Yangmingshan National Park, accessible by Taipei public transit! Our first excursion in Taiwan - October 2008 www.ymsnp.gov.tw/HTML/ENG/INDEX.ASP
Little lizards with jewel-blue tails and striped snake-like bodies running under our feet
wispy tails of tall grasses covered in soft fuzz, gentle contrast to scraggly stark naked branches, austere and angular shrubs
A word about bamboo... there were other cryptically titled signboards like "The Life Appearance of Primordial Time"
It was completely foggy... We could only see small portions of the mountain at a time!
It's very Asian to have an umbrella for the sun... Asians take care to keep their skin in the shade... Westerns want to tan all day long... There wasn't much sun or rain that day though... I guess that guy is taking every precaution.
Yangmingshan National Park, accessible by Taipei public transit! October 2008 www.ymsnp.gov.tw/HTML/ENG/INDEX.ASP
At one of the summits! after much huffing and puffing. Look Mom, I'm taller than 1106 meters!
Gnarly gnarled trees
Fresh smell of earth and plants tinged with honey, mixing with sulfurous fumes from the bowels of the mountain
About to descend into the mist...
Since we were fully in the clouds, this gazebo looked out into a smoky abyss
Patrolling the line~up for the bus was this ragtag family of pooches
Triple gate to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, honoring former president of Taiwan whose Nationalist government created the Republic of China through uprisings and revolution on the mainland. December, 2008
Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall on Boxing Day 2008
Can you find Rich in this picture?
There's always someone to watch at CKS, whether a break dance practice, or these army exercizes
They even had a marching band with them
I was a little afraid they'd take my camera, but I guess we're not in mainland China. Friendlier here
Guns and boots
The Water Moon, a beautiful teahouse styled after 1950s Shanghai, on its official opening day. January 9, 2009 http://teawatermoon.com/En/aboutus.aspx
Tea and teaware for sale. This place is like a museum
Hungarian Ricky and I with the Taiwanese ladies. We had a Christmas party here at the end of the year.
Oh hello... just downstairs from our apartment, a man selling New Zealand goat's milk products with a little help. Not exactly a girl in a bikini, but more related.
I was just taking a picture of the poor chickens caged right under the chopping block... Talk about looking death in the face... The lady was keen to show off her birds.
An unrelated occasion of animals in our neighborhood alleys.
Our roommate Nicole watching pet piggy getting french fries as treats
One of the Cows on Parade, originally started in Chicago. The Red House Theatre is in the background.
Rich and I explore Maokong (Cat Paw Mountain) where tea is grown and hiking trails and teahouses abound. February 2009
We were a little bit worse for wear from the night before... Rich's friend took us to an all-you-can drink nightclub. Dangerous, those.
Notice the tea-leaf-shaped lookout benches.
Rich and I explore Maokong (Cat Paw Mountain) where tea is grown and hiking trails abound
Anita's going-away dinner... she moved back to Toronto a few days later. May 2009
She's the one wearing the red shirt with Chinglish about sheep. Oh, how Anita loves the Chinglish...
Every now and again we wake up to firecrackers and cacophonous music, as one temple or another celebrates its patron deity's birthday. It's a colorful and noisy affair. May 2009
Taoist Street Parade, May 2009
A man representing one of the deities, in this case a fierce one who sat on a throne of nails and later hit himself hard enough to draw blood with sharp ritual objects, like the sword he is holding. Not entirely sure if he was in a trance or not.
An offering table. These get set up regularly in front of businesses to pray to ancestors. Those stacks of paper are "ghost money" burned to replenish their wallets in the afterlife.
The ground is scorched from firecrackers. And my ears are nearly bleeding... oi!
Offerings at a temple
We're in a land of exotic tropical fruit. This is dragonfruit, sometimes the flesh inside is white, this one was a brilliant purple. Although beautiful, it was kinda slimy and bland. Go for the white insides instead.
Tree in full bloom outside of the language centre at Shida University, our university's famous neighbor
These flowers are so amazing!
Rich's semi-relatives were our first (and as of early 2010, only) visitors! Yay! June 2009
Petra now lives in Singapore with her Italian husband. Her parents came from Prague, for a several-months-long Asian trip to the likes of Cambodia and Nepal! Amazing!
The Lovers' Bridge - Danshui, June 2009 This is clearly before I got my camera sensor cleaned... sorry about all that dust.
Danshui, June 2009
We found ourselves an uncrowded beach and later watched several teams of photographers taking movie star-like photo shoots of brides-to-be.
All those tiny balls of sand are made by tiny crabs. They shovel sand into their mouth with their claws and ball it up with their spit.
They are sand-colored and pretty hard to spot unless they're moving. There are at least 4 in this picture. Hint: look for one in the bottom left corner near a hole.
Ending the evening with a hotpot meal - each person gets a personal pot of broth with raw veggies and meat or fish to cook to taste.
An aid for Chinese class... in lieu of photos, a doodle of my familia! Guess which one I am? (hint: I like travel)
Summer Camp 2009: Art Class
Bowling pins made out of drink bottles
Let the bowling begin!
Summer Camp 2009: Art
Summer Camp 2009: Cooking Class
Tater Boats! Baked potato skins with sails made out of carrots and peppers
Summer Camp 2009 : Storytime. I took the class outside one day. There were literally horrified to sit directly on the grass. Here are they are scrutinizing a bug that might attack them.
Summer Camp 2009 : Storytime
Rich's extreme sunburn as background for after-burn-cream art... He went surfing in Yilan on the East Coast... that's some hot sun!
In front of the infamous Taipei 101. October 2009
A fountain in front of the infamous Taipei 101. October 2009
Inside the National Taiwan Museum, the oldest museum in Taiwan. Greco-Roman architecture blended with quirky modern twists. Exhibits on anthropology, earth and life sciences and education.
Detail of the deer sculpture in previous shot.
At the 228 Peace Park beside the museum. The park commemorates a 1947 massacre by the former Kuomingtang government that brutally squashed a protest, beginning 2 years of the White Terror period in Taiwan.
Night scenes...
Night scenes... blurred traffic going around the East Gate, the largest of the five original gates that walled the city.
Halloween 2009 with Halden!
Damon's birthday at the amazing Five Dime restaurant http://www.five-dime.com.tw/html/homepage.htm
Yep, that's a real lake with real fish and a life-sized boat! Right inside the restaurant. Do check out their website http://www.five-dime.com.tw/html/homepage.htm
Bob, aka DJ Coffeepot gets a birthday surprise party! Halden approves of the pizza.
Sharon ... does not.
Bob, aka DJ Coffeepot gets a birthday surprise party!
Our roomies Bob and Nico.
Never know what you'll see in Ximending, the hub of shopping and young-and-cool hangout. Anime hair styles abound. This guys is happily dancing to promote contact lenses. He was at it for hours, I think.
Free hugs in Ximending... Jan 2010 ~ for what this is all about, see http://www.freehugscampaign.org/
A house around the corner from us - or should we say, a riot of random collections of knick-knacks stapled, glued and hammered to the outside walls...
