After an extended long weekend, one might assume that the trip back to work today would be done in peace and relaxation: fully rested and re-charged, ready to take on the challenges of the upcoming second quarter. The trip was done with some sense of relief, but purely because we were heading in to do a full day's work rather than various combinations of carousing, conversing and conviviality followed by cooking, cleaning and collecting thoughts (I must admit I was doing more of the former set and Cass doing more of the latter during the last five days!)

Marcus and Annie were already married, but the registry office gig was just never going to cut it with the bride's family, no matter how determined Marcus was for it be a tiny event! His dreams of a restaurant meal for just a few close friends blew out into a Taiwanese extravaganza of biblical proportions, 130 friends and family attending the big evening reception at a local dedicated wedding venue, complete with three full dress changes for Annie, buffet dinner, drinks and chats and even a balloon-animal making clown at one stage.

The celebrations started early when the shy bearded fellow himself made a surprise appearance on the Wednesday afternoon. Sworn to secrecy, I was lucky enough to entice Marcus down to Uli's with a minimum of questions, despite the fact that his parents and older brother had just arrived from Australia. To say we had a rip-roaring time is the understatement of the century, attested to by the state of our heads and bodies at school the next day. Gurecki had made the trip to fit in a number of little jobs he needed to do, but the trip from Nagasaki was primarily to catch up "pre-wedding" with our fellow member of the Polish Nation Intellectual Forum. It was wonderful to see him again, if ever so briefly, and it certainly set the scene for what was to come over the following few days.

After struggling through a day of pain on Thursday, Thursday afternoon loomed large, again down to Ulis where Gurecki reprised his role and we were joined by traveller from Singapore, Josh, along with his host for the couple of days, Shaun. I stayed and sipped a couple of beers, before excusing myself to go home and collapse in anticipation of the following day's visitor arrival. We'd said that we'd host Wal's good friend, Morgs, who was travelling from Shanghai, as Marcus had his parents staying at his relatively small unit and couldn't really squeeze anyone else in there. Morgs was "Danieled" from the local Sung Shan airport in fine style and we got him settled in. The cats had to give up their room for the duration so we had a military operation to get them re-housed and the room to be cleaned and transformed into what approximated a guest room. Cass worked a bit of interior decorating magic and it looked very comfortable.

Only a few hours after Morgs arrived we were off to the big day. It really was a triumph for both of them as I don't think it was their first, second or even third choice of ceremony, it really crept up on them. It was Taiwanese style (we walked past Cinderella carriages and around underlit artificial lakes on boardwalks on the way in), but really sweet and nice. Marcus had insisted on a few touches from home, including tubs of ice cold beer surrounding the outside milling areas. One of the big problems was an incessant rain bucketing, necessitating a rushed change to an indoor venue. It too, ended up being perfect, as it forced the two groups (the locals and the foreigners) to really mingle and get together more than they might have done if nature hadn't intervened.

Marcus was keen for us all to get on down to an after party at a KTV venue downtown, so I dropped Cass off and met a big group of people down there till the early hours in the morning. The choice of songs was shocking, the execution abysmal, yet the fun was immense. Every song selected was absolutely murdered: there is some video evidence which I'll keep in case I ever need any blackmail material to use against any of the participants! Shield your eyes, cover your ears and get a tiny taste here if you dare!

Morgsy has just had his second child, so any time away from screaming babies and not needing to get up and attend to them was a bonus. This meant that each morning, he was as keen as us to have a big sleep-in. Upon waking, Cass spun the spatulas and whipped up delicious piles of scrambled eggs on toast to make the hangover cure of champions. As we went out again for lunch on Saturday with Josh, Shaun, Marcus and Morgs (at Jakes), then met for tea at Ulis before moving to Patio 84 on Saturday night/early Sunday morning for one last big hurrah, you can probably sense how we felt come Sunday afternoon!

When we finally farewelled Morgs mid afternoon on Sunday, we were just about completely out, yet managed to rally enough to see the middling "Gone Girl" at the cinema before eating at Chili's. It was great to have a debrief and a catch-up: it's so rare for us to be apart for that length of time, even though we did see each other briefly in between assignments! I'm so grateful to my super wife to be so supportive when she should have been enjoying a lovely relaxing four days off from work: she worked even harder here at home, I think.

