If I wrote this entry in my usual overly verbose, blown out with minutia, laden with detail style, we’d be here till Christmas: so, I won’t!

Thanksgiving was just that: a time for us to pause and say thanks for giving us what we considered a long awaited well deserved break. We forwent the delights of the Thanksgiving party at school on Wednesday night (AKA the swill fest) to spend a bit of quality time with mates (me) and the cats (Cass).

Thursday was a big day for us as we planned to sleep in just a little then decadently watch the whole first day of the first test of the Australian summer and we did just that! I even relented and spent about $40 for a year’s subscription to some streaming just to make sure we’re not interrupted when we really want to watch some cricket. That evening we went to Wendel's and we both had their absolutely delicious steak with pepper sauce: this is just first class stuff, washed down with some quality German red wine.

Cass made a tangy batch of her famous lemon butter for the break so Friday started out the same with hot slabs of toast with lemon butter and beaming cricket from the PC to the TV. At the lunch break we decided to attempt the climb of what we found out later (!) to be North Taiwan’s highest mountain> Scootering up to the base near the Yangminshan Visitor’s centre we set off up the stairs. Little did we realize that 2.5 kilometres straight up we still had not quite arrived at the peak! We were above the cloud line and the top 1/3 of the climb was quite surreal. We encountered lots of squirrels, heaving hikers, strange moss covered foliage and trees and rocks and an other worldly spookiness as we climbed ever higher. On the way back down we discovered a gigantic open space with picnicking hikers and various other groups. I managed to stuff my knee after all those steps and had to peg leg my way down the last little bit. Cass and I still have screaming calf muscles today and we find ourselves exclaiming in pain at the oddest moments! All in all 4 hours of climbing was no mean feat.

Dinner out at Saffron, a very slick Indian restaurant near the cinema and then the very worthwhile and surprising “District 9” from South Africa was our cinematic fare on Saturday.

The Pillbox beckoned on Sunday for a surf trip and Cass enjoyed the sit on the beach in the sun while I got a few uncrowded waves (an increasingly rare event these days in Taiwan). We had a pleasant trip then decided to cross the red bridge to Bali on the left bank of the Danshui river.
Bali was a fantastic spot! We parked then strolled along the boardwalk, taking in the unusual view looking back at Danshui and people watching and sampling the “special and delicious” foods, some of which were OK and some of which were not good at all! We wandered for a few hours and marked a few spots we’ll definitely return to. It was a terrific afternoon and a fitting end to a great re-charging break. Here's a link to the slideshow accompanying this post.

We tested the car out in some dreary, squally weather on Saturday afternoon en route to the tiny historic village of Jiufen in the hinterland of the Keelung mountains. Our spur of the moment planning started out fine, but we decided to ditch it when the rain and wind started to beat down more ferociously as we got nearer the coast.

We made a detour to the off coast near Wanli on the way to Keelung via a tiny winding road which we’d never travelled on before. Ostensibly surf spotting, we were able to find instead a very impressive coastal walkway which extends for many kilometers along the wild bluffs at the foot of the precipitous Keelung mountains which literally fall sheer into the sea. We stayed cocooned in the comfort of the car but were able to see the extent of the path as it followed the road on the ocean side. Colossal boulders and craggy sea caves added to the spectacle as the big swell bashed and crashed, great plumes of spray jettisoned into the air. On a calmer day it would be quite amazing, so we locked that away for further investigation. On the same road further along, we skirted a giant power factory with three impressive chimney stacks right on the coast. The walkway had stopped by then of course!

Swinging back onto the number 3 freeway, we made our way back via Neihu and decided to visit the Miramar shopping complex near the big wheel. After secreting Ziggy in a cavernous car park on the B3 level we made our way up only after carefully noting where we were! We spent some time wandering in the market stalls outside at first before going over to a nearby building that was advertising “international fashion” at warehouse prices. After perusing an endless array of doe soft Italian leather jackets, Cass settled on one which was a kind of aqua colour: I’m sure that description will be quite inadequate. It was indeed being sold at a bargain price…I was sure at first that I’d misheard the Chinese.

