FROM SHANGHAI, CHINA

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Taipei: Images of Paradise

SHANGHAI, Dec 17, 2007 - There are no easy ways to cross the largest mass of water on earth.  But my 14-hour flight from Los Angeles to Taipei was about as good as trans-Pacific crossings go.  I managed to sleep for more than half the flight, which is probably some sort of a record in this traveler's Pacific log.

When we landed in Taipei, a little before 6AM local time, it was still pitch black outside.  The city eventually woke up to a gray, dreary and foggy morning; not exactly a picture-taking day.  So you will have to contend yourselves for now with the above airport images of Taipei taken in better weather.

To pass the time before my connecting flight to Hong Kong, I checked out an art exhibit at the airport.  I was fascinated by two large watercolor paintings, each depicting the Asian artist's vision of paradise.  Birds and flowers of gentle pastel colors were features in the first one (above left), a pretty wintry scene in the second (above right). In the first version of paradise, my eye went immediately to that top right corner of the tree where I saw two faces in profile - one black and one white (inside the black one).  The black face looks like an Egyptian fresco image of a woman (a yin?); the white one as that of a child (a yang?). Long curly hair drapes the heads of the faces.  Was this an intentional yin-yang message from the artist?  I don't know.  But after spending some time the other night with my darling Ida trying to locate the hidden faces of Jesus in two of her watercolor paintings, guess I am on a lookout for concealed images and clues everywhere.  :-)

Finally, before leaving Taipei, I passed by this huge mural, also an ancient Chinese watercolor (right). These murals are said to tell stories from ancient Chinese history.  Judging by the length of this one, it must be an epic novel like Tolstoy's "War & Peace."  :-)

Hong Kong: Dragonair and Bad Air?

The two-hour flight from Taipei to Hong Kong seemed like a non-event after the trans-Pacific crossing. I have always gotten a kick out of the name Dragonair, the name of a Chinese airline, but have never been close enough to take good souvenir pictures of it.

Well, this time, one such flying dragon was parked right next to our China Air jet.  So I snapped a picture on my way to the terminal (left). The other three shots should give you a pretty good idea of just how either smoggy or humid the Hong Kong air was this morning.  The temperature was around 73F, so either variation is possible.  I preferred to think it was just humidity, considering that I have to come back to Hong Kong in a couple of days. :-)

As my China Eastern flight was waiting to take off, we watched this China Air Airbus roll down the Hong Kong runway (two left shots).  And then it was out turn.  I kept snapping pictures on take off in a semi-futile effort of trying to pierce the fog with my camera.  And so I caught this aerial view of the Hong Kong terminal (middle right) in which the aircraft look like little sardines, don't they?  Then as we gained altitude, the visibility diminished.  So you'll pretty much have to use your imagination to fill in the details in the hazy images of the two right-hand shots, taken high above the city of Hong Kong.  Fortunately, I do have some marginally better pictures, taken on take-off last October (CLICK HERE to view them).

And that's all she wrote from Taipei and Hong Kong this morning.  To join me in Shanghai for a late afternoon stroll in the rain, CLICK HERE and leave your umbrella at home.

CONTINUED... in Shanghai.

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