2011 New Taipei City North Coast Arts Festival - 風之舞 2011 新北市北岸藝術節

When you have a kid, kite festivals are up there at the top for best things to entertain and have fun with a child, as well as taking different transportation rides to get there. This past weekend's 2011 kite festival in Baishawan 白沙灣 (map) helped out in this endeavour. 

Took Tamshui MRT line out to the last stop. This place has changed dramatically since I first set foot on the island (first there was no MRT line, so it was either a very long bus ride, or a very long scooter ride to get here. And the scooter ride allowed your neck and nose to get all black and dirty from exhaust fumes!). Now it's a weekend getaway for the masses of Taipei City. Packed beyond packed. Tamshui 淡水 (wiki) reclaimed a good size chunk of land (pic above) from the river of the same name. Nice.

Next adventure was a bus (#1260-67) headed out to Sanjhih 三芝 (wiki) to indulge in something I've not had in Taiwan - draft beer straight from the Hofbrauhaus of Munich (HB Munich. Take a look at the pic under About Me to the right. You may recognize something.) at Smoky Inn (link), run by Andreas, a nice portly (self-admitted) German in Taiwan for over a decade.

Not much to add from the picture of this dunkel (wiki) beer other than to say it tasted excellent. Found out that the Paulaner restaurant chain (link) in Taiwan, run by Namchow Group (link), a huge chemical conglomerate (listed firm, stock code 1702) whose boss likes to dabble in the food biz, brews its beer out in Taoyuan and does not bring it in from Paulaner in Munich. Such gall! [Side note: Taipei City has laws against brewing in city limits, except for the grandfather clause given to TTL].

Took bus from Sanjhih to Baishawan and just outside town could already see some high-flying kites.

Those with a good eye, or a strong geiger counter, recognize those 2 "golf balls" in the background as Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant (radiation) up the road from this town.

 

Some surfers were in the waters as well as some parasurfers. Pretty cool. Very windy day, so excellent conditions for the latter group.

 

 

Can't really have a dance festival in Taiwan without some aborigines (top one).