戀家的候鳥

We went to Baishawan Beach and Eluanbi Lighthouse in our trip to the aquarium in the southernmost of Taiwan. Our first stop was the beautiful Baishawan with a white sand beach on the way to the aquarium. We stayed there for a little while, playing with silky white sand, watching waves coming in and out, and dipping our feet in the cool ocean water. It felt great! Allie and I were chasing on the beach. 在這趟去夜宿海生館的行程中，我們順便遊覽了墾丁的白沙灣和鵝鑾鼻燈塔。一早我們就往南開了將近兩個小時，先到美麗的白沙灣玩沙，讓冰涼涼的海浪沖上腳丫子的感覺好舒服啊！～我們住的美國水牛城離海邊很遠，只有回台灣時才能享受在沙灘上追逐的樂趣！

We had lunch nearby which was not unordinary, except this beef noodle place has sculptures of a life-size triceratops and pandas. I surely would like to share it!～中餐原本沒什麼好提的，這家牛肉麵店前的三角龍和熊貓，才是我想和大家分享的啦！

It was close to check-in hours by the time we arrived at the aquarium. Welcome to check out our trip to the aquarium through the following link: http://migrantfamily.pixnet.net/blog/post/408024544 在接近海生館正常營業時間結束時，才是我們「夜宿海生館」的成員們報到的時間。關於夜宿海生館的遊記，請往上述連結。

We left the aquarium and headed further south the next noon, to the southernmost tip of Taiwan – the Eluanbi Lighthouse. The ocean view is truly breathtaking! Tour buses filled with mainland and Hong Kong tourists shuttled in and out. Most of the tourists were busy taking pictures. Allie and I found a sloped brick wall by the lighthouse. It was a lot of fun!  第二天中午離開海生館後，我們又往南開了半個小時，來到台灣的最南端－鵝鑾鼻燈塔。這兒的海景真美，十多輛遊覽車帶來滿滿的陸客們忙著拍照，只有我和妹妹對於燈塔圍牆下一道斜斜的紅磚坡有興趣，真是好玩極了！

After taking some photos, daddy took us for a walk to the ocean shore. There is a woody area before the shore. We walked for a little while in the woods before the view finally opened up to the boundless Pacific Ocean. The sun was still high above the water. The tourists all left the shore at once. We are by ourselves for some time. It was a great time for mom and dad to take photos.後來，我們走一條小徑到海濱棧道去看海，當遊覽車帶來的遊客全離開後，我們一家人獨享了這一整片的海濱美景。

In the southernmost province of Taiwan lies the Asia's largest museum of marine life. It is my favorite place in the world that I always look forward to visiting every year. This time it is different, however. We are actually sleeping in the aquarium tunnels surrounded by fish and marine mammals. 台灣的最南邊，有個全亞洲最大的海洋生物博物館，那是熱愛海洋生物的我，每年回台灣必去的地方。但這次不同的是，我們竟然在海生館的海底隧道裹和魚兒一起過夜喔！

The aquarium is about two-hour drive. We were scheduled to stay in the "Coral Kingdom" complex which contains three underwater tunnels. The first tunnel is the shortest and can only accommodate a few people. Luckily enough my family was assigned to stay in that tunnel with no one else around. We lay in bed and wrapped ourselves in comforter. We watched mostly stingrays and sharks swim by above us in a 180-degree view angles. Allie and I were too excited to sleep at first until the lights were turned off for the night at eleven pm. 我們往南開了將近兩個小時到達海生館。海生館的「珊瑚王國」裹有三段海底隧道，今晚我們一家四口，選擇單獨在第一段最短的海底隧道裹過夜（其他旅客都在另外兩段）。我們躺在被窩裹，看著魟魚、鯊魚和其他小魚們在我們的頭頂上遊來遊去，我和Allie興奮地睡不著，一直到晚上十一點多才進入夢鄉。

Other than sleeping over at the tunnel, there are several other exclusive activities, such as “peeping” marine nightlife. Not many people have seen how corals and sea anemones look like at night. They look funny! We also fed groupers dinner and watched a terrific feeding show by a diver through a gigantic glass wall. We had an intertidal treasure hunt outside the aquarium on the restricted seashore.  We watched penguins swim and jump up and down in the coldest space of the aquarium. Besides, we had clay DIY. Daddy made a sting ray. Mom made a colorful octopus. Allie and I made some kind fish. At the end of the program we hand touched sea stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers. It was a very special experience! 除此之外，還有其他很多的體驗活動，例如：偷窺海洋生物的夜生活（相信一定很少人看過珊瑚和海癸晚上睡覺是什麼模樣吧！）、參觀海生館後場秘密、餵笨笨的石斑魚吃晚餐、觀賞精彩的大洋池餵食秀、到潮間帶去尋寶、看可愛企鵝的高超泳技、黏土DIY、觸摸海洋生物 …等等，都是非常特別的體驗！

