Monday, January 19, 2015

Happy anniversary baby

I can't believe that 3 years ago I married this amazing woman! Time really flies. It seems that it was only yesterday that we got married at Singapore Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately, due to research commitments, I have to be away in Taiwan, but we promised each other to have a proper celebration when I am back.

Some time ago, a friend asked me are there any changes after we got married. My answer - no. There are no changes - we loved each other for the same thing, we still picked on each other on the same thing, we shared the same passion and we hated the same stuffs. She made me a better person - I am not as critical and judgemental as I was before. I learnt to enjoy life a bit more, and not worry too much about matters that I cannot control. Even my sister said that Hannah was good for me! 

Happy anniversary, baby. I love you.


Sunday, January 18, 2015

Like a local - Yuanyang lake and Cueifeng lake DAY 3

The third and final day started with a freezing morning. After breakfast, we stepped out to get ready to load all the equipment into the car, and Dr. Tang spotted the beautiful ocean of clouds! We were about 1800m above sea level, and due to the cold and the geographical location, the cloud have gathered below us, and it looked like the ocean (only that it was made up of clouds). It was mesmerising, looking at the clouds tumbling below us...

After standing there staring into the beauty of nature for a couple more minutes, we were ready to roll out - back to Yuanyang lake again. 





The lake was really calm this morning, and the reflection of the mountains formed a very beautiful, postcard image. However, in a couple of hours, the thick fog started rolling in (and it was really thick as compared to the first day). Before long, the lake was no longer visible, and the whole forest has this mystic, eerie feel to it. "Sleepy Hollow" kept popping into my mind when I was taking photos of the forest :)

We finished all the field work just after lunch time. Had a quick lunch and started driving back to Taipei. I was really thankful and happy to be able to experience these two beautiful lakes.









Like a local - Yuanyang lake and Cueifeng lake DAY 2

The weather forecast was horrible for the next few days (raining, cold etc), so we were all ready for the nasty weather. Luckily for us, the wind took a change in direction, and we got a great day out at Cueifeng lake. I helped Jiajing set up a tent on the shore to prepare her samples, while Mingtao and Beck were out in the middle of the lake collecting water samples. It was a glorious day, and I took the opportunity to take a few pictures of me in front of the lake.








And just after noon time, we spotted a thick fog started coming in through the valley, and in minutes I could not even see the buoy in the middle of the lake! It was kind of eerie and cool at the same time! After we are done with the work for the day, we had to track in thick fog to the beginning of the track. It was interesting because there wasn't any track coming from the trail head to the lake, it was just an open area with a few drop-offs, and it can get nerve-wrecking walking around blind in the fog... After a few detours, we managed to find the trail head and started to head back to the car. The drive back was uneventful, except for a couple of monkeys on the side of the road begging for food scraps!