Weekend With the Protesters

OK, the title is a bit of an exaggeration. In fact, very little time was spent at the Occupy Taipei protest. Saturday morning began with the almost-traditional long walk to L.A. Cafe. Renovations have been performed since the last brunch making L.A. Cafe a much quieter place. Craig was quite patient while waiting for his food.

But Graham wasn't so happy about having to wait.

Both boys had some fun in local parks on the way back home even though there was still a little bit of water on the ground from overnight rain.

Craig's Dad reckons Craig needs to get outside and exercise more than he does. Craig enjoys getting outside but living in a small flat in the middle of crowded city makes it difficult.

Graham also likes getting outdoors but he needs a bit more close attention while he plays.

Craig's Dad decided to take Craig to see the Occupy Taipei protest early Saturday afternoon. There's a very detailed blog post here about the protest written by an Aussie living in Taiwan. Craig was asked to line up in front of all the satellite TV trucks gathered near the scene.

Driving back and forth passed the protest was this immensely stupid person playing loud Chinese music. His sign says "Long live China--We are all one family".

Not only was the music from the stupid man's car very loud, some of the protesters were shouting through megaphones. It was not much fun for Craig. He doesn't like loud noises.

A nice surprise was a young lady stepping forward and asking if Crag's Dad would like to get in the photo with Craig. She must have assumed she was helping tourists. ;)

The number of protesters was actually pretty small. Taiwan's Central News Agency put the number at around 500.

After taking photos with the protesters Craig and his Dad went inside Taipei 101 to do some shopping at the Aussie supermarket in the basement. Just as they came upstairs and tried to leave, the protesters were attempting to come on to the department store. Some rich person must have arranged for it to start raining just after the protest got started.

Anyway, it was raining too had to go home on the scooter so Craig and Dad sat down across the street from Taipei 101 and had lunch.

Craig likes any lunch that has chips. (He hasn't learned to say fries yet.)

Back at home that night Craig and Graham battled for position in front of a tiny DVD player.

The boys played together more happily the next morning when the DVD player had been put away.

On Sunday afternoon, Craig went with his Dad to the office. Craig quickly got down to work with his stickers and drawing book.

Craig was very well-behaved for almost an hour but it was really a bit boring for a little bloke. After Craig had run the length of the office and back again Dad's co-worker Edison very kindly started playing with him.

On Sunday night Dad brought home a desk diary that had been given to him by his co-worker Jinny. The diary had sat unused in the office for months but now Craig can use it for drawing. It's just like recycling, only different. ;)