HHmmmmmm! Australians just don’t lose rugby league world cups do they?? We watched in amazement as the Australians imploded in the world cup final Saturday afternoon Taipei time and the Kiwis had a well deserved victory. We took some solace the next day when we watched the Aussies mop up the New Zealand tail to take a win in the 1st cricket tests, but this was actually the natural order of things. I’ll say again, Aussie rugby league teams just don’t lose world cups (at least not since 1975 anyway!). This was a rather hard to swallow entrée to a great night out we had at Wendel’s backerie on Saturday night. We were late for our reservation as the nail biting league game went on, but we eventually made it down to a dining room full of atmosphere, a buzz of conversation, and eclectic group of citizenry enjoying their big Saturday dinner and we enjoyed soaking up all the sights and sounds.

Our perfectly cooked large steaks arrived with exquisite sides of baked onion and a subtly flavoured potato stack, along with mushrooms stuffed with a julienned concoction of vegetables. We each had a generous glass of Shiraz and enjoyed some home made German bread along the way. As Thanksgiving is fast approaching, their turkey feasts were being advertised widely. A table of about 20 Germans of all ages, young and old had the pleasure of watching the biggest turkey we had ever seen being carved at their table. This caused a great stir amongst the local contingent, many of whom recorded the whole show on video phones! I suppose this is still a fairly exotic event for the Taiwanese, as even though very cosmopolitan in their food choices, the whole Thanksgiving thing tends to be left to certain establishments well known for catering to American tastes. We left via the adjoining cake shop and each had a plum custard slice to take away, although its enormous proportions allowed us to keep ½ aside for dessert tonight as well!

This morning we had the strange sensation of watching a Brisbane test over breakfast (we’re 3 hours behind), then preceded to do our usual of reading Herald clippings of great interest (thanks Mum, but what is going on in Newcastle and that omnipresent debate about cutting the rail line?: make a decision please!!) before making a late decision to get out to the coast. It was just a magnificent day weather wise today: a perfect temperature, clear blue skies and sun of a lesser than laser like intensity for once. A mild cooling breeze finalized the package, and we had a great drive through the mountains to the coast. I must add that we had one of those “only in Taiwan” moments on the way. We were short of petrol and needed to fill up before we ventured over the mountain so we backtracked a way to get to the station I usually just get scooter petrol from. After we filled up, the guy asked if we wanted anything. I asked for water (they have a quaint custom of giving you a couple of bottles of water or a pack of tissues if you fill the tank) Anyway, he asked that I open the boot and placed a box of 18 bottles in there! The very fact that driveway service is the norm here and not the exception, then the gifts, then the guy who stops the traffic for you on your way out is quite wonderful.

The surf was small but a good quality and the crowd was quite small for once (especially on the top coast) so as I enjoyed the surf, Cass enjoyed taking in the spectacular scenery from the top of the cliff. To the south west the Candle Islands rise from the ocean catching beautiful bands of light as the afternoon wears on and to the north east, the cliffs of Little Yeliou drop off into the water allowing the waves to surge and splash plumes of white water into the air at intervals. It’s a very calming spot and Cassy’s choice of spot to sit if I am out in the surf.

We were both shocked and saddened to hear the news that my good friend Wayne’s father had died suddenly on Friday. He was an eccentric and hugely likeable character and was certainly always larger than life. I had the opportunity to speak with Wayne on the phone Friday, from whom I heard all the details. Very sad news for the family and friends: We’ve had quite enough of this kind of news lately…

Tuesday lunchtime and still feeling extremely wishy washy….what happened on this long weekend? Plenty! Wal and I buzzed off from school right on the bell and Truckie whisked us off to get our evening flight to Singapore on Thursday. The flight was pretty pain free and I watched a few videos on my iPod, Wal slept, all good. Josh was a champion and was there to greet us in his little car, and then when we got to his apartment we managed to stay up for a couple of hours chatting, having the first of many beers for the trip!

On Friday, off to eat roti Pradas for breakfast at a local haunt, cup of coffee, then off to the golf, The Singapore Open. I’m no great fan of golf: my personal attempts have been rather lame and I haven’t felt the need to spectate in the past, but I have to admit, this was a pretty awesome experience. Mickelson, Els and Scott to name just a few were very impressive. World class sportsmen doing their thing, right up close is an incredible experience. As it was a working day, the crowds at the golf were way down, enabling us to get up close and personal. Mid afternoon we retired back to the football sized pool and got into some very competitive super velocity tennis ball throwing!

