It Looks Like AI, But It’s Real - Rainbow Clouds! 5/5/26

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:03][music] This is the afterparty live with Kim [music] Mallister.

[00:00:10]Pick a couch, grab a drink, and settle into the conversation.

[00:00:18][music] Hi everybody. It is the afterparty live on a travel Tuesday and thank you for being here. Thanks for spending your time on the afterparty live. It's a cool down session coming off the Mark Thompson show. Uh oh, looks like there's some tech [music] stuff going here.

[00:00:40]Leaderboard participation. I like that.

[00:00:43]Um I'm trying to figure out what you guys are are talking about in the chat. Uh looking at settings and doing all kinds of things. I don't know what you're doing. Um, I'm interested though. Who wants to can someone catch me up to speed? H I don't know what's happening here. Uh, I do want to thank though the people that make the show happen. That is super super important from Wes who pops in yet again on this Cinco de Mayo with a contribution. Deborah S. Rhonda A, Carol S have all set up recurring uh, PayPal payments. Thank you guys so much for the contributions monthly keeping the show going. and Wes what seems like daily really really appreciate that. Okay, someone is letting me know what's happening. Um I have a comment from Wes can't recap. It happened before I joined. Okay. All right. Well, that's all right. You guys know what you're doing. I don't know what you're doing.

[00:01:40]Um cheese and the chat ranking system. I didn't know there was a chat ranking system. Is it the more you comment the uh I don't know, the more access you get to something? I didn't know there was that on this show. It's about turning off the dumb crowns rankings in the chat. Oh, okay. Yeah, I didn't know that was even uh happening that you guys had to deal with that. I'm sorry about it.

[00:02:03]Uh I wish if there's a setting on my end I can use to make it easier, please let me know. Oh, talk about a cool down.

[00:02:11]This is so pretty. It looks fake. The headline on Popular Science says it's not AI. It is not AI. Fullon real pictures of what's called an iridescent cloud over Indonesia.

[00:02:30]It's called magical. Can you imagine looking up and this is what you see?

[00:02:36]This happened over Jong, Indonesia.

[00:02:40]It's an iridescent cloud. It's this rare type of cloud that appears when raindrops interact with sunlight. The small water droplets or ice crystals inside the clouds scatter sunlight, defracting the light into a spectrum of colors. The rainbow effect most visible when the sun is partially blocked by something like a mountain or by thicker clouds.

[00:03:06]These vibrant displays of iridescent clouds or I call them rainbow clouds.

[00:03:11]They usually appear near the sun. They can last for only just a few moments, making them a magical sight for anyone lucky enough to look up at just the right time. This one taken over the city of Jakarta is a towering cumulus cloud blocking part of the rainbow.

[00:03:30]At the same time, there are towering cumulus clouds that can cover part of the rainbow. So, the shape looks incomplete or it looks like a rainbow cloud.

[00:03:41]It's not a direct sign that a storm is coming. Uh the rainbow clouds could indicate that convective clouds are growing and that there's the possibility that rain will soon start to fall.

[00:03:53]But this was so amazing that it stopped traffic. Everyone had their phone out trying to catch pictures of this craziness.

[00:04:03]This beautiful display in the sky.

[00:04:07]Just stunning.

[00:04:10]I have never seen that.

[00:04:14]Have you guys ever seen this happen?

[00:04:16]I've seen a moonbo where you look up and it looks like there's a rainbow around the moon, but I have not seen this in person. Just beautiful, but I kind of want to. I really want to.

[00:04:32][gasps] I love it. I mean, I could look at it forever. It's just wow. So beautiful.

[00:04:40]So that's the iridescent cloud or rainbow cloud that happened over uh Indonesia.

[00:04:48]How about this? Do you see this story?

[00:04:51]This is so cool.

[00:04:53]It's a story about whales, humpback whales. You know, they have the whale watching cruises. Uh I've been on one in Maui, off the coast of Maui. I want to take one off the coast of Mterrey, but you always hear people say, "Are we watching them or are they watching us?"

[00:05:14]Sometimes you see in videos the way the whales come right up to the boat and it's almost like they're checking you out too or the people out too.

[00:05:23]Well, they do this thing called gaping where they open their mouths.

[00:05:30]Not sure if it's a yawn or a smile or some kind of stretch that they're doing.

[00:05:37]It's called gaping.

[00:05:39]And there's really no good reason for them to be doing it. They're not eating.

[00:05:45]But the scientists are looking at this behavior wanting to know why it's happening.

[00:05:56]There's a doctor with McCory University who's uh authored a new study investigating this behavior.

[00:06:06]The behavior first started or they became aware of it when whale watchers saw these humpbacks opening their mouths to this maximum width.

[00:06:18]They took video of it and they weren't feeding. they were outside the normal feeding areas. They scientists say it looks like this behavior is kind of rare. If they had to rely on their own observations to investigate when and why these humpbacks do the mouth gaping, they really wouldn't have enough to go on. But because tourists and whale watching guides find these openmouth whale behaviors so interesting, they film it and they put the pictures on social media and that has allowed scientists to collect 66 examples that they could locate and they could date.

