ABC Wednesday: G is for a Green Pond

Green Pond (碧潭) is a small pound in the middle of one of the rivers that flow through Taipei District.  It is really only right at the city limit and only 20 minutes from our home.  It has been a favorite place for young lovers to date and paddle the small rented boats.  The pond can be crossed by a suspended foot bridge.  Many tragedy has happened in the lake, either young couples drown in the pond from tipped over boat or heart-broken lovers jump over from the suspended bridge.  We were warned not to go to the pond to play the water when we were young.  Things have been much improved since.

Chinese Valentine Day is at the 7th of July in the Chinese lunar calendar and this year it falls on August 16.  It is kind of tradition that young lovers should cross over a bridge during that day.  Although when we went to the Green Pond, it was not exactly the Valentine Day.  Nonetheless the county has a Valentine Day Festival during that weekend.  Many people were walking across the bridge.

Here is a more artistic view of the suspended bridge.

The lakeshore and on the lake also packed with people waiting for the sunset and fireworks.

Notice the little figure on the rock.  The gentleman has been showing off jumping off the rock for many years.  The local policemen have given up on stopping him.

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ABC Wednesday: F is for Fisherman

We have been quite busy recently.  Grace's father has not been in very good health and came to Taiwan with her sister from Hong Kong to see doctors in Taiwan.  His condition was a bit better last weekend.  We decided to take them for a trip to the Northeast Coast National Scenic Area.  Bradley has posted his trip to the area not too long ago.  We arrived at Daxi Fishing Port just after lunch.  There were no Greater Crested Tern for us to photograph this time.  But we arrived just in time for the returning fishing fleet came into the port.

Here one of the Fishing boat was steaming into port with Turtle Island in the background.

The waterway inside the port is quite narrow and it was amazing to see how the fishing boat maneuvered through the waterway like a car.

Here one of the colorful Fishing vessel was docking by the harbor ready for unload.

The labors on the vessel were quickly sorting out the fishes.  Most of them are foreign workers from Southeast Asia.

It is really hard work, not many local people are willing to take on this type of job anymore.  Here they were sorting out beltfish.

Here is a closer look of one of them, a very colorful looking guy.

Here the Taiwanese Captain was unloading a bucket full of fresh fish with the help of his assistant.

What a weather beaten, hard living character, a real Fisherman!

But look, he is really enjoying his life as the Captain of a Fishing vessel.

Now his assistant was pulling the bucket to shore.  The land based crew quickly sorted the fish for the buyer.  Bradley was one of the enthusiastic shopper.  How much?  He asked.  NT$500 (US$13) per kilogram!  Could I have this piece?  He asked.  How they laughed!!  They only sell the fish by the bucket!!!

She must be an owner of the Fishing vessel or daughter of the owner.  With earrings and fake eyelashes, mixing with the labors and carefully took down all the numbers.

Daxi Fishing Port is at Yilan county.  It is famous for the green mountains and sweet spring water which are said to produce beautiful girls.  Seeing these Fisherman's daughters in the mid of hard working Fishermen, We have no doubt of that.

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ABC Wednesday: D is for Dandelion

I always consider Dandelion as a weed and a nonsense for the lawns. However, I must admit that it does have lovely yellow color flowers.

The yellow flower heads turn into balls of silver tufted fruits, which every kid loves.

That includes our lovely granddaughter.  Whenever she got a chance in the Spring, she would pick up every Dandelion in the neighborhood and blow on it.

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Today's Flower #105: Orchids at Restaurant Sixteen

I (Grace) was at the Restaurant Sixteen of the Trump International Hotel and Tower in early June.  The table setting included a single green orchid in a frosted glass vase.

The dessert is a key lime pie which matched the orchid very nicely.  It is not only good looking but very delicious indeed, moist and creamy!

On another side of the dining table are orange orchids which stand out from the white tablecloth and simple tablewares.

