On Sunday, we took a stroll in the neighbourhood to take advantage of the stellar weather of bright sunshine and wafting cool zephyrs. The park and courtyards of the SOGO complex, known as Dexing Park, are artfully designed and sculpted by bushes, tiny grass-coated rolling hills and established trees for some shade and interest. The open space is cloistered by Lego-like blocks of apartments, department stores and banks which marvellously have just appeared in the past short while after a couple of years hidden behind green corrugated iron fences, beyond which milling ant communities of workers scurried and worried over the construction of the glass shrouded main buildings.

We bought some sandwiches from Flavor Field (their spelling!) and drinks from 7/11 before settling at an outdoor table to enjoy some people-watching and soak up some vitamin D. Families with little kids were entertained by a macro-cephalic "Happy Lamb" who was accompanied by some daggy assistants who were necessary to support his ballooning head in the swirling breezes. The assistants with their idiotic head-ware, ranged from being embarrassed with their costume to being embarrassing as they embraced their strange look with skipping and singing and giggling. Kids ran too fast and fell over with attendant parents rushing to pick them up and dust them off, dogs trotted and frolicked, and couples cooed to each other in hushed songs as they ate and drank in the sunshine.

On Saturday we'd been to Wendel's Backerie to experience their sensational melt-in-your-mouth high end steak. It is quite an exquisite meal and we can't recall having a better steak anywhere in the world: a big call, I know! It's partly the lead-up to the main course which sets it apart. A glass of bold, meaty red for me and a classic Margarita for Cass is followed by our shared entrees:  a plate of mixed freshly sauteed mushrooms with a couple of bruschettas and a trellis pattern of balsamic on the plate, along with a smoked salmon salad, lettuce tomato, olives, cucumber of the most generous proportions. The steaks are fist high and cooked to perfection inside and out with a rich peppercorn sauce, tiny broccoli are coated with crumbs and an egg and potato mini flan is surrounded by cherry tomatoes....ahh!

The scooter had to be kick-started into action afterwards and the starter motor appeared shot. Never knowing your luck in the big city, we called past my little regular neighbourhood mechanic on the off-chance he was still open on a Saturday night. Not only was he open, but after some rudimentary Chinese explanations and some dramatic over-acting, we were asked to come back in half an hour. We left the bike and had a fantastic brew at the Coffee Museum which has just moved to a location round the corner from us, arriving back right on time to a new starter motor, new spark plug and even an adjusted brake, all for the princely sum of NT$650 ( a little over $20 Australian: how will we ever cope back home?!)

Photos: Cass had her regular stint at the manicurists pre-conference time, so her nails are on show above. Virgil is interested in one of her conference outfits, Wal had a disastrous time getting his kids to make pottery Halloween pumpkins, Margaritas, SOGO parkland and the mercurial monkey, Chee Chee, appears to be in love (at least according to one of the kids!)

"A life unexamined is not worth living". I was finally able to overcome my mental blank in Lynn's presence during the week when she dropped in for a final visit, dropping off a bottle of "Bundy" in the process. I was able to fill her in on some of the goss around the hallways as well as fill in the blanks to my speech a couple of weeks ago. I gave her a succinct version of the rest of the speech as it was originally intended so at least the main recipient was able to hear the proper version! The Socratic ideology that this quote embodies sums up Lynn';s entire approach to her personal and professional life, so I was really pleased to get a second chance to let her know how impressed I've always been with that.

Cass and I checked out a new ramen shop just round the corner from us mid-week and it was pretty good. I did leave a little unfilled, so next time I'll order a couple of extras to round out the meal. This type of Japanese dish was the one I ate voraciously in my time in Japan, stopping in for lunch most days at a truck stop on the 82nd highway in Sakaki machi to get my big bowl of shoyu ramen. We'll be back to this new restaurant!

I had parent conferences on Thursday and Friday and Cassy will have hers at the end of this week. The parents at this school are, generally speaking, an absolute delight. I again experienced a very smooth experience, even though a number of my charges have significant learning deficits: the parents are just so incredibly supportive and not seeking to lay blame for any shortcomings their children might be exhibiting: refreshing!

We sliced through a press of humanity on Saturday evening and braved the MRT to get two trains downtown. The trains arrive almost nose to tail in peak hours, but still seem to fill up to overflowing as the platform at our local Mingde station swells and sways with a kaleidoscope of travelers in the few minutes between each train. Our tactic of walking way to the start of the platform to enter the first carriage often pays off with that rare jewel of a spare seat, but not when the sun fades on a Saturday evening and everyone decides it's time to trip the light fantastic!!

