Taiwan 2025 - Wavy Blue Lines Along Highway from 101

Think I've posted a pic of this building before, but don't remember the concentric circle patterns on the sidewalk below.  Then, during post-capture, I got to looking at those blue curvy lines at the top along the highway; what could they be?  Thanks to the Bigger Cahoona's awesome full-frame, 48MP ability to crop WAY in, they are revealed to be barriers to prevent debris from ending up on the buildings nearby, and possibly to dampen highway noise as well.  Just a guess...

Taiwan 2025 - Twisted Building from 101

Our good friends the Bishops came up from the Philippines to spend a few days, so it was an opportunity to show them the sights.  Naturally Taipei 101 is a must, but so many pics from up there have already been posted that I didn't bother to take many on this excursion.  This I considered a keeper, however, because of the weird twisted building to the middle right and below:

Taiwan 2025 - Morningtime 101 from the Grand Hotel

We were up early on our last morning at the hotel when I went back to our spot to see how 101 was doing.  This is sort of a silhouette shot and sort of not.  I liked the picture, but didn't know what to do with it really, so fiddled with a couple of the settings per below:

Taiwan 2025 - 101 at Night from Grand Hotel

As we were walking the property admiring the nighttime scenes of the surrounding city, I was ecstatic to see that 101 was actually unobstructed by clouds or fog.  Holding the Bigger Cahoona as steady as possible, planting  my elbows on top of the property's stone border wall, I went crazy trying to capture a clear, non-blurred image.  What I would have given for a tripod then!  Zooming all the way in and holding my breath as I snapped the shutter (a practice I learned in competitive rifle shooting as a kid), I managed to extract the passable picture above.  Still, it required heavy sharpening and only a very small amount of rotation, but nothing else.  I'm happy with what we see here.

Taiwan 2025 - Night Shot of Grand Hotel

Since the Grand Hotel is relatively isolated from the hustle and bustle of the city (though it's smack dab in the middle of it), night shots were easier to capture without nearby distracting lights and activity.  After snapping the entrance view posted yesterday, I turned around to get a night shot of what is, indeed, a grand hotel.

Taiwan 2025 - Grand Hotel Entrance

A view of the hotel entrance in the daytime above, and night below:

Taiwan 2025 - Grand Hotel, Lobby Views from the Staircase

...and two looking in the other direction.

Taiwan 2025 - Grand Hotel, Lobby Views Toward the Staircase

Two perspectives looking up the staircase from the lobby floor...

Taiwan 2025 - Grand Hotel, Lobby Staircase

The hotel lobby, with an angled staircase leading up to retail space and the main restaurant.  The pic above was taken at night, while below we have a similar perspective taken during the day.  Note the grand piano at left; while we were there a pianist and violinist played duets after the dinner hour each night:

Taiwan 2025 - Grand Hotel, Balcony Views

This is our balcony, and a view from it down to the pool and in the direction of a trail up the mountain in the background:

Taiwan 2025 - Grand Hotel, Front View

Chenjean and I decided to do something different on this year's journey to her homeland.  Instead of going directly to the apartment, we decided to splurge on a couple of nights at the Grand Hotel upon arrival.  In doing this we avoided the obligation to visit with relatives while overcoming jet lag, as we hadn't told them exactly what day we'd arrive.  One of the best decisions of the trip.

Yes, this is the famous Grand Hotel, supposedly a five-star experience and where, historically, heads of state stay while in the country (including a couple of U.S. presidents).  Because of this, one might think that we've hit the bigtime in our retirement, but this is hardly the case.  We are only solidly middle class by U.S. standards, and in fact paid close to $175 each for our two nights here...even less than the Hampton costs in places back home.

Taiwan 2025 - Radiant Panhandler in New Taipei

She would not allow me to get a picture from the front, so had to sneak this one in.  This lady had the most beautiful, radiant smile I'd seen in years.

Taiwan 2025 - Crazy Cargo in New Taipei

 

Taiwan 2025 - Red Motorized Trike in New Taipei

On the street very close to our apartment...

Taiwan 2025 - Backside of Apartment Building in New Taipei

This is the backside of the same building, with night shot of same below.  These were both snapped with the iPhone and fully worked in post-capture.

