TAIPEI SUBURBAN CINEMA ........ at Jiantan
Latest Hollywood films with titles in Chinese. Near the famous Shilin Night Market. Very crowded streets. Good food is cheap.
JH on 31.03.07 @ 01:25 PM AEST [at Jiantan">link]
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Saturday, March 31st Latest Hollywood films with titles in Chinese. Near the famous Shilin Night Market. Very crowded streets. Good food is cheap. JH on 31.03.07 @ 01:25 PM AEST [at Jiantan">link] Friday, March 30th FISH KING ....... Carp
 I found this majestic fellow last year in the Noctural section of zoo. He's doing OK this year as the star of all the tanks. A big fish of about 7kg. His (or her) true color is even more brilliant that what I can show here - with a saturation of color increase too. JH on 30.03.07 @ 09:23 PM AEST [ Carp">link] ZOO ART ........ Footpath at Taipei Zoo
 JH on 30.03.07 @ 09:04 PM AEST [Footpath at Taipei Zoo">link] TIGER ...... Taipei Zoo
 This beautiful big cat was seen chewing on tips of fresh grass. Medicine for animals and also people. A special version of rye grass is being sprouted in Melbourne with the juice serving a similar purpose for people. Oralmat is the product. Google it. It works and may also prove to be a treatment for severe marine strings. JH on 30.03.07 @ 04:03 PM AEST [Taipei Zoo">link] OWL WATCHING INFRARED LIGHT...... Taipei resident
 We human's can't see the light from a super night shot video camera - this owl can, I learned this during an accidental experiment. JH on 30.03.07 @ 01:01 AM AEST [Taipei resident">link] Wednesday, March 28th Monday, March 26th HOTEL NEON SIGN .......1960's flavour
 The hotel foyer has been used in detective movies as a location. Just like an old RKO movie. It may also be a relic from the Vietnam undeclared WAR era (pre 1975) when US troops on R&R (rest and recreation) visited Taipei, Hong Kong and Sydney etc for their 5 days of fun. Located near Taipei Main Station are plenty of budget hotels for less than AUS$40 per night. Taipei is not as cheap as China but far safer. Newspapers say police are trigger happy toward criminals and use plenty of bullets in American-style shoot-outs. JH on 26.03.07 @ 11:10 PM AEST [1960's flavour">link] BISTRO DINNER ...... Monday 6pm
 The rice is amazing. It clings together and is not gluey. Prawns, fish and vegetables for about AUS$4.4O JH on 26.03.07 @ 10:38 PM AEST [Monday 6pm">link] Sunday, March 25th TAIPEI FAST FOOD....... Fashion-lady tucker
 For about AUS$1.30 (NT$30) a cup of noodle soup with spices sold by street vendor in the Double Bay (Sydney) equivalent area. My favourite vegetarian (across the lane) restaurant was (shock) being renovated! The street sign nearby shows a typical residential address. I stayed near here during my first two visits and returned out of sentimentality yesterday afternoon. Weekends are always busy in Taiwan. I saw thousands and thousands of faces in the street and in the very crowded and spotless modern underground rail system, and not one single foreigner. Usually there are a couple seen somewhere. English Second Language teachers earn terrific wages here and would mostly be the occasional foreigner seen. Some have a status equal to an entertainer in Australia. A great lifestyle for any half-smart English native language speaker. You don't need to be able to speak Chinese either. The trick is not to sign up to any employer for more than a few months if you can - that way you can change jobs as experience develops and increase your pay rate with each self-promotion. This won’t happen easily or even at all especially if you commit to a year in advance. (The free airfare offered is peanuts. Check the island out in advance before signing up to company and do everything properly with your own double-checking to avoid getting deported). JH on 25.03.07 @ 07:27 PM AEST [Fashion-lady tucker">link] Saturday, March 24th SQUID BOATS ........ A misty morning today
 JH on 24.03.07 @ 04:38 PM AEST [A misty morning today">link] SEAFOOD MARKET ........ Dansui by the sea
 JH on 24.03.07 @ 04:35 PM AEST [Dansui by the sea">link] POWER TOWER ....... is no Mirage
 Ceiling fluorescent tubes in this building near the power tower may not need connecting to light up. I remember a picture of someone standing under a 'power tower' holding such a glowing tube to illustrate how much lost energy surrounds them. Meanwhile in Taiwan where there are three nuclear power stations (and a fourth half-built), the government says it intends to close the lot down. What have they learnt that the Australian government (which would love to build some) hasn’t? JH on 24.03.07 @ 04:32 PM AEST [is no Mirage">link] Friday, March 23rd FLIGHT NORTH ....... satellite map
 From Brisbane the aircraft passed over western tip of Irian Jaya - some big lakes down there in very wild looking country. Monsoonal cloud cover below most of the way at 29,000 feet. Aircraft flew higher at 42,000 feet. A 9-hour flight. It's the tail end of autumn in the north. People still getting about in winter clothes even although temp is in high 20's. JH on 23.03.07 @ 05:28 PM AEST [satellite map">link] Taipei ......... street of camera shops
 JH on 23.03.07 @ 05:22 PM AEST [street of camera shops">link] Newspaper report: ......... consumer beware
 it continued.....over a two day period this month concluded that the patients' urinal tracts were infected. Five of the hospitals prescribed medication costing up to US$50 each. JH on 23.03.07 @ 04:32 PM AEST [consumer beware">link] Saturday, March 17th POSTCARD features pest of the Great Barrier Reef
