Sadly, our Photographic Safari in Canada is over and now, we have to say goodbye to the beautiful people of Taipei as well. Our brief stay in Taipei was designed to give us a few days to wind down from our Canadian Safari and we did just that … however, we still couldn’t resist having a bit of a look around while we were there.
We thought it a must to visit the world famous tallest building (for a short time only in Taipei) the Taipei 101 Observatory, so we grabbed a Cab and with some assistance from Mina, our petite little helper from the Riviera Hotel … off we went. Taipei 101 has a magnificent and rather upmarket shopping mall, with everything from a huge food court, to stores from every major designer in the world, like ROLEX (yes, the genuine Rolex), Cartier, D&G, Gucci and Prada just to name a few. The elevator ride to the 89th floor took no more than a few seconds and didn’t feel like it even moved. To be honest, if we hadn’t got out of the elevator to see the view, we wouldn’t have believed we’d ever left the 5th floor we started from. Again, our scenery shots were dampened with wet weather, but we’ve included a few to show you just how high up we were anyway. There was also an amazing range of exquisite gifts and art on display for those with a bulging wallet and no other method of relief. Down one floor we saw the amazing Damper, which has been attractively dressed in gold paint and shiny stainless steel, to make it a feature, rather than just an amazing piece of engineering. So much so, that they have created an whole tourism mascot from it called the “Damper Baby” which you can of course purchase and take home with you. This damper controls the entire building sway and movement.
The next day we decided to see a little of the local landscape and experience some local culture, getting the chance to do some people watching, rounding off the day of Taipei absorption. So, we loaded the backpacks full of camera gear and headed off to the metro for a trip to Danshui where Peggy, our always helpful concierge from the Riviera Hotel recommended we go to see her home town, the sights, visit the Historical Fort, stroll along the river and finish up in the night markets. True to form, the rain started and although not heavy, dampened the scenery photography enough for us to admit when we’ve been beaten. We have been so lucky with weather throughout the whole trip for wildlife photography, but nearly every time we came to an anticipated scenery location, the weather left us positively uninspired.
We had a great day people watching and absorbing the locals evolving from scooter to pedestrian movement in what seemed like a migration of masses of happy smiling faces, all the time ready to try and communicate with a couple of stunned Australians. The sheer volume of people moving in any given square centimetre is amazing to watch as they all do it, without so much as a scuffle or harsh word to say to the scooters zipping in between their bodies. There is every conceivable product or food available in the markets and the temptation got the better of us after seeing a long queue waiting to buy three deep fried thingies on a stick, which we diligently basted with some goo with a brush sitting in a bowl, delicately balanced on the edge of the sidewalk cart. We still have no idea what they were, what delight filled their insides, or what we basted them with, but they tasted great and as at the time of writing the first half of this BLOG, sitting in the Dynasty Lounge in the Airport, we have no unpleasant side effects to tell you about. Lucky huh?
Only a block from the hotel, we felt adventurous enough to try a packed little local eating establishment, so in we went, where we were greeted by a Maltese Terrier with it’s tongue hanging out and a pair of ghostly eyeballs that I don’t think do a lot of visualising, which could be a good thing after seeing the buffet hot box. As many of you know, I’m all for trying new things and love to experience local foods, but when even I, can look at a huge array of hot boxes and have no idea what ANY of the foods on offer were, we decided to play it safe and move on. Sorry … but I do like to have at least some idea what animal, or part thereof I am about to inflict my stomach with.
The next day, we thought we’d see if we could pick up a bargain gadget or two, so again Mina wrote her suggestion in a language the Cab driver could understand and off we went. Harvey Norman eat your heart out … we got out of the Cab to see a six story Sony Ad with a welcoming double glass door at the bottom and after getting over the initial awe, in we went. The place was a computer market so to speak, with wait for it … 6 floors, with about 80 or 90 little computer, phone, sound, vision and gadget stores per floor, all packed to the eyeballs with enough stuff to see the gadget freak satisfied for the next millennium. Wow just isn’t a strong enough word. The depressing thing was that none of the prices, from Laptops to Cameras were particularly enticing at all. You can save about 10-20% on most things, but most items only come with a Taiwan warranty and to be honest, you can get the same sort of prices in Harvey Norman if you’re prepared to do a little haggling. Oh yes and across the road was a whole street of computer based stores for those who just didn’t get enough after leaving the 6 story I.T. extravaganza.
Another surprising thing was the lack of souvenir shops for the discerning tourist. Again, Mina came to the rescue with a card that got us to the ONLY souvenir shop we saw in Taipei. I really thought they’d be everywhere. This store did have 3 floors of everything from keyrings to fine art to choose from. So we picked up the few mandatory “I thought of you style” trinkets and it was back to the Hotel for the last supper. We decided to have dinner in the hotel and off to bed at a reasonable hour for the much dreaded bag packing before leaving for home. It took about 4 hours the next day, to reorganise the bags and distribute the weight within allowable limits, but we did it just right according to China Airlines with one bag having a comfortable 1kg buffer with the maximum limit. Nice!
Again, China Airlines’ check in service was fast, smooth, very friendly and efficient. I zipped outside for my last smoke before hitting the Duty Free store for some last minute alcohol and cigarettes, then into the Dynasty Lounge for an internet connection and a bite to eat. True to form, the China Airlines flight direct from Taipei to Brisbane was met with happy smiling faces and service comparable to the finest of 5 star restaurants, the seats were comfortable and the food was excellent. In all honesty, the flights we have had with China Airlines are the best we have experienced anywhere and I think QANTAS could do themselves a favour by sending their staff to the same attendant’s school. We’ve flown on many airlines, to many destinations around the world and China Airlines made QANTAS look like a very poor, second rate, budget airline in comparison, which is in stark contrast to their prices which were almost double that of China Airlines at the time we purchased. So, if you get the chance to fly China Airlines, both Dad and I highly recommend them.
