After spending summer in Canada visiting family and friends, its time to come home.....
First thing we did was to check on the progress of our new home, a block from the ocean and across from the Parkview Hotel and Hualien's one and only golf course.
Building is there, just waiting for some permits and then the crew from Taipei will come and start the interior.
Being away all summer, we missed the summer concerts here in Hualien, sponsored by the state government and free to all. This weekend is the last chance and we met up with friends to catch an evening of music, fun, and food. Unlike North America, outdoor concerts here are very civilized: volunteers supply plastic chairs, thousands of them so folks don't have to stand for hours. No worries of being thirsty or hungry: food and beverage vendors have everything you will need, from noodles to fried chicken, french fries to fresh fruits, roasted squid to raw sea urchins, fresh squeezed juices to Taiwan beer. What is interesting is that nobody got drunk.....Imagine serving beer outdoors in the public in Canada??????
The concert itself is beyond my expectations. The stage is extravagantly beautiful. The lighting is first class. Sound is awesome with five jumbo screens.
There was a thunderstorm at the beginning of the concert, and guess what? Volunteers distributed thousands of rain suits to the crowd so no one got soaked, and everyone stayed!! Rain lasted about 30 minutes, and it was really strange sitting there in pouring rain listening to music with thousands others. The tropical rain is so warm, and it was actually a good thing, because it cooled the evening down........
Some of the artists were first class entertainers, and popular local stars. I even know some of the songs. Warm up acts included mostly indigenous folks with songs and dance, and when my favorite "Gao Shan Qing" played, I was so excited that I messed up the video, but the music was clear........
Concert itself lasted about 3 hours, warm up acts were there all afternoon......My guesstimate is that the crowd was over ten thousand with visitors from Malaysia, Hong Kong and the mainland...Our friend in one of the videos is Michael, who was born and raised in Sooke! He now lives and works in Taipei and comes to Hualien often. He is one quarter Chinese and three quarters caucasian, but speaks Mandarin very well. He is good friend of Lisen, who succumbed to Cancer two months ago.....Lisen's two daughters spent a few years in the US, are friends of Frankie as they play together often.
After the concert ended, we were treated to a most fantastic fireworks show....
Fireworks literally exploded over our heads! The gunpowder smell and debris showered us, and we had to walk away to a distance.......the sound and brilliant colors were overwhelming, I have never experienced fireworks so close, except one time in Phuket where they had fireworks off the beach directly over our heads......Ten minutes of non stop fire power was one heck of a show, what a way to end a concert and an awesome evening in warm tropical weather.......glad to be home!
