Photos Are Meant to be Shared!

As a website, Flickr may have seen better days. The once premier photosharing site became much less relevant during Yahoo's 13-year reign. I have been hanging on long enough to remember the days before their purchase when the datacenter was based in Vancouver, Canada. Hopefully, the new owners, SmugMug, will breathe some new life into the once-dominate photographic community.

If I am any indication, they may just have a good chance for a go of it. I reluctantly renewed my expired subscription from the free option, after being threatened by the new owners. However, I am willing to pay for yearly use, now that I see there's a renewed commitment to modernize and reinvigorate the site.




Being on a winter vacation helps build my zest for photography. During our winters in Puerto, Vallarta Mexico; Luxor, Egypt; and Penang, Malaysia my photographs have become cherished and prized souvenirs of our memories. Our present time in Bali and upcoming Kuala Lumpur have prompted me to reexamination the social aspects of Flickr. I've always used it for serving images to my blogger.com account. However, I had neglected following other photographers over the ten years. Today, I stopped following hundreds of apparently dead accounts. I took a look and added a hundred or so active users and I'm absolutely amazed by the photographs I see.




It is fun to see one's pictures viewed more frequently. For years I've been happy enough just keeping my blog active. My new devotion to Flickr is a catalyst for me to shoot more often. I want to let others see some of the things I see.

Exploring the Neighbourhood

Day 8 - My Miband shows we walked just 7.1 kilometres today. We didn't go far but tried out some different ways of getting around the neighbhourhood. Google Maps on my phone is proving indispensable. Many properties and homes are arranged in a helter-skelter patchwork. A few larger streets run in fairly straight lines; however, getting between them may require travelling on little pathways. They are tiled but property walls run the length of the path. Plants grow and they can be quite pleasant, except when racing motor scooters want to share the lane which can be nearly the same width as the bike.

We went to the beach, revisited our supermarket for a few more supplies, and wandered near our river to check out things in that direction.

We're truly able to relax as life is whatever we want to make it during our entire winter. One European lady staying at our 10-room complex, spends all her time reading novels next to the petite swimming pool. How great to be able to do completely as one wishes! This is a more natural way of life than most get a chance to experience.

A Local Market and a Kuta Sunset

Day 7 - We've not been sleeping late, lately. Still, we didn't quite make it to the morning market early enough to see the complete selection, especially for the best choices in fish and vegetables. Rumour has it that in order to get the best picks one must visit between 5:00 am and 8:00 am. We may have been late but we bought a lot.

It feels nice to have sufficient food in the fridge and the little kitchen alcove in the place we're staying. Jay does a rather amazing job of finishing up the all supplies before we leave for winters. Of course, we unplug the refrigerator in New Westminster when leaving for five months! In fact, I shut off the water and electricity supplies when we are gone. (It is strange to see zero electricity usage on our bi-monthly billing from our city for water and power.)

Today's entry wouldn't be complete with a least one photo of Indonesian salak, sometimes called snake fruit. We bought a bowlful. They were unique to Java but are now grown in various places in Indonesia and SE Asia. We do occasionally see them in Asian markets in Vancouver, but they're much better when just picked.



The other main activity was to walk to central Kuta beach during the evening for sunset. Right now, the sun sinks into the Indian Ocean at 6:15 pm. Going to watch the sunset is 'a thing' in Kuta. Although we can walk west directly to the beach, we are a bit north of the most famous beach area. It took about 45 minutes to walk to the Hard Rock Cafe area.





As we walked back the length of JL. Raya Legian, it took longer. We were both tired when getting back to our place at 7:45 pm. I immediately went into the pool to relax.

Finding the Beach and Supermarket

Day 6 - Getting to Bali for the winter took a lot of energy both physical and mental. Now, slowly, I'm remembering that we are here to simply enjoy the warm weather, a new environment, and life.

Today, we walked toward the beach right after breakfast. Our place is tucked into a quieter section of Legian, so it was a bit of a walk. Between us and the beach is a whole lot of activity, shops, cars, motorcycles, and restaurants. It took us a leisurely 20 minutes to get to the entrance to Double Six Beach.

Also, we needed to find a bigger supermarket than the closeby 7/11s and convenience stores. I pre-loaded most of the island of Bali into Google Maps. The usefulness of the offline option has quite improved. I typed supermarket into the app and on the way back from the beach we walked to Bintang Supermarket on Jl. Raya Seminyak. Perhaps, I won't bother getting a local-SIM for my phone after all.



We bought quite a lot but had two sturdy shopping bags. They were full and heavy. Walking back to the apartment was probably a half mile. Of course after all that effort in the gorgeous 32°C heat of the day, we needed a bit of a nap followed by a dip.




Hey, this can be the blueprint for daily activities, except when we go off to explore the island. Our onward flight isn't until the middle of January.

TPE ---> DPS

Day 5 - That was a short time but a great introduction to Taipei. Having been to Hong Kong and Shanghai, I wondered if I'd see a lot of similarities. I didn't. They advertise as a great way to get from North America to Southeast Asia. I think that might just be right. Of course, let's be realistic, it all boils down to whom has the cheapest air tickets at the time of purchase!

