Puppies are 3 weeks old

The puppies are slightly more than 3 weeks old. When I came back this Sunday, their eyes were already opened, although I don't think their vision is fully developed yet. Their hearing and scent ability are definitely working very well, as with their ability to bark and howl when they need food. They are still nursing but we introduced them to a bit of raw chicken meat yesterday, and everything went well.

The puppies still sleep a lot. When they are awake, they would usually play with each other, pounding on Kaly and each other's head. We have been handling them a lot as well, getting them used to be handled. Their teeth is starting to grow, and they are exploring around the room a bit more. They would wobble around on their weak legs, wagging their tails.. and when they are tried, they would "scream" at the top of their lungs so that we would go and bring them back to their bed. There they would fall asleep immediately! Jet has been introduced to the pups...he is a bit loss on what to do with them, so he just kept a distance from them, and smell them from afar.

Puppies... :)

"Tiger" sleeping on top of Kaly's head

Puppies first taste of raw chicken

"Fiesty" :"I just woke up...what can I do for you?"

Good-bye Taiwan, Hello Singapore again

Today I am leaving for Singapore. Staying overnight at my mom's place and flying back to New Zealand on Saturday night, reaching Auckland on Sunday morning. I am looking forward to going home after a long absence. It would be nice to see Hannah again, and also the puppies would have grown quite a fair bit :)

The trip to Taiwan was fruitful. I accomplished all the things I set out to do - location scouting, rough experimental design, learning lab protocols, establishing working relationships with Dr. Tang and his lab etc. I would probably be back again early next year for a longer period to start on my experiment. Hannah had already "booked" her schedule to be with me in Taiwan... obviously she would be enjoying her vacation while I would be working :).

Now that I have an idea what is in store for me in Taiwan, it's time to work on my PhD research proposal...

Dr Tang S L... WAIT! Do I have a small tummy?!... time to do crunches!

Taiwan Day 7

Today I learnt as much as I can about the lab protocol in DNA extraction, PCR preparation etc. Here is some pics of the facilities in the lab. It is a small lab, but it has all the necessary instruments. We will be conducting our wet-lab experiment in another building where there is a fresh ocean water flow-through.

Dr. Tang S L 's lab....every label is in Mandarin

Almost everyone's desk have a nano tank :)

Multi-directional electrophroresis

Flume hood... three of them for different experiments and chemicals

Packed but well organized working bench

One of the many freezer..this one is at 4deg Cel. and
the lab coats, wash once a week

Another working bench

High speed, temperature control centrifuge and
other equipments

Taiwan Day 6

You probably have an impression of Jia Ho and Xue Ping who went to Kenting with me for coral samples collection and location scouting. Here are the rest of the research students in Dr. Tang's lab. I will post some pics of the lab and try to take a picture together with the elusive Dr. Tang tomorrow :) There is also Xin Ru and Si Yu but there were not around today. Everyone is very friendly and helpful which makes me not feeling too awkward and left out.

Pei Wen or Mia as we call her has been with the lab the longest. She is Dr. Tang's personnel assistant/ research assistant/ secretary. She is absolutely a gem to the lab because she knows ALL the necessary administrative work as well as the right person to contact to obtain the necessary information. She was the one who helped me booked my accommodation on this trip. Sitting next to me in the lab, I talked to her the most in between our busy schedule during the day.

Pei Wen ... we just call her Mia

Chi Chun or Joker as we call her... no one knows why she is called Joker. Anyway, as you can see from the photo, she is camera shy. She is really good with mathematics, thus it is no surprise to find out that she is the Bioinformatics girl in the lab.

Hsan Hwa and the very shy Chi Chun

Hsan Hwa is the first person who welcome me to the lab on the first day. On the first day, it was also her who introduced me to various lab members. I will be working with her on a journal paper in the next few months on the spatial distribution of microbe community along the coral colony structure. Definitely looking forward to it.

Hsan Hwa and I will be working on a paper together

Beck is from Mongolia, and he learnt his English in Russia! Therefore his English has a very strong Russian accent. He doesn't speak Mandarin, thus all communication with him is in English. He is researching on the microbe distribution in a lake in Serbia! Cool guy... quiet, hardworking and humble. In the lab I sit between him and Mia.

