Taiwan day 5 - National Tsing Hua University and some local nightlife

this is how a parking lot should look, yes, this is good although a few more bicycles would make it even better

the view from Brent and Jessica's place is pretty nice

Pretty low key day here which was nice, almost felt like I was relaxed and on vacation for most the day. Chia-Ru's sister (Jessica), brother-in-law (Brent) and nephew (Jeremiah) and niece (Sydney) are moving back from the US to Taiwan, they are somewhere in the air as I type this up. They came to the states back in Aug last year to raise support for his missionary work here in Taiwan and to get the kids in a US school for a while which really helps them stay sharp with the two cultures and speaking fluently in both languages. It will be good to see them again soon, they are scheduled to arrive tomorrow night.

graveyard by the short-cut

Last time I was in Taiwan two years ago I stayed with them and traveled back and forth from Chia-Ru's parents house and theirs several times. We headed to their place in the early afternoon and I was pleased that I remembered the exact route there, even the shortcuts. I packed my cycling shoes, pedals, saddle and some tools so I could setup his bike and keep the legs used to pedaling and the arse used to sitting on the skinny little seat. Bike setup and jumped on for a 50 minute ride, it was much needed given my calves are still hurting from running all those stairs yesterday. We spent some time cleaning up the place after I rode then made sure their scooter was ready to use when they get here.

Later in the afternoon Chia-Ru took me to one of her favorite hangouts when she was a girl, the National Tsing Hua University. She and her friends used to hang out and check out all the cute college guys and eat at the cafeteria, may sound odd eating at the cafeteria but we walked through it today and the food looked pretty top notch to me. This place is pretty huge, it is one of if not the most prestigious university in Taiwan, Wiki says it has 7 colleges, 17 departments and 22 independent graduate institutes in the university. Pics from the university after the video of some local nightlife.

Here is some family entertainment provided by a travelling show. Kids and adults of all ages gathered around signing and enjoying the show, this sort of thing in the states would not be family friendly I suspect. I can only imagine the reaction in Overland Park / Leawood if this thing rolled in to say Town Center at night and started up!

main south entrance of the university, like the trees

so many buildings, this one such a small part of it, all the buildings were pretty cool

Chai-Ru reflecting on her childhood where she came here to relax with friends at this nice lake on campus

the campus was full of ponds and walkways

I know where I will be going if I move here, need to learn the language!

one of the many dorms on campus

this is one fancy hotdog found in the campus cafeteria

love the colored toast, the purple was from the sweet potato flour, not sure on the rest, and what is "entire toast"?

I liked this building

waterways throughout make this campus very peaceful

ahh, the building I liked was the Physics building

no idea why this tree was like this, must be trying to reshape it? It had new growth on the ends so it is not dead.

closer shot of the physics building

these smelled really good and were growing on trees

more flowers growing on trees

pretty sure this is where I could spend many years of my life learning, I would like this very much.

this made me chuckle, your not allowed to swim and playing ball with your dog in the water is right out

if I was naming this bird, I would call it "statue bird". This thing was so still, we watched it for at least 5 minutes until it moved it's eye ever so slightly. It must just stay frozen until it's prey comes into range.

This school was next to the university. Blue and Green uniforms, they were doing all kinds of organized events. What struck me as odd was that the university and this school were separated with pretty tall fencing topped with razor wire which is in the bottom right of the picture. Must be some history here as to why...

traffic is starting to pick up towards rush hour. some would call driving here crazy, but I have seen no accidents here yet compared to at least 2-3 each day in KC during rush hour. You really have to pay attention to drive here with all the people walking, riding bikes, scooters and cars. My guess is that since driving here requires a lot of  attention to your surroundings drivers are focused on driving, not distracted with texting, shaving, eating or putting on make-up...

dinner at home. fried oysters, pork fried rice noodles, papaya and that veggie which has no translation name