Today's trip is scheduled based on a travel book that mom found. We are going to visit the Tainan Anping Tree House, and then take a boat tour through the "Taiwan mini-Amazon" at a tourist spot called Sihcao green tunnel (Sihcao Ecological & Culture Area). These two locations are only one mile apart.今天的行程是媽媽從旅遊書上看來的，我們早上先到台南的安平樹屋，下午再去坐竹筏遊有「台灣迷你型的亞馬遜河」之稱的四草綠色隧道。這兩個地點離得很近，開車五分鐘之內就到了。

 Anping Tree House was originally a warehouse in late 19th century. It was left ruined for half a century when banyan trees grew and wrapped around the buildings.  Through some landscaping efforts put forth by the government and artists, the tree houses came alive. 安平樹屋原本是19世紀末的一間洋行倉庫，曾一度荒癈任由榕樹寄生，經過半個世紀，形成特有的屋樹共生奇景，後來先後經過藝術家和政府整體的規劃，才成為目前的模樣。

We weaved through the trees, stairway passes, and walls, imagining ourselves as Jack and Annie exploring in the book, “The Magic Tree House”. 我們穿梭在樹屋之中，想像自己是傑克與安妮，正在神奇樹屋中探險。

Sihcao green tunnel (Sihcao Ecological & Culture Area) is formed naturally by mangroves. We rode in a raft boat up and down the river. We listened to the narrator explaining the mangrove ecosystem. Most people praised the stunning view formed by the unique mangrove trees and the river. It appears like a green tunnel contoured by exotic tree shapes with shadows and reflections in the water. My sister and I, on the other hand, paid more attention to the fiddler crabs, fish, shells, and white egrets awaited for preys on the riverbank wetlands.「四草綠色隧道」是由紅樹林自然形成的，我們坐在竹筏上沿著河道緩緩前進，沿途有生態解說員講解紅樹林的生態。大人們讚歎著眼前由樹木與河中倒景形成的美景，我和妹妹則是對河岸邊溼地裹的招潮蟹、彈塗魚和正在等待獵物的白鷺鷥，比較感興趣。

Upon landing, we visited the museum next to the boating area. In addition to sperm whale fossils, there are many specimens from a variety of common crabs and fish in Taiwan. 上岸後，我們順便參觀了旁邊的抹香鯨除列館。裹頭除了有抹香鯨標本，還有各種台灣常見的螃蟹和魚類的標本。

An uncle and his family came to visit us today for the weekend. We took a walk to the nearby eco-park. 這個週末，舅舅一家來高雄找我們。我們在黃昏時到附近的生態園區散步。

On Sunday morning we took the MRT to an Art Center named Dadong. We just made it in time for a water show and spent some time on learning Kaohsiung history and local cuisine presentations. 星期天一早坐捷運到大東藝術中心，正好趕上兩個噴水池的水花秀，還看了高雄的歷史和地方美食介紹。

Soon after, we took a cultural bus (only operated on holidays and weekends) to a two hundred years old, “Fongyi Academy”. We were told that the school site was left unattended for many years and has been under renovation the last five years. It was recently open to visitors. 接著，我們坐假日文化公車到一間兩百年前的學校「鳳儀書院」參觀。聽說它原本已像廢墟一般，經過五年的整修，最近才開放參觀。

We had delicious local snacks and desert  before heading home.我們在吃了當地小吃和美味的雪花冰後才回家。

A cousin of mine and my family visited the newly opened Kaohsiung Main Public Library. It is not just a magnificent eight-story building, but also the world's first suspended green building! It is expected to store more than one million books. It has lots of comfy, elegant and spacious reading rooms. 上午我們和表姊去參觀新開幕的高雄圖書館總館，那是棟八層樓高的雄偉建築，也是全世界第一座懸吊式綠建築，預計藏書一百萬冊以上。它有舒適、美麗又寬敞的閱讀空間。

