Category: Taiwan

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Happy Year of the Dog ~ Taiwan’s Lantern Festival 2018 @ Chiayi!

Catherine Lee

A major extravaganza is on down in Taiwan’s south central city of Chiayi.  If you get a chance, GO!   Every year, a different city or county is chosen to host Taiwan’s main lantern festival, and every year, thousands and thousands flock there from all over the country to attend.  Including me.  I love to go!  This year it is the turn of Chiayi.  And what an extravaganza it is! Last year, the Year of the Rooster, the main lantern festival was held in Yunlin.  The year before, the Year of the Monkey, it was held in Taoyuan.  Both of those … Continue reading Happy Year of the Dog ~ Taiwan’s Lantern Festival 2018 @ Chiayi!

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Taiwan’s Badlands @ Tianliao Moon World 田寮月世界, Kaohsiung

Catherine Lee

This place is really quite something!  And it’s quite something because this kind of scenery, called ‘badlands’, by definition shouldn’t really be here at all!  All the other badlands in the world occur in places where it’s dry.  Really dry.  So dry in fact that little or no vegetation can grow anyway.  Thus, ‘bad land’.  Usually found in arid or semi-arid climates, like the Badlands National Park in South Dakota, USA.  Taiwan is the only example in the whole world of badlands in a tropical climate.  And tropical climates are anything but dry. So we have the curious phenomenon of … Continue reading Taiwan’s Badlands @ Tianliao Moon World 田寮月世界, Kaohsiung

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Chinese New Year 2018!

Catherine Lee

Ah yes, and as with every Chinese New Year, food featured highly!  Food, food and more delicious food.  YUMMY!  For most people, the New Year celebrations revolve around family reunions, gatherings with old friends, temple visits to pray for blessings for the new year, preparing food offerings and worship at the family ancestor shrine, and of course the enjoyment of meals and delicacies of every kind.  Many people also take the chance to travel, but just as many people say they can’t face the traffic jams and prefer to stay home.  Meanwhile those in the tourism and transport business work … Continue reading Chinese New Year 2018!

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Happy Chinese New Year’s Eve 2018!

Catherine Lee

What a beautiful dawn and sunrise this morning, viewed from the 8th floor of St. James’ Church, Taichung!  The start of a day of gorgeous weather! One of the great traditions of Chinese New Year is catching up with old friends, often those not seen for a whole year or even longer.  I’ve been riding around Taichung on a u-bike all week doing this – and today was special, because I visited Fr. Toon Maes, CICM, at St. Paul’s RC Church, Taichung, where he is enjoying the sun after all those cold, wet and windy years up near us on … Continue reading Happy Chinese New Year’s Eve 2018!

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Hualien Earthquake, Taiwan’s East Coast, February 2018

Catherine Lee

Please pray for Hualien on the Taiwan’s east coast, battered by a legion of earthquakes, starting with a magnitude 5.8 earthquake on Sunday February 4 that peaked with the main quake, magnitude 6.4 (registered as 7 in downtown Hualien) at 11:50 pm, last night, Tuesday February 6. Between those 2 major earthquakes, 94 shocks were recorded, with five of them reaching magnitude 5.0 or higher. Since last night, there have been seemingly non-stop aftershocks. Many of these have been felt throughout Taiwan. So although last night’s earthquake was not totally unexpected, the fact that 4 major high-rise buildings in Hualien … Continue reading Hualien Earthquake, Taiwan’s East Coast, February 2018

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YIPPEE, SNOW!

Catherine Lee

Yes, finally, at long last, after 10 days of non-stop rain and more rain, and getting colder by the hour, today the rain has finally stopped, people’s moods have lifted, the skies have sort of cleared and in the far distance on Yang-Ming Shan Mountains 陽明山, just above Taipei City, there is SNOW!  YIPPEE!  The grey snow-laden sky is kinda merged with the white snow, but hey, check it out.  Ha ha, it’s there, honest. And just in case you’re still not sure what you’re supposed to be looking at – check out the arrows below! There’s no snow down … Continue reading YIPPEE, SNOW!