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.

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?

(Partial) Solar Eclipse

Naturally, we had a date with the solar eclipse this morning. It was a partial one in Taiwan, about 82%. If you wanted to see the total eclipse, you would not need to go too far away from here, to China, to Shanghai for instance, where a lot of people of the ASIAA and Shida went to, but I still do not know how was the weather like there. It was not my case; I did not travel this time.

So, several people got together to see the show this morning.

The sky was not completely clear, because we had the same kind of clouds as yesterday, but we did not have any problem to follow the evolution of the eclipse, be it with filters, cameras or a simple pinhole.


I could also see the sickle-shaped shadows of the tree leaves that I had seen on other occasions,

which give a fantastic flair to the place.

The clouds were good for two things: they made the waiting a little bit cooler and allowed us to make some spectacular pictures, without any filter and just holding the camera.


The rest of the day has been somewhat disappointing, of course, but I was surprised at how excited I was just remembering what I saw one year ago in China.

Hiking

When black clouds gather inside my head, a way out is to meet some friends around a table and spend some time to see if the conversation, jokes or serious stuff manage to cheer me up and I end up walking out with a lively step and flying again over my worries. Besides, if they also ask me if I want to go hiking on the following day, the best thing to do is to say yes.

So, Saturday morning, I met with some other post-docs met at the Taipei Main Station, took the MRT to Beitou, then a taxi to Zhuzihu (Bamboo Lake, even if there is no lake and few bamboo trees) to hike in the Yangmingshan National Park, north of Taipei.

As I have probably said more than once, Taipei is surrounded by mountains, around 1000 m high, and Yangmingshan is supposed to be one of the more beautiful places. I had wanted to go for months, but I only did it for the first time yesterday. It was a wonderful sunny day, as many of previous ones,

which meant that it was very hot and the Sun was bound to burn you.

After a good meal, and under the naked Sun —I could almost hear the prototypical old man complaining about the time we were setting off, but the company was like that—, we took the trail that lead to Xiaoyoukeng

made of stones and/or steps, going up, gently in some parts, steeply in others. The initial part of the trail was flanked by a thick forest of different kinds of trees, bamboo trees among them,

traversed by many different sounds, butterflies of many colors (and oh so beautiful)


colourful fireflies


and full of plants with odd leaves.


Once we were up there, the landscape had changed from the initial forest, to pine trees to a kind of tall grassland without any trees, and later we could see the fumaroles at the feet of Qixingshan, while we recovered from the walk (listening to Abba, by the way)


Some of us climbed up Qixingshan (the 7 star mountain), of 1120 m, the tallest mountain of northern Taiwan. I really enjoyed it, pushing myself up the very steep steps that took us there. We found several fumaroles more on our way up, and were subjected to the changing wind and Sun, sweating a lot.

We could see Taipei at our feet on some parts of the trail, even if the air was not so clear as we would have wished.

At the top, we had a magnificent view of the North-East coast to reward our effort —I could even see Yehliu— with a very clear sky and that great feeling that comes from reaching the summit, it does not matter how small.


We climbed down on the other side of the mountain, where there were similar or even steeper slopes, even if they were short, and we managed to catch the last bus to Taipei.

One of the postdocs asked me later, while we had dinner, what was the goal of hiking, to get tired?. I do not know, but for me, it is that mix of walking in nature, reach a beautiful place and stress my body with exercise, which on some day, and while I am still healthy, it is the best thing to do. A clean body, a clean spirit.

Plants

We have new lifeforms in my office since yesterday. It is one of those things that it could be said are a consequence of the so-called feminine touch: three plants to improve the decoration and to cheer up the place.




Yesterday afternoon, we made a short visit to the plant and flower market that is placed midway between my apartment and work. The choice was quite fast, even with all the variety of interior or exterior plants, and many flowers; some very beautiful. It was funny to see some plants or flowers that are almost an institution in my family. Well, I am not sure if some were exactly the same, but they sure looked like it.

Little pleasures

Memory always ends up fooling me, but I do not remember that we had so many sunny days last year at the beginning of May. I am not complaining, today and yesterday have been fantastic days, with blue skies, maybe occasionally crossed by a white cloud, and a Sun resembling the early summer sun from back home. It is warm, but still comfortable.

Yesterday at midday, I had lunch by myself —by stupid chance— and after eating I sat in a bench of the garden in front of my building at campus. Sitting under the shade of the palm trees, which were gently rocked by a cool breeze that maintained a perfect temperature and listening to the birds singing, while my eyes wandered over the green grass and the trees, I spent 20 minutes savouring pieces of watermelon and soaking in the quiet around me. And dozing off little by little too.

Little, and ephemeral, but very pleasant moments of an otherwise ordinary day, that I do not usually enjoy as much as I should.

Back on stage

They could have been there before that —I do not think so—, but it was not until last Monday or Tuesday, when I walked by on my way back home, that I could hear again the strong croaking of frogs around the flower market located near my apartment. Maybe it is because of Spring that they feel like doing it again, but it took them a long time to do it; it had been months since the last time I heard them. One day or two before that, I could also see one of the very small but very noisy frogs that are in campus —they are reckless, because I was this close to stepping on it— but I only began hearing them again these last few days.

Tremors

In life, you can find yourself in some situations where your legs shake. In others, emotions can be so intense that you might think that the earth is rocking. I experienced one last Friday in which it was really shaking. A few minutes after 8:30pm, suddenly, a couple of strong shakes; another earthquake. It was shorter than others I have felt here, but with apparently more intense oscillations. And, for the first time, with some reaction from the locals. Not that much, mind you. Later I found out that it had been of a 5.5 magnitude. I guess that we can notice it better in our tall and narrow building, but I think it was the first one I registered since last year.

Botanical garden

Continuing on the pictures of plants and flowers that I put up these last few days, I went to the Botanical Gardens of Taipei last weekend. I had intended to go to take a look for weeks, but for some reason I never remembered to go (probably week-end laziness). I finally did last Sunday. I arrived a little late, but soon enough to take a walk.





It was a beautiful day, and warm. At sunset, it was very nice.



And when I said I was late, it was because some parts were closing around 5pm, or they began watering the plants