Anna

I don't share many personal photos here. This is one of my favorite photos I took of Anna this year. There were many beautiful stretches in 2023 but also many tough ones. She helped me get through the latter, and to enjoy the former even more.

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🌏 | #taiwan #taipei #maokong #臺灣 #台灣 #臺北 #台北 #貓空 #🇹🇼
📷 | #a7r #voigtlander #voigtlander40mm #manualfocus
🏔️ | #portrait #portraitphotograpy

A Different World

"Having a baby teaches you to see the world with new eyes" they say. I guess having visitors from Europe over does just the same, especially if they have not been to Asia... ever.

At the beginning of November, our mothers visited us for a few weeks. (Or "stepmothers," as a friend phrased it jokingly.) It was a great time and Anna and I both very much enjoyed to show them around, to experience their curiosity and wonder, to see their wide-open, mesmerized eyes. "Now I understand why you want to stay."

Even when coming, I was very happy that I felt like being friends with my parents. It was work, of course, but very much worth it. It allowed me to be candid about my experiences here, also in hard times; to visit them for extended periods when traveling back home and enjoy that shared time.

Having my mother over now was even better. She had not traveled outside Europe yet, and I loved how she lived the time here as if re-living a youthful adventure. I am glad to have shared that time with her.

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🌏 | #taiwan #jiufen #臺灣 #台灣 #九分 #🇹🇼
📷 | #a7r #voigtlander #voigtlander40mm #manualfocus
🏔️ | #portrait #portraitphotography

Proud & Open

In a different timeline, I would be spending the next two months packing. Moving to Taiwan was an opportunity taken, not a decision made on a clean slate. I had no idea what to expect. We hence decided to first commit for three years to this place - until January 2024. Yet, having the option we decided to stay for another one-and-a-half years earlier this year.

Here and now, I am very happy with this decision. Staying here is the right thing for us for many reasons, and leaving here would be wrong for many others. The island itself is a great reason to stay - see yesterdays photo (or basically any photo of the last six months). There are many private reasons. And there is the Taiwanese society.

"The people are so great" is one of the first things any visitor or have-been-visitor tells me and I have to agree. Most Taiwanese show many virtues, hospitality, kindness, respect, openness - to name just a few. I learned to love Taiwanese society, too. Like any it has its edges of course, some of them shielded away by our living situation and my lack of speaking Mandarin properly. But there are many parts I deeply admire, its cultural stance between "West and East;" its cultural tolerance, curiosity, and liberalism; its openness towards technology and the future; its pride and humility.

More than traveling, living abroad teaches you a lot about not only other countries but especially your own. I feel very grateful to be offered these experiences.

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🌏 | #taiwan #taipei #taipei101 #臺灣 #台灣 #臺北 #台北 #象山 #🇹🇼
📷 | #a7r #voigtlander #voigtlander40mm #manualfocus
🏔️ | #architecture #architecturephotography #urban #urbanphotography

Be Water My Friend

November is coming to a close. I will do a social media sabbatical in December, my photo blog too will go into hiatus. We will meet next year - likely with fresh ideas and a new approach. I have shared a photo and a short story every day for the last half year. It was a lot of fun but also a lot of work. I am curious what form this channel and its siblings will take in 2024!

But! November is not over. There are four days left and I will use them to share some of my favorite images of the year. This is one them, the view down into Liwu river in Taroko Gorge. 2023 was the first year since moving to Taiwan where we had visitors over. Taroko is definitely one of the natural wonders of Taiwan - it has found its spot in my heart and my list of my favorite places just minutes after entering the gorge.

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🌏 | #taiwan #taroko #tarokogorge #臺灣 #台灣 #🇹🇼
📷 | #a7r #voigtlander #voigtlander21mm #manualfocus
🏔️ | #nature #naturephotography

Determination
(Elephant Mountain Exercises, 7/7)

Another favorite, re-posted in black and white.

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🌏 | #taiwan #taipei #xiangshan #臺灣 #台灣 #臺北 #台北 #象山 #🇹🇼
📷 | #a7r #voigtlander #voigtlander40mm #manualfocus
🏔️ | #street #streetphotography #basketball #urbanbasketball #streetbasketball #girl #determination

Flow
(Elephant Mountain Exercises, 6/7)

Not directly on Xiangshan Mountain, but rather in the park below it of the same name, you can meet many more Taiwanese doing their morning exercise routine. This group is doing Qigong.

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🌏 | #taiwan #taipei #xiangshan #臺灣 #台灣 #臺北 #台北 #象山 #🇹🇼
📷 | #a7r #voigtlander #voigtlander40mm #manualfocus
🏔️ | #street #streetphotography #qigong #exercise

So Many Steps
(Elephant Mountain Exercises, 5/7)

Of course, just climbing the hill is a form of exercise on its own...

(Reposting an older photo in black and white. I kind of get the hang of it!)

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🌏 | #taiwan #taipei #xiangshan #臺灣 #台灣 #臺北 #台北 #象山 #🇹🇼
📷 | #a7r #voigtlander #voigtlander40mm #manualfocus
🏔️ | #nature #naturephotography #street #streetphotography #hiking #exercise

Don't lose the ball
(Elephant Mountain Exercises, 4/7)

Finding badminton courts tucked into the slopes of the hill was probably what surprised me most. They are not necessarily in the best condition, but still celebrated by the mountain athletes. You usually meet groups of older Taiwanese very very early in the morning.

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🌏 | #taiwan #taipei #xiangshan #臺灣 #台灣 #臺北 #台北 #象山 #🇹🇼
📷 | #a7r #voigtlander #voigtlander40mm #manualfocus
🏔️ | #nature #naturephotography #street #streetphotography #stretching #exercise

The mountain gym
(Elephant Mountain Exercises, 3/7)

Among my favorite places on Xiangshan (next to the lookouts) is this Mountain Gym, a bunch of makeshift weights and steel bars, of course once more "hidden" just some 30 meters behind the "elephant rocks" where most tourists stop their journey. It's usually a crowded place, of an easy-going and encouraging atmosphere. The men and women coming here know each other, and they are not trying to one-up each other in the size of their biceps but to stay healthy. And healthy they are!

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🌏 | #taiwan #taipei #xiangshan #臺灣 #台灣 #臺北 #台北 #象山 #🇹🇼
📷 | #a7r #voigtlander #voigtlander40mm #manualfocus
🏔️ | #nature #naturephotography #street #streetphotography #workout #gym #exercise

Stretch and run
(Elephant Mountain Exercises, 2/7)

I have high respect for those runners cresting the many steps onto Taipei's Xiangshan Mountain. When I extend my jogging route towards the hill, I often end taking the steps as an excuse to walk a bit. It's exercise enough as is...

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🌏 | #taiwan #taipei #xiangshan #臺灣 #台灣 #臺北 #台北 #象山 #🇹🇼
📷 | #a7r #voigtlander #voigtlander40mm #manualfocus
🏔️ | #nature #naturephotography #street #streetphotography #running #exercise