Road side frogs in Tokyo :-)

Monkey rocks at a shop in Shinjuku, Tokyo

Press on the play button below



What a cute monkey!

Japan

Below:
Ginza at night

Waterchestnut store in Kaohsiung

This is a store we stopped to buy some water chestnut.



Look at the size of them! The water chestnut is actually not a nut at all, but an aquatic vegetable that grows in marshes.



Nutritionally, water chestnuts are a good source of potassium and fiber. They are low in sodium, and fat is virtually non-existent. Caloriewise, one cup of water chestnut slices contains about one hundred-thirty calories. Low carb dieters, beware: water chestnuts are high in carbohydrates. You may try replacing them with low carb bamboo shoots.

National Palace Museum, Taipeh

The National Palace Museum is an art museum in Taipei, Taiwan Province, Republic of China. It is the national museum of the Republic of China, and has a permanent collection of over 650,000 pieces of ancient Chinese artifacts and artworks, making it one of the largest in the world. The collection encompasses over 8,000 years of Chinese history from the Neolithic age to the late Qing dynasty.

The National Palace Museum was originally established as the Palace Museum in Beijing's Forbidden City on 10 October 1925, shortly after the expulsion of Puyi, the last emperor of China, from the Forbidden City by warlord Feng Yü-hsiang. The articles in the museum consisted of the valuables of the former Imperial family.

In 1931, shortly after the Mukden Incident Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Government ordered the museum to quickly move its most valuable pieces out of the city to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Imperial Japanese Army. As a result, on 6 February 1933, 13,491 boxes were moved in two trains from the plaza in front of the Gate of Divine Might to the South. The collection was moved to several places, including Shanghai, Anshun, Yibin as the Imperial Japanese Army advanced farther inland during the Second Sino-Japanese War, which merged into the greater conflict of World War II. The Chinese Civil War resumed following the surrender of the Japanese ultimately resulting in Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's decision in evacuating the art to Taiwan.



The display changes every 6 months and takes years to show all the 650,000 artifacts etc.

I visited the museum but photo-taking is forbidden inside. A MUST VISIT!

Happy Deepavali to my Hindu friends

Economy rice delivery

See the amount of rice packets (prob 20 and not in a basket) here are stacked on the bike. Each pack is round Rmb10. I took this photo outside a restaurant in Shanghai University

Pixar

I must admit I knew nothing about Pixar until the movie UP attracted my attention. I subsequently watched UP and it was a beautiful 3-D show.



In August I went to a Pixar exhibition in Taipeh and saw their display of their past creations - Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc etc.... Visit pixar.com. Computer graphics is now a US$1.5 trillion industry.

Johnny Moo

Johnny Moo's is a restaurant chain in Shanghai that is opened by a Malaysian. They serve food like burgers, chips, milkshakes etc. The food is quite good!

Xue Xue Institute in Taipeh (August visit)

Xue Xue is a creative arts center in Taipeh.

Below is a display of creations of a competition ( theme: yellow chair).





Below is a plant that needs only 6 breaths per day to give it enough water to survive.



a model of a blind man



a model to promote help preserve the environment


Ducks signify good luck....

Ride at Mt.Lushan

Click on play button below

Mount Lushan in Jiangxi

Mt.Lushan is a beautiful place that has inspired many great poets in the past.
When I was there it was raining a fair bit so I didn't get to see much.

USAC students at Shanghai University

USAC is group that organizes American students to study Chinese in China during the college break. Student will study Chinese for 3 months and get credits towards their degree program back in the States.

Students can also take up units like Chinese Politics, Economics etc that are taught in English at Shanghai University that contributes towards their degree program back in the States. 

Shanghai University

Studying Chinese in Shanghai.

Kameila from France is 2m tall and has studied Chinese diligently for 3 months. His written Chinese is heaps better than mine.

There are many students from Japan, Africa, Colombia, Finland, Russia, USA etc. They all greet each other "Ni Hao" as standard greetings.

 

No access

I am not sure whether I will have access to this blog for 2 weeks as I will be in a country where it is blocked. So bear with me till the 14th/15th September.

Cartoonist for Fussy Eater & Friends animation video

We had planned an animation video for Bugs Buster (www.dochen.net).

Lares below is the cartoonist

How we linked up with Lares was through Vivi. While I was sighting at Taipeh 101 two months ago, I bumped into her and she gave me a name card.

We asked her who drew the picture (of her) on her name card and she introduced Lares the cartoonist. In life, no venture no gain!

Other games at Rui Fung market

I was good at this and won some prizes. You shoot pellets at the balloons filled with water.

This is a mahjong game but a no-brainer as you choose 15 cards and have to form a line either vertically, horizontally or diagonally to win prizes. 

A dart game which you have the throw at the balloons.

Below is a game whereby you throw rings and it has to latch on the prize to win it.

Baseball

When I was last in Kaohsiung, I went to this place called Rui Fung Ye Bu.

There were many games but I took a fancy at this baseball game.

For NT$100 you get 12 throws at the baseball to hit the target (numbers 1-9) in order to win some prizes.

Sporting a baseball cap?????

After that episode I had a sore arm for a few days.