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Lovely day in Taipei at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial and amazing Lungshan Temple. It was a hot one! We ate bao at this great soy milk place for breakfast, got to see the changing of the guard at the memorial, and later got a family foot massage. Informative and relaxing day. #Taiwan

Chad selfie outside the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, which is a large white building with a long stairwayChad selfie with the seated statue of Chiang Kai Shek and a guard in all white uniform Chad standing in front of an epic and very large photo of a 1990 pro-democracy protest image of a speaker from behind exhorting a crowd of students Chad selfie in front of of the lot up Lungshan Temple gates at night

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Day 29: 📷 drift (@SimonWoods) #mbApr

After days of rain and cloud on this #Taiwan trip, we got a perfectly clear 34ºC day with just this little wisp of cloud drifting above the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

A large white structure topped with a hexagonal roof. The bright reflection makes it feel really hot. Above the building are a few wispy strands of cloud
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Scrambled onto a packed high-speed train 🚄 from Tainan to Taipei. Had to stand the whole 1.5hr journey, but we made it 😮‍💨 Immediately went for fish tacos 🌮 and tea 🍵 (a very Taiwan combination) 😋

They served craft beer, cocktails, and tea out of a long bank of draft taps!

Chad hovering menacingly over some fish tacos and a plate of chips and salsa, holding a fruity tea beverage
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Day 28: 📷 community (@stupendousman) #mbApr

Depiction of community festival at the Taiwan National History Museum. #Taiwan

Mannequins of all ages dressed up in colourful festival gear with painted faces
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Catching up on some journaling on the balcony with a nice view before we leave.

#Taiwan

Silhouettes of Chad and Mrs Chad sitting on wicker chairs on the 3rd floor overlooking a swimming pool and greenery by the lakePhoto along the balconies of the hotel. Each unit gets a large squarish tiled area with chairs and a table. Everything is painted in vermillion and symmetricReverse shot of Grand Kaohsiung Hotel at an angle in nice weather

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Lovely day at the Grand Kaohsiung Hotel. Next we drive up to Tainan to visit the National History Museum. In the evening we will catch the High Speed Rail to Taipei.

Chad stands at the entrance to the hotel, atop a staircase decorated with golden dragons, arms outstretched in a welcoming motion
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Tonight we are staying in the Grand Kaohsiung Hotel, a grand place indeed which has hosted many dignitaries over the years including Chiang Kai Shek, Chadian president Idriss Déby, and Reza Pahlavi Shah. They have a giant duck and a nice pool! #Taiwan

Chad sits in front of the fountain of the Grand Kaohsiung Hotel. In the fountain is a giant yellow rubber duckyGrand Kaohsiung Hotel at night from an angleGrand Kaohsiung Hotel at nightRear of the Grand Kaohsiung Hotel from the swimming pool

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Day 27: 📷 surprise (@Sdevore) #mbApr

One of the suprising things visiting the holy site of the Buddha tooth relic (see previous post) was finding… a DINOSAUR display!? Unexpected… but at least its a herbivore! 🌱🦕

A stegasaurus statue in front of a Buddhist pagoda
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Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum houses one of the 3 tooth 🦷 relics of the Buddha ☸️ It is a massive facility. No photos inside unfortunately. We saw the reliquary, got small bottles of holy water, and ate a fantastic vegetarian meal. But, there was a surprise (see my next post) #Taiwan #Buddhism

a wide boulevard lined with trees and pagodas leading to a huge Buddha statueChad selfie pointing to the Buddha statue from a distanceChad selfie pointing at the Buddha statue from much closera map of the facility

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We showed up just as they were getting the night market set up. It was absolutely pouring when the plane landed. But not too bad the rest of the day. We had “Buddha Head” fruit for the first time. Ate some great noodles at a vegetarian 卍 stand. So full of street food right now! 😋

Chad selfie under the Dome of Light, a large coloured light installation at Formosa StationA roasted giant shrimp stand. A pile of clams are out front of the shop stallLow shot of a wet street in Kaohsiung. A few street carts are setting up on the edgesA stack of Custard Apples (aka the Buddha’s Head Fruit)

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Day 26: 📷 critter (@7robots) #mbApr

Some delicious critters at the night market from our first day in Taiwan.

Live jumbo shrimp in a tank
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On the train to get on the plane to fly to Taiwan!🇹🇼 Getting a jumpstart on Golden Week. All my photos for the rest of the Micro.Blog April photo challenge #mBApr will now switch from Sakura 🌸 to Taiwan themed. 🧋🥭🍍

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Hard wind out there today 🌬🪨

Hard wind

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Day 25: 📷 spine (@thedimpause) #mbApr

To the east of Osaka, floating above the tops of the buildings in the distance, is the Ikoma mountain range, the spine that runs up the middle of Kansai separating the Osaka Plain from the Nara Basin. This is my morning coffee view from the balcony. ☀️☕⛰️⛰️⛰️

Landscape photo on a sunny day with clouds of buildings receding into the distance and a mountain range beyond
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Day 24: 📷 light (@eumrz) #mbApr

The cherry blossoms are long gone, so I have not held myself to that rule for the last couple of weeks, but I am glad to get you some cherry blossoms for tonight’s photo 💡🌸

night photo of an outdoor light covered with a shade with a cherry blossom motif
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Imagine interacting with your connected notes with a more engaging canvas view… that is programmable! “Visual-Semantic Morphism” is just one thing that came up in this cool presentation from @orion@hci.social

www.youtube.com/watch

#Obsidian #OpenCanvas #ToolsForThought #UX #HCI

animated gif showing nodes representing notes in a graph smoothly transitioning between dots and actual text labels. Then, out of nowhere, they expand into actual notes! All while mantaining their positional relationships in Euclidean space!
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Started listening to The Blade Itself (The First Law #1) by Joe Abercrombie 📚

Recommended by my brother. Been a while since I read a straight forward fantasy in this style. Wanted something I could listen to on the airplane this week.

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Well, hello there. 👋 If you don’t mind terribly, I should like to recommend this lovely video essay about Wes Anderson films and living with pain 🥹

Be well! I wish you the very best.

youtu.be/5G_sn4OIN…

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Started listening to Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth by Ingrid Robeyns 📚

Chapter notes on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6450313181) and Bookwyrm (https://bookwyrm.social/book/1617013/comment#reviews) if you want to follow along.

#EconomicJustice #limitarianism

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Wife left the city for the mountains 🏔️ today. Came home with a giant mushroom 🍄‍🟫. Broiled it and cracked it open and a long centipede came out!! 🐛😱 Children are mortified and have sworn off food “for at least a week”! 😂