Flying A Kite

There’s something innocent and peaceful about flying a kite. I think it has to do with standing around in an open, breezy space with colorful kites just soaring in whatever way the wind guides them, with no goal or purpose but just simply enjoying the moment.

I’m not sure why both Teddy and I had the urge to fly a kite but it came up in conversation so frequently that we added it to the list of things to do. Finally, about two weeks ago, preparation (buying kite) and timing (beautiful afternoon) met and gave us the perfect kite flying opportunity.

Sun Yat-Sen Memorial hall is known to be the kite flying hot spot ever since I was young. It’s close to Taipei 101 and is a rather beautiful, low-key location. I’m not sure what the story is behind kite flying at the memorial hall but given any weekend, it is packed with kite flyers.

Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall on a beautiful sunny day

The kite we bought had awesome Transformers on it, for a grand total of NT99 (US$3).

trying to figure out how to put this thing together

The beautiful weather drew a large crowd to the memorial. There were little children, tiny dogs and sounds of laughter as far as the eye can see.

laid back sunday afternoon

Setting up...

go go go!

Though there was plenty of sun, the day was rather lacking in the wind department. We quickly learned that flying kites is no picnic. Both of us got some pretty good cardio time in just by running back and forth trying to get the kite up.

 

some other kite flyers

“Same Hill, Different Day” by Paul Octavious

Just stumbled across the beautiful work of Paul Octavious. His project “Same Hill, Different Day” is a series of photos and short clips shot at the same hill but on…different days 🙂 A rather self-explanatory title. The hill is a versatile venue, taking on different roles during each days and seasons – sometimes a movie theatre, sometimes a skiing resort, and other times, the perfect place to fly a kite.