| Returns, gingerly. |
[Jul. 30th, 2009|05:17 am] |
|
Renewed my passport. I feel like I need a break; want to go away for a couple of weeks (while I can still afford to). Finding time between now and Christmas is not going to be easy, between work and choral commitments... |
|
|
| stages of life |
[Jun. 19th, 2009|10:30 pm] |
at 10, I was discovering what the world is all about.
at 20, I had the confidence to change the world and do anything.
at 30, I reached my greatest ambition.
at 40, maybe I will discover what the world is all about, maybe not.
what happens in the second half of my life? |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Oct. 23rd, 2007|12:43 am] |
since starting up facebook, I'm not on this site very often any more. I now think that the great majority of LJ posts could be said very simply in a one-line facebook status line!
I'll be keeping this for my travel journal, but only using it very infrequently. Find me on face book if you haven't already! -- Matt Auc |
|
|
| It takes patience to blend. |
[Oct. 1st, 2007|01:16 pm] |
Patience rewards. The more I choral singing I do, the more I learn about my own voice, and the more beautiful blends I discover with other people. In a big choir, you don't often have a chance to discover this, except perhaps in a solo or semichorus situation. I don't have to sing with someone whose voice is exactly like mine, to achieve a good result. I seem to have a darker tone colour and good breath control which can help to balance someone with brighter tone colour.
With some people (such as Andrew) the blend is immediate and obvious, with others (Ed, Bernard, James) it took a little while but we've worked on it and now achieved something really lovely. Generally I find it harder when singing next to a tenor, but with a bit of work, it's amazing how it can sound (Alistair, Mark). The Lumina concert yesterday went really well - a lot of music and quite tiring - but what I really like about that choir is that with only 10 of us, it's just about all solos or 1 voice per part. Singing next to a soprano or alto is also lovely - I've found great blends with Rachel, Carolyn and Ange... and who knows how many others to discover? |
|
|
| update... finally! |
[Sep. 3rd, 2007|03:30 pm] |
Back home and finally able to update my journal with the European part of my trip (not having been in the vicinity of convenient internet access).
I fly to Italy via Lufthansa, which is something I won’t ever do again - old planes, uncomfortable seats crammed close together (and it’s not as though Germans are small people!) and having to walk for miles at Frankfurt airport, a monument to technology which is completely lacking in soul – and despite the high-tech industrial interior, it’s got non-partitioned smoking areas, grubby loos and internet access costs 1 Euro for 3 minutes. However the flight attendants are very attentive. They are generally pretty accurate in deciding whether to address passengers in German or English (I wonder how they can tell?) but I must look German, and their German questions to me bring only a polite blank look in response!
Jenny’s flight from Chicago was delayed so we were not able to meet up in Frankfurt as planned, but instead there was a grand reunion at Milano Melpensa. Maurizio is over the moon to see us again, and we are just as excited to see him. When J. arrives he whisks us straight off to Lake Garda for lunch in Milan’s lake district, there’s a pretty little town, Sirmione, with some caves where Catullus apparently used to come to meditate. We are going to see Venice first and stay at a B&B at Marghere on the outskirts, which we reach after navigating the scenic route, as it were. Fortunately our hostess Franca speaks French so she and I can communicate. She is so graceful in her movements and mannerisms, in that very European way – she reminds me so much of Heidi F. (and would be about the same age). There is an excellent little pizzeria a short walk away, where we have dinner – pizzas here are large, about 14” diameter, but with a thin base, and selective toppings (my favourite is carciofini) so quite easily devoured in one sitting.
The next day is Venice itself, which is about a 20-minute bus ride from our B&B (although J. and Alan Bennett both agree that arriving by train is the best way). It’s thronged with tourists of course, but large enough and with enough little alleys running off everywhere that it’s relatively easy to escape the crowds. For me, it’s these little alleys, teeming with life, and canals that cover stairways and lap against doorways concealing secret passages, that are the real charm of Venice, much more so than the Piazza di San Marco and the Ponte Rialto, the streets to which bear closer resemblance to the duty free shopping at a major airport. The vivid colours of Venice – reds, yellows, orange ochres, pinks and browns – are so beautiful on this clear summer’s day – and the best part of all, of course, is the complete absence of cars.