[00:07:00]I have some video of this happening.

[00:07:04]I'll share it with you.

[00:07:07]One theory of this is that it's some kind of form of communication. Are whales trying to communicate with us? H [screaming] >> Oh yeah, baby. Wow.

[00:07:21]Unbelievable, >> you guys. That whale's mouth is wide open. We never see its baine like that.

[00:07:30]>> My goodness. We get shots of that.

[00:07:31]Please, somebody get shot of that. We never see that. Okay, that's really rare. That guy's having a bit of a y >> now. They're not eating. They're not in the feeding grounds.

[00:07:46]Are they smiling? What are they doing?

[00:07:49]Oh. Oh. Open. What? What the open this vehicle?

[00:07:56][music] >> [music] >> I'm turning off the weird music. But you can see them open and close their mouth sometimes in fast succession. The open close open close.

[00:08:26]So why is it happening? What is going on with this?

[00:08:31]Hm.

[00:08:34]All kinds of ideas about what what is going on, like why they're doing this. And so, sorry, I have to take the video down. Uh, so they hope to answer this question.

[00:08:50]They think it's some type of um expense of energy and it's becoming more and more common to see them doing this. Not sure if that's because more people are posting it online or if it's always been common and we're just now catching on.

[00:09:10]The camera pulling out the the video camera is probably more instinctive than it used to be. And maybe it's always happened and we just don't have the records, but we do now because people are videotaping it.

[00:09:25]Ah, there. Um, the scientists say it's not as though one trends setter humpback decided to give tourists a look inside the mouth for fun and then others followed suit. They said they're seeing it off Tonga, of Hawaii, off the coast of Australia.

[00:09:46]They're sure these populations are not connected. So what gives? They they don't know. They can't rule out the possibility that the whales are putting on a show for the people. They say whales do watch people on the boat.

[00:09:58]They're very aware of our presence.

[00:10:01]But it feels a little bit, I don't know, egotistical to think they're doing it just for people's benefit.

[00:10:09]36 of these incidents were filmed from boats. The gaping occurred above the water line in most of the instances. 24 incidents were filmed by swimmers and involve whales opening their mouths when fully submerged.

[00:10:26]So, possibly it's more common than we think. It's just kind of rare to see it happen and actually film it. Six of the examples came from drone footage. Some of the underwater cases included whales clapping their mouths shut to produce sound, which we saw in the video.

[00:10:43]In the whale calves, sometimes the opening of the mouth is a a playful behavior where they're kind of tossing some debris around because clearly they don't have hands. So, if they're going to pick something up, it has to be with their mouths. Adults have not been seen throwing the debris around in the same way. Or it could be that they just need to stretch their jaw muscles a little bit.

[00:11:09]We don't know why they're doing that.

[00:11:10]Are they yawning?

[00:11:13]Yeah, grey whales appear to open their mouths outside of their feeding grounds more frequently than humpbacks.

[00:11:20]We don't know if other whales do the same thing.

[00:11:25]We just aren't sure. We think we know a lot about humpbacks. According to scientists, we don't. Tourism operators and citizen scientists spend hours observing whales and their powerful resources for capturing and reporting on behavior and using the increasing amount of videos and technologies.

[00:11:47]There's a possibility that we could learn even more. The study, by the way, it's open access in animal behavior and cognition.

[00:11:55]You can check it out if you're interested. What do you think? What are they doing?

[00:12:00]What is what is your thought? Do we have to know everything? What happened to mystery? [laughter] Well, it kind of flies in the face of science. You know, science seeks to understand, right?

[00:12:13]Whales burping.

[00:12:15]You're You know what? You might have something there. Yes. Smile and say cheese, says Ivonne.

[00:12:24]You might have something to the burp.

[00:12:26]They're trying to tell people we talk too much.

[00:12:29]Close your yap, people.

[00:12:32]We don't need it. Do whales yawn? I guess they're kind of trying to study that and find out if they do. John says, "I was in Maui, saw a whale breach on the horizon right at sunset with the orange sun behind it. It was something I could never be able to get a photo of."

[00:12:49]You imagine if you happen to have your phone out and caught that. Perfect. But it lives in your mind. It's amazing.

[00:12:57]It feel I feel like it's just showing off. says mama.

[00:13:01]That is a big tongue. It wanted to cool off its mouth.

[00:13:07]All of these things are possibilities. I like the I think I like the burping excuse the best. No, no, no. Maybe they're just bored with all the whale watchers. Big yawn.

[00:13:18]Move on, people. Move away from your boats. We've had enough of you.

[00:13:26]I don't know.

[00:13:28]I think it's interesting though. Uh all right, we will move forward because I have a um another story to present to you today.

[00:13:40]Uh and that is go back to my pictures.

[00:13:43]The sailing stone. These this is a interesting mystery.

[00:13:50]These stones appear to move by themselves.

[00:13:56]They leave, you can see behind the stone, they leave together or they leave behind these trails almost like it was dragged to this spot or blown to the spot.

[00:14:08]Yeah, we don't know. This is another mystery. They're called sailing stones and they can be found on racetrack play.

