As you can see, its $20NT an hour, which is 70 cents Cdn, and you pay for whatever time you use. Never a fine. Will that work in Victoria? I don't see why not.
On weekends, there are fireworks....
The native people here blend in quite well with Chinese people and there are many mixed bloods. They have no resentment against Chinese, but still do against Japanese because during the 50 years of Japanese occupation of Taiwan, aboriginals were treated badly. The costumes, the colors, remind me very much of native Polynesians. Here are the links for better presentation of the water dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jduSb9kWyfM&feature=related
Think something like this will be embraced in Victoria? Inner harbor will be a perfect venue, except, you guessed it, parking problems.....How about Elk lake? A celebration of the aboriginal culture could become a new tourist draw and may add more to the tourism industry.......
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I don't know if you can see from the pictures, but she is quite dark from playing outside. She signed up for basketball at school and guess what, she was the only girl basketball player. I say, go for it! Anything a boy can do, a girl can do equally good or better......
Remember, these are new Taiwan dollars (NT). One loonie buys 30 NT right now. Ten bucks Cdn feeds a family of three in a decent restaurant here. Yes, there are expensive places here too: remember our dinner at Pizza Hut for $80US?........hm.......
Alex is an English teacher at a local high school, but a very colorful fellow as he grew up very poor and spent his youth as a soldier in Chiang Kai Shek's army. I call him Chinese crocodile dundee as he goes deep in the mountains to catch poisonous snakes to make "snake wine". Crazy bugger.....
He also spent some time in Scotland where he picked up the habit of scotch and cigar. Whyte Cheung will really enjoy his company, and most of you too. His statue and mannerism reminds me very much of John Mah, even the way he wears and wipes his glasses, and the way he laughs, darn!
After lunch and a bottle of scotch later (I seldom drink scotch, so you have to pardon my language in the videos as I was high as a kite), Alex shows us his acre of land where he raises his own chicken, escargots, and veggies. He also brings home boulders from the mountains, where he has a workshop to cut and polish these rocks into beautiful gems. Because you need running water when cutting stones, he often gets electricuted when the water touches his grinder. No big deal he says, just a shock. One time his grinder slipped and he cut his vein on his wrist with blood pouring out. Being a distance from a nearby hospital, he stitched the open wound with pins to stop the bleeding. The doctor jokingly told him to go home as he was already stitched.....what a guy!
Upon leaving after a three hour lunch, his beautiful and very youthful wife invites us back for supper. I can hardly wait....but I'll need some help with the scotch, are you listening Mr Cheung?
There are two parts to the theme park: a marine related aquatic park with aquariums, sealion pool, dolphin pool, and a rip off souvenir shop of course. Then there is the theme park with disney style rides, all included in the ticket price, about $40US for a family of three. Not bad at all.
First we visit some marine life. Here is a pool of stingrays and sharks in an open tank!
And here in this tank are some beautiful lobsters, I'm getting hungry by the minute...
More tropical fish....brilliant colors!
After a little education on marine life, its time to let the hair down and ride the wind......
The view from this cliff side park is magnificient. We can see the Pacific ocean far beyond the horizon on a clear day which is almost everyday. Today was sunny with temp between 35 and 40 celcius.
Here is the dolphin show. This aquatic stadium is only about a nine iron from the ocean, which from where we are sitting, seems seamless because we cannot see where the pool ends and where the ocean begins......These poor dolphins are only 100 meters from freedom, but I guess its better here than being served up as mahi mahi somehwere........really getting hungry now...
So we went to Pizza Hut because the kids wanted pizza. Get this: pizza and pasta for the eight of us costed $80US, which ain't bad. But we could have a beautiful gourmet dinner for half that price in a Hualien style bistro. My wife and I had a big argument about this. When I was told that the pizza/pasta buffet would cost $10US a head at the door, I was ready to leave. No way I was paying a princely sum for junk food. But being typically Asian, she wanted to be polite and stayed. Suddenly it dawned on me that this is a cultural conflict: having lived in North America most of my life, I have learned to be an individual, where I am free to speak my mind and act on it without concerns to others. Asian culture shuns that. Here is an example: in an American restaurant, if something is not right, we complain and the problem gets corrected. Nothing personal and no hard feelings. In a Chinese restaurant, if you don't like something, don't say anything. Just don't go back. If you complain, you don't "give face" and they take it very personal. Guess I better learn to become more Asian again......