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Skywatch Friday & ABC Wednesday: C is for Chicago

I (Grace) went to Chicago in early June.  Chicago has become a more and more livable city with many historical landmarks and modern ambiance.  Here are some famous buildings along the Chicago River.  On the far left hand side is the newly opened Trump International Hotel and Tower.  The building with the clock tower is the Wrigley building which is the Headquarter for the Chewing gum company.  Behind that is the Tribune Tower which is the Headquarter for the major daily newspaper, Chicago Tribune.   The road between the two buildings is the Michigan Avenue, also called Magnificent Mile.

Here is a close up of the clock tower of Wrigley building and the neo-gothic style of the Tribune Tower.

I took the photograph from the lobby of the Restaurant Sixteen at the Trump International Hotel and Tower.  Here you can see that the Wrigley building has two towers: in the front (South Tower) is 30 stories tall, and in the back (North Tower) is 21 stories high.

Here is the small dining room beside the main dining room with fantastic view, clean design and more intimate seating.  

I took this photograph from my hotel window at 5:30 AM.  This is the other side of the Chicago River.  The twin "corncob" towers are the famous Marina Towers Condominium.  You can keep your boat at the lower dock, park your car at the lower levels, and live on the top levels.  A true Marina City with shops, restaurants, and cinemas.

Here is the same place late at night.  You can see the dark blue sky and the reflections on the Chicago River.

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Today's Flower #104: TianLiaoYang (田寮洋)

Now, what is this.  There is no flower in it, way too late.  It is a ripe rice field ready to be cut down.  The yellow color is from the golden grain of the rice plant. TianLiaoYang was the last stop of my bird photographing trip of last Sunday.

The newly constructed Route 2C is a bypass road that went across mountain range to connect Taipei to the northeast coast of Taiwan.  The route went through very pretty valley which before the construction of Route 2C could not be access easily.  We visited the area several times before and have a blog of it here.  TianLiaoYang is several kilometers inland before Route 2C joined the costal Highway 2.  It is a wetland surround by low rolling hills with a railroad track went through its middle.  It was quite amazing standing on the hill watching the train went through the middle of the rice field.  It is really a Shangri-la frozen in time.  The wetland has been converted into rice field for years and farmed by the local farmers for generations.

As you can see here, the water of the rice field has been drained and the rice was cut down manually, the stalks have been tied up and let dry under the sun.  The place has been made famous for two reasons.  First, it has been a staging ground for migrating birds passing through Taiwan.  Several very rare birds have been spotted here.  The other reason is as the Route 2C opens, the government would like to convert the rice field for development, that has the local farmers up in arm.

The rice field was dry and the season was not for the migrating birds.  The only birds I saw was several egrats hanging around the edge of the rice field.

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Camera-Critters #121: Greater Crested Tern

As I described in my Skywatch Friday blog, the main purpose for visiting Daxi Harbor was to photograph the water birds.  There were the usual egrets hanging about the fishing boats.

But the most amazing sights is the Greater Crested Tern (鳳頭燕鷗), Sterna bergii.  They are very similar to the Common Tern that I have seen on Cape Cod.  There were 20s or 30s of them hovering over the harbor diving down to pick up the fish that were throw down from the fishing boat.

The tern nest on the islands around Taiwan and migrate to Taiwan during the summer month then move down to islands of Southeast Asia as far south as Australia during the winter months.

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Skywatch Friday: Daxi (大溪)

After my stop at Keelung harbor to photograph the Black-crowned Night Heron and Black Kite, I continued my trip on Expressway 62 toward east and arrived at Northeast Coast National Scenic Area.  My first stop was FuLong Railroad Station.  FuLong has a very nice sandy beach, because of the easy railroad access, it has been a popular beach going place for a long time.  I remember taking a train ride to Fulong with my parents for the beach when I was very little.  The reason for my stop over was to buy a Bento for lunch.  Fulong is a major stop for the East Coast Railroad.  The train leaving Taipei often arrives at the station around meal hour.  Many vendors sell Railroad Bento on the train side directly to the passengers.  Through the years, The Rail Bento of Fulong has gotten very famous.  I arrived at 11:30 and there was a long line waiting outside of the famous Bento stores already.  One Bento only costs NT$55 (about US$1.5).  Tourists before me were buying 10s of Bento.  I felt I was such a looser to only buy one, I braved myself and bought two!!

