Right now, Nantou County is receiving moderate rain interrupted by periods of heavy rain and winds. I received a message that the main road I take from where I live in Jhongxing Village to my job in Caotun was flooded, I called my school to see if classes would be canceled because of that, the response from our secretary was that some students would still be coming. Luckily, about five minutes later, the government canceled work and class for the county. I tried taking a couple pictures from the roof, but they didn’t look as menacing as the precipitation map pictured above.

This weekend I checked out the Botanical Garden of the National Museum of Natural Science [國立自然科學博物館] in Taichung. Founded in 1999, the 4.5-hectare garden contains more than 400 plant collections. The admission charge for the Tropical Rain Forest Greenhouse [pictured above] is $20NT.

There’s an elevator to the top of the gardens, but all the spots for the soonest time slot were filled and there wasn’t another one for a couple hours, so I didn’t get a chance to get a top view of the greenhouse.

A family of three enjoys the view:

The greenhouse also contains a 14-foot aquarium stocked with large fish from the Amazon River. A smaller tank contains fish such as Tetras and Angelfish while another tank contains Tree Frogs.

The garden and greenhouse are an excellent stop for anyone visiting Taichung on the cheap.

This week saw the arrivals of the following species on the Butterflies page:

• Papilio bianor kotoensis
• Graphium agamememnon
• Papilio memnon heronus
• Tirumala limniace
• Danaus chrysippus
• Euploea eunice hobsoni
• Catopsilia pomona
• Hebomoia glaucippe formosana

Zhongxing Junior High School [中興國中]

This morning I embarked on a bike route which runs through Jhongsing Village [中興新村], Nantou City [南投市], Jhongliao [中寮], Jiji [集集], and Mingjian [名間]. I’ve been on this route once before with the parents of one of my students, they were more accustomed to this kind of riding so I let them set the pace. We didn’t stop for pictures during that trip, because I didn’t want to slow them down. This time I just had the company of myself so I had plenty of time to stop for pictures like the entrance of Zhongxing Junior High School [where Cathy went to school], which was rebuilt after the 921 Earthquake.

On the way to Nantou City, this bridge is for bicyclists and scooters only:

I saw many other bicyclists along the way, here a group passes me [for the time being] while en route to Jhongliao:

Some government agencies, charities, and individuals build monuments and parks to honor the victims of the destructive 921 Earthquake… Others, name a betel nut stand after it:

A clear river in Jhongliao:

The yellow brick road of Jhongliao:

After Jhongliao it’s up and down hill from there:

Almost to Jiji, finally flat terrain again:

A field of flowers greet me:

I’ve never seen this town with so few people! In a couple hours there will be about a thousand times more people standing in front of Jiji Train Station taking pictures:

It’s been about a year and a half since I last visited the station, the town is quite pleasant before 9 o’clock:

After the train station I headed to the Endemic Species Research Institute [特有生物研究保育中心] and strolled around its ecological park while waiting for the butterfly garden to open.

Crested Serpent Eagle, Spilornis cheela

I went to the museum here a couple weeks ago with Cathy, but we didn’t do much walking in the park outside because it was raining lightly and the mosquitoes were bad.

I wish the Grey Treepie [Dendrocitta formosae] would have posed for a few more shots. It’s a wonderful creature with a splendid voice.

As usual, it started getting pretty hot around 10 o’clock when the butterfly garden opened, so I took only a few shots that I am yet to sort through, but here’s a sneak peak of a couple of 大白斑蝶 [(literally: Big White Spotted Butterfly)Idea leuconoe clara]:

A quick ride past the Jiji Weir:

On the way to Tsu-Nan Temple [紫南宮]:

And a quick stop to the temple’s $38,800,000 NT “bamboo shoots” bathroom [紫南宮筍型休憩設施]

After resting in the shade for a few minutes I returned home after passing through Mingjian.

There are a few new arrivals on the Taiwan’s Butterflies page after being eaten alive by mosquitoes today:

• Graphium doson postianus
• Graphium cloanthus kuge
• Timelaea albescens formosana
• Euploea mulciber barsine
• Hypolimnas misippus
• Symbrenthia lilaea formosanus
• Junonia lemonias aenaria
• Catopsilia pyranthe
• Lampides boeticus
• Spindasis kuyanianus

Our current total now stands at 31 species!

We got to the studio to take our wedding photos around 9:30 am on Sunday. At that time Cathy got her hair and makeup done and discussed the final locations for the outdoor shots. We also looked at a few photo books and decided which poses we liked the most. From the looks of other wedding photo albums in Taiwan, the wedding photos seem to trump the reception in importance. The giant book of photos and an enormous framed picture always adorn the entrance of a reception. Small wallet-sized photos are also feverishly grabbed by guests on their way in. I have no idea what people do with the 4 or 5 different pictures they each grab after they’ve gone home.

After Cathy got the hair and makeup treatment and I got my hair done [in a fraction of the time] we headed to the photo studio. I met the photographer a couple months ago when he came to the school I work at to take class pictures of the children. I asked him a few questions and got his company’s business card. Later, I found out the studio also did one of Cathy’s sister’s photos.

