The bain-maries overflowing with turkey carvings, gravy in industrial proportions, the obligatory sides in groaning  metal serving pans and the endless rows of pumpkin pie all signal the start of the Thanksgiving break at 4 pm on the Wednesday afternoon before our break at school. We’ve enjoyed a magnificently relaxing 4 day break of just chilling out, watching some cricket, eating out and in with a few side dishes of our own in the shape of surfing trips to the coast and walks in urban jungles. It was just the tonic to revive us for what will be a very hectic three weeks to finish this first semester.

I’m not really a big fan of the school’s turkey feast and Cass finds it anathema. We had a few beers on a glorious afternoon on our little balcony before I headed back to the big feast. I’d promised a couple of the boys that I would take part later in a trivia contest at a pub downtown, so I decided to go to the school show first. As all the family members of all the employees are also invited, it becomes a really huge affair. There are always heaps of people there I don’t know and kids racing around in packs in the waning sunlight looking for trouble! We had a good time and then taxied down to get ourselves thoroughly involved in all things trivial at the Brass Monkey later on, ending up with the second prize for the night. We hung around there till all hours before finally making a retreat in the safe knowledge that Thursday was not a work day…bliss!
Cass and I have been captured by the cricket this long weekend pretty much. Fitting little outings and jobs in and around it has been fun, especially the first few days when the Aussies were unexpectedly well on top in the game. Ashes cricket is always a salve to the heart for the cricket tragic. There’s nothing better we reckon that that first ball of the first test in an Ashes summer: and even better when we get the upper hand against the old enemy!

On Friday, we resisted the temptation to check out Taipei’s huge international floral exposition. It would have been the perfect time actually as a week day would lessen the crush of the weekend crowd and the weather was superb. It will be on for many many more months though we figured and we’ll hold it off for a “rainy day” (not literally!) Instead we started our day by doing some mundane banking (checking that bank cards would work in France) then had an early lunch at Din Tai Fung. That place was hopping even on a week day lunch and we were lucky to get a table!

 Instead of tip-toeing through the tulips, Cass was keen to seek out her leather bag shop. She’d been checking out the high end stores for a few weeks to gauge prices and styles of the latest bags and after realizing the horrifying truth of their rarefied prices, opted instead to re-visit the little back alley bag shop where she has made a few purchases over the years. We got off the train at Chungshan and found our way to the shop, hiding away a dim alley with a huge security grill and a complete lack of signage hardly welcoming the passing trade. Old heads know the score though, and inside is an Aladdin’s Cave (so I’ve been told, it’s all wasted on me!)of leather bags of every shape, size, design and style. If it’s not there they’ll happily make it up for you too. After what seemed like hours, Cass made a very sensible selection and we escaped back to the metro. I raided an undies outlet store a few stops further down and now am able to chuck out some of my rag thin beauties that I’ve insisted on hanging on to for years: Cassy is delighted!

Surf chasing on Saturday was limited in success but a few mushy offerings at Jinshan at least got me in the water. Cass was entertained by the arrival of Dan and Nicky and family and they had a good old chat while I floundered in the stormy slush. I elected not to wear my spring suit and it was a little cooler than I expected so my stay was cut short a little! We waved them goodbye in their new van as they headed round the coast and we ate at the 7/11. These Taiwanese 7/11s really are an amazing concept. As Cass says quite often when we visit and they have yet another offering, “I really could live out iof the 7/11!” It’s true: our local 7/11 has now got an ATM, fax machine, toilets, a dining area, fruit and vegetables, a dedicated coffee shop area plus an unbelievable range of prepared foods and drinks along with grocery lines. You can even pay all your bills there!

On the way back up the mountain, we searched out a public hot spring area that Dan had told us about before. Wending our way up rutted mountain roads, we didn't find the springs, but we did find an idyllic spot with fresh rushing stream, crystal clear water pounding over boulders and nourishing larger than life greenery. We'll re-visit with a picnic lunch sometime soon!

Later today we re-visited our little urban jungle hill, perched atop of which is a temple with room upon room of Buddhas with long black beards. There are porcelain ones and metal ones, stone and concrete. There are some tiny golden ones encased in glass stacked one above each other in towers 10 feet high, each little cell named and lit from below. It is quite the sight!

