Monday, October 19, 2009

King Boat: The Fiery Finale

That's us after staying up all night. We went to bed at 7am that morning (not long after this photo was taken).

Anyway, here is a set of photos from the final night of the King Boat Festival. In the previous pictures, the boat barely featured because it was barely visible - not easy to see behind a big fence covered with the wishes (written on wooden blocks) of festivalgoers. Instead, there were dangki, tall god costumes and bajiajiang to snare one's attention.

This time around, the boat took center stage. So here goes...the final night of King Boat Festival 2009:







I'm sorry but this balloon is TERRIFYING.













There is something inherently funny about taking one's picture in front of some large thing that's on fire, you see.

Peace!

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!


















Wednesday, October 14, 2009

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.


























Thursday, October 1, 2009

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.