Taiwaneil Formosa

Mingchih (Yilan County)

2009-11-02T18:32:00.006+08:00

First post for a very long time. There's not been so much to report in the last few weeks.

At the weekend, as it was our birthdays, we took a trip to Mingchih in Yilan County. It is actually just a few kilometers across the border from Taoyuan County, however we drove there via the freeway which skirts under Taipei (picture of a rainbow seen above the freeway), the 13 Km Xueshan Tunnel and Yilan on the East Coast.

After arriving at the first overnight stop, a B&B in Luodong, we discovered we had two punctures, we must have run over something on the road near the B&B. Such is the efficiency of things in Taiwan, we had 2 new tyres less than an hour a half later despite it being after 8 o'clock at night. The mechanic did a mini-service too and wouldn't accept a tip.

The next morning in heavy rain we set off for the steep, narrow and windy climb up to Mingchih.

Thankfully the weather up there was a lot better.

We visited the picturesque lake and heard the 'clarinet man' (some nice videos below). He performs twice a day on the banks of the lake, 5 days a week. A black swan lives on one of the islands and comes across when he plays, attracted by the music. The man said that generally the swan only paddles across for the morning performance. He kindly played a special song for Alice.

On the sunday we took an organised trip to see the 1000+ year old red cypress trees growing on the mountain. There are 62 trees in the area, 51 of which have been given names. The guided walk takes you on a 2-hour circuit amongst the trees, mostly up and down, good exercise with a 10.5 kg girl on your back for the second half. Just as we ended the tour the clouds descended and the rain started again.

On the way back, rather than retrace our steps and return home via Yilan and risk long traffic jams on Freeway 5 we continued on the narrow windy cross-island road and got back into Taoyuan County much more quickly. The rain discouraged people from coming up the mountain so there was very little traffic coming the other way, which was good as the road is quite narrow in places and two cars cannot pass.

http://yeze.com.tw/index2.htm

Cricket

2009-09-28T20:17:00.004+08:00

This weekend I took part in a 4 team cricket competition down in Chiayi. I only recently learned that cricket was played here at all on the island. There was a team of expats from Taipei and another from Kaoushiung, most of the players came from the UK, South Africa, Australia, NZ and India. There were also two teams of Pakistanis based in Taipei and Taichung. I was impressed at how high the standard of play was, some of the bowling and batting was of a very good standard.

Over the two days the teams all had to play each other in a round robin format with the top two reaching the final.

The competition took place inevitably at a baseball stadium with a few concessions made due to the circumstances. The baseball pitcher's mound was in the outfield on one side. The bowlers all bowled from the same end, so the batsmen had to swap over at the end of each over. The wicket was a green mat normally found in the nets laid out on the orange gravel.

The matches were 14 overs per innings - a shortened version of the shortened game which led to quite a bit of slogging and clambering over fences to retrieve balls hit for 6.

The only shame for me was despite there being many countries represented there weren't any Taiwanese players, it is a shame that none were invited to witness this alternative to baseball. One Canadian had divided loyalties, he sneaked across to join the baseball players practicing on the ground next door for a while.

Once again it was a very hot day (temperatures are very gradually starting to drop in Taiwan but it is still over 30 a lot of the time). My side had to play back to back matches and we ended up fielding in the first game and then going straight back in the field again for the next game.

Elections

2009-08-27T18:24:00.006+08:00

It is amazing what they'll do to get elected. The elections aren't until December but the local KMT mayoral candidate is already out on his oil drum waving at cars. That's a particularly polluted junction which is always very busy. He spent hours waving at the passing cars.

Funeral!!

2009-08-19T20:51:00.003+08:00

My journey to work this morning was delayed by a funeral procession. I managed to get past them eventually on the scooter and stopped to take a few photos. Not the usual line of black hearses as you would find in the west!

Typhoon

2009-08-19T20:44:00.003+08:00

As you'll have seen from the news a severe typhoon hit Taiwan recently, causing a lot of death and destruction in the south of the island.

The north of the island was relatively unscathed, in Zhongli we had a lot of rain and some high winds for a while but nothing compared to further south. The high speed railway stopped operating for one day as a consequence of the bad weather. Video taken out of the apartment window.

Green Island

2009-08-07T15:22:00.013+08:00

Last weekend I went down to Green Island off the south east coast of Taiwan. I flew down from Songshan Domestic Airport to Taitung and then took the choppy 50 minute catamaran journey across to the island. The last time Joanne and I were there it was in the winter (February), at that time of year there were hardly any tourists on the island. In August the place was crowded.

In February we had seen thousands of scooters parked up by the port, last weekend they were all rented out and were being driving on the 19 km road around the island.

I had an introduction to scuba diving in the beautiful crystal clear waters by www.greenislandadventures.com.

Although enjoyable, I opted to stick to snorkelling, the view of the reef and tropical fish is almost as good and the risks, should anything go wrong, are a lot less.

The weather was incredibly hot, the sun beat down mercilessly all day. On Saturday I neglected to put any sunblock on my shoulders and got a very bad sunburn, you just don't feel the sun when you're on the water surface. There have been a number of painful nights since then but thankfully the skin is slowly recovering.

Rice

2009-07-23T18:34:00.002+08:00

Here in the north the rice is finally ready to be harvested. In the south where it's warmer they've already planted rice seedlings for the second harvest.

Eclipse

2009-07-23T18:25:00.005+08:00

Yesterday at about 9.40 there was an eclipse in Asia. It was only about 82% in Taiwan but still worth taking an interest in. Several colleagues had glasses they'd kept after the last eclipse in Europe back in 1999, other used CDs to view the sun and one even used a shoe box with a small hole pierced in one end.

As the sun went behind the moon it got perceptively a little bit darker (but not much), you could certainly feel a drop in temperature standing out in the sun.

Earthquake and World Games

2009-07-15T21:08:00.007+08:00

The night before last at 2.05 am we were awoken by quite a significant earthquake. The epicentre was off the East Coast of Taiwan, the magnitude was 6.3. As we're on the 18th floor the building swayed and shuddered quite a bit and it made the wardrobe doors rattle. It was scary at the time. Thankfully it passed leaving the walls and ceiling in their original positions. Definitely the biggest earthquake I have experienced in my time here.