Monday 13/8 – at a B&B in Faenza, which is a beautiful town and not at all touristy but lovingly preserved by and for the locals (in a way that reminds me of Leigh St in Adelaide, but here it’s the whole town. Between Marghere and Faenza we stop for lunch and try the local Sangiovese, speciality of Emilia Romagna. Maurizio’s cousin Gianfranco is a sculptor/ceramic artist and lives in the most amazing house, all made from recycled stone – not unlike one I visited in the Clare Valley (lived in by Sydney Wood, who is driving the Sevenhill maze project). We swim in the pool of beautiful ceramics and sit under the vines drinking grappa, nociolo (hazelnut liqueur) and limoncello – all made by Gianfranco. This whole reminds me very much of the Clare Valley, or the McLaren Vale – the finer things in life, with a distinctly Bohemian element. The Italians really know how to live!
Sunday 19/8. The last week we were mostly in the Valle d’Aosta alpine region, in the far north west of Italy, near Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc). We picked up our hire car in Bologna, a very zippy little Peugeot 207 diesel, almost brand new – and drove up to our hotel “Beau Sejour” at Arvier. Yes, it’s a French name, in common with all the towns up here, and the street signs. The closer we get to the border, the more French is spoken, which comforts me as it’s easier than tying to speak to the Italians in either their English or my Italian! The hotel is pensione-style, i.e. meals included, and pretty good meals they are too; Valdostan cuisine seems to involve lots of cheese (Fontina mostly) and rich creamy sauces (if I lost any weight in Taiwan, it’s all going right back on now). M. and P. come here every year, several times (in winter for skiing, but also for short breaks throughout the year). They always see the same people doing likewise, and always sit at the same tables, at the same time, etc.
On Tuesday we spent the day at Pres-St-Didier, a spa resort in the mountains with no fewer than 25 different types of spa/sauna – the ultimate health experience – we are each presented with exceedingly white large towels and cotton bathrobes (which are, of course, white, to match the clientele). The spring water is not as hot as the sulphur springs in Taiwan, but very refreshing – there’s nothing quite having a sauna with a panoramic view of Mont Blanc! The Turkish bath, where you rub yourself with coarse salt beforehand, is particularly cleansing.
We spent quite a bit of time mooching around the little alpine towns – Courmayeur is particularly lovely. Like all the towns here, the architecture is remarkably consistent – heavily pitched granite slab rooves, windows with heavy wooden shutters, and window boxes filled with geraniums (mostly red). I wonder whether the lack of Australian-style “variety” is due to strict planning regulations to achieve consistency, or a lack of desire to be different (or just a stronger sense of regional style?) Anyway it’s all very charming and picturesque.
On Thursday we drive up to Mont St Bernardo (2500m) up a very narrow, windy road, which took all my concentration, as the driver, but the trusty little Peugeot carried the four of us up, quite effortlessly. A beautiful lake adorns the place of Napoleon’s entry to Italy, and we walk across the border to Switzerland, send some postcards and buy some Lindt chocolate (the Swiss have kept their Franc – I wonder for how much longer – but accept Euro too, of course).
On Friday we went to see Mt Blanc, from the French side (the best aspect). The tunnel from Italy to France is 11km long, right through the mountain, and while the thought of driving it has been a bit scary, when the time comes I’m fine. It must be the only place in Italy where the speed limit is enforced, as is the distance you must keep between the car in front (150m).
Chamonix is delightful, and now that we’re in France (where they speak very little Italian or English) I’m the official interpreter. After lunch, we drive up to a tiny place called Le Buet, near Vallorcine, where we go along one of the many hiking trails. We don’t actually go up Mont Blanc itself but see it from many angles.
