A big concrete slash through high-rise apartment blocks and myriads of little open spaces and parks is the curiously named "Sulphur Creek". Starting as a natural watercourse at the top of Yangminshan National Park, it splashes its way past mountain trails full of weekend hikers, fitted out with all the best gear for such a pursuit, and gurgles its way down past shanties at the foot of the mountain before being tamed into a deep, man-made channel, beside which all manner of people and animals exercise and relax before the day begins in earnest.
Sounds of hands slapping against flesh is not so shocking for us now: men power walk wearing what look like women's tracksuits, sometimes with Walkmans strapped to their waists and bud headphones to drown out the only natural sounds around, striking their bodies in various exotic routines to get the circulation going. Some seem content to clap their hands together at regular intervals while others perform a bizarre dance of fitness studiously avoiding getting in each others way and seemingly oblivious to others gaze. Sometimes at the very last second, when a collision seems unavoidable and the uninitiated brace for contact, they manage to glide past without the slightest touch.
Younger men jog at a leisurely pace, no doubt constricted by their full tracksuits in the 30-degree early morning heat, contorting their faces with the effort, sweating profusely, yet refusing to peel off the layers, the badge of their hobby.
A mixed age group of women, from young office girls to retired grandmothers performs a beautiful, measured and almost hypnotic ballet of Tai Chi to the barely heard strains of Chinese music struggling out of a battered and tinny speakered tape recorder. They don't notice the intrusion of the two foreigners walking by, or pretend not to, although I usually catch one or two stealing a peek at Cassy's clothes or shoes!
Further on, a group of 8 old ladies sit and talk, their assigned positions on two benches never varying, a couple of equally wise dogs relaxing at their feet, as their owners sit and chat, dressed so perfectly, coifed and powdered as if on their way out to dinner.
The "3 wise monkeys", our next landmark, sit on a sculpted wall, sometimes having a beer (!) admiring the sweeping job they have just performed, not just the paths of the park, but the grass as well, which always struggles to grow under the effort of resisting so many feet walking across it each day. Occasionally one of the men will risk a beaming "Good Morning!" to which we always respond in kind, producing a nodding smiling acknowledgement, he so proud to show off his English skills to his mates.
A garishly mosaiced bridge is a pastiche amongst the greenery just further on, with a small amphitheatre facing its multi-coloured arch. A hub of activities for meetings and displays on most weekends, it hosts another band of exercisers in the morning, directed in their minor exertions by a man with thick black rimmed glasses, invariably attired in a form fitting bright yellow tracksuit, almost a parody of Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon. Their exercise routine is very hard to follow: it seems to involve hitting various parts of the body for a number of repetitions, before moving to another part to begin the process again.
Turning away from the river now, we amble along the footpath of the main artery of Tienmu, dodging scooters lining the footpaths and people who practice the afore mentioned "late sidestep" to avoid collision. Past the framing and mirror shop which now cooks breakfast takeaways as well from a suspiciously dirty looking set of pots, the shopkeepers distracting their customers by keeping up a steady stream of banter at a socially unacceptable volume. Nearly there, the Indian and German dads seem at a loss as to how to control their kids waiting for the European school bus, an unusually spindly-legged boy seemingly oblivious to the traffic as he runs and plays on the verge. We dodge around them and start meeting more people going our way. Cass digs in her bag for her gate pass as I display mine from it's hiding spot in my pocket, the neon yellow shock of lanyard announcing we are from TAS. Cass smiles and says hello to the security guard at the car gate, a daily action that seems to thrill the man; perhaps others just ignore him.
With just a few variations on a theme, this all happens at 7 each morning as we walk to school, before the "real" events of the day have even thought of beginning!

Being completely hoarse in front of a class of 3rd or 5th graders is not an ideal situation to be in. “George’s Marvelous Medicine” just doesn’t have the same pizzazz when read by a horse whisperer and insightful comments at faculty meetings lose a little bit of impact if people can’t hear them.
Of course, this is the result of some raucous cheering and lusty singing during and after the shock win by the Wallabies on the weekend. Just to set the scene...I had been ensconced in the American Club all day Friday discussing matters most serious and so terribly important to the future of the school! My input was somewhat less than spectacular, preferring to sit and listen and learn before committing myself to comment. After just an hour back at school, the 3rd graders started tumbling in to the lobby for the beginning of their sleepover. These kids were a ball bearing in a pinball machine; they were careering off walls and each other, going crazy in their excitement. After an especially chaotic sign in we were back on the buses to take this loud, bouncing mass to the local bowling alley. I digress, but this needs mentioning: you know those big yellow American school buses you see in movies trundling around peaceful smooth streets in suburban USA? Well, of course the school has a fleet of these beasts trying to negotiate the unforgiving roads of Taipei city, their long wheel base sending spine jarring bolts into bodies with every bump on the road. Not the ideal transportation to my recovering bad back!
