When the owners of the Yuhung Betel Nut Stand in Kaohsiung's Linyuan Township (林園鄉) made the decision to spend NT$26,000 (US$788) on an African grey parrot for their store, they were looking for a pet that could become like a child to them.
Little did they know, however, that the bird would take such a strong liking to the family business.
Customers don't need to ask the price of a pack of betel nut or a can of beer, as Pika has learned to shout them out as soon as they walk through the door.
He also serves as a watchdog, ruffling his feathers and stamping in circles around his perch to scare off strangers.
But Pika hasn't put all of his unusual intelligence to such productive use.
He is also notorious among customers and neighbors for having learned to swear like a trooper.
He has shown a proclivity for absorbing all the Taiwanese profanity not fit for print that might be overheard at a betel nut stand, so that now customers can expect to get not just betel nuts when they visit the shop, but also a torrent of verbal abuse.
Pika has a special talent for hurling insults and discouragement at people playing the lottery, which has led to the occasional threat by more than one disappointed gambler that he might be delicious if served roasted.
But most people in the community have been able to forgive most of the bird's crude manners and policemen from the local station regularly pass by so that they can wave hello.
Pika has also learned to yell "registered mail" when he sees the mailman approaching on his motorcycle, sometimes from as far as 20m away.
And any sensitive customers who are offended by coarse language had better get used to it or find somewhere else to go for a chew; Pika is only six years old, and African gray parrots can live to more than 50 years of age.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.