That time I found loads of dead puffer fish washed up on the beach

Zhunan Beach

I don’t know what causes scores of dead fish to decorate the shore. A storm? Disease? A fishing accident? Pollution?

Or maybe they thought they could walk.

Zhunan, Taiwan

Zhunan Temple

We rode our bikes toward the sound of drums to find out what is was all about. Here’s what we found:

Determined Turtle

A turtle struggles against gravity as it tries to climb out of the pond at the Matsu temple in Jhunan.

The best restaurant in Jhunan

The exterior of this teppanyaki or tiě bǎn shāo (鐵板燒) restaurant doesn’t scream for attention. Like a lot of the best eateries in Taiwan, it’s simple and unpretentious. Standing on the corner of Minquan St and Yanping Rd, away from heavy foot traffic, it nevertheless attracts throngs of customers, and with good reason. For between 150-180 NT ($4.67-$5.60) you can have a sizzling plate of pork, cod, beef, chicken or cuttlefish served with soup, rice , bean sprouts and either cabbage or water spinach.

On my most recent visit, I had the pork, the best of the meat dishes.  Tender and juicy, it’s perfectly complemented by the black pepper sauce. My girlfriend chose the cod, which has a delicate flavor and absorbs the butter, oil, lemon and herbs like a sponge. The beef is also cooked in black pepper sauce and a garlic chicken dish is available as well. Even among all this, the cuttlefish stands out. Too often, cuttlefish is overcooked, giving it a rubbery texture. This dish however, is flawlessly soft, a model of how to grill cephalopod. The vegetables are good enough to stand on their own, but lucky for us, they come with the main course. Grilled with savory seasonings and a buttery marinade, they mix perfectly with the rice.

Also on the menu, which I’ve yet to try, are shrimp, omelettes and various combo meals. The good news for those of us who struggle with Chinese, is that an English menu is available.

The chefs aren’t telling jokes and doing tricks, but they’re skilled, efficient and fun to watch. The even gave us a fresh basil omelette on our last visit. It was really too much food to eat, but like everything else, it was too tasty to leave on the plate.

Is it a plane? Is it a bat? No, it’s a bird stupid.

Swallows live in every continent except Antarctica. Still, I was impressed with these ones swooping and diving for insects outside my balcony.

My girlfriend put together this video, also shot from our balcony and elsewhere in Jhunan.

Miaoli County

Most of the shots in this video are from the city of Jhunan (竹南) in Miaoli County (苗栗縣), where I live in Western Taiwan, and the rest are from Miaoli city and Sanyi. The music is Bach.