Photos today will hopefully be of a noticeably improved quality: we bought a new camera, pretty much as I’m not keen to solely trust my experiment of camera phone to my trip to India. The phone’s 5mg camera is good, but you need a steadier hand then mine to produce best results. We bought a Canon Ixus: it’s a beauty, and the photos look pretty good we think. Photos, me with my kiddies and in my room, Cass on the balcony and at Din Tai Fung, washing outside in the street in front of one of the ubiquitous home-spun hairdressers, the girls in the sun and our secret stream!

Election fever has caught Taipei in a death grip. It really wasn't safe to venture out today, at least not for the faint of heart. Beaming round faces three stories high, fists held aloft, or perhaps clutching the hand of Taiwan's president Ma Ying-jeou. Perhaps silly action poses with numbered vests on, no doubt convincing the undecided voter that you indeed have the life and vitality to change the Taiwanese political landscape for good. If the unsuspecting public were even more unlucky (as we were several times today), we might see the aspiring pundits in person, extolling the electorate from the back of a flat bed truck at ear-splitting amplification. Of course an entourage of gaily festooned trucks, cars, motorbikes and whatever other vehicle that could be found would accompany them, making them see ever so much more important than the other guy!

However, brave or silly, we did get out today for a little trip down to Carrefour and a further trip down to Hsin Yi to Taipei 101 and its excellent bookshop, Page One. The main reason for our first trip was to check out a few cameras. Unfortunately, our own camera and the one which the school has generously "lent" me for the past few years have both suffered the same fate. They seem to have uncleanable spots in their inner workings which come out on all our photos. My hope for a solution was the new phone's camera and it has been doing a good job for a number of weeks. It just has a lot of trouble with low light and also if my palsied hand has the slightest wobble when taking a shot it is blurringly unforgiving. As we're both off to different places this Christmas, we're keen to get a camera that will do our destinations justice, while still being handy and compact.

Being my father's son, I cannot do any of this without extensive research first! Poring over reviews on the internet for days has pretty much just confused me even more: who knew there could be that many models and makes of compact cameras out there? there are hundreds!! Suffice to say, I didn't get one, but Cass was very patient as I hummed and harred for a very long time!

Sustenance was needed and we dined at the casual, excellent but not very creatively named "Eat Burger" just near the Zhishan MRT station. Fortified we ventured onward against the rallying calls of the hopeful politicians and braved the seething masses on a Sunday afternoon heading into Taipei proper. The MRT was packed and we rolled with the populace all the way to main station before transferring to the equally popular eastern line. On a familiar walk through Hsin Yi to 101 we were delighted as always to see a happy crowd enjoying the unseasonably warm day, the street entertainers and the shining excesses of the world's most decadent labels pouting at us as we walked by from their metal and glass palaces. Cassy managed to whisk me into at least a few of these establishments, but after the likes of Tiffany, Cartier, Dolche and Gabbana, Hermes, Dior, Salvatore Ferragamo and the like I was quite ready for the solitude of the cavernous Page One bookshop. I bought myself a travel guide on Delhi, Agra and Jaipur and Cassy seemed insistent that I also purchase "Guide to Surfing in Europe". I'm sure there is a sinister plan in that somehow, but I don't think I'll complain: as she said, "It's my favourite thing and your favourite thing all in one book, how could that be bad?"! Hard to argue with that kind of logic.

Home via taxi which was an event in itself as the taxi driver appeared to be suffering from Tourette's and also chewed lushiously on red bettle nut all the way home! Photos: self portrait outside The Spice Shop where we dined on Saturday after watching the Social Network (Cassy liked the movie more than me). Various posters for the election, Cass at Hsin Yi and me at Eat Burger. I'm reading "The New Manhood" by Steve Biddulph, so hope to be displaying traits of a real man very soon! Cassy is reading "Eat, Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert.

 

Slinging into Singapore early on Friday morning, bleary eyed and foggy headed after the flight from Taipei, we were relieved to see ever reliable Josh propping up a column outside the arrivals hall. Driven through slick empty city streets to his apartment, a quick chat then off to bed, our weekend tour was about to begin. Wal and I were down to see our good mates Josh and Lewy along with other old friends from TAS, watch the Singapore Open Golf, go to the races at Kranji and generally have a rollicking good time. The weekend did not disappoint, but our REM cycles were severely disrupted: when you’ve just got a couple of days, you can’t afford to waste too much time sleeping!