[00:14:17]That's a dry lake bed in a remote part of Death Valley National Park. And there are hundreds of these sailing stones across the landscape. And some of them are heavy, like 700 pounds. And yet they've managed to travel up to 1,500 ft. We know that because we can see the trails that they have left behind them in the surface as they moved along.

[00:14:43]There are a lot of theories about this, too. Some people think maybe it's strong winds blowing them. Maybe they're sliding over a film of algae.

[00:14:55]No one ever caught them moving until 2013.

[00:15:01]A couple years before that, there was a team of researchers that thought it would be the most boring experiment ever. They fit 15 rocks with motion activivated GPS, set them up on the Playa along with a highresolution weather station, and they were not expecting to actually see these rocks move.

[00:15:24]Uh [clears throat] then on a visit to the park in December of 2013, the co-authors of the study saw exactly that, saw the rocks move.

[00:15:35]Science, they say, sometimes has an element of luck. We expected to wait five or 10 years without anything moving, but only two years into the project, we just happened to be there at the right time to see it happen in person. So what they found was that in the winter months, the playa can fill up with a shallow level of water. And under freezing overnight conditions, the water transforms into a thin layer of ice.

[00:16:04]When the sun arrives and warms things up, the ice breaks up and floats along the surface carried along by light winds. And as it does so, it pushes pushes the rocks on the playa and they mark up the ground as they move. The movements are often small relatively, which could go a long way to explaining why no one had ever figured out what was going on until then. So, they're moving on ice.

[00:16:32]They say it's possible tourists have seen this happen without realizing it.

[00:16:37]They said it's tough to gauge that a rock is in motion if all the rocks around it are also moving. That's a weird phenomenon.

[00:16:46]They said they documented five movement events in the 2 and 1/2 months that the pond existed and some involved hundreds of rocks.

[00:16:56]So they've seen that even in Death Valley that's famous for its heat, floating ice is a powerful force in rock motion.

[00:17:07]They haven't answered uh whether that it can move the gigantic rocks out there, but the work they did back then is still leading to other studies today.

[00:17:22]There's even an experiment trying to make ice move on its own. But I have to give it to them for their patience to finally get to the mystery behind these sailing stones in Death Valley National Park.

[00:17:41]This next story is why we can't have nice things. See this really cool giant ice cream cone? It was outside of a Boston bakery. It was their mascot.

[00:17:53]Really cool looking ice cream cone.

[00:17:56]Plastic. They even had a nickname for it. They call him Swirly. Swirly was outside the flower bakery on the Boston Common.

[00:18:07]People came to work one day. Swirly was gone. At first they thought, "Oh no, did Swirly blow away during the winter?"

[00:18:16]Nope. They think Swirly's nearby. He was possibly spotted in a nearby dorm window.

[00:18:24]They think it was stolen by a college kid. They just want Swirly safe return. And the bakery has issued a statement saying to anyone who is temporarily sheltering Swirly, thank you for protecting him this winter. Please return him safely, no questions asked, in exchange for uh in exchange for baked goods and our eternal gratitude. Isn't that nice? What a lovely way to get Swirly home.

[00:18:52]As of uh this broadcast, Swirly is still missing. So, let's hope someone does the right thing and brings him back.

[00:19:00]There's a big kind of shift and change going on in the central valley. They had the closure of the Delmonti factory and because of this there's no market in which farmers can sell their peaches.

[00:19:24]apparently thousands and thousands of peaches. Central California farmers are expected to get up to $9 million in federal aid to help them now remove 420,000 clingstone peach trees and it's all because of the closure of the Delmonte Foods caneries earlier this year. They closed the uh processing plants in Modesto and Houston uh with H u G hso N Houston, California, not Houston, Houston. Uh in April, Delmonte filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last July. Of course, it left hundreds of people without work, but it also left the farmers in some trouble, too, because they didn't know what to do with their crops. So that meant the 20-year contracts they had with Delmonte to grow peaches had been cancelled. $550 million loss in revenue.

[00:20:28]So there's a delegation of California lawmakers that went to the US Department of Agriculture trying to get financial support for fruit growing farmers.

[00:20:39]According to SFGate, Senator Adam Schiff and Congress uh men Mike Thompson and David Valadeo say the USDA approved their request to pay California farmers to remove about 3,000 acres of clingstone peach trees before next harvest season. They've got to remove 50,000 tons of peaches from production.

[00:21:07]If they do this, it could help them save $30 million in losses.

[00:21:12]So, it's a, you know, it feels so wasteful to me.

[00:21:20]55,000 acres of fruit suddenly with nowhere to go. And it's something they say farmers just can't absorb.

[00:21:30]It's a sweet little story about a dog.

[00:21:36]They don't know where its home is. They do know that this dog was found joining a race, a foot race, the Indianapolis mini marathon, and this loose dog was seen running right along with the rest of the uh the athletes.

[00:21:58]Police are trying to find this dog's owner. They had camera footage they shared to social media where officers were observing the 500 festival mini marathon and they spotted this dog running alongside the people.

