Famous buildings in Taipei (as per East Metro Mall)

During the winter time last year, to hide away from the cold and rain, I took it down to the East Metro Mall ( 東區地下街) to do my daily walk. There I came across the long term exhibition for the selected 17 famous buildings in Taipei.

After many of a walk through them buildings- version miniature, I decided to walk them through at large.

Many a up-and-down of my health conditions after, I finally moved my butts through them all... and with my dear grandpa camera Canon A570IS, a camera almost as adama shorto as me, pictures taken and images captured.

Funny enough, some time after I started my walking them buildings at large, in the news, one day, I heard that mistakes in the labels were found in the exhibition that has been there for 10 years or more... and... eventually  they were corrected... (which, of course, made yours grandiose delusional thought it might have something to do with my diligent efforts in walking the walk- though such delusion was well-handled. 8-X)

Sure, were I who I was, these places could have been easily visited within 3-4 days- rather than extended for the duration of almost an year.  Yet, were I who I was, some of the path I traversed might not have occurred at all...  At the same time, the path I traversed... nothing but the consequences of walking the walk.

At the same time, some part of journey really resonated only too well with my beloved song de Whitesnake..


The the spirit of you can call me Al cuts it pretty well as well... (an youtube clip I inserted by mistake as  opposed to da "I don't know where I'm going...")


When walking da walk... "I don't know where I am going." (I just... go go go allez allez allez lol)
Right now... "I sure know where I've been."   (Hopefully)

Synchronously, my MBT sandal got totally worn out at the last spot... the presidential palace with the the sole totally out... Thank you, Mon chéri, for absorbing the pressure and helping me walk across continents and in all seasons... (Guess, I did leave traces on the path I have traversed... somehow.. 8-O 8-X lol)

If you are in Taiwan or will visit Taiwan, be sure to visit the following buildings and... beyond...

Bon voyage!

Historial building

1. 龍山寺 Longshan Temple, Taipei
2. 台北賓館 Taipei Guesthouse, Taipei
3. 台北故事舘Taipei Story House (Formerly known as 圓山別莊)
4. 台北當代藝術舘 Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei
5. 北門 承恩門 North Gate
6. 台灣省立博物館 Taiwan Provincial Museum
7. 總統府 Presidential Office (總統府 Presidential Office Front view)
8. 淡水紅毛城 (Museum of Fort San Antonio)
9. 公賣局 Wine and tobacco monopoly bureau

Modern building

1. ATT 4 Fun (Formerly known as New York, New York 紐約紐約)
2. 台北101摩天大樓 Taipei World Financial Center
3. 威秀影城 Vieshow Cinemas (Formerly 華納威秀 Warner Village)
4. 台北世界貿易中心展覽大樓 Taipei World Trade Center
5. 新光摩天大樓 Shin Kong Life Tower
6. 大陸工程總部大樓 Continental Engineering Corporation Building
7. 富邦金融大樓 Fu-ban Financial building
8. 遠企中心 Far Eastern Plaza

 (Cross-posted in Ratology Reloaded.)

總統府 Presidential Office (Front view)

I went back on Sunday to take a few pictures of the building from the outside. Originally, I thought it would have been a short day for my runaround about town.  Then, when taking the pictures in the parking near the 228 memorial park, I heard people sing and music playing... ended up... I went ahead and attended a concert.

Since the sun was already down and it was already dark at the end of the concert, I decided to walk back out to take some more pictures of the presidential palace in the night... which I didn't think I'd be able to capture in a day.

Again, the haphazard nature of life..... lol


11/4/2012

2012台北草地樂活節演場會 2012 LOHAS concert

Given my ordinary speed of slow and stop, after having been on my feet for a while, I usually would find some place nice to sit down and get some work done.

Sunday morning, I decided to take some pictures of the Presidential Palace from all different angles and was gonna make it a short day for my roaming around in town at my two speeds... Then, when I was almost done with the picture-taking business, I heard singing and dancing in the park...

Interesting... there seems to be a concert or some sort of a gathering in the 228 Memorial Park... with a whole lot of seats to choose from!  Based on a poster that I glanced through as I walked in... a famous Taiwanese singer Bobby Chen (陳昇) would also be performing at the concert as well...

So I sat down and watched the performance by local band and brave kids fighting cancer off... while, at points, plowed away doing some more work in festivity.



Working is apparently the best time-killer...  Or, I could have kept on working away except for... voila... here comes the singer and the band on stage...



While, in the middle of his performance, Bobby Chen shared a few words on his thoughts about nuclear energy and the disposition of the nuclear waste.... (Ya, nuclear waste is a global issue.  Otherwise, it would simply be called "waste" without nuclear attaché..)



At the end of the concert, I walked out and bewildered...  "How on earth did I land here at a live concert while all that I planned to do was to take a picture or two of the Presidential Palace?"

Perhaps, sometimes it is a good thing that things don't always go as I plan? lol

11/4/2012

總統府 Presidential Office

In my high school years, I walked by the Presidential Palace and secretly admired them, on guard, macho macho military police (憲兵哥哥) everyday... Yet, never had I had the chance to get inside of the Presidential Palace... or... never would I have dreamed that one day I would be able to get in there.  Then, I realized that, while the ground floor of the Presidential Palace is open for visits in the morning during the weekday, a larger portion of the building is open for visits on the third week of the month every month.

