There is a village in #Taiwan called Houtong Cat Village 猴硐貓村. Need I say more

每一隻貓都是好貓，100分

Every cat is a good cat, 💯

This is the cattiest cat place I have ever catted

ALL EXCELLENT

There’s more than enough miserable news from around the world going around, so I decided to add to this thread on the Cats of Houtong Cat Village.

“You get a cat photo! And you get a cat photo! And you get a cat photo!"

This cat was just incredibly photogenic so it gets its own tweet.

You’re welcome.

If you would like to pay a visit to this cat-obsessed village, you can take a bus from Taipei (965 from Ximen MRT Exit 2 is a good option) to Ruifang Station, and then take the local train one stop.

Please don’t grab the cats or use flash photography or raise your voice!

Some of the shops sell cat food and treats for you to feed the cats but personally I don’t recommend it because it’s not good for them if every tourist does it. Some of the cats already look quite… rotund. There are cat feeders in Houtong so they aren’t starving by any measure!

Also Houtong is very pretty. A cat feeder auntie told me that over 100 cats roam this area. Some belong to shops/cafes but there are lots of strays too. They all seem to be cared for.

Exhibit A: someone actually donated a van that is now permanently parked in the car park with the back left open like this so cats can seek shelter in and under the vehicle. There’s water and cat stuff inside. The sign on the windscreen declares it an “Automobile Cat Hotel”.

According to this report, city workers and volunteers also administer vaccinations to the 286 (!!!) cats that they have on record. Still, some might get missed out, which is why they warn visitors against bringing their own cats, or touching the cats. taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ar…

I’d say “don’t touch the cats” is a hard rule to enforce, given that most visitors can be assumed to be cat lovers (and we cat lovers see cats and we must pet the beautiful babies) and some cats straight up walk up to you and start rubbing themselves against your leg.

So remember to use disinfectant and wash hands, etc. before you go home and touch your own cats!

Luckily for me, there’s still some time (and many showers) to go before I encounter my boys, so it should be fine. Because I definitely failed to resist petting the cats.

By the way, I’m actually a freelance journalist and cover politics and human rights in #Singapore like the lack of freedom of expression and other civil liberties and... you’re right, the cats are better.

Here have another one:

Okay I’m told I really should plug stuff, so:

Support our platform for democracy in #SoutheastAsia through journalism, research and art @NewNaratif newnaratif.com/join

I also have a little book/essay on #Singapore: shop.epigrambooks.sg/products/ratio…