On arrival at our hotel....bags were dumped and shot off in search of coffee..Starbucks.... in order to find Starbucks card for Lou! I have never been in a Starbucks where everyone...I mean everyone....is on their iPad or Laptop.....heads down..not a whispered conversation to be heard! Coffee'd up, I went in search of an industrial strength hair dryer....heat and humidity has made hair very mad...sort of a 1980's perm gone wrong.
Ste love of shopping quickly emerged as he made a beeline back to the hotel...I collected a umberlla as it started to rain heavily and ventured back out into Taipei for a bit of window shopping. A fine micro brewery played host for tea...stir fry cabbage for me...Hmmmm....so much for the veggie options...but the beer was very good indeed.
Monday and it's the first proper birding day. Breakfast proved to be a delight...steered clear of most things as they were not identifiable. Our tour bus is stupendous....gold on the inside with tastled curtains and three microphones...much muttering about use of them for Karoke...it's like something out of a Bollywood movie. First stop the botanical gardens, first two lifers of the trip in the bag....plus the usual glances, grins and sniggers at the westerners peering deep into the undergrowth.
Lunch stop at a motorway services......where hot water was served in the washrooms between Nov and April..puzzling indeed! Headed up a long and winding road, where we came across a group of Japanese birders peering excitedly over the edge....three Swinhoes Pheasants and Steere's Liocichia....stunning views.
Ended up at 2600 metres today.....to top the day 2 earthquake tremors whilst having dinner....don't think it was the Taiwan beer!
Oh yes I have bites....lots of them
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