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Feb02 Sunday:

At Meihei's parents' house:
Taiwan: Taiwan: Taiwan: Sunday is day 2 of the Chinese New Years festivities. This is the day that each daughter brings family and friends to her parents house. We are invited by Meihei (pronounced May-way) to the noon-time feast at her parents, who live on a small farm on the outskirts of Kaohsiung. The tables are set up outside in what is normally their car-port.
Taiwan: Taiwan: After lunch, Richard and I go for a stroll around the farm. This is a Papaya tree.
Taiwan: Taiwan: Taiwan: A parrot in an outdoor cage.
Taiwan: Richard examining a Bamboo grove.
Taiwan: Taiwan: Their usual outdoor dining or tea area.
Taiwan: Diefenbachia growing outdoors.
Taiwan: Richard and a Banana tree.
Taiwan: Taiwan: Taiwan: Aloe vera (?).
Taiwan: Bamboo.
Taiwan: Taiwan: Taiwan: Pineapple. Some are in a natural state, others have had their leaves tied together, perhaps to shade the fruit?
Taiwan: Mango (?) tree.
Taiwan: Taiwan: Taiwan: Meihei's father makes oolong tea; Betty observes carefully. Tea-making in Taiwan is an elaborate ritual, having several additional steps compared to the British or Paraguayan methods, with much rinsing and discarding. It involves two teapots, and seems to require a special table, seen here in the portable tray-like form.
Taiwan: Taiwan: Taiwan: Tea-making continued.
Taiwan: Taiwan: Taiwan: Tea-making continued - it is an elaborate ritual.
Taiwan: Taiwan: Taiwan: Tea drinking and "tea" eating.
Taiwan: Meihei's grandmother with some of her great-grandchildren.
Taiwan: Taiwan: Taiwan: Betty makes the next round of tea.
Taiwan: Taiwan: Taiwan: Note that even more food has arrived. By now it is all of 63 minutes since we finished the big feast ...
Taiwan: Taiwan: Tea-time conversation with gestures; some people here speak no Chinese, others have little English. And the children make their own gestures.
Taiwan: Betty makes more tea. Meihei demonstrates the technique needed to sip tea made by a different method, where one uses a lid to strain the liquid from the leaves.
Taiwan: Corn being husked - please note the colour.
Taiwan: Taiwan: Taiwan: A fire being made in the old-fashioned outdoor stove.
Taiwan: Corn on the cob, cooking on the stove. This corn was pretty but was woody and tasteless, and such corn being a treat in Taiwan, is conclusive proof that the Taiwanese have never tasted North American corn. I am amazed that they bother to grow such corn, since they do have much food that is wonderful.
Taiwan: Bad photo of Turtle Dove. This bird looks remarkably similar to the Mourning Dove of N.America but sings very differently; it is one of the commonest birds of Taiwan, so I should be able to get a better picture.
Taiwan: And an extremely bad photo of some bird hiding in a tree.
Taiwan: Banana tree with fruit. I cannot get over the feeling that bananas grow upside down.
Taiwan: Taiwan: A flowering shrub - Rhododendron (?).
Taiwan: An old shed built with materials no longer being used. The roof is covered with clay tile, in a shape very different from European or N.American tile.
Taiwan: Taiwan: Two views of their new house. Full 3-story houses are common in Taiwan, often much narrower than this one; in fact that weird house on AcademyRd in Winnipeg would feel right at home in Taiwan.
Taiwan: Their previous house, now occupied by tenants, is in the background here.
Taiwan: Taiwan: Taiwan: A glimse at the old house's "Temple Room". Almost every house in Taiwan has such a room set aside.
Taiwan: Looking up in the temple room, to see a clay tile roof from underneath.
 
On the way home:
Taiwan: We stop for petrol, and armloads of free stuff that accompanies a petrol purchase.
Taiwan: An unusual 7-Eleven, next to petrol station.
Taiwan: Betty stops at a street vender to shop for a bigger vase.
Taiwan: Taiwan: And i try to photograph some distant dogs & cats lounging on an unused parking lot. Dogs are everywhere in Taiwan, and they seem to lack respect for motorcars, as they frequently nap in the middle of the road. Many of these dogs have a weird 3-legged gait.