Full of Beauty

I didn’t know if it is the typhoon’s influence because the wind was so heavy this afternoon. It was Sunday and a sunny afternoon. A little cold but the wind which was blowing on my face made me feel so free and comfortable. Now I know that the warming sunlight and heavy relaxing wind can induce me out of my house. So it turned out that I was attracted again and went out to catch the wonder which our nature mother gave us.


It’s Sunday in Taichung, where is full of high buildings and lacks of large green lands, so it’s very often to see a lot of people strolling in the big park during the weekends, and most in the afternoon. The temperature is ok and the sunlight isn’t that strong. That is when people leave their concrete buildings and go out to embrace the nature.

This afternoon, I went to National Taiwan Art Museum. There’re large green lands for people to take a walk or do some activities, like flying kites. So the neighborhood of here is always an attraction to many people, and today was no exception. I saw people everywhere but it didn’t make me feel crowded. It’s ok. And I also saw some very sweet ad cute scene, such as the happy families and some laughing kids.

Recently, the mainly show of the museum is called “Viewpoints & Viewing Points- 2009 Asian Art Biennial”. The works of this exhibition are from 56 artists, art groups and film directors from 20 Asian-Pacific countries.

When I went into the museum, there’s a very huge work at the center of the square. It looked like a giant tunnel composed of some strange white material. Many people went into the big tunnel and took photos, so out of curiosity, I also went near that huge work. Then I happened to know the work was made by a lot of bathtubs piling up one by one. It’s interesting to most people, especially to the children. Many people went into the bathtub on the floor, sitting down or lying down and took some interesting pictures. It’s so imaginative to use the bathtubs to make a work. It did caught people’s eye.

Then I entered the main exhibition. It occupied a large range of 1st floor. It took me quite a time to finishing the whole exhibition. Some art work could do some help to people and some really made me thinking, raising questions and kind of realizing some things in our lives. I think some good works could really stimulate us to think deeper.

Among all the artists, I liked CHANG Chien-chi’s work, “Double Happiness” most. It’s a series of photos and the main characters in them were the couples composed of Taiwan men and Vietnam women. The introductions told me that the marriage brokers would bring groups of Taiwan men to Vietnam to meet many women and then they could pick one to be their wives. Women in Vietnam had no choices. Their expression in the photos made me think of poor lambs which were to be killed right away. The women’s eyesight seemed to tell me how pathetic and sad they were. Their eyesight made me feel sad directly and heart-broken. It’s a pity I cannot show you the pictures for photographing is forbidden in the museum. I recommend this exhibition because it made me thrilled. You can find it at Gallery E if you’re interested in it.

So, I strongly recommend you to go to National Taiwan Art Museum to find something fun!
(to be continued….)

I think it’ll be a long article, so I will divide it into two parts. This is the part one and the rest will be continued and put on the next week.

How to get National Taiwan Art Museum?

How can you miss it?- a place with great food, music and atmosphere

What makes you happy?

Enjoy the warming friendship, great food and comfortable atmosphere of your meal time at Walnut’s castle!

Walnut’s castle is a famous restaurant in Taichung. You can find a lot of information from the internet and it was also reported by some magazines for several times.

Walnut’s castle is located in the neighborhood of Taiwan Art Museum, and actually there are many restaurants in that neighborhood. There are two small lanes which are lined with restaurants of different kinds of foods. You will see a lot of people here in weekends because it’s a famous place among those who want to find good restaurants to spend their time.

And today, let us focus on Walnut’s castle.

With the coming of one friend’s birthday, we went to Walnut’s to celebrate for her. It’s my first to Walnut’s. Before I went, I have already heard a lot of compliments on this restaurant, so this time I wanted to make sure if the compliments were true or not.

Before I entered it, what attracted me a lot was its beautiful building and the two big cages in front of the door. There were several parrots in those cages and they would sometimes make some sounds to appeal people’s attention.

After entering the restaurant, I was attracted by the decorations, such as a bench with many teddy bears sitting on, a high shelf piling with numerous wine bottles of different kinds, several CDs of classic singers resting on the racks, and an old cello leaning on the wall.

It’s just like entering another world when we stepping on the spiral staircase, which gave the atmosphere of ancient time. The light in Walnut’s was dim, so it made people silent unconsciously and gave the mysterious feeling.

This is the menu. So charming, isn’t it?

Also, the food here was good.
I ordered a combo, which included appetizer (salad), soup, main dish, drink and dessert. My main dish was chicken, which was fried first and then roasted with cheese and some vanillas according to the waiter. It turned out that the sauce was great. The soup was seafood cream soup with puff pastry, and the drink was Japanese green milk tea. The desserts will be changed every day. And what I had today was the jelly with granadilla flavor.

It was a good night with the company of friends, soft music, great food and the amazingly comfortable atmosphere. I enjoyed my time here, and I also wanted you to enjoy yours.

There are kinds of main dishes here and every of them looks delicious and mouth watering. Try it yourself sometime!

Maybe you will feel sleepy here because the dim light, but maybe you just get drunk by the atmosphere here and it makes you feel at home.

Information of Walnut's castle

Tel: 04-23781768, 23781769

Address: No. 61 Wu-Chuan W4th-St. Taichung (台中市五權西四街六十一號)

Enjoy your relaxing afternoon in early autumn

With the warming sunlight shining on you, and the breeze blowing gently on your face in the afternoon of the early autumn, they are just like the invitation sent from the nature to you. The nature invites you to let go of everything which bothers you, and go out to give yourself a relaxing afternoon. Don’t want to waste the good time? So, let me introduce you a good place to go- the JingMing 1st street!

JingMing 1st street is a street only for walking and cars are forbidden to enter, so people can walk on the pavements comfortably without the bother of cars. There are some restaurants alongside the street, and also are many kinds of shops selling clothes, shoes and some decorations. I think it’s the most interesting shop to go window shopping are the stores selling decorations and ornaments, because to see so many kinds of decorations makes me want to furnish my room.

After all shopping and walking, you can sit down on the open-air seats and have a cup of tea of coffee, and of course you can choose if you want to sit indoors or outdoors. However, most people here will choose to sit in the open air

Living in the noisy environment with crowded people, I wanted to find a place which was quiet enough for me to mediate and enjoy the time of my own one day, so I went to the JingMing 1st street.
I sat myself on the outdoor chair because I liked to sit in the open air, drink and look at the passersby. I sat in the area where most people were sitting. I ordered a glass of pearl milk tea from 春水堂, which was the origin of that beverage. Just finding a place to sit, I made myself sip the pearl milk tea, read an interesting book, feel the sunlight and breeze, and enjoy the relaxing afternoon. What a great afternoon it was!

Just by sitting here and listening to the floating notes, it seemed to make me forget every annoying thing tentatively and make my mind clearer. I liked the atmosphere here. It just made me feel so comfortable and idle. Here’s like another world far away from the tumultuous and stressing real world. I could totally exile my mind here.

Cherish the remaining autumn time and come here to enjoy the relaxing time! I believe here will not let you down.

Official website of Jingming 1st street
http://www.jingming1st.com.tw/jingming1st/shop.htm

How to get there?