A Walk (sort of) Around the Neighborhood!

For the last couple of days, I’ve been tooling around in my neighborhood.  Yesterday, I went out to the Rice fields and some areas to photograph birds, and today, I took Charlie for a walk around the block and grabbed some shots of the neighborhood.  There’s so much to see in my neighborhood, that I’ll probably have to do another one pretty soon, showing some other areas.  In the meantime, though, I have some things planned with Eric and Elizabeth that I’ll be posting. 

I feel really lucky to live where I live.  The rice fields and some nature areas are close by, as well as two or three Ecology Parks to visit.  It is an urban area, but right on the edge of an agricultural district. 

In the evenings the local parks are full of people taking walks or just sitting and visiting.  The street vendors are selling their wares and it’s just a nice area.  People stop to chat with me, pretty often, especially at the mall or the traditional market near my house. 

I have a great view of the Taoyuan City skyline out of my living room window.  Taoyuan City has a population of About 2.56 million people.  What I can see out my window is just the Taoyuan District.  Taoyuan City is broken down into thirteen districts.  I live on the edge of the Taoyuan and Bade districts.  Currently, the government is in the process of expanding the MRT from Taipei into Taoyuan District.  Right now, the most popular way into Taipei is the train system, which is efficient and fast.  The MRT will be even faster, people here are looking forward to its completion. I’m personally looking forward to it, since I can’t drive anymore, I can go visit my friends in Taipei on my mobility scooter.

Anyway, here’s the first installment of my neighborhood shots.  Stay tuned for others and a couple of special events with Eric and Elizabeth.

在過去幾天裡，我一直在附近四處閒逛。昨天，我去了稻田和一些自然區域拍攝鳥類，今天則帶著查理（Charlie）在街區散步，順便拍了一些附近的照片。我的社區有太多值得一看的地方，可能很快就會再來一次，去探索其他區域。

同時，我也有一些和艾瑞克（Eric）及伊麗莎白（Elizabeth）計劃好的活動，之後會分享給大家。

我覺得自己很幸運能住在這裡。稻田和一些自然區域都在附近，還有兩三個生態公園可以參觀。雖然這裡是都市區，但就在農業區的邊界上。

晚上，當地的公園裡總是充滿散步或閒坐聊天的人們。街頭小販販賣各種商品，整個環境十分愜意。人們經常會停下來和我聊聊天，尤其是在購物中心或我家附近的傳統市場。

從我客廳的窗戶望出去，可以看到桃園市的天際線。桃園市的總人口約為 256 萬，而我窗外所見的只是桃園區的一部分。桃園市分為十三個行政區，而我住在桃園區與八德區的交界處。目前，政府正在推動台北捷運延伸至桃園區的計畫。目前前往台北最受歡迎的交通方式是火車系統，快速又高效，而捷運完工後將會更加便捷。這裡的居民都期待著捷運的開通，我自己也很期待，因為現在不能開車了，未來我就能騎著電動代步車去台北探訪朋友了。

總之，這是我社區照片的第一輯，敬請期待接下來的照片，還有與艾瑞克和伊麗莎白一起參加的特別活動！

 

A local Taoist god! (Sign says Protect Country and People)

Taoist Temple

Bird Pictures

Egretta garzetta - Little Egret (See the Tilapia?)

Pycnonotus sinensis - Light-vented Bulbul

Pica serica - Oriental Magpie

Gorsachius melanolophus - Malayan Night Heron (Endangered Species)

Around the Block

Charlie and I

Alrighty Then!

I like all of the parks with the buildings adjacent!

Cherry Blossoms in Bloom!

The Taoyuan District Skyline from my window (a bit hazy because of the humidity)

Bird photos by Chris Banducci

Other Photos Crisel Joy Bringula

All posts and photos property of Taiwan Adventure Publications

Daxi District, Zhongyu Left Bank Park

Today was an absolutely beautiful day.  So, we decided to take a roll around the lake at Daxi District Zhongyu Left Bank Park(大溪區中庒左岸公園). Actually, it has a much longer, more descriptive name on Google maps, but I don’t have the space here to type it all.  If I’m being honest only I rolled, Elizabeth had to walk.

The temperature was 25 Celsius (about 77 Fahrenheit), with a nice breeze.  If I don’t get out when the weather is nice, I go a bit stir crazy.  Its not like it’s a long drive to crazy for me, but it’s worse if I don’t get out.  So, thankfully, Elizabeth and Eric are on board for getting me outside.

Really, I’m just as happy going to the mall, or Costco or someplace, but I prefer to go where nature lives; you know where trees are.  My favorite thing is bird photography.  That’s what I really like to do.  It’s not unusual to find me out in the rice fields, or by a creek, or river.  But that will have to wait until I get my mobility scooter.  It’s really hard to get where the wild things are, in my wheelchair.  The wheels are too skinny for one thing.  It’s not as powerful, for another.  So, I have a tendency to stick to paved roads, where there are a lot of people around.  But where there’s more people there’s less birds.

We did manage to finds some Egrets, though.  Great Egrets are my very favorite bird.  We saw a few of those, some Light-vented Bulbuls, a few barn swallows, (I dare you to try and get a decent shot of one of those babies as they zoom by), and a lone turtle.  We even saw a single Tilapia swimming next to the bank. 

We didn’t have an opportunity to cross the Zhongzhuang Suspension bridge this trip, but we planned out how to do that on the next trip to Daxi.  It was a great afternoon, I’m looking forward to the next trip, maybe Bade Pond Eco Park.  It’s always aa good time when you go with young people. Until then, Happy Trails.

A Turtle poorly disguised as a rock.

Couldn't resist putting this in again.

Photos and video credit:  Crisel Joy Bringula

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