Alishan, ah Alishan! Famous for its sunrises, tea, cherry blossom, ‘sacred’ trees, sea of clouds and its mountain railway. The place everyone goes once in their lifetime. Visitors from all over the world, and especially from the Chinese-speaking world are … Continue reading Alishan 阿里山 Sunrise and Cherry Blossom ~ Happy Easter 2018!
Cherry Blossoms (sakura 櫻花 ying-hua) are out big-time. Spring is finally here! Currently flowering all over everywhere, but possibly the most famous place and most accessible for Taipei people is at Tianyuan Temple, just outside Tamsui. Just happens to be not far from here, and there are huge traffic jams – ah, yes, we all love to see cherry blossom! Tianyuan Temple Cherry Blossom is all Yoshino Cherry (吉野櫻) and, hey, they are looking spectacular. You must go – and soon! Tianyuan Temple is a Taoist Temple worshiping the Jade Emperor (Yu Huang Dadi 玉皇大帝), and the main attraction is … Continue reading THE place to see Cherry Blossoms 櫻花 @ Tianyuan Temple 天元宮, Tamsui, Taiwan!
Yes, it’s peak time for the Cherry Blossom (Sakura) Season here in northern Taiwan, and Sanzhi is THE place to come! It’s warm and sunny too – so get here quick! Lots of people are here every day walking along the mountain roads or along the San-Sheng Trail 三生步道 by the river to enjoy all the variations of pink blooms on offer, and not just cherry blossom but also tons of flowering azaleas. The local government has planted 15,000 cherry blossom trees in recent years, and they are all in flower now. In fact, the dark pink cherry blossom are nearly over, … Continue reading Now’s the Time! Cherry Blossom Season in Full Swing @ Sanzhi 三芝!
It’s Saturday, and the sun is out! Blue sky at last, yippee! Out too is the cherry blossom. Everywhere. All over Sanzhi. All over Taiwan. Looking beautiful, all in pink! Happy weekend everyone! Continue reading Good Morning Sunshine!
Wow, the sun’s out! Yippee! After days and days of non-stop rain and wind, hey, today’s beautiful. Maybe Spring is coming?! And the Cherry Blossom is just starting here in Sanzhi. Yes Yes Yes! I just love Cherry Blossom! Continue reading Cherry Blossom’s Just Starting!
Beautiful red maple leaves against a blue sky ~ now how’s that for a perfect picture of autumn?! And the best place in Taiwan to see maples in autumn is at the high elevations, up in the central mountain range. … Continue reading Autumn Colours, Mountain Views! 台灣聖公會2017年蒙恩得福家庭生活營 Taiwan Episcopal Church Fall Trip 2017
Occasionally, just very occasionally, so many good things happen all at once to make an event so amazing and unexpectedly awesome, that even the hardest of sceptics are won over. Such was our ascent of Taiwan’s highest mountain, Yushan / … Continue reading On Top of the World! Yushan / Jade Mountain 玉山 ~ Taiwan’s Highest Mountain 3,952 m 12,966 ft!
It’s summer, well and truly summer! Schools finished yesterday, the last day of June ~ so the summer holidays have officially started ~ and everyone is making the most of it! Summer weather in Taipei this past week has meant fine and sunny weather every morning, up to the mid-30’s in temps, then soon after lunch, it clouds over and a storm comes rolling in, sometimes just torrential rain, sometimes with thunder and lightning too. So today everyone was up early to the Yang-Ming Shan Mountains, just above Taipei, and back down again by early afternoon. By 8:00 am I … Continue reading Yang-Ming Shan Mountains 陽明山 ~ before the storm….
‘Just living is not enough, one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower’, so said the butterfly in the Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales….. So today is a wonderful day to see the flowering Queen Crape Myrtle (紫薇花) otherwise known as Pride Of India, Banaba or Lagerstroemia Speciosa outside the multi-coloured Mechanical Engineering Building here at St. John’s University… Beautiful flower, beautiful day! Continue reading Queen Crape Myrtle in Flower at St. John’s University!
Catherine Lee 