The photographer and his assistant took great care and time in our poses for each shot. After a few poses we were sent back out for costume changes and hairstyle changes stopping only for a brief lunch break. The shots I took that are pictured here were taken in-between our time in the dungeon studio.

We packed the van and left for our outdoor shots around 4 pm. The weather was really hot and sunny. Our first location was a nearby cafe [near the Jhonsing Lotus Ponds]. Our pictures struck the curiosity of people outside cafe, one person approached our photographer to inform him that I was sweating profusely. Thankfully we left after a couple shots. Our next location was on one of the tree-lined streets in town. These shots required extra patience because we had to wait for the motorists to pass between shots. Cathy [or me] received a few honks and hollers from passing drivers. After that we were driven to a much more pleasant [shaded] area of a park for a few shots.

Shortly after that we were whisked to Nantou City for some shots in front of a western-style cafe followed by an old school. We were rapidly running out of daylight at this point when our photographer drove us up to a tea farm for some final shots before nightfall.

We returned to the wedding photo studio a little after 7 pm. Luckily, Cathy still had one smile left in her for the photo above.

Earlier this week I was introduced to a tree on the grounds of a nearby elementary school where 4 Brown Hawk-Owls [褐鷹鴞, Ninox scutulata] had made their home. It was early in the morning and Cathy’s mother had showed me where they were. She goes there frequently with a group to practice Tai Chi.

I went to see them again today after work, they were in a taller tree and sitting about twice as high as before. It was dark so the pictures really weren’t worth posting. I met a gentleman from a birding club in Taichung who was there photographing the owls. He said it was pretty unusual for them to sit on such a low branch like the day I encountered them. He asked if I had a cup to join him for tea, I didn’t have one, and the mosquitoes were eating me alive, so we ended our conversation prematurely.

I was standing in the office of the school I work at after a long employee meeting when a plain van pulled up to the school and a man talking on his cellphone stepped out and had a look on his face like he was lost. I turned to one woman in the office and asked if the circus was in town, she responded very enthusiastically that Momo TV [MOMO親子台] was here.

We gathered the students to the auditorium and two of the shows hosts appeared: Nǎiyóu Gēge [奶油哥哥] and Tóng-tóng Jiějie [彤彤姐姐], I think you could translate that to Cream Older Brother and Red Red Older Sister. Here’s a short bio of the two I found from the program’s website:

Nǎiyóu Gēge [奶油哥哥]:

Handsome, sunny, and always full of confidence. Nǎiyóu Gēge always loves to dance! No dance is difficult for him! He likes to play with children and make faces to tease them. Likes fresh and fun games, try to find Nǎiyóu Gēge!

Next up, Tóng-tóng Jiějie [彤彤姐姐]:

Tóng-tóng Jiějie is a little childish. She’s cute, lively, and hilarious! A naughty personality that loves making many funny jokes every day! Everyone on stage holds their stomachs in laughter! Not only that, Tóng-tóng Jiějie’s dancing is number 1!

Children’s programs like this seem a lot like those in the states: singing, chants, dancing, ect. The only difference I could find is that the female hosts are less homely and wear shorter skirts [if you didn't come to that conclusion already yourself].

one, two, three, 舉手

Two salespeople from the company Cathy works for had to entertain a couple of their company’s customers in Taipei on Sunday. Through some unusual series of events Cathy and myself were roped into the task, too. Our free time was exchanged for free meals, various entrance tickets, and a ride home on the High Speed Rail as opposed to our usual luxurious choice: the Kuo-Kuang Bus Company [國光客運] . Our first destination was the National Palace Museum [國立故宮博物院]. Before strolling through the museum we ate lunch at the San-hsi t’ang Teahouse [三希堂], located on the fourth floor of the main exhibition hall.

The atmosphere is very relaxing while the prices and portions are what you would expect at a teahouse atop a museum. I was unimpressed with the wait staff as we had a table of three westerners and at a major tourist destination there wasn’t a single English-speaking server on staff. Even Macarroni Grill will send an English-speaking server to the table if it is one westerner in the company of several Taiwanese.

After the museum was a brief walk through its nearby Chih-shan Garden [至善園].

Everyone I was with was trying to walk through fast enough to save time to go to 101, so although the garden was very photogenic, I didn’t walk home with many shots.

Next up was a cab ride to 101, the view from the top hasn’t changed much since my previous visit, except this time with weather was lousy:

Taipei 101’s 730-ton tuned mass damper:

A huge rainbow formed over Xinyi District, I’m sure this would have looked great from the top of 101, but we were already in cabs on our way to Taipei Train Station.

The shot above was from inside the HSR while it was approaching Taichung Station. The picture was darkened a bit to not see so much dirt on the window or my faint reflection. Cathy took the picture below while we were in a cab escorting her company’s customers to their hotel.

Several additions were added to the butterfly page last week:

• Lethe europa pavida
• Euploea sylvester swinhoei
• Mycalesis mineus
• Elymnias hypermnestra hainana
• Mycalesis francisca formosana
• Suastus gremius
• Burara jaina formosana
• Eurema blanda arsakia
• Appias albina semperi

This brings our grand total to 21 species so far!