Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, The House Itself

So finally we make it to the residence.  I thought we'd get a good look at the structure, admire it, and walk on by, but it was actually open for tours!  We paid the fee, exchanged our shoes for the special foot coverings they gave us, and went inside.  Docents were at every corner ready to explain what was there and keep people from touching things, etc.  Very interesting, but I didn't take very many pictures because of restrictions.

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Abandoned House

Something else we passed on the way to Chiang's house.  Looks like a house or living quarters of some kind, long abandoned.  There were several old, rustic, abandoned structures like this, which fires the imagination on what it was like in and around those places some 75 or more years ago...

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Rustic Sign / Looking at Other Languages

Not that I understand anything this says, but it's rustic and artistically done.  Google Translate on the phone helps with most signage, but this one's a bit spotty (literally).

And I just like looking at stuff like this - which is art, really.  The fact that almost all of the the characters are different, the "font" used, the way they are spaced.  It's beautiful.  But Chinese isn't the only language that is unique (to us) to simply look at.  In this post from 2020 I mentioned finding a book as a kid that had its Foreword written in 41 different languages.  I would sit and just stare at those pages for hours, fascinated that someone in the world could read and make sense of all of those squiggles, dots, letters, and symbols.

Then later, during my college years, I started a collection of foreign-language Bibles.  I stumbled into the American Bible Society on 61st at Broadway while in New York City the first time, and was surprised that the vast inventory they had of Bibles in different languages was for sale.  From then on, I bought a few on every trip to the city, eventually ending up with a collection of about sixteen of them.  Some I've given away since, so think now there're only about twelve left.

That's not a sense of wonder that's gone away with age, either.  Just recently I compiled a translation of Genesis 1:1 in more than 250 different languages...again thanks to Google and Microsoft Word that made it easy.  These included new and obscure writing systems that I previously knew nothing about.  One day I'll print the nine pages on glossy paper and post them somewhere.

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Pathway with Overhang

After hanging out at the Love garden area for a while the rain stopped, so we moved on in search for the actual house where Chiang lived.  This was a parting shot before heading over there...

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Background Shot

Because it was not exposed to the sun, the interior of the coverings featured in the last few posts was much richer in color and texture, as can be seen in the background shot above.

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Window Shot of Friends

Another window shot, this of our friend shooting with a Canon.  I recently told someone that if it were possible to go back in time I'd probably start with Canon instead of Nikon.  There's just something about those cameras...

Friendship is sometimes fickle, but a wonderful thing if it lasts - two of our besties from back in the States.

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Window Shot with Umbrellas

Ticks three boxes - window shot plus candid plus well-distributed complementary colors.

The rain doesn't do much to inhibit the enjoyment of outdoors in Taiwan.  And because of the heat, we're grateful for a rainy day...

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, The Love Garden

It had been years since Chenjean and I visited this place, so everything was new to us as we wended our way through the property.  This garden area was a bonanza for photography, and it was raining so the sun didn't create problematic shadows.  If you've studied much about Chiang you know that the latter years of his life were dedicated to spreading this message of love.  He became a Christian, yet provided space on his grounds for all faiths to practice their worship.

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Rose Bookmark

Haven't done much with bookmarks lately, but once in a while find something that's a good fit.

This'll be the last post from the fantastic rose garden on the residence grounds of the venerated Chiang-Kai-Shek.  More to come of surprises discovered elsewhere...

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Red-and-White Rose with B&W Background

Thought of this post back in 2018 and decided to try something similar with this guy.  Doesn't have quite the same effect, but was fun to do nonetheless:

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Prototypical Yellow Rose

This is much more typical of what we think of as a "rose".  Dedicated to Abdel Hadi Mahrous, a good family friend who passed away in 2001.  I shall write more of him one day...