Saturday takes us back to Faenza, dropping off the Peugeot in Bologna. This requires some negotiation, as the depot we’d picked it up from was closed on weekends, and M. had arranged to return it instead at the service station that washes the cars etc – where the fellow tried to charge us extra, for changing the location (despite the fact that I’d actually paid to hire it until the Monday, just in case). After some vigorous discussion in Italian (we left M. and P. to handle it) he backed down, and we were on our way. In some ways, Italy reminds me so much of China!
Back in Faenza, which is really a lovely town of 100,000 people, and the chief industry is ceramics (Maurizio’s factory one of the largest employers) although there’s lots of fruit growing as well – apple,s pears, grapes (for wine presumably), peaches – all grown in rows quite far apart, and aspaliated much higher and further apart than you would expect in Australia. M. takes us for a drink at an outdoor bar, along a tree-lined footpath, which is apparently a favourite hang-out of Nick Cave’s (Italian?) guitarist.
Moday – Firenze – what a buzz! Such a beautiful city – it leaves all the rest, including Venice, cold, we immediately agree. We stay at the Hotel Trieste in Sesto Fiorentini (on the outskirts) and go straight in by bus for the later afternoon/evening. Immediately, this place is far more multicultural – both in terms of the locals and the tourists – than anywhere else so far in Italy. Florence has an edge to it, and a great vibe – it’s somewhere I could imagine living, without trying very hard at all… Perhaps we’re no longer fazed by tourists, or perhaps we’re more acclimatised by now in terms of language and getting around (just as well, as M’s sense of direction is not the best!) We see the fabled Duomo di Brunileschi, which Mum and I climbed in 1979, its splendid green marble offset by the terracotta and white – and mooch along the Arno, taking photos of the Ponte Vecchio in the late afternoon sun. It is stunningly beautiful.
The next day we’re back again for a full day of sightseeing. We have plenty of time to admire David and friends in the Piazza di Signorina, waiting to get in to the Palazzo Vecchio, which is an amazing experience words can’t describe (see the photos) and after lunch, the panoramic views of the whole city from the Piazolo (squarette) Michaelangelo, on the south bank of the Arno and elevated so you can see how far the Duomo rises above the rest of the city. This is where all the postcard photos are taken – breathtaking.
Our last stretch involves leaving Florence early and exploring Tuscany, beginning with San Gimignano, a very pretty little walled city (and who said a piazza had to be flat?) We arrive early, before the mob, and have the place virtually to ourselves. This is a gourmet’s paradise (then again, what part of Italy isn’t?) Besides the local alabaster, every second shop is a gourmet deli selling dozens of varieties of prosciutto, cheeses, olives, pesto, and the local chianti (staple foods for the Italians – they even sell them in the Autogrill cafés along the autostrada, rather more civilised than the wares of an average Australian service station!) Siena is just as beautiful, on a larger scale, and in the afternoon we head to Grosseto on the coast, and catch our first glimpse of the mediterranean on the west coast (we’ve come from one side of the country to the other in just a couple of days). At about 7pm, after looking for the first time at a map, we suddenly realise how far we are from Milan, so I suggest we head up the coast to Livorno and stop for the night. We end up going further, past Pisa and La Spezia to a little town called Pontremoli.
For our last full day in Italy, we head to Milan where J and M’s friend Samantha (actually Rita) lives, and despite not having seen either of them for 17 years, she makes lunch for us and insists that we spend the last night at her house, where she lives with husband Roberto and two adorable children, Camilla and Fabio. We go for dinner at a local trattoria, which the sign proclaims is owned by the fratelli Bonato but turns out to be a family of Chinese from Zhejiang, who are amazed to find a whitey who can speak Chinese (in fact, anyone who can speak Chinese in this outer suburb of Milan). The ensuing discussion is quite fascinating. They confirm to me (in Chinese) what I have suspected since I arrived here – that foreigners are tolerated, more or less, but not made especially welcome. Not Asians anyway. I ask them why they opened an Italian restaurant rather than a Chinese one (I haven’t seen a single Asian restaurant anywhere in Italy) and they tell me that Italians consider their cuisine the best in the world, and have not the need, nor the slightest interest, in trying anything else.