We saw a wall decoration made of piled books. 我們看到了一面用書堆成的裝飾牆。

It has a very nice view of the surroundings. 這兒有非常開闊的視野。

Below the lobby level, there is a Taiwan's first international illustrated books library and a children's theater. We had scheduled our visit today around the puppet show in the theater. The show was wonderful and performed by a solo artist from Israel. 。在地下一樓，有台灣第一座國際繪本圖書館暨兒童劇場，我們今天就是到兒童劇場看兒童偶戲表演。

In the evening, we went to my mom’s friend's house for dinner until late. It is a penthouse in a tall building with a very nice view. We had barbecued seafood, chafing dish, miscellaneous food and watched a cartoon movie.  It was a great day! 晚上，我們到媽媽和阿姨的朋友家聚餐，一直到很晚才回家。今天真是忙碌的一天啊！

Today daddy had an American style dinner gathering with his friends from graduate school in Pennsylvania. After the meal, Mom walked us to a nearby park where there is a pond and rocks to play with. The park was perhaps not too thrilling, but definitely more fun than listening to adult’s conversations, mostly on work and things.今天爸爸又要和朋友聚餐了，是以前和他在賓州大學唸書的好朋友們。用餐後，我們不想聽大人們聊天，所以媽媽帶我們和Allie走路到附近的公園玩耍，池塘、草皮和石頭，還比較好玩多了！

We went visit (paternal) grandpa in Tainan an hour away by car today. On the way home, we visited a place called "Taiwan creative metal arts pavilion", which is set up by a private metal machining company. A huge recycle metal work in the form of a movie “Transformer” stood by the door. Next to it were folk legend lions and bears that welcomed us to the visit. Since it is the last working day before the New Year holiday, we were happily to be the only visitors that afternoon.今天我們回台南的外公家，回程順路去參觀了「台灣金屬創意館」，那是由一家民營公屬公司設立的（志鋼金屬）。一進門就看到利用癈棄的金屬打造成的變型金鋼、箭獅和小熊等歡迎我們。因為是新年連假前的最後一個工作日，我們是當天下午唯一的遊客。

We followed our tour guide and visited the plant in actual operation. He introduced us to large laser metal cutting machines, assembly machines, laser carving machines, and so forth. There are recycle art works made of sheet metals to be seen inside and outside the plant complex.導覽員帶領我們實際參觀工廠運作，介紹超大型的雷射金屬切割機、組裝機和雷雕機等等。廠內廠外也到處都可以看到用回收金屬或板金製成的創作品和擺飾等。

Allie and I were particularly interested in their outdoor displays. There are a lot of art works made of metal that we can touch and play with. In addition to riding a metal tiger, our favorite was to stand in front of a beautiful, giant metal butterfly. The tour guide told us that some of the art works were just installed in that morning, to get ready for the New Year crowd the next four days. We were the first visitors to experience them in deed!最讓我和妹妹開心的，是戶外的遊樂園，有好多用金屬製成的玩意兒可以玩。除了騎老虎以外，我們最愛的是想像自己是隻超大的美麗蝴蝶。導覽員告訴我們，這裹頭有好幾樣設施是今天早上才剛放進來的（為了接下來四天連假大量的遊客而準備），而我們是最先使用的遊客喔！

Today, I'm finally going to the long-awaited Kaohsiung City zoo! I feel that I don’t come here often enough, even though I have been here several times before. Nevertheless, this is the first time that I did homework on the zoo map and made sure of not missing any part of the zoo. 今天終於要去我期待已久的動物園了（高雄壽山動物園了）！雖然已經來過好幾次，我還是很愛這兒。這次我特別先研究了一下動物園的路線圖，不想錯過任何的動物。

Interestingly enough, I found a "Bird Park" and "Children's Ranch" which we never visited before.  The bird park is a bit like the rain forest in the Buffalo zoo, except there are no glass walls for temperature and humidity controls. There is no need for such controls as Taiwan has a relatively warm, semi-tropical climate. In the children's ranch, you can hand feed a variety of sheep with zoo-prepared grass. It was really fun!因為有做功課，我們這次發現了以前沒參觀過的「鳥園」和「兒童牧場」。鳥園有點像水牛城動物園裹的「雨林動物區」，不同的是這兒不需要密閉空間來控制溫度和溼度，因為台灣屬於亞熱帶氣候。在兒童牧場裹，可以餵羊兒吃牧草，真是太好玩了！～

