Some of my old fictions can be found in Daneel Lynn's new blog

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If you are an Asimov fan, you surely know Daneel by name. Thanks Daneel.

La Tour Eifel view from Palais Challot 97' & 07'

Quel est plus vieil?
Always a crowd at Palais Challot, watching la Tour Eifel and the street performers...

When Ethan saw this, he noticed that the bricks has been changed. It is brighter and cleaner now...

Stravinsky Fountain near Pompidou Centre 96' & 07'

Guess which sculpture they were indicating to?

Notre Dame 96' and 07', the first time and the last

We were at Paris the first time in 1996. Michelle took a trainee position at Danon for two months. Danon is a very big food company in France. They make very delicious cookies and many others.


May 2007, we have decided 5 years old Ethan is old enough to appreciate a trip to Paris and we three went together for 10 days. Between 1996 and 2007, I have been to Paris many times and I remember around 2000, Notre Dame was always under restoration and tourists couldn't take a good photo of Notre Dame. I happen to have the photo above and below showing Notre Dame before and after restoration. In fact, French government has spent time to figure out a way to use laser to clean the surface of Notre Dame without making a damage. This is why when we took Ethan to Paris, Notre Dame was so bright under the sun.

Annecy Fete 1996

This was how it began from Place Sainte Claire. Unfortunately I did not see it by myself. Don't be fooled by the year printed by the camera, we have done the settings wrong. Year 1994 I was still in Hungary and never been to France yet. I am most certain I was on a business trip then and Michelle was alone in town. Great that she has come across this very interesting festival. My job then demanded very frequent travel. Sometimes I got up in 5, drive to Geneva by 7, took a flight before 8 and arrive in perhaps Schipol airport (Amsterdam) and took rental car to visit customer by 10. Back to take the flight back to France by 4 , go home by 7. This is not an unique experience for many European travellers but definitely something new for a young man like me from Taiwan then...


Old ladies weaving wool

Making Apple Juice




This chair looks familiar. Normally we did it with Bamboo back home...



It is great to live in a small town like Annecy. We do have our rituals and festivals back home in Taiwan but in big cities like Taipei, you never feel an event that is so big that the whole city is there together. Not even the Chinese New Year. I remember our Chinese New Year in our youth back in Chia-Yi was much more exciting then like this Annecy fesitval but maybe that was simply because we were so young then...






Cows are the stars for this festival. Every spring, the cows were back from the mountain and had a parade in the town. Cheered by all. These pretty ladies are decorated with flowers and big cowbells that resemble their Swiss relatives. Annecy is very close to Geneva and last century, they both belong to the kingdom of Savoyard. These cows must be related...

The giant cowbells now carried by men...




Some said this is the longest instrument in the world.






Michelle trying to make a dish...

Ethan dancing at Enoshima (江ノ島) Nov 2004

Enoshima painted by Hokusai, Katsushika（葛飾北斎 1760-1849)


Mont Saint Michel


To me, Enoshima is like a Japanese version of Mont Saint Michel. It is a town built on top of the island and connected to the land with one single road/bridge like Mont Saint Michel. Both are now tourist spots full of gift shops and hotels. The road to Mont Saint Michel sometimes is buried under water during high tide. Enoshima's is probably the same from the painting above. If you put aside the Japanese style of Enoshima and medieval feeling of Mont Saint Michel, they look very similar. I will share some Mont Saint Michel photos later. That was on our trip to Kamakura 鎌倉, Lyuta, my brother in law, recommended we go to this area and it was a great choice. He used to surf around this area and knew its beauty. On the back of Enoshima, there are caves that you can visit through bridges connecting them. Ethan was happy and dancing on the bridge. Hence the video...

Arriving Budapest 1994

1994, I was invited by my classmate Eddie to do some software work for his company at Budapest. Peter on the left worked for Eddie then. We have become good friends. I have been to Budapest 5 or 6 times. Once I had stay at Peter's unfinished new flat near Elizabeth Bridge (Erzebet Hid) before his family moved in.


Eddie share the flat with his two business partners and their families in a house up the Buda Hill. This is the view from the balcony. The cost of living at Budapest then was about 1/5 at Tapei. Although I did not have any income then, I still can enjoy local food and wine (Bikaver and Takaji) very happily. From time to time, we sit on the balcony, drinking wine with cheese and there are so many stars in the night sky.

King Istvan at Fisherman's Bastion

Artist playing Citera near the Matyas Church.

Hero Square

City Park Pond at Városliget. In Winter, this pond is covered with ice and good for ice-skating. In fact, a Taiwanese company Yomax has sponsored the ice-skating campaign years ago and the company logo was shown everywhere. Yomax is still in Hungary,now owned by my friend Kelvin Lin.Hope they still live a very happy life even under current economic situation...

The Parliament. Not sure why but it always reminds me of the sugar towels we have during ceremony when we were young at Taiwan.

The gate to the Palace on Budavar (Buda Castle)

Gift shop on the main street of Budavar. Hungarian traditional clothes are very colorful. Some looks like our native people's dress. On the wall you can still see some bullet holes left over since Communist days.