It's occasionally a slightly unpleasant claustrophobic experience, but never a dull one! The fashions and "individual looks" alone are a night's entertainment. Really, when did it become fashionable to wear knee-high patent boots with mini skirts trimmed in fake fur, teamed with a tartan shirt and a puffy jacket on top with what looks like a Rastafarian tea cosy on the head? Or, has there been a men's revolution which dictates that huge thick-framed glasses worn beneath a flowing fringe of hair and enough product to service a Hollywood awards night can be accompanied by skinny jeans, moccasins, a low-cut T-shirt and a shoulder handbag of patent vinyl is de rigueur? I know I sound like a silly old tool here, but honestly, some of this stuff has to be seen to be believed!

Aubergine at Zhongshao Rd was our destination and we had the usual excellent dining experience. Afterwards we soaked in some city pulse and wandered the lanes and alleys around this bustling heart of the eastern fringes of the city centre. "Hello Kitty" had its usual gaggle of giggling schoolgirls, while Sogo department store was ablaze with Chinese lanterns for a promotion. The streets are a cacophony of sound, excited chatter, the din of constant traffic, the occasional strident horn blast and a palpable buzz of life as people scuttle to various appointments and assignations. We dived into the safe haven of the MRT and threaded our way home through a further pulse of people, platforms, places and products. We went to Uniqlo on the way home and checked out their winter range and got some heat tech gear for Valerie for her upcoming adventure to France with Cass.

I had a real shock on Sunday as I descended the 1000 steps. A large family of macaque monkeys were wandering up and across the path guarded by a very muscular looking "big daddy". There were tiny babies, small offspring and some larger ones as well as a protective mother. Daddy grunted and warned me, so I stayed stock still until he moved a little off the path and indicated (I hoped) that it was OK to continue. It was adrenalin inducing, heart thumping stuff, as the monkeys have been documented as making vicious attacks on people on this very trail. There are clear signs advising what to do in an encounter, however, and I was very careful not to stare them down or make any sudden movements. All's well that ends well, and I tip-toed past big daddy as he watched me quite warily from about 3 metres away: I felt like he was a freight train being held back by a rubber band! Here's the video of the initial encounter.

We finished watching the TV series "Orange is the New Black" (pretty good), and now we're starting the science fiction cloning series "Orphan Black"...seems like a theme is starting! We also watched the movie "Prisoners" on the weekend (A-) which was gripping and suspenseful with quite graphic violence.

Photos: places as described, ramen shop, my room at lunch, Saturday night (including a box on display at Taipei Main Station from the National Palace Museum) and shots from the steps, including a new, granite sheathed house about 1/2 way up with a sensational city view!

Youbike is an initiative from the Taipei local government that wouldn't really work in many other places. Bikes are sequestered in racks with electronic locks and sensor boards at many popular areas in and around the city, often in parks or by metro stations. The map shows hundreds of stations with each one listing bikes and parking spaces in real time. The bikes themselves are pretty sturdy and are regularly maintained by a dedicated team of servicemen and the banks of electronic sensors and locks are serviced regularly as well. The whole system works without a hitch and we enjoyed our first rides on this long weekend, catching the train down to Yuanshan Station, retrieving our bikes using our transport "Easycards" and taking the bikes out for a few hours on the riverside bike paths. When we returned it was as simple as snapping the bikes back into their locking stations, waving the easycard over the sensor and reading the withdrawal amount (which was NT$30, the equivalent of one Australian dollar!)

I can't think how the various logistics of this operation could possibly work in our hometown or country. The advanced electronics, the cost, the maintenance, the payment system, the infrastructure, the "safety" factors (no helmets needed in Taipei), the bikes, the servicing, the protection from damage etc. etc. I imagine any of these factors would prove to be an insurmountable challenge back home. I'd hate to think what might become of expensive and delicate electronic equipment and payment kiosks if positioned throughout the city in parks or by railway stations. We can take a bike here with no deposit, just an honour system that we'll return it to one of the docking stations in the city within 24 hours....think that would work?(!)

Anyway, suffice to say that we had a really fun experience on Taiwan's national day on Thursday and Cass tested her healing pelvis out on a good long ride through the riverside paths all the way to Neihu and return. We stopped for drinks and photos here and there, didn't ride too fast and thoroughly enjoyed our Youbikes. There is a kiosk and racks being set up just around the corner from us in the ShiDong Park awaiting their shiny new battalion of Youbikes , so soon we'll have even better access to them.

On Friday we took the car out to the coast with a dim prospect of some surf, but an ethereal curtain of soupy fog along with dribbling skies and whipping gusts of wind on the top of the mountain certainly dampened our enthusiasm. As it turned out, and is often the case, the fog lifted as we made our way down the other side of the mountain but the wind-whipped coast thwarted any hope of a surf. We decided to travel along the coastal highway and we stopped at a few places we'd previously just whizzed by. A peculiar nest of home-made "beehive" style houses were intriguing, and we got as close as we could without trespassing. They were so tiny and strange: we wondered who could possibly have built them and who lived there now. The Ju Ming museum on top of the mountain had inspired some coastal sculpture installations, so we stopped and had a look at them as well.

