Like Day and Night

Tarka, an American PhD student from Boulder (Colorado), who works on active structures in central Taiwan, is staying with us for a while. Kamil always offers him a ride on his bike, so you see these two geologist cruising around the campus in the search for knowledge, wisdom and - more often - food.


This rare sight, on the other hand, was seen when the two gentlemen submit themselves to a highly scarce metamorphosis: dressed up in impeccable shirts and ties, they were heading to a wedding party! A rare sight in the geology community, indeed!

Phoenix Trees

Here we are at the Fu Bell on our campus - the bell which reminds students every day to study hard and diligently. So we were just standing in front of it and did not study so hard this day... But hey, we are no students any more! (Which unfortunately does not dismiss us from our responsibilities...) Well anyway, what we actually wanted to show you are these wonderfully flowering trees, which they call here in Chinese "Fèng Huáng Mù" (鳳凰木). This means "phoenix tree" and refers to the bright red blossoms. Feng Huang Mu time for students means exam time - so that is probably why they have planted these trees next to the dunning Fu Bell!?!

Falling Leaves 2

You probably remember our post in January about the falling leaves.
Just today we observed the campus gardeners taking means to prevent such dangerous leave-falling situations. Using a high crane, they lifted one gardener into the crown of the palm trees where he - equipped with a sharp saw - would cut off any old palm fronds and let them fall under "controlled" conditions.

Our little paradise

Hidden behind the beetle nut palm trees and a grey wall, just opposite of our office, lies our little paradise.


If you have a secret look through the punctures in the wall, you can see what we mean!

It is the outdoor swimming pool of our campus! With only few other visitors, this pool offers us the formidable opportunity not only to do some sports, but also to get refreshed from the heat and moisture of Taipei's city climate. (Unfortunately, any other outdoor sport is more or less impossible for us to do - the heat just does not allow any strenuous movements. It is a mystery how the Taiwanese students can play baseball - their favorite!, basketball, volleyball or tennis under the midday sun and high air humidity...)

Modern Monks and Feasting Frogs

Kamil was doing some field work lately. It is often the case that his mind tends to be led astray by different non-professional observations on the way. Outside of Puli, in the very geographic center of Taiwan, he spotted this Buddhistic monk, who was perhaps looking for the way back to his monastery. You can see that this monk is well equipped with 21st century technology.


Later, at night, Kamil could evidence a perhaps rare sight: Beneath a street lantern, thousands of flies and moths were swirling around the cone of light around the lantern. Two clever frogs found out that these flies were very easy prey. It was a nice feast for these two frogs and perhaps the easiest occasion to stuff their bellies since long. On the picture below you see one of the frogs, beholding its delicious prey...

The Giant Vacuum Cleaners

The last 10 days, we enjoyed a very agreeable weather in Taiwan.
We owe this to some giant vacuum cleaners nature provides us with!
In the last days, some typhoons built up over the South China Sea and the Philippines and moved in northeastern direction. Luckily, their wander paths are located some several hundred kilometers to the east of Taiwan. Their anti-clockwise vortices suck enormous amounts of air, thus causing winds blowing from mainland China towards the east. In Taiwan, we therefor enjoy temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius, a constant breeze and air humidity as low as 50%!!! These are like nice summer days in Europe...
For more detailed information, visit the homepage of the Central Weather Bureau (www.cwb.gov.tw) and see under Typhoon news and Observations - Satellite!