Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Entrance Sign

One day we decided to go to the Taiping Suspension Bridge.  This is an interesting experience not just because it's a cool bridge, but also because the of the road getting there; it is officially County Road 162 but commonly known as the Taiping 36-Bends Road because of the hairpin turns.  The original background color of the sign above was dark brown with off-white lettering, but I got to playing and photoshopically transformed it to my liking.

We arrived to find a well-worn tourist spot, but interesting nonetheless.  There was general disappointment because, as you can see below, the entire valley over which it crossed was shrouded in a cloud.  Didn't bother me - I was eager to dive in and get some good fog shots.

Taiwan - Heading Home from Taiping Suspension Bridge, Potted Tree

Very similar to this post from Chenjean's village; the pattern in the lower branches here caught my attention.

And thus ends the series on our trip to the Taiping Suspension Bridge.  Always something to see, even close to home.

Next stop - the Zhuqi market town, very close to Chenjean's home village, which will feature the smallest living human being I've ever seen...

Bookmark Project - Taiping Suspension Bridge (fog shots)

Next to silhouettes my favorite type of picture is fog shots.  This has to rank as a favorite among those, but can think of several not yet developed into bookmarks that would outrank it.

Another one that's been posted before, this is of the Taiping suspension bridge up the mountain from the town of Zhuqi.  As stated in that series of posts, many would be disappointed at not being able to see the ground below, but it was a bonus in my eyes because of the opportunity for shots like this.

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Red and Purple Flowers

The tropical beauty and variety of Taiwan is stunning.  And every region offers something different.  Caught these guys in passing while keeping the family in the corner of my eye so as not to lose them.

Closer-up shot below:

Taiwan - Heading Home from Taiping Suspension Bridge, Colorful Wall Clock

See which number is askew?  Didn't notice myself until post-capture.  Loved the colors, and have recently gotten to playing with gradients in Photoshop.

Original below:

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Ground Cover Plants #2

Taiwan - Heading Home from Taiping Suspension Bridge, Kittens

My nephew Terry did some roaming of his own and - ever the eagle eye for animal life, even in an urban setting - noticed these feral kittens.  This is a very-cropped-in shot and, being hand-held with the D850, I was surprised at the level of detail captured (though it did require a bit of sharpening).

Original photo below:

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Pink Star Flower

Was really impressed with this flower, and was commenting on how beautiful the flora is in these exotic parts of the world, when Chenjean reminded me that we have one growing under the pine tree back in Houston...

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Cloud Cover

The good thing about being in a cloud on a bridge is that those up front disappear and you seemingly end up having the place to yourself.  Observing that there was nobody behind me, I slowed down to capture these people-less fog shots.  The one above is continuing ahead; the one below is after crossing and looking back:

Taiwan - Heading Home from Taiping Suspension Bridge, Apts Through Trees

It seemed a long wait for the bus, so while we were sitting there I roamed a little and snapped a few.  This and the photo below were captured for the obvious reason, as they are pictures of something through something.

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Food Stall

Reminiscent of this post from back in January, there were a couple of these lining the road on our way back from the hike across the bridge and back down...

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Purple Flowers Through Fence Rails #1 / Happy Birthday Allison!

Among my favorite flower pictures of all, these purple things as shot through fence railing...

Today is my daughter's birthday, born in 1996 - Happy Birthday Allison!

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Hanging Flower

Taiwan - Heading Home from Taiping Suspension Bridge, Shop Sign

Got to playing with the sign in the picture below and ended up with this, featuring my favorite color combination.

Always thought it interesting that in Taiwan they've chosen to retain the more complicated writing system, while in mainland China, where it came from, they've converted to a simplified version.  OK with me, as I think the more complex characters are more interesting to look at.  And it's impressive to know that children in Taiwan have to learn several thousand even at the junior high level.

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Bamboo Snack

This is one of the delicacies made from bamboo shoots - harvested, prepared and sold right there next to the bridge.  Really a treat, as they don't sell it like this anywhere else (that I've seen).

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Fog Shot from Underneath

This is it for the fog shots of the bridge itself.  Thought there'd be five, maybe six blogworthy pictures when I first went back into all of the pics captured here, but was surprised at how many ended up being keepers.  Some of the photos that continue this series do make use of the fog, but in a much more subtle way.  Some were kept due to cultural interest, and some were snapped haphazardly as we were walking along.  Goes to show you that during post-capture there's a lot that can be extracted while sitting quietly at home on a desktop...

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Cloud Break

Along about in the middle of the bridge a break in the clouds suddenly appeared, showing the valley below.  Didn't last long but captured what I could...

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Ground Cover Plants #1 with Glowing Edges

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Initially Crossing

Here you can see the family beginning to cross.  After snapping a few I hopped on and thought I'd join them, but never did because the Bigger Cahoona and I kept finding things to capture.

Below we were a little further along on the bridge.  After cropping to left found this to be one of my favorite fog shots:

Taiwan - Taiping Suspension Bridge, Ground Cover Plants #2 with Glowing Edges

Cropping a chunk out of the pic from yesterday's post (above) and then applying Glowing Edges (below):