Asymmetry

Crabs in Pingtung's aquarium.

Stains

On Yehliu's rocks.

On the bend

Kenting

It is almost three months ago that I went to Kenting, for the annual meeting of the Astronomical Society of the Republic of China. I had a few exhausting days before going, sleeping not too much finishing things, but also there, with the trip and the stay, still not much sleep joined by some toothache. Maybe that is the reason why I never put up any pictures when I came back.

We did not really had much time to do any sightseeing, during the day, apart from visiting the National Museum of Marine Biology, which was in the same building where we had the meeting in Pingtung. Amazing, with rays, sharks, all kinds of jellyfish, a whale shark, all kinds of little (or not so little) fish, marine animals and plants






and some penguins too.

Kenting, which I saw more at night than during the day, is located at the southern tip of Taiwan and it resembles so many touristical coastal locations, with lots of half-naked people walking in the streets, full of shops and stalls decorated with shiny lights and deafening music. One night, though, I could see parts of the southern night sky that I had never seen before. A foreboding night maybe. Now, after all that has happened, I cannot escape an ambivalent feeling when I recall those days.

Accumulated rain

A spectacular image obtained by NASA's satellite TRMM showing the rainfall originated by the Morakot typhoon de la NASA from August 3 to 10. Impressive.

Taroko

Shortly after arriving to Taiwan, somebody told me that if I had to visit some place in the island, I had to go to Taroko Gorge, which is considered the crown jewel of the natural parks of the country. But more than a year has gone by before I could go. Finally, last weekend, I went there with two riends of mine that are visiting me and other post-docs of the IAA.

We left early in the morning from Taipei in a train that took us to Hualien, where a guide picked us up and went with us for most of Saturday and Sunday. Taroko is a gorge with a narrow river that runs along at the bottom, between very high walls, most of them covered in green.


The rocks are mostly marble and there are many waterfalls


It is certainly a very beautiful place, with innumerable trails to walk on. We did some of the most typical ones, I guess, as the Tunnel of Nine Turns,


where we had to wear a helmet due to the risk of falling rocks —as I could tell when a couple of small size rocks fell 5-10 meters from me; a walk along the Baiyang Trail, and all its many tunnels,


until we reached a spectacular waterfall, maybe not because of its height, but because of the amount of water,

even if we could see two waterfalls more from there;

an illegal swim in the Shakadang Trail


and crossing hanging bridges.

On Sunday afternoon, we ended up in the beach, where we went for a short swim in the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The weather was fairly good most of the time, except in the evening of both days, and despite the heat, I had a good time. Of course, we also could see many small critters


(many big spiders, too)

and little flowers or colourful leaves in the park, which is always nice.





It looks as if I was re-connecting with nature, uh?

Covers

I am sure that somewhere somebody is maintaining a blog on manhole covers or the covers of service tunnels, electrical wiring, etc. Or maybe not, but after years of walking up and down streets, and of seeing all kinds of designs and decorations, I am beginning to think that it would be a good idea to collect all the variety of tastes and ideas out there. As a sample, the manhole covers of the water company in Taipei.

Fish below, trees above. Or this picture I took of another one in the Old Street in Sansia; one of the many different types that were along the street.

Maybe I have found a goal in life. I hope not.

Spring

Spring began last Friday, in the evening in Taiwan. At least, the astronomical spring, because it has felt like Spring here these last few weeks. So, to celebrate, some pictures of flowers




and of other non-classified plants

or of blossoming trees.


All very beautiful. And it is a pity that I am unable to take a decent picture of the many, mainly white, butterflies that I see fluttering around campus every morning. It was a long time ago the last time I saw so many in a city.

Toys

After the series of traditional style animals and demons of a few days ago, now a picture I took several months ago, in my visit to Yingge, with a different kind of modern pets. All together now.

Shops

One of the first things that you must learn here is where is the nearest convenience store. Shops that apparently never close —I saw many open even for Chinese New Year— where you can go to buy anything to eat, or to drink, or reading material (if you can read it), or for other small personal needs, at any time.

There are different shop chains, the best known is surely 7-Eleven

part of a Taiwanese economical empire. But there are other, like Family Mart

or OK Mart

etc. You can trust that there will be at least one, open, anywhere you go.

For Rent

As part of the global economy, Taiwan does not escape the world economic crisis. And people begin to be worried. Exports have plummeted, unemployment grows, factories close down or must merge, there are rumours about the reliability of some banks. That is what newspapers print. But I realized the other day that some things are changing around me. For instance, the office that opened in my building in November has been closed for more than two weeks. Or here, at the crossing of Roosevelt Rd and Keelung rd, where there was a car dealer, it is completely empty now and on the outside is the character

zū: for rent. Maybe they are really related to the crisis.

Animals (part 4)

And then, there is the category of small figures, monochrome generally, scattered on the edges or near the tips of roofs. They seem to watch the horizon.



As you can imagine, there may be many, and very different.

Animals (part 3)

Another kind of little demons (maybe lions or dragons, too, I do not know) to finish, for now.


watching a bridge,

just lacking a cigar in its mouth