Fat Fat Fish Eyes: yuck alert!

On Sunday night we went out with a big group of people to the Fat Fat Boat Restaurant. We had one of these orange fish, it was served whole, and its eye was popping out.

Update: hey, you know, B didn't actually eat any. He stuck to white rice and icecream, the constipation diet. But he had fun with the eye...while P averted her eyes, and ate the yummy fish (but not the eyeballs).

Happy Birthday A & M

For Aaron.
From both of us.

UPDATE: And Marie, and Marie, and Marie too! Happy birthday!

Feline Friday

Here are the kitty cats enjoying a snooze outside on the balcony.

Fish are back

The fish food dispensers are back at the CKS Memorial Park!

This is just the top of a fish food dispenser, with the memorial roof in the background. The dispenser is shaped like a big fish, and if you put NT$10 (about 35 cents) into the coin slot, you get a small packet of fish food. When you throw the pellets into the pond, the giant goldfish (carp) just go crazy! Feeding the fish is a lot of fun.

Feline Friday

Our other cat friend is Tigger, a Taiwan born and bred feline furball. This guy is ALWAYS hungry!
The great photo is from S.

UPDATE: if you click on the picture of the cat, it will spin around.

Zuo tian ye...

Today we went to lots of places in Taipei. It was sunny and warm...
This is me on an overpass near the Taipei Main Station.

S'Art US in Taiwan

UPDATE: S made this picture for a birthday card. That's Taiwan my mum is swinging off.

Hike on Sunday

A couple more pictures from our hike on Sunday...


We took a train to Fulong and then a taxi out to the start of the hike.
On the trail it was like Taipei Main Station but with fresh air.
We didn't know it was National Hiking Day.
After a bit of this, we turned back and recovered by the river. We spotted a dead Formosan Pangolin wedged between some rocks. But the best bit was climbing on the rocks in the river up to the waterfall with J.

The fallow rice paddy was Tadpole Central.

Then we headed to less crowded paths...

Finally to the beach so that I could get wet and covered with sand (Oh, that's Mum writing!) and then back on the train to Taipei. We are especially lucky to have such fun and kind people to hike with, thanks P O & J!

Fulong Haiku

To mark our hike in Fulong (福隆) today, and in response to rank's post, we have composed the following Haiku:

草嶺古道 Caoling Gudao

Back from the mountains
Legs are tired but we
Don't care. Sandy toes.

Feline Friday

This is Chase. Isn't he lovely? He moved from the US to Taiwan. He is S's cat. He's very shy, so we don't often get to pat him.

Martyrs Shrine

This lion is a foo dog. Yup, a foo dog. You can also call it an Imperial guardian lion.
Foo dogs protect buildings, especially Buddhist shrines, in China, Korea and Japan.
This foo dog was at the Martyr's Shrine in Taipei. All around the shrine are mountains. Lots of people come by tour bus to see the changing of the guards, which takes about 20 minutes. The changing of the guards happens once every hour. The guards are in front of a building that looks like a Chinese palace. It is for the memory of soldiers, like a war memorial.

Mum's Fieldwork

It's not always fun. Sometimes it makes us want to bite ourselves.

We went to the Presidential Building open day today.

Halloween

Wednesday was Halloween. Halloween is a festival popular in the USA. In Taiwan some people also like to dress up and have a party, or decorate their school or office. Here is a photo from the underground mall near Taipei main train station. The decorations were all made of balloons.