Taiwan 2024 - Calla Lily Farm, Red Leaves

We visited the farm in April, so there's no way we can call these fall colors.  Being so, these are the reddest leaves on a tree I've seen...

Taiwan 2024 - Calla Lily Farm, Red Flowers

As we wandered around exploring other parts of the farm, we discovered that the calla lilies weren't the only floral attraction.  Not sure what these are called but there were lots of them around.  On this pic I made a separate layer of the flowers, making them brighter while darkening the background to provide contrast.

Taiwan 2024 - Calla Lily Farm, Pathway Pics

Due to the rain, some of the pathways were muddy and hard to negotiate, but others were paved and well-maintained such as this and the one below:

Taiwan 2024 - Calla Lily Farm, Candid with Entire Field

As the last of the lily pictures, here's a candid above with full scope of field below - you can see our friends there in the far background.  This was only one of several fields on the farm, so supposing it must be one of the larger establishments in the town.

Taiwan 2024 - Calla Lily Farm, Focus-Shifted Row / Purse Pulling

...and speaking of focusing, this is a focus-shifted pair of an entire row of those flowers.

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Don't know how it started, but a thing called "purse pulling" went around in the 70's.  A friend named Doug McHugh and I thought it was a great idea, so we rummaged around in Mom's closet for a purse to carry out this harmless prank.

Now this is not stealing a purse (though we did from Mom's closet).  This is literally pulling a purse with a string.  The idea is to place the purse in the middle of a street with a string tied to the handle.  When someone stops their car to pick up the purse, you yank it hard and make it disappear, getting a good laugh at the bewilderment of your victim.  At least to our 14-year-old minds that's how it was supposed to work out.

First we needed the setup.  We had the right kind of purse - one with a handle that sticks straight up so that someone could see what it is from a distance as they approach in their car...check.  This had to be done at night so that we could hide...check (it was 9:30p).  This had to be done on a less-traveled side street...check (we were in a quiet neighborhood).  The string couldn't be clearly visible, so we got a 20lb fishing line from the tackle box...check.  There was a nearby apartment complex that had a wooden fence in a dark area that we could use as a hideout from which to yank the string...check.  Seems that everything was set to go so off we went, walking the two blocks from our house to the Linkwood Apartments carrying Mom's big red purse.

After arriving we put the purse in the middle of the street, threading the fishing line through a knothole in the fence about three feet above the ground, and anxiously waited for our first victim.  A couple of minutes later a car pulls up, slowing as it approached the bait.  We expected him to get out of the car and walk up to the purse to grab it, but that's not what happened.  Instead, since the purse was exactly in the middle of the street, all he had to do was drive a few feet ahead of it, open the door and grab it.  We gleefully yanked on the fishing line at the right time, which zinged it right under the car into the ditch beside the road.  Success!  Gosh that was fun...let's do it again!

It worked that way two more times, with the purse either disappearing under the victim's car or sailing across the road into the ditch if he was traveling the other direction.

Then our fourth victim approached.  Emboldened by our success so far, we eagerly peered through the knothole and yanked as usual.  But this guy apparently was not in the mood to participate.  He squealed off, peeling in behind the apartment building looking for whoever this was playing tricks on folks that were just minding their own business.  Now we knew there was trouble because it looked like he'd figured out where we were hiding!  We both jumped down a low retaining wall that was right next to us and laid flat, hearts pounding and adrenaline pumping, praying that this aggravated individual wouldn't get out and stomp the life out of us.  It was very dark back there, so he didn't chance going into the area and peeled loudly away.  This fellow was MAD.  We had to get out of there.

Hightailing at that moment may have been lovely but was not the best option, because the next thing we knew a POLICE CAR pulled in just in time to see our shadowy figures running away.  The searchlight came on and swept the area.  I knew the neighborhood, so frantically told my friend to follow me.  I had to lead him through the backyards of houses adjacent to the apartment property, but knew that in one of them the owners kept two geese that would make noise.  So we passed that yard, jumped the fence into the next back yard, and scrammed.  After a couple more yards I looked back and realized I'd lost Doug, but in the manner of thieves and crooks I didn't care; he was on his own.

