Beautiful day for a bike ride

It was a beautiful day outside, so I thought I’d take my new bike, a Giant Iguana, out for a short ride. Miss Expatriate was tired and didn’t want to go out in the heat, so I had the opportunity to set my own pace, stop for pictures, etc.  It was quite hot, but I only went about 7 km and got some nice pictures.

It was a beautiful day, and I got a nice shot of some fields with the central mountain range as a backdrop.

I saw a few pigeon houses, which are quite numerous around here. Many Taiwanese breed racing pigeons for income; I’ve seen some shows on the discovery channel here, but I’m not sure if they are shown in the US or elsewhere.

I saw several old houses. Traditional Chinese houses were made out of brick and built in 3 sections. The name for these is [hanzi]三合院[/hanzi] (sānhéyuàn) and means “3-unit court” or something to that effect. One section, the middle, was usually devoted to the family temple while the other sections were for kitchen, bedrooms, etc. I find these houses fascinating, as they are quite old and yet so popular. Miss Expatriate’s grandfather still lives in one out in the country.

I found some silk melons growing. Traditionally, these silk melons are grown on elevated racks (as you can see in the 2nd picture) and hang down (they are wrapped in newspaper). The cool thing about it is that you can take the insides out, dry them, and they are natural loofahs. These also grow on Miss Exptriate’s grandpa’s farm.

Being as it was a beautiful summer day, I could help but notice the beautiful flowers.

Some farmer has his field planted and will soon be harvesting… something.

And, of course, it’s Pomelo season. In Mandarin, they are called either [hanzi]柚子[/hanzi] (yòuzì) or [hanzi]文旦[/hanzi] (wéndàn) and are quite delicious at this time of year. Just yesterday, Miss Expatriate and I bought 3 boxes from a local farmer. It should be noted that the pomelo’s pictured here are a special type. The most popular pomelo’s are rather oblong and are somewhat nipple-shaped on one end, as Wikipedia shows. These pomelos, Miss Expat tells me, aren’t liked by many Taiwanese because they are considered too sour.

Finally, I saw a quaint little shrine. Small temples and shrines like this are a very common sight when you drive around. Apparently, if you are ever driving and have a sudden urge to pray or offer something to the gods, you can just stop, do your thing, and be on your way without having to drive into the city and find a big temple.