小傢伙的老師聽說我們要回台灣, 就問我可不可以讓班上的小丑先生跟我們一起去. 這位小丑先生的來頭可不小. 看了這篇文章就知道了.
http://mypaper.pchome.com.tw/ting36/post/1321514549
所以以下的照片敘述都是以小丑先生為第一人稱. 等我把文章印出來交差了事以後, 我會再回來補中文哦!
I was so excited to go traveling with Arje! I have been looking forward to the day of departure and it finally came.
3 suitcases. One for Arje, one for Arje’s mom Ting, and one for me. Mine is the biggest one. JUST KIDDING!
Here we are at the airport. I just can’t hide my smiling face, can I?
Arje and I had a good time in the airplane. When we entered the airplane, Arje looked around and said ‘Oh, I think I like it.’ SO DO I! You see we are watching a movie together. They even have Sponge Bob in the Square Pants on the Kids’ program. Ting hates this cartoon for some reason, but Arje and I just love it!
Wow~ We have traveled 4825 miles already.
This little TV tells you how much we traveled and where we are located exactly. Things like this just make me fascinated! Taipei city, here we come!
Isn’t this just beautiful? Ahhhh~ I am so relaxed.
These are the pilots who flew us to Taiwan. When we landed on the ground, Arje said ‘Good landing. Good job!‘ Thank you gentlemen. You did good.
Awww~ I feel home away from home already.
On our first trip in Taiwan, Aunt Emma took us to this historical landmark for sightseeing. Its called Lin An-Tai Historical Home
This house was built in 1754. At one point, the City of Taipei was going to tear it down for road construction. The historians wanted to to keep the building, so they took the entire thing apart and moved everything to a different location. It looks as perfect as the original. It is now one of the most popular tourist attractions in Taipei.
Butterfly style window. So creative!
Bats represent good luck in Chinese culture. Of course you know it means a lot to Austinites as well, so I thought Arje and I together in this picture would be appropriate.
This is the front entrance. The 2-story building at the front was built as a guard house.
The door on the right is in the shape of a vase. The pronunciation of 'vase' in Chinese is the same as the word 'safe', so it represents being safe when you are at home as well as when you are out.
This is one of the garden gazebos. Tall buiding walls could prevent people peeking in from the outside. By now you should have figured out how wealthy this family was.
Hey! Look at me. I am in an ancient Chinese crib.
The symbols of good will are everywhere around the property. The peach shape window also means 'long life' in Chinese culture.
This is a Mongolian teepee. I thought this is super cool! Maggie is Aunt Emma’s daughter. Emma and Ting are sisters. Maggie also has a twin brother Brian. According to Ting, Arje and the twins are exactly 5 years apart as their birthdays are on the same day. No wonder these 3 cousins are BFFs. (Best friends forever.)
And that was the end of the day trip.
That following weekend we all went to outside of Taipei for hiking. This place called Wulai. It’s located in the south of Taipei County. As you can see everybody was taking a break from hiking and enjoying ice-pops on the roadside.
Arje took a picture with one of the native ladies.
Wulai was only a hilly village back then. It is named after the Wulai tribe, Urail, it's language can be traced back many years ago when the native Atayal tribal people hunted at Wulai and found smoking hot water gushing from river valley. They yelled "Uraikirofu" which means 'steaming hot'.
The natives used the hot springs that gushed from Nan-Shih Stream as their natural bath tub.
THAT is our family picture. Me, Arje and Ting.
Here are Aunt Sandy, cousin Maggie and Arje.
We took the cable-car sky ride to end this trip. I know you don’t see me in this picture. Man I was tired so I was taking a nap.
A trip to Taipei Zoo! Yeah!!!
Cousin Brian, Ting and Arje t
aking a picture with flamingos.
Bears are playing.
Monkeys of course.
The owl does what he does the best... staring.
I have no idea what this is but she is certainly cute.
Koala. Awww~
I wasn't getting close to this thing or I might be his afternoon snack.
Another ape. He… he… he just went when the picture was taken. Ewww~
Now Arje knows how big the elephants really are.
These turtles are really old.
I think I'll stay back from this snake too.
Yup, they even had penguins.
Guess which one is real.
That was a fun day at the Zoo.
We made a night trip to a kids’ play land.
It looks like Ting has more fun than Arje.
Arje was having fun playing in the car.
Arje was driving and playing games at the same time. He is lucky he didn’t get sick.
We are cool buds.
We rode on a Ferris wheel afterwards. This Ferris wheel is HUGE.
Arje and his mom.
Arje and Maggie.
You see. I didn’t lie about the size of this Ferris wheel. It looks pretty in the nighttime too.
