Botanical Garden of the National Museum of Natural Science

I like museums. In fact, I love them so much that I studied Art History in university. Within that program I had to also study museology (the study of museums); that was rather dry. Despite all that, I still enjoy visiting museums. In Taiwan, most of the museums are closed on Mondays which happens to be the day that we normally travel to the city because it's less busy as most people are working. However, on this particular ocassion, we went there on a Sunday so I could visit the Botanical Garden in Taichung after our errands.

In Canada, I've noticed that visiting museums can be a bit expensive, but here the cost of visiting the Botanical Garden for both Matthew and I was about $2 CAD. Sometimes I wonder if anyone actually knows what a profit is. The cost of things here are so low I just think labour is free and that they don't care to make a profit on anything. Either way, it works better for me when it comes to saving money. The Botanical Garden is located right behind the National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung city.

I don't really know why I like visiting gardens, I don't have a green thumb and I actually don't like to touch plants or dirt, but I do enjoying looking at them. Inside this glassbuilding  are a couple of waterfalls.

It isn't a very large garden but it is very pretty. The pathway through the greenhouse is flanked with tall trees on either sides and colourful flowers near the ground.

I thought the interior of the garden would be hot and humid because the outside was hot and the sun was beaming down that day. But the inside was actually cooler and more refreshing than outside. It was still hot, but it wasn't as hot as outside.

The garden was also home to some very strange looking plants as well.

After having walked around through the garden, we came to a fork in the road. Up the stairs back to the exit or through some glass doors to see what was on the other side. So, of course, we chose the doors. It was only a gift shop, BUT there was also a small aquarium of fish and some bright frogs!




I have this weird unexplainable joy when I'm around fish. I don't really know why they entertain me so much, but I find them fascinating. I clearly can have the time of my life doing pretty much the most stupid things. Just look at my dorky face. I think people need to surround themselves with simple things so they can all wear ridiculous faces like me.

I think Matthew was a bit surprised at how much fun I can have just by watching fish. After I had my fun, we decided to head outside to check out the grounds. As we were walking along a path, I saw the fattest white cat ever. I'm not sure if it was a stray, but if it is, it eats well because most strays are very skinny and skittish but this one wasn't really afraid of humans. It didn't exactly come right up and want to be pet but it didn't cowardly run away the moment it realized we were looking at her.

The outside grounds were very nice, and during our walk we even saw a few runners. I know what you're thinking, 'runners? like people jogging?' Yes, exactly that. Most people are probably like me; I thought that I would most likely be considered fat and would have a hard time finding clothes that fit me. That hasn't been the case. I have been very surprised at how many fat people are in Taiwan. With the popularity of fast food and convenience, a lot of people are overweight. Even among my students who range from the age of 6 through 18, I have a lot of overweight students. Exercise just isn't viewed as an important activity. There are of course many people who don't eat the fast food and who don't exercise but also don't seem to gain weight. Even though the Taiwanese people are hard workers, almost obsessively - they work 6 days a week, they are actually very lazy in other aspects. I live only a few blocks from my workplace and live with other co-workers, none of them walk or bicycle to work, they all drive. The Taiwanese just seem to think that spending 5 minutes walking is too far away. So, when I saw the runners at the botanical garden, I was impressed. Who wouldn't want to go for a walk or run when the path through the botanical gardens look like this?