The Last Movie

So, Sat. December 30 dawned as a beautiful sunny day but the weather forecast said that would change. The last movie in the four-part series was to be shown at the Guandu Nature Park and Sean was ready to go when his Dad arrived to pick him up. The first order of business was Sean's Dad giving him an 8 x12in print of the "team" picture that showed Chien-min Wang and the "Yankees" with Sean's Dad in the team. It's pretty cool.

Sean had already had breakfast but his poor starving Dad hadn't. He had to wait until they had ridden on the tiny scooter almost all the way to the nature park before Sean was happy to stop. It was almost lunchtime and the McCafe they had been to before had seats free outside and that suited the hungry travellers just fine even though a cold wind had started to blow.

Sean chose to have a kind of sweet and sweeter brunch (as opposed to sweet and sour) by having an apple with a cup of hot chocolate. It looked like quite a taste sensation and is probably hard to find in any nutritionist's handbook.

They arrived at the nature park very early and had more than three hours to kill before the movie was to start. Sean decided to educate himself by reading some of the information boards around the park.

Some of the boards were located inside shelters near the many ponds and lakes in the little wetland. The whole place is well set-up and nicely maintained.

Finally, they went inside to hear the lecture be given and to watch the movie. Sean did his usual note-taking and was as keen as ever to put his hand up to answer post-movie questions. But, there were so many children in attendance that a special prize-giving was held for any child that was willing to get up on stage and imitate a portion from the movie where caimans (alligators to you and me) were eating fish.

One assistant to the lecturer showed how it should be done.

Sean was far too proud to receive a prize in such a childish manner. He wanted to answer questions and he did. He was rewarded with another box of National Geographic pencils.

After all the questions were answered there was one last presentation to be made. It was a special one that Sean had been looking forward to very much. He was the only child to have seen all four movies in the series presented by the National Geographic channel at the park. That might not sound too special but it made his Dad pretty proud. His Dad thinks that it's really good to see him take an interest in nature and environmental protection at such a young age.

The lecturer (the woman wearing the black top) was one of the main people behind the creation of the Guandu Nature Park and is quite famous in Taiwan for her environmental protection work.

Sean's special prize was a National Geographic key-chain with a compass on it. In fact, his Dad received one as well. Sean very helpfully put his Dad's keys on it straight away.

Then it was dinner time. Sean insisted on going to a different restaurant but it looked very familiar. In fact, it's owned by the same person that runs the Spanish restaurant that they had been to before and it has exactly the same menu! However, Sean insisted on ordering an adult size steak and chips. His Dad knew that he wouldn't finish it so they shared. That was a good plan.

While his Dad had coffee and dessert, Sean amused himself by taking pictures of the decorations in the restaurant again. He particularly liked the hanging wooden birds in the restaurant proper and some carved wooden ducks in the restrooms!



It was a really good day for both Sean and his Dad and the best part was that the forecast rain never fell. So, they had a cold but dry ride home.