The World Games start tomorrow in Kaoushiung. It is a mini-Olympics for all the sports like squash that don't make it to the regular Olympics. The British singer Russell Watson will sing at the opening ceremony. At our local HSR station they have laid on a team of helpers and welcomers as a lot of spectators will fly in to the International Airport in Taoyuan here in the north and travel down to Kaoushiung on the high-speed train. Also pictured are the free shuttle buses that have been running for a few months now serving the cities of Zhongli and Taoyuan. I guess they'll be running for a few years until the MRT Blue Line is finished. Work has started on the MRT station opposite the HSR station in Taoyuan but it is very early days.

It is worth looking at the link below to the World Games website, there is a good video, albeit in Chinese.

http://www.worldgames2009.tw/wg2009/eng/index.php

Miaoli Cabin

2009-07-09T20:20:00.014+08:00

Last weekend we were invited by Andres and the New Hampshire Bushman to a barbecue party at the famous wood cabin located in the wilds of the lovely Miaoli county. Good job we were able to follow the Bushman's car on the freeway otherwise we'd have been still looking for the cabin now I think, it is pretty remote.

It was great day, thankfully the cabin has an enormous porch as there were a couple of short showers in the

afternoon. The Bushman gave us an introduction to Dutch oven cooking.

There was some interesting wildlife in the garden, thankfully we didn't get to meet the 5 foot cobra that had been allegedly seen by the river opposite the house.

Thanks to everyone for a warm welcome and great food.

Rugby

2009-07-04T20:51:00.005+08:00

The current captain of the England rugby side, Steve Borthwick, visited Taiwan last week. He trained with the local Taipei team and on Friday night he was the guest of honour at a charity meal in a top Taipei hotel which was raising money for a local player seriously injured playing rugby. There were lots of items being auctioned, the rugby shirt signed by the entire England squad fetched the best part of 3,000 GBP. It was a good evening. I didn't get chance to chance to ask him when England were going to win their next Grand Slam.

Thailand

2009-06-24T20:38:00.008+08:00

A pleasant trip to Thailand last week to catch up with the family. Alice got chance to play with her cousin 'Ge Ge' they're both of an age when they can interact with other children now. We took a few trips around the area, notably to see the baby panda at Chiang Mai zoo, the Royal Project at Doi Angkang near the Myanmar border and an umbrella factory. There were very few tourists about, we had the hotel at Doi Angkang completely to ourselves. The night market was very quiet too, a combination of the H1N1 scare, the global recession and the unrest in Thailand I guess.

http://www.geocities.com/tongdee9/ankkg.htm

Green World, Beipu

2009-06-10T20:34:00.022+08:00

At the weekend we took a trip down to Green World in Hsinchu County. It is starting to get really hot, that day it must have been at least 32 degrees, if not a few degrees more. The Taiwanese use their umbrella to protect themselves from the sun as well as the rain.

Green World is really great, there's plenty to see and do. The rain forest sky walk was the highlight for me. It is actually better than the one we saw in Australia, although more contrived. There were sprinklers producing rain and clouds of fine mist to maintain the right environment. There was also fruit hanging near the walkway to attract butterflies.

The crowd of photographers were taking photos of an insect laying its eggs. I leaned over them a took a picture over their shoulders.

The gents loos have a pretty spectacular view!!

http://www.green-world.com.tw/en/html/page.htm

Grafitti Artist

2009-06-01T20:35:00.002+08:00

Vegans and Brass Bands

2009-05-31T20:27:00.029+08:00

There was a lot going on in the big park in the centre of Zhongli this weekend. On Saturday there was a big Vegan gathering stalls promoting a greener living and increased consumption of vegetables. There was a lot of presentations and speakers, which were being filmed and re-broadcast.

On Sunday it was the turn of a big youth brass band festival. All the schools in the area sent their bands - 22 in all. We could see and hear the festival from our balcony. One of the bands, the Lio Ho Senior High School, did a short performance of rifle twirling outside Sogo before marching off to join all the other bands in the park. They were made to stand for a very long time in the blazing sunshine waiting for the time to start. I thought the young men were soldiers but in fact they were high school students with mock rifles. Every high school has a regular soldier from the army on the staff to instill a bit of discipline in the boys before they go off to do their military service. At the end of the festival all 22 bands played simultaneously, which made quite a sound!

Street Performers

2009-05-17T21:49:00.008+08:00

A couple of talented street performers near 101 last night. One artist drawing in sand - the art is projected onto a screen for the audience to see, another an acrobat. They've both been featured on the TV apparently.

Few pictures

2009-05-17T21:12:00.021+08:00

A few random pictures from the past couple of weeks. The weekend before last we visited the Pushin Ranch, located a few minutes drive from Zhongli. Lots of open spaces and a few farm animals.

http://www.weichuan-ranch.com.tw/

This weekend we were up in Taipei. I notice another British retailer is trying its arm in the Taiwan market. Tesco came a few years ago and eventually sold out to Carrefour, Marks & Spencer opened a couple of stores in Taipei but closed them a few years later. B&Q and Mothercare are still currently here and I noticed this Harrods store for the first time yesterday.

http://investorblogger.com/archives/why-cant-british-retailers-succeed-in-taiwan/

I notice that even 'sloucher' (picture from last year) has lost out in this economic downturn, he's been replaced by a dummy, also dressed as a Redcoat. That's progress I guess. The houses still haven't sold obviously.

Zhongli MRT

2009-05-10T15:09:00.009+08:00

I changed my route home from work last week to have a look at the progress of the construction of the Taoyuan MRT Blue line between Taoyuan Airport and Zhongli. Certainly at the Zhongli end the work is progressing well, in many places the pillars that will support the viaduct are in place. Some of the viaduct is indeed built. The final stretch of the line to the terminal station is underground, so it isn't so easy to determine the progress. According to a recent article in the China Post, the line may be extended another 2 km from the northern outskirts of Zhongli through to the town's main train station. That would be costly though as it would be all underground.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/t-business/2009/04/30/206211/MRT-line.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoyuan_International_Airport_Access_MRT_System

Fireflies and Tung Blossom

2009-05-04T15:55:00.010+08:00

This weekend we took a short trip down to Miaoli County to see the blossom of the 'tung tree'. At this time of year large areas of hillside are covered in tung trees with their attractive white blossom. The blossom falls to the ground creating a blanket of white ressembling snow.

We stayed at a child-friendly B&B with a large hangar out the front full of toys and games.

In the evening the B&B owners arranged a walk to see the fireflies, as it is also the season for those.