Not for the first time, I am struck by how stuck in the past the Italians are in so many of their attitudes. Locals keep telling us that the place is over-run with foreigners (taking their jobs) and how dreadful it is, though we hardly see any. I recall the post office ads in buses, depicting migrant workers (from Albania, Senegal, Poland, etc) in obviously menial occupations, telling them how they can wire money back “home” (no doubt well-intended, but with the obvious subtext - you don’t really belong here in Italy). Then there is the apparent lack of concern or awareness of the risks of skin cancer (not to mention lung cancer) by the amount of sun exposure and smoking. Not to mention the way so much advertising features scantily-clad, buxom women. I suppose Italy is an ancient civilisation, and some things don’t change in a hurry (again, just like China).
Friday 24/8. After saying goodbye to J. at Malpensa this morning, I deposit my luggage (it being beyond Lufthansa to accept my bag any more than 3 hours before the flight) and take the train straight to Milano Cadorno (40 mins) and explore the Sempione gardens and ancient castle, just next to the railways station, and walk down the the Piazza della Scala. There is a huge shopping arcade – actually four arcades, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, which intersect. This is the very icon of Milan fashion. The four corners of the intersection are occupied respectively by Prada, Louis Vuitton, a very exclusive jeweller, and McDonald’s. The Duomo (from the outside) is very impressive. La Scala itself is nothing to look at from the outside, and while the interior is impressive, I’m amazed by how small it is. It seats 2030, only slightly more than the Adelaide Festival Theatre, but more of them are in the boxes than the stalls. There are in fact six levels of boxes; somehow I’d imagined there were many more. What I can’t judge of course (not having seen one) is the quality of the productions. Something to save for next time! But the museum was definitely worth the visit – if for no other reason than the impressive display of costumes from past productions. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Aug. 8th, 2007|09:48 am] |
Since I arrived in Taiwan just over a weeek ago, I've used the time productively and covered a lot of ground. Firstly, there's the ground between the airport formerly known as Chiang Kai-Shek and the Taipei Railway Station (where I met my friend Wei-chih). The next day was the significant ground covered by the great square which is still (for the time being) known as Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, but it took more than the first day for me to get used to the stiflingly humid 35 degrees which it is here for most of the time (night time minimum only goes down to 29 or 30), so I slept for most of the afternoon and ventured out again at night to the Le Hua night market (near to the Yongan Market MRT station) where I was able to try out some of my Favourite Foods in Taiwan (see note 1).
Other highlights include a trip to Hualien by train, including the little hamlet of Tienhsiang in Taroko Gorge, the road to which, having been worked on extensively, is now much safer, if less exciting, than it was the last time I went there in 1995. There are now also a number of well-maintained walking trails, include the "bai yang" or white poplar walking trail, a very pleasant walk. The train on the way back to Taipei included a planned stop at Fulong beach, as well as an unplanned stop at Shuangxi, the next station (because I discovered on getting off the train at Fulong that my mobile phone had dropped out of my pocket - fortunately it was discovered by an honest person who handed it to the guard at the Shuangxi, whence we could retrieve it). The "Hong Lou" area of Hsimenting is one of Taipei's newest night spots, with a number of bars and tea shops spread around the edge of a large open plaza, where people linger until the small hours. I also went to the Taipei City Art Museum, and walked down Chungshan North Rd (which, on a Sunday afternoon, is filled with Filipino and Indonesian maids and workers on their day off - just like Orchard Road in Singapore), to my old stamping ground, Hochiang St, the Rongxing garden, then with Martin, the "4 beasts" mountains in the east of Taipei City, behind 101 (including the "95 peak" - no-one seems to know why it's called that) - a 6-7 km walk which was punishing to my calves, as well as a trip yesterday by commuter tram (which runs along the regular train lines) to Chungli, where Jio met me and took me around the Shihmen reservoir.