Cass and I monstered the "steps" on Monday early arvo, ripping up the 1400 bad boys with a huff and a puff before enjoying the cool and serene ambiance of the mountain-top path amongst the monkeys. After showering off when we got home, we wandered down to Din Tai Feng and had our usual feast. After a little specialty shopping at City Super and the quirky Japanese store, Hands Tailung, we went home to relax, chill out and get prepared for our week back at school. Marcus, old mate, don't ever do this again!!

Photo album link here.

Cassy enjoyed her latest Book Club session out at Chamkar vegetarian restaurant here in Tienmu on Friday night. It's tucked away in a little side alley in the shadows of the dominating architectural piece in the neighbourhood, the Japanese retailer Takashimaya. It has a homely atmosphere, so much so that the group of 6 was contacted earlier in the day for requests of menu item possibilities. Apparently, the French chef was going shopping and wanted to know what they might fancy eating that evening and at what price range! Can't say it wasn't fresh then! They had a pleasant evening discussing the latest book, consuming the aromatic dishes along with a healthy serving of good French red. The French owner/chef has a mirror restaurant in Cambodia's Siam Riep which is similarly well regarded.

Hankering for the exquisite flavour bursts of Din Tai Feng's dumplings and xiaolong bao, we again attempted a foray into the bowels of the Sogo store on Saturday. This time, the store was so crowded that there wasn't a scooter park to be found in the cavernous basement carparks, which didn't augur well for a seat at the restaurant: we motored straight on out of there! Scootering over the Fulin Bridge brought us to another bustling restaurant district, so we managed to squeeze into a booth at 1Bite2Go before it became totally packed. Looks like the autumnal crisp on the wind has encouraged a lot of people out this weekend! Despite the fact that we've become enamoured of their breakfast fare, we gave the big ribeye steaks a crack this time and they were sensational.

Full of steak as well as 1Bite's signature power coffee and armed with some suspiciously awesome looking takeaway cakes for supper, we got back over the bridge to make a bread run to Wendel's. We bought our biblical serve of "five loaves and two fishes" (the "fishes" actually being two"Fruit Village Loaves") for the week ahead, then came home to relax and watch some TV. Later that evening, we feasted upon what turned out to be sublime slices of orange cake and sour cream cheesecake while watching the horrific psych-thriller splatter fest that is the second season of "Hannibal".

I headed up the steps on Sunday morning in a vague attempt to counteract the snacks and few beers I would no doubt consume in the afternoon as we watched the NRL Grand Final. My mates here are all AFL tragics and even though they don't know what they're missing out on, it's hard to drag them in front of an NRL game. Despite this, we usually send out an invite. Stalwart Ange, a Queenslander, dropped around for the match, as did Wal and Annie, at least for the first half. The game was a thriller and a triumph for South Sydney after 43 years in the wilderness. My long and twisted memory of the Super League war leaves me to cheer any ARL team against a Super League team, so I was pleased with the result too (as was Cass).

To my complete bewilderment, I've become something of a plant nerd of late as I watch the fascinating blooming of the cactus pods/flowers in the window box outside my classroom. I dragged the many years abandoned cacti up onto the ledge at the beginning of the school year. Despite total neglect, they have taken it upon themselves to prolifically bloom and flourish at monotonous regularity through the end of summer and now into autumn, with no sign that the cycle will end. I've been amazed at the way the pods split into flowers and the fact that the flowers appear to survive only about 48 hours before withering away. Call me David Braggyborough if you like, but I was very chuffed being able to catch on video said pod breaking and blooming....it happens very quickly, usually when I'm not looking!

Photos: cacti, 1Bite2Go, metal monkey and sign at the steps. The last shot is an homage to necessity being the mother of invention: after we were cruelly denied our Australia Network lifeline last week, I've since increased our internet speed tenfold, got a functioning VPN on the computer, fixed up our beaming apparatus from computer to TV and voila!....ABC iView now streaming ABC News24 whenever we want. Take that Tony Abbott!

Link to cactus bloom slideshow and here is the link to our YouTube video of the flower blooming

Well, the horror of a week was just that, but for a completely different reason than that which we first thought. A reprieve of a day at camp was a sweet bonus, but the milk of euphoria soon soured as Cass became more and more unwell as Monday night wore on and Tuesday threatened. In the morning, despite her worsening condition, we dragged all her gear onto the scooter and got her into school. Mercifully however, shortly after seeing her pallid complexion and unusual lethargy, the camp director, recognising she was very ill, sent her back home. Luckily my classes hadn't started yet, so I was able to usher her home and get her packed off to bed without delay.

