il Giardino Romantico

I'd seen pictures of 'Salt Mountain' before, and I had never imagined it to be so 'yellow'!! What we saw before our eyes was so disappointing, especially since we had driven for so long to see it, AND almost got lost on the way.

曾經看過鹽山的照片。從來沒想過自己看到的鹽山會是黃色的！眼前的景象實在是很令人失望。尤其是我們開了很久的車才找到，沿途還差點迷路。。。

01 

This gorgeous piece of art work, Dome of Light, by the Italian artist Narcissus Quagalita, stands in the midst of the Kaohsiung metro, Formosa Boulevard Station.  There are four parts to the work: water, earth, light, and fire, all of which depict the process of the universe.  Seeing that the Chinese name of the station literally means 'Beautiful Island', I believe there isn't a better place for this artwork to be displayed other than here.

相信台灣的讀者對這作品已經不陌生。義大利藝術家水仙的作品：光之穹頂，位於高雄捷運美麗島站。此作品分成四個主題：水、土、光、火。象徵著宇宙的過程。因為位於＂美麗島＂站，我想應該沒有比這個更適合展示此作品的地方了吧！

Photo of Central Park Station.
攝於中央公園站

Since the completion of the Kaohsiung Rapid Transport, this is the first time I'd ever been on it. Compared to Taipei MRT, I think they were fortunate to have a model preceding them.  The whole system seems clean, spacious, and comfortable.  Probably because it was constructed after Taipei MRT, they made a lot of 'improvements', if you will, to the system.  I actually enjoyed my ride on it very much, despite the inevitable faults that every system is doomed to have...

I've already presented this little bus station in two different articles with coloured photos.  This time, with my new camera, I've decided to present it in a very different way.  This tiny little station may not hold any significance, but to this day, it remains the main hub for the people in Liouguei Township.  My memories of the station goes back to childhood, and all the way up to the first time I travelled to visit Grandma on my own.  It is a station loaded with memories, and thus worth being captured again and again.

In this article, I posted a picture of the broken bridge, which was taken two months after the devastating typhoon Marokot.  Now, after six months, the road into the village has become a smoother ride, but the bridge that had been washed away, remains far from being rebuilt.

在莫拉克過後一文中分享過被沖走的六龜大橋圖片。那張圖片拍攝於風災過後約兩個月。再次回到原地，已經是六個月後了。雖然進入六龜鄉的道路已經變的很順通，但是看到六龜大橋還在重新修復的進度，才了解一個風災造成的傷害，短短時間內是根本不可能恢復的。

每次想起外婆，或是到了外婆家，總是會想起周杰倫『外婆』曲子中的一段歌詞︰

『外婆她的期待　慢慢變成無奈

Why in the world would I be dragged to southern Taiwan within 24 hours of my arrival back home?  Two missions await for me to accomplish. The most important mission was to visit my 87 year-old granny whose hometown had been badly hit by the typhoon a couple of months back.  Although her house remained in tact, there was no reason to wait any longer to see her.  After all, once you reach a certain age, there is nothing more important than having company.

Because I had just gotten off the plane, and although the high speed train had reduced a lot of physical pressure, I was still pretty knackered, and fell asleep on the coach from Kaohsiung to my grandma's.  When I opened my eyes once again, I could hardly believe what I was looking at!  The once beautiful, peaceful, and scenic countryside road had been completely sabotaged by Marakot.

我去荷蘭？

一邊喝神奇的冬瓜茶，一邊逛一級古蹟赤嵌樓。我想不到有什麼比這個還要更『台南』的。話說台南真是個好地方。雖然天氣熱熱的，但就不會跟台北一樣悶悶的。難怪艾小小才搬去沒多久就愛上他。

[神農宮附近的涼亭]

對外婆來說，咱們去看他的時間永遠是不夠的。住一晚也嫌時間太短。住兩晚也嫌時間太短。可是住超過三天，他大概又會開始嫌你煩。不過話雖如此，如果住久了，要走的時候，外婆又會特別不捨。以前聽說我們這些晚輩離開的時候，他送我們上車後回家都會偷偷哭泣。

外婆的作息跟我差很多。早上大概四五點就起床，念經、上香、吃早餐、看電視。即使我八點起來，都還會被嫌晚。[已經比我平常早一個小時了耶！]十點多就會約我一起出去買午餐。五點多就熱好飯要吃晚餐。八點不到就跟我說晚安睡覺去了。我想外婆最近聽力大概有受到影響。因為電視都開的特別大聲。害我看了一下就受不了一直走出戶外繞兩圈在回來繼續陪他看。