As I said earlier, our house was only two blocks from the apartment complex, but we had to run through more yards and cross two streets to get there.  And there were people in the vicinity that did not want to make that easy for us.  Just as I'd made my way past a house into the front yard to cross the first street, the police car, seeing which way we had escaped, screeched into that very street, slowing way down to search for us.  I was oddly calm as he got closer, shining the beam of his searchlight at the shrubbery and underneath the cars parked in the driveways.  Since I was crouched behind one of those cars I had to do something, but what?  I was moments from being discovered and hauled away.

It was simple.  This was the days when cars had big metal bumpers that stuck out a bit, so I grabbed onto the grill with both hands and hoisted myself up to lay down on it.  There I remained, laying prone on this bumper, as I watched the beam of light shine brightly underneath with no feet down there to betray my presence.  This was about midway down the street, so I stayed put until the cop turned at the end of the street to search elsewhere.  My hands were aching by the time I was able to let go and plop back down onto the driveway.  Then it was just a matter of keeping low until reaching the next block to get home.  Doug was already there somehow, patiently waiting for either my arrival or the news that I'd been hauled away in a paddy wagon.

I've heard many times the saying, "Were it but for the grace of God..."  This definitely was one of those occasions when, if not for the Grace of God, there could have been a very different ending.  But I'm thankful for all of my experiences, and frankly a little proud of the way I got out of this one...

P.S. - two months later they installed a street light just behind the fence where our hideout was, which is there to this day (seen below, top photo).

 

Taiwan 2024 - Calla Lily Farm, Lone Ranger

I like this one because of the single stalk poking up in the background.  If I were to do it again that flower is where the focus would be pinpointed.

Taiwan 2024 - Calla Lily Farm, Direct Frontal with Depth-of-Field

This head-on shot is actually a cropped-in portion of the pic below.  Thank goodness for the Bigger Cahoona's full frame 48MP sensor...

Taiwan 2024 - Calla Lily Farm, Threesome with Water Droplets

The Bigger Cahoona and I went crazy taking advantage of the water droplets, capturing pics like these.  Though the camera is built very well with seals designed to keep out water, Chenjean held the umbrella over me while we did our duty.

Another singleton below, from a slightly higher angle:

Taiwan 2024 - Calla Lily Farm, Close-up with Water Droplets

One day while in Taipei we made the trek over to a little mountain town famous for these flowers, known as calla lilies, which supposedly grow better at higher altitudes in the type of soil they have there.  We picked one of the several establishments that feature fields of these as tourist attractions, and walked through most of the facility.  It was raining softly 90% of the time we were there, which was something of a hassle but created just the kind of droplets on petals that photographers like.

Taiwan 2024 - General Area Around Chenjean's Village, Dog Pic

...and this will be the last post in the series from the Bigger Cahoona of the general area around Chenjean's village.  Lots of dogs around, but they look fat and healthy so the owners obviously take care of them.

Next we'll visit an interesting little town just up one of the mountains surrounding Taipei, about an hour from the city.

Taiwan 2024 - General Area Around Chenjean's Village, Strange Contraptions

These guys caught my eye just down the street from Chenjean's house...interesting in that they were fashioned from wheel rims.  Don't know just what their purpose could be, but here's a look at the insides:

Taiwan 2024 - General Area Around Chenjean's Village, Topless Betelnut Tree / Jim the Wetback

This topless betel nut tree was alongside the road fairly close to Chenjean's village.  Suppose they lose their tops because of age or illness, don't know, but this is a fairly common sight.

Think I have another shot just like this posted somewhere else in the blog, but not sure just when it would have been or which trip would have been featured.  So here it is again...

