Global Indigenous Peoples Performing Arts Festival 2014 Taoyuan

Taiwan has flourishing indigenous cultures. Currently, there are 14 (16?) indigenous tribes (recognized by the Council of Indigenous Peoples CIP) in Taiwan, and each of them has its own society, language, lifestyle, dance formations and musical culture. 14 of the recognized groups are:
Amis 阿美族, Atayal 泰雅族, Bunun 布農族, Kavalan 噶瑪蘭族, Paiwan 排灣族, Puyuma 卑南族, Rukai 魯凱族, Saisiyat 賽夏族, Sakizaya 撒奇萊雅族, Seediq 賽德克族, Tao 達悟族, Thao 邵族, Tsou 鄒族 and Truku 太魯閣族.


Seediq-tribe girl 賽德克族

Taoyuan City - Hutoushan park - Sansheng Temple (三聖宮)

There are three important temples in the Hutoushan Park, or close to it. They are Sansheng Temple (明倫三聖宮), Confucius Temple and Former Shinto temple that serves now as Taoyuan Martyr's Shrine (桃園忠烈祠). This article will tell about Sansheng Temple. In fact the two others are more interesting, but we will come back to them later.

Taoyuan City - Hutoushan park - people

Hutoushan park is an excellent place to meet people. One Sunday afternoon, as I was taking photos by the river, an old gentleman came to me leaning on his walking stick. "Where are you from?" he asked. Later on he told me that "I was born in Nanjing in 1911." It means that at that moment he was 103 years young. Maybe he meant the year 11 in Taiwanese calendar. Then he would be only 92 years young. I was moved by his joy and peace.

Taoyuan City - Hutoushan - on top of the hill

Now we go up to the Hutoushan hill. The highest point is 251 meters above the sea level. Usually people go up early in the morning, but I prefer going a bit later, because I enjoy walking and taking photos in peace, without adapting too much to other hikers pace. August is very hot in Taiwan, and especially afternoon it can be unbearably hot. Up in the hills it is always a bit cooler.

The stairs up

Taoyuan City - part 2 - At the foot of Hutoushan

In the first part of the series we learned basics of Hutoushan or Tiger Head mountain 虎頭山. In this article we see what does it look like before climbing up. There are two main entrances to the Hutoushan Park (虎頭山公園), one for pedestrians only along the Nankan river, close to the Taoyuan High School, and another one for vehicles further up on Chenggong Road to the right just before the Veterans Hospital (台北榮民總醫院桃園分院)




When you approach Hutoushan from the County Stadium, you need to pass through this small street along the river. You will see majestic trees on both sides of the road, they are called Chinese Banyan. The scientific name is Ficus microcarpa. It was first described scientifically by Carl Linnaeus the Younger in 1782. In Europe they are growing mostly indoor in flower pots, very often as bonsai trees. But in Taiwan Ficus microcarpa is a huge tree. Distinctive to it are the aerial roots hanging down rom high. With the aerial roots the tree take water from the humid air. If the roots are let to grow and they reach the ground, they will become pillar roots and finally develop into secondary trunks. In this way a banyan style tree with pillar roots and secondary trunks is developed.

Taoyuan City - Tiger head mountain (Hutoushan, 桃園虎頭山)

Taoyuan City is located in the North-West of Taiwan. It is the gateway to Taiwan, since the most important international airport is located there. It is an industrial city, where my mobile phone was made (or designed).

Taoyuan City by night.

Trip to Finland - birds of South-Western Finland

It is much easier to take photos of plants than birds. Therefore this article is short.

The common crane (Grus grus), also known as the Eurasian crane, Kranich in German, kurki in Finnish, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes. The Common Crane is a large, stately bird. It is 100–130 cm tall with a 180–240 cm wingspan. Crane is slate-grey overall. The forehead and lores are blackish with a bare red crown and a white streak extending from behind the eyes to the upper back. The species is a long distance migrant predominantly wintering in northern Africa.

You cannot avoid seeing cranes when driving through South Western Finland in June. These are having lunch at Purmojärvi. Cranes eat everyting, plants, roots, leaves, seeds, potatoes, fruit, fish, snails, crabs, rodents, small birds, Cranberry got its name from cranes.

