Taiwan 2025 - Monkey Post #1

This highly-cropped image needed a little massaging to make it presentable.  On virtually all of the monkey images some work was needed to make the eyes appear brighter, which included not only lightening in various ways but also an increase in color saturation.  Because of the clack of the mirror on the Bigger Cahoona, many shots captured a curious stare right at the camera.  The monkeys are obviously not used to hearing such, now that a vast majority of tourists take pictures silently with their phone cameras.

Indeed it was worth the trouble lugging around the D850, as technically the pictures of these critters have proven to be far superior to those taken with the iPhone.  But for wildlife shots like these one really needs a quality 500mm lens.  To demonstrate perspective, the image below - the same one from which the above was cropped - was zoomed to its full 300mm, which is as close as I could get to these critters:

Taiwan 2025 - Bare Tree on Mountainside / The Monkey Situation

We noticed last year that a certain species of tree on the mountainsides was not faring too well.  By this year they were completely bare.  Whenever seeing one I would think, "Wouldn't it be great if these branches were a favorite perch for the monkeys...", which would be ideal for taking pictures of the critters.  No luck on that front, however.  While the population of macaques has noticeably increased, they favor the broad, leafy trees down low that provide cover from prying human eyes.

And because of the greater population, sightings of these creatures are far more common.  Last year I identified where a certain troop - perhaps just a single family - lived, and approached the area with the Bigger Cahoona as if on a hunt.  As seen in posts from last year's series, sometimes there was success.  This year, however, the troop obviously has grown and, from what I saw, numbered in the range of 10-12 individuals.  And they were predictable enough to photograph if you knew when they'd be at a certain location.  For example, based on dozens of hikes through their territory, I concluded that in the mornings they descend to the river for water.  Then they make their way up the mountainside onto higher ground, and settle within 50 yards of it once they cross the road.  This is where they keep an eye on things from a high perch.  When they do see someone on foot, or a large group such as from the tourist buses, they scramble down to the lower canopy so as not to be seen.  This defeats the purpose for them, however, because they aren't careful and crash loudly through the brush, giving away not only their location but the direction to which they are headed.  Of course for me that serves as a beacon for quick positioning to hunt them photographically.

Taiwan 2025 - Very Different Grapes (sort of)

Have you ever seen grapes growing on the branches of a tree instead of on a vine?  Don't think these are true grapes, but whatever they are they were in season and everywhere.  They do taste like grapes, but different in that the skins are thick and bitter, not edible, and there is only one seed in the middle.  I was the only one in Chenjean's house that claimed to like them, so got a big bowlful both in the morning and also during the heat of mid-afternoon.  The skins filled up an entire teacup by the time I finished each serving...

Taiwan 2025 - Pinkish-red Flowers in Town

During the past couple of years I've seen more fancy flowers in front of the houses down Chenjean's street - some because the owners simply like them there, and others no doubt to attract the eyes of tourists passing through.  Either way it's a win-win for all of us, including the Bigger Cahoona, which captured these two perspectives of the same potted plant...

Taiwan 2025 - Dried by the Fire

This picture was taken on April 13th and, if one can believe it, the temperature was cool enough to warrant long sleeves for my daily morning hike further up the mountain.  Saw this while passing through the edge of town and stopped for a while to warm up by the fire before continuing.  What are they doing?  Those are thickened tofu skins (made from soy beans) being dried, and presumably smoked as well.  The sign touts the fact that they are "purely handmade".

Taiwan 2025 - More Purple Flowers

A post of this type of flower was published earlier in the series, back on July 7th.  Played around and decided that this iPhone capture was blogworthy after the busy background was blurred and completely desaturated of color.

Taiwan 2025 - Scraped Bark

We were intrigued by what looks like something animals did, scraping and eating the algae off of the branches of these trees.  Could it have been the monkeys?  What else could have done this...people for some reason?  Looks like a tool may have been used.  Interesting...

More evidence nearby on the branches below:

Taiwan 2025 - Derelict Vendor Stand

As mentioned during last year's series, many of the old vendor posts from days gone by were not pressed into service during the recent surge in tourism, so are left derelict along the sides of the road.  Doesn't bother me, as this leaves more opportunity for the occasional decent rustic shot...

