I sound like Jo

I've left Kaohsiung for several months, but a couple of nights before I left I went for a walk along the Love River 愛河. I saw rats in two different places. One, strangely enough, was at one of the most popular sections on the east bank between the 高雄大喬 at 五福三路 and the 中正大橋. Another was also on the east bank, just north of the bridge that's kitty-corner to the Love River Carrefour (建國橋). Then in the morning, I took the same route, and someone had left some food next to the hole in the ground that the rats disappear into. I kid you not. To me it carries fondness for animals a little too far. I'm starting to wonder if this is a Buddhist thing.

I'm like Jo in Dickens' Bleak House, when he's showing Lady Dedlock where Nemo was buried: "Look at the rat!" cries Jo, excited. "Hi! Look! There he goes! Ho! Into the ground!"

Still, aside from the rats, the river banks, which have been recently refurbished, are one of the nicest places to walk in Kaohsiung, and it'll be even nicer when they get extended farther south. It's a shame people only seem to frequent the section between the 高雄大喬 and the 中正大橋.