Trip to Finland - Plants of South Western Finland - Evijärvi

In this article I will present some of the plants that, in the eyes of an expatriate, are characteristic to South-Western Finland. Some of these plants are ignored because they are too ordinary, but in my eyes they are friends from time past. Combined with smell they bring up memories from childhood. Most of the photos are from Evijärvi.

First and the most beautiful is the birch tree, Betula, koivu in Finnish. There are many different subspecies. The one in the photos is Betula pendula, rauduskoivu, silver birch.

Trip to Finland PART 2 - South-Western Finland: Evijärvi

Evijärvi is a small town located in the lake district of Southern Ostrobothnia region of Finland. Yes, lake district! Most Finns don't know that there is a lake district in Southern Ostrobothnia, that is supposedly all flat. Evijärvi has 2 600 inhabitants. Language is Savonian dialect of Finnish, which is quite special, since Savonia is in the East of Finland, Evijärvi is in the West. There is a particular reason for Eastern dialect in this region.

This bay of lake Evijärvi is located in the village of Ina It is the North Eastern corner of the lake. The plant in the water is Nymphaea fennica, or pikkulumme in Finnish.

Trip to Finland PART 1 - South-Western Finland: Hämeenkyrö - Ikaalinen

Finland is still pretty unknown entity for most of the Europeans. I hope this writing and photos give some more insight. In this part of the travel diary I visit Pirkanmaa, the region around Tampere. The towns visited are Hämeenkyrö and Ikaalinen.

From Western Europe (whatever it may mean) there are basically three ways how you can reach Finland. The easiest way is to fly. The cheapest airliner is Ryanair. Other methods are by car through Germany, Denmark and Sweden and then the remaining 10 hours on a ferry, or, the third method, take a ferry straight from Germany, either from Rostock or Travemünde, some 30 hours.

I took Ryanair from Frankfurt Hahn to Tampere.

Exploits of Don Esaias - Attack on the sea

Don Esaias doesn't stop surprising me. He always go through adventures. Despite of the dangers, he manage to come out of them as conqueror and hero. One time he met an angry bear and had to wrestle it down with his bare hands. Here's the photo:

National day cycling trip Winseler (L) - Bastogne (B) - Houffalize

There are couple of nice cycling tracks in the border area between Luxembourg and Belgium. Most of them are built on railways that used to serve the forest industry and passenger transport, but became unprofitable when the road network developed. This time we did what used to be railway number 164 from Wiltz to Bastogne, but starting in Winseler, Luxembourg, where we parked the car and took bicycles down. You can also take train to Wiltz and start riding from there. Railway 164 was in use from 1888 to 1967.

The track follows this little ravine called "Wiltz". I am sure there are trouts here.

Off the beaten track - cycling trip Mertzig - Lac de la Haute Sure - Heiderscheid - Mertzig

For some reason there are no official cycling routes in the hilly area south of Esch-sur-Sur. In the Lëtzebuerger Vëlos-Initiative map that area is empty what comes to cycling paths. Off the beaten track usually means to "be in a place where few people go, far from any main roads and towns" (Cambridge Dictionary). I am sure the real sportsmen, those who ride expensive road bikes and wear cycling team clothes, go there, but we foreigners who see bicycle more as a means of transport, do not, probably because of loooong uphills. I wanted to try, starting at Mertzig. I climbed up to the high plateau of Eschdorf and then down to the Lac de la Haute Sure to Lultzhausen. From there to Esch-sur-Sure - Heiderscheidergrund and back up to the plateau at Heiderscheid. From there to Kehmen and down to Feulen and back to Mertzig.

After the ride Bofferding beer refresh the muscular body of the cyclist. Here in Niederfeulen.



Don't miss Lada Niva in the background. Lada Niva is the legendary Russian 4x4 off-road vehicle (VAZ 2121) described by its designers as a "Renault 5 put on a Land Rover chassis." The production of Lada Niva started in 1977 and became an off-road bestseller in many countries, especially in Brazil.