Taiwan 2025 - Beneficial Haze

One of the advantages of being in a humid, steamy climate is chances for photographs such as this.  In certain pics the dehaze function in Photoshop is called for, but in this case, captured on an early morning walk, the haze provides beautiful contrast between mountains near and far.

Probably my favorite pic of this sort was published from last year's visit on a hike to the waterfall itself.

Taiwan 2025 - Glowing Flower Under Leaves

One more of this kind of flower, partially obscured by leaves.  And while I'm at it, the pic below was taken with the iPhone, while the Bigger Cahoona is responsible for the awesome frame above.  While they both look nice, the technical superiority of a full-frame DSLR is evident when comparing these two shots:

Taiwan 2025 - Minor Falls

This is the flow, captured at 1/10 sec while holding the camera steady with my elbows on the bridge railing seen in yesterday's post.  Another view of same below from a slightly different angle:

Taiwan 2025 - Bridge #1 on Hike to Falls

This is the first of two bridges close to the end of the road.  The rocky riverbed can be seen through the gap in the foreground, with a little bitty waterfall barely visible to the left of it.  Since I could not make the trek all the way to the main fall, had to settle for capturing this minor flow, which will be posted tomorrow.

Taiwan 2025 - Mountainside Branch Pattern

Kept passing this branch pattern, which was very close to the waterfall entrance, but had to wait until our last day there before getting just the right light.

Taiwan 2025 - High Contrast Flower Pics

Grabbed this one afternoon because of the color contrast.  No post-capture work was done with the exception of cropping and sharpening a little.  Same with the one below, which was from a nearby location:

Taiwan 2025 - Backlit Betelnut

Caught this on a morning walk; a logan fruit orchard like the one mentioned a few posts ago is in the foreground.

Taiwan 2025 - Red Plant Thing / The Piano Movers

Growing up we always had a piano.  It was a Campbell upright, and the three of us boys all took lessons and enjoyed exercising whatever talent was allotted to each.  The oldest, Bob, was probably the most talented, with Allan a close second.  As for me - well, in the span of a few months I managed to flunk lessons but still tinkered by ear.  Even wrote a few songs, using mostly majors and triads.  Ironically, of the three of us I was probably the one who enjoyed playing the most in spite of the fact that I never really learned to read music, and easily could be classified as the least talented of the brothers.

And I played every day, making use of whatever my limited talent would allow.  I played church songs (How Great Thou Art being popular at home, as it was Mom's favorite hymn) and developed my own arrangements on songs, or snippets of songs, that were popular at the time, all by ear.  Probably the most enduring piece has been one I wrote from scratch named "Trash".  Not because the song was trash, but because I used three chords from a PSA on television featuring Ed Ames, who, portraying an Indian, was seen serenely canoeing down a river.  After pulling ashore the camera angled down to show a bunch of trash being thrown at his feet.  Then there was a closeup of his face, with tears streaming down in despair at what was being done to his native land.  I took the three chords and expanded the song to include majors, some minors, and triads across the span of about three octaves, with a flourish at the end.

The piano was located in what we called the playroom of the house, where it could be heard clearly in the living spaces.  However, after my two older brothers were out of the house at college, I inherited the back bedroom and wanted to move it there.  I was a full-blown teenager and liked the privacy to do my own thing apart from whatever else was going on.  But Mom absolutely would not allow it, saying that she liked hearing me play and wanted it to stay right there in the playroom.  So there it stayed...for a little while.

One day after school a friend named Ronnie Mason was over, and I recruited him to help me in a scheme to get that piano moved anyway.  Mom slept hard in her living room chair during the afternoons, and I saw my chance.  Problem was, the only route we could take was through the living room right in front of her!  And we discovered that the wheels underneath squeaked a bit.  No matter, we'll just go slowly enough, and maybe she won't wake up...besides, there's not much fun in a project if there's no risk.  So Ronnie and I very carefully moved the piano away from its place next to the wall in the playroom, and lifted it up one end at a time to negotiate a step leading into the living room.  Once there we began to slowly roll it across the carpet, using hand gestures to direct each other in making adjustments.

Thus it was that we slowly rolled the creaking piano not two feet in front of Mom's sleeping form until we'd made it clear across the room.  Breathing sighs of relief, we continued on course.  The only other problem encountered was a corner that was too tight for us to round at the end of a hallway, so we had to tip it over on its side before the final stretch.

