luomujie blogspot

It's Chinese New Year's Eve and I went to Dihua Street to buy some 'Chinese' candies to celebrate the Year of the Horse. From Taipei Main Station, I transferred to the Tamsui Line and alighted at Zhongshan Station. I passed by the Zhongshan Metromall and all of the stores were closed. I already expected this since Lunar New Year is a holiday in Taiwan. I got lost finding Dihua Street and it was a good thing that I always bring my Taipei Metro Tourist Map whenever I travel. I don't have a smartphone so I can only rely on this map to survive.

The area in Zhongshan Station was not new to me as I already encountered this place when I went to MOCA Taipei in Taiwan Day 106. While walking I also saw the covered stalls of Ningxia Night Market and I remember my Memories of Taste Buds in Taiwan Day 113. Now I'm getting familiar with the streets of Taipei!

When I reached Dihua Street, it was like Manila's Divisoria. There were lots of vendors selling in the street and also old buildings. Based on my research most buildings here were built during the Japanese Colonial Period. Since I don't know much in architecture in my opinion I don't find any 'Japaneseness' in the old buildings that I saw.

I've read in blogs and in TripAdvisor that there are too many people in Dihua Street during Chinese New Year but I didn't encounter too much people. The reason might be that most Taiwanese were already done shopping in Dihua Street. Another reason might be the time that I went in that place. It was around 10:30am when I reached this place so the crowd may not be too large in the morning.

I was able to have a taste test in the food that the vendors were selling like the sweetened preserved meat but the price was expensive. I tried to explore first the area before starting to buy. When I reached the stores at the end of the street. I went back to buy some Malao or Rice Crispy. The price was 50 NTD for 100g. I just get two rice crispy for each flavor and the total price of my rice crispies were 200 NTD.

I also bought assorted candies. The lady vendor told me that I can try them but I don't have time anymore. I just grabbed two candies for each kind and put it in the large transparent plastic that was given to me by the vendor and it was weighed. The total cost of my candies was NTD 110.

I also visited Dadaocheng Wharf as it was few tumblings away from Dihua Street. Dadaocheng was an important transport hub during the early days of Taipei. This was where the goods were dropped by merchants and then later sold in Dihua Street.

Tomorrow, I will distribute the rice crispies and the candies that I bought from Dihua Street. I believe that this will bring a sweet and harmonious relationship to all of my friends in TIGP and also good luck to me this Year of the Horse.

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone!

Taiwan Day 152: Retro Taipei - Jan. 30, 2014

Yuka -> a baby mammoth that was trapped in ice 39,000 years ago was here in Taipei for a special exhibit in Chiang-Kai Shek (CKS) Memorial Hall.

I went to CKS Memorial using MRT by transferring from the Bannan Line to the Tamsui Line in Taipei Main Station. It was just very easy to find this place as after I go out of Exit 5 I was already there. But I have to walk for maybe 500 meters to reach this large blue and white magestic structure resembling the Temple of Heaven in mainland China to see the exhibit.

I got a discounted ticket for NTD 250 and there were some house rules however I could not read most of them because they are in Chinese. There some short sentences in English like 'No Photography allowed'. At first I was not taking pictures but I saw a woman taking a lot of photos so I just took also my own pictures of the skeletal remains of animals that lived during the ice age. There was a skull of saber-toothed tiger,a skull of primitive horse and large skeleton of a bison. Aside from Yuka there was another interesting 'preserved' animal in the exhibit. It was a primitive rhino but only a few people were looking at it. They are more interested in Yuka.

I noticed that each part of the exhibit has some orange colored boxes with numbers and I also saw some people holding some audio devices. I guessed that the numbered boxes served as guide for people who rented this audio devices. I didn't ask for the audio device as it was not free and I was thinking that it was in Chinese so I it will be useless.

The main attraction was, of course, Yuka. The remains of this baby mammoth from Russia were still intact. Not only its bones but also its flesh and hair. I saw some videos of its initial autopsy and it showed fresh blood coming from its intact skin. I made some research about Yuka and it was first displayed in Yokahama, Japan. I also learned that scientist have obtained samples from Yuka for sequencing.

Normally, a mammoth can only be studied through its fossil bones but Yuka was unique as this baby mammoth still has its skin and even hair. I even have the opportunity to have a feel of the texture of a mammoth hair. There was this large circular glass container resembling like a giant inverted Petri dish with some holes in it. Inside the glass container were hair samples from the mammoth. I tried to insert my index finger in one small hole and the texture was like 'abaca'. I don't know if this was really mammoth hair or just 'abaca'. They might be fooling the people. lol

I was not able to take photos of Yuka as there were observers from the exhibit management warning people not to take photos of Yuka inside its refrigerated glass container. I just content myself by looking in this extinct specie and got amazed of how evolution worked.