[00:22:14]The officer asking the dog in the video, "Were you running the race, buddy?" They took the dog to Indianapolis Animal Care Services where they're going to hold the dog until hopefully the owners come forward. And if he's not claimed by May 13th, then he could be put up for adoption. Hopefully he gets uh adopted, if not claimed by an athletic family because clearly this dog is quite the runner. What a cutie.

[00:22:44]Amazing.

[00:22:46]I have a interesting story for you about the heart. You hear about people getting all kinds of cancers, but have you ever heard of heart cancer?

[00:22:58]I haven't either. That's because it's really, really, really rare. And one of the things that scientists think is that the rhythmic beat of our hearts, the way it's constantly on the move, could keep cancer out of the heart. Less than 1% of cancers start in the heart.

[00:23:20]New research say it's the mechanical force that might be protecting the heart.

[00:23:27]There's a new study that shows the mechanical force of a beating heart seems to create an environment that is inhospitable to cancer. They put the findings out uh last month in the journal Science and they hope that the there's a possibility for new therapies for cancer that rely on mechanical stimulation.

[00:23:52]Because if we don't often get cancer of the heart because of the way the heart moves, then what can we do regarding movement to keep cancer out of other parts of the body?

[00:24:06]the American Cancer Society saying they think about two million cancer cases will be ignite diagnosed in the United States this year. But of those less than 1% will be cancers of soft tissues including the heart. The tumors that start in the blood pumping organ have been found in less than 1% of autopsies and only 10% of cancer cases that begin in other locations spread to the heart.

[00:24:34]That's out of the uh Journal of the American Heart Association.

[00:24:38]So, it's interesting then that cancer doesn't often occur in this vital organ and people haven't been sure why. It's just something that we accepted. It's not common.

[00:24:52]But what makes it really interesting is that scientists are now able to provide a potential mechanism to explain this.

[00:25:04]In addition, our hearts are unable to regenerate cells because they stop dividing soon after birth. So they wanted to see if that was related to the tumor cells inability to grow in the heart organ.

[00:25:20]So they did some studies sadly on mice.

[00:25:26]What they found is this link between the mechanical load and epigenet epig ep epigenetic regulation showing that physical force can directly alter gene expression in cancer cells and that is called a powerful concept that extends beyond cardiology.

[00:25:48]Now they're looking into whether the heart's mechanical force could be replicated elsewhere in the body. maybe the skin, maybe the breast to prevent tumor growth beyond the blood pumping organ. So, they're investigating if diseases that put additional pressure on the heart, like high blood pressure, could help protect against cancer. All the connections, it feels like the connections are being made. Just slow, slow baby steps. I have another health story out of the Smithsonian magazine.

[00:26:23]The headline reads, "You've been told to feed a cold and it turns out eating may truly boost your immune system uh cells, the cells in your immune system, that according to a new study that tea cells, which target infection and disease, can become more effective after a meal. The finding could help improve cancer fighting therapies and optimize responses to vaccines as well."

[00:26:52]So this old adage might be true.

[00:26:57]The phrase feed the cold has roots in an outdated idea that food can warm your body during a cold. Fasting can cool it down during a fever.

[00:27:09]So maybe that's not true. But according to a paper published in the journal Nature last week, eating meals appears to come with an immediate immune benefit. After people consumed breakfast and lunch, their infection fighting cells showed a notable boost. They think the work could have implications for strengthening the immune system at key times like when you get a vaccine or you're fighting some type of autoimmune condition.

[00:27:43]could be exciting findings.

[00:27:49]The researchers were testing how eating affects the immune system's tea cells that help us stave off disease. When a pathogen enters the body, the immune system identifies the specific TE-C cell primed to fight that kind of intruder.

[00:28:06]Then the cell multiplies into protective they they call them warriors that chase down the threat.

[00:28:16]So scientists drew blood from 31 healthy volunteers at two times a day of the day. First in the morning after they fasted overnight and then 6 hours later after they had breakfast and lunch. And they looked at the tea cells in each blood sample and they found those from the later blood draw after the body had been fed were better prepared to fight infections.

[00:28:42]Scientists say that it's not like the fasted tea cells don't work. It's just that fed tea cells always win when compared head-to-head.

[00:28:54]The fed cells were better at responding to infections. They had metabolic advantages that helped them access the energy needed to mount a strong immune spot response.

[00:29:05]So, there's something to it.

[00:29:09]Feed those cells. Feed the cold. It works.

[00:29:14]Shall we do the lotto of the day? Yes.

[00:29:17]Why not?

[00:29:19]This guy, his name is Carlos. He's pretty lucky. He collected his second 50,000 lottery prize in two weeks. These multiple winners, they're killing me.

[00:29:31]This man is from Maryland, Gathersburg, Maryland. Only gave his first name.

[00:29:37]Smart. Name is Carlos. He said he bought a $20 50,000 cash ticket from Lakeside Beer Winnieon Lost Knife Road.

