Croatia

Years ago, a similar photo was attached in an email and it claimed that the photo of such natural wonder was shot in Nantou township, Taiwan. The email was forwarded rampantly, almost everyone in Taiwan was looking for this dream world that had never been found. After a few months of searching in vain, a media found out that the photo was actually taken in Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia, and that's how Taiwanese got to know this country: the country of origin of the Dalmatian; Marco Polo might be a Croatian who was born on Korcula island (ref 1); the origin of the tie is actually an accessory of Croatian military frontier and the fact that there are 7 UNESCO heritages (historical complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian (1979), old city of Dubrovnik (1979), Plitvice Lakes National Park (1979), Episcopal Complex of the Euphrasian Basilica in the historic centre of Poreč (1997), historic city of Trogir (1997), the Cathedral of St. Jacob in Šibenik (2000) and the Stari Grad Plain in the island of Hvar (2008)) in a land of 1.5 times bigger than Taiwan in size.

One day in April, I got a note from my boss who asked me to paticipate in a hepatocellular carcimona conference that would be held in June in Dubrovnik, Croatia. I registered for the conference and booked the flights immediately, just in case my boss regreted it or something.  One month before my departure, I called my travel agency to remind them that it's about time to prepare visa application and that's when we all realized another common mis-understanding we had about this country: Croatia is a member of the EU.

Croatia applied for European Union membership in 2003, and the European Commission recommended making it an official candidate in early 2004. Candidate country status was granted to Croatia by the European Council in mid-2004. The entry negotiations, while originally set for March 2005, began in October that year together with the screening process.
The accession process of Croatia was derailed several times due to the Irish rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon in a referendum, and then later by the insistence of Slovenia that the two countries' border issues are dealt with prior to Croatia's accession into the EU.

Quote from wikipedia

Dispite the fact that Croatia isn't a member of the EU yet, tourists from most countries don't need a visa to get in, even for people from China as long as they have a valid schengen visa, but that's not the case for Taiwanese (Visa requirements overview). There is no Croatian embassy in Taiwan. Mailing applications for a tourist visa used to work via Japan or Malaysia, isn't applicable anymore. I got 2 options: one was to transit via Vienna and apply for the visa at the embassy in Vienna city, the other option was to have a travel agency send my application to Beijing on my behalf. I couldn't afford the risk of not getting a visa for the conference after flying to Vienna, so I paid a travel agency NT$10,400 (about USD$330, the official price is USD$51) to send my application to Beijing. Four days before my departure (it took 24 days for me to get the visa), based on my itinerary, I finally got the visa that was valid only for 13 days.

Dispite the jarring experience in dealing with Customs (even the Customs officials had difficulty trying to find records of visas issued to Taiwan) I was very happy to meet locals on the street level who recognized that I was from Taiwan, not a provice of China nor a misspelling of "Tailand/Thailand". Maybe it's because we share a "similar" history of changing national status? Nice people, great histories and cultures, glamorous natural wonders, and intoxicating Adriatic ocean, traveling in Croatia was one of the best memories of my backpacking expeciences.

Every year more than 10 million visitors spend their annual holidays in Croatia (the national population of Croatia is about 4.5 million), most of them are German and Italian. In the Asian tourist polulation, Japan definately is the number one of the list. Running into a Japanese tourist group seems inevitable while traveling in Croatia, I got kids greeting to me with "ko ni ji wa" at least 3 times a day. I had a stereotype that western countries were more civilized with etiquettes for scenes such as people who don't line up for a bus or who fight for a spot to take pictures, as this takes place in Asia. Traveling in Croatia, I had the deja vu feeling of being in China. People from every direction swarmed the bus stop, regardless of if there were lines of people waiting when a bus approached; stepping on someone's toes in order to take a photo... then I realized civilization and etiquette go out the window while people are on vacation that applies to all mankind.

Even though I only planned my itinerary in 2 days, it covers 5 out of 7 UNESCO heritages in Croatia and most of the sightseeing hot spots; here are my footsteps: 

• 4 days in Dubrovnik: conference and old city sightseeing 
• Ferry to Split via Korcula island and Hvar island (Jadrolinija)
• 1 day in Split: historical complex with the Palace of Diocletian
• 1 day in Trogir: historic city and the Cathedral of St Lovro
• 1 day in Sibenik: the Cathedral of St. Jacob and Krka National Park
• 1 day in Zadar: historic city and sea organ and sun salutation
• 3 days in Plitvice Lakes National Park
• 2 days in Zagreb: upper-town sightseeing and markets