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While I was in Mexico that summer of 1980, I got some college coursework done through the University of California at Sacramento.  At the appointed date I left the dusty town of Allende (Coahuila), driving to Mexico City to meet my classmates from the West Coast.  We spent a few days staying there at the Hotel Metropol downtown, then traveled by bus to Guanajuato where classes would be held.

It was an enchanting time and place, making new friends and attending classes there at the university.  Guanajuato is famously a beautiful city, where the structures are all required to be built in the old colonial style.  If you've never been there, it's worth the trouble to visit...and from what we hear it's a fairly safe place by Mexican standards today.

A few days after classes got started word got around that that they were looking for English teachers at the local high school.  It was a paid position to teach a three-week summer mini-course.  Would anybody from the university be interested?  At first I didn't entertain the thought at all, but then considered the possibilities - a very unique opportunity to put a feather in the ole professional cap, and I sure could use the money.  So I took the long walk uphill to the high school, talked to the headmaster, and was hired on the spot.  He told me that the class I was to teach began at one o'clock in the afternoon.  I said thanks, then headed back down toward the university to get ready for our afternoon class at college.

About halfway down I stopped in my tracks.  Did he mean one o-clock today?  Heading back up the hill to ask, my new boss verified that yes, I would begin in about a half hour.  Wow - OK, please show me my classroom.  In just a few minutes I began my first paid teaching job, facing a room full of 50 kids waiting to get their first lesson.  Just a little daunting.

Made it through the three weeks in acceptable style, though I've never been great at the discipline thing and had to consult the headmaster a time or two about behavior issues.  But it was overall a very positive experience.  Somewhere I have a picture of me with the class, and when found I'll append it to the end of this post.

When the three weeks was up I got a check for my services, equivalent to a few hundred American dollars.  Pleased to be paid, I headed to the bank.  But there I had to stop in my tracks again.  Wait a minute, I didn't have a work visa, and in no way was authorized to work in Mexico.  I'm a wetback now, in reverse!  Knowing that the school administration didn't pay attention to such things, I had put myself in a vulnerable position.  And there was a policeman at the door of the bank!  I began to sweat, imagining my survival on a diet of beans in jail for the next ten years.  Well, I needed the money and was sure going to cash the check, so very nervously but nonchalantly walked past the cop to the teller window inside.  Very relieved, I exited the bank with cash in my pocket instead of a check that could've led to trouble.

For the first time I got an inkling as to how it must have felt for an undocumented worker in the US.  There was nervousness, fear, even paranoia.  For me this lasted just a few minutes while I heading up those steps to pass a police officer going into the bank.  But back in 1980, when our federal government was serious about enforcing immigration laws, the fear that undocumented workers lived with was a continuous part of their lifestyle.

So that is how I became an undocumented worker in my adopted home country of Mexico.  At one time I considered going back down there to legally work as a teacher, but ultimately decided to stick to the States once I returned, albeit with fodder for yet another story...

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Midrange Pic of Town with Aerial View

This is a view of pretty much the entire town on the way back in from a morning walk.  Who would've thought that four of its girls from Chenjean's family would have made very successful lives for themselves in the United States, propelling the trajectory of many lives in influential ways?

By the way, finally got around to grabbing a Google Maps satellite image of the whole village (23.5098181N,120.6018132E).  Because the waterfall was open for business at the time the image was taken, almost every parking space was occupied by cars.  There is a bus at its stop clearly visible as well, which may have been a tourist bus or perhaps one running a regular route.  Chenjean's house is the first one to the immediate right of the red map marker.

 

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Shed Spider

Seems this guy was captured at just the right moment.  Focus was on the discarded exoskeleton, so had to sharpen the spider by almost 200 percent.  Gotta say this has to be one of the most fortunate encounters yet in my endeavors to photograph wildlife.

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Mountain Road Templette

Almost all mountain roads feature these small temples here and there along the way.  The nearby residents take this very seriously, as proper homage to ancestors and the gods supposedly provides protection as one travels to and fro - whether it be by foot, motorcycle, car or truck.  Fresh sticks of incense are placed early in the morning as a matter of routine to provide this protection during the day.

