Of cabbages and kings

I guess I never wrote about the Hohaiyan Festival; and, in truth, there isn't much to write about. I went on a crowded train with no sitting room to Fulong beach, and was greeted with a scenario very much similar to when I visited Danshui: lots of little tourist shops and game shops and food vendors, bright neon lights and way too many people.

The music itself was hit or miss. The band that was playing when I arrived around 6:30 wasn't bad. There was also a girl with a guitar who was pretty good as well, playing covers of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" and Coldplay's "Clocks," as well as some Chinese songs. I listened, took pictures, and, after a couple hours, went in search of food. I figured it would be better to leave early and avoid the congestion at the end of the festival. Only realized later that that meant missing Cui Jian, the "Bob Dylan/Bruce Springsteen" of China. Damn.

It probably would have been more fun to have gone to the festival with other people, but no one wanted to take the trip out with me. And, considering I am over the half-way point of my stay in Taiwan, I would like to get out more, even if that means going solo.

How clichéd. But it is true. I am not so much trying to connect to my "roots" as just seeking companionship and a sense of belonging in a place I do not really feel I understand. I'm not sure going to rock concerts alone does this, as I did not meet anyone new there, but what would my alternatives have been? Staying in my apartment? Or going out with my relatives to the next hot new restaurant to laud their food? Or tagging along with my cousins to Sogo or the Breeze Center?

The events of the past few days really brought out this misalignment of interests between me and my peers here. Last night, after a lone dinner at Alleycat's, I went to visit a nearby relative's house, where another cousin had also come to call. My uncle, upon seeing me, declared that he was going to take me out for drinks, and managed to drag my cousin along as well. Turns out he took us to Saints and Sinners, whose environment I thoroughly enjoyed, as my uncle kept pointing out: "See, you're from America! This is your kind of place."

In any case, there was a foosbol table and pool table, much to my delight, and after beating my uncle soundly at foosbol (sorry, Uncle, for the disrespect), we returned to our table and had drinks. I had a way-too-strong gin and tonic, and later ordered fries to help finish off my drink. We chatted inbetween sips and munches, and my cousin noted how I was now going to be busy now, with one uncle wanting to take me out to pubs, and another wanting to take me hiking up mountain trails, and how their respective families will be glad now that they won't have to deal with being pestered about doing these things.

And, yes, that's exactly what I enjoy doing. Going out to bars, maybe shooting some pool, at night, and exploring both the natural and urban trails of Taipei, by foot. I get remarks from my family about how "good at walking" I have become-that is a direct Chinese translation, with connotations that I am slightly too weird and independent for my relatives to understand.

"It's because she's American-born and raised," they say. And I guess it is. What self-respecting Taiwanese girl goes outside, without an umbrella and risking getting skin cancer or, worse, dark skin (cue Hermione Granger voice and Ron's incredulous 'She needs to sort out her priorities') and spends hours tramping around alone instead of buying cute clothes and looking for marriage prospects?

The worst of all of this, because I personally could care less what they think (and that's not necessarily a good thing in any case), is that everything I do reflects back on my mother. She warned me of this very clearly on the car-ride to the airport, told me not to make her look bad, or that she would be unable to go back and face her family.

So...what do I do?



Oh...and also, my moth appears to be a member of the Theretra latreillei species. Hurrah!

Completed cycle

So, I am all tired and excited from spending the evening at the Hohaiyan Rock Festival, but that will have to wait. Because, as I came home (to my spanky new apartment), I was greeted by my new roommate!

Isn't s/he pretty?

The cycle is now complete. Sadly, this might be the only survivor, as this moth is the caterpillar that pupated last.

From eyespots and stripes

To hard, protective shells

To produce something like this...

This metamorphosis has never ceased to amaze and confound me.

Of bugs galore

In searching for information on the Four Beast mountain (SiShou Shan-the alliteration mountain), I came across this fantastic site listing photos and IDs of insects at the SiShou park. Unfortunately it's all in Chinese, but just click on photo lists and select from the list menu on the left sidebar.

