testmeat photoblog

just over a month before i was exploring the bamboo forests in the centre of taiwan, and avoiding the scary animals within, i took a trip to a place called waiao in the northeast of the island. it's not too far from where i had been based in taipei, but when i arrived i discovered that the weather was markedly different and to my relief there was very little rain. so i rented a scooter to explore, and on one day decided to take a trip back west to trek to some hot springs. it turned out that the destination was a bit too close to the taipei climate and as i parked up ready to begin the hike the heavens opened and torrential rain soon followed. in what was to prove a fairly regular practice i found some shelter and spent a long time waiting for the rain to subside. eventually i ended up bailing on the hot spring trek and drove the scooter back east, stopping off at a place called longtan lake on the way. the light was beginning to fade, but the specific weather conditions resulted in a ghostly mist hovering above the water which made the whole place look magical. it was within these atmospheric conditions as i circled the lake that my attention was drawn to some movement in the flora which i would later learn belonged to a huge female golden orb weaver. now i'm not normally a big fan of spiders, i don't fear them in the same way as snakes, but i also don't feel particularly comfortable when they're in close proximity. but what i hadn't properly appreciated before was how stunning it is to watch them weave their webs, and i spent most of the remaining daylight utterly mesmerised at the speed, precision and beauty she displayed in constructing her palace.

as with my last post there are a few more photos on my instagram post, and i also took a short video so you can see the spider in motion