Steve and I arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, February 24th. This was the first visit to this country for each of us. The reason we went was that Steve had a technical meeting in Hsinchu for a couple of days, and of course, my reason was purely touristy.
We stayed here - the Ambassador hotel. It was really nice, very international. I heard a lot of different languages spoken around me, including quite a lot of American accents, which is always nice to hear!
The first day while Steve was in his meeting, I went for a walk to the Hsinchu Zoo which was about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. In the same complex as the zoo is also an artist glass works and shops to sell the glass. I spent most of the day in these two areas. It was quite fun! I got a lot of looks from the locals, but most people smiled at me and were very nice.
Here is some of the glass art I passed on my way to the zoo. There were so many beautiful ones. I wish I could have taken pictures of them all!
Here is what I thought was the entrance to the zoo. It has lions and elephants and a gate - it looks like an entrance, right? Well, I tried the gate, but then I noticed on top it said Exit. When I turned around an older man and his wife were standing there and he asked me if I needed help. I asked him if he knew where the entrance was. He didn't know, but he asked another guy walking by. That guy knew, and we all walked together to the entrance. Then we all paid like one big happy family together. On the way the man asked me where I was from and translated for his wife and the other man.
As we went through the gate, I thanked them in Chinese "Shi Shi" and then again in English. The other guy said "No problem", and then we all laughed! They were all so nice. Later I saw the older man in the zoo and snapped this photo of him.
This was a cute monkey I saw. I thought the colors were pretty behind him so I took his picture. He didn't seem to mind!
One of the stranger exhibits they had at this zoo was a room full of stuffed animals. Now, this is a small zoo, so I understand that they can't afford to own all of the animals in the world. And I understand the point of stuffing those that you don't have. But these stuffed animals were SO OLD and the stuffing was SO BAD, well, you'll just have to take a look at my example to see what I'm talking about.
I came across this guy sunning himself - quite a mouth on him!
As I turned a corner I found this antelope type animal standing close to this fence. It let me scratch it on the nose and neck. Over and over. And each time I would start to walk away, it would look at me like it wanted me to stay. Finally I told it I had to look at some other animals.
As I walked away, it followed me all around it's pen. I think I made a friend that day!
On my walk back to the hotel, I made two very important discoveries about Taiwan. I would like to share them with you. If you look at the next picture you will see a bunch of people on motorcycles. What are they all wearing? Yes! Helmets!! It is the law in Taiwan (they have the same law in Thailand - but it's ignored). I did not see one person riding a motorcycle in Hsinchu or in Taipei without a helmet. That included small children. I was very impressed with that.
The next thing I discovered was - well, I heard what I thought was an ice cream truck coming up behind me. I turned around to see what an ice cream truck would look like in Taiwan - but I didn't see one. The music got louder, and louder, and LOUDER. Then, I realized that the music was coming from - of all things - a garbage truck!!! WoW!
So then I began wondering - did it run over the ice cream truck?? Nope, it wasn't dragging anything behind it. So I kept walking. A little later, I heard the same sound coming up behind me. So I stopped to take a picture and watch. That's when I figured out what was going on. The truck stopped, the music kept playing, and the people brought their garbage out! It was a warning signal to the people that the truck is coming SO BRING OUT YOUR GARBAGE!!
I asked some Taiwanese people later if different town's garbage trucks play different songs, but they all play the same song! I think if I was a Taiwanese garbage man and had to listen to that same song ALL DAY and EVERY DAY I might go postal!!
That's it for now. I'll write more tomorrow about Taipei.
Sawadii Ka
Linda
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