Taiwan style BBQ

Last Saturday, my Chinese Language class decided to have a BBQ Taiwanese style. The chosen location was on the outskirts of Kaohsiung City at a place called Cheng Qing Lake. We were lucky as the weather was not too hot and not to cold. Also there were some clouds so the sun was not beating down on us.

The food that you can see on the BBQ was from prepared packs that Cheng Qing Lake sell. Very convenient! They even manage to cater to my tastes - no meat, no dairy, no seafood, and definitely no hot spices. However, not everyone has the same tastes as me. My classmates had seafood, chicken, pork, and lots of other things I can not remember.

The BBQ's had to be manually lit and there were some old charcoal rocks left for this. However, they did not seem to light up very quickly. There was a lot of huffing and puffing! Not quite the method I remember when I was younger where you start by scrunch up paper, then putting small sticks (kindle wood) and then the bigger pieces on top while making sure that plenty of air can flow around. But to the Taiwanese's credit and perseverance, they got the fires started.

As as you can see from the photos, the food was cooked and being enjoyed. So it was mission achieved.

The only thing I would have liked to do was to explore more around the lake, but I will have to leave that for another day.

Till next time, haveagoodone...

Taiwan and its Pets...

One aspect of living in Taiwan I find amusing is what the locals choose to have as their pets and how they treat them. As an example, take the photo to the right. One couple brought their dog into the shop rather than leave it outside. Furthermore, this shop is not a pet shop but a food shop. What is even more intriguing is that this shop has a small number of trolleys specially for the purpose of owners who want to bring their dog into the store. On the bottom of the trolley, there is a cardboard box to make it easier for the dog to sit on. There is even a sign reserving these trolleys just for dog uses only.

The special treatment for this dog is nothing compared to the other things I have seen but not taken a photo. Most of the dogs I see have been outfitted with the latest designer clothes and shoes. They are carried around it bags with their head popping out. And they are the poorer dogs. The richer ones have doggy push strollers. So to say it is a dog's life is actually one of opulence.

Apart from dogs as pets, there appears to be a new breed of pet. When I was walking back from the department store this afternoon, I bumped into some locals out walking their pet. Can you guess what they are? They are a couple of nine day old fragment pigs.

Can you imagine how they must live in an apartment, what food to feed them, how to bath them???

They may look cute now, but imagine what they would be like when they grow up???

One other pet that I have seen but unfortunately don't have a picture is a sugar glider possum. I copied this picture from the Internet.

I thought that there were Australian native animals so how they become household pets - I do not know...

I wonder what will be next???



Till next time, have a good one...