[00:29:49]What? [laughter and gasps] I think Lakeside Beer is on Winnian Lost Knife Road in Gaithersburg. So he goes there and he gets his ticket. He said, "You have me in here two weeks ago." He showed up wearing the Maryland lottery shirt that he got on his first visit. He previously visited April 20th to collect a $50,000 prize from a $20 Lucky Trip 7 ticket he bought from a Shell gas station. He said the winnings from both tickets because now he's got 50 100 grand will be invested.

[00:30:26]See, I don't know. I think you got to look at You [clears throat] have to look into Carlos. Look into any double winner.

[00:30:33]Like how likely is that that that would happen? I mean, hey Carlos, I hope you really did win, but doesn't that seem too good to be true? I don't know.

[00:30:45]Maybe just some people have all the luck.

[00:30:48]There is a new type of Hawaii visitor emerging. Are you the kind of traveler that goes to a place and you just kind of want to park it on the beach? Maybe you go to a an a resort. They've got everything there on the property. You know, you you've got the beach, you've got some activities, you've got beautiful restaurants, you've got a little cafe for breakfast, you've got the fine dining for the evening.

[00:31:17]You got the spa. Whatever it is, it's right there at the hotel.

[00:31:23]Well, that's apparently the trend in Hawaii. Visitors are spending more on their accommodations and they're exploring less. Could be because the price of rental cars is crazy.

[00:31:39]And it might also be also be good. I think not that people are exploring less because you want people to explore and see their surroundings, but we've heard stories about local Hawaiian residents, right? And being overrun with tourists.

[00:31:55]So, if the tourists are staying in their resorts, maybe that's not a bad thing.

[00:32:02]The number of tourists are declining, but the prices at hotels are increasing across the state.

[00:32:14]The local business people tell SFGate, "We used to rely on busy season, December through February, when kids were out of school and the snowbirds were on the island and then a spring break bump and then summer vacation busyness. But none of that's really been reliable in the last few years.

[00:32:34]There's a dinner, like a tourist dinner event that happens in uh Kohala on the Big Island of Hawaii. They said they had a bunch of cancellations.

[00:32:48]They are not the only business to see losses. $300 million loss in tourism revenue because of the recent storms in Hawaii.

[00:32:58]And apparently some of the visitors have decided to travel to Mexico instead. And if they do come to Hawaii, they're staying at the resorts instead of renting cars, taking tours, and exploring. So for many visitors, a great deal of their travel budget has already been spent on accommodations.

[00:33:21]So you just don't leave the resort.

[00:33:23]You're paying for it. You might as well enjoy it. The Islands Hotels had an average daily rate of $485 a night. That is a 7% increase from the same month last year.

[00:33:39]Wild. March of 2019, the average daily rate was $274 a night.

[00:33:47]So getting to Hawaii has become more expensive. Staying in Hawaii has become more expensive and higher prices have become a factor.

[00:34:00]It's really more expensive. So, you pick and choose. Maybe in the past, according to SFGATE, you did five events. Maybe now you're doing two and you're not driving around the island as much. Maybe you rent a car for only a day and you go see the volcano and then you give the car back. you don't keep it for your whole trip. There are fewer people spending more money.

[00:34:26]They go to the resorts and they don't leave.

[00:34:30]And that means the small businesses in Hawaii are feeling the effect of that.

[00:34:35]So, I can see why people do it if you're going to be spending almost $500 a night at a resort. But then you don't ever really I mean if it's your first second time in Hawaii, what have you, and you haven't seen all the things to see, you're kind of missing out.

[00:34:55]Yeah.

[00:34:57]Even the the Kila volcano, which has been erupting spectacularly, has seen fewer visitors compared to a year ago. You would think it would be more, but it isn't. So they have the Merry Monarch Festival on the Big Island as well. It brings thousands of people there.

[00:35:23]Uh but they said, "Yeah, the tour groups have started to slow down ever since CO." So the people who are coming are median income or lower income and they don't have the means to travel right now.

[00:35:41]So, it's an exotic vacation without having the exchange.

[00:35:50]Speaking of traveling, how about we go take a little trip cuz it is time for Travel Tuesday. I got the right picture this time. Look at that.

[00:36:01]All right, we are going to beautiful, lovely Taiwan. And I have some of the things on the Taiwanese bucket list to go check out. This is from hoponworld.com.

[00:36:18]They have some epic things to do in Taiwan. From beautiful national parks to stunning beaches to big cities, picturesque small towns.

[00:36:31]Beautiful. So, here are some of the top things to check out when you are in Taiwan. And let me take this picture down so I can show you the website. And there it is.

[00:36:47]See if I can bring that over a little bit. Look at that. All right. The first thing on the list is to visit this amazing building.

[00:37:02]because they've got an observation deck.

[00:37:07]You can enjoy the view from Taipei. I think it's called 101. Taipei 101. It's Taiwan's most impressive landmark. It's famous for being the tallest skyscraper in the country and you can see views from all from all over the city.

[00:37:25]Beautiful. It's a bambooshaped skyscraper.

[00:37:30]It's got one of the world's fastest elevators inside. The elevator takes just 37 seconds to reach the 89th floor.

[00:37:40]The main observation deck is there on the 89th floor, and you get these panoramic views of Taiwan.

