Saturday, December 1, 2007

Taipei and Singapore, Dec 1, 2007

Taipei, Dec 1, 2007


Heading for a temple in Taipei, we came across these fellows, all dressed up and happy to have their picture taken. Some sort of festival was in progress, more than likely related to the round flowery signs that we in other parts of the country that I mentioned earlier.


One of the larger temples was setting up several giant marching puppets for a parade, and they strutted around in front of the temple. Evidently this was a big deal since there were two satellite uplink trucks, and TV cameras from Tapei channel 7 and PSB. This was serious stuff, with no clapping or other applause. I got a bit of video of this, which shows how they swing their arms in time to the rather raucous live music.


I always wonder what little kids think of these things. This guy looks as if he is wondering a little if the giant puppets are real or not, though he was only a few feet from seeing the people put on the puppet gear.


A somewhat bemused little guy and his mom, also watching the puppet spectacle.


Sliced fruits and vegetables at a juice stand in the "Tourist Market".



This puppy knows his way around heavy equipment!

We finished up our last day in Taipei, hopped on the plane for Singapore, and took a cab to our hotel, very tired. Our first reaction: man is it warm!

1 comment:

BobKnepper said...

Dear Ann and Mike,

Sue and I have been enjoying following your travels. Thanks for bloging them.

Was surprised that Google didn't accept my logon initially. Will hope this gets in.

"Kathleen" on the Compuserve Travel Forum will be visiting Taiwan in a month. I suggested your blog and she said she enjoyed it. She asked whether the Taiwan bullet trains could accomodate wheelchairs. I suggested she could ask directly here, but said I would ask and relay.

Love,

Sue and Bob