Due to a translation error I was expecting to be seeing glow worms but, in actual fact, according to Wikipedia fireflies and glow worms are related anyway. The light emitted by the firefly isn't very bright but it is weird to see their lights in the trees. Shining a torch on them is to be avoided apparently as it shortens their lives, which is only about a week anyway.

http://tung.hakka.gov.tw/en/background/culture.aspx?uid=99

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly

Australia - Brisbane

2009-04-16T21:46:00.009+08:00

Brisbane! Our final destination, we had completed the 950 km journey up from Sydney. We left the hire car at Brisbane airport (much easier than trying to find the Hertz office in downtown Brisbane) and headed into the town. We took a B&B in Paddington near the excellent Rosalie Village. To be honest we were a bit jaded after all the travelling and our thoughts were starting to turn towards Taiwan rather than more sightseeing. Three and a half weeks is a long time to be travelling. It turns out it was the Easter weekend, a fact that I was oblivious of when I planned the holiday. Taiwan doesn't 'do' Easter. A very wet Easter weekend in Brisbane turned out to be rather dull (apologies to any Brisbanians reading this). We did get to travel up the river on the City Cat during one brief sunny period.

Alice's health became a concern again, she never really shook off the cold she had at the beginning of the holiday, she lost her appetite again and developed a 40 degree fever the night before we flew back. Finding a pharmacy on a wet Easter Monday evening in Brisbane when you don't have a car is a near impossibility. Eternal thanks to the B&B managers for helping us out and getting us to a pharmacy just before 9 pm as the shop was closing.

Thankfully Alice's temperature dropped on the plane and we able to return to Taiwan without another medical emergency. Poor thing she lost a lot of weight in Australia.

http://www.ferncottage.net/

Australia - Eagle Heights

2009-04-16T21:02:00.019+08:00

Our last stop before Brisbane was in Eagle Heights on Tamborine Mountain at the appropriately named Tall Trees Motel. The photos don't really do justice to the height of the ghost gumtrees surrounding the hotel. We visited the nearby 'Skywalk' where you get a chance to walk out into the tree canopy. The gumtrees certainly look eerie by moonlight.

The drive up onto the mountain was extremely steep but the views back towards Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast were spectacular.

The small towns of Eagle Heights and North Tamborine look very prosperous and a relaxing place to live.

The Tall Trees Motel was good value at 110 ASD per night, although the rooms were small. The managers are very friendly and helpful.

http://www.talltreesmotel.com.au/

Australia - Byron Bay

2009-04-16T20:24:00.020+08:00

At Byron Bay we stayed in a 'Farmstay' on the road to Bangalow. A wooden chalet, the cheapest of all the places we stayed in, just 90 ASD per night. It was indeed a farm, with goats and cows to prove it. The chalets over look a resevoir with canoes and rowing boat available for those who feel the urge to get out on the water on something other than a surfboard. Byron Bay is a relaxed, chic surfing town with wonderful beaches. We took a trip to the Cape Byron lighthouse, sadly not at sunrise Tania, too difficult with a little girl. I could see a pod of dolphins in the water below, perhaps cousins of the ones which had proved so elusive at Port Stephens. We had a great walk along the coast, despite the clouds it was very warm.

The purple flowered trees were in Bangalow, don't know what they are, not jacarandas I think.

http://www.byronbayfarmstay.com.au/

Australia - Bellingen

2009-04-16T19:56:00.018+08:00

I was a bit concerned before we set off for Bellingen about the flooding in that part of NSW. We had seen the images on the TV news.

The owner of the B&B assured us that the town was no longer cut off by the flooding and that the B&B was unaffected anyway. Port Stephens to Bellingen was the longest drive of the holiday - almost 6 hours with breaks.

We saw signs of the flooding at Bellingen, the river was still swollen and the road to Dorrigo was closed due to landslides and flood damage. The B&B was the most expensive on the holiday at 165 ASD per night but probably the nicest, it was a wooden chalet set in a rainforest on the edge of town. The town itself was quaint and seemed to be inhabited by very relaxed people, despite the stress of being flooded. The countryside around Bellingen reminded me very much of Abergavenny in South Wales - except the exotic birds of course (the person who named the State must have had the same idea).

It rained a bit while we were in Bellingen and it was rumoured that the river would flood and the town would be cut off once again, we were relieved when the rains didn't last and we could move on after two nights. Next stop the hip surfing town of Byron Bay.

http://www.koompartoo.com.au/index.html

Australia - Port Stephens

2009-04-16T19:30:00.009+08:00

Port Stephens is just a couple of hours drive north of Sydney on the Pacific Highway (at times you get the impression that it should be renamed 'Low way' - there is a lot of roadworks and the speed can be as low as 40 km/h in school zones).

We had a couple of days of sunshine but lost a day due to torrential rain (the same showers that caused severe flooding at Bellingen - our next port of call).

We visited a wildlife park. I took a boat trip out into the bay to see the dolphins that it is famous for. However the heavy rain has caused a lot of silt to be swept into the bay from the Myall River, so the water was a murky brown colour. We only caught a grimpse of a solitary dolphin in the distance. When we returned to port a complimentary dolphin watch was on offer later in the week but unfortunately it was our last day before moving on again.

We stay at a B&B run by a Canadian at Salamander Bay at 135 ASD per night. We were the only guests so we had the run of the place.

http://www.baydreamer.nelsonbay.com/

Australia trip - Sydney

2009-04-16T18:22:00.021+08:00

We finally arrived in Sydney after a difficult flight from Taiwan. Alice was not happy on the plane as she was still suffering from a heavy cold and conjunctivitis. In hindsight it would have been better to have delayed the trip for a few days. We had to visit the hospital, doctor and pharmacy with her in the first few days after our arrival.

It was a strange feeling for me to be back in an English speaking country for the first time in 3 years. I have got so used to relying on Joanne to help me to communicate effectively here in Taiwan, suddenly I could understand everything going on around me!

The weather for most of the 8 days spent in Sydney was sunny - except for the cloudy day when we visited Taronga zoo.

Thanks to Chris, Mel and Peter for looking after us and showing us places we wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Photos attached include the flying foxes and cockatoos that inhabit the Royal Botanical Gardens, Alice's encounter with a possom in Hyde Park, the beautiful beach at Brighton Le Sands, Watsons Bay and Darling Harbour in the evening.

We stayed right in the CBD, opposite Hyde Park in a serviced apartment, a few minutes walk from the Museum station. Good value at 143 ASD per night.

http://www.accommodationsydney.com.au/h022.shtm

After 8 days in Sydney we picked up the hire car from Hertz for the drive north towards Brisbane.

