Horsefly, BC

Some pictures from our latest forray into the frigid realm of field work - it didn't dip too much past -20 but if felt like it really, really wanted to.

As far as astronomy goes - there was one night of absolute clear seeing, and I got to spot many asterisms and constellations (three were new identifications for me - Auriga, Gemini, Taurus, and I finally figured out the star map!). It was the evening after the height of the Geminids, and I got to see a few meteors whiz through (within) the sky. One was quite amazing, leaving a trail some 40 degrees long. Most were average though. However, it was a perfect night for viewing, and I got to see three clusters I had not before located. So, overall things were astronomically perfect.

Me trying to get a sample froma submerged piezometer

Holding a piezometer at one of the sample sites.

Crystal in the process of breaking a path throught the frozen stream.

Out of place; me at home.

Me trying to get a sample out of a piezometer, but as it turned to slush mid way the seemingly easy task became quite a difficulty.

Sunset, along the drive home through the woods.

Me cutting the end of the pipe used to install piezometers. Every 3-4 peizometers installed required the pipe to be cut (we had to smash it with a sledge hammer, mashing the steel pipe somewhat).

My boots at lunch! Frozen stiff...

Moooooooooooooooooooooooooose! Many, many, many moose dancing around the roadways trying their best to:

a) lick salt

b) stay alive

A close up of a logged area; below is the broader view.

A view of a logged portion of the watershed.The linear lines are actually landslide/avalanche paths, the large blocks of unwooded areas are where active logging has taken place.

This is me, like crystal, trying to clear a path through the frozen water so that we can get in and get to work. It took us a while to find a safe place to enter the stream this time as all the shore line was frozen and unstable. Eventually we made it in, and had a few bruised shins from all the flaoting and seemingly invisible ice chunks.

And there is anchor ice.

Take care,

TAIWAN: XII

Here are some more pleasing views of Taiwan, on a more subtle scale. The flower pics were taken during a warm afternoon on the roof of our hostel in Taroko National Park; there was a garden to the side and myriad flowers that boasted colours and patterns that caught my eye. ANd then a bee came, and made it all much more prosaic and perfect.


And then there was the weather - added here is a picture of the television report warning people of the comming typhoon. One of many such storms that hit Taiwan every year. Check out the size of the storm compared to the size of the island.

Finally, a picture of one of my classes as I taught them about the Canadian Arctic and showing them pictures form my time spent there (years ago now!).

A moments pause....

"Once you depart from evidence, anything is equally possible"

TAIWAN: XI

Here are some more from Green Island, off the eastern coast of southern Taiwan. Green Island is a short twin otter flight from Taiwan proper, about 40 min, and when you arrie it is like you have been taken to another land. It is a dramatic change, although you are aware that you are sstill in Taiwan and the chinese/polynesian culture, you have beentaken away from the modernity and transferred to the more subtle and aware lifestyle. Orchid Island, a little further out in the Pacific Ocean than Green Island, is a further testament to this. More on that one later.

Us, wading around the tidal zone of the island - contemplating and breathing in the beauty of evolution. Absolutely amazing. There are not words to describe the first sights of starfish, crabs, fish, inverts, etc, in thier natural tropical habitat. The next day we went snorkelling and saw even more spectacular things. Nature is never more beautiful than it is in Taiwan.

This is me, post ferry ride spent vommiting, trying to eat food agian to replace what was lost during our trip to the island. Nothing like fish and rice in the morning.

The inside of a typical restaurant in Taiwan. Anywhere, Taiwan. X

The bottle of unmarked slop above the "X" above is hot sauce, the glorious miture of chillies and unknowns into a conglomerate of taste and satisfaction. Although cognizant of the fact it never leaves the tables in the +30c weather, and further cognizant of the fact that at said +30c it is deplorable to even think of adding heat in any form, this stuff rocked my world. There was a "good" kind and an "amazing" kind; this was the latter.

Check this one up close. Kind of appropriate, no? Check back to the posts about religion. I will sum up some stuff here:

1) Every culture has its beliefs, mythologies, that they use to describe their natural world and their place

2) Historical beliefs that are now outdated are called myths, current beliefs are called religions.

3) Religions are outdated, knowledge has moved on. They have maintained, and the world, encompassing all life human or not, suffers because of it.