At the end of the exhibit was a store selling 'mammoth memorabilia'. Aw! So this is how Taiwan earns income from exhibits. They don't just sell ticket they also sell some merchandise. There were a lot of interesting things to buy such as the mammoth stuff toys. It was the first time that I saw a mammoth stuff toy and it was cute. I bought something useful. It was a plastic folder/envelope with three proud looking mammoths in its cover.

The mammoths were already extinct and we should learn from them. If mankind will still continue to produce green house gases, the effects of climate change could not be reversed and we could face extinction from our own Ice Age!

Taiwan Day 134: Ice Age - Jan. 12, 2014

My opening salvo for my weekend travel adventure this new year -> Welcome to the 2014 Taipei Flower Show at the Taipei Expo Park! I went there amidst my review for my Final Exams. I religiously tour around Taipei every weekend as my mantra of refreshing my neurons.

Yesterday I bought a Sony Cyber-shot camera in Carrefour for only NTD 2980. When the cashier opened the box to inspect the contents I was surprised that I also got an extra battery and a charger as well. The price was pretty cheap for such an amazing camera from Sony. I am not an affiliate of Sony and I don't have any plans of working there. Just take a look at the pictures in this album and you will be the judge.

There was a great improvement in terms of the resolutions of the pictures that I got. It was my first time to use this camera and I still have to study how to manually switch from Landscape mode to Macro mode. The camera has a function to defocus the background in the Macro mode so when I was taking a picture of a flower the camera would just focus on the flower and it will be the highlight of the picture. It also has 5x optical zoom and I tried to test the clarity of the zoomed image and I was very satisfied when I looked in the LCD screen of my new camera.

There were a lot of things to enjoy in this flower show. There was a moon-shaped topiary, an airplane car, a panda on a hot-air balloon, castles and many more. Aside from that there were also a lot of airplanes that were flying above. Not just flying above, they were flying very low and were just getting ready to land. I checked my Taipei Metro Tourist Map to verify that a few kilometers away from the Taipei Expo Park was the Songshan Airport. It was fun to watch those giant airplanes and luckily there was no Final Destination incident that happened.

I was all alone on this tour and I just politely asked some Taiwanese to take some photos of me so I will have some remembrance of my flower expo experience. They were kind enough to take my pictures. My favorite picture was when a woman tried to take a second shot of me near the panda hot-air balloon. I just raised my hand to changed my pose and the wind just blowed strongly and that made my jacket fly in the air just like superman and that complemented the hot-air balloon scene. It was a great shot!

I have around 300 pictures in this album and the total size of my album was 2.2 GB and this was because of the higher number of pixels that I generated with my new camera. This gadget have 16.1 megapixels and that's a lot of data. Unfortunately, uploading those pictures here in facebook reduces the quality of my photos. But I assure you that they look better in my computer since I have the original copy.

I did not pay anything for this flower exhibit. I just went to Yuanshan Station of the Tamsui Lin and I was there already. Yuanshan Stations was just a few stations away from Taipei Main Station. There was also a bazaar within the expo area. So if you got hungry you can buy snacks or even eat lunch as there were also restaurants nearby.

Next week I will go back in time during the Ice Age to explore the hidden world of a baby mammoth named Yuka.

The fun never stops this 2014 as the New Year blossoms!

Taiwan Day 127: As the New Year Blossoms - Jan. 5, 2014

Dec. 31, 2013 - I woke up at 9:20 am only realizing that I have a Biology 1 (B1) Class at 9:00 am. I was already late but I didn't forced myself to enter the class. It was the first time that I was absent in B1 but my stipend won't be affected since my sole absence from this class haven't reached 1/3 of 14 which was the total number of classes. I just used the time in cleaning my study table as I want to start the New Year with a clean and organized table. I also used the time to print the chapters in the molecular biology book that I need to read in order to review for our upcoming Final Exam. In the afternoon, I went to my Python Programming Class at 2:00 pm and I have presented my Local Alignment Algorithm in front of my classmates. I almost forgot what I need because I submitted the project a week ago but still I was still able to explained it well. The programming class ended at 4:00 pm but the excitement was a little bit stopped by the TA Algorithms Session right after Python Programming. It was all about Suffix Trees. A very easy topic for me. hehe! At 6:00pm everybody was ready to prepare for the biggest show in Taiwan at 12:00 midnight which was the fireworks in Taipei 101.

Our group was coordinated by my PhD classmate Chris. He made an initial plan of where to go and what to do but he still let us decide which we want to go. Alcides, Divya, Kidane and Nikhil were also part of this New Year adventure team. I also saw Michael, the friend of Chris whom we first met in Taiwan Day 115. I was curioused why he was with Chris even during the Python Class so I asked him if they were the best of friends and he said 'yes'.