Friday night we arranged to go over the other side of town to Chad’s place. Cathy and kids were there, Cathy was all dolled up ready to go out to a ball and we had a few beers with Chad and caught up with all the happenings. They have a great set-up there, a beautiful big plush apartment with huge pool and other amenities. Chad arranged to meet us at the races later, so we raced off to make sure we met up with the rest of the group. Off to Kranji Race Club for Singapore’s famous night races, we opted for the air-conditioned upper deck of the grandstand and split our betting duties up accordingly. I got a winner first up paying $8 for a win (we had $20 on it) so that set us up for a great start. After a lot of winning and losing, we ended up with a $50 profit for the night, probably about even when you take into account our food and beverage bill…wonderful result. Wal and I met a further bevy of Josh’s Singapore mates and we also met up with Morgs, a mate of Wal’s from Melbourne who is currently working in Bangkok and flew over to enjoy the festivities. After the last race we went back to one of Chad’s favorite bars and enjoyed a big Erdinger that he bought at god knows what cost, then bid him good night. Kristin, Josh’s fiancée, came to pick us up, and we travelled back in the early morning through Singapore’s magnificently tidy and clean suburbs and streets.

Saturday, after sumptuous coffee shop brekky, it was back to the golf. One of Josh’s friends had sourced some passes, so 14 of us got in for free instead of paying the $50 entry! Sun not yet over the yardarm, we had the first of what would turn out to be many beers that day and night. The crowd was up around the 14,000 mark today so we didn’t get nearly as close to the famous players, with a few very funny exceptions! Josh had a few challenges to perform, including singing the Australian national anthem at one hole, holding up a purloined quiet sign at another and commandeering a golf cart at yet another. He accomplished all set tasks with a minimum of fuss: quite some feat in Singapore’s strictly regulated society, as at some points I was almost certain we would be arrested at worst, escorted from the course at least. In full caddie’s kit he escorted one of the world’s leading players, Simon Dyson, to the toilet, managing to get him past the queue, and held up a “shut up” sign behind Ernie Els as he took a shot! Our group managed to cheer on a succession of Aussie pros as they walked off down various fairways and we had a ball.

We went straight from the golf to Harry’s bar down at Boat Quay. Here the festivities continued and more challenges for the “back nine” were accepted and completed, including convincing complete strangers that he was a “ladyboy” and the obligatory singing with the band. This fun went on and on for many hours and Wal and I enjoyed getting to know many of Josh’s mates. One of the most interesting characters was a short red-headed guy known as the “ginger ninja”: what a hoot he turned out to be later on a pole at a pole dancing bar!
Eventually a call for taxis, and no buck’s night would be complete without at least a bit of shady action at a strip bar or something similar. Orchard Towers, colloquially known as the “four floors of whores”(!) fitted the bill for the organizers: Four floors of lots of different bars and dance clubs in one building, very famous for the proliferation of afore mentioned “ladyboys”. Chad was leading the way, and managed to get us in to all manner of exclusive entry and lived up to his “King of Singapore” reputation by not only getting us in, but also having the outrageous cover charges waived at most places….nice work Big Chad!! We had an absolute ball, and Josh continued to perform challenges and enjoy his night. As people slowly drifted away, we found ourselves a smallish group again ready for sleep, so hailed a cab and made it back to Josh’s place.
There were way too many moments to record here, but suffice to say that Wal and I got limited sleep, had copious amounts of alcohol and talked and socialized non-stop for three days and nights! This was an extremely enjoyable, but also extremely enervating long weekend and I only feel vaguely recovered today. Oh, and P.S. Man, that Singapore is expensive!! Photos are a selection of golf, races, bars etc!

Our walk to and from work each day is always a nice time of the day and it’s interesting what you see and hear along the way. It takes us about 15 minutes to get there at a good clip, and about 20 or more if we amble along. From Tai Chi in the park, scooters on the footpath (!) and the “enchanted forest” on the Chung North footpath, with beautiful shade trees adorned with their own decorations, kind of a living tinsel of dangling tendrils giving it an other worldly feel. One of the sights we see many mornings is a set of twin girls walking to the local primary school. We have seen them walking for many, many years now, and they are getting quite big (maybe 3rd or 4th grade). They have always been such a cute sight and we can gauge their mood with the world, but more particularly themselves very easily. The best barometer is their proximity to one another. When everything is right in the world they are walking along holding hands, joking and giggling, laughing and talking. But on occasions, there is a falling out and they walk along with terribly glum expressions about 50 metres apart!! Even though they seem very upset with one another, they still keep each other in sight: it really is “so cute”! I managed to snap a shot of them in the distance which I zoomed in on …this was a good day! Cassy modeled for the shot in the foreground so I didn’t look like some weird foreign creep taking photos of school kids!