View Croatia in a larger map

Useful websites:
Croatia National Tourist Board, the offical tourist website of Croatia
Wikitravel of Croatia, general info about traveling in Croatia
Croatia traveller,  a former lonely planet author of Croatia
Visit Croatia, a travel guide
Find-Croatia, lots info such as bus map...
Croatia Homepage, hundreds of links to everything you want to know about Croatia
Balkanology, good info on travel in Croatia and southeast Europe
Adriatica. net, allows you to book lighthouses all along the coast
Autotrans, public transportation timetables
Autobusni kolodvor,  Bue lines and routes, timetables...
Hotel Accommodation,  a meta-search engine that works very well with searches and compares prices from most of the hotel booking systems.

Ma-Kau Ecological Park

The Ma-Kau Ecological Park is composed of Cilan Forest Recreation Area, MinChih Forest Recreation Area and Giant Tree Garden. Originally, it was operated by the Veterans Affairs Commission; in April 2005, the ecological park was entrusted to the Coconut Tree Co. under the ROT (Rent-Operate-Transfer or Rehabilitate-Operate-Transfer) agreetment. The park is named after a spice tree, May Chang (Litsea cubeba; Aromatic litsea), that can be found abundantly in Cilan mountain (Cilan, 棲蘭, means habitat of orchid ). May Chang is called "Mountain Pepper" in Mandarin and "Ma Kau" by the Atayal aborigines in Taiwan. "Ma Kau" is the symbol of prosperity in Atayal, as the result, the whole ecological park was named "Ma-Kau Ecological Pak" by the Coconut tree Co.

The Ministry of the Interior proposed to add Ma Kau Ecological Park in the national park list in 2003, but it is now still one of the national parks with undefined status due to protests by the local aborigines. The cover range of the national park was preliminarily planned to a total area of about 53,000 hectares, including Wulai township, Taipei County, about 8,700 hectares, DaTong township, Ilan County, about 21,000 hectares, FuXing township, Taoyuan County approximately 9,200 hectares and Jianshi township, Hsinchu County, 14,000 hectares.

MinChih Forest Recreation Area (明池國家森林遊樂區, NT$120, free for MinChih resort guests; opening hours: 08:00-17:00, Map) is located at 68KM landmark of the Beiheng highway (highway no7), 54KM east to Ilan City and 68.5KM west to Dasi township,Taoyuan County, a border of Ilan and Taoyuan County as the old name "ChihDuan" (meaning the end of a pond) indicated. It was renamed "MinChih" (meaning clear pond) by the Minister of Defence,Chiang Ching-kuo, in 1964. The pond is an artifical lake built on a high altitude natural marsh, 1050-1700 meters above sea level. The landscape design was adopted from the Yuan and Song Dynasties creating a garden in garden style. A few cypresses stand in the pond as pens, the pond itself represents an ink slab and the water is the ink with mists wafting on the the mountain like a water ink painting, the pond expresses the beauty of Chinese calligraphy. A trail with low white walls on both sides leads to a garden in the garden, a roofed wall that seperates the garden into half, on one side is a landscape with waterfalls, ponds in a greenish cypress forest; on the other side, the ground of the courtyard is covered with white cobblestones. The deliberate broom marks on the ground creates an illusion of water marks on a pond, very Zen atmosphere, a great meditation room. Using water bouncing back into a jar that is berried underground creates echos that sound like piano notes is part of a re-creation of Japanese Tea Ceremony.

The Giant Tree Garden is in the Cilan mountains, located on road No100 in Datong township, Ilan County, 21 Km to MinChih Forest Recreation Area, 26Km to Cilan Forest Recreation Area. It's the most dense redwood plantation left in Taiwan. Even thought it was opened to the public in 1991, the area is still a restricted area that alllows a maxium 720 visitors per day. To visit, one has to make a reservation with the Coconut Tree Co. (Tel: 02-2507-1339, Fax: 02-2507-3826, email: dvt@yeze.com.tw details below). There are 62 cypresses in the area over than 400 years old and 51 of them were nicknamed after some celebrities in Chinese history according to the year they were born. Trails in the area are 3.1km in total, can be devided into 2 parts, 1.2km of easy walking for about 26 tree sighting and 2.3km for all tree sighting.

This is one trip that I could easily recommend for anyone who would like to enjoy the incredible beauty of these majestic trees.

Booking the trip
Online booking:
Departing form MinChih or Cilan resort
Departing from Taipei Registration: 07:45 at Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, MRT exit 4; departs at 08:00 to MinChih Forest Recreation Area, Giant Tree Garden, returns to Taipei around 20:30.