So I took my mom for a trip inside of the Presidential Palace (總統府)!
Since we joined the guided tour, in addition to simply visiting the architecture itself, the informing guides also gave us a detailed review of the history behind Taiwan as well as the formerly-known as Governor-general's office during the era of Japanese occupancy and the now-known-as Presidential Palace (總統府).

The current 總統府 Presidential palace was completed in 1919 during the era of Japanese occupancy and it was the tallest building in Taiwan at that time.  It was built because the old Governor-General's office got caught on fire.  Afterwards, the building did have its share of... how to you put it... phases of deconstruction and reconstruction...  For instance, during the second world war, in May, 1945, the then Governor-general's office was bombed by the US airforce and was severely damaged....

Since limited my words can retell not the history and beauty of it all, I can only share with you some of the images I saw with, sometimes, some simple notes... In addition, the rite of passage would be yours to walk as well through the visit to the building itself!

From 總統府 Presidential palace

After the tour, we sat down in the South courtyard for a rest where there were students from 嘉義 coming to perform. Growing up thinking it is a very serious place... and I saw the singing and dancing in the courtyard.... youthful and energetic! Got my mental model of the 總統府 Presidential Palace totally dis-constructed... 8-O lol


 11/3/2012

Guanghua Mall 光華商場

Walked down to  Guang Hua Mall (光華商場)... famous for all the tech gadgets you can get.

Since it was some trip to walk down there, I sat down after my arrival to get done with the remaining pages and, finally, got done with it- DWM!

Then, I went on a shopping spree to celebrate this iteration of reloading DWM and got my grandpa Canon A570is four new rechargeable batteries and a new 8 gb SDHC card (since it might not be able to handle 16 gb lol)!

台北故事舘Taipei Story House

Taipei Story House (台北故事舘)  was built by the tea merchant Chen Chao-chun (陳朝駿) in 1913 and was completed in 1914.  Apparently, at the height of his time, his property extended beyond where the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and reached the waterfront....  Sort of reminded me of the story of Yuyuan (豫園)..  The house changed hands various times throughout the years.  In 2003, the formerly known as "圓山別莊" was transformed into a mini-museum holding exhibitions such as "Story of Carrier Bag" (手提袋的故事展) that I came across.

Taipei Story House (台北故事舘)  it is a half-timbered faux Tudor style building- supposed to be a rarity in Taiwan.  At the front entrance are the iconic style columns.  The Gothic-style house tower and chimney are made of bricks with the curved garbles decorated with bronze tiles.  Outside of the house is the European style garden.

What I attended to was the beautiful architecture- a combination of bricks, woods,  bronze tiles and glass window.  The fireplaces, the ceiling and the overall configuration of the interior configurations are some other things to attend to when you are inside. I was told that the furniture were no longer original, though.  On the second floor sat one of the first (if not first) vertical piano built by Yamaha.  The piano was built in 1915- a year younger than the house itself.

Since the house is small and there was no place to install an elevator, I had to climb all the way up to the second floor.  Good job to myself!  Then, I took a break sitting on the bench by the fireplace... leisurely working on my DWM...  How gemütlich a working environment (except for doesn't get pay too well... priceless... or nada... more exactly since it's a book I am working on. lol)

After my visit to the Taipei Story House, I had wanted to drop by at the Cafe and get some more work done- only to find out that a special event was taking place and the cafe was closed to the others.  I, thus, wondered away and landed at Let's Drink Cafe at the Pavilion of (Native) Aroma... where, again, I leisurely plowed away with work while enjoying the sight of landing planes every so often.

By the time I got back out, I realized that it had turned dark on the outside and I got to see the beautiful night scene of the building under the lights although it is not the Friday night grade of special lights.  Yet, I am happy enough about it since I had not expected myself to stay long enough to see the Taipei Story House in the night!

So ist das leben!  The magically haphazard nature of life!

11/1/2012

18大道居酒屋

After my leisure at work at the Cafe at the Pavilion of (Native) Aroma, I went to do my physical therapy and had some maintenance work done on my body by my doctor.

Thereafter, I went for a dinner with a friend and landed at 18大道居酒屋... a new place on the block that will have its grand opening next week.  A private celebration for my having only about 20 pages left till, again, I will be done with DWM!

Might have something to do with the fact that I was taking pictures left and right.  At some point, as we were having some nice conversation with the owner of the bistro, the nice lady asked whether I have a blog and whether I will post the info of their new venture on my blog.

So I responded with lol... "I've got my blogs alright except for no one ever came to visit. lol"

Nice food, friendly services and, according to my friend who knows the dining scene better, excellent in the budgeting department as well at this economic climate!

Pavilion of (Native) Aroma 飲吧 and 原民風味舘

Walked my behind down to Taipei Story house and stopped by the Cafe at the Pavilion of Aroma to do some more work on my book DWM.

Cane, Latte and work in D-link bag

Since it was the weekday, I got to enjoy the Cafe with the Taiwanese Native aroma all to myself.  As I was plowing away with DWM with sipping da latte, I was also looking forwarded to the planes flying over my head on their way to land at the Taipei Songshan Airport (松山機場).
Haven't we all done at some point in our life going specifically somewhere where we could see the planes landing or taking off!

Ganz gemütlich!

手提袋的故事展 Story of carrier bag exhibition at Taipei Story House

When I went to the Taipei Story House for a visit the other day, they were hold the exhibition of "Story of Carrier Bag" (手提袋的故事展).

Interesting notion, each bag has a story of its own....

So I thought to my carrier bag... "What lies beneath.. thy story?"

11/1/2012