Friday, December 17, 2004

Encerrado para balanco ate dia 04Jan2005

Mais uma ano termina e entramos na epoca de fazer balancos (com cedilha), de olhar para tras e de sorrir ao que foi bom e tentar esquecer ou melhorar na medida do possivel, aquilo que foi menos bom.
Este blog nasceu em julho de 2003 mas durante esse ano nao passou dum muro de lamentacoes pouco auto-frequentado. No final de 2003, deu-se a renascenca e com a chegada de 2004, o tripping comeca lentamente a caminhar em direccao aos seus objectivos iniciais .
Com o bloguear deu-se o conhecimento e interaccao com outros blogues, aprendi muita coisa e restableci uma relacao mais viva e actual com Portugal, com um Portugal que eu gosto e me identifico.
Servi-me dos blogues para estar a par do que se passa em Portugal, desta feita, nao atraves daquilo que os media me diziam, mas atraves de pessoas escolhidas por mim.
Ate fiz amizades virtuais e algumas delas serao validadas pessoalmente.
Ao longo deste ano, deixei por aqui postas que vao do politico (essencialmente da Formosa) ao pessoal (ate por aqui chorei) abrindo de vez em quando janelas ‘as “viajeans” que fiz e que tive gosto em compartilhar.
Enfim, um ano a compartilhar, a receber e sempre a tripar!

Para ultimo post do ano (sim eu sei que ainda faltam alguns dias, mas logo vou-me embora e nao vou postar ate regressar), escolhi a fotografia mais comentada:

Os gemeos de Tainan:


E como foi tao popular, adoptei a estrategia de Hollywood e tratei de ir ‘a procura do "sequel" e eis que encontrei:

Os gemeos de Tainan II


Tal como a natureza o faz tao bem, nos seres humanos tambem devemos respeitar as diferencas, aprecia-las e valoriza-las. Pois elas estarao sempre la', por muito iguais que parecam.

E por falar em diferencas, termino com um dos meus primeiros comentarios publicado no antigo Renas e Veados :

Normal é o que se pensa que todos os outros pensam por não se ter capacidade de pensar por si mesmo…

A nao esquecer, pois lembra-nos que cada um de nos e’ alguem muito especial, uma criacao unica e e’ precisamente esta diversidade toda que da’ beleza ao mundo!

Boas Festas e Happy Together (como agora se passou a dizer ca’ na terra)!

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Review time... c u on 04Jan2005

Another year is about to end and its a good excuse for a review, to look back and smile at the good memories and try to forget or try to improve (if we can) whatever was not that good.
This blog was born in july 2003 but during that year it was just a crying wall often abandoned to itself. By the end of 2003, the renaissance happened and as 2004 arrives, the tripping slowly starts to walk towards its initial objectives.
Tripping from blog to blog, I start to know and interact with others, I learnt a lot and I reestablished a more alive and updated relation with Portugal, with a Portugal that I like and identify with.
I choose the blogs to get updated on what was going on in Portugal, I no longer relied on the conventional Media but I instead, I would listen directly to those chosen by me and who were in the front line of the events.
I made virtual friends and some I will soon be meeting in person.
Along 2004, I posted different types of subjects, from political (mainly from Taiwan) to personal (I even cried here) and I opened windows to places that I’ve been and had great pleasure to share them with you.
A whole year of sharing, receiving and always tripping!

For the last post of 2004 (I know there's still a few days to go but I will be leaving in a few hours and won’t be posting until my return), I choose the photo that you commented the most:

The Tainan Twins


And as it was so popular, I adopted the Hollywood strategy and went off to look for the sequel. And I found it:

The Tainan Twins II


Nature never creates exactly the same, twice. Each of its creation is unique.
Sometimes these differences are clearly distinguishable and sometimes they are unperceived by our limited sight, but either way, we must always respect, appreciate and treasure them!

And speaking about uniqueness, I leave you one of my first comments published in the old Renas e Veados:

Normal is what one thinks that everybody thinks when one cannot think for oneself.

Never forget that each one of us is very special, a unique creation and its precisely that diversity that gives beauty to the world!

Merry Christmas and Happy Together (as someone says here)!

A First Lady out of her space

Morreu Faina Chiang Fang-liang, a unica primeira dama nao chinesa, duma nacao culturalmente chinesa.

"She displayed the virtues of a traditional Chinese woman - she was a good mother and a good wife who always put her family before everything else."
Actual Presidente de Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian

Taiwan's Soviet-born former first lady Faina Chiang Fang-liang (蔣方良), widow of the late president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), died of pulmonary and cardiac failure in Taipei Veterans General Hospital at 12:40pm yesterday. She was 88.


photo:AFP
This photo dated Dec. 31, 1951, shows Faina Chiang Fang-liang at an unidentified military ceremony in Taiwan.

