my time on turn and toss on bed, I decide to working on my blog articles. But I can't keep my mind really clear, I may make a lot of mistakes in terms of word usage or grammar in this article.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) 卡里加利博士的小屋

2008-04-26T23:24:00.001+08:00

幾年前，Eric讓我看一部電影：「卡里加利博士的小屋」。這部1920年的無聲電影，是我第一部觀賞的德國表現主義電影。這部電影的故事，即使在將近90年後再看，依舊引人入勝。故事情節曲折離奇，同時它的結局出乎意料。而我特別喜愛場景設計非寫實的繪圖，扭曲的線條，光怪陸離的圖像；充滿想像與創造。

最近，不知什麼緣故，這部電影中某些場景不斷在夢裡出現。所以再跟Eric借這部電影的光碟來看。同時，因為英語聽力比以前好很多，所以準備花些時間聽這部影片中電影歷史學者的隨片講評，多作些功課。

印象最深刻，最喜愛的場景。

2008-04-05 Fushan Section of Nation Fuba Hiking Trail 福巴越嶺, 福山段, 烏來

2008-04-20T23:48:00.002+08:00

In the early April, Chris went home for few months, Robert went to Batongguan for a 7-day cross-island hike, and Peter was stuck to his work. Most Hiking Club members were busy. I decided to organize one on my own. And Katannya liked to join me She had been busy since our New Year Hike in Hapen Hiking Trail and she finally finished most things that kept her busy. She wanted to get to the trails and to enjoy nature. I also hadn't had long hike for several weeks because of the terribly bad weather in Taipei. I decided to have a 4-hour hike for exercise and regain my physical strength. I planed to do part of Fuba Hiking Trail (福巴越嶺) which is a national hiking trail connecting Fushan Village, Wulai (福山村，烏來鄉)and Balin (巴陵)in Fuxin, Taoyuan (復興鄉，桃園縣).

This national hiking trail, in fact, has two names. It's called Bafu Hiking Trail (巴福越嶺) if hikers start their hike in Balin, and it's called Fuba Hiking Trail (福巴越嶺) if hikers start their hike in Fusha.

I studied its route and map and searched for information online for days, and then Katannya and I went hiking in Wulai. We met around 9 a.m. at MRT Xindian station. We didn't take bus to Bafu Hiking Trail because there is no public transport available to the trailhead. I rode my scooter and took Katannya to the trailhead.

The day was splendid. It was sunny but not terribly hot, a perfect day for hiking.

It took us about one hour to get to the trailhead. Before entering Fushan Village, there is a police station called Wufu station (烏福檢查哨) where visitors should come to apply permission to Fushan region. The permission fee is NT$10, but the police has to check applicts' identity, therefore every group of applicants should provide one of its memober's for registration.

Wufu Station (烏福檢查哨)

Compared with Hapen Hiking Train, Fuba Hiking Trail has nice and clean gate.

The Trailhead of National Fuba Hiking Trail

There is a bridge connecting the gate and the trailhead, hikers can see the trail right after they passing through the bridge.

A Bridge Connects the Gate and the Trailhead

Even though there are various kinds of plants growning alone the trail, the trail is well-maintained, not overgrown.

The forest was lush and the shade on the trail was really nice. We weren't exposed to sunlight.

Bird-nest fern is commonly seen plant along trails, the bird-nest fern along Fuba Hiking Trail is the most gorgeous I have ever seen. Katanny is an experienced hiker and she studid plants. I like to go hiking with her, she often tell me things that amazed me. She taught me bird-nest fern's scientific name which is a Latin name. It's too bad that I am unable to memorize the name she taught me; otherwise I can show off it when I hang out with my friends. :p

Really Beautiful Bird-nest Fern Bird-nest fern actually is good material for Taiwanese cuisine. Stir-fry Shansu (炒山蘇) is a popular dish in most Taiwanese restaurants. Every time I see bird-nest fern, A voice saying "food! food!" in my mind like echoes.

