Archive for December, 2009

Favorite Posts of 2009

With 2009 coming to a close I thought I would take a moment to highlight some of my favorite posts [in no particular order]:

  • Growing up a short drive from Sandusky, Ohio, I’ve never been too impressed by amusement parks in Taiwan.  The rides at the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village were really nothing to write home about, but the cherry blossoms sure were nice.
  • Skip the Sitou Forest Recreational Park and go to the Wangyou Forest instead.  It’s a real gem and almost deserted [for now].
  • I visited the Old Taichung Winery with blogger Mark Forman in October and had a great time.  On this trip I learned to love my 50mm f/1.8 all over again.
  • My trip to Kaohsiung with my wife was a blast.  It’s hard to choose one post to highlight here but the one featuring shots from Formosa Boulevard MRT Station’s the Dome of Light really stand out for its panorama goodness.
  • I wrote a short little article about Reverse Lens Macro Photography that you may find helpful.  The examples in the article are fairly dull, but the subsequent Daily Photos came out nice.
  • Surprise!  Nantou had a flower festival!
  • I never knew a ceramics museum could be so interesting!  Now I need to find time to visit Yingge again!
  • Cathy and I had a great time walking around the Gold Ecological Park in Jinguashi.  Check it out to learn about Taiwan’s intriguing mining history!
  • I’ve written a few posts from our honeymoon to the Czech Republic and Austria.  Unfortunately, I’ve experienced quite a delay getting pictures online due to my pre-Intel processor iBook G4 showing its age.  Out of the posts I have made, the one of the Old Jewish Cemetery is my favorite.
  • Can I pick just one cycling post?  Of course not.  My trip on the Northern Cross Island Highway was the most fun I’ve ever had cycling in lousy weather, mainly because of the great people I went along with.  My recent solo-ride to Xinshe was great because it was more challenging than any other ride I had done before.

This year I started doing Weekly Links as a regular feature on the blog.  I hope my readers have found this useful for finding interesting content.   The Daily Photo feature began last year and unfortunately posting has been sporadic at best.  I usually post a Daily Photo if there wasn’t a long post and usually only post a photo on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday [and technically Thursday if you count the Weekly Links header photo].  Regardless, here’s my 10 favorite Daily Photos [sorted by date]:

Anping Tree House

January 22 – Anping Tree House [4]

Cyrestis thyodamas formosana
February 2 – A Sign of Spring

Shaver
March 17 – Electric

Buzzer
April 27 – The Tenth Floor

Bamboo
May 7 – Bamboo

Lotus
May 14 – Lotus

Taiwan Barbet
May 25 – Time to Take out the Trash

Gate
June 8 – Corrosion

Nikon FM2
August 18 – FM2

Skull
October 7 – All Your Weight Falls on Me and Brings Me Down

Notice anything missing?  Yeah, no people.  I’ll try to work on that in 2010.

In personal news, Cathy and I just celebrated our one year anniversary!  I’m looking forward to plenty more anniversaries and travels with my beautiful wife!

Have a Happy New Year!

Daily Photo – Splatterhouse

SPLAT
Window of a Japanese restaurant in Taichung.

Weekly Links – December 26, 2009

Postcards

Hope everyone’s having a happy holidays!  I won’t be posting links next week, I’ll be busy soaking in a hot spring during New Year’s Eve!

Daily Photo – House on a Hill

House on a Hill
In Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic.

On a side note, I’ll be taking a brief break from blogging.  I expect to be posting again sometime next week.

Daily Photo – Bang Up Job

Not my car.
How hard is it to pay attention to traffic lights?

Cycling – Xinshe and Back

Road SignsFrom left to right:  Provincial HWY 14, Township Route 6, County Route 136, Township Route 100 [I missed my chance to take a picture of the sign, hence the drawing], Township Route 95-1, Provincial HWY 21, County Route 133, and Provincial HWY 14 [again].

I would like to start off with brief 4 word summaries of the roads and thoughts I had during Saturday’s journey:

  • Provincial HWY 14 – Very few motorists, dreaming?
  • Township Route 6 – Satisfying distraction from #14.
  • County Route 136 – Everyone traveling opposite direction.
  • Township Route 100 – Deceivingly flat at beginning.
  • Township Route 95-1 – Following the mighty Dajia.
  • Provincial HWY 21 – Not bad from Dongshih.
  • County Route 133 – Charging fast through Guoxing.
  • Provincial HWY 14 – Just keep on spinning.

Continue reading ‘Cycling – Xinshe and Back’

Weekly Links – December 10, 2009

Gongxi Ni!

EVENTS: Van Gogh exhibition opens tomorrow in Taipei.  Craig hosts Photowalk #5 at the Funyang Eco Park Dec. 13.  CKS Shilin Residence Chrysanthemum Exhibition now through December 13. Fubon Taipei Marathon December 20.  Nantou Flower Festival now through January 3.  Sichong River Hot Spring Festival till January 31.

Taiwan Blog Awards: Vote for this blog and all your other favorite Taiwan Blogs @ Taiwanderful!

Daily Photo – The Beautiful Isle

Formosa
Ilha Formosa.

Daily Photo – The Drive-By Shooting

The Party
The Nangang Industrial Area is clearly the happening place to be when in Nantou City.

Saturday Cycling – The Lugu Loop

Lugu Bike Trip
This morning, cycling buddies Michael T. and Drew K. came down from Taichung for some cycling around Lugu [鹿谷].  The route was about 50km long and tallied up over 900m in climbs.  I packed my bike in Michael’s van and we traveled down HWY 3 to Zhushan [竹山].  We parked the van at the 7-11 on Jishan Road [3丙], unpacked, and were off!
Continue reading ‘Saturday Cycling – The Lugu Loop’

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