Category: Taiwan

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Elephant Mountain ~ and what a view!

Catherine Lee

Found a new mountain very early this morning.  Elephant Mountain.  Feel like David Livingstone, ha ha! Except that I waited for the Taipei MRT to open a new MRT station called 象山 Shiang Shan – Elephant Mountain – so now it’s so easy to get to…. Elephant Mountain (象山) is part of a range of small but steep hills called the Four Beasts Mountains (四獸山) to the far east of Taipei City. Never been there before today – in fact my neighbours here are surprised to hear me say there is actually a real Shiang Shan, Elephant Mountain, and it’s not just the … Continue reading Elephant Mountain ~ and what a view!

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Chinese New Year Shopping at Taipei Dihua Street 迪化街!

Catherine Lee

Definitely the place to be in the few weeks leading up to Chinese New Year ~ the hustle and bustle and noise and rush is not for the faint-hearted, but hey it’s fun! Dihua Street is in one of the oldest parts of Taipei City, near the river and full of old buildings, temples and traditional shops selling tea and Chinese medicine ingredients… Normally quite a quiet area, but for these few weeks you can buy everything you need for the festivities at good prices ~ dried everything, nuts, fruit, meats, seafoods, seeds plus sugar cane juice, sweets, a few clothes…. … Continue reading Chinese New Year Shopping at Taipei Dihua Street 迪化街!

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Happy Keelung ~ Happy Yellow Duck!

Catherine Lee

How to make a city smile?  How to make a city famed for its miserable weather smile? Install some ART!  The famous Rubber Duck is here, and despite plenty of mishaps en route, hey here it is smiling away, and surrounded by plenty of happy people also smiling away, helped by a sunny day of course.  Unbelievable the affect that a very large (well, 18m) yellow duck can have on the mood of a city.  I love it!  And there’s even some real yellow ducks on hand nearby to say hello…. OK, so not everyone is smiling in Keelung City and every … Continue reading Happy Keelung ~ Happy Yellow Duck!

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TAIPEI 101 Global Circle ~ and TABORA is right there!

Catherine Lee

In Taipei 101 is a large black granite circle in the floor, and in white marble are carved the names of a whole host of places, some well-known, others nobody has ever heard of.  This of course is ART. Public Art in fact, known as the ‘Global Circle’ and described on the Taipei 101 website rather eloquently as: In the most luxurious and hottest shopping center, this Global Circle exists in silence. The black granite ring is embedded in the Social Plaza of the shopping square, and white inscriptions of names of cities from celebrated metropolises to unknown towns mingle … Continue reading TAIPEI 101 Global Circle ~ and TABORA is right there!

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Taipei Welcomes 2014!

Catherine Lee

And for the first time ever, I was there ~ and not just watching from a distance, but right in there among the zillions of people who had come to watch the show at Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 ~ YES! And it was WONDERFUL!  AMAZING! SPECTACULAR! INCREDIBLE!  All worth every minute – and yep there were plenty of minutes to wait until midnight, in fact the show went from before 7:00pm until 1:00am ~  but I had a grand viewing platform, clinging to a large bush growing on a raised flowerbed ha ha! The Taipei City Government and the … Continue reading Taipei Welcomes 2014!