Month: August 2015

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Hadid wins bridge design contest – Taipei Times

Catherine Lee

We’re getting a new bridge ~ and this’ll be it! Sinotech Engineering Consultants and German firm Leonhardt, Andra und Partner have won an international design competition to build the Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋) over the Tamsui River (淡水河) in New Taipei City with a design by Zaha Hadid Architects, the Directorate-General of Highways said yesterday….. Plan your trip to come and visit, and read the rest of the article here…. Hadid wins bridge design contest – Taipei Times. Continue reading Hadid wins bridge design contest – Taipei Times

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Top 10 taboos to avoid during Ghost Month in Taiwan | Culture | FOCUS TAIWAN – CNA ENGLISH NEWS

Catherine Lee

Taiwan’s Ghost Month starts today.  Everyone is busy making offerings to the ghosts and burning ghost money.  From now on, for a whole month, people are generally fearful, expecting the worst in every bad situation.  A lot of prayer is needed. This article is very clear, explaining the taboos… Top 10 taboos to avoid during Ghost Month in Taiwan | Culture | FOCUS TAIWAN – CNA ENGLISH NEWS. Continue reading Top 10 taboos to avoid during Ghost Month in Taiwan | Culture | FOCUS TAIWAN – CNA ENGLISH NEWS

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Typhoon Soudelor’s Tilting Postboxes!

Catherine Lee

Until last weekend, these 2 postboxes were just ordinary postboxes on an ordinary street in ‪Taipei‬ City.  But then a signboard crashed down on them during Typhoon ‪‎Soudelor‬ and changed them forever. They were bent over, but not broken.  Tilting together in the same direction, 好可愛, so sweet, so lovely! Now they have become icons, almost memorials to the typhoon, symbols of resilience and togetherness, and a place of pilgrimage for people from all walks of life, including artists, TV crews, pet dogs, and yes, even snakes… ha ha, it’s a great place to visit!  I went there on Wednesday, … Continue reading Typhoon Soudelor’s Tilting Postboxes!

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Typhoon Soudelor ~ the Aftermath

Catherine Lee

A week after Typhoon Soudelor hit, and it now has its own Wikipedia page here.  Current figures are that 8 people died and over 400 were injured in Taiwan as a result of the typhoon. The worst affected area was the hot spring area of Wu-Lai up in the mountains above Taipei where a major landslide has devastated the valley, washing away homes, hotels, roads, cars, trees and filling the beautiful hot springs with mud. Throughout the country, damage to homes and businesses is immense, but at least mostly repairable.  That’s what we’ve all been doing all week, fixing and … Continue reading Typhoon Soudelor ~ the Aftermath

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Typhoon Soudelor 蘇迪勒颱風

Catherine Lee

Well here we are, alive to tell the tale.  That was definitely a storm to end all storms.  What a night it was, and then what a day.  24 hours of non-stop torrential rains, almost apocalyptic winds that shook the walls and windows until it felt like the buildings were going to collapse or take off, debris crashing and banging and flying into everything, and a 10 hour power cut. With no electricity, we had no TV News, and although we had mobile and 3G signals, the power soon ran out on the phone and power bank.  So all we could … Continue reading Typhoon Soudelor 蘇迪勒颱風

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Typhoon Soudelor on it’s way…

Catherine Lee

Typhoon Soudelor is fast approaching, the strongest typhoon of the year so far.   Moving fast in our direction.  Having wreaked havoc in Saipan a few days ago, it’s now heading for a direct hit on Taiwan early tomorrow morning before heading to Mainland China…. Actually today has been quite quiet so far up here in the far north of Taiwan, breezy with showers, but big winds and torrential rains expected to start this evening…. The day before a typhoon is often beautiful, with clear blue skies and a glorious sunset. And yesterday was just like that! This was the … Continue reading Typhoon Soudelor on it’s way…

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Sanzhi Swallows Nightly Rendezvous!

Catherine Lee

Yep, out of all the places in this northern Taiwan town of Sanzhi 三芝 for swallows to choose to gather for their nightly rendezvous, they choose the main intersection right in the centre of town, where life goes on more or less non-stop 24/7 – this was the scene there last night! In the evenings there’s a shop selling fried chicken right here under these lights, and next door is a breakfast shop, so there’s not many hours when people aren’t lining up right here to buy something! Swallows are regarded as auspicious birds in Taiwan and people go to great … Continue reading Sanzhi Swallows Nightly Rendezvous!