The Chinese New Year holiday week is always much anticipated in this house. Tienmu, our cosy little northern suburb of Taipei is away from a lot of the hurly burly at the best of times, but when family traditions call during this week, it turns into a big old country town. In fact, it very much reminds us of Newcastle!

I introduced Cassy to the joys of punching the heavy bag and the speedball on Monday after we watched “Apocalypto” on DVD. The violent themes in the film were a perfect segue to a frenetic workout: Cass even got to tap a few out on the speedball. I bit the bullet today and decided I was going to learn a little bit of Mandarin. We’re in our 6^th year now and look like being here for a few more and as I’ve finished my studies at long last and seem to have a little spare time on my hands, I thought… Anyway, I downloaded some audio programs and have been diligently trying to do a lesson or two each day for the past week or so. Unbelievably, I’m actually just starting to hear a few words distinctly, but it will be a really long haul if I manage to stick with it.

On Wednesday, the rain and wind moved in, the surf was uninviting, so I went up with Carl to give our Kiwi mate Aaron a hand with his home renovations. He’s managed to rent that rare jewel round here, a free-standing house, for a very reasonable price: the catch is that the place had really gone to rack and ruin and he’s just starting the long process of bringing it up to scratch. With Carl and me helping, the three of us got heaps of painting done and broke the back of it for him. It was a long day of physical labour and it felt good!

Thursday, I went for an early surf with Carl and Tobes and made it back to be greeted by a sparkling clean house. Cassy then had no qualms in requesting my presence at Chili’s for lunch, so off we went. The price was somewhat assuaged by a gift voucher I had received for Christmas, so the delicious feast was consumed guilt free in terms of money (but I’m not so sure about the calories!)

Friday we were up and showered early and headed down to the German Wendel’s Backerei for their big breakfast. What a decadent treat this always is! Loads of food, great service and a relaxing ambience combine to make it a wonderful start to the day. I’d been threatening to take Cass to the giant Ferris Wheel at Neihu for some time, and as the sun peeked through the clouds and the mist burnt off, we thought we’d take the opportunity. What a mistake! As we started up on the trip round, my old, hitherto fairly well disguised fear of heights hit with a vengeance: it was a white knuckle ride for the majority of the trip. What a wuss I am: the wheel seemed to be hardly moving it went so slowly and the gondolas were rock solid and air conditioned. Anyway, Cassy seemed to enjoy the whole experience immensely! We scootered over to Hola at Neihu and bought some towels to replace our ancient ratty old green numbers then got home in time to receive our annual invitation to “cracker night”.

We met up with Carl, Hiroko, Steve and Sean in the little park opposite our place as is our little tradition. Carl and the boys had bought enough explosives to start a small war and we proceeded to let the whole lot off in various combinations over the next couple of hours! What a blast, it was certainly an explosive mix of testosterone, fire and gunpowder (sorry for the very obvious puns). Cass managed to catch an errant spark smack bang under her right eye, leaving her cheek with a slight burn, an abrasion and a bruise. We couldn’t believe it: the spark had managed to fly straight past all of us and hit Cass as she stood at a very circumspect and “safe” distance from the action! Suffice to say that ice and savlon saved the day and she’s fine now.

The surf on Saturday was just top shelf. A good size ground swell combined with a few hours of light off shore wind, clear water, well-formed banks etc etc. We surfed ourselves to exhaustion because these conditions just don’t come along every day in Taiwan.

On Sunday, I delivered an apple cake to a colleague’s house that Cass had made the night before. Their daughter had suffered a life threatening bout of Pneumonia and been hospitalized for more than a week. The community had rallied around and got a little “feeding roster” worked out and Cass had offered to do the dessert for the Sunday evening. It was gratefully accepted and it was great to see both parents relieved at the fact that their daughter was slowly on the road to recovery: our lives here are really just a flickering flame in a breeze aren’t they?

Anyway, enough with the philosophy: we had a magic week off, so much so that I couldn’t even rouse myself to write this blog at the right time. Back to work two days now, feels like two weeks and holiday zone is rapidly retreating into a beautiful memory! Photos: various adventures in the past week and one blast from 1980... We met 27 years ago today!

Chinese New year’s Eve went off with a bang as usual round our neighborhood. I mean this quite literally, as our proximity to the “dyke” (as Cassy’s American friend calls it!) means that lots and lots of fireworks are set off very close to us. Virg’n Mary variously cowered and ran through most of the night: the poor little buggers didn’t know what was going on, even though I thought, as local Taiwanese, they might have some inkling!

