Volare!

Last Saturday was a pretty boring ordinary day until late in the afternoon Craig began dancing on the sofa and attempting to sing along with the Gypsy Kings.

He was a bit tired and he can sometimes become very excited, very quickly when he's tired. But the reults can be pretty entertaining. Enjoy.

CNY 2010: The End

The morning of Craig's last day in Kaohsiung dawned brightly. It was the first he had seen of the sun for quite a few days.

As soon as he'd finished breakfast Craig was taken to the nearest park so he could finally have some fun. Blue rocking ducks are ubiquitous in Taiwan. Fortunately, Craig likes them a lot.

Craig didn't really need a rest when he came to sit with Mum and Dad. He just likes to keep them close.

Right across the street from the hotel, with a lovely view of the Love River was an eatery with a great name.

After lunch, Craig's Dad was permitted to go back to the tower and spend another NT$200 (NT$100 per adult, Craig was free) to back up to the 74th floor observation deck.

The little black line in the photo below encircles the top of the hotel that Craig stayed in as viewed from the 85 Tower.

Craig had heaps of fun running around the observation deck but after a while his parents thought he might have more fun at a park. A short walk took them to a park with a jungle gym that they had spotted from the tower.

You could see the tower clearly from the park.

Craig had plenty of fun on another jungle gym in a nearby school that was meant for bigger kids.

The level of difficulty was high so for the first few runs through Craig's Mum stayed very close.

Craig played on this little obstacle course for at least half an hour.

After he had climbed and crawled his way through a few times Craig's Mum was able to rest at the side while Craig played by himself.

Dinner that night was had on the rooftop of the eatery called Auntie Anne's!!! There was pizza, French beer and sushi.

All in a relaxing riverside atmosphere. It was a shame that they had to leave to catch an 8pm train back to Taipei.

CNY 2010: The Middle

After spending their first night in Kaohsiung in a cheap hotel, with a breakfast to match, Craig was taken out for a walk around the neighborhood even though it had started to rain.

After checking out at midday Craig moved on to a much nicer hotel. The Ambassador has a coffee shop on the 20th floor where Craig had lunch with his Mum and Dad while waiting for their room to be ready.

It was a rainy day so the view was a bit limited but it was a very comfy environment to be in while watching the rain fall.

Craig's Dad's sandwich was pretty good and Craig helped quite a bit with eating the chips.

The rain stopped while they were eating so they went for a long walk after lunch. Craig actually walked a lot but the only time he stayed still enough to have his picture taken was when he was on Craig's Dad's shoulders.

The only place they could find to sit down for a rest was quite windy. Craig wanted to make sure Craig's Mum stayed warm.

After returning to the hotel their room was finally ready. The overcast weather meant the view was not as spectacular as it might have been but it was still a big step up from the view of the back of a department store that could be seen at the previous place.

Craig's Mum was first to make herself a cup of tea and position a comfy chair next the window.

Right downstairs from the hotel, a stage had been set up in the middle of the Love River. When Craig and his parents were returning from dinner a performance featuring acrobats and dancers was just beginning.

But it was quite noisy and Craig wasn't too impressed. So, they retreated to their room to watch the show from there. The view from the 13th floor wasn't too bad.

The next morning Craig kept himself busy playing with the hotel phone.

Breakfast at the Ambassador was also a huge step up from the previous hotel but you couldn't tell from the look on Craig's face.

Craig's Dad then made a mistake. Even though it was raining and the clouds were very low in the sky he suggested that they travel over to a local skyscraper to look at the view.

If you looked straight down you could see a few rooftops when the occasional gap in the clouds came along.

There were photos on the wall beside the windows to help you find local landmarks.

But they were a bit hard to find through the fog and clouds.

Back at the hotel room Craig jumped on Craig's Dad's legs to play.

He likes being thrown around a bit.

Evetually the rain stopped but the streets were still wet.

So Craig was able to go out and walk along the edge of the footpath.