The flight home was uneventful, which is a good thing when talking airline flights and we arrived home pretty much exhausted. No matter how good your trip away is, it’s always nice to see the faces of your loved ones and feel your feet firmly on home soil. The long days in Canada, Jet Lag of loosing a day getting to Taipei and flying all night to arrive in Brisbane just in time to start the day have taken their toll on me. Dad is remarkable in this area and after just an hour or two of “Nana Naps” here and there, bounces back like a 20 year old … and as he’s fast approaching his 75th Birthday next month … this is a man I truly aspire too. I just hope you all don’t hammer me too hard with work on Friday as I am really not yet firing on all cylinders yet and have the feeling it is going to take a week to get back into the swing of things … hint hint!
Again, I would just like to say a special thank you to all the beautiful people who helped us along the Taipei journey, from our wonderful China Airlines Hostesses Sally and Nancy, the helpful and very beautiful young ladies at the Riviera Hotel ... Peggy thank you for the Pinapple Cake, we got it home and it was lovely, Mina, April, Clair and Linda, not to mention our Bellmen Gordon and Wilson, plus the many locals who were kind enough to let us take their photo's. Thank you for making our visit to Taipei a wonderful experience.
Next week, I’ll try and publish a summary BLOG which should complete the trip nicely. Until then, we’ve uploaded yet another Album 7 with lots more photo’s from Taipei for you to see.
MORE PHOTOS ADDED TODAY : NEW ALBUM 7
If you would like to see some more photo's of what we've seen so far, please visit our PICASA Web Albums page!
Go To: http://picasaweb.google.com.au/styleid/Safari2008Album07
Keep smiling ...
Darren & Keith Gardiner
Taipei Tourists
Probably our biggest disappointment was the rather hard to find Bull Moose. Of all the wildlife I thought would have been on tap in Canada, the Moose was it. Their photo adorns magazines, postcards and blogs from this part of the world everywhere you look, and it’s one of the only animals we never managed to see. Well sort of … luckily, we found a decent statue of one, so here is the only Bull Moose we managed to see.
After leaving Elk Island, we took a Helicopter flight with Jamie from the Icefield Helicopter Tours base at Cline River over the Columbia Ice Fields which just helped enforce the sheer size and scope of these incredible Rocky Mountains. These ice fields are the head waters for all the fresh water rivers in Canada that flow East and West off the Continental Divide which is the highest ridge in Canada. In the days of the Ice Age, even the highest peak was covered in ice … sadly this ice is melting at an incredible rate.
Anyone who knows me, will know just how important it was for me to get those all important Beaver shots and with Paul’s keen eye and knowledge of this rather private animal’s habits, we lay in wait. After little more than an hour thumb twiddling and butt shifting in the swampy grass, sure enough … Benny the Beaver as we nicknamed him, clocked on for another hard day’s work. The old saying of “Busy as a Beaver” is more true than I imagined. These little guys work so hard building their impressive lodges, digging trenches, making dams, collecting branches for food and levelling huge areas of forest, all with those big teeth and tiny hands. Let’s just say, I’
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So this will be about the last of the Bear photographs for this trip, as tomorrow we have a short drive (about 10 or so hours) to our next destination, where we will begin to photograph some of the other scenery and wildlife we had on our list of things to do.
We started off with a very long drive in our huge GMC Suburban from the Quality Hotel Downtown in Vancouver at a little after 6:30am and after a few comfort breaks, free doughnuts from the girls at Tim Hortons and stops for food supplies, we ended up at the Chilko River Lodge and Guest Ranch (
This is truly Canadian Wilderness country, without a bitumen road or even electricity in sight. We’re staying in a homely rustic log cabin, with gas mantles for lighting, a wood stove for heating and yes … no electricity. There is a generator up at the lodge for power to download the thousands of photo’s taken each day, but nothing in the rooms. Housi and Annette are our hosts at the lodge and they have truly offered us the warm, friendly, welcoming host experience we were looking for.
The first few days have been dedicated to photographing the mighty Grizzly and Black Bears and we certainly haven’t been disappointed. We’ve found and photographed up to 25 Grizzly Bears each day. These bears are truly amazing creatures to be in the presence of and surprisingly calm when drifting as close as a few metres away in our 6 metre tinny. Watching the mothers guarding their cubs while they play, it’s very obvious that one eye is kept on us every second and I don’t think any of us would be met with welcoming arms if we ventured out of the boat. We’ve seen so many, it’s hard to keep track, but this has truly been an experience of a lifetime.
Just like this lovely mothers dress, we 
Hope you liked all the bad puns with matching photos, all taken at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, BC, Canada today.
He wrote down an address of a street where the Uni Students buy their gear which turned out to be a gem for purchasing the additional couple of Laptop Hard Drives we wanted. We bought a couple of Transcend 320Gb USB Drives for AUD$124.00ea … not bad for a brand name even I recognise. They had about 40 shops jammed next to each other full of laptops and every kind of computer part you can think of. Did I mention this is the place to buy laptops? There must have been literally thousands on display in this one street.
Apparently, the later flights like ours at 11:40pm to Vancouver are running on schedule, so at least for now, it looks like we’ll be leaving Taipei for Vancouver as planned on Sunday night.
