What goes....whirr whirr whirr BANG!?...The answer, my scooter. If you are at all mechanically minded then you can have a good laugh at these photos of what is left of the scooters piston and cylinder. Said scooter was scrapped yesterday. 

The third photo is what I would like to ride around Taichung on....yeah...in my dreams.

Keep taking the tablets! Well a trip to the doctors is (as I have now come to expect) nothing like doing the same thing in the UK. Yesterday morning I wandered up to the nearest one, which is ten minutes walk from home. No appointment, I just walked in. I register, and then go in and see the doctor. No nasty receptionist (well if she was I didn't understand her) no waiting, no hassle. I get diagnosed, and then I'm given my prescription. Which gets filled out at the pharmacy across the street. And the tablets come in little sachets for each dose. And I couldn't be more pleased, I seem to have all varieties, green, blue, yellow and white, plus a triangular one. Wait! No red one....I need the red ones!!!

On the main road into down-town Taichung is the local government building. An impressive glass building with a huge TV screen often showing life in Taichung. But the other day, I noticed that someone was having a problem with their computer. And if you think your computer problems are annoying, at least your woes are not on show for the good people of Taichung.

What to do while I'm doing my weeks washing in the launderette? Answer, sit in the air-conditioned 7-Eleven, drink iced coffee and eat a local delicacy called a "Twix". At the same time as trying to do some reading, but finding ones attention drifting to the busy crossroads outside. Ah, Taiwan.

Day trip from Taichung to Kaohsiung (in the South) on the HSR, Taiwans high speed train that runs from the North to the South. Very impressed, smart clean stations, easy ticket purchase and the train zips along at nearly 300kmh. The bottom photo shows an indicated speed of 290kmh (hope you can see that...the photo was taken on my HTC phone).

 Sun Moon Lake situated atop the central mountains of Taiwan was our destination today. And what a brilliant day out. A beautiful place, green, cool (compared with the city) and very touristy! So an hours bus ride up to the mountains and then we toured around the lake on a boat. So with hunger pangs gnawing at us what to eat, BBQ'd 'squashed' bird (we couldn't tell if it was a small chicken or large sparrow) or dried squid...hmmm...how about a Chocolate Sundae and a Strawberry Sundae? So that was that, we didn't need to eat for the rest of the day. 

Special activity afternoon at Uni...it's like Play Dough (for those of a certain age) but with something that was made of rice. We were given tuition by an expert. The results from R - L: Dolphin (including waves) Lucky Carrot and Hamburger. Then we were given time to come up with our own creations, I 'created' the red, yellow and green things....they are birds...and I wonder if anyone else has come up with them.