Shangrila Day 2 and the Journey Home

On Sunday morning Craig went for another walk through the farm. This time he spent some time on a swing with his Mum.


And Craig's Mum gave him a push on a smaller swing.


Naturally, there was time to look at the ducks again!


After packing and preparing to check-out, Craig enjoyed a banana before they set out to take the coast road home.


The first stop they made was at a beach with black sand where a surfing competition was in progress.


They finally stopped for lunch at Jin Sha Wan. There's no pictures of that. The next time the camera came out was at Bai Sha Wan where Craig shared a mango smoothie with Craig's Dad.


Then, it was time to get out on the beach for some beach soccer Craig-style.






Every now and then they had to stop kicking the ball so that Craig's Dad could wipe sand off Craig's sweaty hands!! The boy has become a bit of a fusspot about some things.


As usual, Craig's Dad made several attempts to take a picture of the peaceful atmosphere that overtakes the beach just around sunset. One day he will learn that the atmosphere doesn't make its way into still pictures ..... In the meantime, he can always blame the poor camera.

Shangrila Leisure Farming

Craig's Dad kind of wishes this place had a proper English name because it is a nice little hobby farm/tourist trap ...... without being tremendously attractive. Or, at least, it is better than the English name would suggest without actually being very good. Last year, Craig's Mum's university classmates held their once a year reunion at Flying Cow Ranch. This year, Craig was strapped into his car-seat nice and early ready for the drive to Shangrila Leisure Farming.


Upon arrival, almost the first thing Craig found was the duck pond. Craig liked the ducks a lot and spent plenty of time sitting there watching the ducks swim back and forth.


Other kids that belonged to the group brought food for the ducks most of which was eaten by the fish in the pond.


Craig giggled like a mad thing whenever food was thrown into the pond for the animals.


Then, while the other kids played with some interesting looking shoes, Craig kicked a ball with his Dad.


At lunchtime, all the other kids went inside to eat in air-conditioned comfort but Craig's cost-conscious parents ate a boxed lunch outside. Craig didn't mind at all because he could spend more time looking at the ducks.


But it was very, very hot outside, and it seemed a bit anti-social as well, so Craig's Mum and Dad dragged Craig away from the ducks and went into the dining room and had coffee while everyone else finished their lunch.


Through the dining room windows was a lovely view that featured a couple of big, beautiful spiders.


Craig's Mum must be very good looking because Craig and his parents received an upgrade on their room and Craig's Dad can't think of any other reason why that happened. They were put in Shangrila's version of the Presidential Suite and that cannot be a bad thing. The room featured a lovely little swinging seat.


All the other kids came in to play for a while.


It's a shame Craig's Dad's pictures are so blurred because the kids had a really good time on the seat.


Not long later everyone went for an afternoon walk through the farm (perhaps orchard would be a better description) where Craig decided he had to follow the bigger kids across a log-step thingy. That was a very difficult test of Craig's Mum's balance. She did very well.


One reason to praise Craig's Mum performance was the light rain that was falling at the time that made some of the logs a little bit slippery. After getting off the log-thingy, Craig insisted on holding the big umbrella that Craig's Mum had borrowed from the farm. That left Craig's Mum and Dad with one small folding umbrella while Craig demanded that he be allowed to handle the big umbrella himself. Luckily it was only very light rain.


At least Craig made sure that the umbrella didn't blow away.


And, it did come in handy when Craig stopped for a rest.


Craig's Dad thought the first picture he took of Craig lying down wasn't very good so he moved the big ugly chair out of the way and tried to take a second picture from a better angle. Craig then ruined several efforts to take a nicer photo.


The walk through the drizzle continued with the bigger kids trying out another, much more difficult walk.


It was too difficult for Craig to even think about trying.


Back at the duck pond, Craig insisted on sitting next to the ducks even though the rain had become much heavier.


Craig's parents finally convinced Craig to head back to the room and get out of the rain by bribing him with junk food!!!


Craig and Craig's Mum sat inside while Craig's Dad sat on the balcony to listen to watch the thunderstorm that was outside continue to build up.


The clouds cam down really low before the thunder and lightning started. Craig needed a hug or two when the noise was really loud but otherwise he was fine.

Learning to Share, Learning to Swim

Craig has really started to enjoy going to the swimming pool with his parents. Sometimes, when he's at home and he wants to remind them how much he likes the pool he will put on his helmet. He knows he has to wear the helmet if he is to get on the motorscooter to go to the pool. The reminder doesn't always work. Sometimes, Craig's Dad will distract him by reading a favourite book.


In fact, Craig likes his helmet quite a lot. When his cousins come over to play he will put it on so that he can keep it safe (read, stop them from playing with it.) He also keeps his box of crayons and his favourite pieces of lego close by as well. He's not very interested in sharing ......


On Thursday, Craig was back in the pool again. He had a really good time playing with both Mum and Dad. This was the first time for a week that the sun was quite strong when they were in the pool. Fortunately, Craig's swimsuit provides plenty of protection from the sun while still providing plenty of freedom of movement leaving him able to pick on his Mum as much as he likes.


Craig's Mum has started gently introducing the idea of swimming to Craig. He's supposed to kick his legs in the water but it will take some time before he gets the idea.