Katannya Noticed the Unknown Bugs in Beautiful Red

In the first 1 km of the trail, there are a lot of bridges made of logs. They look lovely, but after actually stepping on those bridges, Katannya and I thought it would be pretty slippery in rainy day or after rain.

The forest changed after the 1 km point.

Because the guys didn't join us, Katannya and I had more conversations concerned with women's situations in Taiwan. We exchaned a lot of ideas. She is a great and working-hard Mandarin learner. I hope I can have more chances to talk to her and help her to learn Mandarin.

Splendid Statue Made by Nature

Katannya and I had to return to Taipei before 6 p.m., so we couldn't complete the whole Fushan Section. We started our hike around 10:30 a.m. and we had to return to trailhead before 3:00 p.m, so we turned back to trailhead around 1:20 p.m.

About 3 p.m. we got to the trailhead. We found that there was a board set at the trailhead which has terrible English translation from forest bureau's announcement. She couldn't figure out what the content was and I could barely translate it, but I also couldn't understand its map. It was a drawback of this trail; there is no decent map and good introduction anywhere along the trail.

When we had a break at the gate, I found something weird happened to my socks looked like being chewed by something. When I was tring to figure out what destroyed my socks, Katannya found something like a leech. Indeed, it was a leech, which sucked ed enough blood so it fell off naturally. And then we realized I was bitten by leeches. I scaned over my legs quickly and found another leech.

The leech that sucked a lot of my blood fell off and its size enlarged to three or four times than the starving one's.

The blood didn't stop for a while, but I felt nothing because the leeches released some chemical material into the wounds. The worse part was I was allegic to it and got a rash. And the wound is still itchy now.

The Leech's Mouth, Cool! Katannya helped me to deal with those leeches and leeches' bites. And then we went back to Taipei.

On our way home, every thing was fine at very beginning. But I felt sharp sting on my left leg when I was riding the scooter. I couldn't help it but pulled my scooter over and checked it out. And then I saw a leech chewing my leg. Sxxt! I caught it right before it released its chemical material into me leg. Well, I learned the lesson hard way that wearing gaiters is necessary to prevent leech's bites.

But overall, this hike was great except those bites from leeches.

2008-04-03 Zhuzihu's Calla Lily Festival in Yangming Mountain 陽明山/竹子湖採海芋

2008-04-18T15:51:00.003+08:00

Few days before we went to Zhuzihu, my flatmate told me that she read some articles about Zhuzihu's Calla Lily Festival (竹子湖海芋季) on some websites. Some visitors wrote that there would be an interesting sound when a calla lily is pulled out. They expressed they were amazed by the feelings of standing in the calla lily fields and the sound. She wanted to hear the sound.

However, her boyfriend had no interest in going out in rainy days and he was not into this kind of outdoor acitivity. She didn't want to go there alone, so she asked me asked me if I would like to pick calla lilies (海芋) in Zhuzihu (竹子湖) with her. I thought this idea over. I don't mind going out in rainy days as long as I have right gear and I sometimes go hiking in rainy days. It would be fun because I rarely get up to Yangming Mountain even though my university is right at the foot of Yangming Mountain, so I decided to go to Zhunihu with her. We checked our schedules. We got to Zhuzihu two days after our chats.

Before our departure, we discussed some possible choices of transport. We found out that we had to go to Jiantian MRT station, and taken Bus 206 or Red 5 to Yangmingshan and then take Bus 9 to Zhuzihu. One MRT route and two bus routes would probably take us almost 2 hours to get to Zhuzihu. It's too rediculous and a waste of time, so we decided to go there by scooter.

My flatmate and I shared one scooter, and we probably spent one hour to get to Zhuzihu. It was couldy when we were in Taipei City, but it became misty and mildly rained as we went up to Yangmingshan.

When we arrived at Zhuzhihu, we found there were a lot of visitors around. We were suprised to see so many people because it wasn't a holiday. But it wasn't crowded, we could have good space to enjoy the fields of calla lilies.