This entry will have a fair few food reports, which is becoming an increasingly regular event here on this blog. Perhaps it is that we are becoming more attuned to what we are eating or perhaps it is that we are eating more….I prefer to think that it is the fact that as winter adds a little chill to the air at night, a bit of comfort in the shape and taste of food is always welcome. How come then, I’m going to talk about a couple of lunches? Never mind, here we go! Cass had some super delicious authentic Italian home cooking through the week. She was invited up to her colleague Robin’s house, who is Italian and was fed the best Italian she’s ever had in Taipei (“anywhere!”, she said.)

We were keen to see Clint Eastwood’s companion piece to “Flags of our Fathers” which was an excellent movie. The weekend cinema guide indicated it was on but it is of not much use to us here. I might be able to get a vague idea of what is going on, but Cass wouldn’t. Here in Taipei, we’re under the tyranny of the “unintelligible foreign film syndrome.” While English speaking films are simply sub-titled in Chinese and provide no inconvenience for us, any non-English film provides lots of difficulties. Either the sub-titles are only in Chinese, or they are overlaid on the English titles, making them impossible to read. Suffice to say, we had to forgo the Japanese language “Letters from Iwo Jima” and instead settled for the rather insipid “Music and Lyrics” instead. Listed as a “chick flick” by one reviewer was bad enough, but I nearly said “no” when I read it was also a “romcom” which is apparently short for romantic comedy. The self crowned king of the genre, Mr. Grant, played a fairly predictable foil for the pleasant Drew Barrymore. The opening scene, where Grant performs as a member of a Wham like 80s band was hilarious and the highlight of the whole film: enough said!

Thai Town in the top of the opposite tower of the twin Mitsukoshi towers got the nod for a late lunch/early dinner. It was surprisingly tasty, but neither of us could really tell if it was the cooking or the fact that we were ready to eat the belly out of a low flying duck at that late stage of the afternoon! In hindsight, I think it actually was pretty good and we shall return.

Today we had great plans to head for the beach, but as can happen with plans wholly contingent upon the weather conditions, we didn’t make it. The wind and rain started and the swell could be described as small at best. I spoke to both Carl and Dan about prospects and we all decided that we’d hold off and have another look tomorrow. The added problem, of course is that all married Chinese daughters are expected to go back home for a few days starting today and the freeways (where we might have traveled East) would be chock-a-block. Instead, we walked up to school where I preceded to bash the heavy bag and the speedball for about 16 rounds while Cass read her book. Cassy had a little go at the speedball and the bag and I must apologize that I didn’t have the camera with me to record the historic event!

Later on we walked over to the basement Takashimaya food court, where we had delicious toasted Panini, Cass with smoked salmon and me with Bratwurst sausage. By the time we’d walked back home through the relative “ghost town” (again, because of Chinese New Year), we were ready for a cup of tea and a relaxing movie. I put on Apocalypto, and relaxing it definitely was not! Brutal, sickening in parts, but ultimately finely filmed and crafted: very entertaining.

Photos: Cass burning the midnight oil “grading papers” (that’s “marking essays” in Australian speak!), Cassy illegally in the men’s locker room at school! The two of us outside the change rooms, and Cassy sitting in a quite packed Takashimaya food court.

As Chinese New Year approaches, all sorts of things are starting to heat up, or alternatively, cool right down here in Taipei. The season brings out all sorts of bizarre, but slightly more familiar behaviours among the local population. There is a general frenzy centered on cleaning up and renewal generally. One part of this is the clearing out of the house of any old rubbish or furniture, which partly precipitates the big cleanup drives which I talked about last week. The other part of this is the replacement with new things, so shops are full and supermarkets are bustling as people buy the “special and delicious” New Year’s food.

Cass was caught up in part of this mayhem when she went down to the Jade and Flower Markets yesterday with her friend, Kathy. They traveled down on the MRT and had some sustaining coffee and cheesecake before entering the cauldron! The jade market was packed, but neither Cass nor Kathy saw any great bargains. They had gone down partly because it is known that traders will do good deals close to Chinese New Year as they try to rid themselves of stock and build up the cash coffers for the New Year. The adjoining flower market was absolutely packed: people see this as a cheap and very attractive option to dress up their apartments for the New Year: flowering plants being among the best sellers. Ironically, Cassy thought the prices were a little higher than usual, probably due to the huge demand at this time. She brought a beautiful cyclamen home and has been airing it on the verandah at night as (apparently!) they enjoy the crisp air. Cassy has had a soft spot for these flowers forever, but especially since we saw huge tracts of them planted out in public places all over France in the winter time.

