Danba (丹巴）is famous for 2 things:

1. Pretty girls, so it was also called beauty valley.
2. The Tibetan settlement with their special towers (Blockhouse).

Danba is stunning during Autumn. The colourful trees were around those towers, the sky was blue, yellow corns were hanged outside houses and everything was in their own harmony of beauty.

It took around 3 hours to drive from Rilong town to Danba and the road was very rough.

We stopped at some small spots in the mid-way time to time.

We arrived at our first destination: Zhonglu Zangzhai (中路藏寨）.

We had our lunch in the Tibetan house

After lunch, we got some free time to explore the valley. It was breathtaking.

I climbed up to this tower.

The family lived under the tower

View from the top

After climbing up the tower, I started to walk around the valley and.......I got lost.

I was totally lost in Zhonglu Zangzhai (中路藏寨）because all trees, houses and towers looked the same. I could not even ask the locals as I did not know the name of the house I had lunch at. So, finally I took my camera out and showed them the photos I took as it indicated which road did I come from. They recognize the tower I climbed and brought me back there (disappointing as he asked me for money later). I was already late, so some of my co-workers went to look for me. I felt so sorry to them.

However, I was happy that I could think of showing the locals my photos to find my way back. haha!

We passed Danba downtown on the way to Jiaju zangzhai (甲居藏寨). People had very interesting hair accessories in the town.

 

Our second destination: Jiaju zangzhai (甲居藏寨).

It was getting dark when we arrived at Jiaju, so we rushed to take some photos before the sunset.

This photo is a bit dark, so it could not show how beautiful it was. The colourful trees in the front actually looked like a very gentle ocean. When the wind blew, the trees slowly moved as waves. It was amazing. 

Thanks Mr. Pang for rushing there with me

We were chatting here at night

We lived in one of the hostel in Jiaju and I woke up around 3am to be driven to the bus station. Thanks Mr. Pang for sending me down as well.

 

 

It took me totally 11 hours to go back to Chengdu from Danba with the bus.

What a day!!

I was back to Traffic Inn, so glad to have a normal shower finally.

My birthday trip was ended!

Happy Birthday Winky!!!!!

YYCIS finally joined our first orienteering event (野外定向) at Y2Y after our joint event.
We were divided in 3 teams- Kanis and Kin, Jade and Cliff, Winky and Cyrus.
It was really fun even though all of our teams failed to finish the game within the time limit (Cyrus and I could not even finish the game, haha).

This game actually brought me to some parts of Ma Wan which I don't usually go to. Even when we were lost, we enjoyed the sea breeze, the beautiful sea view and the quiet neighborhood.

Thanks Veronica for teaching us how to play before the game was started. Without you, I would have no idea of what was going on! I will definitely try it again.

 

不要多想，我們並沒有復合。

 

碰巧在分手一年後，很多天時地利人和的情況下讓我們一起去了台北一趟。

 

以往我們總會說：“找個Weekend去台北走走，買書吧！”但一直沒有成行，想不到反而分手後才有這個機會。而我此行最重要的目的是探望在寶藏巖當駐村詩人的死貓。

 

阿甘以往跟我說過一些台北的好地方，如女巫店和紫藤蘆，我每次去台北都沒機會去。終於還是和他一起才去了。這次所見的台北，是充滿文化藝術氣息的台北。去好丘吃早餐，去寶藏巖聽死貓的分享，去女巫店吃飯，紫藤蘆喝茶，和死貓在師大附近泡咖啡店，看蔡明亮的裝置藝術，在誠品和大家坐在地上打書釘，最後附送雙十節巡遊。

 

這種生活，太完美了吧！

---

Day 1

四四南村－好丘

 

四四南村是一條眷村。

眷村通常是指台灣自1949年起至1960年代，中國大陸各省的中華民國國軍及其眷屬，因國共內戰而隨中華民國政府遷台，政府為其興建的村落。

四四南村是眷村建築新貌的一個縮影，承襲了傳統眷村的規律與集體控制的模式，四四南村為青島聯勤四十四兵工廠的員工及眷戶們居住的區域，原地曾是日軍陸軍庫房。整體建築為「魚骨狀」架構，材料由竹片及石灰泥巴糊成，後期建築才為磚牆結構。

 

 

同一個情境，我和阿甘拍出不同角度的照片。

by Winky

by Kam

好丘是在四四南村裡的一家貝果咖啡店，環境一流。周末在好丘外有Simple Market，但於我而言不甚吸引。

http://tw.streetvoice.com/users/goodchos/

 