Grasshoppers
Walking sticks
Earwigs
Cockroaches
Mantids
Hemipterids
Homopterids (Leafhoppers, Aphids, Cicadas)
Hymenoptera (Bees, Wasps, Ants)
Beetles
Odonata (Dragonflies, Damselflies)
Lepidoptera (Butterflies, Moths)

The last section on butterflies is disappointingly small, and doesn't have the larval stages, but hey, can't win 'em all. No moths, either, so I can't ID my caterpillars. But it is still a great start, and the photos are big and clear.

I am geeking out bigtime here. You'll have to excuse me.

The Adventures of Pupation

Those of a more squeamish nature would be better off stopping.

Right.

Here.

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I have a lovely progression of pupation currently going on with my three caterpillars. And, really, how often can you say that? It seems that the feeding frenzy that demolished my aunt's potted flowers was in preparation for their transition into these:

This one was still polishing off leaf after leaf after the other two had begun molding leaves around themselves, with the help of a little sticky silk. It's in transition now, and in fact you can still see the much-compressed eyespots still on its back--the part facing away from the camera.

This one was by far the most successful in making its leaf-cocoon. Therefore, I didn't see much of what happened to this guy until I saw all three had begun pupating, and decided to take them out to clean the jar and throw out the uneaten leaves.

This guy never ate at all, but began pupating right away. It's the darkest in color.

What's cool is that you can see the outlines of what will become each part of the newly formed moth-the angular top will be the head, proboscis, and legs, and the mold of where the wings will form, wrapped halfway around the body, is clear down to the venations. The right-most, segmented area is the thorax. It's the biggest part of the body because it stores a lot of blood and fluid that is then pumped into the wings to straighten them when the moth emerges. As well as, of course, storing all those important organs.

I can only assume these three are siblings from the same moth momma, so the progression also shows which caterpillar hatched first.

Childhood habits are not easily left behind

My new pet project:
When I awoke at the horrifyingly late hour of 11am today and limped woozily down for breakfast/brunch/lunch, my aunt informed me that she had found these large caterpillars in the rooftop garden that she keeps. I was fascinated and promised to go up and take a look, but while I was upstairs, she ended up bringing the two she'd found inside in a plastic egg carton case...haha. But what a delightful surprise! I told them what little I knew of the Sphingidae family, which these caterpillars belong to. And also how certain species are prone to parasitization by wasps, which lay their eggs in the caterpillar's body and essentially eat it from the inside out.

I'm not sure my aunt and cousins had really wanted to hear all of that. But in any case I've taken the larvae under my wing, and they are currently inhabiting a large plastic jar my aunt helped me set up, complete with air holes. I doubt any of my other aunts would have agreed to let me raise caterpillars, so I was extremely grateful for her help and enthusiasm.

We went upstairs, my aunt and I, to look for their host plants, two of which were completely stripped of leaves. We found a third caterpillar clutched to a fallen orchid, and it didn't look too happy. So it's also joined its brethren in the jar.

They are an impressive size, and I have been suddenly transported back to my childhood days of raising caterpillars by the dozens over the course of the summer, and the trial-and-error methods I went through to find out how to care for them. I really hope I can raise these guys to adulthood and see what they look like. While I cannot identify the caterpillars to species level, they have all the familiar characteristics of the Sphinx moths, and the adults are usually quite splendid.

They will definitely be accompanying me to the apartment I am moving into early July. All I need now is a reliable source of food. However, it seems that this host plant is popular, and a lot of the plants I saw out on the street were already stripped! I have never had to search for caterpillar food plants in a city before, where I may be chased by a building's owner for picking their plants. But my aunt assures me this particular plant is very common and more of a wildflower that sometimes gets planted outside buildings.

So, besides posting my adventures in the Isla Formosa, I'll also be recording the growth and progress of my newly acquired pets.