Buildings clad in bold 3d designs, everything slightly larger than life and way over the top, a vibrant crowd of young people and a lively counter-culture vibe: welcome to Ximen!

We caught a couple of trains down to the central area of town and a little off-shoot through to the south west, and area we don't often visit, much less frequent. In fact, we figured it was some years since our last visit. We shouldn't wait so long, as it is a pulsing metropolitan hub rich in culture and intense in vibe. The whole area screams energy and it's almost impossible not to be swept up in the feeling.

We'd planned a trip down to visit a production make-up shop to source some unique items for the upcoming middle school production. The Wizard of Oz is on the agenda again this year so the Tin Man's metallic face paint needed to be found. Cass was flabbergasted by the thought that a musical has actually repeated during her tenure here: does this mean we've been here too long?! She also needed a few other bits and pieces that wouldn't be available easily at the chemists and makeup shops around our place so  she was hoping that we could find this spot and source the precious supplies.

We needed to thread our way through a few different streets and blocks, so were able once again to wonder at the edgy vibe going down. There were streets full of shops selling trinkets for teenage girls while we also passed more serious stores selling strange looking connected leather straps that could be worn as a garment for men along with all sorts of other impressive looking underwear! Then, of course, there was everything in between!

After getting slightly tangled up with Taipei's warped street numbering system and getting directions from a sleepy looking building guard, we eventually stumbled on the tiny shopfront of Ben Nye products. Cass was able to hum and hah over all sorts of powders and potions, eventually emerging with a large bottle of silver paint and some orange makeup along with some foundations and pencils.

Mission accomplished we wandered back straight through the entertainment and shopping hub of Ximen on our way to the station. On pedestrian mall corners and scattered through the streets were spruikers and entertainers, puffed up pieces of fruit on legs with their handlers alongside high school groups singing and playing guitar. It was a great atmosphere! There was a plethora of food choices, but we decided to head upstairs to a Japanese restaurant which looked promising, especially as they were advertising my much loved yakitori sticks. We both ordered what looked great on the menu but turned out to be rather disappointing in reality, as both my yakitori and Cassy's tempura vegetables were laden with oil making them quite uncomfortable to eat. Mark this down as an extreme rarity: a food fail in Taipei!

Undeterred from our upbeat mood, we strolled gaily on, quite appropriately to the area around the Red Theater, well known as a gay enclave and site for some trendy markets and bars. We wandered the eclectic mix of stalls which were mainly full of bespoke leather wallets and curios. Cass bought a Shakespeare stamp which she'll use on the kid's yearbooks at the end of the year....forward planning!
There was so much stuff that we thought we needed....we could have bought heaps of junk! Luckily sanity took hold and we realized that it was cool in the stall, but what on earth would we do with most of that stuff? "Dust Gatherers" Cassy calls them! We negotiated a few different MRT stations and lines to get home before settling in for the night.

On Sunday, we whizzed over to the Wovie Cinema to see the allegorical satire "High Rise". A British production, it smacked of a few different movies, but the one thing we were both disappointed in was the lack of creativity in theme and message. The overriding idea of modern society descending into tribal chaos as it breaks down has been down over and over again, differently but most notably recently by the latest in the Mad Max franchise. Still, it had some merit in that we were still discussing it this morning. Cassy has revised her grade from a B+ to an A-, while I'll reserve judgement. Let's put it this way: don't go along to get a dose of easy escapism...it's far from that!
Thai Town in the twin tower opposite beckoned us for an early dinner, and satiated with their authentic and tasty, fresh fare, we were content to scooter home to bunker in for the remainder of the weekend.

Photos: a Youbike Rorschach test and Ximen sights.

I was reminded again today about how lucky the kids at this school are! Despite the fact that they're enduring the dolor of a battery (not used lightly!) of standardized tests this week, while Cass and I try to overcome the numbing boredom of invigilation, there is still time in their day to receive a special guest to the school. These "special people" arrive regularly and often without much fanfare, but nary a week goes past without some visit from an expert or a motivator organized by the school for enhanced student learning. Today, out of the blue, we were ushered downstairs to hear the impressive Dr. Elaine Kwon.

