Xiao-jen's baby girl

The following pictures are of Xiao-jen's baby girl. Xiao-jen and her husband own a tea shop restaurant nearby. We go there quite a lot for lunch and J plays with Xiao-jen's niece. I posted these pics here so they could have a copy for themselves. Actually, I've since helped them set up their own photo blog (click here.)

This pic is slightly out of focus, unfortunately, but I think it's still a nice pic. 


Cute - and chubby! 


Xiao-jen's baby girl a month (or two?) later... 


Sorry, this one is not focused properly. 


This is Xiao-jen's baby. 

Jason collage

Another collage of J pics. 

Terra Rossa in Da-du

K probably won't thank me for posting a pic of her bottom for the world to see, but I really took this to show the characteristically red stony earth of the area (this part of Da-du, which literally means 'big tummy', is not so far from the Dong-Hai area). 

Can't resist wild flowers

These are pretty hardy flowers. You find them growing anywhere. I ought to find out what they're called. 

Look yonder!

J was a bundle of energy on the trail, nimbly scampering along and chattering the whole time. 

Over the hills and far away

It doesn't look very exciting but the hills of Da-du made a nice change from the type of vegetation that you normally get on hiking trails in central Taiwan. I could hear many kinds of birds but unfortunately I wasn't able to identify them. Next time I must bring the binocs. Saw a hawk hovering and then go into a dive and we also saw a large eagle gliding about. 

Puff, pant...

Just a little bit further. Actually, K did amazingly well considering the weighty cargo she was carrying. 

The "Great Wall" trail of Da-du

K posing with the [ahem] so-called "Wall of China" path snaking off into the distance behind her. 

Hiking in Da-du

It's Sunday. The weather's nice. So what do you do? You head out into the hills of Da-du is what you do. We had a little trouble finding the start of the trail and ended up driving up a very bumpy trail and having to reverse back down some of the way which was a little adventure of its own. The trail is not very well known as it was only built last year. This is a good thing. I suppose it won't be long before it's discovered and then people will be arriving in busloads probably, which will attract the street vendors and the BBQ litterbugs.  

Mullberry scarecrow

Mullberry picking again. Wouldn't you just know it my camera battery died (I still haven't got round to getting a spare) soon after we arrived but I did get this nice shot. Lillian, Jocelyn and Willy helped us pick two large bucketfuls. K cooked some up in a big pot and I had some covered with plain drinking yoghurt.