Bowling hardly needs mentioning except for e few pertinent facts.....have you ever tried to find 140 size 5 shoes or 140 size 8 bowling balls in an alley? Do you think that anyone could speak English or that the kids realized you have to wait for the metal gate to come down on the pins after each bowl? Suffice to say that chaos reigned, toes were crushed under balls too heavy and gates bent from balls delivered too early.
Back to school for movie and bed. An amazingly persistent mozzie kept me awake most of the night, either by buzzing in my ear or as a result of me slapping myself in the head in an unsuccessful attempt to get rid of it. Leaving at 7.30 to meet with Ross, Ains and Cass to head to the beach, we got some fun little waves at the Point. Back to Tienmu, we were booked for lunch at an Italian restaurant before moving to the Green bar for the big game. I had to sleep for a few hours and Cass went off to fly the flag for us before I joined her later.
Of course the Green Bar led to Club 75 (jazz) before our friend Raj enticed us downtown to a cigar and champagne bar which has just opened. We could have paid one month's rent with the bill and this put a bit of a downer on the incredibly lavish décor and relaxed ambiance of the place.
Sunday saw me impersonating Benny the plant on the lounge before we cheered home the Kangaroos that afternoon. They really miss Joey, those kangaroos! Suffice to say, an exhausting time, interspersed with lots of fun.........we just need to recover in time to lend full voice to overcome the all singing, all knowing Pommy contingent next Saturday down at the Green!

Well, I feel pretty slack not writing earlier this week, but we’ve been horrendously busy. Just in case the dreaded SARS virus forces another school closure, the school has bought some online software at great expense, so the little soldiers in the TAS army are now required to add some training to their schedule. This already includes an extra ½ an hour a day to make up for the lost time before we left for our last holiday. So, even though we were luxuriating in our 12 week break back in Merewether, we’re paying for it in kind right now!
Cass had a pretty rough week last week, laid low by the ubiquitous Taipei throat infection and had to have 4 days off work, feeling pretty sick and sorry for herself. She’s back at work now, but finding the day to day grind (as mentioned above) very enervating. We’re planning on taking it easy this week, and of course, this restricted our continuing adventures last weekend!
On Saturday, Ross was sequestered in a classroom doing his Master’s course (I’ve finished. hurrah!), so Carl and I headed to the beach for a surf. The word “flat” is a gross understatement of conditions; although the sun was shining and the wind was light, Carl decided that bigger waves would be lapping the shores of Salamander bay at the time. Still, I was able to play tourist guide a little for Carl regarding the appeals of the north east coast and show him a few secret surfing spots. We had a swim and talked some rubbish, mainly reminiscing about past adventures in Japan and Australia.
On Sunday, Ross and Ains were champing at the bit to get away, so Cass dragged herself along and we headed to Jinshan point. It absolutely teemed with rain over the mountain and water was seeping in along our tension straps which lock the boards onto the roof. Surging storm surf with fat, menacing waves, rips and gullies and a generally very unfriendly aquatic environment greeted us when we arrived. Coupled with a force 10 onshore gale with driving rain, it was almost impossible to believe that less than 24 hours earlier, our fiercest enemy had been a piercing sun necessitating a liberal and regular application of sun cream.
Anyway, of course, Ross and I went out for a bit of “contact” surfing, and proceeded to be thrown around like rag dolls for the next couple of hours. The conditions were so bad that the girls didn’t even get out of the car! Back home to watch the Aussies beat the Poms in the rugby league replay, before the Kiwis displayed some ominous form to book a berth in a semi to play the Aussies next Saturday. The Kiwi contingent is planning a big day at the Green Bar on Saturday....I’m certain they are trying to lure us there just to witness the massacre and have great fun at our expense when the game is over!
A bit humdrum at the moment.....we’re just keeping our heads above water work wise and we’re a bit too tired to do much on the weekends. Still, as always, I’m sure we’ll have some more interesting adventures to report on soon......maybe we’re just easily amused!

