Night Arrival in Hong Kong

A short flight brought Domo and Pipkin to Hong Kong, and they arrived just in time for dinner. Cantonese food in Hong Kong is sooooooo good. These two are going to get soooooo fat!

They ate a mish mash of noodle and rice dishes, dim sum and Peking Duck (yeah, they're nowhere near Beijing. Whatevs!) Their next stop was to take in the city lights of Hong Kong from the Kowloon side of Victoria Harbour.

Hong Kong means "fragrant harbour". Being one of the most densely populated cities in the world (pop. 7 million) and being the middle of summer, Pipkin would agree that yes, it's rather fragrant here. All joking aside, look how pretty the lights are!

A Junk crosses the harbour

Hong Kong has a very active night life. It was nearly midnight but tons of people of all ages were out enjoying the cooler night temperatures. There were runners, couples on dates, people out eating and shopping (shops are open very late - some until 1 AM) and of course, people being tourists.

It took a while to fight through the crowd and wait a turn to take photos by the smaller ducks next to Florentijn Hofman's giant inflatable rubber ducky floating at the end of the Star Ferry Pier, but it had to be done! They'll probably return in daylight (when there are fewer people) to try and get a better look at the giant rubber ducky.

For now, the duo are going to head east along the Kowloon pier to check out the Avenue of the Stars. Till the next blog post!

Out In The Park

There are a lot of public parks in Taiwan. They are often clean, have nice rubbery padding underfoot, and are full of fun things for both children and grown ups. Pipkin and Domo spent some time riding on these colorful, springy animals.

Then they played on this quad see-saw. Between the see-saw and the spring animals you can see some exercise equipment. There's an elliptical on the right. In the center is a turning wheel that's great for loosening up the shoulder and rotator cuff, and on the left, hard to see, is a pull up bar.

Many parks in Taiwan have exercise stations so grown ups have something to do while watching the children play. This park is empty right now, but in the evenings, parks are full of people and children and grown ups all use the exercise equipment!

This one park in Taipei had a lovely walking path and 12 stone benches, each representing an animal from the Chinese zodiac. Look, it's the Year of the Rabbit!!

Boy, did this stone rabbit have stories to tell. A lot of people sit here and this rabbit sees it all. Pipkin's a good secret keeper so, if you want the latest in Taipei gossip, you'll have to head to one of these parks yourself.

Pip chatted a while but then said his goodbyes to the stone rabbit, to the park, to Taipei, to Taiwan! He and Domo are super excited to head to Hong Kong!

Saluting Taipei

Pipkin and Domo had very little time to walk Taipei today and they couldn't agree on where to spend their time. In situations like these, sometimes it's best to agree to disagree and spend a little time on your own. After a week of bunking together, Pip wanted a little solitude. So Domo went to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall to see the Changing of the Guards, while Pip hopped over to Taipei 101, the seemingly crooked tower in the photo above. (It's not leaning, it's a "keystone effect" caused by the camera angle.)

Domo salutes Dr. Sun Yat-sen

The gold roofed building is a memorial to Taiwan's National Father, Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Every hour there is a changing of the guard ceremony that draws a lot of tourists into the lobby to watch the guards march and put on displays of rifle twirling and tossing maneuvers.

Pipkin went to Taipei 101, the world's tallest building from 2004 until the Burj Khalifa in Dubai was completed in 2010. Taipei 101 has (you guessed it) 101 stories above ground and 5 below ground.

Pipkin didn't make it much further past this guy. "No animals inside the building!"

Pipkin thought he'd have time to hop up the stairs but no animals were allowed inside. He'll just have to enjoy the view from oustide.

It's quite...tall.

Where is the love? Oh, out here. Not inside.

Pipkin didn't know one of Robert Indiana's LOVE sculptures was here in Taipei. He's pretty happy about it, and he's forgotten all about the whole "no animals" thing. Love is all you need.

From Eternal Spring to Hot Springs

Pipkin and Domo made their way north from the Eternal Spring Shrine towards Jiaoxi Township where they were to spend the night at a swanky hotel in hot spring country. Unfortunately, they missed their train by only a few minutes and had to sit around at the station for the next train, losing daylight and time booked at the spa.

By the time they arrived at the hotel, it was well after dark and in a short time the public hot springs at the hotel would be closed. At any rate, there are traditional Japanese style bath houses at the hotel and since nudity is the norm, so Pip and Domo wouldn't have shared any photos. (You see them naked all the time, but you know, they wouldn't want to share other peoples' naked bits without permission.)

Each hotel room has its own stone tiled tub with taps that pour out water from the hot springs. While they can't sit under the stars amongst a pretty Japanese style garden,  their only night at the spa wasn't a total bust.

Jiaoxi has been a popular tourist hot spot since the Japanese colonial period, hence the influence of Japanese bath houses. The hot spring water is odorless, lacking the sulphur scent of many hot springs. The water is made up of sodium, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and carbonic acid ions and has an average temperate of 58 degrees Celsius.

Filling the tile tub was overkill for Domo and Pipkin but they imagined it was their own private hot spring pool. Soaking in the mineral rich water left Domo and Pipkin's furry exteriors incredibly soft!

It was nice to get out of the hot tub and enjoy a refreshing cool rinse with the adjacent shower. 

It seemed like every bathroom in the hotels they stayed at had a telephone beside the toilet, and this hotel, the nicest one they stayed in, was no exception. Pipkin can't imagine wanting to talk to anyone while they were on the potty. This hotel's potty was the fanciest one they'd seen. Just look at all the options!

So after a very thorough cleansing experience, the two fell into a deep sleep and looked forward to the next day. In the light of day, the two awoke and looked out their window. They didn't seem to have missed too much by getting in late the previous night. Looks like they were surrounded by other touristy looking spa hotels. On to Taipei!

Eternal Spring Shrine, Taroko National Park, Taiwan

It was a very rainy day when Pipkin and Domo visited the Eternal Spring Shrine at Taroko National Park. A rainy day isn't the best day to visit, since getting to the shrine involves walking through tunnels cut in the mountain, and much of the way is steep, slippery, and dark. Even without the rain, there is always the danger of rockfalls.

Given the steep terrain and the constant threat of rockfalls, one wonders who in their right mind would build a temple here. Sure, it's beautiful, but it doesn't seem all that safe. In fact, this place has had to be rebuilt twice because of damage caused by landslides. Third time's the charm? Oh, and speaking of things that come in three, let's run down a few of the dangers of building here, from the top down. First, the aforementioned rockslides from above.

Second, the rock at Eternal Spring Shrine is made up of green schist, thin marble and quartz schist strata. It is fragile enough to begin with, and all the more unstable because a fault line runs through it.

Finally, the Liwu River at the base of the shrine is continually eroding the slope. Eternal Spring Shrine, you say? Mmm hmmmm...

So who's ready to walk to the shrine?

There's ample warning along the way. If you don't happen to read Chinese or English, hopefully the drawing isn't too abstract to understand.

As you walk through tunnels blasted into the fault lined fragile rock, you come across this memorial which commemorates the 212 construction workers who died while building the Central Cross Island Highway near the shrine.

Eventually you emerge from the darkness and you can walk through the temples. Domo took a photo of Pipkin at the falls. Who knows how long this will be here?