Australia

2009-04-06T10:08:00.003+08:00

We're currently on holiday 'Down Under'. We started off with the first week in Sydney, then visited Port Stephens and then Bellingen (just after the floods had receded thankfully). We're currently soaking up the sun in Byron Bay before heading north to Brisbane via Tamorine Mountain. Photos and a description of the holiday will be posted once we get back to Taiwan.

Green Breeze

2009-03-21T18:51:00.010+08:00

We had a pleasant Saturday afternoon with a number of other mixed race families at the Green Breeze restuarant. It is a real discovery for us, we've lived in this town for the past three years and never knew it existed. A little local knowledge helps. It is a 9 hole pitch and putt golf course that has been converted. The club house has been converted to a restuarant, the course has become a play and walking area, the bunkers sand pits for the children. It was nice to meet some other families in a similar to position to ourselves. It also makes me realise that I need to work a lot harder on my Chinese.
http://www.greenbreeze.com.tw/

Sunset

2009-03-17T20:49:00.007+08:00

I took these photos this evening on the way home from work on my scooter - 'sunset over paddy field'. It is dark just after 6pm at this time of year, the sun starts to get low in the sky by about 5.30. The rice that was planted a few weeks is now starting to grow, there's been plenty of rain to keep the fields wet. Every available parcel of land has been turned over to rice production.

CKS Shilin Residence Park

2009-03-08T20:07:00.013+08:00

We've had a lot of rain recently, it rained all day Friday and Saturday. Thankfully there was a respite for a few hours today so we headed to the Chiang Kei-Shek Shilin Residence Park in Taipei. The official residence of the former President.

We didn't get to see the house itself but the gardens were great. Parts of them were designed to attract wildlife, there was even a bat box, others parts were formal rose and fruits gardens.

http://tourguide.sinotour.com/scenery458.html

In the supermarket

2009-03-03T21:49:00.000+08:00

Rice Transplanter

2009-03-01T17:30:00.006+08:00

Today I noticed a rice transplanter for the first time. The paddy fields have been filled with water and any necessary repairs made to the irrigation system. The planting has started even though it is the beginning of March. I think in Taiwan they manage to get 3 harvests of rice a year. It appears that the rice is grown under glass to get it started and then it is delivered in rolls to be planted by machines. I know that Taiwan exports rice as its annual rice production exceeds demand.

Yangmingshan

2009-02-22T20:35:00.018+08:00

On Saturday we took a trip to Yangmingshan to see the azaleas and cherry trees in flower. As it turns out the Yangminshan flower festival has also just started which was an unexpected bonus. There were huge crowds of people, everyone wanted to get their picture taken hugging a tree covered in blossom. A good place for Alice to practice her walking, many people stopped us to take a picture of her. At the entrance to the park there were the ubiquitous food sellers selling the usual Taiwanese fare - tea eggs, sticky rice, dofu, steamed peanuts...

North German Green Cabbage Festival

2009-02-22T19:49:00.011+08:00

On Friday we have an evening with the German expatriot community at the Shangri-La Hotel - to celebrate the glories of the green cabbage. They hold the festival every February once the cabbage is ready and the frosts have caused the starch to turn to sugar. Most of the evening was conducted in German, for a few short hours were transported from Asia to Hamburg or Bremen. Many of the participants wore the traditional North German fisherman's blue striped tunic and red necktie. The menu was an all you can eat of various meats, potatos and copious helpings of the green cabbage, as well as much as you can drink of schnapps and German beer. There was a comedian and musician flown in especially from Germany for the event. We were treated to a rendition of Lili Marleen and that old German classic? 'My Bonnie lies over the ocean'. The stage was decorated with seagulls and a lighthouse, as well as a couple of attractive ice statutes which gradually melted during the evening. There seemed to be a bit of friendly rivalry between the North Germans and their compatriots from the south. They didn't seem to mind interlopers from other parts of Northern Europe, indeed we felt very welcome. If I'm still in Taiwan next February I'll go again.

http://www.jochenwiegandt.de/

Pandas

2009-02-22T19:44:00.003+08:00

As I mentioned previously there has been a big increase in panda marketing since the pair arrived from Mainland China last year. I don't get to use the MRT so often these days, on Friday I noticed a screen at one of the major interchange stations showing potential visitors how long the queues are at the zoo, such is their popularity at the moment!

Parade

2009-02-15T21:12:00.011+08:00

I'm not at all sure what was going on this evening. There was an enormous religious convoy travelling through Zhongli heading south. It took the best part of an hour to pass. There were many, probably hundreds, of floats some very brightly lit, drums, processions on foot, dragons, worshippers on scooters etc. I stood and watched for half an hour, it had been going for quite a while and still was not over when I left, by then it had got dark. At times the noise was horrendous, each float had its own music blaring out.

Taipei Lantern Festival

2009-02-15T20:41:00.013+08:00

The Taipei Lantern Festival seems to get bigger and more spectular each year.

This year of course the theme was the Cow/ Ox, although you'd be forgiven for thinking it was actually the year of the panda. Pandas are very popular here at the moment after the arrival of the two at Taipei Zoo from China last year.

One of the other displays was sponsored by the SAR of Macau.

Every 30 minutes there was an excellent short laser show. In the movie clip below you can see Taipei 101 lit up in the background despite the haze.

We bought our little devil some horns which she found very strange to start with. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lantern_Festival

Child's scooter seat

2009-02-15T20:33:00.003+08:00

I've often seen children perched on the front of scooters but have never had chance to have a look where they're sitting. This one is in the parking area of our building. I guess that these seats are specially made for scooters.

Pictures

2009-02-07T17:18:00.008+08:00

At lunchtime we were sitting in a restuarant with very good lighting. I managed to get some nice shots of Alice in natural poses.

Spring Farm, Taoyuan

2009-02-01T19:48:00.015+08:00

On a crowded island like Taiwan there aren't too many readily accessible places to escape the cars, scooters and the pollution. One such place though is Spring Farm on the edge of the city of Taoyuan. It covers a large area, with lots of walking trails. We didn't reach the end of it.

There are clear signs that the spring isn't too far away, notably the cherry blossom. Today was the last day of the Chinese New year holiday, everything gets back to normal tomorrow.

First tentaive steps

2009-01-30T18:19:00.002+08:00

Alice is in her 14th month, so I guess it's about the right time. She is just starting to take her first steps over a short distance. Another landmark reached. Not too many trips and tumbles so far.