April cycling Luxembourg City - Berdorf - Moesdroff

Piste Cyclable Luxembourg - Echternach (PC2) is 43 km long. It has been a long lasting favourite, but I haven't done it for long time. This time I didn't do it all either, but most of it anyway. Starting from Bonnevoie, to Luxembourg Centere - Kirchberg - Senningerberg - Rameldange - Ernster - Gonderange - Eschweiler - Beidweiler - Rippig - Hemstal - Bech - Wolper - Consdorf - Berdorf (coffee pause and strawberry sandwiches at the house of friends), then Grundhof - Dillingen - Reisdorf - Moesdroff.

The track as recorded by Sports tracker. This time the app didn't fail me, like many times before.

 

Good Friday cycling in Prümtal

If you have done all wonderful Luxembourg bicycle roads, go across the border to Germany. Prüm is a good starting point for bike trips in Bitburg-Prüm district. Just like last time, I took bus number 407 from Ettelbruck to Prüm. As usual, the day start with coffee and schnecken at Fischer bakery located at Ettelbruck railway station.

Cycling trip Prüm - Burg-Reuland - Troisvierges

For some time I have been planning a cycling trip to the north. Train will easily bring me to Troisvierges where I can take Vennbahn, the newly published cycling track from Luxembourg to the historic city of Aachen, Germany. Vennbahn is 125 km long. I cannot do it in one day and come back. Instead of taking train to Troisvierges, I decided to take bus number 407 from Ettelbruck to Prüm, Germany, and ride through Belgium to Troisvierges, Luxembourg, and take train back home.

(UPDATE: Vennbahn people told me this:

 "For the return you can either take the regional train from Aachen to Liège-Guillemins and Liège via Gouvy to Troisvierges or you look for a train to Trier from where you can get easily back to Luxemburg-City and Troisvierges. 

Last alternative is a Taxi-Shuttle: http://www.vennbahn.eu/en/service/shuttle/".)

The trip starts at Fischer bakery at Ettelbruck railway station

Greater Burdock (Arctium lappa, 牛蒡)

Greater Burdock is one of my favourite plants. In Finnish it is called "isotakiainen", in Latin "Arctium lappa" and in Chinese 牛蒡 (Niúbàng). The word arctium is derived from Greek word arktos, meaning "bear" and lappa means "to seize". If you ever touch it you understand why. In the nature it looks like this:

Piste cyclable 16 Ettelbruck - Bettendorf

Little Sunday afternoon cycling trip. Starting at Ettelbruck railway station and following the PS 16 to Bettendorf. Then up hill to Härebierg, where important military center of the Luxembourgish army is located, Caserne Grand-Duc Jean, and down to Diekirch, where I couldn't resist the call of the Military Museum.

Spring time is here!

Spring time has started in Luxembourg. Little bit earlier than normally. Here are the first photos.

Parc Municipal, Luxembourg Ville

Republic of China Armed Forces Museum 1

Republic of China Armed Forces Museum (國軍歷史文物館, Guójūn Lìshǐ Wénwùguǎn)  is located close to the Presidential office and Ximen MRT station. The museum is dedicated to the military achievements of the "National Revolutionary Army", NRA. The NRA was the military arm of the Kuomintang party (Chinese Nationalist Party, KMT) from 1925 to 1947 and became also the regular army of the Republic of China.

Bicycle trip in tripoint, place where three countries, Germany, France and Luxembourg, meet

One of the advantages of living in Luxembourg is that you can visit several countries in one afternoon.
This is my bicycle trip that covered 3 countries within 3 hours. See the track in Sportstracker.
I wanted to start at Wormeldange, small town close to river Mosel, but couldn't find parking. Across the bridge, on the German side, there is spacious "Mitfahrerparkplatz" of Wincheringen. First I pedalled on the German side of the river to south, towards France. In France I crossed the river and rode back on the Luxembourgish side.
This is Wormeldange

A day at the European Parliament

I got a chance to participate in a committee meeting of the European parliament.

Luxembourg is with Venezuela

In principle, I don't write about politics. But now I do. The media attention of the world is turned to Ukraine, which is easy to understand. Something out of ordinary is happening there. But others write about it, I don't need to.