The annual Fulong International Sand Sculpture Festival in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) began yesterday to mark the beginning of summer, with an extravaganza of sculptures by artists from around the world depicting various toys and games.
With a “United Nations of Toys” theme, a competition running alongside the festival saw 27 artists from 13 nations sculpt a sandy delight for children and adults alike, with a wide array of toys, ranging from chess pieces, toy soldiers, Barbie dolls and radio-controlled cars to more local playthings like glove puppets and shuttlecocks, or jianzi, event organizers said.
Among the sculptures displayed on Fulong Beach, an Apache helicopter drew special attention, as tourists posed with the sandy aircraft in apparent attempts to mimic television personality Janet Lee (李蒨蓉), who sparked a public outcry by posting on Facebook pictures of her and her husband in the cockpit of an Apache helicopter at a restricted-access military base last month, organizers said.
Photo: Yu Chao-fu, Taipei Times
A flock of sand sheep was constructed to mark the Year of the Sheep, they said.
The festival is open daily from 8:30am to 6pm, and runs through July 12, they added.
It is recommended that tourists intending to go to the beach on public holidays use public transport to avoid holiday traffic, the New Taipei City Government said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
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