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Windy Mountain Road

As a contrast, this is typical of the windy mountain roads that lead to the tumbledown structures.  Very pristine, and naturally the further up you go the sparser the houses become.  Lots of wildlife also - one hears several tropical species of birds and the call of monkeys that are silenced closer to the towns below.

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Tumbledown Shot #7 (Silhouette Shot) with Incinerator

 

 

The incinerator below was just in front of this tumbledown structure.  It normally sits next to the town's temple, but the festivities necessitated a temporary move:

 

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Tumbledown Pic #6

Actually this isn't so much a tumbledown as it is a burnt-out pic.  Very unfortunately a house at the entrance to the village was completely burned down due to a cooking fire.  Had it not been for the fact that sturdy brick and cement walls separate all houses there, the entire block would've been destroyed.  Thank God there were no fatalities in this one.

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Tumbledown Shot #5

Something intriguing about a window with only one pane broken out.  Wish I could've gotten close in order to capture what can be seen inside through that pane...

In the wider view below you can see how a vendor used a tree on the property to tie down his stall cover.  Also, the steps at the bottom have been featured several times before in this blog from earlier trips there.

 

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Tumbledown Shot #4

 

This is the most recent tumbledown in the neighborhood (actually it's more than a mile out of town), in that I remember seeing kids playing cheerfully on the balcony and in the yard in years past.  With the size of it and a three-car garage, looks like it served as a home for an extended family.  I in fact even became a little envious at seeing a happy, active family live in such a home out in the middle of nowhere on this mountainside...would like to have had something similar for a growing family of my own.  This is why I was somewhat surprised to see it vacated and left to "tumble down", and would have preferred not to include this abode in a Tumbledown series.

Other side looking up here:

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Tumbledown Shot #3 / The Light

Some tumbledown structures such as this one have fallen out of use due to economic reasons, with the owners still living in the adjacent house, as is the case here.  I'd love to climb up into this thing to see what's inside, but wouldn't want to pay the price for trespassing.

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One time, however, when we were kids, a friend and I found ourselves trespassing when the owner was very much at home.

This friend was Brent Holland, probably the best friend I had growing up in Orange, Texas.  This was in the days when kids could hop on bikes and explore their world - be it in the woods, around town, or even short forays out of town if we had the time and stamina to do it on our bikes.  And that we did as often as possible.  The only concern was that we return home by a time specified by our parents.

One of our favorite activities in those days was finding a house that was full of stuff but vacated by whoever lived there.  This allowed us to break in somehow, usually through a window, and look around.  The best houses were the ones left completely untouched, with all furniture and household goods in place as if the owners just upped and left.  We discovered one house, on Cypress Street, that had the table still set for dinner and dried out coffee in the pot on the counter.  A girl's bedroom was upstairs with unfinished homework on her desk, pencil left beside the paper that had made the last marks.  This was a remarkable find, as the paper was dated 1958, the year I was born.  This means the family had to skedaddle thirteen years before.  What was the cause of this...why did the family have to leave in such a rush, leaving everything in its place?  We enjoyed imagining the circumstances surrounding their sudden departure, guessing that it must've been something about money.

Our MO in finding a potential house to explore was to pull up on our bicycles and knock on the door to see if anyone was at home.  If someone came to the door we pretended to be paper carriers for the Orange Leader, the local paper, and would they like a subscription?  If no one answered, and if upon closer inspection we determined that the house was indeed vacant and still full of the previous owner's possessions, we circled the house looking for an entry point.  Of course we were prudent about this, behaving nonchalantly enough to avoid suspicion from neighbors or anyone passing by.  Finally, if the coast was clear and we were able to open a window - usually in the back of the house, from an inside porch was best - we lifted it and crawled through.  We never broke a window or lock; if a nondestructive way to get in was not available we moved on to another adolescent activity for the day.  In this manner we were successful in exploring four or five such houses there in Orange, never getting caught or hauled in for trespassing.