Telephone booking: 02-2507-1339

Time Table:started on Jan. 20, 2010

Departing from Cilan resort		Departing from MinChih resort
Departing	Content	Departing	Content
07：50	Arrival 08：50 Tour finish 11：20 Meal for 30min Departing for Cilan resort 12：10 Arrival at Cilan resort 13：10	07：30	Arrival 08：30 Tour finish 10：50 meal for 30min Departing for MinChih resort 11：30 Arrival at MinChih resort 12：30
10：30	Arrival 11：30 Tour finish 14：00 Meal for 30 min Departing for Cilan resort 14：50 Arrival at Cilan resort 15：50	10：15	Arrival 11：15 Tour finish 13：45 Meal for 30min Departing for MinChih resort 14：20 Arrival at MinChih resort 15：20
13：20	Arrival 14：20 Tour finish 16：50 Departing for Cilan resort 17：00 Arrival at Cilan resort 18：00	13：00	Arival 14：00 Tour finish 16：20 Departing for MinChih resort 16：30 Arrival at MinChih resort 17：30

Price:

1. For resort guests: adult, NT$600/person, 3-12 years old child: NT$450/person, child under 3 years old: NT$100/person.
2. For non guests: adult, NT$800/person, 3-12 years old child: NT$550/person, child under 3 years old: NT$100/person.
3. One day trip from Taipei: adult, NT$1290/person on weekdays, NT$1490/person on weekend,  3-12 years old child: NT$990/person, child under 3 years old: NT$100/person. The price includes transportation, entrance fees, lunch at MinChih resort, guide and insurance.
4. Shuttle bus service NT$600/person; route: 08:00 Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, MRT exit 4 Taipei; 09:00 Ilan Train Station, 09:50 Cilan Forest Recreation Area, 11:00 MinChih Forest Recreation Area; 13:30 MinChih Forest Recreation Area, 14:30 Cilan Forest Recreation Area, 17:00 Ilan Train Station, 18:00 Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, MRT exit 4 Taipei.

Old Buildings New Spirits

Tainan was the first city built in Taiwan. Winding ancient streets, old lanes full of traditional snacks and elegant old style buildings that blend into the modern urban areas; these are the hidden treasures that are often overshadowed by government graded historical sites.

The Foundation of Historic City Conservation and Regeneration realizes the conflict between the contemporary urban development and historic conservation. Historical spaces constantly underwent a total reconstruction instead of renovation and ended up losing their unique historical charms. In 2008, the foundation organized the first "old buildings new spirits" series of activities in promoting 18 renovated old buildings in Tainan city, which aroused public concern for old buildings. How to get a balance between a functional modern construction and old style architecture is becoming a trend. In 2 years, 40 bulidings that met the criteria (over 30 years old and had been renovated for new use) were selected as examples for the second run of this architectural renaissance in Tainan.

I spent a few weeks wandering around the alleyways in Tainan city trying to collect comemorative stamps and take photos. As the slogan printed on the pamphlet says: "the longer you stay the more you'd discover", I've found a lot of nice surprises that I'd never have found if not for this campaign. Most of the owners were friendly even if you were just stopping by for the stamp collection. Take a look below to see some examples of these hidden treasures.

Click on the google map for detail information of each building and the exact location.


View Old Buildings New Spirits in a larger map

The accidental weekend

Like every other year, I reserve a vacation at this time for firefly and tung flower sighting. This year, the date was set for April 23-25. I booked a room in the Dongshi Forest Area and waited for the date to come anxiously. I kept on hoping for beautiful weather on my trip even though the Central Weather Bureau forecasted otherwise. It was raining on and off all the way from Tainan to Taichung, after checking in I went  for a walk hoping that I could still see some tung flowers on the trees. A few minutes later I found myself lying on the ground, in the mud with decaying tung flower to be exact, and one of my shoes was 2 meters away in a bush.  A couple went by and pointed out to me where my shoe had fallen, I picked it up and hid my face, quickly returning back to my room to hide my embarrassment and a possibly broken thumb.The rain kept coming so I didn't see any fireflies that night.

The next morning, I went to the bee farm, thankfully the rain had stopped, so the bees were all flying around. I stopped to take some pictures and got my lens very close up to the honeycomb to take a picture (should buy a macro lens) and then one bee flew into my hair; not knowing how to get it out I asked for help from one of my friends standing next to me, who started to gently blow at the bee, while at the same time the bee keeper screamed in Chinese "Don't blow!" then I felt the sting right at the top of my head. So I want you all to know if you hear " Bu Yao Chui" in Chinese it means "don't blow!"