Cassy's reputation as a stoic worker meant there wasn't a hint of a problem in this decision, and her subsequent decisions to stay home for the next four days. There was the possibility that she could take the train up to Fulong if her condiition improved: it didn't and she stayed put at home, barely puttering around the place in her weakened condition. She was diagnosed by the doctor as having a severe attack of bronchitis when she eventually made it over there and he gave her various medications for same. This meant, of course, that I was spared the daily chore of getting some food for myself as well as ministrating to the needs of Virg n Mary and I was grateful for this as well as having the company during the week!

The big social day of the year, the AFL grand final didn't go off without a hitch or two. The evening before, Australia Network was cut off air 24 hours prior to its advertised cutoff: seems that the feed into Taiwan was cut from the Australian end. After some panicked emails, texts and calls between a few of us, the owner down at Patio 84 managed to get the stream through a satellite dish and even subscribed to the AFL.com feed as a back-up.....legend! Subsequently, the game went off without a hiccough all afternoon.

The half-time entertainment is always when I issue the prizes for the annual tipping comp. This year I was able to present myself with first place after holding off a hard-charging crew of four near the end of the season. It was greeted with much hilarity and calls of "Rigged!" but I calmed the crowd when I, as has become traditional, put half the prize-money behind the bar for continued imbibing through the afternoon for all! Of course, as is also tradition, we massively overstayed our welcome well into the night, which meant that my scooter needed to be picked up the next day.

I Youbiked from Lanxing Park across to the Youbike station at the P.E. College whereupon I was able to just stroll round the corner to where I had left the motor-bike. I went back to pick up Cassy on the scooter and we went down to the Sogo to source some late lunch as well as pick up some "Fit Flops" for her to use to walk to school. Her regimen of wearing her fancy French and Italian heels to school might be drawing to a close, as she has struggled of late with a quite swollen ball of one foot. I'm not surprised, as I even get sore feet from our 15 minute each way "commute" on occasions, especially in this feet-swelling Taiwanese swelter.

The Fit Flop purchase was successful but we baulked at the 35 minute wait to get into Din Tai Fung before deciding to patronize the very tasty "Very Thai" restaurant on the 8th floor. After a delicious meal of green and red curries we strolled around Uniqlo for a while. I spotted some bargain bins and managed to score a premium linen black long-sleeved shirt for just $190NT (about $7 Australian)....crazy!

I'm delighted to report that my darling slowly recovers, back at school today, but we scootered up just to save the walk. She went back to the doctor at lunchtime and he seems reasonably satisfied with her progress. Photos: a spectacular view of Taiwan from the ISS, Confucius Day breakfast at school being serenaded and fed by the kids, those bananas up the road get ever weirder, Fit Flops and the famous "Paul" now has a tiny branch at our local Sogo!

We didn't go to Japan again this weekend, though you'd be forgiven for thinking so after looking at the photos above. Truth is, I neglected to take any photos of interesting items along the journey of the week and especially this weekend, where we hunkered down in anticipation of Cassy's long haul week of the year, the middle school camp.

Mercifully we received the call last night that the camp would be postponed for a day, due to a rather lacklustre typhoon bearing down on us, tracking up from the Philippines where it had far more strength. Insipid or not, it was enough to delay the camp by a day, which means one less night for Cass enduring the privations that come with it!

It's not any one thing that makes this such a chore, but a combination, not the least of which are the needs of 200 middle-schoolers, many of whom have never been away from home, except to stay in luxury hotels, at any time during their lives. Not only that, but the teachers are tasked with running all the activities to keep this group learning, entertained, fed and watered during the entire week, a gargantuan task akin to a military operation. Apart from that, the kitchen which produces the meals is a squalid cesspool full of vermin which necessitates her having to bring small meals of her own and not eating correctly for the week. It is exhausting work and to be honest, Cass is about over the whole deal after 12 years in a row of said penance! She's a soldier though, and is sucking it up yet again, with the sweet knowledge that she as least one more night in her own bed before needing to head off to Fulong belatedly tomorrow morning.