It was at this moment that Mom woke up!!  We heard her get up from her place on the chair and head in our direction.  My gosh, how do we handle this??  In a split second we decided to stand right next to each another between the piano and the open portion of the hallway, hiding it as much as our bodies would allow (Ronnie was big and fat, which helped).  As she came around the corner we stood there as nonchalantly as possible, even giving her a cursory wave as she passed us by.  To our relief she was either sleepwalking (common in our family), or was so out of it that she didn't notice our presence.  Either way, she walked into her bedroom and closed the door.

It wasn't until two days later when Mom expressed surprise that she was hearing me play from another part of the house.  Fortunately there was no showdown, and the piano stayed in my newly-acquired bedroom for the duration.  It was there that I mustered the concentration necessary to sit down and actually write down Trash, or what I could of it considering my lack of education.  One of these days I'll dig it out and sell it for a million dollars...

Taiwan 2025 - Focus-shifted Purple Flowers

Know I've posted a lot of this kind of flower, but couldn't resist capturing these because of the opportunity to shift the focus for a double post:

My favorite posts of this kind of flower - and some of my overall favorite flower pics of my entire wannabe career - are posted here from last year's visit to the New Taipei garden.

Taiwan 2025 - High-Risk Dove Couple

Makes you wonder for their future...

Taiwan 2025 - Little Bitty Roadside Spider

Something else we ran into on the waterfall road.  Thank goodness I had the Bigger Cahoona with me, as there was no problem focusing on this spider against a very busy background.

Didn't see any of the giant spiders such as the ones featured here...maybe too early in the year for them.

Taiwan 2025 - Beekeeper at Work

Suppose while we're on the subject of bees I oughtta post this one.  These hives are used to pollinate the logan fruit trees, an example of which you see to the right of the frame.  Logan fruit is very popular in these parts, and portions of the mountainsides are covered with family-owned orchards of up to a hundred trees.  Any time you are near such a property at this time of year, you will constantly hear the loud buzzing of thousands of bees as they do their work.  The monkeys know this too, and will wait until the fruit clusters ripen before raiding these trees day and night.  To combat this problem, farmers will rig firecrackers on slow fuses to keep them away - if they are known to be near and full of mischief, the owners will light the fuse so that every few minutes the loud bang will scare away the thieves.

Taiwan 2025 - Little Pink Roadside Flowers with Bee / Good-hearted Lady Warms Bees

Bees are great subjects for picture-taking:  they have good coloration and are not grotesque (like so many other insects); they are relatively slow (unlike most butterflies); they're somewhat predictable in setting up for shots; and they are the good guys of the insect world.

Other posts featuring bees linked here.

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On the subject of bees, one time I went back to Mexico for a spring break visit during my college years at SFA.  It was a miserable visit, as a vicious March cold front was blowing through and stalled overhead for the entire week.  Cold and rainy the whole time.  So I couldn't do much but sit around, no matter where I was, and get depressed.

One day I was doing exactly that at a neighbor's house, when I noticed that the neighbor, Elizabeth, was constantly going in and out of the kitchen.  She had a rag in her hands and appeared to be handling it very gingerly.  After seeing this about ten times I asked what she was up to.  She invited me to come over to the fireplace to see for myself, and this is what I saw:

Since it was so unexpectedly cold, when the confused bees from a nearby hive flew out to get water they could not fly back!  They couldn't flap their wings enough to get off the ground.  Many were beginning to flounder after falling in the trough or simply walking around on the dirt.  Thus, Elizabeth, caring soul that she was, made probably a hundred trips to rescue these critters until they warmed up enough to get along on their own.  Witnessing this was enough to lift me out of my funk for the day.

These are the kind of people I hung out and lived with in Old Mexico while there in '80-'81.  Lots of fodder for good-guy stories...

Taiwan 2025 - Little Pink Roadside Flowers

Early during our stay at Chenjean's dad's place I was walking along and spotted these little bitty flowers, about the size of a quarter when fully bloomed.  Caught them at a good time, too, as the opening buds were in just the right stage for good picture-taking.