Born Faina Epatcheva Vahaleva in Sverdlovsk, Siberia (now Ekateringburg, Russia), Vahaleva was orphaned at a young age and raised by her older sister Anna. An outspoken member of the Communist Youth League, Vahaleva met Chiang Ching-kuo at the age of 16 at the Ural Heavy Machinery Plant in Siberia, where Chiang was working in exile after his father, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), purged the leftists from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Vahaleva married Chiang Ching-kuo (Chiang Kai-shek's son and former president of Taiwan 1978-1988) two years after they met, on March 15 1935, when she was 18.

Few first ladies in history stand out as being influential. Soong Mayling of the ROC, the US' Hilary Clinton and Eva Peron of Argentina are perhaps exceptions, but unlike them, Chiang Fang-liang endured a life away from her home country, and coped with being placed in the awkward position of being the first lady of an anti-communist nation when her own country was the proselytizer of world communism. And she lived out her final years alone, with her remaining daughter living in the US and most of her friends having passed away.

Chiang Fang-liang lived her life with the weighty crown of first lady. While she never enjoyed the glamour associated with the title, she will be remembered for her stoicism.

Tripping on red lanterns

Sao bonitos os lampioes vermelhos que penduraram nas arvores do velho Templo de Confucius…


E a’ noite… ‘a noite quando as suas luzes se acendem, como que apagam o tempo e levam-nos de volta ‘a velha China imperial.


Uma viagem proporcionada pelas luzes dos lampioes vermelhos!

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

O Natal chegou a Tainan

Aqui em Taiwan, mais concretamente em Tainan, o Natal nao e’ feriado e nem tem grande significado para a maioria das pessoas, ou pelo menos assim o tem sido ate' agora.
Este e’ o 3o Natal que aqui passo e nos Natais anteriores nao havia sinais ou decoracoes de Natal.
Quebrando a tradicao ou a falta dela, este ano nao sei la' porque, a cidade investiu forte e cheio e ele e’ natal por todo lado!
Como esye costume e’ coisa nova nestas bandas, as interpretacoes e formas de expressao nem sempre correspondem 'as tradicionais formas decorativas.
Ontem 'a noite ao passear pela cidade, reparei que os senhores de facto nao estudaram bem a licao e por isso cometeram algumas gafes natalicias mas que nao deixam de ter a sua graca (e ninguem por ca' da' por isso...hehehe)>
Ora vejamos:


A arvore de Natal com a mensagem nao convencional de Boas Festas mas com o titulo dum filme de Wong Kar-Wai:


Nos somos felizes juntos!


depois temos os bombeiros ca’ da terra que se excederam nas decoracoes e se tornaram num verdadeiro casino de Las Vegas… show time!


para decorar o topo da arvore, nao e’ a estrelinha mas sim uma cruz!


e finalmente temos o presepio! Esta’ o maximo com bonecos feitos de papel de arroz iluminados no interior… so’ com um pequeno promenor, este presepio esta com 33 anos de avanco!

Afinal, o que realmente conta e’ a intencao e este ano, pela primeira vez, temos a cidade de Tainan vestida de Natal ou qualquer coisa assim parecida!

Boas Festas e Happy Together!

Cosmopolitan

Hoje ao passar pelo blogue das trutas, fui conduzido a um novo blogue que gostei imenso: o dotecome.
No dotecome li um texto que pessoalmente me diz bastante e por isso deixo aqui um extrato linkado:

"Os verdadeiros cosmopolitas não querem apenas conhecer o mundo, querem interagir com ele. Portugal, ao contrário, tem uma longa tradição de cosmopolitas de sofá. Uma das nossas marcas é precisamente a de unir cosmopolitismo com provincianismo. Isto manifesta-se, no entanto, de duas formas totalmente opostas.

Uma forma de provincianismo cosmopolita exprime-se no fascínio por tudo o que é estrangeiro.
(…)
Mas há outra forma, igualmente comum e, no entanto, totalmente oposta, de provincianismo cosmopolita. É a recusa a tudo o que vem de fora.
(…)
O verdadeiro cosmopolita é aquele que se deixa desafiar pelo mundo. Que aceita confrontar-se com outras realidades e ideias sem as querer imediatamente copiar ou rejeitar. Aquele que quer ser um participante do mundo e não um mero espectador. Alguém que sabe que é confrontando-se com a diferença que constrói a sua verdadeira identidade."


posted by Fernando Penim Redondo at http://dotecome.blogspot.com/

Descobre o cosmopolita em ti e veras a vida duma prespectiva mais colorida!

Monday, December 13, 2004

Thailand - the land of smiles

Thailand is often referred as the “Land of Smiles”.
These pictures taken at a primary school in Koh Phra Tong Island (1) is a vivid validation of this label.