It was misty and rainy, all fields were supposed to full of mysterious serenity. It was rainy so the pathes in fields were slippery. I could hear screams from other college girls near by at times because they couldn't balance themself when they walked in the fields. It was funny to see it though. I was lucky that I wore my hiking boots so I could easily pass through differnt lanes in the fields like a busy honey bee.

Mist-Shrouded Calla Lily Fields

I didn't expect how much fun I would have in this Calla Lily Festival. But it was really refreshing when I standed in the fields and looked at the scenery around me. I could felt the cold air in my lungs which cheer me up. It was really cold but I didn't feel umconfortable. When I pulled out a calla lily, I indeed heard a snap sound. It was like a sound of opening a bottle of champagne, which gave me a feeling of excitement mixed with a joy. Really Fun!

I think the most special thing about visiting calla lily fields in rainy day is I could see raindrops glittering brim of calla lilies.

After we picked all calla lilies we needed, we went to one of the resturants along the calla lily fields and had sweet potato soup. It was really nice to have sweet potato soup with ginger, which warmed me up immediately. We had delicious soup and then we took a walk in other calla lily fields.

My flatmate and I spent an afternoon in Zhuzihu. We had fun and had nice soup, and we got beautiful calla lilies with us back home. They are calla lilies we got at that day.

I am never an artist, too bad that I couldn't catch the most beautiful faces of calla lilies. I really like O'keefe's painting of calla lilies though. She is one of modern artists I love. The trip to Zhuzihu made me think of her masterpieces, and I spent some time looking for information about her online.

Georgia O'keefe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_O

2008-03-15 Maokong, Erjiaogeshan, Xinhualin, Zhanshan Temple Hiking (貓空/鵝角格山/杏花林/樟山寺之行) END

2008-04-16T00:41:00.004+08:00

It has been a month since we went hiking in Muzha. I finally write the last part of our hike.

After we left Erjiaoge Shan (鵝角格山) trail, we took Zhanghu Hiking Trail (樟湖步道) and headed to Xinhualin (杏花林).

A Distant Look of Erjiaoge Shan on Zhanghu Hiking Trail

Along Zhanghu Trail, there are a lot of tea fields. The one of the picture below is my favorite field.

A section of Zhanghu Trail near Xinhualin has both stone-paved road and natural dirt path. Most of it is flat and really nice for those who want to take a ease walk with young kids. If you only want to hike along Zhanghu Trail without climbing up Erjiaoge Shan, you can take the other entry, 5-mintue walk away from Maokong Station.

When we were walking on the trial, I saw a cyclist riding on the trail. There was a steep slope in front us, he sped up and tried to rode up to the top. But it was too difficult for him, he eventually gave it up, and walked up to the top with his bike instead.

We soon arrived at Xinhualin. We got to the apricot blossom field from it section A. And it was insanely crowded, a lot of visitors were there. Most of them talked to each other with loud voice. Xinhualin came a kind of Taiwanese traditional market.

Some of them came there by tourist buses. Robert and Chris felt it was really funny. We were baffled with it popularity, but we reckoned it probably became a stop of a day trip of Maokong.

When we were walking in the apricot blossom field, I struggled to find space to pass through the crowds and managed to take pictures of flowers. I hate crowded place and I would rather stay away from those visitors, but I love those gorgeous blossoms and love to take photos of them. I found I was like Remy from Ratatouille, panicingly trying to find a way out but was attracted to different food material, spice and cooking skills when he fell into the Gasteau's restaurant.

After I was satisfied with photo shooting, I ran down stairs and left those visitors as soon as I could even though my legs were tired after a almost 4 hour walk.

"Run! Forrest Run!" was the picture I had when I ran down the stairs. I ran desperately like Forrest.

Xinhualin Became A Market

I tried very hard to avoid taking other passersby into my photos.

Gorgeous Apricot Blossoms

After the walk in Xinhualin, we went to Zhizitian Teahouse(自在田茶坊) to have ice tea and short break.

