An intense summer Taipei heat topping 37 degrees on the “real feel” thermometer has been sapping at our energy this week. Most of the time locked away in the air con at school or at home, it’s certainly a shock to venture out in the middle of the day just as we did today. We had plans to visit the fabric market in the old western district of the downtown and got there on faithful “Blackie” the scooter quite efficiently but nearly every stall and the main market itself was closed. Sunday is obviously not the best day for this area, although we did arrive at the ungodly hour of “a.m.” which seems to be a time of the day purely reserved for sleeping and having a lazy breakfast here in Taipei, which normally suits us just fine!. The area is very un Taipei as it has lots of older style Japanese built buildings and higgledy piggledy streets and houses all over the place.

As we were more than 2/3 of the way there we thought we’d zip over to just south east of central Taipei to Yong Kang street, a cosmopolitan pretty hip little area with lots of restaurants and quirky shops and people. It’s almost in the shadow of the 101, yet maintains a very different feel: a street unofficially given over to pedestrian traffic, old one storey shops and plenty little parks and trees. We were tempted by Ice Monster for a snacky kind of lunch as were boiling in the heat and it is a very popular and well known way to cool down. The shaved ice phenomena is huge here as evidenced by a queue forming, so we ventured a bit further down the street to “Yogurt Me”. Wow! This was super delicious….a good size swirl of vanilla yogurt surrounded by three fruits of your choice and topped with a sprinkle of fruit loops….you can see from the photos that we’re new fans! After lunch, Cassy even had her eyes tested with a snazzy machine that she looked in for a few seconds and which then spat out a reading of each eye’s weakness. Much to the glasses shop guy’s amusement, her right eye was perfect (yes perfect!) and her left had only the mildest weakness imaginable…I think she was just looking for an excuse to get some of these impossibly jazzy Japanese designer glasses they’re selling down here. Scootered back home and we caught some footy before I’ve retired to the study to write this blog.

Backtracking to yesterday, we decided to book some tickets to the movies before heading out to dinner. We went to see “Disturbia” without any great expectations at all, yet were pleasantly surprised as it turned out to be a fine character driven movie with the serial killer theme almost an afterthought. We thought we’d give the tequila Sunrise outlet here in Tienmu another go after a mixed effort last time we visited but found it shut and looking sadly abandoned: obviously more people than us were disappointed with it. Oh well, another bites the dust…as I’ve pointed out before on these pages, we always dread to find which restaurants have not survived the summer when we return in August. Wendel’s was an excellent alternative and we just luxuriated in the courtyard where misting jets went off every 30 seconds or so completely changing the temperature and the comfort. We had a beautiful meal and wine and toasted the fact that this restaurant is not going anywhere, anytime soon!

I had a few drinks with my team on Friday at Chili’s after we’d taken the third graders to the park for the afternoon in the baking heat of Friday: I think we all enjoyed the beers a lot! Hopefully I’ll get a copy of the photo next week and post it here. Photos today include Cassy enjoying the cool mist at Wendels last night, both of us having some Yogurt Me and we also sampled some of this delicious juice. The line up at Ice Monster and an old building façade in the old western section of the city.

Hunkered inside, winds of 200km lashing our windows, debris flying through the streets and flash local flooding. Somehow we’ve managed to bookend our holiday with the exact same scenario: the afternoon we arrived home was the cyclonic “Pasha” storm in Newcastle and Super Typhoon Sepat has had us locked inside on our first weekend back in Taipei.

We were very lucky not to experience the great hardship that so many people did back home, but the first day was certainly a day we’ll never forget. Exhausted after our travel home and another hectic end to a school year, it was very hard to cope with torrents pouring down our drive, our precious things kept in storage for 6 years just about all ruined by inundation, and serious water entry into our unit. Cass and I just had to bite the bullet and clean up for about a week as our visitors were arriving after that. It was quite draining physically and emotionally as we threw all our treasures into a skip at the top of the drive, yet it was a catalyst for a number of decisions which we’re very happy about.

We picked up Ross and Ains from Sydney and brought them back to an unseasonably miserable Newcastle, the buzz of the Pasha trying hard to counteract the dreary weather. Over the next week or so we delighted in seeing our friends again, experienced some big storm surf, Ross ran to the Pasha and back each day and we ate and drank a lot! We had a magnificent night out with Mum, partaking of fine food and wine then we even managed to get out on Chris and Val’s boat after a snap decision one morning when the weather lifted for just one magnificent (and more typical!) winter’s day.

We also bit the bullet and had a minor renovation done. Even though relatively minor, the tradesman only being able to come on weekends meant it extended out for ages and we found ourselves locked to a home schedule to let them in, or be there when they were due to come. It’s turned out fantastically, our bedroom now extended, not by much, but enough to open the room up and give it a whole new feel. The other addition is a massive semi-walk in linen cupboard. We sacrificed our mini “media alcove” to achieve these extras and we both think it is a much better use of the space. Soon, we’re also replacing the louvres with fixed panes and double hung windows as well. The only thing left will be new carpet and that’s waiting till next June, when hopefully, all the problems on the back wall have been fixed.

Cass caught up with her “girls” a few times during the break and we went out to dinner with the Uni boys and partners and had a boy’s night out as well a week later. We had a delicious dinner at Wal and Thurza’s and dined with Thurza again with other friends and saw her a lot this trip which was really great. Cass was disappointed not to catch up with Ildi but our renos were just too awkward. AJ dropped in for a great catch up chat and he also made the trip from Sydney for the boys’ night. We had the pleasure of attending Robert and Erin’s combined 40th birthday parties and what a great time we had catching up with all the relatives from the extended family : I’m always just so impressed with the erudition on show at these gatherings! We didn’t have our own party this year, but still managed to catch up with lots of people even though we were preoccupied with all sorts of other distractions as previously mentioned. We didn’t see as much as we’d like of the family this year, but really did find this holiday to be a strange one: whenever there seemed a chance, there was another job to do or another tradesman’s appointment to keep. We had a lovely dinner at Jen and Vince’s and got our rare chance to see all the kids and had a day out for Mum’s birthday where all the clan gathered. We got to see Helen and family a few times and Sue and little Duncan came round to see us and we saw them.

Taiwan is still enticing us with her various charms, which we’re rather impressed with, considering we’re beginning our 7th year here. Even though it always feels a little awkward getting back and adjusting to our totally different life over here (apart from being in Asia, we actually have to work!) our apartment feels comfortable, Virg’n Mary seem especially glad we’re back and no doubt, I’ll continue to find something to babble on about on these pages for the foreseeable future.

Photos: a dirt(!) road in the back of beyond on our severely truncated bike trip, 3 happy souls on the boat, Ains getting fitted out for her bike ride, Cassy at our seafood feast including champers(thanks R&A!), surfer boys, the Pasha and the boys. The most poignant for us is the shot of the shed with the sodden boxes of ruined things.