4) Science has become the voice of belief, as it is the first methodological prospect that uses evidence as it's source of information, not blind guessing. Science poses answers, myths pose stories, fables.

5) Humans were not created to control Earth, God is not a reality, organized religion is an outdated mechanism for belief.

Jesus was just a guy who in todays world would be understood as a quack; in his time he was misunderstood as something important.

TAIWAN: X

This time I take you to Taipei. THe largest city in Taiwan, and by far the most important economic centre. Ecologically it is very good at points, and very poor at others. In terms of 'Taiwan' experiences, it poses a duality of sorts: it is without hesitation an asian experience and indicative of the urban culture within, but it does no justice to all that is extant on the island country of Taiwan. The rural areas are much more beautiful, no challenges there, and the people in the rural areas (mostly east coast) are not chinese heritage but indigenous to the island from Polynesian heritage. This perspective and culture exhibits a much more ecologically coupled and historically founded existence. I much prefer the rural areas, but when in Taipei, there is a large range of things to do and many interesting sites to see. So, lets look at the two main ones. Taipei 101 is (for now, as everyone tells you) the worlds tallest building. It boasts a vertigo-inducing view and although expensive for an elevator ride, is much more interesting than any other 'tall' building. The other is Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial; built in the memory of Taiwans founding dictator/leader.

Me at the base of Taipei 101.

Me, in the rain, at the CKS Memorial.

Crystal and the CKS Memorial.

Japan concedes defeat and signs over the battle. A very moving picture which speaks of many deaths and of many years of turmoil. The losers are not always the ones who erred, but in this case history has written tham as such.

Taipei, as seen from atop Taipei 101.

TAIWAN: IX

This time we took a little sojourn to Rueisuei to bask in the glory of....a town a little further south of us. It turned out to be a little rainy, and although the 4 hour scooter ride there was a beautiful and relaxing venture, once we got to town the drizzle turn downpour greeted us. We were able to find a very friendly place to eat and waited out the storm (while Trevor was getting electrocuted by his hotel door...somehow). We got to see much of the area, sit in a hot spring, climb trees and travel up th emountainside to the betel farms and the remote villages.

Ok, I got the wrong batch of pictures. I looked at the first one and remembered the trip south. Except for the first three, they are actually of Taroko Park after a significant typhoon. We were trying to make it to the middle of the island (HeHuan Mountain) but had to turn around because of poor road conditions. The pics below are actually the good road conditions...they got worse.


This is me climbing a Betel Nut Palm; almost....at.....the......top.....
Blury picture of us eating night market food. Mmmmm....night markets (spoken while drooling in a Homer-esque voice)
This was actually on the way home. We stopped at a National Reserve and hiked in to where the people dont often go because it is too dangerous (read: not along the path or on the guided tour). This swimming place was absolutely beautiful, and the bridge above shows the height of the gorge.
Me trying to get through a flooded tunnel on my scooter. I was weighing the options - do I go fast and burst through the deep parts or do I go slow and wallow with stability through the deep parts. I think fast won. I got wet, that is all I remember.

A muddy road that is not a treat to drive on with a scooter. There was a landslide to the left and it covered the whole road, which was excavated irregularly by people, allowing traffic to resume passing. Traffic, meaning one vehicle an hour or so.

A view from one of the passes - you can see the road already travelled in teh distance as a white line horizontal to the picture (to the left). The mountains are blanketed by lush sub-tropical forests and somewhere out there is the notorious Taiwan Bear. We heard it once, but never saw it. It is there....somewhere.

Another view of the road travelling throught the mountains. This is actually past Taroko and on our way to HeHuan before having to turn around. Most of the roads are single lanes, but people drive cautiously most of the time and danger only exists from landslides...well....ok people drive erratically. It is not all that safe, but at the same time not all that dangerous. You just have to be quick with reactions. Beautiful, though.

