We were both very social Friday evening. I had a few beers at Wendel’s and Cass went to Alleycats where the MS staff was having a post camp celebration. It had turned into a rather more sombre gathering due to the death early in the week of a much loved and respected colleague, yet another death amongst the teaching ranks here. It has certainly been a terrible couple of years in this regard and we’re really hoping that this time we’ll gain some respite. In fact, even though it was shocking and sad, we’re getting so used to the emotions from these kinds of bombshells that we’re becoming slightly, just slightly, less devastated by them. I don't think this is a good thing...On a brighter note, we had an exceptional day in the sun today and were “kissed” a little by the sun in return! The coast turned on one of those most beautiful, Australianesque Indian summer days today, the sun in a clear bright sky and the water fanned by a light offshore breeze. The slight drawback was that although the offshore had blown all the shore hugging sea board rubbish out to deeper water, the crystalline effect was marred by the beach flotsam blowing in! We can’t win… The shorelines here are just constantly littered with rubbish, admittedly mainly fairly harmless fishing trawler losses, like floats and nets, but occasionally more sinister and unidentifiable material! Suffice to say, that the water was very clear today, but slightly spoiled by the blow-ins.
This is a rather strange phenomenon: people back in Australia would never contemplate getting in at such a “dirty” beach, yet we’ve become very much acclimatized, and actually rarely notice it anymore. Just another way we are way spoilt back home.
The surf was pretty small, but it was a great bodysurfing wave and even though a little brisk at first, the water was very refreshing. Cass got in for a while after bobbing up and down near the shoreline for ages, just getting used to the idea!
On the way back home, we stopped at a 7/11 to get some food and came across one of Taiwan’s strange, but fairly common sights. As posted on these pages before, the bride getting photos taken before the big day is fairly common, and she was quite happy to pose for us as we went past the entrance of the convenience store in the car.
A little further on, just past the main corner from Jinshan heading up to Yangminshan again, we finally stopped and got out to have a closer look at our favourite sculpture. The massive powerful rhino has been there for years and years, and I’ve been a huge fan since I first noticed its construction. Up close, it is indeed a palpably strong representation of the beast. There is a Chinesey looking bridge just behind and a remarkably clear water river: as Cass pointed out, it looks like it has just coursed down from the mountains, with very little interference, so has remained clear and clean.
We’re feeling very relaxed this evening and looking forward to just two days with kids, then a further 3 PD days as the annual EARCOS conference is on. We’ve previously gone off to these, notably in Vietnam and Bangkok, but Kota Kinabalu seemed just a little too “contained” for us this year! Photos: body surfing, bridge and river, posing girl and a powerful smooth stone and steel rhino!