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Yellow Rose Facing East

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Head-On Shots of Red/Pink Roses

Here's a head-on shot of a pink rose, that of a more "jumbled" variety, as I call it...that is, one that doesn't feature the usual wrap-around petals we normally associate with roses.  Below are two more red/pink head-on shots of different kinds of roses:

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Peach Pair

 

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Lavender Rose with Buds

 

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Light Lavender Roses

The color on this one was so subtle I decided to increase saturation by about 40%, while darkening the background.  Saw another one nearby that gave me the opportunity to take a picture of something through something:

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Pink Rose

It just takes a small positive comment here and there to keep me going with this blog.  When I showed my friend Brian this pic on the camera screen he did flip-flops over it and made the comment, "No wonder you have a blog."  Little did he know the value of that comment in propelling it forward (for better or worse!).

So I cropped, did some work on the petals, and decided to make it first in this section of the series.  We discovered a huge rose garden of an acre or more with every size, color and type imaginable.  Though pictures of roses are available in their millions already, I naturally had to capture a few with my own touch...

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Forbidden Pond

Is there a subtle message here?  Does anyone know what will happen to you if you decide to take a swim in this pond?

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Amphitheater Stage

Don't know what they do here, but there was a little amphitheater with the stage you see above.  The shot below was taken going the other way later, on our way out.  A few compositional tricks were necessary to exclude construction going on at the time:

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Cattle Egret Shot #4

And finally, our friend here is seen against a backdrop of complementing colors.  Catching this guy when we did was a real bonanza, and we hadn't even entered the park yet!

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Cattle Egret Shot #3 (with color variation)

Same guy but a few steps over where he ended up against a much darker background.  Seeing the consistency of its coloration, I decided to make a layer of him and fiddle with the hue.  How could I not?

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Cattle Egret Shot #2

I just absolutely love this bird, adorned as it is with the color of our wedding (peach).  This opportunity to capture it with the flowers of the same hue was way too good to miss.  Those flowers were color-desaturated by about 20% so as not to outshine the star of the frame...

Taiwan 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Cattle Egret Shots #1

This remarkable bird, a cattle egret, was wandering around on its own at the entrance, pecking around for insects or anything else that was edible.  I saw this species at the Taipei Zoo doing the same thing...wandering around where the people were, picking up French fries or any other scrap dropped by the visitors.  Not too skittish, therefore an easy target for photo capture.

Later that morning we saw two of these guys doing a low duet fly-by.  Neither I nor the Bigger Cahoona (lens-wise) were fast enough to do it justice, but the frame below was a near-keeper:

Taipei 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Dandelion Garden

Another pic of the Dandelion Garden, this one captured with the iPhone.

Taipei 2025 - Chiang-Kai-Shek Residence, Dandelion Sculpture

One thing that Chenjean and I hadn't done in a while, and thought our friends the Bishops might enjoy, is touring the Chiang-Kai-Shek residence in Taipei.  They've done some remarkable things there, and the actual house where he and his wife lived out their days is open to visitors for a small fee.  The Bigger Cahoona and I ended up with some 40 keepers from this remarkable venue.

The pic above was captured at the entrance on Fulin Road, and immediately brought to mind this series, from back in 2011, of the Wortham Fountain on Allen Parkway in Houston.  Little did we know of the wonders that lay ahead...

Taiwan 2025 - Interesting Building in 101 Area

 

Taiwan 2025 - The Biggest Billboard You've Ever Seen

Taipei 101 certainly doesn't stand in isolation with regard to shopping, business, entertainment, and living space.  It's a swanky area with very expensive real estate...might be compared to Times Square or Fifth Avenue in New York City.  But the billboard seen here is undoubtedly much bigger than anything that can be found in NYC, or anywhere else for that matter.

Taiwan 2025 - Flowers on First Floor of 101

These were captured on the first floor of the mall...

Taiwan 2025 - Ceiling Pic from 101 Shopping Mall

The huge mall at the base of 101 is just as much an attraction as the observation floors atop the building.  This is a ceiling shot from one of the levels below; the tower itself can be seen through the glass at the top of the frame.