Thursday, May 27, 2004

Back garden


Our back garden growing like crazy. I wish our own potted plants could grow like this.  Posted by Hello

Monday, May 24, 2004

Sunflower


Let's start Monday with a nice big smiley sunflower.
There is a long row of sunflowers lining the path leading to Chung-hsing uni campus. Some must be ten feet tall but many of them have dried up already.  Posted by Hello

Sunday, May 23, 2004

Sogo's bulging stickman


Just look at this figure running (floating?) upstairs. And what is going on with that bulge?
This sign is in the underpass that emerges right outside Sogo department store. The Chinese just says, "This way for Sogo, and please don't be a litterbug." Posted by Hello

Michael, Kelly and Jason outside Sogo


This is Yvonne's husband, Michael, who lives in Yunlin and was visiting Taichung for the day.
Jason suddenly became all shy for this photo. Posted by Hello

Yvonne and Michael at Sogo food festival


This is Yvonne who came with her husband Michael and their 6-month-old son, Vincent, to the food festival outside Sogo department store.
Basically it consisted of a couple of foreigner bands playing on stage and various restaurants flogging their food from stalls. There were a couple of drinks promotions (BudIce and Smirnoff) as well to keep the alcoholic foreigners happy.
A good turn out of foreigners and Taiwanese who were rather intrigued at the sight of so many (mostly) white folks socializing.
Jason was most interested in the slide inside on the 8th floor, the ice cream shop and the musical clock which plays, "It's a small world after all" on the hour every hour as some mechanical puppets pop out of the clock face and spin around and do things.
Vincent fell asleep and I never managed to get a pic of him. Posted by Hello

Big black beetle


I'll put pre-May 2004 pictures up at Yahoo Photos, I think, but I'll just sneak in this one from last month.
This was taken on another walk just outside Gu-guan in Taichung county.  Posted by Hello

Temple in Hou-li


Here's that temple in Hou-li I keep going on about. Most temples in Taiwan look nothing like this one.
The plant in the foreground is kind of special too. Really, really tall. Maybe it's some kind of bamboo. I have a book about plants in Taiwan somewhere; I'll look it up when I have time (yeah, right!) Posted by Hello

Sour grapes


One part of the vineyard which was near the main cottagey buildnigs, which included a coffee shop. They grew coffee beans there too and I was even given one to try - well the outside skin bit. Tastes like broad beans. Posted by Hello

Vineyard in Hou-li


Here's part of that vineyard in Hou-li with grapes to prove that it really is a vineyard.
The camera didn't flash so the grapes were originally too dark but a quick trip to Photoshop (FotoCavas actually) has rescued them from the dustbin.
I was standing with one foot on the side of a rocky wall so please forgive the wonky angle. Posted by Hello

"Be a good person."


Along the trail leading up and around the back of the temple in Hou-li, there were various signs reminding people to be morally virtuous in thought and deed.
'How strange to take a photo of it,' was the look on the faces of Lillian and husband Johnny.  Posted by Hello

Our little scholar (again)


I couldn't decide which of these pictures to put here so I put both. This one came out quite well even without flash. Posted by Hello

Our little scholar


Our little scholar is sometimes quite obliging when it comes to posing for daddy's silly pictures. This statue is next to Chung-Hsing Uni campus lake.  Posted by Hello

Ribbit!


There are loads of frogs in Chung-Hsing university's lake. They get very vocal in the evening.
In the past few weeks I have noticed numerous tiny frogs hopping about in the grass around the lake. They are tricky to catch and I snapped this pic just half a second before it leapt off into the dark. Perhaps we will meet again.  Posted by Hello

Getting into the swing of things


Next to the pavillion half way around one of the Hou-li trails is this hammock as well as a couple of swings.
There were quite a lot of large black butterfies flitting about in the woods but the damn things wouldn't stay still long enough to be photographed. Better come back with a very large net next time.  Posted by Hello

Sticky fingers


Here's Jocelyn trying some honey straight from the tap. The vat is where the racks of honeycomb are placed and then spun by hand using a large red handle just out of the picture. The honey flies off the combs and collects at the bottom.
Jocelyn is wearing her newly purchased hat. Can you see the spot of honey on it? [chuckle!] Posted by Hello

Bees please


On the way back from the hiking trails we stopped off at what was supposed to be a wine-making factory where you could see wine being made. In fact, it's one big permanent tourist market. In the carpark there were at least a dozen coaches from all over Taiwan. Jason was interested in the beehive but was concerned that he might get stung like daddy on grandma's allotment.

Although there were quite a few bees buzzing about there was also a lot of smoke to keep 'em drowsy. We ended up buying a big bottle of honey from them. The man explained that a lot of honey sold in Taiwan is actually fake. It's actually mostly sugar syrup with enough honey added to make you think it's all honey. If you take a small amount of honey and burn it with a lighter it should bubble without turning black. If it does turn black then sugar has been added and you've been had.

I wish you could try this stuff. It's dark, tasty and, needless to say, it's incredibly sweet.  Posted by Hello

On the Hou-li trail


Our friend Lillian's daughter, Jocelyn, and Sweat Bucket race down the path. Actually we were heading up the trail, but had stopped for a rest in a pavillion. The path just went up and up and up and it was HOT, HOT, HOT! We ended up going back down to the carpark where they sold - you guessed it - ice cream.
We vow to return when it's cooler in the autumn. There's a whole network of trails in the area. Posted by Hello

Saturday, May 22, 2004

Lantern flowers


I love these flowers. Lantern flowers in Chinese. There were loads of beautiful flowers on the walking trail in Hou-li but these were my bestest favourite of the lot. Posted by Hello

Fortune dummy


Outside a fortune teller's shop on San-min Rd., Taichung. I snapped it with the window wound down and then went home and cropped it and resized it using ACDSee Fotocanvas. Came out pretty good. Each area or point on the body represents a celestial something or other. I really must go back and take some more pics.  Posted by Hello

Vogue!


This was taken outside a shop just off Tien-jing Rd., which is the place to go if you want Chinese/ethnic-style clothes. Wife loves it - spends loads of hard-earned there...I just get to stand about and say whether or not I like the particular items she tries on. "That's nice dear" or three hours later, just a plain shrug. I usually end up playing with the camera, which possibly explains why I took this pic. Posted by Hello

Pomelos all over the shop


Ahh! Pomelos. At a certain time of the year, the blossom on pomelo trees smells incredibly sweet, but there were no fragrant whiffs on this occasion.
In the background you can see the boardwalk which forms the trail in Hou-li. It was swelteringly hot, not that you can tell from the picture.  Posted by Hello

Ice cream


Time for ice cream at the vineyard. I had taken so many pics that Sunday in Hou-li I had used up my entire memory card (100 pics on 'large, superfine' so I had to go back and delete a pic that I had already saved.
You can't see the vineyard here but you'll have to take my word for it that it's in the background down some steps! Of course the best thing about the vineyard for the kids was the slide and the ice cream.
After a quick look at the vines, we hurried into the wonderfully air-conditioned shop where we tried various kinds of wine and settled on a good one - not too sweet, with a homebrew flavour, but very nice indeed.
Unfortunately my pics of the grapes hanging on the vine didn't come out that well so you'll have to make do with this one.  Posted by Hello

First post so don't get too excited

I've been through a whole rigmarole to set this up so I can publish photos here easily using the Picasa Hello program. Here goes.....