Typhoon damage - This was what was left of the road in the fall of 2005. By the summer of 2006 it was just finished being fixed. It was quite a marvel to be driving along and come across this. We actually met this sight the first time in a very uncomfortable way: we were driving ot Taroko late at night after Crystal was done work. It was raining and completely dark- we are in the middle od the mountains, where there are no villages and no lights, no electricity and no anything except road and river valley. We were driving around, fast to try to get to the upstream village within the next hour or so, and saw this weird looking "somewthing" on the road. Instinctively I thought it was just a boulder that had fallen during the rainstorm so I kept going and was about to swerve around it when I realized....hastily.....that it was a pilon and not a rock. Then I realized why a pilon might be there...illuminated only by my headlights shining through a downpour. So I quickly changed plans and squeezed the brake as hard as I could without losng control.....which worked but left us metres away from this horrifying sight. It was completely dark, so it took us a while to visualize the whole thing, but after we did our hearts began to sink. It was that close....

It was not until the drive home a few days later that we saw the whole thing in daylight and realized with great certainty that we almost went over that ledge at full speed. Nobody would have found us until the next morning. It would have been too late.

TAIWAN: VIII

As I write this Calgary is commencing their 'war on homelessness and other nuisances' with their crack down on crimes against civility. Nobody wants to see a homeless person, so lets make them illegal. And the Mayor wants to increase the width of the new laws to enable searches anywhere (for no given reason) and allow police and bylaw officers to command people to betaken to the police station. Just because they suspect 'something'.

Hmmm....

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More Taiwan.

Kind of a neat sign to see....as if glass door collisions are rampant in this part of the world?

Crystal standing on an outcrop of volcanic rocks, on Green Island, looking across to Taiwan.

Me, in the same position as Crystal.

Me, sitting with one of the last deer alive on Green Island. They were hunted so greatly that on this island it is suggested that there are few, if any, left.
The view from the back window of our house. Everymorning we would wake up to this and see the sun hitting the mountains and smell the humid trpical air.

A typical seafood dinner platter....when it is almost finished. The fish may look unappealing, but trust me it is very, very tastey.

A fish market in NanFang'ao, about a 3 hour scooter drive north of our house. Fresh anything can be found here. We saw a sting ray being butchered earlier, and Crystal, on an ealier visit, sa a shark. There are lots of problems with the whole 'shark industry' to be dealt with.

Same market, different section.
A view of the market town from the top of a bridge. This town was a very small habitation but packed with cultural facies that only a harbour town can display.

Me, posing for a picture and a break during the drive home from NanFang'Ao.

TAIWAN: VII

Ok, I took a little break from Taiwan. I had some thoughts to share.

There was a priest on the radio communicating thoughts on the need to preserve christianity. I, therefore, needed to comment.


Here are some more pictures from Taiwan. They are a random bunch, some of the school that I taught at and some travel pics.

ABOVE - A post typhoon xcess of water finding its way out of the rock mass through the side wall; similar to a moulin found in many continental glaciers.

BELOW - Me wealking along a trail as it passes under a post-typhoon waterfall. Cold, cold water...refreshing!

ABOVE - Me on a scooter.

BELOW - A scenic waterfall picture. There is much surface runoff in Taiwan; there is such intensity to the precip events that it seems to be either dry, soaked or drying.


ABOVE - YueMei Elementary School (70 students). This was the secodn of two schools that I taught at. Nestled in the coastal mountains, it is a placid and friendly environment to be in. And the people...friendly enough to put a new meaning of 'welcomming' in the dictionary.

ABOVE - A waterfall along the side of Taroko Gorge (this was a highly ephemeral waterfall; when it rained or afgter a typhoon it was rapid and when it was dry and there was no precipitation there was only a scarof past waerfalls eroded into the gorge wall).

BELOW - Crystal taking a break along Highway #11 that follows the ocean coast for the extent of the island. The picture is taken from the inside of one of many tunnels that are necessary to keep this road going along (inside) the sometimes sheer cliffs.

ABOVE - Crystal breathing in the view from one of the trails that link to the road in Taroko Park. This was possibly the trail with the best viiew. It was entirely constructed by the hands of Japanese during their occupation of Taiwan of years past.

BELOW - Daushiang Elementary School; one of the two school I taught at. The schools in Taiwan are so much more aesthetically apealing and more warm and welcomming that our stale and business structured ones here.

ABOVE - A poor quality shot of the periphery region of Taipei. Most Taipei shots will show you a bustling downtown, but this is the downtown extension that is not as flashy but still quite pleasant.