(1) Koh Phra Thong, which translates as Golden Buddha Island, is an island off the coast of Khura Buri, Phangnga province, In the Andaman sea of Thailand, just a few kilometers from the Burmese waters.


smiles at a primary school - Koh Phra Thong, Thailand - Feb.2003


smiles at a primary school - Koh Phra Thong, Thailand - Feb.2003


smiles at a primary school - Koh Phra Thong, Thailand - Feb.2003


relaxing atmosphere in the classroom at a primary school - Koh Phra Thong, Thailand - Feb.2003


smiles at a primary school - Koh Phra Thong, Thailand - Feb.2003


smiles at a primary school - Koh Phra Thong, Thailand - Feb.2003


smiles at a primary school - Koh Phra Thong, Thailand - Feb.2003


smiles at a primary school - Koh Phra Thong, Thailand - Feb.2003


smiles at a primary school - Koh Phra Thong, Thailand - Feb.2003

Last Christmas… in Singapore

Ja' chega de voltas pelo Parque de Tainan, hoje levo-os a uma viagem igualmente estimulante mas por razoes diferentes: a Singapura no Natal passado. A uma Singapura onde se sentiam ventos de mudanca com mais abertura, liberdade pessoal e tolerancia.
Hoje infelizmente parece-me que a leve brisa nao passava de uma falsa ilusao estimulada pelo desepero de uma recuperacao economica, talvez ja alcancada e dai a ilusao ter sido apagada!

Singapore is a modern country built as any modern project: carefully thought of, planned, designed and executed all that supervised by the “control forces”.
Lee Kuan Yew, a Cambridge-educated became the first prime minister of newly independent state in August 1965 and governed Singapore until 1990 towards a great economic and financial success shadowed by its strict social order and the suppression of political opposition.
Singapore became known as the city of the forbidden.

Singapore’s population is composed by 3 main cultures that live in harmony side by side: Chinese residents numbered 2,311,300 (77.4%), Malays 423,500 (14.2%), Indians 214,900 (7.2%) and persons of other ethnic groups 36,800(1.2%).

When it comes to traveling, I prefer traditional, old, genuine and historical places to modern and cosmopolitan centers.
Singapore may not fit into my preferences but in recent years, there has been a visible improvement in terms of tolerance from the local authorities, which made life for the locals and visitors, less mechanistic and more human.
These changes, characterized by an opening of traditional mindsets, might have been influenced by the late1990s where in late 1998, unemployment doubled.
Slowly, with a visible openness, Singapore started to attract more tourism and the city-state is recovering.
And so last Christmas I choose to go to Singapore to enjoy this less expensive and new fresh breeze from a form expensive, stiff and rule mania place.

My favorite part of the city is the old China Town, where you can still have a feeling of the old days, walking around and looking at the wedding cake decorated buildings.
There are many boutique hotels that will give you a glance of Old China!

China Town - Singapore - December 2003


China Town - Singapore - December 2003


China Town - Singapore - December 2003


China Town - Singapore - December 2003


China Town - Singapore - December 2003


China Town - Singapore - December 2003


My morning call in China Town - Singapore - December 2003


China Town - Singapore - December 2003

To tell you the truth, the real reason I went to Singapore last Christmas was the Snow, the ball:



PS. I was just informed that the Singaporean Police this year decided not to allow Snow in Singapore:

In a statement on Wednesday evening, the Police said that while they do not discriminate against "Singaporeans with gay tendencies," they "cannot approve any application for an event which goes against the moral values of a large majority of Singaporeans."

Is a ball where many people from around the region, get together, dance and celebrate the holiday season, against the moral of Singaporeans?
Why only this year? Is it because Singapore’s economy has substantially recovered and the authorities no longer need pink dollars?
And I thought that Singapore was on its way to become a fare state when in fact sadly, very sadly, the authorities’ humanism still seems to be driven by $$$$…

Saturday, December 11, 2004

A performance at Tainan Park

And at the end of the walk in the park we were rewarded with an artistic roller-skating live performance.
It was impressing to observe how serious these little artists were into their performance!

boys with girls, girls with boys


girls with girls


boys with boys


...and the cool little skater who seemed not in the mood to perform but always in the mood to wander and joke around!

December Colors in Tainan Park

Green is the base, the pattern's colors changes

Pink - Tainan Park - 05 Dec. 2004


Redish Pink - Tainan Park - 05 Dec. 2004


Red - Tainan Park - 05 Dec. 2004


Light purple - Tainan Park - 05 Dec. 2004


Light purple II - Tainan Park - 05 Dec. 2004

Friday, December 10, 2004

The floating palace

No meio do parque, existe um lago, no meio deste lago existe uma construcao a que eu lhe chamo de palacio flutuante.
No meio deste palacio existe aquilo que nos queremos levar para la’.
A cada um de escolher!


The floating palace - Tainan Park - 05 Dec. 2004


The floating palace - Tainan Park - 05 Dec. 2004


The floating palace - Tainan Park - 05 Dec. 2004


A Jangada de Pedra, nao a do Saramago que flutua no Atlantico, mas a do parque de Tainan, que e’ como ja’ se tem visto por aqui, uma cidade no sul da ilha da Formosa, que flutua no lago, nao a Formosa mas a Jangada de Pedra.
(frase ‘a Saramago)


The floating palace - Tainan Park - 05 Dec. 2004


The floating palace by night - Tainan Park - 09 Dec. 2004
E esta foi tirada ontem ‘a noite, por volta das 23:00H, com um tripode e uma abertura exposicao da lente de 20 segundos.
O parque ainda mais mistico fica... huuuummm... ‘aquela hora.