I took this pic near the sun moon lake, check its EXIF for condition and GPS location if you are interested.

Easter Eggs

Tried to take some photos of my easter eggs, the results turned out to be mediocre. I want a lighting studio!!

My blog is carbon neutral

I got an email from Christin who works for an initiative team in Germany called "Make it green!" The email is as follows:

Hi Hanjié,

just stumbled over your blog http://hanjies.blogspot.com/ - nice work!

I am part of a young team in Germany, working for an initiative called "Make it green!". Our goal is to contribute our part in reducing the carbon footprint by raising awareness of the severe environmental damage caused by carbon emissions. One of our activities is to raise awareness of the carbon emissions resulting from the use of the internet - specifically of blogs. A blog with 15,000 visits a month has a yearly carbon dioxide emissions of 8lb. To neutralise these emissions we have created "My blog is carbon neutral" buttons so bloggers can demonstrate that they care about the environment and the carbon footprint of their blogs. We present them a small but nontheless worthy solution to contribute to environmental issues. Our idea is to show possibilities to make a contribution to protect the environment.

To find out how you can participate please visit http://www.kaufda.de/umwelt/carbon-neutral/how-you-can-join

And how do we actually neutralize your blog's carbon footprint? We are planting trees in cooperation with the Arbor Day Foundation in Plumas National Forest in Northern California for our project to neutralize the carbon footprint of blogs. Thousands of wildfires burned down many national forests over the past ten years and 88.000 acres of Plumas' were destroyed by two fires in 2007. To help replanting we need the support of bloggers all over the world! For every participating blog we plant a tree. One blog - one tree.

Why do we do this? We are a German based company called kaufDA, which provides advertisement brochures of local stores online to help consumers search for specific products and find good deals in their neighborhood. This reduces the amount of brochures printed and so the project helps the environment by reducing unnecessary paper in mailboxes. An American on average receives 41 pounds of junk mail per year. This has the same carbon footprint as burning six gallons of gasoline.

We'd be glad to plant your tree! Help us and show that you care! Every tree counts!

Best wishes from Germany,

Christin

"Make it green!"- Team

To participate, just write a short blog post about the programme “My blog is carbon neutral” and include one of the buttons from the website listed above on your site (ideally in the sidebar). Send the link of your blog to CO2-neutral@kaufda.de and they'll plant a tree for you, neutralising the carbon dioxide emissions of your blog. The trees will be planted in the spring of 2010 by the Arbor Day Foundation.

The buttons are cute, I like them all!

Black Card Photography II - Fireworks

Fireworks photography is a relatively easy theme in photography and the two most important gadgets needed are a tripod and any camera that has an adjustable shutter speed no less than a few seconds. The principle of fireworks photography is to catch the moving trail of fireworks from launch until it's finished exploding which usually takes a few seconds. As a long time exposure is used in fireworks photography, secure your camera to something that will ensure it doesn’t move during the photo shooting. If you have a better camera, there are a few settings to perfect the fireworks photography.

General settings:
Set your camera and lens to manual; focus on something in a distance (infinite usually works just fine); a low ISO (100/200) to get the cleanest shot possible; turn off Noise Reduction to maximize the number of photos you can capture (noise reduction can slow you down by half); photo format in RAW (an ideal format for post editing if needed, expecially for correcting white balance and noise reduction)

Aperure setting:
Set your aperture to f8-f16 with ISO 100, which gives you a pretty good depth-of-field. As the emission of fireworks is very bright, a mid to small range of F stop usually works well in such settings. The difference between mid (f8) and small (F16) aperture is that a smaller aperture gives thiner trails of light whereas bigger aperture fattens trails out.

Shutter speed:
Set the shutter speed to buld. A remote release in hand in buld mode gives you total control of shutter speeds, resulting in various fireworks patterns. (Details later)

Black card:
Unlike my black card photography part I, the application of a black card in fireworks photography isn't to get a balanced exposure in a great dynamic range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas of the image but to black out smoke as well as to prevent an over-exposed image due to too many 'bursts' in one frame with complex exposures.



Left: over-exposed due to too many bursts at the bottom of the frame; right: the complete trails of fireworks in different altitudes were captured by using a black card.

Black card photography in fireworks, first, use spot metering mode to measure the exposure time of the foreground and follow the steps as follows:



Don't be afraid to try, you never know what you might get as a result. Good luck and let me know.