Yes, this has just got to be one of Taipei’s biggest and best-kept secrets so far. ‘Biggest’ because it’s massive – nearly 17 hectares, and set right in the middle of prime real estate in the downtown Xinyi District of … Continue reading Taipei Railway Workshop 臺北機廠: One of Taiwan’s Best-Kept Secrets!
It’s hot and humid and the middle of summer, and yet, Elephant Mountain in Taipei is packed out with people. Not in the early morning so much, but mid-morning onwards, at the hottest time of day, hundreds and hundreds of everybody are going up! Last time I was there was Chinese New Year 2016 and haven’t been there since, oh no! So now I’m back, but early in the morning. 7:30 am. Today. Ready for the off. Would be earlier, but that’s the earliest I can get there from the far end of Taiwan. And boy, it is steep. And … Continue reading Taipei’s Elephant Mountain 象山 and Four Beasts Mountain 四獸山 and 9-5 Peak 九五峯!
Down a tiny little backstreet in Taipei City surrounded by hardware stores is just what you don’t expect to find ~ a shop full of rows and rows of tiny little Chinese characters! This article titled, “6 Things You Didn’t Know About Rixing Type Foundry, The Last Traditional Chinese Letterpress In Taiwan” on the City 543 website says, “The Rixing Type Foundry (日星鑄字行) is home to the last remaining collection of traditional Chinese movable type character moulds in the world, plying its trade for more than four decades with techniques that have been recognized since the Song Dynasty in 1040s… … Continue reading Rixing Type Foundry 日星鑄字行 ~ the last Traditional Chinese Character Letterpress in Taiwan
It was all happening at Dazhi Riverside in Taipei this morning ~ the final day of 3 days of Dragon Boat Competitions! The sun was out, the weather was warm, and everyone was rowing hard! In good weather, and with plenty of time, the best way for me to get to Dazhi Riverside from here is by U-bike from Tamsui, and so off I set! Before 7:00 am too, while the weather was still cooler. It took maybe 90 minutes of slow riding, enjoying the scenery… First stop though was the graffiti wall along by the riverside near to the … Continue reading Happy Dragon Boat Festival 2017 @ Taipei!
Always accept a challenge! And one of my challenges this week was to take 2 very lovely American teens around Taipei for the afternoon. They were very interested and very keen to see everything! Their parents were busy at a conference, so I offered to show them a few sights… First stop was the Changing of the Guard at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, whose days may be numbered, so it’s worth going to see now. Not for the memorial itself but to see the guards. It’s hot work and they stand there totally not moving for a whole hour while … Continue reading Taipei 4 Teens!
Passed through Songjiang Nanjing MRT Station in Taipei yesterday ~ this is some of the public art – I love it! The Wikipedia website says this about the Public Art: ‘The theme for the Songshan Line station is “Metropolitan Images of Daily Life” (都會眾生相). It uses four elements (earth, fire, water, wind) to present surreal situations of the combination of city and nature. Earth: Business in the City Jungle Fire: University in a Flash Water: Office Under the Sea Wind: Coffee Shop Floating in the Clouds’ Fun eh? Continue reading Taipei MRT: Underwater Office and Coffee Shop in the Clouds!
Happier Café is part art installation, part café, part social education centre and part fun! The focus is on helping people take action for a happier world, based on the ‘Ten Keys to Happier Living’ which are ~ firstly how we interact with the outside world through our daily activities – using the acronym GREAT: 1) Giving – doing things for others 2) Relating – connecting with people 3) Exercising – taking care of your body 4) Awareness – living life mindfully 5) Trying Out – keeping on learning new things. The second five keys come from inside us and … Continue reading Amazing Brown Paper Art Landscape @ Happier Café 更快樂實驗所, Taipei!
Mostly my kinda art doesn’t appear very often, so it’s quite nice that Taipei has 2 exhibitions on that are actually my kinda art! Both kinda discovered by chance a few days ago when wandering in the area… One is at the Gallery at Taipei 101, where there’s an exhibition of really fun sculptures by Korean sculptor Kim Gyoungmin, this is one of them! Then just around by Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store on the outside plaza there is an exhibition of very beautiful elephants called Elephant Parade, highlighting and encouraging elephant conservation. There’s a total of 42 elephants and 15 of … Continue reading My Kinda Art @ 2 Taipei Exhibitions!
Yep, yesterday was pretty hot, in fact every day is pretty hot round here! Temperatures in Taipei soared to 38.5 degrees Celsius shortly after 1 p.m. on Wednesday, the second highest ever recorded in the city in the month of July, the Central Weather Bureau said. The highest temperature ever recorded in Taipei in July was 38.6 degrees in 2010. The highest temperature recorded in Taipei this year was 38.7 degrees, set on June 1. Although I was out and about in Taipei at 1:00 pm yesterday, this was taken a few hours earlier, just as the day’s heat was setting … Continue reading Taipei at 38.5 degrees!
Catherine Lee 