Well, the horror of a week was just that, but for a completely different reason than that which we first thought. A reprieve of a day at camp was a sweet bonus, but the milk of euphoria soon soured as Cass became more and more unwell as Monday night wore on and Tuesday threatened. In the morning, despite her worsening condition, we dragged all her gear onto the scooter and got her into school. Mercifully however, shortly after seeing her pallid complexion and unusual lethargy, the camp director, recognising she was very ill, sent her back home. Luckily my classes hadn't started yet, so I was able to usher her home and get her packed off to bed without delay.

Cassy's reputation as a stoic worker meant there wasn't a hint of a problem in this decision, and her subsequent decisions to stay home for the next four days. There was the possibility that she could take the train up to Fulong if her condiition improved: it didn't and she stayed put at home, barely puttering around the place in her weakened condition. She was diagnosed by the doctor as having a severe attack of bronchitis when she eventually made it over there and he gave her various medications for same. This meant, of course, that I was spared the daily chore of getting some food for myself as well as ministrating to the needs of Virg n Mary and I was grateful for this as well as having the company during the week!

The big social day of the year, the AFL grand final didn't go off without a hitch or two. The evening before, Australia Network was cut off air 24 hours prior to its advertised cutoff: seems that the feed into Taiwan was cut from the Australian end. After some panicked emails, texts and calls between a few of us, the owner down at Patio 84 managed to get the stream through a satellite dish and even subscribed to the AFL.com feed as a back-up.....legend! Subsequently, the game went off without a hiccough all afternoon.

The half-time entertainment is always when I issue the prizes for the annual tipping comp. This year I was able to present myself with first place after holding off a hard-charging crew of four near the end of the season. It was greeted with much hilarity and calls of "Rigged!" but I calmed the crowd when I, as has become traditional, put half the prize-money behind the bar for continued imbibing through the afternoon for all! Of course, as is also tradition, we massively overstayed our welcome well into the night, which meant that my scooter needed to be picked up the next day.

I Youbiked from Lanxing Park across to the Youbike station at the P.E. College whereupon I was able to just stroll round the corner to where I had left the motor-bike. I went back to pick up Cassy on the scooter and we went down to the Sogo to source some late lunch as well as pick up some "Fit Flops" for her to use to walk to school. Her regimen of wearing her fancy French and Italian heels to school might be drawing to a close, as she has struggled of late with a quite swollen ball of one foot. I'm not surprised, as I even get sore feet from our 15 minute each way "commute" on occasions, especially in this feet-swelling Taiwanese swelter.

The Fit Flop purchase was successful but we baulked at the 35 minute wait to get into Din Tai Fung before deciding to patronize the very tasty "Very Thai" restaurant on the 8th floor. After a delicious meal of green and red curries we strolled around Uniqlo for a while. I spotted some bargain bins and managed to score a premium linen black long-sleeved shirt for just $190NT (about $7 Australian)....crazy!

I'm delighted to report that my darling slowly recovers, back at school today, but we scootered up just to save the walk. She went back to the doctor at lunchtime and he seems reasonably satisfied with her progress. Photos: a spectacular view of Taiwan from the ISS, Confucius Day breakfast at school being serenaded and fed by the kids, those bananas up the road get ever weirder, Fit Flops and the famous "Paul" now has a tiny branch at our local Sogo!

We didn't go to Japan again this weekend, though you'd be forgiven for thinking so after looking at the photos above. Truth is, I neglected to take any photos of interesting items along the journey of the week and especially this weekend, where we hunkered down in anticipation of Cassy's long haul week of the year, the middle school camp.

Mercifully we received the call last night that the camp would be postponed for a day, due to a rather lacklustre typhoon bearing down on us, tracking up from the Philippines where it had far more strength. Insipid or not, it was enough to delay the camp by a day, which means one less night for Cass enduring the privations that come with it!

It's not any one thing that makes this such a chore, but a combination, not the least of which are the needs of 200 middle-schoolers, many of whom have never been away from home, except to stay in luxury hotels, at any time during their lives. Not only that, but the teachers are tasked with running all the activities to keep this group learning, entertained, fed and watered during the entire week, a gargantuan task akin to a military operation. Apart from that, the kitchen which produces the meals is a squalid cesspool full of vermin which necessitates her having to bring small meals of her own and not eating correctly for the week. It is exhausting work and to be honest, Cass is about over the whole deal after 12 years in a row of said penance! She's a soldier though, and is sucking it up yet again, with the sweet knowledge that she as least one more night in her own bed before needing to head off to Fulong belatedly tomorrow morning.