A clear “Australian like” sky of deep blue and not even a zephyr of wind greeted us as we woke early on Saturday to make our way to the beach. The lack of wind in Tienmu certainly augured well for a surf of distinction, if we could make it over the hill before the wind got started. Ross and Ains joined us at 7 am and we headed to Jinshan point which had a disappointing slushy swell on a very low tide. We headed through Jinshan town to our secret spot, but it was hardly breaking. After zooming through the tunnel to Green Bay, we decided that this was the spot. The water was crystal clear and glassy and Ross and I had the beach to ourselves. Taking off on some beautifully formed right handers, the only sound was the crash of the wave and the board scything through the water and the occasional sharp slap as the board readjusted to the wave. We had a window of near perfect surf for about an hour, really incredible. Gradually the tide filled a little, the wind changed a notch in intensity and direction and things changed, but we really had an awesome experience. Cass and Ains both went for a swim as well, which is pretty amazing as it is the last month of autumn here now. Cass also waxed lyrically about the quality of the weather, the spot, the conditions....we really had a great time.
Fairly blissed out from our day, the Australian’s performance against the Irish certainly woke us up on Sat evening! After that little heart starter we watched Pirates of the Caribbean” on DVD, which I had bought in Thailand. I know a lot of people liked this movie, but I must admit I wasn’t one of them. It reminded me of Tony Curtis as the “Scarlet Pimpernel”, just with a few more special effects. Cass and I agreed that if the BBC ever made “Hornblower” into a movie, it should clean up, if this film was such a success!
We planned an adventure for Sunday and decided to explore two parts of Taipei city we’d never been to before. The idea was to go from the ridiculous to the sublime, or vice versa, depending on your point of view. We traveled to the far south west corner of the city, at the end of one of the branches of the MRT lines, which seemed very appropriate as we would be visiting a part of town where the workers brought to Taipei to build these lines now live and work. Leaving Nanshi Chiaou station and walking for about 10 minutes, we were surprised to see mountains wrapping around the backs of the buildings, much like our suburb Tienmu. We realized that we’d finally reached the other end of the great Taipei “bowl”, where the itinerant workers from Myanmar and Thailand and India had set up home. We turned down a street to be greeted by Thai and Burmese writing everywhere...you know that curious succession of half circles and squiggles?
A variety of sights and smells and sounds were vying for our attention at the same time. We seemed to be attracting a fair few looks as well, and we did not see another foreigner the whole time we were there; not on the tourist beat! Skinny sweating men with shirts off were hawking their wares at amazing volume, strange sea creatures were laid bare on tables with a makeshift fan doing all the “purifying” needed to keep them fresh! Slabs of unidentified meat hung on wires whilst across the road, the dim sum and dumpling makers moved their goods from bamboo tray to plate, seemingly unaware that a whole different culture was operating just opposite. It was almost as if the road itself was “no man’s land” .....I think we were the only ones to cross it! Spices and curries from all over Thailand and Myanmar were for sale and we bought some red and green curry pastes to try. Cass bought a denim jacket with a picture of a sequined girl applied to its back for just $12; it doesn’t seem to be different from mine that I bought at DJs back home. As we wandered, the market salespeople were offering but not insistent, fresh veges were being sold everywhere in clumps and packs, that mountain dirt still coating them with authenticity. I have waffled on quite terribly here, so I’ll try to be a bit briefer....we’re only half way through the day!!
We spied a little outdoor eatery and after the owner took us out the back to select our dishes we had a prawn curry and rice with chili and cucumber and fish spice on the side all washed down with a lemon tea. Delicious. Back on the train and after changing twice, we arrived in the quite sterile, or so it seemed, banking sector. We scouted around in the back alleys of the Sherwood hotel to spot up market Thai, Japanese, Chinese and western restaurants along with Indian furnishing stores and quaint little bookshops and home made western style cake shops.....worth another visit!
We boldly walked into the Sherwood as if we owned the place and visited Henry’s Bar with its Chesterfield couches and wood paneling before checking the menu at Toscanna, the Italian restaurant. An interesting item was Dom Perignan “free flow” at quite a cost. Does this mean a bottomless glass? If so, we might put our drinking shoes on to give it a try, but no doubt we’ll come out with a wobbly boot!! After soaking up the rarified atmosphere here for a while we walked to Ikea for Cass to buy some place mats and ended up getting a taxi home to give our weary legs a break. Back home, went to the bank, did the shopping and got home just in time to see NZ get a great scare from the Welsh in the rugby, Gordon Bray serenading us in his inimitable style.
A great weekend all round, although we’re a little flat today back at work.....I think we need another weekend to recover.