He liked walking along the edge so much that Craig's Mum and Dad had to take turns with holding his hand.

At night they could see the preparations for Lantern Festival along the far side of Love River.

The night view was actually quite nice.

CNY 2010: The Beginning

The first few days of Chinese New Year 2010 were pretty dull for Craig. Just going out for breakfast instead of staying at home was a photo-op.

The weather was often wet and not conducive to going outside. When Craig did venture outdoors it was only to go shopping with his Mum and Dad. On the way to the shop, Craig took the opportunity to stop at every public phone on the way. He likes to listen to the dial tone.

On the way back home he pointed out every public phone that he could find.

So, Craig was pretty happy about beginning a trip to Kaohsiung where the weather was supposed to be warmer and drier.

A quick trip on the bullet train had Craig walking around next to Love River in no time.

Craig is very good at finding jungle gyms so that he can sit at the top of a slide


This place was good because Craig's Mum and Dad could sit and rest on a park bench and watch Craig play.

Although the weather was cool it was the first chance for Craig to play outdoors for quite a few days.

A Wet Weekend

Craig's Dad is sure that Craig is one of very few 3-year-olds worldwide to be the proud owner of no less than two mobile phones. After one had gone missing for several weeks recently Craig was very happy when he found it again. He now likes to keep a close eye on both phones, just in case.

Meanwhile, Craig's Mum and Dad decided that a break away from Taipei would be a good idea. They planned to stay overnight beside the beach at Bai Sha Wan.

Craig's Mum claimed that the weather report on TV had said that the weather would warm up and dry out over the weekend. This information could not have been more wrong. It was raining outside and Craig had to play in the room while Craig's Mum had a very brief nap.

The "rain" was actually a very fine mist that was only just barely heavy enough to fall. Craig was taken across the road to a beachside cafe where he had his favourite snack, raisins. He also had planty of Craig's Dad's waffle.

Out in the water were more than half-a-dozen people on surfboards pretending to go surfing. One or two people actually made an attempt to paddle over near the waves and catch them but most of them seemed to be happy to just sit on their boards and occasionally paddle around a bit.

It really wasn't exciting to watch but it was much better than just sitting in the room. After the coffee and waffle was finished, Craig and his Dad went for a walk along the headland park while Craig's Mum went back to try to rest again.

Once they got back to the room Craig wanted a warm bath to warm up. For those with more sensitive temperaments, now is the time to scroll down without looking. Craig liked the bath, by the way.

Craig was pretty bored after the bath and wouldn't sit still and watch TV.

He decided that the extra bedcovers needed to be brought out.

And that the appropriate place for them was on the floor.

He was slightly happier watching Finding Nemo on Craig's Mum's portable DVD player.

The weather on Sunday morning was not much better but the rain had stopped. So, after breakfast Craig took his parents for a walk.

Craig liked walking on the little concrete barriers.

But it wasn't much fun just hanging around waiting for it to start raining again so they packed up and headed back home.

Craig's Mum was worried that Craig might suffer some motion sickness on the bus but this time he was fine.


Back at home, Craig had a visit from two of his neighbours and second-cousins. He sat down in the kitchen to eat yoghurt with Craig's Second-Cousin Ke-zhen.

Craig's Second Cousin Ying-chi was also there. She read a book while the two boys were supposed to be watching a video.

Sometimes the boys sat still long enough that you could actually say that they were watching the movie........ sometimes.

But they were pretty easily distracted. And, Ying-chi felt that enough pictures had been taken.

The next game they played featured the kids taking turns to get into Craig's favourite box, get covered with a jacket and then hit with balloons!

Craig's Mum helped the kids with getting into the box.

But hitting with balloons was something the kids enjoyed far too much to need any help.

You can't have much more fun than this when the weather is cold and wet outside.




The other game that the two boys played was Craig in the box being pushed around by Ke-zhen.

They both had a good time with that game.


Although the pictures give a good idea of what was happening video is the next best thing to being there yourself, don't you think?