Although lacking any ferocious power, typhoon Fung Wong has managed to drench the island overnight and danced up and around our umbrellas on the walk to work this morning. Cass wore her thongs with her finery to get changed later when we got to school. There is a constant soaking occurring as I write, and a very depressing sight  of grey, drizzly skies and whipping winds can be seen from my classroom window. My neglected cactus is getting an unexpected soaking and has decided to pop open even more bursting flower pods in celebration!

Cass had her book club on Friday night when I had yet another footy feast down at Patio 84. She's always delighted when Darby hosts the group as she gets very experimental with her cuisine, not afraid to try out something new, and uses the girls as guinea pigs. From all reports, it was as different and delicious as usual, including a special dessert surprise of hooking up with their recently departed member Paige all the way from Canada in her early morning via Skype. Their new member, Stacey, works at the American Institute in Taiwan and gets all sorts of magazine subscriptions and shares the wares at the gatherings. So, this weekend, Cass has had some trashy mags to take her mind off the looming horror of camp as well!

We had a couple of TV series binges lately which have been deemed very worthy. Firstly the latest season of "Game of Thrones" and more recently, over the past week or so, the second season of "Rectify." It was sensational....do yourself a favour and all that!!

Finally, as you can see from the photo above, we're not hardly done by in the internet speed stakes here in Taipei. For a very modest monetary up-grade, I have officially 120 Mbps (though I can't seem to break 100 on a speed test) download speeds and the guy actually offered me 200 Mbps if I wanted it! Other photos are of Summer Sonic and the historic Osaka castle.

P.S. Sharp eyed readers might notice the date stamp on last week's blog has changed to yesterday's date. When fiddling with photos for this week I accidentally deleted last week's post! After a few minutes of stunned horror in anticipation of trying to re-write it, I managed to find a cached version of it to copy and re-post...phew!

A suggestion of change from the throat stripping heat? The first hint of relief even in the sapping shade? An ability to stroll in the full sun for more than a minute? Could it be? Surely half way through the first month of autumn we could expect a sliver of relief from the brutish summer that we've endured? Whether it's psychological or real we don't know, but perhaps, a tiny, almost imperceptible movement in the weather might be upon us. It's not before time!

Downtown to the Flower Market on Taipei's newest underground rail line, whispering straight from our station, Mingde, all the way to the famous Central Parkesque, Da'an Park in the south eastern quarter of the downtown. On the fringes of the park and wedged in beneath the great overhead experessways that feed the bustling metropolis of the XinYi district, lies both the Jade and Flower markets, each stretching in a different direction from the central point of XinYi Road for several city blocks in the shadows of the overhead highway.

A carpark by day, the markets are magically transformed after 8 p.m.on a Friday night to house all manner of goods for sale to tempt the weekend bargain hunters over the subsequent two days before a further metamorphosis back to carpark by Monday morning, barely a trace left behind. The Flower Market was our destination today as we were visiting two of the storeholders as they made their maiden journey into commercial horticulture!

Our friends, Marcus and Annie, newly married and sharing hobbies and interests beside, had decided to test their wares in a low key commercial setting down at the markets. They have both had lots of classes in bonsai and pottery and maintain quite the nursery on their rooftop at their new apartment. Marcus travels regularly to Japan for further classes and has developed a very keen eye for the aesthetic, along with the skills necessary to produce the desired results. Their pottery is also developing quite well and they can produce some really interesting pieces, a little rustic, think Bendigo Pottery meets Japan with little nods to Chinese nuance and style as well.

We wandered the cavernous spaces beneath the expressway for many blocks before we spotted their display. Along the way, we found everything one could possibly imagine in terms of plants, planting and associated paraphernalia (and more!). Plants of every variety, shape and size, pots, soil, products, tools, accessories, stands, water features, you name it: they had it! They had experienced a very draining morning and part of an afternoon and had only sold one small pot. It was a big learning curve for them but I think it was fairly exciting to get involved in the whole process. I haven't checked in today with Marcus to hear how Sunday went: maybe they sold the lot!