早餐後就出發去寶藏巖看死貓，她當天有一個分享會在她那麵引子街屋進行呢！

寶藏巖

上次我到台北就是在寶藏巖見到盧廣仲，這次又來看死貓，和這條被發展成藝術村的眷村好像特別有緣。

台灣有套電影叫麵引子，主角的家就在寶藏巖。而死貓就住在這家放滿拍攝道具的家中當她的駐村詩人，應該是非常有趣的經驗吧！

我到達她的“大屋”時她的分享會已經開始了！ 她說著小時候在木屋區的生活怎樣影響她的創作，很多我以前都沒有聽她提起過。在這種場合再次認識自己的好朋友感覺很特別。而且，有學生出來讀死貓的詩。因為我讀她的詩都是用廣東話來想的，沒想過用國語讀出來是如此的好，好驚喜呢！

女書店與女巫店

離開寶藏巖，阿甘和我經過台大到達女巫店。先到樓上的女書店逛逛，它是華文地區第一家女性主義專業書店。在台北，有這麼一個專題的書店能生存，就可以看到台灣讀者與香港讀者的分別。來到這家書店，我的感覺竟然是：感動。

http://www.fembooks.com.tw/indexaboutus.php

女巫店是一些台灣獨立歌手初露光芒的地方，陳綺貞和張懸以往也常常在這裡演出。當天我們沒有看表演，吃了頓飯就走了！但看到樂隊在準備還是讓人很興奮。

http://www.witchhouse.org/

晚飯後到了紫藤蘆喝茶。

紫藤蘆
1945年以前，紫藤廬老宅為日據時期台灣總督府的高等官舍。1981年改闢為茶館，提出「自然精神的再發現，人文精神的再創造」理念，是台灣第一所具有藝文沙龍色彩的人文茶館，因庭院三棵老紫藤蔓生屋簷而命名為「紫藤廬」。

http://www.wistariateahouse.com/main/modules/MySpace/index.php?sn=wistariateahouse&pg=ZC2024

別緻的庭院，溫文的員工，一句：龍井怕燙！，我就覺得很窩心。
這，不只是一杯茶，是文化，是智慧，也是態度。

Day 2

鍋爐房裡的劇場

蔡明亮在松山文化創意園區內建於1937年的「鍋爐房」展出影像裝置藝術。

「鍋爐房」棟高14米、屋架跨距14.5米，當年容納蒸汽動力機組，以燃燒重油產生蒸氣，帶動松山菸廠運作，其煙囪高36米，讓鍋爐房被視為廠區主要地標。「鍋爐裡的劇場」裝置藝術展，訴說生活中的記憶痕跡，展覽內容包括中山堂整修時遭淘汰的不同年代的舊椅子、不斷重複投影的地下道畫面，片 中李康生、陸弈靜與楊貴媚分別獨自隨興起舞、煙囪下方鍋爐裡的8台電視機播放1張被棄置多時、長滿青苔的澎湖舊床影像與從下午到黃昏的光影變化，以及咖啡 販賣車。  

下午我和死貓在師大夜市附近撐著傘，找尋著她想去的咖啡店。像外國的圖書館一樣，桌上是那種舊舊的綠色枱燈。我們捧著咖啡，看著雜誌上的台灣好去處。

晚上，我會合阿甘吃晚飯。這隻餐廳裡的貓，一刻之間變臉，抓了甘一下！

晚飯後的必備節目當然是去誠品買書。
和大家一起坐在地上打書釘的詩候，我在想：是不是應該搬來台北呢？

Day 3

雙十節，我們去了閱兵巡遊。

但最讓我興奮的，是在7-11換了這個！！！謝謝死貓的資料提供。

現在才知道台北也有重慶大廈

To Kam: Thanks for the nice trip! It is always wonderful to travel with you no matter what.

It was an unforgettable flight from JNB to HKG.

I was waken up by a crew during my rest period.
The crew: Winky, we are diverting to Colombo.
Winky: Why?
The crew: A passenger needs emergency medical assistance.

When I came down to the cabin, the passenger was laying on the floor with oxygen mask on. Every crew was working very hard to assist her or serving other passengers. As most of the senior crews were dealing with the situation, I just tried to take care of my cabin and assisted other crews for this and that. Passengers were calm and being very understanding.

So far we just knew that the passenger threw up a lot of blood all of a sudden and fainted right after that. Her husband said she was not feeling well before the flight. Captain decided to divert the flight to Colombo to offload that passenger, hopefully it could save her life.

We landed at Colombo within 1 hour and the medical assistance were standby when we arrived. Some Taiwanese crews were so worried about the couple as they did not speak any English. 3 crews volunteered to stay at Colombo with the passenger as a translator. Luckily, they had the situation sorted out and crews could come back with the flight.

Finally it became a 16 hours flight and all of us were terribly tired after the flight. I was touched by the team and especially for those who volunteered to stay at Colombo.
Believe it or not, this is cabin crew. Most of us are really really kindhearted and tried our very best to help our passengers. I am so proud of the good people who work with me all the time.

We have no news from the company about that passenger. Somehow, I do not want to know too.
I just wish that her life was saved and she had a nice home return journey with her husband.

