Museums of Taipei

I did the rounds of the museums in Taipei on Saturday. I’m lucky in that the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) is only a couple of blocks away. I can walk there in three or four minutes. The Taipei Fine Arts Museum is also nearby. Finally, I went to the Tittot Glass Art Museum. It was my first visit to this museum.
I started off, as …

Handel’s Oratorio “Jephtha” at Zhongshan Hall

I tend to do a lot of things on impulse these days, and my impulse last night was to attend a performance at Zhongshan Hall. The performance was of Jephtha, an oratorio by Handel, and it was one of the more extraordinary evenings I’ve had in a long time.
Zhongshan Hall is one of the grand performance venues in Taipei. It was built between 1932 and …

Seeing a Movie at the Breeze Center

Another thing I like is going to see a movie at the Breeze Center here in Taipei. The Breeze Center is a somewhat high-end shopping mall on Fuxing Road. There is really nothing in the mall itself that I would ever want to buy. Most malls in Taipei are like that. If you gave me ten thousand US dollars and sent me into one of …

Driving My Scooter in Taipei

Taipei Rooftop Apartments & WordPress Custom Menu and Post Formats

It’s a Sunday morning over here in Taipei, and I am about to have my first cup of coffee of the day. I did not wake up to rain, but the skies are clouded over and my tiny rooftop apartment (otherwise known as Rooftop Paradise) is quite chilly and damp – sure signs that winter is on its way or already here to stay.

Heavy Taipei Rain and WordPress Post Formats

I began this day saying that it was raining and had been for five days. It’s about 10 hours later now, and it is still raining. When I left work to get on my scooter and drive home, the rain was coming down in sheets. Someone told me there was a heavy-rain advisory in effect, and I didn’t doubt it. This was heavy rain. I …

Return to Shihfen and Jioufen by Scooter

Sunday October 30 7:30 a.m.
Jioufen,Taiwan
I believe Jioufen was my second trip out of Taipei when I first came to Taiwan. I rode my bike here and stayed at a relatively fancy place called Old Window. I wouldn’t normally have stayed at a place that cost that much a night, but everything else was booked. At least, the places I could find were booked. Since then …

Moon Festival Trip 001 – Pingling

I’m currently in a mountain tea-growing town called Pinglin. I’ve been here many, many times, but I always like it. It’s the very first place I went to on my first trip out of Taipei many years ago. The town itself is nothing that special, but a beautiful river runs through it, and they built trails all along the river and then up into the mountains.