King Boat I Take II

Some more photos from the first weekend of King Boat. I promise later to sit down and spend some real time making captions and explaining things about the festival. It's really fascinating stuff, but I've just been really busy lately.

I'll also post photos of the second weekend, in which the boat is burned, soon. Tonight, even. I promise!

King Boat Festival (王船節) - First Weekend

So the first weekend of Donggang's triennial King Boat Festival was last weekend (the boat burning, by the way, is this Friday so if you are in the area, you should stop by. The processional with the boat starts Friday afternoon and the burning is at night. Late. Like 1am).

I'll edit and add captions later - for now, it's late so sit back and enjoy some photographs. More to come - I took over 700 pictures in 2 days! Stop by later if you want notes on what these things actually are.

Elephant Mountain

View of 101 from Thumb Mountain

Last Saturday we took a hike up Elephant Mountain in Xinyi District, right about the time Ma Ying-Jiu was in the area (we think his motorcade went by and it was in the paper the next day that he was in the hills around there pretending to do something but really just posing for the cameras in a baseball cap).

It's an easy "hike", very good for someone not quite fit or excited enough to mosey out of town, but who wants some wind-in-the-bamboo and a nice view. Also a fine choice for tourists in town for a limited time and not sure where to get the most bang for their hours nearby.

But I hesitate to say it's really a hike because the trails are so maintained that it's really just a series of hilly sidewalks. Only around Thumb Mountain does it start to feel like real hiking.

The hike is accessible from many points in Xinyi - Songren Rd. (the lanes leading to it anyway) south of Zhongxiao, or Songshan Rd. far past the schools, where it's quiet and residential are two - and if you want to really make a day of it, Muzha and Nangang as well. That whole stretch of hills is connected by some nice trails with fantastic views of the city.

Some photos:

Views of Yangmingshan are also abundant on the way up.

After Elephant Mountain, we detoured down a trail to Thumb Mountain, which has a more rustic path part of the way, and several old tombs and shrines.

The mountains from a vantage point on the way to Thumb Mountain

The late afternoon light was quite lovely. We reached Thumb Mountain at sunset (see first picture).

Back to the famous vantage point at Elephant Mountain, which crowds up with lovers & photographers.

Taipei 101 from a narrow view between two towering apartment buildings - reminded us all of Hong Kong.

Stop...Venue Time!

Finally. Sure took us long enough. It's a unique challenge: being from/getting married in the Hudson Valley (a gorgeous area that is sometimes a destination wedding region, and is correspondingly expensive compared to what people who live there actually make on average) but being on a budget, and having a huge family and wanting to throw a nice party, who can't possibly fit in your backyard or conceivably be OK with a 1:100 ratio of bathrooms to people - the other is under renovation - and yet at the heart of it being 'backyard wedding' sort of people.

But after looking, and my parents admitting they were willing to help pay to throw that nice party because they want it as badly or more badly than we do - we settled on Locust Grove.

We've been looking at it from the beginning, but discounted it due to the rather high cost and the fact that nothing can take place until 5pm. One of my grandparents goes to bed around that time. But - when you factor in how we won't have to rent anything or get any other vendors involved except for food, the price is actually pretty good...and we'll get Grandma a hotel room so she can rest before and after as she sees fit.

We're pretty stoked - it's the former home of Samuel F.B. Morse. Hopefully you've taken Middle School History class and know who he is, but just in case you didn't, he invented the telegraph. Which people no longer use, but that's beside the point. It was a turning point in long-distance communication. Brendan and I are history buffs of a sort (it was his major in college and I would have ended up with a minor in it if I hadn't studied abroad in India) so we're pretty stoked.

Without further ado, our venue, booked and signed:

The main house - an Italianate villa (which sounds so pretentious)

The reception hall from outside

The reception hall from inside

The outdoor area

I'm not really a Big White Dress kind of person. I probably won't even wear white. Or a white-like color (I like blue and copper). But aside from the fact that I definitely won't look like that girl *or* spend as much money as she probably spent on that dress, here's one angle of the ceremony location.