Cropped-in portion of same frame below:

Taiwan 2025 - Roadside Purple Flowers

This and the next dozen or so posts will feature pics taken along the road leading up to the waterfall.  Some are of flowers, some are of critters or non-flowering vegetation.  None, however, are of the main waterfall.  Because of recent knee surgery, on this trip there was no way I could negotiate the 500+ steps leading up to what is featured in these posts (you'll have to scroll down some).  Maybe next year...

Taiwan 2025 - Road Leading to Chenjean's Little Village

And this is the road leading into Chenjean's little village from down below.  As a demonstration of the zoom capabilities of the Bigger Cahoona's walkabout vacation lens, a view from the other direction, up in the village, was posted last year here.  Also in that post is a picture that is almost identical to the one below, however this time the lights are on:

Taiwan 2025 - Roads Leading from Chenjean's Little Village

This is a view of the roads leading from Chenjean's little village (the name of which I still don't know).  The one in the right foreground leads downward to the river; the one that goes left in the background leads up the mountain in one direction, while the one that goes to the left in the foreground leads up the mountain to the waterfall.  This is the road I took most mornings for exercise and to look for monkeys (and where I saw the bird featured in yesterday's post).

Amazing that Chenjean's 95-year-old dad still walks his dog on these roads most mornings, albeit a little more slowly now.  The first several days we were here I was huffing and puffing the whole way, having to stop every hundred feet or so, until stamina built up.

Taiwan 2025 - Roadside Bird

...and speaking of fauna, was on an early hike and for the first time caught sight of this pheasant that is native to the island.  It was fairly skittish but allowed me to get close enough for these highly-cropped shots.  It was a good thing that I brought along the Bigger Cahoona for this one!

Taiwan 2025 - Purple Roadside Flowers

We've been to Taiwan at one time or another during virtually every season, and because this year's trip took place a month after last year's, there were new kinds of plants to capture, such as this purple string of flowers.  These were along the roadside and ordinarily don't get much attention.  They grew alongside other, smaller flowers normally passed by or trampled underfoot without a second thought.  Some of the more interesting of those will be featured in later posts...

Taiwan 2025 - Quiet vs. the Throngs

So here we are in Taiwan again.  After more than a dozen trips here, wouldn't it be same ole'-same ole', with nothing new to photograph?  Well, hardly.  Even in the confined space of this mountain valley, where Chenjean was raised and where her father still lives, new places to hike to and new things to see are seemingly everywhere, as we will see in this series.  And there are some things simply not noticed in the past that attract our attention.  So here we go again for another hundred-plus posts amid the Formosan jungles and urban sprawl of what everyone knows as Taiwan.

As can be seen, we're starting with my father-in-law's little village and its environs.  Touched on this in last year's series, but wanted to again juxtapose the serene quietude of the main street leading up the mountain to the invading touristic throngs that pour out of up to twelve buses per day:

Costa Rica 2025 - More Rustics

This, the last of the short Costa Rica series, features rustic items located in a restaurant on our final night of the visit.  Thought of this post among others in the 2013 series on the Palo Duro Canyon in West Texas.

So where shall be go next?  Our annual month-long trip to Taiwan happened in April, so suppose we'll do yet another series from that country...

Costa Rica 2025 - Elevated Garbage

In Taiwan, on trash day, people line the streets holding their garbage bags when the truck arrives because it's taboo to let it touch the ground before being collected.  Couldn't help but think of that whenever we saw these receptacles in front of every house.  So what's the purpose here?  Wouldn't be a deterrent for the monkeys and coatimundis.  Possibly to prevent the other abundant wildlife (snakes, bugs, rats, etc.) from settling between the bag and ground...

Costa Rica 2025 - Twine

Don't know what all this twine was for, but the pattern below caught my eye.  A little more bokeh might have been nice in these first two.  On the iPhone 15 Pro Max it's easy to apply simply by changing to portrait mode...

Costa Rica 2025 - Old Bus

Lots of old, mixed-use vehicles around...

Costa Rica 2025 - Thatched-roof Structure

This was typical of the structures seen on properties in the area.

Looking at these two views reminded me very much of where I lived in Mexico:

Yes, that's me next to my cinder block house in Mexico, along with a few neighbors.  This was in 1980, when I had much more hair and a 28" waist.  Looking at the Google satellite map, I noticed that my house is still there but my next-door neighbor's house is now gone.