What Have We Been Up To Lately?

Photos by MJ Klein

I just cannot believe how fast time is rushing by, and how long it was since our last post!  Many apologies.  We’ve been doing things, just not blogging on them.  So, this will be a composite post about everything that’s happened since our last post.  Here goes!

Our first photo is of Phoenix, of course.  She is 4-1/2 years old now and on a daily basis she reminds us just how cute and smart she really is.  This post will have several photos of her later on.

Next, we went to the home of our friend, Leo and did some Dutch oven cooking.  Below you can see the progress until the finished dish.

I went to my favorite bar and got a bottle of whisky from my favorite distiller – Glendronach.  This 16 year old platinum was astonishingly good!

The bar moved to a new location and remarkably has the same basic feel as the old place.

After the pub, I went to the Rueifong Night Market 瑞豐夜市 and did a live stream to YouTube.

I mounted my 360 degree camera on top of my gimbal, and recorded a 360 video of my visit to the night market.  If you haven’t seen 360 before, please check it out.  You can scroll around or tilt/pan your mobile device to look around inside the video.

I’ve actually been doing a lot of live streaming, mostly to my favorite platform, Brocast.  The Brocast web interface is not finished being upgraded at this time, but the app is frequently updated with bug fixes and new features implemented.

The next evening, the family took an open-top bus tour of Kaoshiung.  Initially I was kinda miffed at the woman who gave a running commentary during the entire time.  With all my years of experience in Taiwan, I should have known that would happen.  I did a multi-segment 360 video of this tour, starting here.  The HD format live stream is here.

Over Chinese New Year, Phoenix got to take her first ride on a horse, even.  However, I wasn’t even allowed to walk beside her and enjoy the moment.  You know, horses can be very dangerous and someone from New Hampshire couldn’t possibly know anything about that.

I have an app on my Samsung Galaxy S7edge, called ISS Detector.  I have the Pro version but even the free app detects the International Space Station, and Iridium flares.  This is a mobile-phone shot of an ISS flyby of Taiwan.  The short, bright streak is the ISS as seen by the naked eye.  Phoenix has seen the ISS many times as well as many flares from the Iridium satellites.  It’s been very educational for her.

Grandma gave Phoenix her old Samsung clam-shell mobile phone.  We removed (and recycled) the battery and now it’s one of her favorite toys.

Health-wise, a lot has been going on, and all of it is good.  I’ve lost a solid 6 KG of weight, and I’ve kept it off.  I’ve been fasting and losing weight as well as reversing diabetes.  I have successfully reversed the trend I was on, that is having what doctors call “pre diabetes.”  With a combination of exercise, diet (including fasting) and supplements, I’m in good shape.  I’m planning another series of 4-day fasts to lose another 5 KG. Now, dear reader, before you abandon this post to prepare to write me a comment about how losing weight by fasting is not a good practice, the weight will come back, etc. please read this.  I put my trike back on the road and I’ve been riding it.

My good friend, DaveInOsaka told me about this dish, “moo manau” and it is absolutely delicious!  I asked the local Thai lady if she could make it and this photo shows the results.

Riding with my good friend Ashish.

We took our good friends Daniel and MacKenzie to the Xiao Wulai waterfall area.

And, naturally, to Daxi on the way back home.

Big City mall, a favorite place for our family to visit.

We went to our friends wedding.  Please pardon these photos but I shot them in haste as Phoenix was dancing.  She discovered that if she spins, her dress billows out.

The last photo is of a large kite we purchased to use in Nanliao.  The kite’s long tail compensates for the tendency of strong winds to make the kite dive into the ground.  Nanliao is known for very high winds and the kite performed quite well considering.

Thank you for reading.  I have a few things in mind for some future posts, so please don’t give up on our blog just yet!  In the meantime, there are 12 years worth of accumulated experiences and travels.  Oh yes, we just won a new 2017 best blogs award!  Thanks everyone!