One day a house on Pine Street grabbed our attention as a potential exploration opportunity.  Of all the houses we'd broken into, this was by far the creepiest.  It was a two-story clapboard surrounded by tall water oak trees, the limbs of which extended well above the high roof line, darkening the house and yard with ominous shadows.  From the street we could see that some of the rooms on the second floor were dilapidated to the point of collapsing in places.  Hmmm...a very interesting prospect.  But was it really vacant?  Oddly, there was an old tan Camaro parked in front.  Could somebody really live in this place?  As per usual, we parked our bikes in the front yard, approached, and knocked on the old, paint-chipped door.  After waiting a minute we knocked again, this time a little louder.  When there was still no answer we peered into a window, and it clearly looked as if nobody had been there in a very long time.  Next we circled the house, discovering more rooms rimming the second floor that were in a similar state of dilapidation to what we'd seen from the front.  The car parked in front still caused us to hesitate, but we concluded that a neighbor was simply using the space.  So we considered all the signs that we'd seen - the rundown condition of the house, the unkempt yard with those big trees that hadn't been trimmed, the appearance of vacancy, and the lack of an answer at the door - as a green light to go ahead and explore inside.  We parked our bikes in some bushes, opened a kitchen window in the back of the place, and crawled through.

We made our way cautiously through the kitchen and saw that this one was something special, probably the best old house we'd yet explored.  The entire place was furnished, yet most of the furniture in the front and living spaces were covered in old sheets.  And I kid you not, there were cobwebs in the corners of the rooms, rendering a spooky, haunted feel.  We wandered through quietly, speaking to one another in hushed tones about the things we'd see in this or that room.  There was a desk; we opened the drawers and shuffled through old papers trying to piece together a picture of past occupation, when there was life within the walls of these dank, dusty rooms.  Even an old organ.  What a bonanza!

To our left as we approached the front of the house was a broad staircase that curved to the left.  How could we not go up and explore what it leads to...if downstairs was so interesting, what awaits us up there?  Together we began to ascend those steps, several of which creaked and groaned as we placed our weight on them.  We tried to do this quietly, not wanting to alert a neighbor or passer-by of our presence.  For this reason Brent went ahead of me, diminishing the noise made by our combined weight.  Thus he reached the top first and had made his way some distance down a hallway by the time I stepped fully onto the upper floor.  I saw that there were a couple of doors to the left and another couple to the right of the hallway.  Surely these must lead to some of those dilapidated rooms we saw from the outside.  Halfway through to the right there was a small cabinet with some pictures on top that Brent was examining, and a dresser to the immediate left that looked interesting to me.  I was reaching down to open one of the drawers when something caught my eye that froze my heart.

Not six inches from my foot I saw a LIGHT ON under the first door to my left.  A light was on in that room!  Brent wanted to show me something he'd found but I had to hush him so that I could listen.  Drawing my ear to within an inch of the door, being very careful not to touch it, I heard a TV going inside.    Brent was a little miffed that I'd hushed him, but he understood instantly when I motioned him over and pointed to the light shining from under that door.  For a moment I stood rooted to the spot, petrified that whoever was in there would have to go to the bathroom, or decide to get a snack, and emerge to see two teenage boys standing there in the hallway.

Wow, what to do now?  It was obvious, really, that we needed to somehow get out of that house as quickly and quietly as possible.  Remembering the creakiness of the steps, we softly but quickly descended the broad, winding staircase, made our way back to the kitchen, and closed the window through which we'd entered as quietly as possible after crawling through.  Retrieving our bicycles out of the bushes, we hopped on and rode like hell, leaving as much distance between us and that house as possible.

After a breathless mile or so we stopped to gather our thoughts.  The close call and exertion left me exhilarated but shaking.  There was somebody in there that belonged to the Camaro after all!  After settling down a few minutes, we decided to head back to that house and find out who was in there after all.  As nonchalantly as we could, we rode up the driveway, parked next to the car, but this time banged on the door so that whoever was in that upstairs room would hear us.  Sure enough, after we'd banged on that door a second or third time a big, burly guy with mustache and five-o-clock shadow opens the door, glaring at these kids who'd interrupted his solitude.