Although lacking any ferocious power, typhoon Fung Wong has managed to drench the island overnight and danced up and around our umbrellas on the walk to work this morning. Cass wore her thongs with her finery to get changed later when we got to school. There is a constant soaking occurring as I write, and a very depressing sight  of grey, drizzly skies and whipping winds can be seen from my classroom window. My neglected cactus is getting an unexpected soaking and has decided to pop open even more bursting flower pods in celebration!

Cass had her book club on Friday night when I had yet another footy feast down at Patio 84. She's always delighted when Darby hosts the group as she gets very experimental with her cuisine, not afraid to try out something new, and uses the girls as guinea pigs. From all reports, it was as different and delicious as usual, including a special dessert surprise of hooking up with their recently departed member Paige all the way from Canada in her early morning via Skype. Their new member, Stacey, works at the American Institute in Taiwan and gets all sorts of magazine subscriptions and shares the wares at the gatherings. So, this weekend, Cass has had some trashy mags to take her mind off the looming horror of camp as well!

We had a couple of TV series binges lately which have been deemed very worthy. Firstly the latest season of "Game of Thrones" and more recently, over the past week or so, the second season of "Rectify." It was sensational....do yourself a favour and all that!!

Finally, as you can see from the photo above, we're not hardly done by in the internet speed stakes here in Taipei. For a very modest monetary up-grade, I have officially 120 Mbps (though I can't seem to break 100 on a speed test) download speeds and the guy actually offered me 200 Mbps if I wanted it! Other photos are of Summer Sonic and the historic Osaka castle.

P.S. Sharp eyed readers might notice the date stamp on last week's blog has changed to yesterday's date. When fiddling with photos for this week I accidentally deleted last week's post! After a few minutes of stunned horror in anticipation of trying to re-write it, I managed to find a cached version of it to copy and re-post...phew!

A suggestion of change from the throat stripping heat? The first hint of relief even in the sapping shade? An ability to stroll in the full sun for more than a minute? Could it be? Surely half way through the first month of autumn we could expect a sliver of relief from the brutish summer that we've endured? Whether it's psychological or real we don't know, but perhaps, a tiny, almost imperceptible movement in the weather might be upon us. It's not before time!

Downtown to the Flower Market on Taipei's newest underground rail line, whispering straight from our station, Mingde, all the way to the famous Central Parkesque, Da'an Park in the south eastern quarter of the downtown. On the fringes of the park and wedged in beneath the great overhead experessways that feed the bustling metropolis of the XinYi district, lies both the Jade and Flower markets, each stretching in a different direction from the central point of XinYi Road for several city blocks in the shadows of the overhead highway.

A carpark by day, the markets are magically transformed after 8 p.m.on a Friday night to house all manner of goods for sale to tempt the weekend bargain hunters over the subsequent two days before a further metamorphosis back to carpark by Monday morning, barely a trace left behind. The Flower Market was our destination today as we were visiting two of the storeholders as they made their maiden journey into commercial horticulture!

Our friends, Marcus and Annie, newly married and sharing hobbies and interests beside, had decided to test their wares in a low key commercial setting down at the markets. They have both had lots of classes in bonsai and pottery and maintain quite the nursery on their rooftop at their new apartment. Marcus travels regularly to Japan for further classes and has developed a very keen eye for the aesthetic, along with the skills necessary to produce the desired results. Their pottery is also developing quite well and they can produce some really interesting pieces, a little rustic, think Bendigo Pottery meets Japan with little nods to Chinese nuance and style as well.

We wandered the cavernous spaces beneath the expressway for many blocks before we spotted their display. Along the way, we found everything one could possibly imagine in terms of plants, planting and associated paraphernalia (and more!). Plants of every variety, shape and size, pots, soil, products, tools, accessories, stands, water features, you name it: they had it! They had experienced a very draining morning and part of an afternoon and had only sold one small pot. It was a big learning curve for them but I think it was fairly exciting to get involved in the whole process. I haven't checked in today with Marcus to hear how Sunday went: maybe they sold the lot!

After staying for a while and having a chat, including Cass trying her style at spruiking customers (!), we decided to forgo the pleasures of the air-conditioned comfort of the MRT and instead walk the three stops down to Wooloomooloo restaurant, our destination for our lunch/dinner. This was a bad move as it was way further that we had anticipated and the heat was roasting us except for some sweet relief from the occasional awning. When we eventually arrived they seemed very reluctant to serve their lunch menu, so in a minor fit of pique, I decided that they could do without our business!