[00:37:49]They say while you're there, you can send a postcard from the world's highest post box. You can access a free audio and video guide tour. And then you can check out the massive 660 metricton ton damper stabilizing the tower during strong winds. There's a huge outdoor deck with stunning views over the city on the 91st floor which you can get to by the stairway. Not many tourists know about that.

[00:38:18]Best to come during the week and it is one of the top things to do in Taipei City. So sometimes on the weekend the wait lines are wrong. You can also purchase a fasttrack ticket in advance to help beat the line. So, that's nice as well. The next thing to do is to visit the Tookco Gorge. It is on the island's east coast in Huleen County, one of the most popular national parks and for a good reason. And look how beautiful it is. There's the gorge.

[00:38:58]So beautiful. Thank you for your patience as I work to put these pictures up.

[00:39:05]So this is stunning. Marble cliffs, deep winding tunnels, the Leew River flowing along the bottom. It's a 19 km gorge. A big yes on your bucket list of Taiwan.

[00:39:25]The park features secret temples and some really cool hiking trails that are for everyone's level. Uh there's an eternal shrine trail for the more lowkey.

[00:39:41]Really fun hidden temples. I like the idea.

[00:39:47]Now we're off to SunMoon Lake.

[00:39:51]This is beautiful. Sun Moon Lake.

[00:39:56]This is a large natural lake in central Taiwan.

[00:40:02]It is best known as an ultimate cycling destination. It's a popular day trip, but it's also a really great base from which to spend a few days. There are stunning mountain scenery views here.

[00:40:17]And if you're into hiking or boating or cycling, you can check out day tours to this sunoon lake.

[00:40:27]There are some quaint temples that will allow you to get a bird's eyee view of the entire lake, Cien Pagota. You can ride a cable car to the Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Village.

[00:40:41]Check out the Aboriginal snacks while you're there and try some black tea.

[00:40:47]There are places you can stay right along Sunmoon Lake as well. This looks like a fun day of shopping. You can wander through the alleys here. Look at that. So cool. Of Juen.

[00:41:04]J I U F N. Juven.

[00:41:06]Just a short distance from Taipei. It's a really cool little mountain town famous for scenic views, narrow, steep streets lined with red lanterns. There are traditional tea houses, street food stalls here. It's one of the places on the list to visit that has the best atmosphere.

[00:41:29]It's surrounded by mountains and ocean views.

[00:41:33]Really beautiful. There are day tours to Juen, but they say it's worth staying overnight because there's some really cool hidden gems like the Kong Mountain, the Teapot Mountain, B2 Cape, the Golden Waterfall, and the Yingyang Sea.

[00:41:53]Really cool.

[00:41:56]You can check out Taiwan's ancient capital town. It's called Tynon with an N instead of a W.

[00:42:04]So, let's check that out.

[00:42:07]That also looks like a really cool place.

[00:42:12]They say it's a treasure trove for history buffs. Here there are forts, century old buildings, Japanese inspired alleys. There's a giant treehouse.

[00:42:25]There's temples, more than a thousand of them to look at, to check out.

[00:42:32]And so they say this is one of the uh coolest places to see.

[00:42:42]There's an uh Anping old fort, the Anping treehouse, the Chime Museum.

[00:42:50]Lot of interesting things to see there.

[00:42:52]And while you're in the old town, you have to try Dao. It's tofu pudding. They also have donsai noodles.

[00:43:02]Both are called must eats.

[00:43:05]And then we're going to take a little trip out to visit the the tea farms.

[00:43:12]You know, I'm a tea drinker. I'll go check out the tea farms because tea is a big deal in Taiwan.

[00:43:20]There are dozens of tea shops, but you can also go visit the tea farms to have a very authentic experience.

[00:43:30]The most famous tea in Taiwan is Alishan High Mountain Oolong tea. It grows in the central region.

[00:43:39]There's a little village called Shizho on the way there and it's a really cool place to visit.

[00:43:46]The picturesque setting of the town features vast tea fields and an impress impressive mountain backdrop.

[00:43:57]There are some trails you can follow through the tea fields. The mist trail is one of them. And you can even stay overnight at a tea farm and learn all about the tea making process.

[00:44:12]This sounds fun.

[00:44:14]Back to Jupen. There's an AI tea house on the way back to Taiwan which also makes the bucket list. Here it is.

[00:44:25]Am I tea house looks beautiful. Again, this is from hoponworld.com.

[00:44:32]So, there's a day tour of the tea fields around Thousand Islands Lake. You can check out the Mayo Kong Gondola over the tea fields or check out a tea house like this one.

[00:44:47]A very popular place for tea tasting.

[00:44:52]Now, let's go browse some Chinese art.

[00:44:54]This is a beautiful museum.

[00:44:57]This is the National Palace Museum in Taipei City's Schillin district.

[00:45:05]It is as beautiful on the outside as it is on the inside. Resembling a Chinese palace with colorful green tiled uh roof and striking yellow facade. It houses the biggest collection of Chinese artifacts and artwork anywhere in the world. More than 700,000 pieces on display here. They say it's best to avoid this place on the weekend. It's packed. So, go during the week and get an e ticket in advance.