After staying for a while and having a chat, including Cass trying her style at spruiking customers (!), we decided to forgo the pleasures of the air-conditioned comfort of the MRT and instead walk the three stops down to Wooloomooloo restaurant, our destination for our lunch/dinner. This was a bad move as it was way further that we had anticipated and the heat was roasting us except for some sweet relief from the occasional awning. When we eventually arrived they seemed very reluctant to serve their lunch menu, so in a minor fit of pique, I decided that they could do without our business!

Further wanderings got us to the food-court of Taipei 101, where we sourced some Japanese curry rice and om rice sets, hoping to replicate the moreish flavours of Namba station curry which we had devoured with relish on our recent trip to Osaka. Alas, this Taipei version was but a pale imitation of that wondrous fare! It did the job, however, and revived us sufficiently to haul ourselves back onto the homeward bound train. The building itself never ceases to astonish: even though it has been usurped as the world's tallest building in the last few years, it is still an awe inspiring marvel of modern engineering. Gazing up to the clouds dusting around its upper floors is a sight you'll never tire of.

Photos: we coffeed at a new place, "The Soup" after school during the week.....super! The computer is displaying its "blue screen of death" at the moment....seems infected with all sorts of bugs and I'm trying to eradicate them. Marcus and Annie with Cass at their display at the Flower Market. Shots on the way to 101, including Snow White, an interesting sculpture, me in the food court and finally, the awe-inspiring bulk of Taipei 101, looking up.

Reading: Cassy has just dipped her toe into David Mitchell's pool of genre warping fiction with his new "The Bone Clocks". I have reluctantly put down a finished copy of the transcendent "Eyrie" and am reading the far more pedestrian, "Tokyo Year Zero" by David Peace, the first in a trilogy. The awfulness of the first book after a Tim Winton story: it's a bit like reading "Run, Spot, Run!" after some classic Dr. Seuss!

 

 

We've been seeking some quality dining chairs for many years now and wanted something to match the superior pedigree of our table, a late 50's Danish masterpiece. We'd toyed with the idea of sourcing chairs from Great Dane in Sydney or Melbourne, but nothing really seemed to take our fancy. Some vintage chairs Cass spied in a magazine were not available, but their modern equivalent were listed at Great Dane for $1,950 each just recently. Yes, each!

We took stock of the situation, then began to do a little investigating. We've often said that one of the major cities of Asia is growing up at a rate of knots and should be able to supply anything we need. Enter "Danish Warehouse" a Danish furniture treasure trove for vintage furniture from the 50's to the 70's. Located in a tiny back lane, nestled behind a keyhole community garden just off the hectic fury of Roosevelt Road, section 3, it was an oasis of beauty and chic style. We were really in heaven in this place and loved every single piece we saw.

The main gallery is stocked with exquisite and delicate hand crafted pieces exhibited on a rolling schedule. We were ushered down to the basement to test the chairs we were interested in. They are 1951 design, used, sourced from Denmark, Arne Hovmand Olsen designed, teak and leather chairs. Straight away we both knew we'd found what we were looking for. The only trouble was that Jack, the owner, just had three left and we needed another. He will source another and bring it in on his shipment in early 2015, whereupon we'll pick up, or ship, all four.

We delighted in a cup of tea at one of his dining settings as the paperwork was done and took a deep breath and a relax after our train trip down to the heart of town. Feeling very pleased with ourselves, we strolled over to KGB burger for our mainstay weekend meal, the lunch/tea, and enjoyed a couple of "Kiwi Mates" (pineapple and beetroot, lentil patty for Cass, beef for me!) while discussing our golden finds.

After MRTing back home early in the evening, we decided to go home for an hour or so before travelling in the other direction up to Tamsui to see the band, QvQ, this time featuring even more of our friends as guest artists. Wally and Kenny are mainstays, but this time Morgan and Ben were joining them for a few songs at the beginning of the set. Despite the fact that I knew the address and had looked it up on the map, the venue was impossible to find. The area where it was supposed to be was just an empty space under the railway lines. I discovered today that the place was up a small footpath and hidden away from view from the road: anyway, Cass and I enjoyed a nice train trip and a relaxing look at the Bali wharf and river on a Saturday night!

My adopted AFL team, the Richmond Tigers, succumbed in the worst possible way in their semifinal on Sunday being roundly trounced by Port Adelaide. The bright spot was that the Knights were in sensational form and tamed the Dragons easily. I was posting the photo of my viewing on a third screen as I watched the two games concurrently on a combined platform of laptop and television: screen madness!