Further wanderings got us to the food-court of Taipei 101, where we sourced some Japanese curry rice and om rice sets, hoping to replicate the moreish flavours of Namba station curry which we had devoured with relish on our recent trip to Osaka. Alas, this Taipei version was but a pale imitation of that wondrous fare! It did the job, however, and revived us sufficiently to haul ourselves back onto the homeward bound train. The building itself never ceases to astonish: even though it has been usurped as the world's tallest building in the last few years, it is still an awe inspiring marvel of modern engineering. Gazing up to the clouds dusting around its upper floors is a sight you'll never tire of.

Photos: we coffeed at a new place, "The Soup" after school during the week.....super! The computer is displaying its "blue screen of death" at the moment....seems infected with all sorts of bugs and I'm trying to eradicate them. Marcus and Annie with Cass at their display at the Flower Market. Shots on the way to 101, including Snow White, an interesting sculpture, me in the food court and finally, the awe-inspiring bulk of Taipei 101, looking up.

Reading: Cassy has just dipped her toe into David Mitchell's pool of genre warping fiction with his new "The Bone Clocks". I have reluctantly put down a finished copy of the transcendent "Eyrie" and am reading the far more pedestrian, "Tokyo Year Zero" by David Peace, the first in a trilogy. The awfulness of the first book after a Tim Winton story: it's a bit like reading "Run, Spot, Run!" after some classic Dr. Seuss!

 

 

We've been seeking some quality dining chairs for many years now and wanted something to match the superior pedigree of our table, a late 50's Danish masterpiece. We'd toyed with the idea of sourcing chairs from Great Dane in Sydney or Melbourne, but nothing really seemed to take our fancy. Some vintage chairs Cass spied in a magazine were not available, but their modern equivalent were listed at Great Dane for $1,950 each just recently. Yes, each!

We took stock of the situation, then began to do a little investigating. We've often said that one of the major cities of Asia is growing up at a rate of knots and should be able to supply anything we need. Enter "Danish Warehouse" a Danish furniture treasure trove for vintage furniture from the 50's to the 70's. Located in a tiny back lane, nestled behind a keyhole community garden just off the hectic fury of Roosevelt Road, section 3, it was an oasis of beauty and chic style. We were really in heaven in this place and loved every single piece we saw.

The main gallery is stocked with exquisite and delicate hand crafted pieces exhibited on a rolling schedule. We were ushered down to the basement to test the chairs we were interested in. They are 1951 design, used, sourced from Denmark, Arne Hovmand Olsen designed, teak and leather chairs. Straight away we both knew we'd found what we were looking for. The only trouble was that Jack, the owner, just had three left and we needed another. He will source another and bring it in on his shipment in early 2015, whereupon we'll pick up, or ship, all four.

We delighted in a cup of tea at one of his dining settings as the paperwork was done and took a deep breath and a relax after our train trip down to the heart of town. Feeling very pleased with ourselves, we strolled over to KGB burger for our mainstay weekend meal, the lunch/tea, and enjoyed a couple of "Kiwi Mates" (pineapple and beetroot, lentil patty for Cass, beef for me!) while discussing our golden finds.

After MRTing back home early in the evening, we decided to go home for an hour or so before travelling in the other direction up to Tamsui to see the band, QvQ, this time featuring even more of our friends as guest artists. Wally and Kenny are mainstays, but this time Morgan and Ben were joining them for a few songs at the beginning of the set. Despite the fact that I knew the address and had looked it up on the map, the venue was impossible to find. The area where it was supposed to be was just an empty space under the railway lines. I discovered today that the place was up a small footpath and hidden away from view from the road: anyway, Cass and I enjoyed a nice train trip and a relaxing look at the Bali wharf and river on a Saturday night!

My adopted AFL team, the Richmond Tigers, succumbed in the worst possible way in their semifinal on Sunday being roundly trounced by Port Adelaide. The bright spot was that the Knights were in sensational form and tamed the Dragons easily. I was posting the photo of my viewing on a third screen as I watched the two games concurrently on a combined platform of laptop and television: screen madness!

All the boys went down to Patio 84 on Friday night to see Geelong wither away after an onslaught by favourites Hawthorn: at least, unlike Richmond and the Knights, they get a chance at redemption next week. Finals action is in full swing here and should keep us very occupied on the weekends for the next month or so...