"Would you like to subscribe to the Orange Leader, sir?"  "Are you kidding?  Don't think so," he replied, shutting the door hard in our faces.  We left still shaken but very, very relieved to have escaped what we now knew would have been a terrible fate if discovered in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Getting back on our bikes we looked back at the house with a fresh perspective, but wondering how anyone could live in such a dilapidated structure.  The outside rooms upstairs were literally falling apart, so the room he was in had to have been completely interior, with no window facing to the outside.  We concluded he must have inherited it or acquired it through similar means, because who else would live in a house that literally was falling down around him?  Never before or since during our childhood did we see anything else like it. 

So did we learn a lesson from this, perhaps to avoid these break-in explorations in the future?  You must be kidding!  On the contrary, we were emboldened.  More stories like this to follow...

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Tumbledown Shot #2

Some of these sheds were obviously built to serve the tourist population in days gone by, but now are used for storage of yet more relics.  Now that the waterfall has reopened in a big way, we were surprised that more of these didn't come back to life.  However there's no telling where the owners are now...

Closeup of vehicle below:

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Tumbledown Shot #1

Anyone that's followed this blog for any length of time knows that I like the "tumbledown" shot...that is, pictures featuring long-neglected artifacts of civilization.  The older and more rundown the better, especially if overgrown by plants and weeds.  Since there was an exodus from Chenjean's little village when the waterfall was closed off to tourists many years ago, there are plenty of these shots to be had around town.  The pic above is a good example, with a rare black and white success as a bonus.

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Village Entrance Lights at Zoom Extremes

Occasionally I'm asked to show someone the incredible zoom capabilities of the Bigger Cahoona's walkabout vacation lens.  Here is an example of a pair shot from the gazebo mere steps from Chenjean's front door.  The pic above is zoomed all the way out at 28mm...

and this one is zoomed all the way in from the same place at 300mm:

This is what the fixture looks like from the other side, approaching the village:

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Camouflaged Lizard

Pictures of this critter have been posted in the blog before, but this one stands out because the effectiveness of the camouflage is obvious.  There's even a yellow patch along its sides that resembles a type of lichen found on the rocks of the area.  Interesting how creatures evolve to be perfectly suited to their environments.

A picture of this species is in fact partially responsible for my launch into photography.  On our very first visit to Taiwan I took a film shot of a big one standing up at an angle on top of a cement fixture.  After showing a print to a friend at church, he complimented the composure and declared that it would win a prize.  First time I'd ever received feedback of any kind for a picture, and it stuck until this day.  Wish I could find that old print...

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Backlit Leaf

Using the sun to backlight a plant often results in some pretty good pics, such as this one published back in July and the one above.  These giant leaves were sometimes used by Chenjean to hold over her head if it rained on her way to or from elementary school, which was a walk of just over a mile.

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Street Vendors

As mentioned in an earlier series from this trip (about the temple dedication), many if not most folks living along the streets leading to the waterfall use the space in front of their houses to make a little money.  Chenjean's house is to the left here, with a vendor set up on the very small property next door.  In about half of these the people selling things don't live in the houses, but rent space from the owners during the high tourist season.

The scenes below were directly across and down the street from Chenjean's place.  Naturally this all vanishes mid-summer, when it's unbearably hot, or if the waterfall should be closed to visitors for some reason:

The picture immediately above was captured with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which demonstrates a far superior dynamic range than either of my two DSLR's (Nikon D300s and D850).  Seeing this gave me pause in concluding that phone cameras are inferior in all cases.

Taiwan 2024 - Chenjean's General Village Area, Eggplants in the Most Literal Sense (LOL)

These plants were for sale, the target market being tourists on their way up to the waterfall.  Imagine my surprise upon discovering that they actually grow their eggs on these bushy shrubs here...