Crabs on the Tidal Flats

 Teacup wanted to go to the beach. So this past weekend, I searched for closest beaches, and got a cab.

We wound up at Happiness Beach, a locally-known tourist spot. It was actually more of a tidal flat than the kind of beach I'm used to (I'm more used to short sandy beaches!). I'd never been on a tidal flat before, so this was really cool to me!

Huuuuuge wide beach before you get to the sea

We got there not too long after low tide, too, so we got to see the water so far away it seemed unreal. Also unreal was how crabby the beach was. As in, herds of tiny crabs (Gemini called them blue soldier crabs) about the 1-2" across scuttled in groups over the sand, burrowing in whenever we got close. The sand itself was not at all flat, but rather scattered with tiny 'pebbles' of sand where the crabs had done their burrowing. In some areas it was just piles of mud with no flat sand visible. 

Evidence of crab burrows

Crab herd! Or, given they are soldier crabs, crab army!

We splashed around in the shallow tide pools for a couple of hours, with me keeping an eye on the water. I have never seen tides rise before, but here I could physically and literally see the water encroaching closer and closer. Teacup took off her shoes a few inches from the water line (there weren't really crashing waves, as a couple of sand bars smoothed those out before they reached us). Within a minute I had to tell her to grab them before they floated away.

Since I wasn't familiar with the area, and I know things can get dangerous fast when strong currents form behind sand bars, I kept Teacup and me above the water line and refused to let any sand bars get behind us. So, we didn't actually get down to the waves themselves. But we had a plenty fun time, and the water of the tide pools was between warm and hot, great for splashing around in. Plus there were a ton of tiny fish that nibbled at our toes. The can't-hurt-you kind of nibbles, super cute.

Toe nibbler. Very ticklish!

Bike path and stairs

Happiness Beach is along a bike pathway, so I want to return at some point and bike along it. It also has some wide, flat stairs that are apparently popular for photo purposes, though people were just using them for stairs while we were there. And there were some 4-seater motor bikes, rather like golf carts but more bike-looking, that people rent nearby and use to go down the bike path. Sometime I want to try one, as they seem like a fun way to enjoy the seashore. I really want to head back for a sunset there, too, as it is on the westward side of the island and should give us some stunning sunsets. We'll see if I get back there.

In other, non-beach asides, I took a couple of pictures of things around town:

Random sculpture of two orbs. The first is smaller than the back one, but from this angle the perspective makes them almost the same size.

Lake guy playing with metal duckies

Malay Night Heron (its mate also lives nearby)

Zhubei City waterway in a random park

A very blue and curvy office building in Zhubei City

Random pretty tree

And the bonus pictures I know y'all are really here for:

Cat! I got the automatic feeder working

Kabocha squash and water spinach over rice, stir fried with five spice blend, nutmeg, garlic, soy sauce, and a kumquat-jam I made because the green kumquats were too sour and I couldn't think of any better way to use them before they went bad. Last time I had kumquats, they were orange, and though they were lemon-sour, these green ones were more sour than that.

Verdict: Actually very tasty! I love kabocha squash, and five-spice and nutmeg bring out the nutty flavor nicely (kabocha makes me think of a smooth, creamy, nutty butternut squash). Kumquat jam really goes well the water spinach, too, giving it a citrusy kick that pairs nicely with the soy sauce. Might separate the squash and the water spinach next time, since they didn't quite complement each other, but they didn't clash badly enough to detract from each other either.