Typhoon Troubles: What to do, what to do...

Taking our chances with this beast - tomorrow we will be biking southward to a village called WuLu, nestled in the Central Mountains, staying overnight and then returning home Sunday. We wavered a bit on the decision to go, but the typhoon out at sea is bringing troubles to the north, less troubles to the middle of the island, and few to no troubles to the south. So, south we go. Pedal power, giddy up!

Tonight we will be holed up in a ramshackled hotel 45 min along the way stuffing ourselves with veggie sushi and Taiwans finest ale, near where Crystal works. Tomorrow........cycling in the:

a) Typhoon

b) Sunshine

...time will tell.

Typhoon: Lost at Sea

It was at one point heading straight for us...then it decided to punish the Phillippines...then a change of heart took it towards Japan...then it decided that was too much to ask, and realigned itself with Taiwan....then off to the Phillippines again....then....then....then......back home...out to sea. We went from dire warnings of "torrential downpours, closed roads and epic landslides", to warnings of "possible clouds and be careful you dont get a sunburn".

Typhons...love 'em, hate 'em, so hard to monitor.

International Year of Astronomy

Keep looking up; tonight markes the climax of the 2009 Orionids, one of the most celestially awe inspiring meteor showers. As this is the I.Y.A., on the eve of the best show in town, I though I would tip my hat to those who helped us understand the cosmos and to those who just keep looking up and see beauty in the world around us.

I am on my way out to gaze skyward. The clouds have parted, closed in, parted, closed in, and now finally parted once again. Here's hoping that they stay parted and I can see some cosmic sand grains burn up.

Butterfly Valley Conservation Area

Update: The pictures and the explanations are seeming to dislike each other in some browsers. They may not line up depending on what machine you are at. It seems that the screen we get when posting is emphatically different than that which comes out as the published piece. The snake is obviously the green thing, the tree the tree like thing, etc!

Weekend away at Butterfly Valley Conservation Area. See here for more!


Taiwan, once dubbed the Kingdom of Butterflies, has suffered what most would consider an indicative decline in species density. One of the teachers that works here was instrumental in getting the Butterfly Conservation area established, and is himself a well respected naturalist. He explained Taiwans plight to me and the tune goes soemthing like this:

Massive endemic population of butterflies , the island a vital migratory route, greatest biodiversity of butterflies in the Asian region. High diversity, increasing populations - Taiwan was a butterfly sanctuary on evolutionary time scales.

Heavy industrialization, roadway infrastructure development and habitat loss followed the development of the island. Forests cut down, where the landscape would allow forestry, increased urbanization blanketed the west coast with concrete, and massive highways - again on the west coast - fragmented habitats and interrupted migratory routes. The Kingdom of Butterflies soon became the "Fragmented Remnants of the Kingdom of Butterflies".

So, many people put their heads together and sought an answer. And an answer they found. They, local naturalists and concerned citizens, developed a grassroots movement to protect land and habitat in one of the most precarious and precious butterfly regions - the FuYuan River Valley. The governemt established a rudimentary conservatin area but this was not to be a cure. It was merely just a sign on the road and a blotched out area on the map. Nothing really definitive to protect habitat. Then, as monetary concerns drove governmental decisions, it was rendered too expensive to continue. This is where the people stood up. A few bought it outright from the government (the gov't actually liquidated many of their ecological and cultural areas to private interests in a cost saving direction....time will tell how this plays out) and established a top notch conservation area. It is technically a 'resort', but that is only because there is a hotel on the premisis. Everything else drips with butterfly conservation. And the butterflies are a plenty, they are diverse and they have a significant (sorry, stats folks...i used a cuss word..I know!) ecological role here on the island. It is really a beautiful place, with both controlled environments, wild spaces and a vast region of untouched forest. It seems to be working.

We took a day trip here - it is but 30 km from our house - and hiked, explored, investigated and at times just stood there and watched fluttering beauties around us.

Tree fern, in picturesque light

We stopped at RueiSuei hotsprings on teh way home for a hot dip to soothe our bodies and ...because it is so close to home and so much fun!

Bamboo snake found along the trail. Second most venomous snake in Taiwan. It was totally motionless for the entire time we watched it, and then we came back 30 min later and it still had not moved!! Stealth....lazy....?

This picture is actually a mosaic of butterfly wings found on already dead butterflies!

Sports Day!

Every school in Taiwan has a "Sports Day" to celebrate both sports and community. It is really a special day, much unlike our Track and Field Day in Canada. It is always held on a Saturday so families can attend, the preparations of the school are a community affair and it is not uncommon to see the school grounds blanketed with parents, cousins, grandparents and friends in the days prior to the actual sports day to get the school looking in top shape.

Then the day itself - lots of fun, races, prizes (functional prizes like soap, soy sauce, towels, lunch containers, etc - this is stuff that is needed by people, especially in rural areas like ours, and to give them a choice between a trophy, a ribbon or a bottle of shampoo....everyone, including us, would take the shampoo) and, this day, an ocean of rain falling upon us. But no matter...the games must go on!

The last picture is of the DeWu village chief, making a speech at the end of it all thanking people, the school, the teachers and doing so in three different languages. None of which was english!

And here is a video of the opening and closing dance that the students (and some parents) performed. Enjoy!

Ant

Butterfly Break

The butterfly population at Chun-Ri School is blooming....well, its hatching. They are getting more plentiful, more diversity is becoming evident, and they are loving - absolutely loving - those flowers in the pictures below! And I just know the flowers are loving the butterflies doing the dirty work for them! Enjoy, click to make 'em bigger.