We got a bit tired from all the walking. Yet we decided to take the “Tiger” zoo train for another round and listen to the official tour guide. Finally, we arrived at the destination by the zoo entrance where there is a flock of flamingos in a garden. We went home tired and happy.用走路的方式逛完了整個動物園後，我們又坐「老虎號」小火車再遊園一圈，才心滿意足地回家。

Our main sightseeing spot today is the Sizihwan Bay on the west side of Kaohsiung City. The bay has a beautiful sand beach and overlooks Taiwan Straight that separates Taiwan and Mainland China. We are lucky today to have ridden in MRT (mass rapid transit) with decorative painting of my favorite theme of marine world. Aside from enjoying the beach and ocean view, we paid a visit to a nearby tourist hot spot, the Takow British Consulate. 今天走的是西子灣線，我們幸運地坐到了彩繪捷運，車廂上畫著我最愛的海洋世界。除了看海，我們還拜訪了打狗英國領事館。

Takow is the old name of Kaohsiung City. The consulate was completed in 1879. A wax statue of the first British consulate official was established in this Kaohsiung cultural monument at the foot of the hill.  打狗是高雄的舊名，打狗英國領事館完工於1879年，是英國駐台灣第一個正式的領事館（1879～1925 )，目前已列入高雄的文化古蹟，山腳下還有個小型的臘像館也很有趣。

The historical British Consulate was converted to a museum with a nice snack bar. So, we had snacks for lunch as there was no better choice.  My favorite snack was a pot of fruit tea that mom had. 我們意外地將英式下午茶點心當午餐，而我最愛的是那壺媽媽點的水果茶。

On the way back, we walked alongside the harbor and saw a lot of fishing boats, some cruise ships, and a few fishermen.  Another pleasing finding was a map of the world in tile mosaic. I easily identified Taiwan and the United States.回程，我們延著港口邊的路走，看到了好多的漁船、遊輪和釣客，還在路邊發現了一個馬賽克世界地圖，我很輕易地找到了台灣和美國。

Our whole family went to Daddy's elementary class reunion. They graduated from nearly four decades ago. Thanks to Facebook, the gathering was organized very effectively through social networking. The reunion took place in a restaurant of his hometown with a very rural setting. While adults were busy catching up from old time, my sister and I had an outdoors adventure, exploring an eco-pond, pumpkin field, and several different fruit trees.

我們全家人去參加爸爸的小學同學會，和他四十年前的同學們聚會（臉書實在太厲害了）。在他家鄉的一個農村餐廳裹，大人們在屋裹聊天，我和妹妹在屋外探險。這兒有小池塘、南瓜田，還有好幾種不同的果樹。

左營是高雄早期的開發地，在現代高樓與街道巷弄間，仍收藏著舊城遺址、寺廟與古厝等，等著懷舊的現代人去探訪。左營舊城又稱為「鳳山縣舊城」，是除了荷蘭人蓋的幾座紅毛城外，臺灣的第一座中式城池，以當地硓

每年冬天回台灣，總會跟到幾個阿姨和表姊參加的「毛伊社區童軍團」的活動。今年剛好遇上童軍團受邀參加龍華國小校慶的開幕進場表演。由於阿姨和往年一樣，負責造型指導，所以我和Allie 也就跟著參與了前製和當天的活動。今年的遊行要呈現的主題是「蝴蝶的一生」。我想當一隻蝴蝶，Allie 原本堅持要當毛毛蟲，但又想和我一樣有翅膀，所以她最後跟阿姨說想當「毛毛蟲蝴蝶」，這個難題，就讓阿姨去傷腦筋吧！另外，阿姨還花了好幾個晚上，做了一個150分高的蝴蝶蛋糕，要祝龍華國小35週年校慶生日快樂。…來看看我們是怎麼玩的吧！

活動的前兩週，阿姨指導童軍團的成員，如何利用一些簡單的素材，製作自己的蝴蝶衣。

我們從阿姨以前做的道具，剪下「龍的鱗片」，希望回收再利用。但其實我對於要一件怎麼的蝴蝶衣，還沒有什麼想法。

阿姨做了一頂帽子的樣品，要傳給其他人參考。搞笑又配合度超高的Allie 是她最佳的麻豆人選。

活動前十天，阿姨來教我們摺葉子和蝴蝶。我覺得應該要再加一隻瓢蟲，於是我就自己動手做了一隻。看！我完成的作品如何？……這時，對於我的蝴蝶衣，我突然有想法了喔！～