Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Back in Taiwan, this is one of the funniest mis-translations of the Chinese language, I have ever seen. Enjoy! (Click on the picture to bring up a larger version)
OK, last one not of Taiwan. At least it's Asia this time. On the way from Johannesburg to Kuala Lumpur for my connecting flight home. How can you not love flying (turbulance aside) when this is the view from the window?
"That is not Taiwan, Roger!" I know, I know, but I can't resist an opportunity to promote my beautiful home country, South Africa. Taken at Kenton On Sea, Eastern Cape province.
Strictly speaking I shouldn't be posting this photo, because it wasn't taken in Taiwan at all and photographically it's not great either. In fact, it was taken off the coast of Madagascar from the window seat of a 747 I was flying in on my way back to South Africa for holiday. A few hours before we landed, I witnessed the most spectaculat lightning display I have ever seen. The entire sky was lit up by hundreds of simultaneous flashes of lightning from a bunch of huge clouds. That's got to be one of the most amazing natural things one can ever witness.
Those avid followers of this blog (do such strange creatures exist, I wonder?) will recall photos from a trip mates and I took to Sun Moon Lake, a natural (I think) reservoir about an hour south of Taichung. Well, I visited it again, and this time it was really beautiful, with low lying clouds decorating the surrounding mountains. Here's a panorama. Sorry it's only 1024 pixels wide, but that's all that 'Hello' allows.
Here's a stack of 'ghost money' that is burned by a large number of Taiwanese folk in the hope that it will financially provide for ancestors in the afterlife.
I'm not quite sure what these people were doing, but it had something to do with the incence holder. If you know, please leave a comment :)
A lot of pride, time, effort and skill goes into constructing and decorating your average Taiwanese temple. As an example, look at this beautiful stone carving, just a small section of an extensive amount of decoration on one of the older temples in Lu Gan.
I visited a town called Lu Gun with a few friends recently and visited some temples there. This is one of my favourite recent photos - a door to one of the older temples.
This is one cool looking Japanese transformer robot. I wish I was a kid again, because this beats He-Man by a mile.
Most large Taiwanese companies have an annual banquet to thank employees, eat food and generally to throw around a bunch of money and look good. My company's banquet was no different, complete with all the hype and fanfare that accompanies Taiwanese events. The food was good, if unusual, but the best part was the huge amount of cash that was casually given away by management.
Pine trees, mist and mountains are the order of the day at Shi Tou. It's a really beautiful spot.
It's been a long time since I added anything!!! Sorry to all you folks who actually visit. Well, this photo was taken by my good friend Rob Sparrow when a bunch of us visited Shi Tou forest recreation area. I think it's a great pic and I'm kind of jealous of him for taking it ;)