 Captain Ron Isbell took us to this location at Fitzroy Reef, (near Heron Island) a giant CoT starfish had been seen here for years. Scientists said later it would have been 200 years old - certainly the largest the researchers at the University of Queensland had ever been aware of. Getting the picture approved for a tourist postcard would be as difficult as selling a burning forest picture to represent a national park. One of the first copies off the press was posted (as an open postcard and a victory message) addressed to: Dr. Robert Endean, Reader in Zoology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4067 Bob told me it was never received. Someone got to it before him. A pity. The postcard would be a slightly valueable item today. One of the first published underwater postcards of The Reef and those who sought to protect it through better understandings. JH on 17.03.07 @ 05:09 PM AEST [features pest of the Great Barrier Reef">link] Friday, March 16th BEWARE OF CRANKY SHARKS ..... the consequence
 The view from the boat which came to our rescue. I climbed aboard to take this picture. Moments before a large shark had been hanging onto the pontoon held by my friend, documentary film maker Ben Cropp of Port Douglas, Queensland. JH on 16.03.07 @ 09:33 PM AEST [the consequence">link] SHARK CHEWS RUBBER BOAT ..... dramatic picture
 Batt Reef was the location where we encoiuntered this cranky shark - quite annoyed with us after I accidently bumped into it with the boat. The three-meter long shark responded by chewing the pontoon to shreds during the following five minutes or so. Quite a worry at the time. We were some 26 km offshore too. It's a lonely place. Just one other small boat was there and they saw what happened. JH on 16.03.07 @ 09:12 PM AEST [dramatic picture">link] Thursday, March 15th INSIDE A LIGHTHOUSE ...... North Reef, Queensland
 This is the now lost era of lighthouses, when three men lived a lonely and strange existence on a tiny sand cay on the Great Barrier Reef and maintained a kerosene lamp throughout the night, to power the light. Not much difference to a jail. Except the food here should have been better - fresh supplies delivered by boat every two weeks. Why three men and not two or four? Something to do with minimizing friction amongst strangers. These Great Barrier Reef and other lighthouses have since been converted to automatic all along the coast. This one is at North Reef not far from Heron Island, offshore from Gladstone and Yeppoon, Queensland. JH on 15.03.07 @ 06:23 PM AEST [North Reef, Queensland">link] TINY PACIFIC ATOLL ....... almost on the equator
 Situated within the Federated States of Micronesia is this beautiful coral atoll. Depth in the lagoon about 200 meters! Depth outside the reef measured in thousands of meters. The bottom shelves away as would the sides of an extinct volcano, which is what atolls are thought to be. Living coral on the surface prevents the whole lot disappearing into the depths as it all slowly sinks. At least that is the theory proposed by Charles Darwin that is still being taught. How that fits with global warming today would be another guess. Could it also be that our sun is becoming hotter in addition to these terrible man-made things occurring simultaneously? JH on 15.03.07 @ 09:35 AM AEST [almost on the equator">link] Wednesday, March 14th WHALE SHARK .......snorkle diver's have ride
 Myself (JH) and Valerie Taylor go for a tow on the whale shark we found by chance off Seal Rocks, NSW. JH on 14.03.07 @ 05:11 PM AEST [snorkle diver's have ride">link] Sunday, March 11th CAPE CUVIER ....... Western Australian hotspot
 Below large bull sharks, feed on the tiny fish. Occasional whales arrive to scoop-up mouthfuls of pilchards also. Air temperature about 38-40 degrees C. What I thought, at first, to be waves breaking around rocks further offshore turned out to be very large sharks eating a live manta ray. Too far away for my camera lens at the time, but possible to see with binoculars. JH on 11.03.07 @ 10:30 AM AEST [Western Australian hotspot">link] Saturday, March 10th TROPIC LOBSTER ..... Fresh from the sea
 Lynn Roberts with a Painted Crayfish (lobster) we caught at Batt Reef offshore from her home at Port Douglas. Batt Reef has since become infamous for the many large stingray that live on the sandy reef top. JH on 10.03.07 @ 02:49 PM AEST [Fresh from the sea">link] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIRST UNDERWATER SHARK FILMS ....... Made in Australia
 Ron Taylor was the best underwater cameraman I have ever worked with. In the era when motion picture film was very, very expensive – he would not waste an inch. Virtually 90% of what Ron exposed was useable, maybe even 100% sometimes. Slaughter at Saumarez, the film, was titled in sensational values by a Sydney television news journalist, a bit over the top today. He wrote the script and did narration. Today the same images and story are as interesting as when they were made. The sharks scene would be acceptable possibly to describe shark behavior. This was the first documentary film of grey reef whaler sharks in The Coral Sea, years ahead of National Geographic. The film today might be titled: “Expedition to The Coral Sea” with Wally Muller. Likewise, “Revenge of a Shark Victim” might today be titled Protecting the Grey Nurse? South Australian diver, Rodney Fox has talked about his encounter with sharks jaws extensively since he appeared in this, his first documentary. Surf Scene is notable for the photography of longboard surfers made from Ron’s boat riding the same waves at Double Island Point, Queensland. Guess who was driving the boat while Ron filmed in 16mm without his camera in the housing? JH on 10.03.07 @ 10:23 AM AEST [Made in Australia">link] Friday, March 9th JOHN HARDING EXPOSE ...... a travelling diver