[00:45:37]You can also swim with the sea turtles.

[00:45:41]This looks incredible.

[00:45:43]That rock is called Vase Rock. It's pretty amazing.

[00:45:48]There's a coral island 40 minutes by fast ferry where you can swim with the sea turtles. It's called Xiao [snorts] Lingqui, also called Lambia Island, Little Liui or Liqu. It's a tiny island famous for its incredible marine life, bright coral, and the chance to see a sea turtle up close.

[00:46:18]The most often visitor is a day trip visitor, but you can spend two or three days here at this island. Snorkeling, scuba diving, free diving, kaying in a clear bottomed kayak. They have unique caves to explore as well. And then you've got this cool mushroom shaped rock.

[00:46:40]Really beautiful.

[00:46:42]And beaches where you can just hang out.

[00:46:46]Beautiful.

[00:46:48]I think we could spend a couple days there for sure. They also have night markets in Taiwan which are very popular. A lot of street food to be had here. You can see that in the middle.

[00:47:01]The Hop-On World folks say it would be an absolute shame to visit Taiwan without at least checking out one of its bustling night markets to sample the local street food.

[00:47:12]Major cities like Taipei, Cowang, and Tai Chong have some of the best night markets on the island. Many of them actually offer food tours, so you don't have to plan anything.

[00:47:25]You just go with them and they'll tell you the best places to eat.

[00:47:29]Uh they also say there are smaller night markets in some other cities that are worth it as well. So for the food experience, for the cultural experience, it's a a musto.

[00:47:43]And then after we eat, we're on the temple search.

[00:47:48]There are an estimated 15,000 temples dedicated to various gods and folk heroes around Taiwan.

[00:47:57]Two of the most famous temples are the Long Shan Temple and the Fog Guan Shan.

[00:48:04]It's a Buddhist monastery in Taiwan.

[00:48:07]Others are the Sanfang, which has hundreds of dangling red lanterns.

[00:48:12]The Wuji Tonuan Temple with cherry blossoms.

[00:48:20]Really, really cool. And there are a bunch of hidden gems as well. So, even if religion isn't your thing, going to see the colorful architecture and the beauty surrounding these temples definitely on the list.

[00:48:36]And we're back to the beach.

[00:48:39]Oh, that sure is beautiful and different as well.

[00:48:46]There are plenty of beaches in this area.

[00:48:49]The Kenting National Park has several.

[00:48:52]It's at the southern tip of the island.

[00:48:56]Kenting is the most popular beach. It has a bunch of cozy nooks and white sand and stunning views.

[00:49:05]There are other beaches in Bishawan or Xiaoan with white sand and crystal clear water and water sport activities to be had as well.

[00:49:17]So, and there are all kinds of day trips to the beaches you can take. Pretty fun.

[00:49:25]Now we go to Chai Kai Sheek Memorial Hall, one of the most important landmarks in this area.

[00:49:38]It is dedicated to Taiwan's former leader. It is 76 m tall, blue and white.

[00:49:46]Within the main hall, you can see the changing of the guards.

[00:49:50]There's an uh exhibition about the former president's life and legacy.

[00:49:56]The National Theater and Concert Hall are both in the area as well, so you can check it all out.

[00:50:05]Then there's the Harbor City, Caoang.

[00:50:12]It's a huge port city located in the southwest corner of the island. Home to some of the island's most Instagrammable spots like the Dragon and Tiger Pagotas, the Pier 2 Art Center, the Dome of Light, Faux Guan Sha. Here's a picture of that.

[00:50:32]I would say that's pretty photographable. Yep.

[00:50:36]Besides all the cool photo spots, they say Kaosang also has beautiful temples, night markets, shopping, waterfront, perfect for cycling or walking, tourist boats along the Love River. One of the best things to do at night when all the bridges are lit up.

[00:51:00]We're walking across the dragon bridge next. Here it is.

[00:51:07]Okay, that's a cool looking bridge. That is the dragon bridge. The San Chianti Dragon Bridge.

[00:51:17]This is uh a little further down the coast in Taong.

[00:51:23]And it has one of the prettiest railway stations in Taiwan. And it has this Sang Shai Thai Bridge, one of the coolest places to visit because the bridge resembles a Chinese dragon. It has eight arches stretching over the ocean and it connects the mainland to a small island that serves as a nature reserve with beautiful trails to explore as well.

[00:51:48]They say it's a bit remote this bridge, but you can reach it by scooter, bus, or guided tour.

[00:51:55]Really cool.

[00:51:57]Here's another thing to do. Bicycle through the rice fields.

[00:52:06]Chishang is in the East Rift Valley, considered the rice basin of Taiwan, producing some of the best rice on the island.

[00:52:16]Even so, it's considered a hidden gem.

[00:52:19]30 minutes by train from Taong, it's a picturesque small town. The perfect place to spend a day. Slow traveling and biking. There are bike paths weaving through emerald color rice fields to explore.

[00:52:36]Really cool. You have to take a picture, they say, at the Teshi Kushiro tree and sip tea underneath the tree.

