Dragon Boat Festival which was later enriched by the legend of the patriot Chu Yuan is one of the three major Chinese holidays. When realizing that I would spend the whole four-day Dragon Boat holiday in Taipei, I asked Virginia if it was possible for her to arrange a hiking activity to stretch our limbs, to breathe the fresh air on the mountain and immerse ourselves in the breathtaking scenery with revived trees and blossomed flowers. It had been almost three months since we hiked last time.It was not a surprise at all Virginia pulled it off as the only thing she needed to do is pulling her finger. What surprised me was she made it right on the day of the Festival, the very early morning on the 1st day of the long holiday. I realized later that by this way we could be ahead of others to enjoy the best, cleanest and non noisy moment. At a time of holidays, there will always be a big crowd.
We have Virginia, her couple friends Tom, Linda and their daughter, Vera, Effie and I seven people, a perfect small group for hiking. Time control was perfect, we set out at 7:30 am sharp. The hiking itself was easy walking the stairs, not climbing. I can do triple the distance or challenge. The beauty of it was having a close look at all the flowers, insects especially butterflies 青斑蝶, 端紫斑蝶, toads and casual chat. 
The biggest discovery I had this time is making the best use of a microscope. It was Virginia’s secret weapon. When she took it out and asked us to look at the tiny flowers with it, we all were awed seeing the exquisite structure of that miniature thing. After then, the microscope was passed none-stop from one hand to another. Virginia kept warning us not to picking any flower or leave even the ground was full of incidentally fallen flowers and leaves. Only she could when necessary as she is a volunteer guide of the mountain. Since it was not possible to observe every tiny flower or insect with only one microscope, also because we didn’t have a whole year there, I secretly took one tiny flower of different kinds that I didn’t know of, holding them in my hand waiting for the best lunch time to observe them. 
Surprisingly, Virginia ran into two of her volunteer friends, beauty and handsome, at the information center. With their hospitality and passion, we enjoyed different kinds of snacks and heavenly-taste coffee. Pity that I couldn’t drink coffee as it has strong effect on me. Though the chatting and snacks were great and delightful, I kept peeking in the tiny flowers in my hand and was anxious seeing they were shrinking and withered.
It took ages for them to finally have had enough coffee and feel hungry. We headed for the same restaurant that Virginia took us to last time 老聃的家,觀園樓, run by her friend. She ordered seven healthy dishes for us. They tasted heavenly especially we were all very hungry. See the pictures! I took the precious moment to study all the miniature flowers using the microscope. Every tiny flower took my breath away. They were amazing! Who would know such tiny flowers look even more beautiful than those we see through our naked eyes. How sad it was that we couldn’t take pictures of them, it’s just technically impossible.
While eating and chatting, Vera was obsessed by the standing eggs made by the children of the shop owner and kept taking photos of them. What could I say? We all become weak when Obsession overpowers us.
I helped finish up all the dishes like I usually do. The after meal dessert and fruit was on the house. They tempted me to add more burden to my stomach. I could hardly walk when it was time to hit the road.While eating and chatting, Vera was obsessed by the standing eggs made by the children of the shop owner and kept taking photos of them. What could I say? We all become weak when Obsession overpowers us.
This is the first time I put other activity before family gathering on a festival like this. I was glad I made it.
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