Off to see the lizard

Sometimes Taiwan feels a bit like one of those science fiction movies where the hero ends up in a parallel universe where everything is almost the same - but not quite. Once you get used to having all the signs in another language and the fact that people tend to look at you as something of a novelty on the street (which I've never really minded), it doesn't necessarily feel like you're halfway around the world from home. The cars, stores, furniture and other things you see on a regular basis just don't look all that different. Then, every now and then, something jumps out at you to remind you that it really is a different place.

I ran into one of those just a week or two ago when I was walking past a park in Chung Li. There was a series of cement posts along the sidewalk, whose purpose I couldn't discern from where I was walking. Maybe they were trashcans or something. Anyhow, I saw a lizard sunning itself on one of them. It looked quite happy, actually - it was a sunny and very hot day and sunbathing was a good thing to be doing right then. It was a slight shock for me to see it at first (like I said, you do tend to forget that differences exist until you see them!), but I was intrigued enough to stand there for a minute or two and look at it from a respectable distance. Sort of like children here do with me, actually.

It was cute. It was harmless. And I wouldn't have seen it at home, except maybe in a zoo.