Peasouper

2009-01-30T18:04:00.006+08:00

This is the view from the balcony yesterday morning when I got up to go to work and what the view usually looks like on a sunny day. It is mainly due to climatic conditions I guess but the number of fireworks that have been let off in the past weeks must have added to the haze. Fireworks are mainly let off on or around the Chinese New Year but that was a week ago and there are plenty more going off at all hours of the night. I went for a stroll last night and came across at least 4 groups letting fireworks off. Fireworks are banned in Taipei, so now that Alice is back in Zhongli again, she keeps being woken by the blasts as she is not used to them.

Xin Nian Kuai Le

2009-01-26T11:33:00.002+08:00

Happy New Chinese Year of the Ox. Make way Mr Rat. Time for families to come together, eat and hand out red envelopes. Everyone is at home, it is very quiet on the streets of Taipei and Zhongli, I even saw 7-11s that were closed! There are 5 consecutive bank holidays this week, I've been asked to work though as it is a busy time for us.

Consumer Vouchers

2009-01-18T15:32:00.008+08:00

Zhongli has been bathed in glorious sunshine today. Temperatures reached 26 degrees according to the thermometer on the balcony. They have been as low as 10.4 a few nights ago. Quite a temperature range.

Today I went to pick up my Consumer Vouchers. The Taiwan government is distributing vouchers worth 3,600 NTD (70 GBP) to every Taiwanese citizen. The vouchers can be exchanged for goods and services in shops throughout the country. As a foreigner married to a Taiwanese citizen before Dec 31st 08 I am also entitled to the vouchers. I received my notification letter from the National Imigration Agency confirming my entitlement. From what I gather it is a means of stimulating the economy and consumer spending during this financial crisis, putting a bit of extra spending money into the pockets of every citizen. It seems like a fair way to do it. The vouchers could be collected today at a school on the other side of Zhongli. As I arrived I could see a trickle of people coming out clutching their red envelopes.
The queues turned out to be too long and slow moving, everyone wanted to collect their 'free money', so I'll collect mine in a few weeks when it can also be done at a post office.
Joanne and Alice have to collect their's in Taipei. Apparently in the collection points in Taipei there are special counters manned by English speaking staff, no such luck in Zhongli but a helpful Policeman showed me the way to the back of the appropriate queue.

To collect the vouchers I had to take along my personal seal or 'chop'. I've managed to accumulate four since I've been here. I think you're supposed to only have one official one. My chops are made for my two Chinese names: the one I was first given by my employer when I arrived in Taiwan (Tang) and the name I adopted when I got married (Liu).
At the school I was looking at some of the posters in the English. One of the poems looked nonsensical "The seaweed is greener in somebody else's lake ...." I wondered what sort of English they were teaching the pupils. I had a look on Google and it apparently comes the film 'The Little Mermaid'. As the father of a little girl, I'm going to have to get used to things like that soon!
I notice from the Clustermap that there are readers on the East Coast of Australia, we'll be down that way on holiday in a few months.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/01/18/2003434049 2003434049

Vella

2009-01-14T20:48:00.002+08:00

Congratulations to Vincent and Stella on the birth of their daughter last week. Now Alice has 4 first cousins. As is the Taiwanese way the baby still has no names yet, so I have provisionally given her the name Vella, a combination of the parents names.

Festive Greetings

2009-01-01T15:18:00.024+08:00

This Christmas was spent in hot and sunny Bangkok with Dean and his family. Winter in Thailand is like summer in a lot of places. We could shed our winter clothes for a week.

Alice went to her first Christmas party on Christmas Eve and received a present from Father Christmas. I don't think he is supposed to show quite so much of his hairy chest though! He must have eaten too many mince pies and his suit no longer fitted him.

After Christmas we had some very nice days out to a floating market and the aquarium amongst other places.

One evening we went to see cousin Siam 'Sammy Boy' perform at the end of year show at his nursery school.

The journey back was eventful. Joanne was struck down by Meniere's Disease just as the plane was about to take off. She was repeatedly violently sick and dizzy and couldn't open her eyes. It is caused by a disorder of the inner ear. The eyes and the inner ear send contradictory information to the brain causing the dizziness and imbalance problems. Thankfully a doctor was located on board the aircraft who recommended she lie out flat and be given oxygen. I had my hands full looking after Alice. We were met in Taipei by an ambulance and she was taken to Taipei hospital. Thankfully she is now making a gradual recovery, the dizziness is fading as her body gets back to normal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menieres_disease

Party

2008-12-21T19:47:00.006+08:00

One year old being an important landmark we held a party for Alice in Nei Hu. Thanks to Emily, Olivia, Valentine, Jacques, Joshua and Theresa for coming.... and their parents of course! Sorry that Sean and Cecelia couldn't make it.

A couple of videos of birthday girl from over the weekend.

Happy 1st Birthday

2008-12-21T19:11:00.004+08:00

One year old today. After a slightly shakey start she is now growing into a happy and healthy little girl. The weather was a lot warmer and sunnier than the equivalent day last year.

Bullet Trains

2008-12-18T22:27:00.003+08:00

It isn't often enough that I get to go outside of the office and see some of the work that gets done alongside the railway. Today at least I got to see some slopework being carried out to ensure that the railway is safe from landslides. It is impressive to see the trains flying past at 300 km/h.

Recent photos

2008-12-15T20:59:00.007+08:00

A few photos from the past couple of weeks.

On Saturday another round of golf in glorious sunshine down near Hsinchu. I'm pictured with my playing partners Ark, Peter and Dr Jeder.

On the way to the golf, waiting for the bus, I saw a group of hairdressers from a local salon. Before starting work they seem to line up outside the store and bow to the traffic and (potential) customers. I don't know if they do it every morning.

Joanne brought Alice to work today to meet my English language students. She is normally very bright and bubbly but she was a bit shy today with so many strange faces around her. Hopefully she won't be so shy at her birthday party on Sunday.

This evening she was 'helping' her mother wrapping some Christmas presents (video attached). I've just realised the paper says 'Happy Birthday' hope nobody notices.

Chambord

2008-11-30T20:11:00.016+08:00

We spent the weekend in Taipei. On Saturday we had a wedding to go to and on Sunday it was a meal for Joanne's mother. The meal was on the 39th floor of the Far Eastern Hotel. There were great views over Taipei, looking towards the west.
In Nei Hu, Taipei close to Joanne's mother there is a newly constructed development with semi-detached houses for sale. We had a look at one of the show houses out of curiosity more than 6 months ago. The prices range from between 80 Million and 100 Million NT Dollars (at current prices 1.5 to 2 million GBP) - totally unfurnished without even the bathroom fitted out.

