Pandas boost tourism in Taipei

Taipei Zoo's latest additions, panda pair Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, have attracted thousands of visitors during the Spring Festival season. Businesses around the zoo are booming.
The street near the zoo used to be famed for its bean curd products, but now pandas are the new theme. As people pour into the zoo, they all want to go home with panda mementos. In hotel rooms, on the street, and throughout the zoo, panda souvenirs appear in many different shapes and sizes.
Even the bears' favorite food - bamboo - has become a popular dish for zoo visitors. Anything with a panda theme is a bestseller here. Some stores and restaurants near the zoo say business is up around 30 percent thanks to the ongoing 'panda popularity'.
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Hong Kong & Taipei Travel Deals

China Airlines (tel. 800/227-5118; http://www.china-airlines.com/) has a couple of great web deals up at the moment. First up, Los Angeles to Hong Kong is $600 round-trip, or $689 with taxes. This offer is good for outbound weekday travel between January 24 and April 30, and must be purchased by February 28.
Also from China Airlines, Los Angeles to Taipei is $689 round-trip, or $755 with taxes. This fare is good for outbound travel between January 24 and May 20, and must be purchased by February 6.
Los Angeles to Hong Kong $676, including all taxes
Los Angeles to Taipei $755, including all taxes

150kg Happy Pig of Taipei City

ED NOTE: Two pig articles in one day, can you image strolling with Happy Pig, just before your Eggs & Bacon breakfast?
A 150kg pig who resides at the intersection of Yanping N Road and Minzu W Road has become part of the community in Datong District, Taipei City.

The pig, named Happy, lives alone in an unused concrete house. Happy is well liked by the local community and fed by stallholders at the local market. In fine weather Happy finds shade near buildings and often goes on strolls as far as Taipei Bridge. No matter where she goes, Happy always manages to find her way home.

Many mistake Happy for a wild pig and the Guoshun Borough (國順) chief has in the past made calls for help to police, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Council of Agriculture. However, as the matter remained unresolved for more than two years, local residents have grown accustomed to coexisting with the porker.

Happy’s owner, Hu Wan-chi (胡萬吉), said he purchased Happy from a pet shop on Heping W Road three years ago for NT$4,500. The owner had told him that Happy, who weighed 30kg at the time, was a miniature pig that would not grow longer than 100cm. However, a year later, Happy had become so large that she could no longer climb the stairs to Hu’s fifth floor apartment.

Hu remembers Happy’s earlier days with fondness. Back then, Happy would follow Hu around. In hot weather, Hu bathed Happy often and Happy was obedient and clean.

The small concrete building where Happy resides is an empty ice storage area from the time when Hu was an ice vendor. After Happy became too big, Hu was unable to keep her at home and yet loath to send her to a slaughterhouse.

Unable to find a new owner for Happy, Hu made the empty ice storage Happy’s new home.

Luckily, Happy is well liked and often fed by locals who give her milk and leftovers, Hu said.

Once a young woman even hired workmen to mend Happy’s house, he said.

Hu is reserved about the fact that he has no choice but to allow Happy to live on the street. He also refused to be photographed with the pig. He says that he has not given Happy a bath in the last two years and that Happy has become so overweight that she can barely open his eyes.

However, when Hu walks past, Happy always greets him joyfully, he said