This has been in the books for a while, but nature and time were against us from the beginning. First, typhoon damage to the train tracks closed the lines basically between us and the south. There were ways to get around the damaged parts, but it was too time consuming and would not allow us to actually get to the park and back (and allow for any quality time at the park or museum) in a simple weekend. Then, when the lines were fixed and trains were passing by in perfect fashion, time was the kicker...
But, this weekend, we made it. Train-Bus-Scooter-Bus-Train-*switch lines* - Train. There and back, now home safe and saturated with Taiwanese and global biological knowledge. We even snuck in a bit of time on the oceanside, walking along the beach and perusing the local nuclear plant (from a distance...) and got to have a chilled evening listening to another guy from Ontario belot out Elliott Brood tunes. All in all, an educational and relaxing weekend. And we managed a tan, despite being inside the museum for the better part of the day. The sun sneaks in, kisses, then leaves.
Waiting for the train with the conductors about to switch off. Crystal waits, I snap a photo, they hopefully are discussing train safety and professional matters that will help keep us alive on the tracks.
So...after arriving in the National Park, snatching a place to crash and a meal, we took to our rented scooter and headed north to the Marine Biology Museum.
The museum itself is rather new, and rather cool. It is more like a showcase of the living biota that we have around the world with a lot....a lot...of live animals. Some pretty neat ways of displaying the shows, too. Some are traditional aquarium-style tanks, while others have built in glass tunnels allowing you to walk under the fish, baluga whale, skates, sharks and eels, while another is like a massive television set containing all the colourful life of the ocean....and a ghastly huge whale shark. Walking under those critters, seeing them swim above you, was just simply breathtaking. It may be a common aquarium trick, but its one we had never seen before and it was a moving experience. It gives a total new perspective and you really get to see the movement, the size...jesus frak the size of some of the rays, sharks, and the like...and the majesty of what has evolved on this planet. A job well done, a biological story well told, despite our misgivings of aquarium-morality itself.
There is a section focusing on global oceans and another focusing on Taiwans oceans and waterways. The line is fine...Taiwan is part of the world, no less...but it doesnt detract from the message or the beauty and down and dirty educational aspect of it. I shant wax poetic about the individual things we saw - the Whale Shark, though, worth noting for the surprise and the size - but after spending some time below the waters of Taiwan and checking out the coral species and the fish we kinda thought we had seen what Taiwan had to offer. Apparently not. So much more than can be seen in a few afternoons with snorkel gear, some tiny, some massive. There was also a fair amount of time and space given to environmental aspects, fish farming concerns and evolution itself. Not just a show and tell, but much, much more.
Trevor at the first display of Taiwan's coral habitat. So many fishies, so much diversity....so peaceful to watch.
More aquarium pictures; on the left is the offshore environment, on the right is the scariest things that I can imagine.
On the left is the underwater tunnel that allows you to walk under the ocean life. the sizes really become apparent when you see them from below, cm's from your face. On the right is a yet unknown species (a little help, anyone?) that we shall call Massivus uglyus for obvious reasons. The coolest part is that there were cleaner fish symbionts that would flicker in and out of its mouth as it sat there; them getting a free meal, this dude/dudette getting a nice visit with the dentist. When the cleaning was done, the fish would simply cough out the cleaners and close its mouth...so huge, so gentle.
Angle Fish on the left and a beautiful, tender, gorgeous, subtle, elaborate, calming, perfect nudibranch on the right.
Crystal pondering the starfish of Taiwan on the left, Trevor dropping in for an impromptu phot op on the right.
The big tank ("...the killer whale tank...") with the epic diversity of Taiwan and the meta-epic whale shark. On the right, Crystal poses by her first ever whale sighting. I didnt have the heart to tell her the truth.....she thought it was just taking abreak in mid air (ok...im kidding...). Neat waterfall, though!
The diversity, the grandiose reality of our biological world...humbling. Hydrogen and 15 billion years, to steal from Carl Sagan.
After the museum we made it back to the village/town of Kenting and hit the town for dinner, some drinks and a hance to sit back and watch waves crash and the night creep up on us. Then a group of guitar clad, bongo toting foreigners came to the same patio. We listened for a bit then, dead tired and perhaps a drink or three too many inside of us, decided to call it a night.
Us, at dinner, taking a nice family portrait. So hot during the day, so cold at night!
At 9:30pm.
We did a double take at that time. It felt like it was 12:30, or later. So, we grabbed a snack (peanuts and dried guava...and desite Crystal liking that horse-intestine tasting equivalent, dried guava is a total waste of time. Wretched stuff.) and watched CNN..its all there is... . Until we saw that Larry King was asking Snoop Dog for political opinions. How quickly one turns off a television. CNN....dipping beyond the stupid level once again (but not quite as far as FOX...that would take and ALVIN submersible so sink that low).
Morning, breakfast, coffee, beach walk, bought a pair of shorts, returned scooter, took train (a 1950 version that was..um...awsome!), switched trains, took another train, got dinner in YuLi, and scootered home. Made bread, made cookies (to give to people to apologize for deciding to quit and move back to the city), unpacked and ... after typing this last line ... will go to sleep
Nuclear plant by the most populated beack on the island, and lunch hot-pot on the right.
Monday, and it starts all over again!
Check me out..the coolest ocean critters, Taiwan style! I (Trevor) loved teaching this part of the biology course...they are stunningly awsome and the kids totally love them...and to see them, for the first time in my life, in the flesh....wow. From a pivitol ppt presentation and a dream, to reality, standing on the shores of the Pacific Ocean glaring down an honest specimen plunked from the waters. They are so cool...so much smaller than I imagined, too.
And some eels for you to ponder...
And a short ride on the train as we clickity-clank our way home....