We heard that all bar one of the dozen or so houses had been sold. I notice today that the developers are re-advertising. I guess some buyers have pulled out in view of the financial crisis. The developed is called 'Chambord', the houses are built in a 'French' style (based loosely on the Chambord Chateau in the Loire Valley). As part of the promotion to sell these houses the developers decided to post a couple of soldiers as sentries on the main road. I think they must have got their European countries mixed up as the redcoats and bearskin hats (albeit flatted topped) look decidedly British. One of them was a real sloucher, no shoulders back! I'll suggest they rename the houses 'Waterloo Mansions'.

Alice is a bundle of energy now, she can now climb a flight of stairs with only a little assistance now. Her repetoire of words is very limited, she loves to say and wave 'bye bye' though. In the video clip she was exasperated because she'd said bye bye at least a dozen times and no-one was moving!

Alice at 11 months

2008-11-19T21:29:00.011+08:00

Well almost, 2 days short. She is now 'cruising' round the furniture. She loves to pull herself up and move around assisted by the chairs and tables. No major tumbles thankfully. On Saturday it was the first birthday party of our neighbour's little boy Jacques. He was born in the same hospital in the same ward as Alice about 5 weeks before. Like Alice, he is a golden pig (Chinese year of birth) hence the cake.

He had a great party at a restuarant with lawn, ponds and herb garden in Bade. Somewhere like that is a bit of a rarity in Taiwan.

Photos from the weekend

2008-11-10T19:56:00.011+08:00

Another good round of golf down in Taichung, despite the rain. I'm pictured here with Vincent, Ark and Charles. The weather forecasts here are generally remarkably accurate, it said it would rain in the afternoon, which it certainly did. It hasn't stopped since. The temperatures have dropped too. The air conditioning is now finally off until next year.

Alice has learned to full funny faces, not certain which I prefer.

Venice, Macau

2008-11-03T20:54:00.019+08:00

As a birthday treat to ourselves Joanne and I flew across to the Asian Las Vegas with Alice for a weekend away. There are apparently more than 30 casinos in Macau, we stayed in the newest and biggest, the recently completed Venetian. Judging by the amount of building going on there are plenty more casinos and super-hotels under construction. The Venetian is a hotel, casino shopping mall, concert hall and sports arena rolled into one.

It certainly makes an impressive effort to replicate the look and feel of the real Venice. The water in the canals could be a bit dirtier though! Even the taxi drop off point at the front is pretty impressive.

We escaped the bright lights for a couple of hours and visited the old Portugese streets of Macau island, although you have to drive past a half a dozen other enormous casinos with their neons lights to get there.

We met up with Scott who used to live in Zhongli but now works as a Project Manager in Macau on another casino project.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Venetian_Macao

Trick or Treat

2008-10-31T20:44:00.006+08:00

There is a creche behind Sogo in Zhongli. Alice goes there every now and again so she can be with other children. This evening they organized a Trick or Treat evening for the kids. Good fun the parents too!

NCU

2008-10-27T20:44:00.005+08:00

We had a stroll round the campus of the NCU on Sunday. It is so nice to see mature trees in Jhongli, quite a novelty here. We saw all the goldfish again being fed around the pontoon. It seems to be getting out of hand, the lake is pea green in colour due to the algae caused by the excess of nutrients. While we were there one man pulled up in a van and emptied two enormous sacks of stale bread into the lake for the fish.

Blogtoberfest

2008-10-27T20:28:00.009+08:00

On Saturday we headed down to Hu-Kou to meet some other Taiwan based English language bloggers at a Thai restuarant. It was a great evening. Alice got to meet two other very sweet little girls, Olivia and Chloe, of about the same age. Thanks to the New Hampshire Bushman for organising it.

On the way to Hu-Kou we ended up behind a couple of lorries carrying a dragon to an event somewhere. There were quite a few helpers on hand just in case it got out of hand I guess.

Taking the bike along too

2008-10-22T20:49:00.003+08:00

Taken on the way to work this morning.

Alice at 10 months

2008-10-21T22:19:00.005+08:00

Another month gone, almost a year old. She is getting very active and lively. This is the reaction when her mum and dad come to check up on her. She banged her chin a little bit but no harm done. Brave little girl, she didn't cry.

Yuan Jue Shi Temple

2008-10-19T19:59:00.011+08:00

On Saturday we took a walk down to the waterfall and pools below the Yuan Jue Shi temple overlooking Nei Hu. Joanne and I have been there before a few years ago, we'd forgotten how far down it was. It must have been half a kilometer of steps down. Coming back up was a challenge carrying Alice. At least she got chance to splash her feet in the water. I spotted an enormous spider at the bottom, which I managed to photograph from various angles.

Flying Cow Ranch

2008-10-11T20:24:00.013+08:00

Strange name I know, but that is what it is known by. It is located down in Miaoli county, an hour or so south of Jhongli. Very untypical Taiwan countryside, looks more like Switzerland. Lots of new things for Ai-Li to see, last weekend she got to see exotic animals, this weekend farm animals. Even sheep dogs, the first time I've seen since being in Wales. One area has been planted with plants designed to attract butterflies.

Zoo

2008-10-06T21:08:00.006+08:00

At the weekend we took Alice to Taipei zoo. She's still too young to really appreciate it but enjoyed herself none the same. The entrance fee is the grand sum of 60 NT per person (1 GBP). Out of curiosity I looked at the equivalent charges for London zoo - an adult has to pay 17 GBP. I bet they don't have vanishing elephants either, the ones we observed didn't do anything extraordinary while we were there though.

Crawling and reading

2008-10-03T20:22:00.002+08:00

JangMi

2008-09-27T22:16:00.004+08:00

Yet another typhoon bearing down on Taiwan, this one called Jang-Mi. It is predicted to hit the centre of the island, according to this forecast, at 8 o'clock tomorrow night. The last one didn't out to be too bad in Jhongli, although I think it was worse in mountainous areas. Just noticed it now categorised as a super-typhoon!

Alice at 9 months

2008-09-21T21:44:00.005+08:00

Little Alice has passed her latest milestone. She is finally starting to crawl, slowly but surely. Also a picture of Alice and me with Kevin, a cousin of Joanne's with his 3 month old son.

Wulai

2008-09-17T21:28:00.010+08:00

Finally after three days lost to typhoon Sinlaku we have had some sunshine right at the end of the parent's trip to Taiwan. We headed to Wulai in the mountains to the south of Taipei to stay in a hotel with a spa. Being mid-week and just after the typhoon, we virtually had the place to ourselves. The central street in Wulai is usually packed.