Friday was like the day that time forgot, but all in a very satisfying way. Up at 6.45 and off to the golf to catch the early rounds and escape the sapping heat that accompanies the mid-morning and noon tee offs. We drank our first beer at the official time of 9.15 am, so it was all go from then on! We watched a few groups play through the 18th onto the final green as they finished off rounds from yesterday, then we decided to follow Australia’s own Adam Scott for a while. There are two championship courses on Sentosa and Adam was to play the unfamiliar (to us) alternative course back behind the main clubhouse. Grand opulence at every corner on the course, none more so than the main clubhouse with its sweeping stairs and vaulted ceilings nodding to the grand old days of the British empirical rule. As we followed the Scott group, he whittled down his score quite regularly hole by hole, hitting birdie after birdie. We were vocal in our support, and he acknowledged our Aussie comments with a good natured smile or wave every time we offered one.  Josh, Lewy and Wal were all quite fascinated with my fascination. After all, I don’t play golf. There’s just something about seeing world class sportsmen weaving their craft. The perfect balance, the seemingly effortless power of the swing, the sound of the ball clinking onto the head of the driver and the surgical precision of their best shots: quite wondrous to behold.

After a long day in the heat, we decided to relax by the pool in Josh and Kristin’s complex for a few hours before heading off to the races. What a set up they have. The 50 plus metre pool is below the two smaller ones which are complete with fountains and spas. Poolside, a café serves beer, wine and meals while joggers pound an endless airconditioned road in the fully equipped gym glassed in overlooking the pool. We were there purely for the swim and the beer at this stage though! Josh had invited a swag of ex-TAS teachers along, and it was great that Peter and Melissa, Jamie and Todd all made the trip across to say g’day. Raj, the café owner, supplied us with a surfeit of jugs of beer till we eventually dragged ourselves away to make the trip to the track. Good times!

Kranji is a spectacular racecourse. It tends to make the track at Newcastle look very provincial and even the big city tracks in Australia pale in comparison. Everything there is grand and big, from the mounting yard parades to the sweeping sheet of glass that cocoons the masses from the Singapore heat. Chris R. came to meet us at the track with apologies from Robyn who was hosting a team party. He immediately upped the ante by collecting a good win from his first punting foray, much to our horror, as our careful study of the form had yielded nary a place! The other friend to join us at the races was the famous “Ginger Ninja” who we had met at Josh’s buck’s party in Singapore two years before. He is a classic character, very ocker with hilarious sayings and catch phrases, all contained in a short compact frame with a shock of fire red tight curls on top of his noggin! After the last race, our tails firmly between our legs, we traipsed to the taxi stand for the long ride back into town: next stop, the infamous Orchard Towers!

An unprepossessing building stolidly plonked in the centre of Singapore’s main shopping district, Orchard Towers almost defies description. Inside, it is not dissimilar to a department store, with wide white tiled lobbies and aisles, gleaming escalators silently transporting people endlessly up and down. Each floor of four houses an endless array of bars and nightclubs all blaring their own special attractions from touts fronting the doors or more subtle yet vaguely furtive men handing you a flier from the aisles exhorting you to just have “one drink” to check their establishment out. The huge number of venues might indicate that the place would be desperate for customers, but this didn’t seem to be an issue: every bar had a crowd that pulsed and swayed in a thick wave of torsos and limbs and we had to go single file to cut a swathe  through the human jungle. We eventually found a place that not only had the obligatory writhing pole girls (who all seemed so uninterested and mechanical in their work as to render the whole show quite boring rather that sensual: which I’m sure is not the original intention!), but also housed what we found out later to be Singapore’s premier cover band. These guys really rocked the house and some of their Led Zeppelin covers had to be heard to be believed.

As you move up the floors, the bars become increasingly more exclusive and the very top ones seem to be exclusively for Singapore’s famous “lady boys”. They are quite open in telling you their original sexual orientation which is mostly quite shocking because, as we discovered last time, they are often by far the most beautiful women in the whole building! It’s always great to have a look in these top clubs as it’s certainly not an everyday experience. One thing is for sure and certain: Singapore is definitely not a cheap place to live and the upper echelons of Orchard Towers are probably dearer than most other places in Singapore…how does $84 for six beers sound?!

