TravelGene

Taroko - Hualien Taiwan October 2013

Gulangyu Island - Xiamen April 2013

Gulangyu is a car-free island off the coast of Xiamen, Fujian province in southern China.

The Summer Palace - Beijing July 2012

Originally named Garden of Clear Ripples, it was built by Emperor Qianlong in 1750 to celebrate his mother's birthday. It was then used as a garden for emperors and empresses, until it was burned down by the Anglo-French Allied Forces in 1860. Empress Dowager Cixi diverted navy funds to rebuild it in 1886 but it was seriously damaged again by the Allied Forces of Eight Powers in 1900. Restoration was in place in 1902 and the Summer Palace was opened to the public as a private property of the Qing imperial family in 1914 and then formally opened as a park in 1924. In 1998, it was inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO and has become a treasure of human civilisation.

Redwoods (SFO) August 2012

The Redwoods by Joseph P. Strauss

Here, sown by the Creator's hand.
In serried ranks, the Redwoods stand:
No other clime is honored so,
No other lands their glory know.

The greatest of Earth's living forms,
Tall conquerors that laugh at storms;
Their challenge still unanswered rings,
Through fifty centuries of kings.

The nations that with them were young,
Rich empires, with their forts far-flung,
Lie buried now-their splendor gone:
But these proud monarchs still live on.

So shall they live, when ends our days,
When our crude citadels decay;
For brief the years allotted man,
But infinite perennials' span.

This is their temple, vaulted high,
And here, we pause with reverent eye,
With silent tongue and awestruck soul;
For here we sense life's proper goal:

To be like these, straight, true and fine,
to make our world like theirs, a shrine;
Sink down, Oh, traveler, on your knees,
God stands before you in these trees.