Ai-Li now seemingly has an endless supply of energy, it was good to have 4 adults to take turns keeping her amused.

Alice at 8 months

2008-08-25T20:13:00.006+08:00

She's still not crawling but starting to show signs that she might soon. She's certainly exercising her leg muscles a lot! I managed to take these in a brief moment when she was sitting still.

Chinese opera video

2008-08-19T18:32:00.000+08:00

Chinese Opera

2008-08-18T20:50:00.015+08:00

Yesterday a famous Chinese opera came to Jhongli, they set up their stage opposite Sogo. It attracted a crowd of many hundreds of people. Ghosts and the underworld featured a lot in the story as it is currently Ghost Month.

Haircut

2008-08-11T20:38:00.006+08:00

Alice had her first ever haircut on Saturday. The scarecrow look has gone. She sat still and let the lady do the cut. She didn't lose too much thankfully, her naturally curly hair is a novelty here. Her haircut turned out to cost more than mine does, a sign of things to come!

Alice's TV Commercial

2008-08-06T22:56:00.006+08:00

The commercial is now being shown on TV, on the Chinese channels, I doubt if it will appear on CNN or the other English speaking channels. It was also mentioned in the Taipei Times today that Fubon and Les Enphants are launching a joint credit card.

Receipt eater

2008-07-30T19:51:00.003+08:00

It is time to check the receipts again to see if we have won any money in the bi-monthly lottery. Alice gave me a hand as you can see. We ended up winning 400 NT (6 GBP). Our record win was last year 4 receipts totally 25 GBP.
This is the first time I've loaded a video on here via Youtube.

Noisy neighbours

2008-07-27T18:17:00.003+08:00

I've no idea what was going on at the local temple on Saturday morning and I didn't have time to go and see but there was certainly a lot of drumming and firecrackers.

New accessories

2008-07-27T18:10:00.005+08:00

Alice has received a few new presents from Canada, a pair of sunglasses and her first shoes, which she was pretty astonished to wear.

Next typhoon

2008-07-27T13:50:00.004+08:00

The next typhoon is fast approaching Taiwan, this one is called Fung-Wong. It looks like it will be a direct hit in the centre of the island. It might be a 'Typhoon Day' tomorrow, with schools and businesses closed. View from the balcony attached of approaching storm.

Alice at 7 months

2008-07-22T18:39:00.005+08:00

We've been bought a picture frame with spaces for each month of the baby's first year. I'll have to re-use some of these photos for that. Unfortunately my old computer crashed the other days and everything on it cannot be recovered. Thankfully I haven't lost too many photos and videos, most things I had backed up a couple of months ago.

Anyway, Alice is growing fast, she now has 2 teeth coming through, is eating more and more solid food and can almost sit on her own as long as she has something to hold on to. She still hasn't had a hair cut.

Typhoon Kalmaegi

2008-07-18T09:00:00.006+08:00

Korean name for the typhoon this time I think. Taiwan is in the grip of the first serious typhoon this year to hit the island. There is heavy rain and strong winds with some flooding and landslides in the east. The government announced the closure of schools and offices in the central counties of the island but those of us further north have to work as normal.

Filming

2008-07-17T20:41:00.008+08:00

I've not been able to post anything for a while as my computer has given up the ghost. I'm currently using a Chinese computer which is both an adventure and a challenge. Thankfully I collect my new Asus computer on Saturday, hopefully with English software.

The other day Alice was filmed for a TV commercial. It is being produced for a leading Taiwanese bank and a chain of children's wear stores for the launching of a new credit card. She did really well and was smiley for the cameras despite being tired and very hot under all the lights. After 6 hours the producer said he was happy with all the takes from various angles. The filming took place in a house in the south of Taipei, I have subsequently recognised the house in a number of other commercials. Hopefully the ad will eventually get aired if the clients are happy with it once it is edited and put together.

TV

2008-07-08T21:34:00.002+08:00

Alice has been selected to appear in a TV commercial. We had to go up to to the studio in Taipei so that the producer could check everything, including colour schemes, before filming later in the week. She was very well behaved and smiley for the camera. Joanne is already teaching her to sign her autograph in preparation for her 15 seconds of stardom.

Guguan Hot Springs

2008-06-29T18:21:00.008+08:00

As this weekend was our wedding anniversary we went away to Guguan in Taichung County to stay in a hotel in the mountains with a hot spring. There was a small spa in our room and much larger outdoor public ones, which were virtually empty. Alice got to swim for the first time, she doesn't seem to have a fear of water. The swimming pool in our building at home opens in a couple of days time, so she'll get to swim every day.

We stopped at Fongyuan and saw Vincent's plot of land, it is all marked out for the start of the digging of the foundations tomorrow.

http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/lan/cht/attractions/scenic_spots.asp?id=2255&sid=78

Cousins meet in Thailand

2008-06-18T11:57:00.007+08:00

Ai-Li has met her cousin Siam in Chiang Mai for the first time.

Some latest photos of Ai-Li

2008-06-10T20:32:00.006+08:00

Fire

2008-06-05T21:21:00.007+08:00

Last night we were woken up before 5am by Alice wanting her usual night feed and also the sound of many sirens. From the balcony I could see a big plume of smoke the other side of the park. It turned out to be a big fire caused by a gas explosion. It made the national news as sadly 3 members of the same family lost their lives.

It was fully light by 5.15, I was amazed at the amount of activity at that time in the morning. There were dozens of pensioners doing keep fit in groups in various corners of the park. Many others were walking laps. I wished them luck and came home and had another hour and a half in bed.

Roll over Beethoven

2008-05-24T15:55:00.003+08:00

Alice has just taught herself to roll over, at the moment only from her front to her back. It won't be long until she starts to crawl and the fun starts. She's also now taking very small amounts of grated apple to supplement her milk. She looked quite astonished the first time she had anything other than milk.

Alice at 5 months

2008-05-18T16:30:00.006+08:00

She's loves putting her hands in her mouth. She's more and more curious about the world around her and smiles at everyone she sees.

Packing them in

2008-05-13T18:30:00.003+08:00

In Japan not Taiwan thankfully. It was a bit like this at Herne Hill on the Thameslink trains on occasions. I wonder what happens at the next station.