Saturday was a really lazy, late get up, fall in and out of the pool day for us. It gave us a chance to catch up with Josh and Kristin a bit more which was great. Kristin has just finished a stint singing La bohème and has this weekend just dipped her little toe into the waters of musical theatre which she reports she likes a lot. She sang on Friday night at a $1000 a head fundraising dinner and it went very successfully. Josh and Kristin are just such a perfectly suited couple: strangely in some ways as their interests seem poles apart, but it all seems to work quite wonderfully. Saturday night we all went to a great café run by an Aussie expat and met up with Lewy, Alison, Jay A. and Clarky and Melissa. The party of 9 had a fantastic fun night reminiscing about old times and discussing a few aspects of the Australian Diaspora and how we have different experiences depending where we are in the world. I’m sure Clarky was keen to paint the town red, but as we were up at 5 the next morning we wisely demurred.

We farewelled Josh before first light the next morning, taxied to the airport and crushed and folded ourselves into our Jetstar seats for the 5 hours back to Taipei. Tired but stoked, this trip is already getting inked into the calendar for next year! (By the way, Cass was quite happy to be left out of this report. She spent many extra hours sleeping and enjoying some quality time with the cats on the lounge on a dreary rainy Taipei weekend. I suspect she was quite happy to escape from my annoying presence for a little while!) Photos: Wal and Josh displaying the great range of food in a Singapore supermarket, the boys at the golf, Adam Scott, and a fascinating photo I snaffled from someone else's Facebook account: see the hot chick four from the left with the sunnies on? That is Cassy Williamson, circa 1978 at Dungog High with all the girls from her senior class!

Cassy spent 7 hours doing her commercial shoot on Wednesday straight after school, so she was pretty exhausted afterwards, got home late and didn’t get enough sleep. There was no indication from her agent that my presence would be tolerated, so I drove Cass to the hotel where filming was to take place and just dropped her off. We were both surprised to find out it was an upmarket “love hotel”, a peculiarly Asian phenomenon, where amorous couples can sneak away from the extended family at home (how many typically live) and live in a little fantasy world for a few hours. The suite of rooms was chosen for its opulent settings and backdrops and was dressed to look like a rich person’s home.

Cassy had to do numerous takes of all sorts of shots and actually got quite a sore knee as she had to put shoes on the star of the show at one point from a kneeling position. Apparently the lighting was the main time consumer and she had to remain in various poses for great stretches so they could get the lighting just right. She got chatting to the star of the show between the action and discovered she is a 19 year old Dutch girl who has been working most recently in Hong Kong. She was 181 cm tall and very slim, but told Cass that she needed to lose another 8 kilos if she was to break into the American market, which is what she wants. Hard to believe. Cass also found out that the ad will be televised not only in Taiwan, but throughout the length and breadth of China, so a lot of people will see it! It will take anything from 1 month to 3 months before it airs and I’ll get a copy of it posted on here when it does.

We are both suffering from a mild hangover today and a little slow to get going doing anything. It would be a much worse one if we were drinking normal alcoholic beverages, but we were sipping on $200 a bottle champagne and red wine all night and consumed a lot of it. The big occasion was the annual Thanksgiving dinner put on by the Koo family. The two boys attend our school and each year they host a most lavish party for all the teachers connected with the boys. It has grown from a one table affair to three huge circular tables this year and as usual was quite stunning in its opulence. The wine flowed from carafes tipped by attentive wait staff, of whom there were at least 30. The food was Chinese in style but very high quality, so that even some of the more questionable offerings were delicious. There were many small courses each of a different delicate flavour.

The Koos are really a delightful couple and their kids are too. The great thing about the night is their complete lack of pretension and even a certain vulnerability they exude. It’s just so refreshing, especially from a family who are among the stratospheric rich in the world. One quirky note to the evening is the relatively recent adoption of karaoke as a big draw card. There is a professional hostess who cajoles a few early singers to the microphone, yet after a few hours it is impossible to prise the mikes away from some people! It all gets very very silly and messy but there is a definite fun vibe. We get our marching orders in the nicest possible way at a sensible time and we’re ushered into a waiting fleet of cabs for the trip back to Tienmu from their headquarters in Neihu where we dined and entertained each other.

So, another exciting week here in Taipei. Cassy is going to France with her mum over the Christmas break and I was contemplating what to do at the same time. I had all sorts of options, but in the end I decided the most sensible thing would be to go somewhere that Cassy does not want to go. So, I’m off to India! I fly into New Delhi and will explore from there, the Taj Mahal will be one day trip but I’ll investigate further what else I might want to see/do.