Years ago, in pre-car days, we'd travelled to a strip of sand out near Sanji which has since been infested with a motley row of cafes and eating/drinking houses, most replicating each other in terms of basic pastas and burgers. We stopped at one, "Share", for lunch and had the place to ourselves. We settled near the big picture window, had some tasty burgers and coffees while watching the comical efforts of a local entrepreneur on a low powered jet-ski trying to tow a "banana" full of life jacket-trussed beachgoers from one end of the beach to the other....pisse weake worlde sprang to mind!

On Saturday we decided to check out the much hyped new space movie, Gravity, over at the under-new-management movie theatre near our place, the formerly known as Miramar, now "Wovie" cinemas. I've got an app in Chinese which I can read for movie titles and times, but we can't buy online for the moment, necessitating an earlier trip over to buy the tickets. It was visually epic and we could appreciate the technical marvels exhibited, but the two main characters we thought were miscast, and the whole suspension of disbelief had to ramped up to stratospheric levels to cope with the loose plotline. We usually rely on Metacritic to pre-judge our viewing pleasure and we rarely disagree, but this time we did. We'd give it a B+ only. Chili's for a late lunch and Cass was in heaven!

Sunday was a lazy day and I managed to watch a great slab of the Bathurst 1000 on live streaming in HD, and I even had to do some marking of the new language portfolios we've been tasked with assembling and grading on each of the kids in our program. Cass met her quota of essays on Of Mice and Men so she's happy with her progress....she's got 45 more to go!

Photos: Cass blissing at Chili's, Youbike shots, beehive houses and a lazy lunch at "Share". There's a short video of Cass on bike here and a slightly longer one at this link....I somehow managed to juggle the phone while riding along!

 

Yet another swirling atmospheric aberration upset our weekend last, just when my poor, formerly crippled wife was ready to throw away the walking stick and set forth into the world again! The inclement weather was a very unwelcome addition, arriving on Friday evening and battering and tapping its way through the weekend, only to dissipate almost entirely by Monday morning (just in time to go back to work!)

We did spot a break in the weather on Saturday and made a beeline to the always enjoyable Pizza Oggi. This pizzeria is accredited by the Italian council of Pizzerias and has mouth-watering authentic Napolese style pizzas made with quality, fresh ingredients. Our favourite Maya Pizza is the poor man's version of this outstanding establishment. Cass got her favourite fresh tomato and cheese with anchovies while I had the frutti de mare.

On Sunday, the weather was even worse, but we had accepted an invitation to a retirement lunch for my long time colleague, Lynn, who is leaving next week to return to Canada. I was mildly irritated to be asked to give one of three speeches, as my introversion tends to rack up my nervous tension to unbearable levels in the couple of days before I give it. I relented as it was an honour to be asked and I didn't want to disappoint. As it was, I gave the worst speech I've ever given, going blank midway through, having an uncomfortably long pregnant pause, then babbling some incoherent rubbish to end the second part of the speech. I forgot a quote from Socrates that I wanted to put in and I didn't follow my own advice: always take some notes, just in case of this very event! I was flummoxed!

Chamkar restaurant served up some delectable vegetarian fare and Cass enjoyed the whole affair very much despite getting soaked on the scooter on the way across. The company was just a select bunch of Lynn's friends and we really did feel quite honoured to be there. She is a remarkable woman and it is no exaggeration to say that I cannot think of a country she hasn't traveled to: places like Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, the Sudan, Mogadishu and various other spots not necessarily on the tourist trail included. Her stories are stuff of legend and she was a professional who has forgotten more stuff than most of my colleagues in the current department have ever learned. A real gem and I'll miss her.

Home to catch the best grand final I've seen in decades (apart for the Knights win in 2001 and 1997 of course!). What a showpiece for rugby league. Brutal yet fair play from start to finish, dazzling levels of skill and the best team all year came out on top on the day.....my old team: I remember wearing my old Easts jumper to football training until it fell apart .

"The girls" have taken to lying on top of each other in Eugene's old basket, a basket purpose built for just one cat. We've nicknamed this spilling over the boat as "Captain Pugwash" style and you can see their version of the cartoon as well as the original above. Also included in the photos are a shot of the fully functioning school post office with it's individual boxes (we're number 12), and a photo of a creepy, black "Hello Kitty" I spotted in one of the school hallways. A Taiwan rice promo, Cassy at the authentic Pizzeria Oggi and one of my exasperated colleagues filming kids' oral presentations!

Another poem has been added over on 詩. Check it out here. 

Stop Press: Cassy walked to school this morning.....!