The river just 50 metres from our place has been variously dredged, made-over, flood-proofed and beautified at regular intervals during our tenure at Ker Qiang Road. At some points, it has been extremely annoying as a water pumping sub-station is near our bridge and it was the focus for much mechanical muscle a few years ago as diggers trundled back and forth in the river bed for months on end, clanking and engine roaring at all hours of the day and night.
Its real renaissance, however, came when the local council decided to re-lay the paths, include Parisian style lamp lighting, re-vegetate the banks and green the verges, including a neatly trimmed hedging along the paths on each side dotted with the most exquisite cherry blossoms which are heavy with flower at the moment. It actually is a very pleasant walk, and when we feel a little cooped up, we take to wandering various lengths of the river trail. Somewhat optimistically, there are even signs pointing out the local species of bird life and flowering plants that might be seen during your stroll. The best and latest promotion, however, is shown in one of the photos above: a rainbow trail of exercise wonder is advertised, "Health Trail of Rainbow". Could this be Taipei's answer to the rainbow pedestrian crossings in support of gay rights seen in Australian streets? Is it a tease to Putin's Sochi Olympics that gay rights are recognized in the leafy hills of Taipei's outer suburbs and not at the world's greatest sporting extravaganza? I'm sure its not, but the coincidence of this new promotion got us chuckling!
I'll ride that segue of the Olympics to mention that we're utilizing the wonders of modern technology more and more to keep up with world events and programming. Never has our internet connectivity been a problem and we're connecting at speeds triple that of what will be available in Australia for the foreseeable future. Along with that, we're not restricted by a download/upload limit, nor does our speed get choked. The trouble we've had watching some live streaming, especially from Australia, is that various sites are more regularly restricting our access because of the fact we're overseas. We've bought a VPN license to fool the sites to think we are in Australia and we are now able to access lots of programming, such as Ten's coverage of the Sochi Olympics. I'm stoked, as it is the first Olympics we have been able to watch since Sydney 2000, before we came over here.
Along with that, as long as we remember to set the VPN before we open it, we can access the ABC's iView app on the iPad then use our Apple TV to play it on the television in high definition...great stuff! We take advantage of this to watch a bit of content now and then when we have time, but it's set to become a whole lot more if the rumoured demise of Australia Network comes to fruition. What a disgrace: we know how valuable this tool is to promote Australia to many Asia Pacific nations and to think it will be sacrificed in some ABC witch hunt is just extremely short sighted and petty. We can only hope that when the dust settles from this latest fracas that cooler heads prevail and make some sensible decisions.
We dined at the incomparable Oggi Pizzeria on Saturday evening and again marveled at the quality and authenticity of the product. The clay wood fired oven sits squat in the front window and the chefs scuttle feverishly in and around the furnace. The produce is of the highest quality and bursting with freshness: the seafood pizza seems to have been laden from a fisherman's net straight from the ocean to the pizza dough. The master of the shop has been accredited by various associations in Italy and needs to maintain this quality. Luckily, even though it is much dearer than the alternatives, the local populace recognize the quality and there is always a constant stream of customers lining up to get in. We had a great time and a great meal, as usual!
We definitely lucked out with the weather for our break over Chinese New Year, but that expected cold and dreary week has arrived with a vengeance today. It will be a long, wet, chilly period to endure. Cass has just finished The Dovekeepers but I am just finishing my own latest, The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson. I don't often put out the big "must read" recommendation, but I'm doing it with this one: my impression of North Korean life has been utterly transformed, and not for the better!! It won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and quite justifiably so. Just a few photos today from the Rainbow Path and an interesting new building project.