Being an island, housing in Taiwan is very expensive pretty much anywhere you go.  The prices for living in this guy, however, are undoubtedly over the top.

Taiwan 2025 - Apartment Building Pic Comparison #2

Here we are cropped way in to the gold lettering.  This is where there seems to be more of a difference between sensor quality.  For reference, see the lettering to the left in the re-posted original pic below:

Taiwan 2025 - Apartment Building Pic Comparison #1

Zoomed in to what I believe was the focus point in the 850 pic above.  Though not as color-saturated, the detail looks much smoother than the phone picture below.  Other than cropping, absolutely nothing was done to "fix" anything in either picture:

Taiwan 2025 - Apartment Building in New Taipei

I'd been waiting some time to catch this residential building that can be seen from the Metro stop that we use most often in New Taipei.  On this day I had the Bigger Cahoona with me when it was cloudy enough to block out the strong midafternoon sun and when we weren't in a big hurry.  So I snapped a pic with both the D850 and iPhone at basically the same time.

And the intricacy of its design allows us to compare the quality of the Nikon against that of the phone camera.  From this distance and at this zoom level the iPhone image (below) looks great, very impressive.  Maybe even better in some aspects than the DSLR.  Tomorrow we'll get into the weeds and crop way in with two sample spots from each picture.

Taiwan 2025 - New Taipei Temple Shot #5

This is a VERY busy scene, but haven't seen the likes of it before at this temple so here we are.  Brightened the red dragon panel some, as not much light reached that far back.

My gosh, all these figures, carvings, sculptures, flowers and lights!  Buddhism must be a very complicated religion if you have to know what all this means...

Taiwan 2025 - New Taipei Temple Shot #4

Same subject, different viewpoint...

Taiwan 2025 - New Taipei Temple Shot #3

Used a little bokeh here in both directions to highlight the pagoda-looking thing in the near-foreground.  The possibilities are endless with all of the accoutrements of worship they use.  Almost every year the setup is completely different, depending on what religious observance is represented.

Taiwan 2025 - Folded Paper Things at Temple (New Taipei)

Don't know what these are, but found them interesting so here they are...

Taiwan 2025 - Incense with Smoke Tendrils

Anyone who follows this blog knows that, with all of the color and culture, I love taking pictures at temples.  Especially if smoke tendrils are involved.  And different things take place at different times of the year, which enables variety.

So here we are at the New Taipei temple, close to "our" apartment adjacent to the Ming Chi University of Technology.  Tomorrow will be posting a pic of those orange things in the background.

Taiwan 2025 - Something You Don't See Every Day (New Taipei Mountaintop Hike)

Now THIS is something you don't see every day, a tree growing from a different, separate tree.  The host tree developed a shallow soil bed over time and, well, wherever life can exist, it will.

Closer shot below (both captured on the iPhone):

Taiwan 2025 - Cityscape through Vines on Mountaintop Hike in New Taipei

Venture past the garden and, depending which path you take, it's either a longer or a shorter hike to the adjacent mountaintop.  Because we both love to hike and as therapy for my recently operated-on knee, we made it a point to do a mountain hike at least every other day, either here in New Taipei or in the little village where Chenjean's dad lives.  Caught this pic of something through something on the way up.

Taiwan 2025 - Strange Reddish Bloom in New Taipei Garden

The reason this is being posted a little smaller is because iPhone photos don't do so well with certain edges, which is quite evident when this one is blown up to a larger size.  Still, since it was new and something not posted before from the garden, decided to keep it in.

Taiwan 2025 - Red Hibiscus in New Taipei Garden

Another iPhone capture.

Taiwan 2025 - Yellow Hibiscus in New Taipei Garden

Hibiscus flowers are so incredible, with their size and variety of colors and shapes.  And they require very little maintenance there since droughts rarely happen in Taiwan.  Though this one was captured with the iPhone I managed to bring out the color a bit more and sharpen the focus as a contrast against the background.

Taiwan 2025 - Raindrops on Dark Leaves in New Taipei Garden

As usual during April in Taiwan, it rained some but not too much; the rainy season doesn't really get under way until June.  Thus, with a little luck we can venture out after a rain has cleared to capture droplets like these on leaves and flowers.

Taiwan 2025 - Flying Fish in New Taipei Garden

After cloning out a pole holding this guy up, decided there was an interesting subject here...