After lunch, I drove to my next destination, Daxi Harbor.  The above image is Turtle Island, as you can see from its shape.  It is a volcanic island and the only active volcano in Taiwan.  It used to be a military restricted area and now allows limited access to tourists.  The surrounding area is rich fishing ground and Daxi Harbor is right opposite to Turtle Island.

The harbor is really quite small but a very active fishing port, and now is quite a tourist attraction.  The first part of the road leading to the port is lined with vendors selling all kinds of cooked or fried seafood, such squid and crabs.

The area around the harbor then is an active fish market.  The fishing vessels arrive in the early afternoon to unload their catch of the day.  The Coast Guard inspects the cargo and the vessel first, then the fish is loaded onto the land.

The fish and crabs are sorted right away, the bad ones are thrown away into the harbor and the good ones displayed for the buyers.

The fish is not giant Tuna or Swordfish alike.  The coast is very rugged, they are small rift fish, smaller and very colorful.  Very suitable for Chinese cooking!

There are also plenty of shrimp, squid, octopus and different shell fish.  The little octopus on the left should be quite good for some Italian pasta.

I bet you have not seen the red crab on the left before.  They are quite tasty actually.  The other crabs which had been turned upside down were to show that they were she crabs.

Well, my main purpose to visit the harbor was not the fish but the water birds that hovering around the harbor to pick the left over fish and crabs in the water.  Check them out on my Camera-Critters blog this Saturday.

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ABC Wednesday: B is for Black

It was pouring rain last Saturday, Grace left on Friday to Hong Kong to visit her parents, I was stuck at home totally bored.  I took out a bird photography book of Taiwan and carefully planned a trip to visit four sites, very ambitious if only it would not rain on Sunday.

I woke up early on Sunday morning and was out by 7 AM.  The first place that I visited was the experimental farm of National Taiwan University.  It used to be a military base before transferred to the Agricultural Department of the University, it covers 30 acres.  On the express way, it is only 20 minutes from home.  It is an oasis at the edge of Taipei City limit.

Well, here is a Black duck!

If you cannot see it is really Black, here is a closeup.

The major attraction in the farm in the summer, is the lotus pond.

The school also planted a lot butterfly attracting plants.  Here is one very similar to the American Monarch butterfly.  You can see more detail of this butterfly at our previous post here.

This one is very common in Taiwan, migrating back and force on the island according to the season.  You can see more pictures of this kind of butterfly at our previous post here.  Now, because climate change, the northern part of Taiwan is as hot as the southern part of Taiwan.  I wonder why they bother.  I hope you do see the Black on these two butterflies.

I finished the Experimental Farm before 9 AM and headed to the northern port city of Keelung.  It is a small deep water port and an important harbor throughout Taiwan's history.  Part of the Japanese attack naval force to Pearl Harbor during the WWII, came out from Keelung.  The old Chinese name of Keelung means "Chicken Cage".  It now has been changed to a more presentable name, although it still sounds the same.

The book said, the harbor is a good practicing ground for the beginning bird photographer.  I was really surprise to see what it says was true.  Here is a Black-crowned Night Heron (夜鷺), Nycticorax nycticorax.

I have posted images of it in my previous post here.  But they were taken in the city park, where they are very tame.

But at Keelung Harbor, I was at their natural hunting ground.

I could see them in live-action, skimming the water surface hunting for their pray.

Landing elegantly on the surface of the water!

Then off it went with the pray in its beak, all happened in a split of second.

The other excitement was to watch the Black Kite (黑鳶), Milvus migrans in action.

It circulated high above the harbor then dived down to catch its pray in the water, a sight to be seen.

I finished photographing the heron and the kite by 10:30 AM and was ready to take the Expressway 62, head east for my next destination.  See you at Skywatch Friday!!

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