Ah, Green Island. What a place it is. For some in Taiwan it evokes memories of their youth and a taste of freedom as they rode motorcycles around the island enjoying the scenery. For others, it evokes terrible stories of … Continue reading Off to Green Island 綠島 Lyudao, Taitung, Taiwan with the Taiwan Episcopal Church 台灣聖公會2018年蒙恩得福家庭生活營!
Taiwan’s outlying islands are all special, but the crown jewel of them all must surely be Lanyu! A tiny green dot in the middle of a vast blue ocean, and on a sunny day (or 3) wow, the island glimmers … Continue reading WOW! Lanyu 蘭嶼 Orchid Island, Taiwan
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!
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
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!
A beautiful 3-minute video of Taiwan from the air, in memory of Mr. Chi Po-lin, photographer extraordinaire…. So do plan to come and visit! Continue reading Taiwan from above
Catherine Lee 