We’ve had an extremely relaxing weekend: or should that read, “extremely lazy”! On Saturday, we did venture out before the rain set in. Dan had texted me a surf report which basically said, “Stay in bed” which I took literally for an hour or two. Eventually we roused ourselves and had a decadently late breakfast at the flash French restaurant on Chung Cheng Rd, “Le Jardin”. We both really enjoyed the fine fare, including exquisitely cooked omelets, eggs, toast with home made jams, fresh juices and coffee etc etc. We then wandered over to the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi to see the latest James Bond installment. Although jam packed with all the usuals, I think we were both slightly disappointed as it didn’t quite live up to the last one, which we thought was probably the best ever. Daniel Craig still does a fantastic job however: tough as well as suave, but he can still deliver a few funny one-liners!

The rain started to seep down from mid Saturday onwards and has not let up since. Today we spent the afternoon watching the cricket while every few overs, Cassy would get up and add some extra ingredient to a bubbling pot of chicken soup. She is preparing for next Friday when her book club group is due for their monthly meeting, Cassy hosting this one. Speaking of next Friday, I’ll be at the races in Singapore Friday night!! Wal and I are catching a flight on Thursday after school and going to Singapore for a long weekend. We’ve got stacks of stuff lined up to do, but we are going really to attend Josh’s buck’s night on Saturday. Some of his mates down there have got it all organized, I just hope we’ll make it back on the plane to Taipei on Sunday afternoon….more on this next week (and I guarantee you the blog will be late: keep an eye out on Monday or Tuesday I’d suggest!)
Photos: Studying some Chinese, one of the golf group from last week, Cass being my model on the way to school with the twins in the background, and a zoomed in shot of the twins.

A peculiarity that pervades the Asian landscape, be it, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Thailand or others, is the massive steel frames and towers covered in netting that dot the areas around big population centres. They are a hundred metres high and hundreds of metres long and are of course that antidote to golf players starved of cheap and accessible courses, the golf driving range. Even though the outer areas of Taipei County do indeed boast some picturesque top class courses, they are very expensive compared to Australia and do entail a longer drive than is usual back home. I am not a golfer and have only ever fudged my way round a course three times in my life (including the infamous Cypress Lakes opening when I managed to get myself on the nightly news hacking my way out of a gully!), so have not entertained the thought of using one of these huge skeletal frames, even though I’ve been quite fascinated by the look of them from afar, a bit like a gigantic insect or a creature from “War of the Worlds” rising from the ground.

Suffice to say, we tried some different entertainment on Friday afternoon and I loved every minute! We duly got our huge number of golf balls and proceeded to swat merrily away at them for a few hours before retiring for some refreshments. I used Wal as my tutor and he seemed to give me very good advice as every now and then I’d crack a beauty in the sweet spot and felt well satisfied. Lewy, Wal and Gurecki were all very experienced and I made sure I watched what they did and used their advice. In the end, even though my long game was wayward (to say the least!), I ended up teaming with Lewy against Wal and Gurecki and we won a little chipping game twice in a row: I was pretty satisfied.

Cass went into a bit of a wiping frenzy yesterday and managed to wipe down and clean the big main windows and sliding doors at the front as well as the ceiling and walls of the kitchen. To her great surprise, she managed to find microscopic pieces of potato still all over certain sections of the walls and ceiling! You may remember a microwaved bowl of potatoes exploded in her face a few months ago necessitating a rush to the doctor and some first aid burns treatment. We ended up having a very low key Saturday, apart from Cassy’s exertions, and watched the cricket over the internet, the Wallabies and the All Blacks on TV, and ended up getting Alleycats pizzas and a Greek salad for tea…yum!

Today started off in a similarly relaxed fashion with a dozy morning eating breakfast, reading lots of Herald clippings that Mum sent, patting and playing with the girls and fiddling on the computer. Mid-morning, however, we decided to set off on a stairs mission. I have been regularly doing the 1000 steps during the week (at least 4 times) slowly whittling down my time. I have to take two stairs at a time and semi-jog now to improve my times, but that’s a good thing. Cass and I decided we’d do a slower, but much longer version. Armed with a bottle of water each (as it turned out we could have done with a second one) we braved the 31 degree heat up to the foot of the stairs. Half way up we took a dogleg to the right and met up with another set of stairs. These are the ones I took a month or so back that led up to the very top of the Chinese Cultural College. Even though they are far less crowded (Sunday is not a good d ay to go!!), there is a reason: they are much steeper and more intense and also go a lot way further. Cass did a great job and we were huffing, puffing and sweating buckets by the time we got to the top. Along the way we saw dozens of scared little geckos and lizards rush across our path, including one little mini “dinosaur”! There were lizards with electric blue tails darting here and there and dainty skeletons of dead leaves scattered around. It was really quite scenic, especially every now and then when we’d burst from the forest canopy and get a glimpse of the seething city far, far below: quite surreal. We’ve been a bit pooped since we got back and the option of watching a little cricket and having a light “resting my eyes” type snooze definitely appealed! Photos: on the steps and track, golf driving and Halloween monsters at school on Friday.