Not only a concert pianist who has appeared multiple times at Carnegie Hall, she is also a five time USA national taekwondo champion as well as being a lecturer at the prestigious MIT! The kids were motivated by a piano playing, martial arts practicing Chinese American woman who is also a Nike sports model. So while the kids were regaled with the achievements and motivational attitudes of Dr Kwon, I took my own pleasure in realizing that she, at 51 years old, is also a shining beacon for slightly older humans who are trying to maintain good health and fitness...like the two of us!

Speaking of which, my birthday passed without little incident, apart from some nice communications electronically from all members of the family, some sweet messages and cards from my kids in person and some social media "HBDs" from those near and far, past and present! I was stoked to pull off my 74 pushups in the morning without a break and celebrated another year of doing 500 such per week. This week will mark the 20th anniversary of the zenith of my sporting achievement, The Australian Ironman, so things aren't going too badly all these decades later!To top things off, my darling cooked me up a storm on the night and I managed a few celebratory ales with the boys on Friday night as well!

Cass succumbed to a mild cold this weekend and was relatively subdued because of this all weekend. We did sneak out for our traditional weekend lunch/tea on Saturday afternoon, and we tried a new Japanese curry restaurant just a few blocks away from our place on FuGuo Road. This is the main lead-up road to Jishan Station, and as such, has a few restaurants dotted along both sides leading up to the hub . The service was great and the ambiance wonderful, possibly as we were the only customers in the shop! Normally not such a great sign, we were eating at a very weird afternoon hour so it didn't worry us at all. The delicately folded "omrice" has a feather light omelette wrapped round a mildy tomato flavoured serve of fluffy rice with a choice of curry sauce and topping ladled over the  top. Cass had mixed vegetables and I had chicken, and we both added the "set" of salad and pumpkin soup. Delicious and yes, we'll be back!

My new football streaming app, Rugbypass, is absolutely stunning in terms of HD picture quality and streaming continuity. I used it on the iPad and Apple TV to watch a few games on the weekend, including the poor Knights valiant, but ultimately futile, effort against a slick and professional Brisbane. I lumbered up the 1,000 steps of Tienmu Gudao in the late morning Sunday, before securing a couple of tiny baguette sandwiches for us for lunch from Lutetia on the way back home. While negotiating the steps, I needed to dodge a number of fallen branches and associated foliage litter as recent storms had disturbed the peace a little up there. The macaques guffawed and grunted as they foraged just off the path but mercifully didn't feel the need to make their muscular presence felt!

Well, we're suffering a little secondary retardation from rigorous test invigilating, so much so that I could barely rally to write this rather boring entry at all! Photos: the mysterious "Moop" in silhouette, Siawase in Coco curry house, some different views from the steps and the kids enthralled by Dr Kwon!

We had to go back to work this week, but our visitors were still being entertained by Taipei's many delights. Cass and I had a PD day at school on Monday and we had a pretty boring, low key time and Chris and Val had a bit of a lay day as well, choosing to potter around the neighbourhood and they were there when we arrived home relatively early from school. Cass had organized to take her personal days on Tuesday and Wednesday, so the three were all looking forward to some time together mid-week. We're granted the great luxury of two personal days each year, no questions asked: I'd taken mine the week before to visit Nagasaki on an extended weekend break. Cass had to split her days from the weekend as they were tacked on to an official break, which is one thing they can't be used for.

Come Tuesday, after a decadent "school day" sleep in, Cass took Valerie downtown to the bag shop to pick up a bag for Valerie that had been awaiting a custom-ordered bag strap. Although they didn't need to take much advantage of it, this bag would be included in an offer to bring back whatever they wanted in June. I take back a virtually empty bag each trip so that we can "load up" on the Aussie essentials for another year as we return to Taiwan! They had lots of fun wandering the area,especially the Uniqlo outlet down there again. Chris managed to amuse himself in the local environs, paying a visit to an optometrist"s and trying on a few specs before deciding that they weren't quite his cup of tea.

We were booked in to Ruth's Chris Steak House downtown for Cassy's birthday dinner on Tuesday. We'd stumbled on this place almost by accident when our beloved Macaroni Grill went out of business and we spied the restaurant in the same building. It cooks a superb steak and has just enough notes of fine dining to make it feel special, but not stuffy. Linen tableware, attentive staff and a fine decor and ambiance abound and its always a special little relief to relax and speak English and know it will be understood easily. We ordered up large and all enjoyed our steaks as well as a robust bottle of Penfold's red. It was fun to get a little dressed up, do something special on a "school night" and have a birthday dinner for Cassy with her parents while in Taipei! Cass even got a little bonus cheesecake for her special day, which she promptly had packaged up for later so she could enjoy her bread and butter pudding.