We then moseyed around the main building for a while and enjoyed some people watching. What a sight it is in Taipei when the weather just turns ever so slightly wintery. The mercury barely threatening the 20 degree mark, yet the parkas with fur lined collars come out of nowhere. It is always quite hilarious as Taipei’s young women seem very resistant to losing their signature mini skirts, so we often see girls tottering on their gravity defying high heeled knee length boots, micro mini skirts with bare legs and then the aforementioned Antarctic inspired jackets up top: weird, but always entertaining!

We stayed and ate an early dinner at TGI Fridays, which is predictable fare, but comfortingly familiar and easy to order. The ambiance in the restaurant is always fun too, with lots of rock and movie memorabilia displayed on the walls. After successfully finding and extracting the car form the depths of the basement, we made our way home in the early evening. I’ll stop raving about the car soon, but it really is quite satisfying to be driving such a comfortable vehicle at long last: it certainly adds to the driving experience here. The big city traffic can be pretty enervating especially with the strange driving proclivities of the locals, but a decent easy-to-drive car makes it much more bearable.

Today we had Wol around for a good chunk of the day as we watched a live stream of UFC 106. We had a great time talking about all the fights and even Cass came to join us to see the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy”, Tito Ortiz get his comeuppance in his comeback bout!

As threatened, I’m including yet more photos from last weeks temple visit and some from yesterday, Cass at under the Christmas tree at Tom Dragon, in front of the rows of leather jackets in Neihu, some kiddies trying to capture ducks at the outside markets and me in front of the old album covers at Fridays.

An intriguing herd of goats had loitered on a hillside on the way to the Grand palace for many years and we’d often marveled at their brilliant white coats and what sort of maintenance they must receive to maintain such pristine cleanliness. Every other time we’d spied them, we’d noted them with interest as well as the ornate temple gates beyond with a staircase leading up the hillside and disappearing. Today, however, we stopped and stayed and explored and discovered the wonders of Shilin’s very own Juiji temple and garden park.

We got our act together marvelously early this morning and managed to get ourselves out to a new brunching restaurant, appropriately called “Hsiang, The Brunch”, for a decadently delicious breakfast. The restaurant is nestled behind the big cinema complex, Miramar, which we frequent, so we had noticed it before. During the week, Wol mentioned to me how good it was so we decided to check it out. After eating our fill of a mélange of scrambled eggs, eggs Benedict, pancakes, muffins and even salads with apple juice and hot strong coffee, we couldn’t believe we were fed, ready to face the day and all dressed up with nowhere to go so early on a weekend morning!

Off to get some petrol for the scooter, I remembered our herd of goats and we thought it was a perfect opportunity to check it all out. The goats were just the entrée to an extremely pretty and beautiful intricately designed garden and temple. The red lantern lined stairway ascended into jungle like growth above and each step of the way to the top we had another beautifully carved marble or granite sculpture or fresco like panel to admire.

The temple was now in its 5th incarnation and had some remnants that were about 300 years old. The old fortification wall was one such part and an ancient gnarled impossibly gargantuan tree laid its canopy across the top reaches of the stairs, strong wires supporting its weight, in turn bolted into the granite cliff faces: no wonder it has survived all these typhoons we get! We eventually got to the top of the stairs to be greeted with another surprising sight: the landscape opened up into a huge flat area featuring a temple at one end, a parapet view of Tienmu at the other and the most magnificently shaped tree, plumb in the middle.

Onwards and upwards, past even more treasures in stone, a series of well built timber walkways skimmed the undergrowth and allowed the sensation of walking above the lush green growth rather than through it. We spent ages wandering down one walkway then the next, each one ending in a little item of interest, such as a tiny lookout, a bas relief of the area in granite, a shady pavilion with seats to stop and take a breath, or a quiet corner to study a signposted plant.