This time, a trip to the Taiwan National Science Education Center
The progress of humanity.
Brian, Arje, Maggie and ME!
The Father of Modern Chemistry, Lavoisier 1743-1794.
A picture with The Cro-Magnon man. They were the early modern humans.
By pulling the bar above, you can make a giant bubble around you. Arje is still too small to operate this, so they had Brian to demonstrate it. We spent the entire afternoon there. That was great fun!
A trip to Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.
The National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (Chinese: 國立國父紀念館; pinyin: guólì guófù jìniàn guǎn) is located in Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China). The Chinese name's direct translation is: National Pater Patriae memorial Hall. It is a memorial to the Republic of China's National Father, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and was completed on May 16, 1972. As the hall was opened in the very beginning, its main displays were revolutionary events of the national father at the end of the Qing Dynasty. The total building area covers 29,464 square meters on an open space of 115,000 square meters Recently it became a multi-purpose social, educational and cultural center for the Taiwanese public.
Reference: Wikipedia
The young Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s statue.
The young Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s statue from a different angle.
This is the front of the main building. People are getting ready for a concert tonight.
The Taipei 101 building in the background. For many years, it was the tallest building in the world.
This is the reference from Wikipedia...
The Taipei 101 tower comprises 101 stories above ground and five underground. Upon its completion Taipei 101 claimed the official records for:
- Ground to highest architectural structure (spire): 509.2 metres (1,671 ft). Previously held by the Petronas Towers 452 m (1,483 ft).
- Ground to roof: 449.2 m (1,474 ft). Formerly held by the Willis Tower 442 m (1,450 ft).
- Ground to highest occupied floor: 439.2 m (1,441 ft). Formerly held by the Willis Tower 412.4 m (1,353 ft).
- Fastest ascending elevator speed: designed to be 1010 meters per minute, which is 16.83 m/s (55.22 ft/s) (60.6 km/h, 37.7 mi/h). Now it has been succeeded by Burj Khalifa's elevator whose speed of ascending is 18 m/s (64 km/h).
- Largest countdown clock: Displayed on New Year's Eve.
- Tallest sundial.
Taipei 101 was the first building in the world to break the half-kilometer mark in height[5] and the first record-setting skyscraper constructed in the new millennium - 3rd millennium.
The record it claimed for greatest height from ground to pinnacle now rests with the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (UAE): 828 m (2,717 ft). Taipei 101's records for roof height and highest occupied floor briefly passed to the Shanghai World Financial Center in 2009, which in turn yielded these records as well to the Burj.
A picture in the lobby with the guard in the background. He stands completely still until his shift is over.
Hanging out with Aunt Emma at the art gallery underground of the main building.
The famous 9 bend bridge in the garden. The number "9" has a very special meaning in the Chinese culture and it is considered a lucky number.
Arje had a great time with his family. We pretty much played everyday.
His cousins take really good care of him.
You see how much fun everybody has.
Especially Maggie, she is such a good big sister to him.
They eat together, play together, even sleep together in the night.
Arje is absolutely tired. He even slept through this big table full of delicious food.
The food looks so good.
We went to this restaurant to celebrate grandma’s birthday.
This meal cost close to $200. For a party of 12, this is really a good deal.
By the way, did you notice that people are using chopsticks to eat? That is pretty awesome! Ting never had Arje practice using chopsticks to eat, because she thought he was not ready yet. Well guess what? Arje saw Ting was using the chopsticks and he wants to do the same thing.
With zero practice, Arje manipulates the chopsticks like a pro. Ting is very proud of him. She said 'That's my boy!'
I have to say that Arje has been a pretty good boy during this trip. He sat still while his cousin did his homework.
He requested to have me sitting by his side while he does his homework.
We went to church with the family on Sunday. Aunt Emma is one of the choir’s conductors. This is during the practice.
They look pretty professional. They also sound good!
Grandma turned 70 this year. We wished her happiness, health and beauty forever.
Our flight back to Texas was the next day. So we took a lot of pictures with everybody.
These are all Arje’s cousins. Maggie, Steven, Brian and James.
Arje’s grandparents. He calls grandpa 'Yeh-yeh' and grandma 'Po-po'.
Cousin Steven and aunt Millie.
Aunt Emma's family.
Aunt Sandy. She is also Arje’s Godmother. See the bottle of Chinese Coke in the background?
On the way back to USA, Arje was working on his Curriculum book at airline’s VIP lounge while we are waiting for our flight.
The goodtimes always go by fast. Arje learned how to use chopsticks, he even speaks more Chinese now. Ting said that she feels her soul was fed after this trip. I am so glad that I had this opportunity to travel with them. This was really a great experience for me.
Wonder where I will go next?
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