I have had the most incredibly lazy weekend I’ve had for a long time. We had great plans to head out via various expressways to the east coast this morning, but when the alarm rang at 6 o’clock, we both decided it was far too early! By the time we did get up it was far too late, as the traffic would have snarled up and it had become noticeably colder with a touch of rain and wind about: not the kind of conditions to tempt you into the water!
We went across Chung Shan Nth Rd last night to the very nearby restaurant with a Japanese style. It is a kind of Japanese Taiwanese fusion and we really enjoy the friendly atmosphere and busy vibe. They are always packed (a great sign) and it is great value and very tasty. Cass tried a new dish which was a chicken curry ramen (noodles and vegetables in a hot broth with chicken pieces on the bone) served in a big wide brimmed bowl. The idea is to grab a stack of noodle and some other bits with your chopsticks and to slurp it up out of the bowl. Cassy is far too couth to do this correctly: the Japanese are the masters. The more slurping noises you make the more delicious is the soup and the more appreciative of its flavour you are! Some societies have all the right manners, I reckon.

On the way home from dinner, we stopped in at an “open house” that they were having a few doors down from our place here in alley 21. A ground floor unit with a very tight parking spot in front had been done up ready for sale. It was done quite well and was reasonably stylish, but the materials were quite cheap and the reno would not have cost much. It was about 2/3 the size of our relatively small apartment, very dark with no natural light and they wanted $915,000 (Australian). Maybe our real estate back home is not as expensive as we think it is!!

The third grade went to a huge American warehouse/retail outlet over in Neihu for one of our field trips this week. One of the school’s board members is the managing director and they put on an awesome trip, showing us the whole operation inside and out. We had dozens of dedicated English speaking guides and it culminated in an incredible feast for the kids of pizza, chicken and beef bakes, chips, lollies and ice-creams: as much as they could eat which was a dangerous thing! Photos this week are Dave and Wal with hygiene caps on in the sushi making department, some really excited kids, Cass in another pose with some very lazy spoilt cats.

Cassy and I enjoyed the most magnificent weather this weekend. Cass came with me to the beach on Saturday, Carl leading the way in his car. As we got closer to the coast, Dan called and said he’d just arrived at the activity centre at Jinshan and that conditions were, “Sweet!”. We arrived to find a beautiful deserted beach break, breaking on the bank out the back and going both ways on the wedge. It was reasonably small but enough to be perfectly enjoyable. There was not a cloud in the sky, warm but not intense winter sun and exceptionally clear water (this means that there were only a few foreign floating objects visible!)

The three guys went out and caught wave after wave, Cass read her latest “House and Garden” magazine while perched on the concrete wall to the side of the beach (the latest in her subscription had arrived on Thursday). She also managed a few good surf shots, which were promptly transferred to Pointyhat, and a few others I’ll include with this post. Dan’s wife, Niccy and the 2 kids chatted for a while before exploring further up the beach and the surfers enjoyed one of the best surfs they’ve had for ages. Great stuff! Cass and I lingered a little longer at the adjacent Jinshan harbour and checked the coast guard and fishing boats and I again trotted out my rather unconvincing patter about the benefits of living here and traveling to school. I don’t even know if I believe it myself actually: it seems very romantic at times though I have to admit!

We had an excellent meal at the Royal Host on Saturday night and both opted for the big thick NZ steak, cooked to perfection. The scooter zipped us all the way home, and even though it was a little chilly, the bike seems to fly along ever since I decided to pump the tyres up! It’s not that I didn’t know they needed air, but just that the air outlets at the petrol stations here are either non-existent or extremely hard to spot. Suffice to say, they’re VERY pumped up now! We’d just settled in when Josh’s girlfriend Kristen, who had flown up for the weekend from Singapore, rang up to invite us down to the bar for a couple of drinks. As Cass was smothered by cats lying on the lounge by this stage and couldn’t face the cold again, I drifted down and said “hi” and had just three beers. On my way home, at about 11, I noticed that the piles of rubbish for the rather irregular City cleanups had grown exponentially and the “night-feeders” were all over these piles. No they weren’t vampires or anything squalid or sinister, but rather scores of local folk scouring the junk piles, inspecting, saving and discarding: it was a bit surreal in the middle of the night, but I remember doing the exact same thing to partly furnish my house in Japan some 20 years ago!

During the week, my kiddies had a field trip to the local fire safety museum, which was a lot of fun for them. I’ve included a shot of lots of them practicing an emergency call! Also, Cass by a Jinshan fishing boat, Me surfing at the activity centre, out of the water with my new board and Cass outside the Royal Host on Saturday night.