Today, November 27th, was Connie's birthday, so we went out to a very elegant French restaurant and had a wonderful time wandering around one of the nicer areas of town. This picture is actually from last night when we were out to see 40 Year Old Virgin at a Theatre Near Taipei 101. 
You can see the locals are getting into the Christmas spirit, even though Christmas is only a commercial holiday here.
So, Friday morning came, and armed with my new camera and one of the first nice days I had free time I set out to the local forested mountain near my home to get pictures of the giant spiders and other critters that live there. On the way I stopped to take a picture of a few residences such as this appartment block. I'm not sure if I should call them row-apartments or what, since they're essentially one giant building, but at the same time a series of individual 4 storey apartment buildings. Anyways, the rounded fronts on these triggered my asthetic sense, so I snapped this shot.
The front gate of one of the apartments which was part of the block from the previous picture. I wanted to get a shot of the engraved front doors, a style which is quite common here in Taipei, but not everyone can afford.
One of the everpresent trucks which flit about Taipei picking things up and dropping them off, and with that much power under the hood these things really move when they're not loaded!
I rather like this shot. In the foreground is a very old farmhouse structure, in the middleground is an apartment building that's probably around 20 years or so old, and in the background is a brand new ultramodern apartment building.
On the road at the base of the mountain I encountered a small dog pack (including a Chihuahua!), of which this rather defiant looking fellow was the leader. But, I just walked right past them and he wandered out of the way. The local (often stray) dogs are extremely wary of humans and generally unless there's a really big group of them they will stay away from you and even run away unless you have food. Then they might follow behind you at a distance hoping for something, but are generally pretty harmless.
As I walked along the roadway, I would constantly hear the sound of things moving in the grass, small things I assumed were bugs until I got a good look at this little guy. (Look closely at the center of the picture.) What was going on was that all around me were grass lizards sunning themselves on this beautiful day and they were running when they heard me get too close.
A rather large Blue-Tailed Skink, this on brave enough to let me get a few shots in before it dashed off into the bush. I saw lots of them on my hike, but they were mostly too skiddish to get a picture of.
The mountainside road I was wandering up, you can see planters for flowers on the right, filled with old bush plants and weeds. This whole place is like a park that was made and then let go to seed.
As I walked along this car-wide pathway I found a literal wall of sand had been build across the path, and between these walls ran a network of thousands of ants buzzily racing back and forth doing their thing. Luckily I didn't step on the channel or disturb it, but I do wonder why they would build a wall like this. It didn't go down into the ground, it rose up above it, maybe it was to protect against rain or something.
Yes, this nice forest pathway might look unassuming and gentle, but what lies down it will chill you to the bone...Which is why I didn't go down it...So I don't really know what's there....Except spiders, and lots of 'em!
I found this little guy crossing the road and he agreed to model for me. I'm rather pleased by how this picture turned out. Actually, right near where I took this I heard a rustling and saw the tail of a snake the size and length of my arm disappear into the brush when I was coming back past this spot. (Too fast to get a picture) The TAIL was the size and length of my arm, the whole snake must have been a good couple meters long. I heard the local snakes are poisonous too, joy. I was so shocked I just stood there staring at the spot where the tail disappeared for a couple minutes to check if I could see it again...which thinking back on it might not have been the smartest thing to do...
A line of overgrown pseudo-greek planters filled with weeds! Here's just one of them, which wasn't too overgrown so I could get a good shot of it!
At a fork in the road about 2/3rds up the mountain is this gate, which I always wonder about. It obviously leads to a home since there is a call-box on the right just above that potted plant. I wonder if it's a mansion of some kind. Now the weird part is this time there was actually very beautiful female singing coming from up somewhere beyond it while I was taking this picture. Apparently whoever lives there is a music lover, or performer.
I found this little (actually, not so little, about 15 or so cm long!) caterpillar crossing the road with the leaflike home on it's back. I'm not sure if it's a fake leaf it made or if it was a real lead it turned into a mobile home. Kinda freaky, actually.
This road leads off to a small temple which sits about 3/4 of the way up the mountain.
Here's a shot with my camera's super close-up function, I was very impressed with the results. The close-up function either produces fuzzy messes or beautiful high-resolution closeups, and I am rather proud of this one.
This was actually a very hazy day, which was good because it kept the sun from burning me to a crisp, but also make it pretty much impossible to get any distance shots in. Here's a shot of the area around my home, you can see the Miramar Ferris Wheel about 2km or so away from me at this point.
Another mantis that decided to cross the road and was willing to stop for pictures, it took a few to get his good side, but I think this picture really brings out his eyes.
