It should not be surprising that Taiwan would have a great aquarium, for everyone here absolutely loves seafood. It is only natural that a small live sample of all the yummy marine dishes should be available for viewing.

There are seemingly endless displays of really impressive tanks with huge glass fronts containing all manner of interesting sea creatures. The people who conceived and designed this aquarium have done a fantastic job and have made Taiwan proud.

A circling school of fish in a cylindrical glass display

The open water display with rays, tuna and a whale shark. Absolutely breathtaking.

A 10 metre open water profile of kelp beds

Or the underwater walkways that take you past corals, fish and through a ship-wreck no less.

Another really impressive exhibit was a coral reef profile in a curved glass display with a declining walkway.

Even the outdoor squid sculptures are impressive.

But we were most impressed by the penguin exhibit. The large “people” side, for ambience no doubt, is cooled to 17C. While behind the floor-to-roof glass on the “penguin” side it is chilled to a balmy Antarctic -2C. With near on 40 birds from 6 species the open display gives surperb viewing of these torpedo swimmers.

Though we did feel a little sorry for their lonely North Pole puffin cousins in the adjacent display. Though the puffins could not see their Southern avian upstarts, they must surely wonder why the crowds just walk on by.

The National Museum website has a live penguin cam. Though nothing will beat stopping by the museum yourself, you could switch your air-conditioner to “coldest” and watch them from here.

Back in Perth a family island holiday for us usually involves a week on lazy Rottnest Island.  I have wished to visit Lanyu for many years so with the kids on summer holidays we packed our bags and ventured off to see what it is like.

Firstly the island is volcanic in origin so the geology and geography are quite different from the mostly metamorphosed and alluvial Taiwan.  At 13 km long and 32 km around it has a steep hilly centre surrounded by thin strips and scallops of flat land. There are plenty of places where the hills plunge almost directly into the ocean.

There are 5 small settlements on the island. The people here are more similar to the northern Philippines than Taiwan and indeed very different from Chinese. The local language is apparently understood by those from the northern Philippine islands. Unfortunately many of the younger generation are no longer fluent in this language.

We visited in the middle of summer which is peak tourist time, though it didn’t have a tourist trap feel to it. Visitors we met were mostly extended family groups, student groups and young couples. We also met a group of mostly English teachers from Chiayi camping on a remote eastern beach making a real getaway from Taiwan living.

The easiest way to get around is by scooter. It takes a couple of hours to circumvent the island, an excellent way to spend the day. The next day, for a change, you can turn around a scooter the other way.

One place that I was eager to see was the low-level nuclear waste facility on the southern tip of the island. Spare a small rocky island a few kilometers further south, this is the furthest most point it is possible to get away from Taipei within Taiwan. The perfect place for nuclear waste dump! Except that it is in the path of typhoons, only just above the high tide waterline and on a geologically unstable land-mass. Someone told me the locals were duped in to believing they were getting a fish cannery.  There is a moratorium on new disposal and it is due for complete de-commissioning by 2010.

Lanyu just has an incredibly lazy feel to it. Which was just perfect for the type of break we were after. We collected hermit crabs and ran crab races, swam, tried catching some fish and generally just enjoyed discovering the island.

Lanyu reminded me more of the South-east asian islands than our favorite Rottnest. But for a relaxing and enjoyable island get-away we can all highly recommend it.

And surprisingly it is a very affordable dish. Where a dozen fresh oysters at home is a small luxury, here in Taiwan this dish is a cheap quick meal.

Well the port of Dongshih (東石) supplies 60% of the local oyster omellete market. We visted on a wet summer Sunday and discovered just how much oysters are part of this seaside town.

The large shallow bay is protected by an outer reef. Old oyster shells are strung on a length of line and hung on floating bamboo beds. Each old shell becomes the seed for many new oysters.

They are harvested and moved into one of the many shucking houses in town.

From there they are packaged and shipped to night markets all over Taiwan.

The town is littered with piles of the old oyster shells.

Not wanting to leave without a sample we purchased a small bag. At 200NT per kilo (USD7) they are cheaper than steak.

And as the old man who provided me a free sample later indicated with a rising finger, everyone the world over reckons raw oysters are great for mens virility.

A Hungry Girls Guide to Tiapei also covers this dish.

These boats look quite unstable as they rock from side to side in the water. As if a push from one side would topple them over and expose the hull. But these are the boats that keep the local fish markets full.

The use of multiple lengths of plastic pipe are common for small coastal boats. They are practical as well as cheap and easy to build.

These small day boats are also popular for coastal fishing. These are at Liouciou island just off Kaohsiung.

Most of these photos are from the Chijin fishing or the Donggang fishing ports.

See more boats in the Fishing Boat album