Not long after Taipei Tango Festival, I got a long stay Seoul flight. So, Sang and I met up in Seoul. No chance for the Milonga as my wake up time for the return flight was way too early. What a pity.

Paid a visit to Sang's restaurant. We had nice lunch there with Italian food, wine and a special cappuccino. We chatted a lot and it was nice to see how he designed his restaurant, recommended wine to his customers, worked with his employees and all those.

I asked for a cup of Cappuccino and Boss Sang went to the kitchen and made it for me. It was the best Cappuccino I ever tasted, seriously. 

Then we had a walk at Hongdae which was full of cafes and restaurants. Sang could not help but kept looking at how other restaurants ran. I just enjoyed walking at such a nice neighborhood in Seoul.  

Sang picked up his car and we headed to the very famous Ginseng chicken soup restaurant to end our day.

Thanks for driving me back to the hotel! See you in Seoul next time, hopefully with some Milongas!

To Sang: there is no midway between Sang's way and Winky's way because I am just like that, sorry!

在等待Pina電影上畫之前，我就一直無間斷地聽它的Soundtrack。 越喜歡它的Soundtrack，就對它的期望越高。Trailer也看過十多次，剪接和配樂實在是完美。Lillies of the Valley 是就是那種帶人進入另一種境界的歌吧！

看罷電影，一點都沒有失望。

If everyone has a duty in life, Pina was born to be an artist and bring amazing dance pieces to the world!!

Thank you Wim Wenders!

現在重看台北探戈節的照片，感覺很不一樣。雖然只隔幾個月，當天在課堂教著探戈的Andrea老師已離我們而去。我不像其他探戈朋友般對Andrea老師認識那麼深，只在台北上過她和Javier的兩門課，但老師給我的印象是很和善的。在上海跳Milonga的時候突然知道老師在新年的車禍中去世，享年只有34歲，我的心情就久久不能平伏。只差數月，她還在我們面前演出教課，現在就與世長辭了！曾經上過她的課，是我的幸運。願她在天堂一直跳著她心愛的阿根廷探戈。

圖中坐在最左的位子上的就是Andrea老師

這次的台北之旅跟以往的很不一樣，因為我根本沒有時間旅遊。每天上兩堂探戈課，下課吃個飯就去跳Milonga。跳到三更半夜回Hostel就昏睡過去。謝謝Jamespopo陪我玩了一個上下午。開機車帶我去泡溫泉，吃好的，還做了我最需要的腳底按摩。晚上我超憤怒的時候，還帶了小學同學出來跟我喝酒聊天。沒你們，當天我大概被氣得沒心情去舞會了！

每次去外國的探戈節我最期待的就是在它們的古建築裡跳舞。在台北，當然是西門紅樓了！地方很美，大家還穿上中國風的服飾。可惜人太多，地方太小。跳起來不是很爽。但我很開心認識了一些新朋友，尤其是韓國來的Sang。和他很聊得來，後來去首爾工作也有跟他見面。希望下次在其他探戈節能再跟他玩。

 

另外，以前曾經聽些師兄師姐說總會有這麼一個人，你跟他跳探戈時會有一種整個場地只有你和他的感覺。他不一定跳很難的舞步，甚至不一定跳得特別好，但你和他跳的時候就是那麼的投入。這無關愛情或其他，就是純祽的Connection。

Tango就是那麼神奇的舞蹈。

在台北探戈節，我遇上了。雖然他不是台灣人，但這成為我這個旅程最重要的回憶。

It is time to visit my family in Melbourne again!

 

A little drama was on during my visit:

 

After going shopping with Scarlett, Jocie and Zachy, I went to the train station to take the train back to the city. We said goodbye in front of the station. Then, Scarlett found that I forgot my bags of vitamins on the stroller of Zachy. She brought 2 kids with her to try to look for me at the platform. They walked cabin by cabin to find me. Jocie and Zachy kept calling my name: Ball Ball E. At the end, they could not find me. Jocie and Zachy were very sad and kept saying: Ball Ball E is gone.

 

According to Scarlett’s report, Jocie and Zachy was non-stop talking about Ball Ball E even after they were back home. When they saw WY (their father), they told him that Ball Ball E is gone and they could not find her. Hahahahahahahaha!

 

After that, Zachy had a very strong impression on me. Scarlett said: Ball Ball E, you have to come back soon!

 

P.S Ball Ball is my baby name and most of my family members call me this. So naturally I become Ball Ball E (mean Ball Ball aunt) when my cousin got her babies.

The reason of me being called Ball Ball when I was a baby is simple: I was totally like a Ball with my round head, round eyes and round body.

So, I went back to the city and had dinner with Angela (another cousin) and KaHo. We were talking about marriage and things like that.

 

Few months later, I got a Whatsapp from Angela saying that: KaHo proposed and I said Yes!

 

I am for sure coming to the wedding either in Melbourne or Hong Kong, or……both?