 I’ve done a lot of traveling, mainly up and down the east coast. Cairns to Melbourne especially. My Toyota 4Runnner (pictured) has 506,000 km on the clock. The best car I’ve ever owned for reliability. My old base is/was the southern Gold Coast, of Queensland. Probably still my choice of anywhere to live. Good beaches and especially clear ocean currents with big fish. Further south the ocean currents veer offshore and blue water is less of a guarantee on the coast. I had all my 16mm projectors and movie films in a storage facility which doubled as an office. My block of vacant land (pictured) was going to be where I built a home – one day, perhaps. It didn’t happen. The land was sold and I’ve been spending the money on visits to Taiwan. Why Taiwan and not elsewhere friends ask? There is much to see. It would take a lifetime to know Taiwan well. Mountains higher than any in Australia, coral around the offshore islands, a strong fishing culture with a fleet of international fishing boats, a population larger than Australia’s in a country half the size of Tasmania. The scuba and snorkel activities are minimal. Neglected. The older Taiwanese fear the ocean and believe spirits in the sea are evil and seek to pull you under, I read. How common this belief is I don't know. A Lonely Planet guide book said Chinese culture in Taiwan is more original or better than on the mainland where western international culture is now a growing and obvious influence in the big cities. This is evident by neon signs. Films I’ve seen of Shanghai for example, show most neon signs for big brands in English. In Taipei (Taiwan) the neon signs are still mostly with Chinese characters. I find this very appealing. Australian residents get a free 30 day visa upon arrival. My future blogs here should detail what happens during the coming visit. I’ll keep a nautical theme where possible but anything might appear. I'll visit the National Palace Museum again where everything changes each three months. They say it would take you more than 15 years to see everything in the archives. All was saved from potential destruction (on the mainland) by sheer good timing. There are several sea world type shows. At Haulien whale sharks are captured live for overseas aquariums. Green Island is the place for diving, and the aboriginal people of Taiwan have newly discovered DNA that links them as the original Polynesian people of the Pacific! JH on 09.03.07 @ 08:29 AM AEST [a travelling diver">link] Thursday, March 8th SEA SHELL TREASURE ....... Conus gloria maris; Volute thatcheri
 Wally Gibbins and Wally Muller were both keen shell collectors. Both men have been mentioned extensively within this blog. Use the search function. With every shell there can be a good story, especially when expensive and rare specimens are concerned. If a keen shell collector could have viewed this picture forty years ago – depending upon who it was, price was no object. One John du Pont, from the family of USA industrialists was such a collector. He financed expeditions in search of the volute thatcheri (above, largest and closest to camera). Years later it was scuba divers who were to make the spectacular discoveries. Why are some shells so rare? It’s where they live that matters. The thatcheri is found only at a remote reef in The Coral Sea. Named by scientists in honour of the ‘discoverer’ – a Mr Thatcher who found a dead specimen shell on a beach where he had been shipwrecked or stranded 100 years ago. (The last part of the story may not be entirely true….. whatever the reason, the reef was not a place you’d go to for a holiday, there is zero in the way of facilities). Wally Muller organized an expedition of paying customers aboard his Coralita charter boat when the boat was newly launched. That expedition it can now be revealed, recovered about 30 thatcheri shells. Their value then was about $2000 each in today’s adjusted prices. The Gloria maris has an even more colorful history. Wally Gibbins discovered where these shells lived while salvage diving WWII shipwrecks in the Solomon Islands. Before then very few were in collections, it was truly the rarest cone shell in the world. Deep water, black sand, a river mouth, risks from the presence of sharks and crocodiles made it a location you wouldn’t normally bother about. The shells, Wal discovered, liked to live near or under rotting timber logs washed downstream to the sea. In today’s adjusted terms, $10,000 would have been paid for a single specimen forty years ago. Today anything from a few hundred dollars upwards will secure a Gloria Maris or Glory of the Sea. The thatcheri might well be in shorter supply and therefore of higher value. They come from an expensive part of the Pacific Ocean - which is also French Territory. vortex on 08.03.07 @ 07:09 PM AEST [Conus gloria maris; Volute thatcheri">link] |