Photos: on our way to school, we spotted these strange bunches of tiny bananas...not sure what's going on there! The school carpark at dismissal time is bedlam, our chair and Cass in situ at the Danish Warehouse, two screens are better than one, and Youbikes continue to rule the world with their easy pay pass system!

 I'm legally licensed for both car and motorbike here in Taiwan for the next six years: that should be enough, right? What a crazy few hours this was round at the municipal motor registry. The front of the building is emblazoned with various intimidating shields and emblems, fit to strike fear into the heart of any unlicensed driver or road miscreant who may dare to enter the official halls of vehicular regulation and justice. The entry is a dizzying array of signs in Chinese and some confusing Chinglish( "2nd floor go drive license test but no photo 1st floor") which had me spinning on the spot for a few minutes. Eventually I headed to the third floor for "license matters not including pay fines", suspecting this might be the correct venue. After about 25 minutes waiting with my ticket, my number was duly called, whereupon I was immediately directed downstairs to start again at the photobooth and the "physical health exam".

An hour in, and I had completed the first steps, having a completed form in Chinese and having endured 10 minutes in a photobooth that resembled in look and feel, a full body MRI machine in a public hospital: it even made the same clunking cacophony as it processed the photos! I passed the physical health exam with flying colours, despite the fact that I failed every page of the colour blindness test and got hit in the head by the automatic height measuring arm as it travelled remotely down to meet my head as I stood in the machine: I stepped out before it arrived! The physical part of the test was to hold my hands aloft in front of me "no shake" and to do one half squat in front of the doctor. I passed the hearing and eyesight test without problems, but not before a nurse scanned my eyes at close range for hidden contact lenses! Onwards upstairs and after an eternity of checking various documents, including my alien card, my Australian license, my passport and bizarrely, my national health card, I was deemed worthy to get my little paper licenses along with protective little plastic holders. Hurrah!

Guess who just won the annual AFL tipping comp? I have won it once before, as well as being runner-up on another occasion, but I never expected to win this year. I snuck up on the gang by backing my team, the Richmond Tigers, through their recent 9 game winning streak which many others didn't. It came down to the last game of the final round on Sunday so it was a little nerve wracking! Cass was just as anxious as me, and we'll be glad to watch some finals action soon in the AFL and NRL without the added pressure of worrying about tips. So, bragging rights, as well as a slab of cash, will come my way upon distribution of prizes on grand final day. It will be a little strange as I am the organizer of the comp, so I'll have to award myself the main prize!

Our beloved video lifeline to all things Australian while we're overseas, the Australia Network, will cease airing on September 18. It will be a very sad day for us and we'll really miss our daily ABC news bulletin in the evening, the docos, the current affairs, even the frivolous soapies. It was always great to just have it nattering away in the background even if we weren't watching: it was a little Aussie friend in the room. Of imminent concern is where we'll be able to watch the grand final.....Patio 84 just used Australia Network in years gone by, and no satellite channels have the rights....

Poor Cassy has been stricken by her occasional enemy, the razor bladed, throat stripping bug. Apart from the throat, she is feeling very weak and stuffed up and has been quite miserable all weekend. She must really be sick, as she even emailed work last night saying she couldn't come in today: a very rare event for my usually healthy and happy little vegemite! Hopefully the "Queens of Ker Qiang Road" (aka Virg 'n Mary) will keep her company in bed today as she tries to recover a little.

Cass is reading Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland, after being spun a vertiginous web by her latest book club selection, The Luminaries. Her book club met at the peerless fine dining establishment in Tienmu, Le Jardin, for their monthly chat, and she duly dosed herself with paracetamol and antibiotics to make the trip and survive the social flittings. Many of the other members were similarly perplexed by the astrological references and waxing and waning of chapters in a mirror image of the moon's cycles, and they found it to be extremely ponderous and a little self-indulgent. Nonetheless, they delighted in the fine food and wine and declared the French mainstay to be as good as ever: onwards to the next tome, as per stated earlier in the paragraph.

Photos: hard won licenses, a funny kid in one of my classes being "Nerd Man", the Queens of Ker Qiang and a few shots of the steps. I made it up there yesterday in the blistering heat, saturating myself and meeting some monkeys and chooks along the way! Oh, and my cactus unfurled its last flower this morning...