Note 1: some of my favourite things to eat and drink in Taiwan include mangos (you can now buy deliciously sweet mangos from Tainan, all cut into ready-to-eat slices), white peaches (again, something that seems to have proliferated over the past few years), freshly squeezed lemon juice (with lime and/or kumquat, as the case may be), pink guava juice (from 7-11, a taste that always takes me back to Hawaii in 1975), "Cha Li Wang" Oolong tea, dou gan (a kind of dry tofu) and its numerous variants, including dou pi and "vegetarian chicken", soy milk (which is vastly different from the stuff you can buy in Australian supermarkets), baozi (the ones in Hualien were excellent - of all that I've tasted - second only to the Dong He baozi, last year), dumplings - boiled, steamed and cooked by a combination of steaming and frying with a little oil, in which case they are called guotie, or potstickers - but ideally they don't (stick to the pot), shallot cakes (as we tend to call them in English - although the Taiwanese ones are really more like a garlic chive or spring onion pancake), zhua bing (another kind of "bing" or round flat type of bread, which has been pulled about in various directions to give it texture - you have to try it to know what I'm talking about), beef noodle soup, sizzling squid, and fried chicken pieces(from one of the stands where you choose from various bits and pieces, such as dou gan, French beans, fish cake, and if you are so inclined, a cake made of pig's blood), and the whole lot is sliced up, deep fried with basil, and coated in a chili powder salt, then handed to you in a bag with large toothpicks for piercing and munching as you go. |
|
|
| 美麗的台灣 |
[Aug. 7th, 2007|09:52 pm] |
自從來到台灣短短一個星期以來，我去了不少地方玩。坐了從前所稱為中正機場二廈到台北車站的國光客運和威志碰頭，隔天就去了到現在尚未改名的中正紀念堂照相，不過天氣實在太熱，剛來自澳洲冬天的我一下子適應不了，只能回家休息，晚上再出門去永安市場附近的樂華夜市吃到我最愛吃的東西（附註一）
其他行程包括花蓮（台鐵關心我）、太魯閣國家公園裏的天祥、白楊步道、雙溪、福隆海水浴場、西門町紅樓牡丹茶坊、台北市立美術館、中山北路（看到一群菲律賓傭人，好像周日新加坡烏節路一樣）、榮星公（花）園、合江街十多年前住賴先生家、四獸山、九五峰、（上坡很陡，隔天小腿有點酸）、中壢、石門水庫、復興鄉等。
附註一
我在台灣最愛吃的東西包括﹕水果、芒果、水密桃、鮮榨檸檬汁、紅芭樂汁、茶裏王烏龍茶、豆干以及類似食品（包括素雞、豆皮）、豆漿、麵食、（花蓮公正）包子、水餃、蒸餃、鍋貼、蔥油餅、抓餅、牛肉麵、鹽酥雞、鐵板魷魚
Dear friends, patience please... English to follow shortly! |
|
|
| 新加坡跟台灣相比 |
[Aug. 2nd, 2007|12:11 am] |
There's always something new to look at in Singapore. I decided to take the MRT from the airport into town, because I hadn't done it before, which very surprisingly involved changing 3 times to get to Little India (quicker to Walk from Dhoby Ghaut, perhaps) yet the experience included the travelator-reduced miles of wlking along the new carpet of Terminal 2, the new MRT station at Changi Airport, a wonderfully inspired design in concrete, and takes in views of the new (well, since I lived there, at least) Singapore Expo (the exhibition centre). Clarke Quay has been completely re-done, with water features and a super structure done by Norman Foster, and is now a beautiful civic space.
