One of three or four food stalls outside a Carrefour store, Kaohsiung, this week. The sausages looked and smelled good but were not sampled.
Archive for March, 2012
This was as close as I came to the ship today – she looks to be about 200 feet in length, and probably uses a fair bit of fuel. The press report today says Esperanza is sailing to the northern port at Keelung where the ship will be open to the public next weekend, then back to Kaohsiung for the following weekend for another open to the public day.
Their current project is ‘tuna fishing in The Pacific’. There’s a ‘big meeting’ in Guam next week to set quota limits and rules for the industry.
“Statistics provided by Greenpeace (to Taipei Times) show that 60% of the world’s tuna come from the central and western Pacific Ocean and that Taiwan has about 1,600 fishing boats in that area. Of the 2.5 million tonnes of tuna caught in that area in 2010 only about 10 percent was caught by Taiwanese ships”.
Recent improvements include: the removal or safe containment of all asbestos; fitting a special fuel system to avoid spillage; newly fitted, more efficient, diesel electric propulsion; on board recycling of waste water, leaving only clean water pumped overboard; a waste based heating system; bilge water purifiers,15 times more effective than current legislation demands; TBT-free hull paint; ammonia based refrigeration and air-conditioning rather than climate changing and ozone depleting Freon gas – the first Dutch registered vessel to be so fitted; and an environmentally and economically efficient propulsion system to reduce CO2 emissions.
A new helicopter deck has been added, as well as special boat cranes to launch the inflatables.
Specifications
Port of registry: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Former Name: Echo Fighter
Date of charter: 2000
Number of berths: 33
Inflatable boats: 2 large rigid hull and 4 small inflatables
Helicopter capable: Yes
Type of ship: expedition/research
Call sign: PD 6464
Built: 1984 Poland Gdansk
Gross tonnage: 2076 BRT
Length o.a: 72.3m
Breadth: 14.3m
Draught: 4.7m
Maximum speed: 14 knots
Main engines: 5.876 BHP, 2*2.938 BHP Sulzer V12
Cijin Island pier (from the other side) – view you will see on the return journey.
(click any picture to enlarge it).
CLICK ME – to play 2 minute video
Part of a large sign has a few words of wisdom in English, this is the temple next door to the former British consulate’s house.
If visiting during weekends, you will not be alone.
REPLICA JAPANESE FOOD <Click to play my short video
This is the real thing.
This was at the Gushan Ferry Wharf bus stop. Bus No. 248 runs constantly between Kaohsiung Main Station bus stop on a loop that includes the ferry, Fisherman’s Wharf, International Market Place, Taipei Museum of History, Bank of Taiwan etc.
Bus rides in Kaohsiung cost a standard NT$12 regardless of the distance to be traveled – correct change of one ten dollar and two one dollar coins, pay driver upon entering bus.
CLICK ME TO PLAY – Parrot in chains
http://www.facebook.com/v/10150606061660060
Do not order fish with a sauce all over it.
At a different eating house – clams plus Mangrove Jack BBQ’d
NT $350 for the fish NT $100 for clams.
Australian friends on Facebook, who live in the country, are shocked most windows in Taiwan are fitted with metal bars to deter intruders. However something similar exists in Sydney, with bars on the windows in most suburbs.
The front door of many homes in Taiwan is made of stainless steel which is most impressive.
The story by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author is available on-line at Taipei Times.
http://taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2012/03/13/2003527643
Yes – it’s the same night market I use as a ‘letterhead’ or ‘masthead’ for this blog, although there is a nine-year gap between when the pictures were taken! The new picture is from a different place in the long street.
