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

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

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

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