Pescadores/ Penghu

2008-05-12T21:40:00.016+08:00

We've just come back from 3 days on the Pescadores Island 'Penghu Islands' as they seem to be called here. It is a group of small islands off the west coast of Taiwan, about a 45 minute flight from Taipei. The main islands are all linked together by bridges, which makes it feel larger than it actually is. The islands were a lot less crowded than the mainland and the air was a lot cleaner which was pleasant. They were certainly windy on a couple of the days we were there, which put paid to our plans to take a boat trip to visit the beautiful island of 'Chi Mei' - Seven Beauties and do some snorkelling. The wind meant our visit to see the wind turbines was worth it though. There are still a lot of traditional houses on the island, the main building material seems to be coral from the local reefs.

Some of the pictures include the ubiquitous puffer fish (which puffs itself up when aggitated - the Taiwanese seem to love making them do that), a very old and enormous banyan tree, Joanne meeting up with a university classmate who she hadn't seen for almost 20 years. My brother in law and I had a wade through the shallows at low tide at midnight seeing what we could catch, the sand shrimps could be eaten straight away by biting off the head and tail. The guide warned against touching anything we didn't recognise as some of the seashells are apparently highly poisonous. We were well looked after by our host who runs a B&B in a renovated part of the island's capital Magang. On Saturday it was the start of the Penghu firework festival, which was started to commemorate a deadly plane crash which took place near the islands back in 2002. The islands are very little visited by outsiders. During 3 days there I saw 2 other western faces and they looked more like English teachers than tourists.

Rainy Season

2008-05-12T21:35:00.003+08:00

The rainy season has started in Taiwan. The last few days haven't been too bad but last week it rained almost continuously for 3 days. It is due to get bad again later this week. When it isn't raining it is very pleasant - not too hot.

Taoyuan HSR station Development

2008-05-04T19:24:00.010+08:00

We took a look today at the planned development around the Taoyuan High Speed Rail Station. There are a lots of estate agents office that have sprung up in the past few months selling land and future apartments. There is a vast area of undeveloped land all around the station, which is starting to be developed. The railway actually goes underground for a kilometer or so either side of the station meaning there are no noisy trains above ground. Land has been set aside for a shopping mall on one side of the station and a hotel/ conference centre on the other. The future MRT (which terminates at Jhongli City - station A21) has 3 stations on the site, Station A18 right opposite the high speed station and then another station a short distance either side. MRT stations A11, 12 and 13 are at the 3 terminals of the international airport.

It is also planned to build an international school on the development site and a sports arena. It is hard to know how many of these things will actually happen. Certainly the MRT is well underway and the road network is finished. I've been in the area for a couple of years and can see the gradual development, still not many cranes in evidence.

It is the same story at a few other other stations along the high speed line, certainly at Hsinchu, Taichung and Tainan there are similar green field sites around the stations.

Mother and daughter

2008-05-04T19:20:00.002+08:00

Alice video

2008-04-30T18:26:00.002+08:00

Love the hair style!!

Buddha's birthday

2008-04-27T17:24:00.010+08:00

Today is Buddha's birthday in the year 2552. Buddhists from a local temple took over much of the local park for a meditation meeting and later a procession around the streets of Jhongli. Tents had started appearing yesterday all around the park and on the surrounding pavements. It turned out to be a big event and very well organized. Many of the tents were offering free food to the devotees. I'm not sure what the significance is of pouring water over the little statuettes but it was possible to do so at many stands all around the park. As soon as it was over, the monks packed everything away in trucks and disappeared and the park returned to normal again.

Number crunchers

2008-04-27T17:16:00.004+08:00

There was a lot going on first thing this morning at the local park. In one corner there were the buddhists (separate post) and in another corner, the number crunchers.

To be honest I've no idea what they were doing but there were a lot of people gathered together studying sheets of numbers. Joanne tells me that one man's card says that he is a retiree from the Hong Kong lottery. A crowd of people gathered around his table while he linked numbers together on a grid - some were furiously taking notes, future lottery winners no doubt.

Golf again

2008-04-27T16:44:00.005+08:00

Yesterday was another golfing day, this time on a hillside overlooking Taichung. A challenging course with lots of ups and downs.
The number remains constant, we said goodbye to 2 more colleagues a Frenchman and a Canadian but have managed to unearth a few more to replace them. I got a prize for the third best score by a Brit (there were 3 competing). As you can see there was an added incentive not to hit wayward shots into the rough.

Beware of the snakes

2008-04-25T18:18:00.006+08:00

As the warm weather has just about arrived and the reptiles must be more active again, posters have appeared at work warning staff working out in the field to beware of snakes. It seems like there are some pretty nasty ones out there. I can only guess that the 'hundred pacer' is so named due to the time you've got before the venom takes effect. I'll stick in the office I think.

Temple

2008-04-25T18:13:00.005+08:00

Every evening down at the local taoist temple the devotees meet to pray and chant. I took a couple of pics on my way past yesterday. Unlike at the buddhist temples they do not shave their hair off.

Jhongli MRT

2008-04-23T19:22:00.006+08:00

Work has started on the 51 km Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) railway that will link Jhongli to the International airport and on to Taipei. When it is eventually completed the Jhongli-rens will be able to travel to Taipei by MRT, by the conventional TRA railway or on the High-Speed Railway. At the moment the Jhongli MRT station will be the end of the line - station No 21, although I think further extensions are proposed, getting information in English isn't easy. The line is a mixture of underground sections and elevated sections on viaduct. The Jhongli station is planned to be an underground one, it is next to the ring road to the north of the city. It doesn't look very impressive now but should hopefully do so in 2013 when it is finished. Property prices are bound to increase all the way along the line.

Alice at 4 months old

2008-04-19T13:39:00.007+08:00

Ai-Li is growing up fast and thankfully starting to sleep through a good part of the night too. she had her 4 monthly check up and injections today.

What's in a name?

2008-04-17T20:29:00.006+08:00

Someone pointed out to me recently that Jhongli should in fact be Chung-Li.

Leaving aside the hyphen, here is a selection of possibilities for the town's name.

The most common one is in fact Jhongli. Joanne reliably informs me that the correct spelling is in fact 'Zhongli' as on the bus. This is the Hanyu Pinyin method of Romanising the Chinese characters. Thankfully the Chinese characters for Jhongli never change.

Another town with a changeable name is Ximen/ Shimen which caused me a few problems when I first arrived in Taiwan.

Goldfish heaven

2008-04-13T18:16:00.008+08:00

We've discovered a lake up on the campus of the Chung Yang University where we sometimes go for walks. It seems that feeding the fish is quite an event.

The fish get into such a frenzy that some of them actually get lifted above the surface of the water on the backs of others.

Scooter safety

2008-04-13T18:13:00.004+08:00

Didn't have my camera with me unfortunately the day I saw someone transporting a mattress.