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Introduction
Shanghai, Fuzhou, Taipei: A Tale of Three Cities. It was the best of
times, it was the worst of times, it was a 3-week vacation filled with
delights, it was a vacation punctuated by moments of disappointments, it was
delightful to visit 40 relatives in Shanghai and Fuzhou for the first time, it
was disappointing not be able to find my junior high school teacher in Taipei,
it was a gourmet dining experience filled with steamed dumplings in Shanghai,
sweet taro pudding in Fuzhou, soy-bean milk, Chinese donut and Mongolian
BBQ in Taipei, it was a paralyzing experience of not having enough courage to
sample the fried squid and sugar cane juice from street vendors and suffering
from indigestion after consuming a 2-pound pear, it was astonishing to locate
a picture of me playing in my elementary school marching band and also reminisce
with my two elementary school classmates from 30 years ago, it was annoying to
be harassed by hustlers at a busy Shanghai market who kept on asking us
"DVDs, watches, bags?" it was inexpensive to eat at local
restaurants and to shop for inexpensive clothing items and souvenirs, it was
appalling to receive a bill for 20 U.S. dollars for one cup of coffee and a
cup of tea, it was safe and civilized to cross busy streets in Taipei where
there were count-down timers at pedestrian crosswalks that show seconds
remaining before the lights will turn red, it was perilous and thrilling to
cross busy streets in Shanghai where you have to watch for buses, cars, and
bicycles that cut across both in front and in the back of you (perhaps an
appropriate title will be Jame Bond's new movies Die Another Day :-), standing in
front of my ancestors' grave was tranquil and moving by knowing that I'm the
21st-generation of Woo's from Fuzhou, standing on top of the Oriental Pearl
Tower was exciting and invigorating by seeing the frantic and delirious pace
of progress in Shanghai, taking the Metro in Taipei was easy and inexpensive,
taking a taxi cab ride in all three cities requires a strong heart, empty
stomach, courage, and a sincere prayer. It was a vacation far, far better than
all the previous vacations that Theresa and I have ever taken.
Another author's opening and closing lines:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the
age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it
was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of
Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair....It is a
far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far
better rest that I go to than I have ever known."
Which lines do you prefer? Of course the first ones, right? :-)
If the second author's lines sound familiar, you are right. The excerpt is from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I usually come up with the title of my photo journal after I
have been on the trip, taken the photos, and written the story. This is the
first time that I have a working title several months prior to our vacation in November of 2002.
Please enjoy my travel photo journal "A Tale of Three Cities." I am no Charles
Dickens. But then again Charles Dickens did not take 2300 digital images with a
Nikon Coolpix 5700 either when he wrote A Tale of Two Cities:-)
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