23.6.13

Another Sunset

I previously posted a picture of a Beautiful Sunset in Taipei. On Friday I saw the sun going down again and it was so beautiful. I charged onto the rooftop of my apartment building to take a picture. The beautiful sunset is shown below. Absolutely stunning!


Today's Sunset in Taipei

21.6.13

Cycling the Pingling (坪林) Lasso - 109 km

This was the ride I meant to do when I went on my ride to nowhere. I didn't quite do the planned route, but I still did what I set out to achieve, four big climbs in and around the mountains of Pingling (坪林). The last climb nearly destroyed me and I had to walk the final 2 km up the mountain, but it was still a great day out on the bike riding through the mountains, hills and tea fields of Pingling (坪林). I call it the Pingling Lasso because of the shape of the route as reflected in the map below. The scenery up there is stunning and I was so happy to be out there, in the sun, breathing the fresh air, sweating and working hard. It was a great ride. If you like cycling mountains, this is certainly a ride you should consider. You won't regret it! You can modify the ride to your liking, but certainly the ride to Pingling  (坪林) through the tea fields is well worth the effort (even if a little tough).

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On a Quintessential Chinese Screen - Temple Gate, Tea and Bicycle

10.6.13

Ta-An Forest Park (大安森林公園)

Ta-An Forest Park (大安森林公園) is probably the nicest park in Taipei. I have always been fortunate to live close to this beautiful park. However, now that the new MRT is nearly done, I fear on the weekends it will become even MORE overcrowded (if that is possible). Still, it is a great place to walk around and chill out in on the weekend. We have had many a good time there.


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Saturday Lunch

My niece and nephew came to visit Pudding on Saturday. They didn't want to go out and leave the cat so we prepared food by ourselves. This was what we came up with. Pretty healthy I think. Sashimi, tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers and scrambled eggs. I think it was a pretty healthy meal. And good for me as these type of meals are helping me to maintain my 15 kg weight loss, meals like this and aggressive exercise programs. The kids were amazing (considering my nephew is 5 and niece is 10) and they even helped do the washing and cleaning up afterwards. The plated food is shown below.


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Saturday Lunch

6.6.13

Ride to Nowhere - Two Big Climbs - 97 km

Today's ride didn't turn out as intended! Instead of doing the ride I had planned I went a different way. At some point I started to feel I was in the middle of a Talking Heads song on a Road to Nowhere. That of course happened after I drifted off course a few times. Before that though I felt I was riding through a Chinese painting and towards the end of the second major climb I  felt I was in the middle of Vangelis' Heaven and Hell since half of that album is as painful to the ears as the lactic acid burn in my muscles, but the views were heavenly. Even though the ride lost its objective somewhere along the way, it was still a good 97 km grunt with 1,250 m of climbing. It was a great ride to nowhere. Loved being out there in the mountains.

Mountain Clouds along the North 31 (北31) Road
Mountain Clouds

3.6.13

Pudding - An Introduction

Five and a half years ago we had to say good bye to our precious and most beloved cat Mimi. We were devastated. She had polycystic kidney disease and diabetes. We kept her alive with insulin injections and regular runs to the hospital as long as we could but eventually there was nothing that could be done and we put her down. Well, this past weekend, we decided to adopt a new cat from the Chienkuo Flower Market (建國花市). Queenie's mom named him Pudding. I am sure from time to time we will be posting pictures of Pudding on our blog so just thought we would introduce him now.

Pudding is, at the time of adoption on 1 June, 2013 two months old. He is cute but of course very nervous and unsure of his new environment. We are looking forward to years of joy and fun with our new cat.Pictures of Pudding are below


Pudding - Whats Up

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