A love story of me and my Tinkerbell, a free flying Congo African Grey parrot CAG , as we roamed about the mountains and forests and cities of Taiwan. She loves to go riding with me on the motorbike as she sit on a perch on the handle bar.
Full details of that and more are in that webpage, together with URLs to the relevant folders of hundreds of photos. Without those photos, what I wrote will never be believed
You can live with a flying parrot at home.
That is the legacy that Tinkerbell will like you to have
And valleys dotted with hotsprings in between the mountains
And village in Southen Taiwan, Kenting where she flew to me in force 7 crosswinds
And to seashores such as this in Green Island
Hi folks,
I am sorry to have been away from here so long.
A few other things had happen since I was last here.
When I came to Australia in Nov 06, I prepared plans
for Yingshiong future if my wife joined me here
It was another painful goodbye that I had to say to Yingshiong. That was on the 7 May 07. I flew back to Singapore to be with him, and then to hand him over to the Jurong Bird Park. If you go there, please ask to see Yingshiong at the South East Asia Aviary and listen to him singing there.
Leaving Yingshiong was painful even if not of the magnitude when I first had to say goodbye to Tinkerbell. I was lucky in that I flew back to Brisbane on that same evening. My wife was left in Singapore for a few weeks to be surrounded by YS things and the silence in the apartment.
The only way to prevent that is to close our hearts entirely. Then there will be no pain, and no beauty or magic either.
You can read those last few days with Yingshiong in here. (warning, not happy reading)
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/2007/05/
The leaving of Tink is more than a throbbing hurt. Much of my life still evolve
around her. When I went to work in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, I was hoping that would lead me back to Taiwan. Then I realised that was not going to be the case and my wife understandably refused to live with me in Saudi Arabia. I could not fly back to Taiwan to see Tink and ignore seeing my wife.
Thats why I am now in Brisbane down under. Where my wife is willing to come and live with me here. We can both
visit Taiwan together as Tink is her daughter too.
My wife is here for a month already. We just shifted out a couple days ago from my old flat to another with a balcony at least where I can interact with birds and beasts.
After YS, we decided we cannot cope with another farewell.
I promised my wife the only birdies that get into the apartment will be grilled, fried or curried.
I hope to make friends with the lorikeets , or pied magpies or cockatos or anything else outside in the balcony. They first might be attracted by food I place out for them. Then perhaps one might chose to be my companion and bonded with clicker training with me.
Hopefully, future partings with the wild birds might not be so traumatic on us.
I also found some other photos on YS in my wife laptop.
Three are below. I hope you enjoy them. More are in http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanlung/
I am now living and working in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.
Riamfada is with me. She is yet another gift from Tinkerbell. She was given into my care when a lady saw what I had done with Tinkerbell and thought I was a fit person to look after a CAG that she found in her garden.
She came to me as a rescue and a frightened ball of grey and with wings asymmetrically clipped.
I do believe the fundamental reason why I could do what was done with my birdies is that I extend to them the dignity and respect due to sentient beings of equal standing. What they did/do for me was/is done as friend to friend .
The training is a joint effort, and there have been times I was not certain who trained who.
Perhaps I have been lucky in knowing people, a giant that I like to introduce you all to. When you read of our encounters, you understand that he , the birdwhisperer of Tsaoling, is one that I aspire to reach but know I never will.
The letters on that bird whisperer of Tsaoling are below in chronological order. They are all in Part 1 - Early Period of Tinkerbell.
The visits covered a period of time as can be seen from the date of the letters. You can see in between the 2nd and 3rd visits the additions to the birds of that bird whisperer.
He, that bird whisperer of Tsaoling, is the man that inspired me the most.
If you have time to read only one letter, read that tsaolingrevisit
In Oman, there are two kitties with me. I hope I do not shock you all too much that the kitties joined us when we go outside and far away. The kitties come when I called them.
doing our neighbourhood walks
out to faraway places
getting unsolicited advise where to go to
Wadi Fanja
I was a lot more detailed in my livejournal diary of Riamfada and me, as to how the training was done and the thoughts behind all that. I hope you find that if not useful, at least amusing to you all as to life here in Oman.