I’m reading the legend Peter Corris, Cliff Hardy adventure called “Deep Water”, while Cass being so busy is still managing to eke out her Franzen treasure. Photos are various shenanigans at the Koo party (quality is bad but I think it sums up the moment quite well!) I also included a fabulous shot of my nephew front and centre at a concert: it's such a great photo, I had to include it...go Pat!

Another journey downtown via the whisper stealth of the Metro Rapid Transit trains, a couple of changes and we were in the very unfamiliar territory of Da-an Park and surrounds. Phone GPS working overtime and Chinese street signs read under duress in a faintly misting rain, we gave up and caught a cab through the labyrinthine back alleys and lanes. Eventually after a lot of head scratching, reversing and block circling, we were disgorged at a rather unprepossessing building, looking remarkably similar to all those around.

Inside and up and up to a third floor landing, a few more clues were emerging to what lay ahead. Stylish exposed brick and track lighting, a giant antique Chinese door on the second landing and a jazzy sign, open door and lounge were visible on the third. We were ushered into yet another stairwell from an almost deserted 3rd floor and emerged into a rather strange world of dapper English gentlemen in butler’s suits, a pout of impossibly willowy western beauties being blow dried and made up by twittering little Taiwanese fancy boys and an entourage of bohemian individuals with flowing and layered clothing looking like it had just been thrown on when they emerged for a late morning breakfast, but had obviously been planned and staged for just that effect.

My beautiful wife has been chosen from a large field to play a role in an upcoming advertisement to be filmed for Left Bank Café, a coffee brand here in Taiwan. We were downtown last week for a casting call and she subsequently landed the role and was down again for final fittings, makeup run throughs and a photo session. She is playing a character based on Meryl Streep’s in “The Devil Wears Prada”. She needs to examine the dress of a young model and be particularly disdainful of her choices and be quite haughty. She then becomes convinced of the young woman’s good taste when she spies her drinking said coffee…quite a hoot!

Cass was ushered into an anteroom where she was fussed over at great length: she had her face makeup done by aforementioned fancy boy and her hair was tizzed and teased as much as one inch long hair can be, before being blown dry. She then tried on a range of outfits that had been custom made for her from last weekend’s measurements. After each fitting, she needed to pose for a bank of photographs in various haughty poses! During all this, my obviously annoying presence was ignored as I sat in someone’s office chair and played with my phone (I’m re-reading Catch 22 on it, so I was well entertained)! The amount of people involved was staggering and this is even before the real shooting begins:  Makeup people, hairdressers and photographers all flounced in and out; all seemingly with opinions on how sets and actors should look. Our English butler was a delightfully accented genuine Englishman (!) who I had a lovely chat with and found out he lived quite near us in Tienmu. The gorgeous young women were polite but seemed quite keen to get in, do their stuff and get out again: I suppose these professionals are quite used to the festive nature of it all and just want to do their job and be done.

The star of the show for me of course was Cassy. She was quite stunning in all her gear and although it had been made for her, in some ways so had the part: it's a gem. The production group was so impressed with her usual look that they have asked her to wear her own shoes, watch and rings for the final shooting and do her makeup as usual “to save time”. The director appraised her at the end and I was glad that someone let me know who he was….I would have asked him to desist staring at my wife up and down in that manner if I hadn’t known!

The final date for shooting is as yet unconfirmed, but it is more than likely going to be this Friday after school. They are shooting some scenes during the day down at Sun Moon Lake and the studio scenes that Cass is involved in are being filmed in the evening down near the Taipei 101 somewhere. She stipulated that this needed to be done after school hours or on the weekend and she had received special dispensation to do it, as we are forbidden to have any other employer under normal circumstances.

I always am, but I was particularly proud of Cassy this weekend. She handled all this strange stuff as if it was an everyday occurrence and managed all the rather difficult acting quite brilliantly. She is quite excited by the whole experience as well, and we can certainly mark this down as yet another bizarre Taipei moment: who could guess that we would still be getting surprised like this after all this time? The rest of the weekend was rather mundane by comparison, so I’ll not even mention it, except to say we ate out at yet another great discovery in the Zhongxiao Dunhua area. Three lanes behind the main road, we discovered a little café with great food called “Free Style” and it enabled me to stare at my film star wife across the table for an hour or two before she scrubbed off all the “muck” when she got home!
Exciting times!