Like a local - National Palace Museum

Last weekend, I spend a day at the National Palace Museum. Hannah had been there in January, and taking her advise, I was there bright and early to avoid the huge tourist crowd. I was very lucky - there were only 3 people (including me) in the jade "bak choy cabbage" and "meat" exhibit. I think Hannah had mentioned about those exhibits in her previous posts. Shortly, after my visit, there were queues of at least 20 people waiting to look at the exhibits, and you weren't even allow to stay a minute longer to enjoy.

After enjoying the two most important exhibits in the museum, I started to wander through the other halls. About this time, huge crowds of Chinese tourist started pouring in! I can sense the helplessness and frustration of the people in-charge of the museum as they keep going around telling the tourists to lower their voice, put their cameras away etc. etc.

After spending about 3 hours in the museum (unfortunately, there are no photos because no cameras are allowed), I started to wander out to the exterior. There was a garden next to the museum which is free for people who holds the museum's entrance ticket. It was a smallish, nice Chinese garden with artificial streams, ponds and pavilions. Quite a number of people also bought fish food to feed the kois in the ponds.

Overall, it was a nice experience and a great day to be out (as compared to stuck in the apartment). The sun was out occasionally, and it wasn't too warm either. Would love to be back here again with Hannah in the future, and we can spend a whole day here, going though the exhibits slowly.

Shenkeng tofu street

After being in Taiwan a couple of times, I started to join the "dinner gang" (Jiunyan, Yilong and Chaoren). Last night, we went to Shenkeng street for dinner. The old street is famous for its smelly tofu. The whole street has shops selling all style of smelly tofu. We chose a shop which was highly recommended by Yilong. We ordered the spicy smelly tofu, ginger fried smelly tofu, duck blood , vegetable and chicken. The whole dinner cost us NT 880 total (each NT220 ~ NZD10). Taiwan is definitely well known for its cheap and delicious food! 

Hannah would be so jealous because she really LOVE smelly tofu... I am sure I would bring Hannah to this street again if we were to visit Taiwan in the future.

Ginger hotpot duck

It's winter here in Taiwan {this difference of seasons between the Southern (NZ) and Northern hemisphere (Taiwan, US)} makes it hard to keep track! And in Taiwan, the locals eat ginger hotpot during the winter. To me, it isn't really too cold (about 16degC), but I would not turn down any opportunities to sample the local delights :)

It is literally a clay pot of duck, cooking in ginger broth, and slowly cooking over charcoal stove. We ordered a few dishes (duck blood, vegetables, bamboo shoots) to go along with it as well. Halfway through the meal, I was so warm that I have to take out my jacket. Looking around, the rest of the people in the shop are still very well bundled up!

Great food, nice atmosphere, and the whole meal cost each of us (3 people - Jiunyan, Yilong and I) about NT250 (~NZD12).

Happy anniversary baby

I can't believe that 3 years ago I married this amazing woman! Time really flies. It seems that it was only yesterday that we got married at Singapore Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately, due to research commitments, I have to be away in Taiwan, but we promised each other to have a proper celebration when I am back.

Some time ago, a friend asked me are there any changes after we got married. My answer - no. There are no changes - we loved each other for the same thing, we still picked on each other on the same thing, we shared the same passion and we hated the same stuffs. She made me a better person - I am not as critical and judgemental as I was before. I learnt to enjoy life a bit more, and not worry too much about matters that I cannot control. Even my sister said that Hannah was good for me! 

Happy anniversary, baby. I love you.

Like a local - Yuanyang lake and Cueifeng lake DAY 3

The third and final day started with a freezing morning. After breakfast, we stepped out to get ready to load all the equipment into the car, and Dr. Tang spotted the beautiful ocean of clouds! We were about 1800m above sea level, and due to the cold and the geographical location, the cloud have gathered below us, and it looked like the ocean (only that it was made up of clouds). It was mesmerising, looking at the clouds tumbling below us...

After standing there staring into the beauty of nature for a couple more minutes, we were ready to roll out - back to Yuanyang lake again. 

The lake was really calm this morning, and the reflection of the mountains formed a very beautiful, postcard image. However, in a couple of hours, the thick fog started rolling in (and it was really thick as compared to the first day). Before long, the lake was no longer visible, and the whole forest has this mystic, eerie feel to it. "Sleepy Hollow" kept popping into my mind when I was taking photos of the forest :)

We finished all the field work just after lunch time. Had a quick lunch and started driving back to Taipei. I was really thankful and happy to be able to experience these two beautiful lakes.

Like a local - Yuanyang lake and Cueifeng lake DAY 2

The weather forecast was horrible for the next few days (raining, cold etc), so we were all ready for the nasty weather. Luckily for us, the wind took a change in direction, and we got a great day out at Cueifeng lake. I helped Jiajing set up a tent on the shore to prepare her samples, while Mingtao and Beck were out in the middle of the lake collecting water samples. It was a glorious day, and I took the opportunity to take a few pictures of me in front of the lake.

And just after noon time, we spotted a thick fog started coming in through the valley, and in minutes I could not even see the buoy in the middle of the lake! It was kind of eerie and cool at the same time! After we are done with the work for the day, we had to track in thick fog to the beginning of the track. It was interesting because there wasn't any track coming from the trail head to the lake, it was just an open area with a few drop-offs, and it can get nerve-wrecking walking around blind in the fog... After a few detours, we managed to find the trail head and started to head back to the car. The drive back was uneventful, except for a couple of monkeys on the side of the road begging for food scraps!