Only 12 km up the road from St. John’s University is the northern tip of Taiwan, easily accessible by bus and then a 15-minute walk, which leads to the Fuguijiao Lighthouse 富貴角燈塔 . The original lighthouse was built by the … Continue reading 富貴角燈塔 Fuguijiao Lighthouse @ Taiwan’s Northern Tip!
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!
Laomei Elementary School 老梅國小 is in Shimen Township on Taiwan’s northern tip, and on a sunny day in spring and summer it’s beautiful. The rest of the time, sadly it is not. The rain lashes down in buckets, the wind blows in great big gusts, and the children are well-used to spending endless days indoors. But surprise, surprise, after a very wet weekend, suddenly yesterday was beautiful, the sun was out and it was warm! Laomei Beach is famous for its Algal Reef 老梅綠色石槽, formed from wave-cut volcanic lava and every year covered in bright green algae, especially in … Continue reading Happy Children’s Day 兒童節 in Laomei Village 石門鄉老梅!
Beautiful sunset to mark Valentine’s Day this evening ~ have a good one! Don’t forget to celebrate! Continue reading Happy Valentine’s Day from Baishawan Beach!
Finally the rain has stopped, and yippee, today’s been bright and sunny ~ YES! It started with an early morning rainbow over Sanzhi ~ I love rainbows. I’m sure that’s my house at the end of the rainbow, but sadly there was no pot of gold waiting when I got home ha ha! And then this afternoon, the whole world was out and about, mostly at the beach – or in the car driving to and from the beach. You gotta have a lot of stamina to live in such a small country with so many people who all go … Continue reading Ah, a sunny day, at last!
Kites, kites and more kites ~ amazing kites, beautiful kites, fun kites, crazy kites, stunt kites, home-made kites, kites of every kind and from every where ~ and all on show at Taiwan’s annual North Coast Kite Festival, held ever year since the year 2000 at Baishawan Beach in Shimen, just near Taiwan’s northernmost point and lighthouse. Happens also to be only 5 minutes on a bus from where I live ~ YES! Last year, this last weekend of September was Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, and also a big typhoon was on its way, so although it was nice and windy … Continue reading Taiwan’s North Coast Kite Festival 2016 @ Baishawan Beach 白沙灣, Shimen District ~ YES!
It’s Mid-Autumn Moon Festival today, one of the most important festivals of the year, celebrated with barbecues and moon-gazing, visits home and moon cakes. We even have a day off on Monday to make the most of it all. Yippee! It’s also the weekend of Taiwan’s annual North Coast Kite Festival at Baishawan Beach 白沙灣 just a mile or so up the road from here. Must-go! Ah yes, and to top it all, we have a typhoon on the way! Hopefully the last of the season. Typhoons mean rain and wind, and certainly no moon-gazing, but the wind is of course … Continue reading North Coast Kite Festival 2015 @ Baishawan 白沙灣 !
Catherine Lee 