We went to Zhangshan Temple(樟山寺) and took Zhangshan Temple Hiking Trail (樟山寺步道) to NCCU after the break. At Zhangshan Temple, Robert and Chris tried few Taiwanese tyle sausages. I never like this kind of food even though I am Taiwanese, but they said it's good.

A Beautiful View Before Sunset

We arrived at NCCU, and we went to 滇味小鎮, a resturant offers Yunnan style food in front of NCCU. The dished we had were great and their price were super low. It has no fancy decor but the food there is great. I would like to visit it every time I come back from hiking in Muzha.

Great hiking company, nice trails, and delicious food. I had really good time.

Accident: There Will Be Blood (UPDATE)

2008-04-13T21:48:00.016+08:00

I am recovering from the injury I had on April 5th and I can type more words than I did last week. I can try to post its cause and consequences. Well, actually, it was a really stupid accident.

I got back home from a hiking Fushan in Wulai. First thing I did was checking my email. I recieved email from my advisor and she wanted me to revise a figure for her. She also wrote that she would call me so we could discuss things about the figure.

I thought I would better wait for her phone call and in the meantime, I could think whether I would be able to make the trip to Cloud 9 for Michael's birthday outing if I needed to complete the figure within a short time. I waited for my advisor's phone call as watched a movie: There Will Be Blood. All of a sudden, I got a rash over my legs, which could be resulted from leeches' bites I got during my hiking in Fushan. I thougt I would better get a show. It could help to alleviate the rash.

While I was taking a shower, I heard my cell phone ringing. I thought sxxt, my advisor's call. I dashed out and wanted to picked up the phone. However, as I stepped out the door of my bathroom, I slipped and heavily fell. It really hurt. Because of the impact, I felt my whole body was acking. I struggled to stand up but I missed the phone. I checked the unanswer message on my phone's screen. It indeed was a phone call from my advisor. "Sxxt! I still missed it."

I returned her call and then we had a funny conversation.

I: "Hello, this is XX (my Chinese name). I have got your email."
My advisor: "Can you understand what I mean by reading the draft I sent?"
I: "Yes, no problem."
"Eh..? Why my hand and arm are full of blood!"
"I am bleeding. I think I got a cut."
"Sxxt! I see my bone."
My advisor: "Ah! you saw your bone."

I think my advisor was terrified by what I said.

I hang up the phone and tried to stop the bleeding. I grabbed a towel and repressed my wound with it. I saw my blood on the floor and with few seconds, I couldn't believe what happened to me. I think I was overwhelmed by my fear because I knew it was a severe cut by seeing my own bone. I put myself together soon and called my flatmate for help. My flatmate was with her friends in Shida night market. After she learned my bad news, she immediately ended her date and tried to get home as soon as possible. (I appreciated to her help very much when I was in terrible condition.)

I waited for her for 10-15 minutes and tried to stop my bleeding. I was lucky that I evetually got the bleeding under my control. I tried to put up some clothes and then I suddenly had a fear.

My fear resulted from that I knew well how bad my injury was and I definitely had to go to ER for treatment for my wound. I could visulized what would happen to me after I got to a hospital. Surgeons would open my wound again and clean it and stitch it. I could tolerate the pain I had at that time, but I really didn't want to open the wound and more vicious pain.

My flatmate got home and then I reluctantly took a taxi with her and headed to the biggest hospital in my neighborhood.

Accident: There Will Be Blood

2008-04-07T21:19:00.005+08:00

I had an accident last Saturday which caused severe injury on the joint of my left albow. I can barely type so I won't be able to update my blog for days.

I will try to post articles about the end of hiking in Muzha, new travel in Zhuzihu, new hiking in Fusha, and something about this stupid accident soon after I recover from the injury.