Beck...he is a PhD student from Mongolia

 

Taipei Day 5

Today I had the chance of visiting some really nice pristine reefs at Kenting, South Taiwan.The water was slightly choppy with about 1 - 2 foot waves. The dive guide was worried that we might get seasick, but I assured him that 1 - 2 foot waves is normal for NZ waters. The dive guide mentioned that on normal days, the water by the bay would be as calm as a mirror!

Healthy reefs.. without fishes?

Very tightly packed hard corals on the reef

Look at the variety!

The visibility was about 6m, with certain locations reaching about 10m. Again, the dive guide said that these were not great conditions because on normal days, visibility can reach 15m. The corals look healthy, with at least 4 - 6 different species tightly packed together. There are lots of scleractinian corals (hard corals). One interesting thing I noted was the shortage of big fishes, and I was told these big fishes were capture to almost extinct in Taiwan waters by the fishermen.

Bight blue color Acropora

Bright red coral

Clown fish by the anemone

My potential coral of study - Stylophora

Besides visiting potential locations for my research, we also collected coral specimens for Xueping and Jiaho. I would be learning from Xueping in the next two days on extracting microbes DNA from the coral specimens we collected today.

Dive guide and Jiaho collecting coral samples

Jiaho preparing her coral sample for DNA sampling
tomorrow in the lab

Taipei Day 4

Today, we traveled from Taipei to Kaoxiong via the train, followed by a taxi from Kaoxiong to Kenting. The whole trip took us about 3 hours. The ride down to South of Taiwan was really beautiful as we were driving alongside the central mountain range, and passing by small villages.The purpose of going to Kenting was to help two colleagues, Xueping and Jiaho collected some coral samples while at the same time scout out potential locations for my experiment.

Drive to Kenting...central mountain range in the background

I was honored to have Xueping as my chauffeur. If you think Alfred's driving was reckless, you need to meet the Taiwanese drivers! Xueping was zipping around trucks, cars, other motor bikes while I was behind her. Oh.. did I tell you we were on a scooter! We visited a very experienced local diver guide, asked for advise on locations, and away we go! We went to a couple of potential locations, and I must say that the beach and coral reefs around the shore are a hidden gem! All these fringing reefs are hidden away in some fishing villages, and in order to get to them, you also get to see how the locals lived...

An example of the beach/ fringing reef in Kenting

My personal chauffeur - Xueping

We also visited the Marine Biology Museum where the Tung Hai University have a huge marine lab there. It is really huge and they even have a turtle rehab program there as well. I got to meet "Tripod" - a three-legged/fin turtle the lab rescued. A huge coral and ornamental fish breeding and experimentation program is going on there  as well and I got to experience the size of the set-up. Words cannot describe how huge the set-up. It spans across 6 warehouse-sized buildings just to house the tanks!

"Tripod" - rescued three legged/ fin turtle

Tripod

In the evening we had steam boat for dinner before we retired back to our rooms. We are staying at this dive shop-restaurant-motel in Hengchun which is about 10 minutes away from Kenting. Excited about tomorrow as it will be my first glimpse at the underwater world of Taiwan.

Our dive shop-restaurant-motel in Hengchun

Jiaho and Xueping

Taipei Day 3

Shilin Night Market - WOW! I was feeling lazy and was trying to find reasons to laze around in the hostel. I am glad I took Hannah's advise and went to the Shilin Night Market. It is HUGE... a gathering of all sorts of food from finger food (eg, sausages) costing NT10 to a full meal such as tonic soup costing NT150. I have no exact idea how big is the market, but it spans across an area between two MRT stations. Besides food, there are also shopping, ranging from accessories (eg, hat, cell phone cases) to dress, and even guns! The night market is huge and packed with people. I spend 5 hours there and did not manage to walk the whole market. I am more interested in the local delicacies...

Shilin Night Market

First stop - Soup dumplings. It is a small store by the road-side. I ordered the dumplings, sat on make-shift tables by the road, and enjoy myself 7 tasty dumplings! It is not the best dumpling but definitely better than any I have eaten in NZ and it costs NT55 (~NZD2.50).

Dumpling store

Dumplings for NT55

Next, the world famous, one and only Taiwanese Smelly Tofu! The smell of durain is NOWHERE compared to this. You can smell the tofu down the street, and it smells like rotten food! And this is exactly how it is prepared - tofu are left to ferment in water and then fried to crispy. It is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It taste salty and sour at the same time, and the sweet, spicy sauce enhanced the taste, and you can literally taste sweet, spicy and sour all in one mouth. Cost of the smelly tofu is NT50 (~NZD2).

