365 Days of Astronomy

Go on, you know you want to have a 4 minute astronomy moment each day. They have been making my ears ring with glee for a while now - pooping in space, what is beyond the universe, how we can drink pee, the size of our galaxy, who invented the inventions that helped invent the inventions that helped us understand the universe, why creationists are bat-shit insane, and random other goodies that make Astronomy into an art, a science and a perspective on our home universe.

Click it. Click that picture up there. Do it. You will never be alive for another International Year of Astronomy.

Halloween: River Trace, Scooter Face

Curiosities and Such...

It's a wee biggie over here...not going to wade into the vaccination debate in this forum, but the scare is quite real in these parts. Numerous of my classes - entire grades and grades with brothers and sisters in them - have been cancelled for weeks over the virus.

Again, one more sign of no #4 anywhere. We have no 13th floor, they have no 4th floor, both for equally obtuse reasons.

Tickle me elmo, Kingdom Plantae styles......

Earthquake Report

Might be of interest to see how active our two little continental plates are! Click to get a bigger, more readable, version.

Red Lights and Police Fights

Ok, there was no real police fight of any sort, only a minor verbal altercation.

Ok...this is a total exaggeration. But still an adreneline pulsing experience.

We (Trevor) ran a red light in Yuli a few nights ago, thought we could get away with it (a whole lot more common than actually stopping at red lights in many cases over here...) but to no avail. Under the cloak of darkness, at an intersection that is rather empty at the best of times, we were caught. We made a left on a red, turned the corner and came face to face with a pair of police officers. We were flagged to pull over, and stopped our scooter by their car.

Then we lifted our face masks...and they showed a face which explained the surprise of "oh, snipe...foreigners!?!" They tried, in Chinese, to explain that what we did was a traffic no-no, but we replied with stunned faces and open mouthes. They asked if we spoke chinese, we replied with stunned faces and open mouthes. They tried to draw on the asphalt what we did, and make it apparent that it was a no-no, we replied with ....yup...stunned faces and open mouthes. They gave up...waved us on our way.

I think one of the two realized we were making up the no chinese gambit, but whatever. We got away ticket free, and a good thing too because the scooter license was still at home (safe and sound on the shelf...good place for it, eh?).

Wulu Gorge: Bike Trip II

This past weekend we took to the mountains, again, via pedal power! So slow, so methodical...so much more do you see. We went to Wulu Gorge, a place we visited last time for New Years with our scooter. This time around on our bikes we re-did our trip, but did not experience the same. Scooters, as amazingly fun and appropriate they are for so many reasons, do not allow you to see the nuances of the environment. So fast, so directed on 'getting there', and not as concerned with what you are passing to get there. On a bike, you cant help but experience it. Every cicada, every frog, every tree in bloom, every pebble trickling down the slope beside you, everything! The grand and the minute. Here are some pics from our trip:

Getting ready to go, and setting out along the bike path (refurbished railway line) exiting Yuli and entering Fuli.

Along the way, an uphill section of the main highway that took us to the gorge road. Rice fields and gorgeous views.

Ok, so the biking shorts are ugly. But they work...apparently. But not comfy enough to eat lunch in! Time to get dressed. This is where we stopped for tea, discovered that they also doubled as a lunch buffet, so we sat down and munched away on veggies, tofu and rice.

And then there was the road to nowhere! A washed out old roadway ended abruptly in the middle of the river.

Danger, biking and the view! These last two are taken at the mouth of the gorge, the start of the Southern Cross-Island Highway.

Tunnels, reprieve from the heat (uphill for 22 kms once we hit the Cross Island Highway!), and a sign that we cannot get clarification on. Nobody knows what it means - other than the obvious. Why is it here? We'll keep checking...keep asking...

Here is a nice view of the road we meandered up, and up and up to get through the gorge to the village of Wulu. From home to Wulu it was about 6 hours; the first leg, flat-ish and along the highway was half, then the uphill slog (the beauty...the beauty!!) the second half.

Victory!! Along the way we passed a massive landslide with absolutely brave individuals fixing the roadways (click to see the shovel doing its thang) and finally made it to our destination, Wulu, where there is a wonderful hotspring. Here we chare a victory beer, a victory bath and contemplate the placid evening ahead. And discuss how our legs feel like rubber and sandpaper at the same time.

The place we stayed at was actually a little more ritzy than we are used to - the montainous roadway terrain of Taiwan is neither a safe place to camp (landslides, landslides and the land sliding away from under you on any given occasion) nor physically possible (roadways actually cut into mountainside). So, we left our tent at home and plunked ourselves down at the only game in town - and got a killer dinner of field mushrooms and local veggies/fruit, on the fourth floor because nobody can sleep on the fourth floor because it sounds the same as death in Chinese, beside lamps that accumulated more insect biodiversity than I have witnessed before. Here, one of our dinner guests watches on.

Really? Who thought up that flavour. Think about it while you click on these other two pics of the gloroious night sky. Laying upon a swinging suspension bridge, above a raging torrent of a river, peering into the endless sky above, with only cicadas, frogs and the odd flutter of a bat to disrupt the serenity. What a night!

Morning view.

Neat pine tree info. Crystal taking a break in a roadside catchment for the hot water escaping from the mountains...

This is why it is best not to camp along the roadway....and the white stained region is another escape vent of the springs that pervade this gorge.

Lunch on sunday (the lady would not allow is to order what we wanted - tofu and green peppers - as one dish because it woudl taste horrid. We had to order a tofu and tomato dish, and then a secodn green pepper dish. No questions. None at all. We said "ok", took our seat and let her work her magic).

Along the way home we also had to buy groceries, so I thought it would be worth our while to poist a pic of what Taiwan veggies look like (these are from the grocery store - the market was closed when we hit the closest town to us).

All in all, an awsome trip. Legs a little stiff, but the sunshine, the view, the bugs, the frogs, the starry sky in the middle of a tropical gorge...alone...spectacular.

Adios!