All the boys went down to Patio 84 on Friday night to see Geelong wither away after an onslaught by favourites Hawthorn: at least, unlike Richmond and the Knights, they get a chance at redemption next week. Finals action is in full swing here and should keep us very occupied on the weekends for the next month or so...

Photos: on our way to school, we spotted these strange bunches of tiny bananas...not sure what's going on there! The school carpark at dismissal time is bedlam, our chair and Cass in situ at the Danish Warehouse, two screens are better than one, and Youbikes continue to rule the world with their easy pay pass system!

 I'm legally licensed for both car and motorbike here in Taiwan for the next six years: that should be enough, right? What a crazy few hours this was round at the municipal motor registry. The front of the building is emblazoned with various intimidating shields and emblems, fit to strike fear into the heart of any unlicensed driver or road miscreant who may dare to enter the official halls of vehicular regulation and justice. The entry is a dizzying array of signs in Chinese and some confusing Chinglish( "2nd floor go drive license test but no photo 1st floor") which had me spinning on the spot for a few minutes. Eventually I headed to the third floor for "license matters not including pay fines", suspecting this might be the correct venue. After about 25 minutes waiting with my ticket, my number was duly called, whereupon I was immediately directed downstairs to start again at the photobooth and the "physical health exam".

An hour in, and I had completed the first steps, having a completed form in Chinese and having endured 10 minutes in a photobooth that resembled in look and feel, a full body MRI machine in a public hospital: it even made the same clunking cacophony as it processed the photos! I passed the physical health exam with flying colours, despite the fact that I failed every page of the colour blindness test and got hit in the head by the automatic height measuring arm as it travelled remotely down to meet my head as I stood in the machine: I stepped out before it arrived! The physical part of the test was to hold my hands aloft in front of me "no shake" and to do one half squat in front of the doctor. I passed the hearing and eyesight test without problems, but not before a nurse scanned my eyes at close range for hidden contact lenses! Onwards upstairs and after an eternity of checking various documents, including my alien card, my Australian license, my passport and bizarrely, my national health card, I was deemed worthy to get my little paper licenses along with protective little plastic holders. Hurrah!

Guess who just won the annual AFL tipping comp? I have won it once before, as well as being runner-up on another occasion, but I never expected to win this year. I snuck up on the gang by backing my team, the Richmond Tigers, through their recent 9 game winning streak which many others didn't. It came down to the last game of the final round on Sunday so it was a little nerve wracking! Cass was just as anxious as me, and we'll be glad to watch some finals action soon in the AFL and NRL without the added pressure of worrying about tips. So, bragging rights, as well as a slab of cash, will come my way upon distribution of prizes on grand final day. It will be a little strange as I am the organizer of the comp, so I'll have to award myself the main prize!

Our beloved video lifeline to all things Australian while we're overseas, the Australia Network, will cease airing on September 18. It will be a very sad day for us and we'll really miss our daily ABC news bulletin in the evening, the docos, the current affairs, even the frivolous soapies. It was always great to just have it nattering away in the background even if we weren't watching: it was a little Aussie friend in the room. Of imminent concern is where we'll be able to watch the grand final.....Patio 84 just used Australia Network in years gone by, and no satellite channels have the rights....

Poor Cassy has been stricken by her occasional enemy, the razor bladed, throat stripping bug. Apart from the throat, she is feeling very weak and stuffed up and has been quite miserable all weekend. She must really be sick, as she even emailed work last night saying she couldn't come in today: a very rare event for my usually healthy and happy little vegemite! Hopefully the "Queens of Ker Qiang Road" (aka Virg 'n Mary) will keep her company in bed today as she tries to recover a little.

Cass is reading Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland, after being spun a vertiginous web by her latest book club selection, The Luminaries. Her book club met at the peerless fine dining establishment in Tienmu, Le Jardin, for their monthly chat, and she duly dosed herself with paracetamol and antibiotics to make the trip and survive the social flittings. Many of the other members were similarly perplexed by the astrological references and waxing and waning of chapters in a mirror image of the moon's cycles, and they found it to be extremely ponderous and a little self-indulgent. Nonetheless, they delighted in the fine food and wine and declared the French mainstay to be as good as ever: onwards to the next tome, as per stated earlier in the paragraph.

Photos: hard won licenses, a funny kid in one of my classes being "Nerd Man", the Queens of Ker Qiang and a few shots of the steps. I made it up there yesterday in the blistering heat, saturating myself and meeting some monkeys and chooks along the way! Oh, and my cactus unfurled its last flower this morning...