When we got home, we were amazed to find that is was still morning (by a few minutes) and we’d had such an adventurous day already. It’s really been a great day because of that; we told ourselves we should do it more often. The trouble is, this semester seems to be really beating us up a bit: we seem to be so exhausted when the weekends roll around. Cass continues to set herself a frenetic pace at work as well as (in my opinion!) an excessive marking/grading regime which sees her working most nights as well. I have no such excuse, but do manage to fill up my afternoons and evenings by exercising at the gym or dragging myself off to my Chinese lessons. Suffice to say, we’re very much looking forward to the Thanksgiving break in a week and a half and the Christmas holiday not so far away. Maybe we’re just getting too old….(!)

Cass has begun to read Tim Winton’s Breath and I’m reading my writing book concurrently with a book by my new hero, an 80 year old Hungarian woman acknowledged as the world’s greatest polyglot: she speaks 16 languages! Her name is Kato Lomb and the book is “Polyglot: How I Learn Languages”. Photos are all from today, either at breakfast or at the temple park. I’ll inflict a few more on you next week!

Apparently, our new car must be named, so I’ve reluctantly agreed to the moniker “Ziggy” which alludes to its “ZG” number plates. In many ways, it is now worthy of a naming ceremony after making its first trip over the mountain and round the coast without missing a beat. We were cocooned in the luxurious feeling beast all the way, climate control keeping the humidity at bay and all the other bells and whistles passing their test runs.

We were most impressed with the leather upholstery, superior sound system, electric sunroof and other gadgets as well as the large interior space. My Mum and also my Aunt and Uncle will not be surprised at this news as they have both owned the same vintage Honda Accord at various times (and still have it I believe). It was also the last type of car that Dad drove, and I thought of him a few times as I drove over the mountain for the first time, especially when I “opened her up” to pass a sluggish car in front: he was certainly known for some high speed escapades while driving around home base in Newcastle!

The day was glorious, but the far side of Yangminshan was draped in a sea mist that clung to the ground and didn’t stir. There was no wind and the conditions outside were very uncomfortable. The two boards I had stashed in the back didn’t get any use as we decided not to surf and also not to swim. Instead, we thought we’d give the car a real test ands take it around in search of the huge dog rumoured to be guarding the hinterland of the 18 Lords temple on the north coast. We found the 18 Lords temple, but not the dog…perhaps another time.

While there however, we decided to explore further up the hill, up and up to where the giant wind generated turbines stood. They dwarfed the lone turbine on Kooragang island in Newcastle and we actually had a touch of vertigo staring up at the one at the top of the peak. In typical Taiwanese fashion, these turbines (all 6 of them) have been transformed into a minor tourist attraction, with a boardwalk leading to the base of one and plenty of vantage points designed for photo taking. We missed a tour bus by seconds, so enjoyed a look pretty much to ourselves.

We stopped on the scenic coastal highway and photographed the car while admiring the skills of a lone scuba diver with a net…he seemed to be engaged in a hybrid of ancient aboriginal fish catching practices and modern diving, using a small net to cast towards fish and trying to scoop them up: we didn’t stick around long enough to see if he procured his dinner!

We’d also gone out without any money! We scraped the bottom of the surf bag and found just enough to get a tiny pack of pork dumplings (for me) and some yoghurt (for Cass) and washed our feast down with some water from the free water we get when we fill up the car with petrol.

Suitably recharged, we then investigated down the entrance road from Baishawan to the Cape Fugei lighthouse, where we turned left to re-discover a tiny concrete harbour sheltering a few bobbing fishing boats and some languid fishermen onshore. What was most interesting was a coastal boardwalk heading south-west towards a possible “new” point break. Ever since our horrendous experience of an inexperienced crowd at Greenball a few weeks back, the urgency has grown to find an even more secluded spot, away from the prying eyes of surfers trawling the highway in search of waves. Cass and I investigated further by tracking the road in from the other end, near the ill fated former “Jetson” house of the Sanjih shoreline. After following some signs to the coastal walkway and negotiating a bike path, where we risked precipitous drops into rice paddies on either side, we eventually abandoned the car to progress on foot. After a few hundred metres of very pleasant walking past tiny temples and shaded lanes, we emerged at the coast, devoid of any dwellings and within sight of the other side of the point…this place will definitely be checked again when the swell rises.