Smelly Tofu for NT50

Smelly tofu store

I wanted to try more food but I was really full. However, one last stop at the Yellow beancurb store. What can I say?... you need to try this. At NT40 (~NZD1.50), you get a bowl of beancurb with a choice of 3 topping (I chose peanuts, yam and jelly), you can't ask for anything better!

Yellow beancurb at NT40

Beancurb store

All in all, I spend less than NZD10 and I was really full... Taiwan really lived up to the rumor of having cheap and delicious food.

Taipei Day 2

Got a really good night sleep at the Center of Academic Activities. There is nothing fancy about the room, but the bed is really comfortable and everything I need are provided for.

Tang's lab is located in the Institute of Biomedical Science,
Academia Sinica

Ticket for the MRT ride

I decided to take advantage of the weekend off and explore some parts of Taipei city. Academia Sinica is located at the rural part of Taipei city and it is about 25 minutes away from the city center. I took the MRT to City Hall and visited the newly built, famous Taipei 101. It is a very nice building which housed all the most expensive, exclusive brands. Singapore is famous for shopping and food, but I personally think that the title should go to Taiwan! If expensive brands is not your taste, head over to Xi Meng Tin. It is equivalent to New York Times Square, except that everything thing here is on SALE! SUPER CHEAP! Xi Meng Tin is an area that spans about 6 blocks, and it is closed to traffic during the night and whole day on the weekends. I never fancy shopping but I bought myself a delicious bubble call "Jasmine Fiery Rockets Tea" and just sat on the side bench. As I was watching the shoppers, I thought to myself - Hannah would love this place! There are enough shops here for her to shop a whole week!

Taipei 101

Xi Meng Tin map along every junction in the area

Xi Meng Tin

I was tired and headed back to the Center. Tomorrow I am going to explore the other love of Taiwan - Food at the famous Shilin Night Market.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shilin_Night_Market

Welcome to Taipei

Just touched down in Taipei 3 hours ago and Dr. Tang already brought me to have a local Taiwanese breakfast.We had fried pancake, fried egg, salad two bowls of soya bean milk and it cost Taiwan Dollar 80, which is equivalent to NZD4!... Enough food for two people and it cost NZD4...can you believe it!?

Dr. Tang also introduced me to the local convenience store. The convenience store here gave the word "convenience" a whole new meaning. Things you can get/ do at the local convenience store:

• buy all sorts of things from decorations to titbits to drinks
• coffee and tea
• pay utilities bills
• pay traffic fines
• buy train tickets
• order special food (eg. Southern Taiwan delicacies) and the restaurant will deliver it to the convenience store the next day!
• have your lunch, dinner, supper and even breakfast there as well
• order movie tickets

This is what I call a convenience store!

Ying Kai

My nephew.. 4 months old. Very cute and very joyful... 

Puppies at 2 weeks

So just wanted to post some more quick pictures of the puppies. Sonny is in Singapore currently, on his way to Taiwan for a PhD research trip. So its just me with the doggies. Good thing Jet is so fierce. The puppies are adorable but tiny little pain-in-the-necks and Jet is a great big pain-in-the-neck.

First the puppies. Their eyes are open just a bit and they must be gaining at least a little hearing as they flick their tiny ears towards me when I talk or make sounds. I don't think they can see much out of the eyes yet though. They are however, getting huge! It was very hard to take photos all by myself with a nervous mamma Kaly and wriggly puppies, so forgive me if the quality is less than stellar.

look at the tiny gleam of black button eyes

sleepy time (about 80% of the time is sleepy time, the rest is evenly dived between eating and hollering)

don't be fooled, they are both trouble

My tiny little runt

Taking your own picture while holding a puppy is not easy

Especially when he keeps licking you with his tiny tongue

And Mama Kaly keeps 

interrupting

Finally, as those who know him are aware, Jet likes to suck on things. Its a strange habit, but he does it quietly so we have sacrificed various pillows and blankets to him to use as "pacifers". He was driving me bonkers this morning, so I gave him a pillow that he enjoys sucking on, hoping it would keep him quiet. HOWEVER. This is what I found when I came downstairs not 10 minutes later.

The entire kitchen floor was covered in pillow fluff and pieces. While he was happily ripping it into even smaller pieces

When I yell, this is the face I get. He looks PROUD. Oh Jet