We’ve had a relatively uneventful weekend overall, though we did make it downtown on Saturday afternoon/evening. We thought we’d better start tying up some loose ends for our trip on Thursday, so we’ve been emailing Italian gents who need to meet us at apartments with keys, booking train tickets between cities and figuring out what else we need to take and what we need to arrange to do here before we leave (like get someone to look after the cats!). We’re both slopping around today inside, Cassy valiantly trying to get her reports done and me prevaricating from real jobs by reading lots of newspaper clippings and fiddling on the computer. She’s sitting on the opposite side of the room now doing her computer work as she is using the tablet: she just said that she was enjoying using it…..never thought I’d see the day!

I went out with some of the usual subjects for a few beers on Friday: it was great for Lewy and Shaun to join us as well. We had a great time out at the “big brother” Woo So bar at Qiyan and had fun catching the train there. Cass and I decided to have a late lunch/early tea on Saturday at KGB, so we left mid-afternoon to get the train down to Taipower building. The Kiwi gourmet burgers were as delicious as ever and after we filled up on them, we had a bit of a wander down Roosevelt Rd. It’s a fairly uninspiring part of town really out on the main drag: I suspect all the action is in the back streets of Shida as the uni students seek out cheaper eats and entertainments. We weren’t up to exploring the labyrinth, so we headed back to the station.

On a whim, we only went two stops before transferring across then going a further two stops to Ximending, the very hip, cool and happening district in the south of the city centre. The Ximen MRT stop spits you out right slap bang in the middle of the pedestrian square and it’s a bit overwhelming. Thousands of excited young people, gigantic TV screens blaring off the sides of buildings and Vegasesque neon and sound everywhere. We braved the crowd and got swept along. As we got to a crossroads of a few streets a Christmas band was just starting up: they turned out to be horribly woeful, especially the young Taiwanese male singer trying Jason Donavon’s “Last Christmas” in very heavily accented and lisping English….shocking! The girl elves were also quite hilarious as they were obviously supposed to add some glamour to the proceedings but looked so embarrassed and behaved so awkwardly in their skimpy Santa suits that it spoiled the whole effect! A highly sparkly female host then started to extol the virtues of the surrounding stores at a high level of decibels, so we beat a retreat. We did, however, make one purchase along the way. After having tried on various jackets at all manner of trendy shops along the way, we’d just about given up when a jacket at the cheap chain store, Hang Ten, fitted well and was just what I was after. Quilted inside, a bomber style jacket that should go anywhere and be quite warm without being bulky I was chuffed to find it: a bonus was that it was dirt cheap as well! On the way back to the station, a street performer was showing off his pet performing squirrel and insisted that I hold out my hand for the squirrel to stand on it…he twiddled around with the little guy and he sat bolt upright for the photo before the owner took him back…only in Taiwan!

As I mentioned, today has been a very lazy day: the weather is cold and uninviting, a biting wind and cloudy skies have not enticed us away from our warm little cocoon here. That’s it for a while, my Christmas blog break is coming up. We’ll be in Rome on Friday, Florence at Christmas and Venice for New Years. Blog might be back on January 5, I’ll see how tired I am from our arrival back the day before! Photos: Cass trying on some specs in a trick shop at Taipower, the Ximen Christmas comedy and my little squirrel mate!

P.S. I’m re-reading Robert Graves “I, Claudius” to get into the Italian swing this week and came across this great quote: “ public men are in the habit of communicating their recollections, in the hope that elegant writing will eke out meagerness of subject-matter and flattery soften vices.” After reading that, I was tempted to write this week: “had beer, caught train, bought coat, played with squirrel and wrote reports”…….!

Thai Town on Tienmu West Road was a buzz of activity when Wal and I arrived at 7.15 Friday night. I’d just experienced a hair raising double from the top of the hill where we were both at the lower school Christmas drinks. Wal had given a white knuckle ride down to meet with Cass and a select group of others where we were to eventually surprise Sean for his 36th birthday. Katie had organized the whole thing over the last week or two and somehow we’d managed to keep it all hush hush.

