Welcoming old friends from afar…. from St. Paul’s RC Church, Daya Rd, Taichung!
Welcoming Rev. Toon Maes 馬世光神父 CICM and church members from St. Paul’s RC Church, Daya Rd, Taichung 台中市大雅路聖保祿天主堂 to visit Advent Church today! CICM, the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Scheut Mission) was started in Belgium just over 150 years ago, and has quite a group of priests in Taiwan from Belgium, Congo, Cameroon, Philippines and other countries. Fr. Toon Maes is with CICM from Belgium…. and he is AMAZING – he just has so much energy! Fr. Maes was born in 1932, came to Taiwan with CICM in 1959 and has been here ever since! He used to … Continue reading Welcoming old friends from afar…. from St. Paul’s RC Church, Daya Rd, Taichung!
Four Four South Village 四四南村, Taipei
There’s no escaping Taipei 101 ~ it towers over everything in the Xinyi District of Taipei ~ including the old military dependents’ village of Sisinan 四四南村 (Four Four South Village), which is high on the list for tourists, who love taking photos of Taipei 101 and in front of the coloured doors. The buildings have a lot of character…. But it’s really hard to get all of Taipei 101 and the old buildings in the photo – diagonal is the best! Ah yes, blue sky, warm temperatures, what a great autumn so far ~ and Taipei’s looking great! Continue reading Four Four South Village 四四南村, Taipei
Street Art @ Ximending 西門町, Taipei
Ximending has long been THE trendiest area of Taipei for night life and street fashion ~ and of course Street Art. I was there yesterday checking it out…. Just outside the main shopping area, down the back alleys of Kunming Street ~ and the walls are covered in graffiti of every kind. Sometimes it’s just a section of the wall…. And sometimes the whole length of the wall…. It’s constantly changing, there’s new stuff appearing all the time, so what was there last year may have long gone by the time you get to go there again. Actually, I’m very … Continue reading Street Art @ Ximending 西門町, Taipei
Cambodia: The Killing Fields & Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
First a word of warning, this is not for the faint-hearted or those likely to have nightmares for days after. If that is you, don’t read any further. But if you can, do. This is an important part of Cambodia’s tragic history, the legacy of which continues to affect the whole country, the region, even the world. We need to know. To learn. To try to understand. And to reflect and pray. The Cambodian genocide took place in my lifetime, when I was a teenager. Most of the young men who joined Pol Pot and became part of the Khmer … Continue reading Cambodia: The Killing Fields & Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
Angkor Wat 吳哥窟 and Siem Reap 暹粒市, Cambodia ~ oh, and nice crunchy spider for dinner!
Think of all those historic buildings in the UK: Durham, Norwich and Exeter Cathedrals; Rochester, Windsor and Warwick Castles and even my lovely CMS link church at St. Andrew’s Church, Haughton, Darlington. And what do they all have in common? Well, they were all being built at roughly the same time as the Angkor Wat Temple Complex in Cambodia. Now, how’s that for Interesting Fact Of The Day, eh? Angkor Wat has become such a symbol of Cambodia, that it appears on its national flag. How about this? Angkor Wat is considered to be the largest religious monument in the … Continue reading Angkor Wat 吳哥窟 and Siem Reap 暹粒市, Cambodia ~ oh, and nice crunchy spider for dinner!
Phnom Penh, Cambodia 柬埔寨金邊 ~ and a great CMS Conference too!
Cambodia is THE country to go to, and Phnom Penh is THE city! Just forget for a moment that you’re not really sure where the country is, nor how to pronounce (let alone spell!) the capital city’s name. It don’t … Continue reading Phnom Penh, Cambodia 柬埔寨金邊 ~ and a great CMS Conference too!
Taiwan’s North Coast Kite Festival 2017 @ Baishawan Beach 白沙灣, Shimen District ~ YES!
Privileged to live so close to one of northern Taiwan’s best beaches, and today is THE day! Every year we have a kite festival on Baishawan Beach 白沙灣 in Shimen District 石門, with thousands of people, hundreds of kites, lots of sun and hopefully lots of wind. This is the scene this afternoon, with the lighthouse on Taiwan’s northern tip in the far distance… Last year’s blog post about the kite festival 2016 is here. This year’s kite festival is a bit different. Although it’s being held all this weekend, in fact yesterday was a working day for most people … Continue reading Taiwan’s North Coast Kite Festival 2017 @ Baishawan Beach 白沙灣, Shimen District ~ YES!
Ju Ming Sculpture Park and Museum 朱銘美術館, Jinshan, Taipei
A sunny Saturday afternoon in September and what better place to go than Ju Ming Sculpture Park, officially known as Ju Ming Museum and only 20 km from here round the northern coast, with stunning views over the sea and mountains. This was the main entrance today… My first visit there was in November 2016 (see my blog post here) ~ and I was very impressed. It houses all the incredible art work of Ju Ming 朱銘, the world famous Taiwanese sculptor, born in Miaoli, Taiwan in 1938. The park is big – and on a sunny day, it’s a bit … Continue reading Ju Ming Sculpture Park and Museum 朱銘美術館, Jinshan, Taipei
Rainbow Grandpa and his Beautiful Rainbow Village 彩虹眷村!
Rainbow Village 彩虹眷村 on the outskirts of Taichung is such an amazing place – it’s easily the most attractive set of buildings in the whole of Taichung ~ YES! It’s the last remaining few houses of a Veterans Village, built for the old soldiers and their families who came to Taiwan after 1949. Most the houses are already gone, demolished and the land redeveloped, but old Mr. Huang (Huang Yong-Fu 黃永阜), known as ‘Rainbow Grandpa’ (彩虹爺爺), was not letting that happen to his village. Now aged 95, he decided to start painting the remaining houses a few years ago, and … Continue reading Rainbow Grandpa and his Beautiful Rainbow Village 彩虹眷村!
Catherine Lee 