[00:52:49]And after we've biked through the rice fields, I think we deserve a little stay at the hot springs. Look at this.

[00:52:58]Yes, please.

[00:53:00]It's a hundred hot springs they have scattered around the island, making it a fantastic thing to do in Taiwan.

[00:53:09]The highest concentration of hot springs lies in northern Taiwan. Beethu, just outside Taipei, is the most famous. This is where there are countless hot springs, hotels, and resorts. There's a Bayu public millennium hotring in an outdoor setting. You can check out the Gaia for a private setting.

[00:53:33]All kinds of mud hot springs as well, and one of only three saltwater hot springs in the world, the Jouri Hot Springs.

[00:53:43]There are all kinds of really cool rock formations along the coast of Taiwan.

[00:53:50]And here is a little bit of what you will see.

[00:53:56]Just incredible.

[00:53:58]Queen's Head at Yelu Geo Park, a musto day trip from Taipei.

[00:54:05]There are a bunch of other rock formations to see all along Taiwan's north coast. Another one is the NA rock with a beautiful striped pattern. There are the twin candlesticks you see there which jut out from the sea.

[00:54:25]So interesting.

[00:54:29]Another thing to do right up our alley is to chase waterfalls.

[00:54:34]Yes, please. Look at that one. Maybe we need to tomorrow go see the waterfalls of Taiwan. Beautiful.

[00:54:43]Some of these waterfalls are more accessible than others. The Schiffen waterfall, the wildest waterfall in Taiwan, is accessible on a day trip from Taipei.

[00:54:55]The waterfall is impressive. There's another one in a nearby village. Setting off a sky lantern with a special wish written on it is a popular activity in this area. They have organized day tours to check out these waterfalls as well.

[00:55:14]This is gorgeous.

[00:55:17]Let's do a little island hopping.

[00:55:20]Look at this island.

[00:55:23]Just wow.

[00:55:26]Not what I think of when I think of Taiwan. It's the Pangu just off the western coast of the island. easily accessible by a short flight. Also, you can take a fast ferry.

[00:55:40]90 islands and eyelets make up this island chain. There are only a few of them that are inhabited.

[00:55:48]The main island of Mag. You can check out the historic coral village and see a temple covered in ancient banyan tree.

[00:55:57]Visit cool basaltt columns or enjoy some beach time.

[00:56:02]There's Kay Island, home to a rock formation resembling Taiwan's shape and the twin heart stone Weir. Another worthwhile island is Jabetay, which has a very pretty tear-shaped beach with soft white sand and turquoise waters.

[00:56:22]And then there's Green Island.

[00:56:27]breathtaking, unmissable. It's a little harder to get to. It's off the coast of Taiong. You can get to it by ferry or flight, and it has some of the best diving spots in Taiwan, and one of only three saltwater hot springs in the world. There are many things to do on Green Island besides besides uh diving and soaking in the hot springs. You can check out the uh White Terror Memorial Park. You can snorkel in the blue caves. You can free dive. You can check out the rock formations. You can take a grueling hike.

[00:57:08]You can check out Sleeping Beauty Cave.

[00:57:12]Beautiful.

[00:57:14]Here's the Alishan Sunrise.

[00:57:16]Something else not to miss.

[00:57:19]That's gorgeous.

[00:57:21]The most famous place to see the sunrise in Taiwan is Alishan.

[00:57:27]It is a huge sunrise viewing spot with an observation deck accessible via small forest railway within the Alishan National Recreation Area.

[00:57:42]The train usually departs around 4 or 5 a.m. depending on the season and the weather. And the train tickets are only sold the day before. So, you do have to plan this one out.

[00:57:54]Really pretty.

[00:57:56]And there are all sorts of sunset spots and places to catch the sunset. Here's another one. It's the Hean Shan sunrise.

[00:58:08]And then if you want to check out the sunrise in the city, there's a bunch of spots in Taipei where you can do that as well.

[00:58:18]So beautiful.

[00:58:21]And of course, there are beautiful places to see the cherry blossoms and to sample the food and to venture off the beaten path.

[00:58:33]But that is Travel Tuesday. Hopefully you saw some things that maybe you hadn't seen before.

[00:58:40]I love it.

[00:58:43]I know I did. I didn't know there were so many beautiful islands and beaches to be seen in this area.

[00:58:50]Wonderful.

[00:58:52]Thank you again to everyone for spending this time today hanging out and uh traveling with me. And thank you for the contributions to the show and for all the wonderful comments in the chat.

[00:59:04]Tomorrow on the Mark Thompson show, John Rothman will swing by and it's a preview of Waterfall Wednesday. That's right, Ivon. Yep. Want to go to Taiwan. Did that make you want to go to Taiwan?

[00:59:16]Very cool. I know it's hard to believe it's over. It's already an hour. I'm kind of going a little long today.

[00:59:23]That's all right. Make it the very best rest of your travel Tuesday. And I will see you tomorrow on the Mark Thompson Show.

[00:59:33]Bye, everybody.

[00:59:35]>> The Afterparty Live would like to thank the following contributors and viewers like you.

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