In the afternoon, very gentle rain fell for a few hours trapping Craig inside at home with his parents. Craig's Mum reckons Craig doesn't pick on his Dad as much as he picks on his Mum. But, really how can Craig pull Dad's hair! Only Craig's Mum can provide this type of entertainment. :>


Luckily for Craig his Mum doesn't hold a grudge. At dinner that night Craig ate about one-third of Craig's Mum's steak and then tucked into some mango for dessert.

Mum Wears Floaties

Saturday was a very unusual day for Craig. Craig's Mum spent the whole day and even the early evening at a computer class. That meant Craig only saw her at lunchtime when Craig's Dad took the boy on a 30-minute train ride across town. After lunch, Craig's Mum had to hurry back to class but Craig stayed to play on a slide with his Dad.


It was a very hot day so Craig and his Dad spent most of the afternoon at home in air-conditioned comfort. When it came to dinnertime, Craig's Dad mentioned TGI Fridays and Craig hopped, skipped and jumped all the way from home to the restaurant. After eating every scrap of food on his plate, Craig went outside and enjoyed watching the elevators go up and down.


Sunday was overcast but hot. Craig cooled down by watching a video of himself playing on the slide in the swimming pool.


Craig was very happy when Craig's Mum told him they were going to go to the pool again on Monday morning. He's becoming accustomed to the routine of breakfast, pack a bag and then 5-minutes by motorscooter to the pool.


The only strange thing about this visit was that when Craig's Dad pulled out the camera to take a photo Craig's floaties were on Craig's Mum's arms!!


The more often Craig goes to the pool the more relaxed he becomes about playing in the water. Who knows, soon he might need swimming lessons!!

Saturday Lunch, Thursday at a Pool

Last Saturday, when Craig went downstairs to the second floor for lunch, he would not sit anywhere that his parents told him to sit. He had to sit where they told him to not sit! He's become a bit of a contrarian of late.


After lunch, Aunty Jessie became popular with Craig and Soit-Jade. She had food of some kind that Craig's Dad can't remember. But the children liked it and were happy to line up for it.


Then it was time for Craig to try somewhere new to sit.


The contrarian streak in Craig is developing despite discouragement from his parents.


Eventually he moved to the sofa.


But he was always ready to threaten to move back to where he had been told not to go.....


Later in the week, on Thursday morning, Craig was taken to a local outdoor swimming pool. Craig's Dad was very happy about this. He's had a few complaints about Taipei and the standard of living here but, sometimes he just doesn't take advantage of the things that are available. Craig's Mum deserves credit for thinking of the pool. Craig had heaps of fun on the red slide in the background.


He even posed for pictures.


And, for a change, he didn't become shy when the video camera was pointed at him.


In fact, Craig had so much fun that he didn't want to go home when it was time to leave. That was something of a first for Craig. Plus, Craig's Dad was so slow in posting this that Craig had time to go to the pool again on Friday morning. No pictures or videos were taken but Craig had even more fun that the first time. He's very slowly overcoming his fear of water. At only a little over two and half years old he can afford to take his time.

Boots on a Hot Day

The weather has been stinking hot in Taipei recently. Despite the heat, a few days ago Craig was desperately trying to convince his parents to go outside because he was bored at home.


So, despite the fact that there was not a cloud in the sky, Craig put on his rainshoes to see if that would help. He was probably influenced by some of the afternoon thunderstorms that have passed through recently but this was in the morning.


You have admire his creative thinking but Craig's Dad wasn't in the mood to do anything more than take a few pictures. You have to feel sorry for the boy, eh?

An Anniversary of Sorts

It was June 6. On the same date 17 years ago, Craig's Dad arrived in Taiwan after leaving Australia for the very first time. However, no special party was held. Instead it was just another trip to Danshui.


Lunch was had at Mos Burger where he ate a burger similar to the one pictured at the top of this page.


After hiding in the air-conditioned comfort until almost 2:30pm it was time to take the boat across the river to Bali where they rented a bicycle and pedalled north through the Left Bank Park. They stopped at the second jungle gym they came to so that Craig could have some fun.


Unfortunately, they had been to this park before and knew it to be polluted by the singing of people from a temple that is right beside the park. On this occasion Craig's Mum tried to encourage Craig to show off his siding skills in front of the camera but as soon as the camera was on him, Craig would not budge.


After a bit of riding around, Craig's Mum bought cold drinks and they went for a walk on the huge sandbar that sticks up at low tide here.


Craig's Dad tried to get a picture looking up towards the mouth of the river but Craig and Craig's Mum were made to look like their faces had turned black!


Looking upriver worked better because it kept the sun in their faces.


On their return trip they stopped at another jungle gym where Craig had the chance to play with two smaller boys.


Instead of really playing with them he mostly just showed that he could slide faster than them. While Craig's Dad took pictures Craig's Mum stretched in the background.


Craig's Mum was thinking about doing some exercise here as well but she never started climbing.


After taking the rented bicycle back there was a long walk and sit in the shade but Craig's Dad forgot to take any pictures. The next picture taken was at dinner. Craig had stickers to play with that had been given to him by the nice man who runs the bicycle rental business. Craig is popular wherever he goes in Taiwan.


Craig's Dad doesn't remember what Craig was doing here, he just remembers that he wasn't really angry with Craig, he was just playing but it's hard to tell that from the photo.