2008-03-15 Maokong, Erjiaogeshan, Xinhualin, Zhanshan Temple Hiking (貓空/鵝角格山/杏花林/樟山寺之行) PART II

2008-04-04T11:10:00.001+08:00

It has been weeks since we went hiking in Muzha. I was busy to post the hike. For a reason, I had to see a lot of movies in a short period of time and to select some proper movies used a class. I am about to finish the selection so that I can try to complete the hiking story.

In our hiking in Muzha, after we got to the front gate of Zhinan Temple, we turned to trail that leads to Zhinan Elementary School (指南國小).

The Trail Going To Zhinan Elemtary School.

The Entry/Exit Of The Trail

A Shabby Mud Brick House Alongside The Road

We finished hiking on Zhinam Temple Hiking Trail which was a short route that took us probably 15 minutes, and we headed to Maokong. We got to the trailhead of Zhinan Tea Pickers Hiking Trail (指南茶路親山步道), a 1-km trail that goes to gondola's Maokong station. The trailhead is right next to the front gate of Zhinan Elementary School.

The Trailhead of Zhinan Tea Pickers Hiking Trail (指南茶路親山步道)

I have hiked on Zhinan Tea Pickers Hiking Trail several times and I have a post about the trail few weeks ago that is about looking for Xinhualin in Muzha. But hikers always can find new intersting things even though they visit same trails over and over.

In this hike we took a branch road in the tea fields and explored the path. We found an old mud brick house located at the end of the branch road. There were some old tools, statue and old style bird cage placed outside the house. It formed a bizzard but attractive scene to me.

One Corner Of The Old House

The Front Door Of The Old House

The house gave me a feeling that I was in a different space and time. Everthing there brought me back to my childhood. It seemed that I was physically in the present, but I was mentally in the past. And the force of present and the past collided in this space and time. It was a strange but touching feeling. (I don't know if those sentences make sense, but I can't find some proper phrases to present my ideas in English.Please forgive my poor English.)

We had a lunch break on the trail and we talked about several different ideas. Some were about ankle rehab because my ankle got injured in our hike in Shanxia, and other things were about organic food and eco-food. It was great to learn more about those things which will help me to stay healthy.

We soon got to Moakong after our lunch break. When we arrived at Maokong MRT station, I was astonished at what I saw. The surroudings of Maokong became chaotic. Hundreds of tourists and tourist cars made the street like a Taiwanese traditional market. The noise from speakers touting establishments's dishes was intolerable. We got the a trail that goes to Erjiaoge Shan as soon as we could. And we drew the conclusion that Maokong is a perfect place for hiking and relaxing only during weekdays, but never in weekends or holidays. We should avoid visiting Maokong when there will be a lot of tourists around.

The Trail That Goes To Erjiaoge Shan (鵝角格山)

As we got higher, the tourist gradully became fewer and fewer. Only hikers were on the trail.

The trail is steep and goes to the ridge. And its trailhead is right in front of Maokong MRT station.

The trail is about 600m and we spent about 20 minutes reaching the ridge. Along the ridge, hikers can see a direction sign.

The board on the ground was supposed to be on the pole, it was broken and no one fixes it. But the direction it indicates is right.

Next to the direction sign, there is a Mazhu statue. Many followers put coins and candies in her hands. A umbrella in placed above her to shield her from wind and rains.

We had a short break and then we continue our hike to Erjiaoge Shan(鵝角格山). Erjiaoge Shan is also called Erkongji Shan (鵝公髻山). I don't know it origin, but by telling from its literally meaing, it means a kind of ancient Chinese hair style which looks like the protrudent part on a gander's head.

The trail that goes to the peak of Erjiaoge Shan

A Nice Walk In The Woods

In the opening along the trail, hikers can see Erge Shan (二格山).

And also the line of gondola stations.

It's really cool to see those gondolas lining up and passing through the valley. The day was too hazy and I don't have good filer lens so I couldn't take clear pictures of the line.

Going down Erjiaoge Shan is kind of difficult. It's steep and there is no stairway. Most of time we had to hold the ropes and descended slowly down.

After we got down to the foot from Erjiaoge Shan's ridge. The trail became a nice abd flat pathe again.