We were completely exhausted yesterday for some reason and had a huge sleep-in and couldn’t rouse ourselves to do anything other than vegetate in front of the one day cricket, beaming via internet from India. The Aussies won in the time I would normally be writing the blog, hence the late entry: apologies to those who have a Sunday night routine to read…Ildi?
Photos: car on the coast road, diver catching fish, up at the wind turbines and at the secluded possible future surf break on the boardwalk.

The “auburgino” legend is drawing to a rapid close as her replacement has been selected and a deposit has been paid. We don’t like changing cars as we both become quite fond of them, possibly because we hang on to them for so long!

This weekend has been spent trawling the car yards of Chengde road after I had an eventful experience south of Wugu at the “big daddy” strip of second hand car dealerships on Thursday afternoon/evening. Cassy and I had come to the sad realization that the “aubergino” was definitely on its last legs if not quite giving a death rattle, we could feel it coming> rather than be stranded on a mountain road or in the east coast tunnel when our vehicle abruptly failed to proceed, we decided to look for a replacement. We had the idea that we would do some research, take our time and select a car at our leisure. As is the nature of these things, it didn’t quite go to plan and our timetable sped up quite rapidly when we realized we could get what we wanted sooner than we thought.

I’d found a very popular website used by the second car buyer in Taiwan, and even though all in Chinese, it wasn’t hard to work out the various tabs at the top and narrow down our search according to area, engine size, make and model and most importantly, price. We’d decided to spend up a bit this time, partly as it’s a perfect time with the Aussie dollar going gangbusters: our money is better spent here at the moment. We thought about ten thousand Aussie should secure something reasonably new of a reasonable quality, and we were right. There were lots of choices and we looked at hundreds! The website was great as it gave us an island wide idea of price; so that when we went looking we were fairly knowledgeable.

Taiwan’s fickle weather attacked us on Saturday! We were sweltering in a beating sun and the search on the hot, dry, dirty Chengde road was not a pleasant experience. We did meet some nice salesmen and women, we also met a few snarly uncooperative ones, but we didn’t mind: we just didn’t linger at their yard. My Chinese was tested out on numbers and prices and technical car stuff, but using a combination of Chinese, English and “Chinglish”, we managed to get our message across. We left after a considerable number of hours, determined to get back and test the board out in a few the next day.

The board test is a little weird, but important to us. We didn’t really want a van or people mover etc and we also didn’t want to strap boards to roof racks if we could avoid it. We wanted a saloon with fold down rear seats able to take a 6’5” surfboard in the back….not so easy to find! If we had to, we would have looked at different models, but as it turned out, we found just what we wanted, albeit a lot older and cheaper than we first looked for. We settled on A Honda Accord, vintage 1999 which is very impressive and for under half what we were initially looking at. Sure, it’s a little older, but it is in great condition and is beautifully finished. Just some of the specs: 2 airbags, ABS brakes, air con, electric everything, including sunroof, full leather upholstery all round with wood grain trim, CD stacker, alarm etc. It has a 2 litre VTEC engine and the body was clean and blemish free. We’re pretty happy!

I did the deal today and paid a deposit and spent a few hours running back and forth to banks etc, taking test drives, basically just checking out all the little things and whether they all worked. I now need to go back tomorrow afternoon to trade in the big old corona for a few bucks, take it off the buy price, then get all the rego transferred over at the Motor Transport department. I’m expecting a few hours for that and then: “new” car! We cleaned out the old car this afternoon, and the portable shower, tub of surf equipment, maps and various other stuff is all ready to go in the new car.

On a different note, I’ve been peer pressured into entering “Movember” for charity this month. Apart from the sparse growth I’ll be able to achieve, the fiery red numbers amongst all the grey with a just a few aberrant black hairs will be a real horror show. I don’t know if I’m going to last real long! Cass is exhausted after her parent conferences on Thursday and Friday and our car hunt all weekend…we both need another weekend to relax a little. Photos: a collapsed lion dancer at the temple just around the corner, me and Virg with a stack of cash, the last shot of the beat up old Auburgino and the new Accord.