ÿþ<html> <head> <title>Around Home</title></head> <body vlink="#ffffff" alink="#0000ff" link="#ffff99" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#ffcc00" background="/pix/bgcross.jpg"> <table align=center> <tr> <td> <IMG src="../pix/taiwanflag.gif"> </td> <td> <IMG src="../pix/taiwanbanner.jpg"> </td> <td> <IMG src="../pix/taiwanflag.gif"> </td> </tr> </table> <p> &nbsp; <p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">My Home</span></strong></span></p> &nbsp; <span style="font-size: medium; font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;">Last Chinese New Year I was looking for a new place to live. I wanted to rent a big house or apartment myself and rent out the rooms. I was looking for a place outside of Taipei city so it would be cheaper. I got lucky and found a big house on a hill very close to the metro station. It's cheap because it's near a graveyard. Locals don't want to live close to one, so it had sat empty for a while. It's very quiet and peaceful. I hope to live here for a long time.</span> &nbsp; <table border="1" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td><span style="font-size: medium;">My yard. It has five palm trees and a rock garden. I strung a hammock up and had many nice nice days out there with a book.</span></td> <td><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/MyYard.jpg"><img class="alignnone" title="My Yard" src="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/MyYard.jpg" alt="" width="435" height="280" /></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/LivingRoom.jpg"><img class="alignnone" title="Living Room" src="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/LivingRoom.jpg" alt="" width="436" height="172" /></a></span></td> <td><span style="font-size: medium;">My living room. Nothing fancy, bare walls and generic furniture. I spent most of my time in my office. The fish tank is empty because I couldn't keep any fish alive for very long.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td><span style="font-size: medium;">The view from my roof, looking toward the city. That's Taipei 101 in the distance. </span></td> <td><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-view.jpg"><img class="alignnone" title="View" src="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-view.jpg" alt="" width="412" height="473" /></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-sunset.jpg"><img class="alignnone" title="sunset" src="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-sunset.jpg" alt="" width="451" height="338" /></a></span></td> <td><span style="font-size: medium;">At sunset. Taken from my roof, looking away from the city. That way there are mountains and green hills.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td><span style="font-size: medium;">Moon rise over the grave yard, between some palm trees.</span></td> <td><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-moon.jpg"><img class="alignnone" title="moon rise" src="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-moon.jpg" alt="" width="475" height="297" /></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/QingMing.jpg"><img class="alignnone" title="qingming" src="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/QingMing.jpg" alt="" width="362" height="259" /></a></span> &nbsp; <span style="font-size: medium;">A family at a grave behind my house during QingMing (Tomb Sweeping Festival).</span></td> <td><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Homegrave.jpg"><img class="alignnone" title="homegrave" src="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Homegrave.jpg" alt="" width="362" height="555" /></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-flowers.jpg"><img class="alignnone" title="flowers" src="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-flowers.jpg" alt="" width="333" height="405" /></a></span></td> <td><span style="font-size: medium;">One of my neighbors grows these flowers which bloom once a year and only for a few hours. I was fortunate to be passing by when they were in bloom. The next day the petals had fallen off. </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-morris.jpg"><img class="alignnone" title="Morris" src="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-morris.jpg" alt="" width="317" height="256" /></a></span> <span style="font-size: medium;">Morris, a giant snail that lives in my yard. </span></td> <td><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-snail.jpg"><img class="alignnone" title="Snail" src="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-snail.jpg" alt="" width="310" height="263" /></a></span> <span style="font-size: medium;">More snails.</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td><span style="font-size: medium;">One of several huge spiders that found their way into our house.</span></td> <td><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-spider.jpg"><img class="alignnone" title="spider" src="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-spider.jpg" alt="" width="248" height="190" /></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-burn.jpg"><img class="alignnone" title="Burner" src="http://www.burningjoy.net/taiwan/Home-burn.jpg" alt="" width="367" height="517" /></a></span></td> <td><span style="font-size: medium;">A burning barrel for spirit money in the parking lot of the graveyard behind my house. There was probably a ceremony there earlier that night.</span></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> &nbsp; <p><A href="hm5.html"><FONT size=4>Go on to Happy Marian - Year 5</FONT> </a><br><br><A href="advtaiwan.html"><FONT size=4>Return to Adventures in Taiwan </FONT> </a><br><br><A href="http://www.burningjoy.net/photo-album/"><FONT size=4>Return to Photo Page</FONT></a><br><br><a href="http://www.burningjoy.net"><FONT size=4>Return to Home</FONT></FONT></a><br><br><br><br></p></FONT> </body> </html>