We had a great little party and it was relaxing to drink and eat and chat with like minded folk. We’re definitely the elder citizens of this little group, with Sean and Wal the next oldest. Katie herself is still in her 20s so some of the other friends were similarly young. We do love hanging out with them though: we commented later that it probably keeps us pretty fresh and avoiding becoming jaded old teachers! Afterwards, we retired to the Red Hut and had a few quiet drinks before wandering off to our respective homes. The Red Hut’s major claim to fame is having a spectacular built in fish tank in both the men’s and women’s toilet. One wall is dedicated to a wonderful underwater fantasy, with hundreds of fish and other items of interest.

I got up way too early and ventured out to the coast. I met up with Dan and Nicky and the kids and we inspected every possible surf spot right from Jinshan to Damsui. As is often the case, we ended up chasing an elusive surf: lots of places were nearly surfable, but not quite. I actually needed Ross back with me on Saturday…I know he would have convinced me to go out somewhere! Anyway, as it turned out, I eventually got home nearly 4 hours later, quite exhausted and ready to eat a very late breakfast with my only recently arisen wife (!) I spoke to Josh and Kristen on the phone from Singapore later in the morning and they had some great job news which will see them stay in Singapore for a few more years at least. Saturday night we stayed in and Cassy cooked us up some magnificent spaghetti Bolognese…..one of my favorites, so all was right with the world.

Sunday was another magnificent day weather wise and after sleeping in a touch to make up for my lack of sleep the previous night, we proceeded to read vast quantities of Herald clippings from Mum before venturing out. We were just going to walk down the canal, but decided to extend the walk down to the night market area. Along the way, we enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and fresh air and eventually ended up at a little café we like down there, Orange. I had some vegetable lasagna and Cass had a Caesar salad and grapefruit juice….all delicious. It was so relaxing sitting up on the 2nd floor with a view of the mountains on such a clear day.

After lunch we ventured further down to the real action, and even though it was only mid afternoon, the crowd was already starting to swell. I was on a mission to get a few little things for our trip and we spotted another few things along the way. We got a hippish kinda scarf for me at some trendy kid’s joint then managed to spot some shoelaces, both normal and long. My boots have been crying out for some! Later on we spied a makeup mirror for poor old blind Cass (!) which magnifies on one side and a woolen hat for me. It’s one of those Andy Capp type things, but before recoiling in horror, let me explain that it is a plain colour (green) and I can wear it front ways or back. It’s become a necessity with these flowing locks I can tell you! Anyway, today was even better as Brandon brought in a lightweight jacket he’d bought on the cheap in Beijing which just might do the trick as a take anywhere jacket instead of my big bulky wool coat. I’ll test it out a little round here before I decide.

Cass is good, but continuing to grade great doorsteps of papers: those guys have to seriously look at their curriculum and their marking commitments in my opinion. We’re both quite tired today after our marathon walking efforts yesterday and a hard day at work. Bring on Christmas break! Photos; a shocking reminder of the Pasha Bulker when I spied a ship aground on the north coast. Cass in front of Dogs and cats café, the inside of Orange, strangely themed Taipei restaurant and the classic “stinky” dofu!! Finally, an entertaining sight whenever we wander down to Shilin: outside the church great lines of women ply their trade as "facial" specialists. They use an amazingly dexterous hand in wielding a string which seems to get rid of blackheads etc. Pedicures and manicures are on offer on the busy street as well!

Thanksgiving is a strange holiday concept for us, but one which we’ve embraced wholeheartedly as it gives us a very relaxing 4 day weekend after what has been an extremely enervating first semester. We had a few plans of attack for the break, but nothing solidly booked in, rather just sit back, relax and see what came up.

I went to the huge Thanksgiving turkey feast at school then proceeded to miss every exit strategy placed before me to get home, finding myself out way too late and “enjoying” way too many drinks. It was an interesting crew at school and a chance to catch up with people known and liked for ages, but whom we don’t often see. Cassy eschewed the various delights at school to spend a bit of quality time at home relaxing with the thought of days stretching out before her with precious little to do after a very hard recent bout of grading.

