If you heard Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” coming from a mini-truck in western countries, you would probably relate it to an ice cream van. But in Taiwan, it’s something different; the music belongs to the garbage trucks instead…
Taipei Zoo is not happy with an April Fools’ Day prank claiming that the two giant pandas in the zoo were disguised brown forest bears.
The Taipei Times ran an article on April 1st that the two pandas (a gift from the Chinese government) which arrived last December were actually “brown forest bears that had been dyed to create the panda’s distinctive black-and-white appearance.”
It’s said that a zoologist “became suspicious when the pandas began to spend almost all of their waking hours having sex. Pandas are notorious for their low libidos, which make them difficult to breed in captivity…”
The (real) zoo officials think that the prank was not funny at all, as the zoo was flooded with phone calls from as far as Japan, UK and Canada to ask about the matter. The zoo has sent in letters to ask the news portal to clear up the matter.
I’m surprised that people were fooled by the prank; isn’t the sex story a blatantly obvious joke? Well, obviously not obvious enough for some.
Cold Stone Creamery, an ice-cream parlor franchise from Arizona, USA, is known for its mix-ins and lively service culture where the workers would sing a tune or two when tipped by the customers.
Tipping is not common in Asia though; so I guess the staff would probably sing along whenever they feel like it. Sharing some videos of the staff in action from Cold Stone Creamery outlets in Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan…
Japan – Forget ice cream, the girls are champs…
“Giant Torayan doll is the ultimate child’s weapon, as it sings, dances, breathes fire, and follows only those orders given by children.” [via designer Kenji Yanobe]
The 7.2 metres robot was on of the biggest attractions of Roppongi Art Night (2009) in Tokyo, Japan. Not really sure what the designer means, but a fire spitting giant robot in real action is always a win in any events…
The world’s largest model railway and train set, located in the Miniatur Wunderland, a private museum in Hamburg, Germany…
A giant panda high up at the Beijing Zoo in China…
Many people don’t know that giant pandas are good climbers; I’m rather amazed though, that the tiny tree branches could support the panda’s weight.
Chinese subbed Japanese music video of “I ♥ TOFU” by pop duo Kame and LNK, released in the same title single in December 2008. A fun song, singing praise to the goodness of bean curds (tofu); one of the cutest music videos I’ve seen…