While Singapore has no hesitation in bringing in famous foreigners to design its icons, the Taiwanese tend to do it themselves - I guess because they can. Taiwanese public spaces are therefore energetic and chaotic. |
|
|
| Elixir of Love |
[Jul. 29th, 2007|08:44 am] |
Went to the opening of Donizetti's Elixir of Love last night - a simple love story, with all the classic ingredients of a good opera - unrequited love, uncertainty, treachery, deception, greed, and ultimate resolution. Musically, the principals were all impressive, particularly Adina and Nemorino, the soprano and tenor, between whom the passion gradually unfolds. Credit for Adina's eventual change of heart is taken by the rather odious Dr Dulcamara, who arrives in a motor car with shade umbrella, reminiscent of John Paul II's Pope-mobile, and commands a corresponding leap of faith in the potions he purveys.
State Opera did an excellent job with the production, setting it in outback Australia, making full use of the Festival Theatre's vast stage with imaginative corrugated iron sets (the scene where Nemorino shears a sheep is particularly endearing) and a similarly vernacular surtitle translation of the libretto. The chorus includes villagers, soldiers and maidens in a chook-house, who collectively bring a great sense of atmosphere. Achieving the right musical balance in the F.T. between principals and such a large chorus is no mean feat, and there were moments where it wasn't quite perfect, however this was more than compensated for by the overall quality of the performance, and the sumptuous playing of the ASO.
A great night's entertainment, and a must-see!
Heading off tomorrow for Taiwan and Italy - will post updates here from time to time. |
|
|
| Composing |
[Jun. 27th, 2007|11:27 pm] |
|
Felt like turning my hand to composing, and wondering about the best sort of software to help. GarageBand has the ability to play the piece (after putting in the notes) but the notation is very basic and no use for choral music. Sibelius is probably better but costs the earth. On the other hand, LilyPond does beautiful engraved scores with all the bells and whistles you need for choral scores, but doesn't play the music, and takes a while to learn... but after about 5 hours of mucking around with it, I've managed to put in the first line of my piece, with underlay, correctly spaced, for all 4 parts... woo hoo! At this rate I might finish the piece some time around 2047... Thanks to thornae and others for summarising all the software options for me... |
|
|
| warmth in the midst of coldness |
[Jun. 14th, 2007|11:32 pm] |
A crisp clear Adelaide winter night. 2 degrees outside - perfect for rugging up and going for a long walk - or, as I have just done, stopping off at the Vili's cafe for a goulash pie!
Pilgrim rehearsal for service with Simon Preston tonight, and went for a drink afterwards - Simon is quite a card - - how fantastic to have personally known the likes of Vaughan Williams, Howells ("Herbert could be like that - you could almost sight read him, but not quite!"), I'm really looking forward to next Saturday's concert (quick plug: I Was Glad, 20th Century English music, St Peter's Cathedral, 23 June 8pm). |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Apr. 26th, 2007|11:03 pm] |
|
Had some fantastic news today... Or rather, someone very dear to me had some fantastic news, in a way that is fantastic for me too... not to mention the AUCS tenor section! |
|
|
| what do you like/hate most about the Clipsal 500? |
[Mar. 4th, 2007|10:28 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | music |
| | crap covers of bad pop songs at the after party | ] |
Is it the atmosphere, the excitement, the crowds of people, all brought together by a love of car racing (or sumfink? or nuffink?)
I actually went on Thursday for an hour (I was given a ticket) - my first time. I certainly wouldn't have paid to go in. I'm not interested in car racing, at all. Most of the people inside didn't seem to be, either - they were wandering around looking at things, eating, drinking, getting sunburnt - almost anything other than watching the cars going around.
Sandra Kanck was concerned that allowing alcohol companies to sponsor it sends the wrong message to young people and would encourage drink-driving. Maybe, but surely a minor concern compared to the inescapable message that it's safe to drive at up to 240 km/h on Adelaide streets?
Living as I do between the track and the after-party on Hutt St, I have occasion to observe the revellers at close quarters. Petrol-heads whose idea of fun it is to roam the streets shouting obnoxiously at people and urinating in their front gardens.
