It was no time to be out on the streets, exposed to the fierce sun. In the sleepy town of Miaoli County’s Baishatun Town, in the local 7-11 in which we sought refuge from the mid-afternoon sun, we chanced upon a man with a mission. Chien Pei-che, 22, recently graduated, had decided to walk around the island.
Doing it by motorbike would be too fast. Where would be the fun in that?
He had considered cycling around the island on a bike, but had not had time to get used to long distance riding.
Photo: Paul Cooper, Taipei Times
照片:台北時報古德謙
He does quite a bit of running, however, so he was confident he could do the trip on foot.
Chien told us he had been wanting to do this for a long time, but he had never really had the time before, until he graduated from university. He had spent the last month planning what he needs to take, finding out about other people’s experiences of traveling around the island by searching online.
We met him on his fourth day. He started from New Taipei City’s Yingge District. His plan is to walk down the west coast, around the coast and up to Taitung and then Hualien on the east coast. This year there have been a lot of earthquakes, so he would prefer to bypass the Suhua Highway. He plans to take the train from Hualien up to Suao, and then he will continue on foot to Yilan and then back to Yingge.
Photo: Paul Cooper, Taipei Times
照片:台北時報古德謙
People along the way, seeing the big sign on his back, saying “Going Around the Island,” have been shouting out encouragement; some have given him food or water to help him on his way; some have offered to give him a lift for a part of the way.
All in all, he expects the trip to take around 40 days, allowing for down days when he cannot walk because of bad weather.
(Paul Cooper, Taipei Times)
烈日當頭,沒有人會想在這個時候外出,讓自己暴露在豔陽下。而在那個苗栗縣的寂靜小鎮白沙屯,我們為了躲避中午的陽光,躲進當地的一間統一超商,巧遇了一名任務在身的男子。今年二十二歲的簡培哲最近才剛畢業,打算徒步環島。
騎機車的話,速度太快。太快,有什麼好玩?
是也考慮過騎單車環島,但沒有足夠的時間讓自己習慣長途騎乘。
倒是,跑步的經驗還不少,因此靠自己的雙腳完成這趟旅程應該十拿九穩。
簡培哲說他夢想做這件事已經想很久了,只是一直都沒有時間逐夢。直到,大學畢業。上個月,他花了一個月的時間籌備旅行必備的東西,並上網搜尋參考別人的環島經驗。
而就在他環島之旅的第四天,我們相遇了。他這趟旅程的起點是新北市的鶯歌區,從西海岸開始走,沿著海岸線走到東岸的臺東與花蓮。今年地震不少,因此蘇花公路就直接跳過了。花蓮至蘇澳這一段將會是鐵道之旅,然後從宜蘭開始他會徒步走回鶯歌。
路途中,大家看到他背著的一個寫著「環島中」的大標語都會對他高喊加油,有些人則拿食物或水跟他分享,也有人邀他上車,為他的長途跋涉載上短短的一程。
總的來說,他預計這趟旅程大概會花四十天左右的時間完成,其中包括因天候不佳不宜步行的日子。(台北時報詹豐造翻譯)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110