Alcides was not at first able to join the group as he need to sleep and he said that he will join the group at 11:00 pm. From TIGP Dorm, our group composed of Chris, Michael, Divya, Kidane, Nikhil and me rode Bus 212 to reached Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT Station. Inside the bus Divya and I just learned from Chris that we need to pay twice since we are taking a longer destination from Academia Sinica. We were surprised about that and I thought the the bus fare was fixed at NTD 12 no matter what the distance was. Chris told us that there will be a sign in the LCD screen inside the bus that will indicate that we need to pay twice for the bus fare. He also said the bus drivers cannot speak English so I a foreigner who needs to pay twice just swiped their Easy Card only once he or she will not be scolded by bus driver as the driver could not express his words in English but for citizens of Taiwan they will be easily told to swipe their Easy Card twice. Chris talked to our bus driver and we were surprised that driver said that we don't need to pay twice anymore. Diyva was happy and I just told her to call the incident the 'Chris Magic'.

When we exited in Zhongxiao Fuxing we met one of Chris' friends and her name was Irene and she joined our group in celebrating this New Year. The gang went to a Hong Kong Style Restaurant. I ordered a chicken meal with two rising eggs but I forgot the specific name of that dish. Divya ordered a fried rice while Chris ordered a seafood meal with 'pancit canton'. Our milk tea were the first to be served before our heavy meals. I was really hungry at that time since I usually ate my dinner at 6 pm. It was already past 8 pm so my gastric juices were already protesting that they need something to digest. I ate my dinner with passion and since the servings were large I was not even able to ate the last small piece of chicken. Nikhil gave me some fried rice while Chris offered some fish balls that made my stomach almost full before finishing half of my dinner.

After our dinner, we walked back to street in Zhongxiao Fuxing and met Alcides. The group first tried to walk near Taipei 101 but suddenly turned back to buy some food in a fast food restaurant. After buying the food, the group then decided to walk near Sun Yat Sen Memorial to find a good spot to watch the fireworks. There were already a lot of people along the streets. It was my first time to experience walking in the streets of Taipei in New Year's Eve and it was a memorable experience. I was able to chat with Irene while the group was walking and I learned from her that when she went to China she used another passport to go there as she was a Taiwanese. Irene dresses like a typical Taiwanese woman but I would always remember her angelic face.

Once we reached the park, Nikhil took the lead in finding a good spot to watch the Taipei 101 show and we were able to find a very good spot where we can see even the base of Taipei 101. Finding it was not easy as we need to be in contact with the members of the groups as we insert ourselves into the thousands of people that were also eager to find a place in Taipei's public park. I really admire Nikhil's initiative in finding a good place and his intuition in telling whether there was a better spot to look for. But where was this nice spot that we found in watching the fireworks in Taipei 101? I won't tell. It is a big secret. hehe!

Taipei 101 was at first lit that you can see the outlines of its bamboo-shaped structure. Infront of Taipei City Hall was a large stage that acted as the main New Year's Eve show of Taipei City. Seconds before January 1 approaches, the crowd became crazy. Shi[10], Jiu[9], Ba[8], Qi[7],Liu[6],Wu[5], Si[4], San[3], Er[2], Yi[1]. At the strike of 12 midnight, the greatest show of Taiwan began. Taipei 101 was transformed into a magical sparkling building. Shining brightly into the darkness of the night, all attention was given to this tall structure. There were a lot of people who took photos and videos using their smartphones. I also took a short video then I suddenly switch to took photos since I want my album cover for this Taiwan Day 122 and 123 to be the blazing Taipei 101. It was really hard watching the fireworks display live and at the same time taking photos and video but I really enjoyed it. It was a one of a kind experience. Watching it live was more fun than seeing it on TV or in Youtube.

After the fireworks,the lighting of Taipei 101 changed. Just look at my photos on how the building transformed into a bright rectangular prism. The people in the park started to decrease indicating the end of the main event. We changed to another place and we tried to watch the live show infront of Taipei City Hall. We don't have a nice view but I was able to climb and sit on a railings. I took some videos to show how jam-packed the people are. I was also awed by the design of the stage. There was a very big LED screen and the design was comparable to stages in concerts of international artist. I guessed that the Taipei City Government spent a lot of money for this New Years' Eve Celebration. At 1:00 am the show ended and I was surprised that the bright lighting of Taipei 101 suddenly disappear and it returned to its usual unlighted form.

We went to a night market then to a public park to rest and have some chit-chat. I was already tired at around 3:00 am. Divya, Kidane and I wanted to go back to TIGP Dorm. We separated with the group at Taipei City Hall Station. The others will join the flag raising ceremony in front of the Presidential Palace. I really want to join them but my body wants to sleep.

2013 was a year full of drama. I lost a loved one due to cancer and I need to be strong. I was accepted in TIGP, I made my first international trip in Hong Kong and I survived my first 100 days in Taiwan.

This 2014, the future looks bright and I even have to wear shades!

Xīn Nián Kuài Lè (Happy New Year) !!!