We woke up before the alarm, at around 6:00 am. That proved more than sufficient to get from the Main Station area to the airport. This time we did take the express train and it shaved fifteen minutes off the trip.



I posted this photograph on Facebook as I was a bit taken back by the colourful 'Hello Kitty' boarding passes.



At the time, I wasn't aware that a great deal of the interior of the A330 appeared as if a giant something puked up Hello Kitty everywhere! I thought the bitch was dead.

The paper seat covers as we entered the airplane's aisle were a traditional art lesson on 'perspective' stretching back to row 59. Hello Kitties were on every conceivable object in the plane, and after we landed, I noticed a great expanse of the outside as well. Hello Kitties were on the safety instructions, the flight attendants' aprons, the cups, and the plastic dinnerware. There was a Hello Kitty on the air sickness bag and that is more than one Hello Kitty too many! I think they'll probably invade my dreams tonight.



We boarded just a bit late but our plane was over an hour late leaving the ground. It seems as if we had to wait for free airspace from the Philippines. We did enjoy watching sliding down over the length of Taiwan, a great section of the Philippines, through the center of Borneo and onto this Indonesian island.

Our arrival was at 4:10 pm. It was a bit of a head rush becoming Indonesian millionaires at the ATM. That took less than $US70. Having travelled extensively, we easily ignored the transport people trying to snag tourists as they exit the airport. We went to the official taxi stand and saved Rp 100,000.



Traffic around Kuta is absolutely amazing but in a bad way. We found the business establishment mentioned from the owner Studio 8D Residences. We let the taxi driver go and rolled our bags for about 500 meters.



Yes, this is going to make a good place for the next two months. We busied ourselves stocking our refrigerator and getting some basics.

The Taipei Zoo and Ximending

Day 4 - We ate breakfast in our Airbnb with groceries we'd purchased yesterday. We know the quickest way to get to the Metro and it happens to be the Green Line. We were entering the station and decided we really didn't want to return to Taipei 101 to go to the observatory levels. Up until that moment, that had sort of been the plan.

It wasn't the cost as it is fairly reasonable, and it wasn't the weather as it was a gorgeous day. We just didn't feel like that would be the best use of our remaining time. It is a must-do for lots of tourists but we just were not excited by the prospect of getting a view from a very tall building.

Our handy Metro line showed a Brown Line which we'd not been on. It also showed the Taiwan Zoo at one end. Since it was a lovely 26°C and sunny, visiting a zoo sounded like a pleasant idea.










It did turn out being a nice way to spend a whole morning! The Taipei Zoo is in an absolutely lovely place for a zoo. It seemed on par with the San Diego Zoo in California but this had an entrance fee of less than $US 2. I like this city as it rolls right into the mountains at many of its edges.

The zoo is quite a hike as it encompasses a very large land area. We spent more than two and a half hours walking up to the highest section of the zoo. There is a nearby gondola ride which we had ignored. After probably 6 kilometers our feet were tired. We decided to take a 'train ride' back to the entrance even though we each had to pay the equivalent of a US quarter.

We ate lunch at the intersection of the Brown and Blue Lines. We'd not been in the area, but easily found a row of local restaurants. Noodles and rice, please. I have lived in Vancouver for over 22 years; I should have excellent chopstick skills. I'd starve if I had to eat with a pair. I might be able to use just one to stab a chicken nugget, but that's the extent of my prowess.

After dark, we went back out to see the lights of Ximending. Interestingly, there's a gaybourhood area near the historic Ximen Red House.




Oh my God, it's time to pack up tonight! We have to head to the airport for tomorrow's flight to Bali at 7 o'clock in the morning!

Memorial and Temple

Day 3 - After a whole lot of sleep yesterday, we must have caught up because we woke up a bit early. Our key to the city lies in the little plastic Metro cards we purchased. They will last for our entire trip and open up the system to us. We first found our way to the Red Line and got out at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. The area encompasses the National Theatre and the National Concert Hall.

I think I first learned of the 'Long March' in a special course taught by Mrs. Rude in high school. Little did I know that 45 years later I'd be standing on the ground of a memorial dedicated to the leader. Wouldn't you know that the building itself was closed for just two days but those are the ones we're in Taipei? We did not get to see the changing of the guard as many tourists do. Still, it was a place I'll remember.

After getting back to Metro we decided to take one line nearly to its end.



Of course, Taipei has its share of temples but Jay had done a bit of research on the Guandu Temple, which was also known as the Lingshan Temple. I'm impressed with how far the Metro goes out of the city center. As soon as it went above ground we could see how we were winding into the mountains.







It reminded me of a Chinese Buddhist Temple in Penang from last winter. The construction is always amazing but how the area becomes so peaceful more so. We spent quite a bit of time exploring there and then ate lunch in a small restaurant in the town as we were getting back to the Metro.

After a nap, we went back out in the evening to see Taipei 101 in the dark. We paid too much for some groceries in a great supermarket found in the mall there.