We left Erjiaoge Shan and then continued our hike on Zhanghu Hiking Trail (樟湖步道).

To be continued.

2008-03-15 Maokong, Erjiaogeshan, Xinhualin, Zhanshan Temple Hiking (貓空/鵝角格山/杏花林/樟山寺之行) PART I

2008-03-24T19:20:00.006+08:00

I went hiking with Robert, Chris, Kitty, and Patty on March 15th. We started the hike late because most of us aren't early birds. We met around 11 a.m. at NCCU and Patty would meet up with us at the trailhead. It was great to meet Kitty and Patty again. Kitty was on business trip in our previous few hiking events, and Patty was unable to join us in previous few hikes, too. They are active and competent hikers who always share many interesting stories with me. It was great to meet them on trails.

We passes through NCCU's campus and headed to Zhinan Temple Maokong Hiking Trail (指南宮貓空親山步道), while we were walking along the riverbank in NCCU, Chris suddenly realized he left his camera on the stairs in front of NCCU's student cafeteria building. He ran back to look for it. We waited for him and discussed if he really had a camera with him. This event turned out to be a kind of memory and attention test. We hardly pay attention to his camera and barely had memory about it--a typical Blindsight phenomenon. Few minutes later, Chris's figure emerged from the distant end of the road. He waved and his camera was on his hand. What a lucy guy! He was really luck that it was taken away by passersby.

All members soon got together and we headed to the trailhead.

Direction Sign of Few Hiking Trails. Zhinan Temple Maokong Hiking Trail (指南宮貓空親山步道) is on the left side.

A Gate of Zhinan Temple

I saw a broom resting on a pavilion and wondered what kind of person would left a broom on a such high place, a wizard landing on a wrong spot? Harry Potter's feature soon merged with this broom and pivilion background. A bizzard Chinese-style Harry Potter movie played in my mind for few seconds. I think it could be a pretty interesting movie.

Zhinan Temple Maokong Hiking Trail (指南宮貓空親山步道) is a stairway leading to Zhinan Temple. There are a lot of legends about the main God worshiped in Zhinan Temple. Robert probably wrote a lot about it in his Lonely Planet Taiwan Guide, I should find some time to read how he retold those stories. (I suddenly recall that he was going to give me an author's copy. Oops, both of us forget about it.)

Along the stairway, hikers can see a lot of interesting statues. There are Chinese Zodiac statues decorated along the stairway. Those statues were once covered by weeds and vines. We didn't know their existence. In our previous hike, we saw a hiker trying to clear the vines that covered a statue and took picture of it, and we realized there were those statues on the wall. This time, there were especially cleared. I think someone must take care of them regularly now.

The Rat, a rat with pumpkins

The Cattle

The Tiger

The Rabbit
The Dragon
The Snake
The Horse
The Goat

The Monkey

The Chicken

The Dog

The Pig

There are a lot of interesting stories about those twelve zodiacal animals, which indicates how the ancient Chinese trying to explain some phenomena experienced in daily life. I only can recollect two of them. One is about how the rat treats the cat, and the other one is about how the rat treats the cattle. It probably because this year is the Year of Rat, I can only remember stories about rats.

Snoopy and The Peanut Gang

2008-03-23T17:57:00.008+08:00

I already have A Charlie Brown Christmas, Christmas Again, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, so I didn't try to find them on Youtube.com.

The Song, Listen to Lucy, brings my childhood memories back to me. I still can sing along with the song when I watch it again.

The most touching story from Snoopy is Do You Remember Me, a story about the friendship between Charlie Brown and a girl, Lila. I remeber I was crying when I saw the part the girl left for treatment. A really moving story.