Usually I escape from Adelaide for the weekend so I can pretend it's not happening. There's no pretending about that Hornet though, you'd hear it all over the metro area. It came screaming overhead today, I thought my eardrums were about to burst, every window in the house rattled ominously, and Schrodinger (who was resting on my bed at the time) scampered off, terrified, not to be seen for several hours afterwards.
And what about the race itself, from a sporting point of view? Can you admire the technical skill of the drivers, as you would a tennis player or a dancer? Does anyone actually even know their names? Or is it the fact that they drive for the red team or the blue team?
On the positive side, I know it's good for the economy, it actually makes money (as opposed to the Grand Prix), all the hotels are apparently full, and the cars aren't as loud as the Formula 1s were. They also seem to have got more efficient in the set-up and minimised the disruption to traffic compared to previous years. But that's about all I can think of! Adelaide Alive? I think I'd rather be dead! |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jan. 6th, 2007|08:52 pm] |
 | You scored as Tenor. As a Tenor, you are the hero. Representing both Love and the Right, you are a quintessential good. You are a charmer, mischeivous and teasing. However, you are prone to an ego and silly mistakes when you mix up your romantic and personal priorities.
Tenor | | 86% | Soprano | | 64% | Alto | | 61% | Mezzo | | 54% | Baritone | | 50% | Bass | | 43% | </td>
Which Vocal Range Suits Your Personality?
created with QuizFarm.com |
|
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Sep. 17th, 2006|06:32 am] |
Hooray for Goverment agencies that pass on lists of disability-friendly sex workers when asked for them. As a taxpayer I consider it an entirely appropriate use of public funds.
Honestly, how could anyone be as narrow-minded or mean-spirited as to object? Anyone who does should go out and actually meet some people with disabilities, and may be discover that they're just like the rest of us - with the same needs and desires - in all our diversity.
Disapproving of prostitution is one thing, but please don't make a vulnerable and disadvantaged section of our community the scapegoat. |
|
|
| 中正機場華航貴賓室 |
[Aug. 19th, 2006|07:47 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 中正機場華航貴賓室 | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sleepy | ] |
A quick note from CKS Airport, on my way home - was meant to be going the slow way on Malaysian Airlines via KK (a crummy old 737 that doesn't even have any music) but as the flight is overbooked, they put me onto a China Airlines flight instead, direct to KL (gets me in a bit earlier). Also a free trip to the China Airlines VIP lounge (with internet). In typical Taiwanese fashion, even when things don't go exactly according to plan, people look after you and make you feel special, and make you feel special...
China Airlines has the best food of any airline :-) oh, and safety record? Well, they're trying really hard these days... all their pilots are trained in Adelaide now so hopefully I'll get back in one piece! |
|
|
| 重逢之喜 |
[Aug. 16th, 2006|09:01 am] |
自從周六晚上到達中正機場以來
我一直聯想到過去的日子
我跟台灣是老朋友
每次從遠地回到家
中間沒來函她都會見諒
我所變化她應該注意到但很客氣地不講
因為老朋友無需多話來表達心事
馬騰來機場接我
隔天早上去台北車站約志勇一起下東部
經過池上吃到便當
到前所未去過的台東就租了機車
我坐後面完全信任以賴駕駛員
９號花東公路山線吹風舒爽
讓我的精神充滿元氣
在山與大海摘摘的邊緣
山頂點到雲
上天儻的路已經到了一半
台東紅葉布農部洛
卑南族音樂感很強
認試志勇已經十二年了
我們兩個都喜愛生活中簡單的樂趣
凝願聽海浪的聲看星星和月亮
而不願聽城內車子燥音看燈光的店名照牌
再回台東市換了１１號花東公路
海線上的車子很少
到了成功漁港跟海鮮市場
見過志勇當賓時海巡的地方
在叭嗡嗡福樟紅檜木屋住了一晚
早上走了舊路沿著還邊
從福德橋走到沙灘看日出
台灣東海岸天然的美
是都市無能相比 |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
matt_auc's journal