We’d been planning to explore the northern tip of the island, right out beyond the cape and around from the Green Bay tunnel. Little Yeliou is a moderate tourist attraction but we’ve been discouraged from visiting on many past occasions because of the phalanx of huge tourist busses that pulls up with great regularity at the car park, disgorging all manner of tourists, most of them Asian, but with suspiciously mainland accents, as well as Koreans and Japanese. The attraction is a whole set of curiously weathered rocks which have been named (some highly imaginatively!) after various objects, people etc. The big symbol of the place is the Queens Head, and it does indeed bear a striking resemblance to an ancient Egyptian queen. We enjoyed viewing the weathered rocks, but took more pleasure in hiking up and up, outwards to the tip of the cape. On the way, we encountered a coterie of hushed ornithologists from Japan, who whispered to us as we rudely interrupted their reverie that they were laying in wait for a visiting Japanese shore bird. Their camera equipment with gaping lenses covered in camouflage material was a sight to behold. The tip of the cape allowed a 360 degree view of the northern coast, a beautiful spot and one we were stoked to finally visit sans the overwhelming crowds. Having worked up an appetite through our climbing it was back to the row of fish restaurants, touts extolling the virtues of each on the road outside. The fish tanks adorning the outside were chock full of plump sea life, so we knew that at least the food would be fresh! We were ushered inside one and proceeded to order from the “ a le Certe” menu a delicious whole sweet and sour fresh fish, some green vegetable, fried rice etc, all imbued with the most amazing servings of garlic: lucky we both had it! It was a real feast and a real little gem: who’d have thought it? Our trip out and back via expressways and back roads is always an adventure of itself and so it proved again. We had a great day!

Saturday dawned to an electronic dancing beat coming from my mobile. Dan was ready for action, so I headed off to a rendezvous at school in record time. He drove us up over the mountain to Pointies, our self proclaimed spot at Jinshan. As we arrived, Tobes and Gary were just getting out and we’d missed the best of the conditions, even though it was still yawn inducingly early. We checked out another couple of spots before drifting back, only to spend the next few hours, much to our surprise, enjoying a pretty interesting little left hander that dropped down onto a fast breaking bank. Dan and I had a good chat and a catch up on the way over and back so it was a pretty successful and entertaining trip all round.

Cass and I had resolved to climb the steps before breakfast on Sunday morning, so we duly roused ourselves, convinced ourselves that it was a good idea to head off on a freezing early morning on the scooter rather than heading back to bed, and off we sped. The steps, according to my new “buddy”, the octogenarian Mr. Lai who climbs the steps each afternoon (very slowly!), actually consist of 1400 steps at irregular intervals covering a distance of 1.2 km. The distance feels like it is a vertical distance at some points as you rise further and further up into the low reaches of the mist on Yangminshan. I raced off to meet my times then waited at the top for Cassy’s arrival. After a quick breather at the top we headed back down, but not before witnessing a great gathering of oldies who were gathered at the top ready to move on down the monkey trail. The aforementioned Mr. Lai had told me of a mysterious temple on an offshoot path about halfway down the mountain which I investigated last week and promised to share with Cass. We got halfway down, took the poorly signposted path and after about 10 minutes arrived at a most bizarre and wondrous site. More than 200 life size stone sculptures of monks were lined up on different levels in and around the temple! The monks are all unique, their facial expressions, body positions and emotions all mixed and varied. We wandered around for ages marveling at the craftsmanship, as each monk has been carved from a massive block of stone to the most intricate design imaginable. It was quite surreal to be perched on the side of a steep mountain amongst these silent sentinels. The irony was that the temple itself was little more than a large glorified tin shed: they’d obviously decided to use whatever resources they had in pursuit of stone sculpture quantity and quality: Mr. Lai said that they’re not finished yet, but plan to carve more than 400!

Later that morning we scootered across to the Neihu Miramar precinct. I’d booked some tickets online to the big IMAX theatre out there to see a movie called Eagle Eye. While not meant to be any cinematic gem, it was filled with action scenes, car chases, lots of explosions and generally all sorts of good stuff for a 20 metre wide 8 stories high screen! Prior to having our retinas burnt out in there, we went off to TGI Friday’s a Tex Mex family style restaurant that we’ve enjoyed eating at before. The fare was still good, and I tried valiantly to catch a shot of one of the waiters peak caps which read in big bold black on white letters, “We fuck the fakeshit!”. The poor guy was probably wondering why I kept pointing the camera in his direction, but he wouldn’t keep still! We just laughed and laughed as he served family groups, little kiddies, oldies etc with no-one blinking an eye!
The movie turned out to be fantastic, way low on believability but way high on thrills and spills and on the way out we even paused to try on a little bit of product as I am searching for a warm, yet compact jacket to wear to Italy later in the month.

All in all, a fantastic break, much needed, much appreciated and quite rapidly fading into a beautiful memory as school ramps up again this week!