Snoopy – Lucy is the Boss, Listen to Lucy

Snoopy – Happy New Year, Musical Chairs

Snoopy - Snoopy the Musical, What I Know Now

Snoopy - Snoopy the Musical, Don't Be Anything Less Than You Can Be

Snoopy - You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown! Opening

Snoopy - You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown! Snoopy

Snoopy - You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown! Book Report

Snoopy - You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown! Happiness

Snoopy - You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown! Suppertime

2008-03-15 Maokong, Erjiaogeshan, Xinhualin, Zhanshan Temple Hiking (貓空/鵝角格山/杏花林/樟山寺之行)

2008-03-16T21:54:00.009+08:00

The Hiking Club went hiking in Muzha region last Saturday. We started at NCCU and went to Zhinan Temple, Maokong, Erjiaogeshan, Xinhualin, Zhanshan Temple, and then returned NCCU, a loop route full of splendid views.

I took hundreds of pictures during the hike, behaved like a maniac photographer. I uploaded my photos to flikcr.com, but it's weird that I can't get my photos' urls all of a sudden.

Here are some photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/13050164@N07/, probably only half of what I have taken.

I will try to post photos here and write our hiking story before the end of Sunday.

2008-03-13 Photos of Roses

2008-03-13T22:29:00.008+08:00

After yesterday's photo shooting, I learned that I've not learned how to handle my camera well. I had my camera with me today and planed to take more pictures. I enjoyed spending time with gourgeous nature so I took a walk on FJU's campus during my lunch break. I found several roses growing in front of FJU's administrative building. I sat within those roses and enjoyed their fragrance and take my time having sunbath and taking photos of them.

2008-03-12 Photos of Spring

2008-03-13T22:05:00.001+08:00

After finished two presentations in classes, I felt I extremely needed to relax. I had my camera with me because I had to take pictures of some teaching activities in an English class. I thought I could take a walk and shed off stress I had even though I only had about 30 minutes before my weekly meeting with Eric, so I took a walk around campus and took some photos. The day was balmy and taking a walk in a beautiful afternoon was refreshing. I still can operate my camera well, I need more practice. And I realised that I like taking photos of flowers. :)

Krtek the Mole

2008-03-09T17:39:00.006+08:00

One feature about the Internet that I love is its incredible information and data sharing function that tears down the barriers of time and space. I can find numerous things that I couldn't get before. One example is Krtek the Mole.

I used to watch a lot of animated features when I was a kid. Those animated features aren't like what children have nowadays. (Well, you can tell that I have some complaints, but I am not going to complain about present cartoons on TV here).

I used to watch a cartoon about a mole and his friends after school. I didn't know anything about it, but I loved it very much and I still love it now.

I had done online search few years ago and found its DVDs weren't available at that time. But I did search this afternoon and found a lot of information about it. Now I know it's a Czechoslovakian animation created by Zdenek Miler. And I can enjoy some of those animated films on Youtube.com. Fantastic animation!

A sharing group on Youtube.com
http://www.youtube.com/groups_videos?name=maulwurf

Zdeněk Miler
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZdenÄk_Miler

The Mole and the Rocket, 1965

The Mole and the Green Star, 1969

The Mole in a Zoo, 1969

The Mole and the Lollipop, 1970

The Mole and the Umbrella, 1971

The Mole as a Painter, 1972

The Mole and the Music, 1974

The Mole and the Matches, 1974

The Mole as a Photographer, 1975

The Mole and the Small Fish, 2000

Tower of Hanoi 河內塔

2008-03-07T23:30:00.002+08:00

I am taking a course called Cognitive Training in this semester. In the class, students have to design programs that can potentially help older adults to maitain their cognitive abilities. I say potentially here is because those programs need further examination for their reliability and validity. Besides designing training programs, students have to train themselves in this semester and to examine their learning curve. It's a kind of Learning By Doing.

According to ACTIVE, a longitudinal program of cognitive training in the U.S., three kinds of cognitive abilities are related to older adults' function in daily life. They are memory, reasoning, and speed of process. We chose currently available programs or games that can train us to enhance the abovementioned cognitive abilities.

For training memory, we chose memory card games (卡片記憶); for training reasoning, we chose Sudoku (數讀); and for training speed of process, we chose PS2's Taiko (太鼓達人). We will have to assess our abilities of memory, reasoning, and speed of process next week, and then we start training ourselves in the following six weeks. We will have accept posttest after we finish our traing prcedure and see the post training difference. It seems we will have spend extracurricular time playing a lot of games. I am actually really excited about it.

I found some online games that I can practice with my PC, which will be fun.

Sudoku (數讀)
http://www.counttonine.com/sudokuGame.htm

Taiko (太鼓達人)
http://www.slies.tyc.edu.tw/taigoo/00.htm

Memory Games
http://www.zefrank.com/memory/index.html

To assess the difference of our performance between pre-and post-training, We determine the external criteria: WCST (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, 威斯康辛卡片分類測驗) and Tower of Hanoi Test and other psychological assessment that I can't reveal here. I will be the tester of Tower of Hanoi so I did some online search for the preparation.

Tower of Hanoi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Hanoi in English and http://ccmp.chiuchang.com.tw/toy/hanoi/hanoi.html in Chinese.

Tower of Hanoi online game http://www.spps.tp.edu.tw/game_online/hanoi/hanoi.html

Even though there are plenty reading assignments in the class, this is the most interesting course I have ever taken. Terrific!!

2008-02-23 Jiajiuliao 烏來加九寮(紅河谷)

2008-03-07T11:25:00.001+08:00

It has been crazily busy weeks for me since my new semester began. I finally have some time to write down my hike in Jiajiuliao (加九寮) in Wulai.

It was sunny in the morning, I thought I could go hiking. After I had my lunch, I headed to Jiajiuliao. One the way to Wulai, the sky was getting dark, and soon, it started raining. It wasn't cold, I thought I could still continue the hike. But it turned out to be another hike of twisting my left ankle after my previous hike in Manyueyuan.

Juajiuliao has a nickname, Red River Valley (紅河谷), because of the scenary along the riverbank is similar to some scenes from John Wayne's Red River. I had had its DVD for a long time, but I haven't seen it yet. I don't know if this saying is true or not. I took some photos of the riverbank, it's pretty and the color of the rocks along the riverbank is red.

On the way to the trailhead of Jiajiuliao Hiking Trail, I saw differnt lovely flowers. I felt happy at that moment, it seemed a nice start. I saw a honey bee busy working among flowers. While I was taking pictures of this honey bee, a idea suddenly came into my mind. I realised I rarely see bees in recently years. I could see a lot of butterflies when I am hiking, but not bees. I wonder if the mysterious disappearance of bees alos happened to Taiwan.

I thought it's kind of amazing to see a seed of dandelions resting on another flower's petal so I took this photo.

On the way to the trailhead, I saw a lot of rainboots piling along the raod.

A bridge near the trailhead of Jiajiuliao Hiking Trail.

Trail's condition was good when I started the hike.

Jiaojiuliao Hiking Trail can lead you to Xiongkong (熊空) in Shanxia or Badaoer Shan (拔刀爾山) in Wulai, the branch trails are behind a hut on the trail. I planed to get to the hut today. It would be one and a half hours going up to the hut and one hour getting back to the trailhead.

There are three bridges made of logs.

Jiaojiuliao Hiking Trail is a good place for bird watching. My cam isn't good enough to get a clear capture of this bird's features.

I loved this lush forest even though it was raining.

I met a Taiwanese who carried strange tree roots on the trail. I asked him what it is for. He told me it is kind of Chinese herb medicine. However, I couldn't help thinking if it is legal to dig or cut plants in this place. I simply hope no one would spoil the beauty of this trail.

It is the blossom season of this unknown flowers. I could see a lot of this tiny white flowers sprawlilng along the trail.

The last bridge in front of the hut.

The branch trail going to Badaoer Shan is on the left side of this hut; and another trail on the right side of this hut leads to Xiongkong.

I finally finished my stories about previous two hikes. I was keen to complete them so that I can start other stories about hiking. The weather has been really nice for several days, I will go hiking this weekend.