One of the days was earmarked for a return visit to the ceramics and pottery village of Yingge, just south of Taipei proper. It started out as a centre for making clay roof tiles during the Japanese occupation and has variously flourished from that point, always evolving and improving its facilities. Chris and Val loved their last visit there and bought some spectacular hand thrown and decorated plates which we use quite regularly back home: they have big prawns painted on them!

Cass negotiated the monolithic Taipei Main Station and managed to purchase tickets, find the platform and get them whisked away on the local train headed south. When there, they threaded their way down to Old Street, marveling at some of the changes since their last visit. We'd been there more recently, but the tell-tale green construction fences have been pulled down to reveal a gleaming new shopping complex with all manner of swish shops full of tempting products. Valerie and Cass shopped and browsed for hours while Chris took the time to do some people watching on various well situated outdoor seats throughout town! In a nice nod to their previous visit, they somehow found the prawn plate shop and managed to get a couple of little matching side dishes, this time emblazoned with snapping crabs!

On Thursday, Chris and Val, armed with their Easycards, negotiated their way down to the MRT station and all the way up the line to one of their favourite Taipei destinations, Damsui. It's actually a favourite of ours too, but we so rarely get a chance to enjoy it without the madding crowds almost literally nipping at our heels on the weekend. They had a fair sized but manageable crowd and marveled at the opened up boardwalk and improved piers and docks. They saw all the "special and delicious" foods but decided to give the entire octopus on a stick and the thousand year old eggs a miss this time! They wandered the foreshore, admired the scenery and even found their way to some shops that they'd visited on previous visits...good times!

Friday was a bit of a relaxing day after the rigors of the past few caught up a little and when Cass got home from work, they wandered back down to the Sogo forecourt to enjoy the mildly famous Mia Cuccina, serving high quality, tasty vegetarian fare. I met up with the coaches and visitors from various schools who were here for the IASAS tournament. A link to an amazing well conceived and crafted video of the event's highlights is right here. All parties reported the night to be a success!


On our last evening, none of us felt like tripping out and about, especially as the visitors were being picked up by Daniel, our driver, at 4.30 a.m. We decided instead to settle in at home and watch the Christmas special of the sixth and final series of Downton Abbey. As we knew that Chris and Val loved it as much as us, we requested that they not watch it back home before they came. It was really great to watch the series together with all our much loved characters, culminating on the final night with the final show. The treat for dinner was takeaway versions of custom built "Burger Ray" burgers. We all put our orders in and I scootered across to Shilin to pick up the goods. They were magnificent! To top things off for dessert, we shared with the visitors our much loved Japanese dessert, the milk caramel ice cream sandwiches made by Morinaga which we affectionately call "Morries"....they were equally well received. We've just got to find a way to get these imported into Australia!

After our farewells at the crack of dawn on Sunday, Cass and I went back to sleep for a while but since then, we've been a bit discombobulated again: we miss our house guests! We'd just started to get used to them being around when all of a sudden, they'd gone. We got a quick email letting us know they'd survived the journey and were ensconced in their huge and decadently luxurious resort in Phuket...sounds great! We're now back in the groove of another working week...

Photos: Lots from Yingge (pending...), Ruth's Chris birthday, some of my kids cheering at IASAS and Burger Ray selfie. I'm reading a Vladimir Putin biography and Cass is reading Purity by Jonathan Franzen. I also did my birthday pushups!

It's a tonic to see your life from another viewpoint. During our preparations and subsequent visit from Chris and Val, we've had an opportunity to do just that, running the full gamut from our living spaces to our lifestyle habits to how we eat and work and play. In some ways it has been re-assuring, yet in in others, a little unsettling!

It was wonderful to welcome our parents (and parents-in-law) back to Taipei on Monday morning last. I know they won't be offended when I mention that they're no spring chickens , yet they were far more relaxed and rested after their travel than we usually are: lesson number one....get over our first world problem of complaining about travel! We got them settled in and they brought out various presents for us including some nectar of the gods in the shape of twin Henschke's reds of quality and "cans of gold" in the shape of Australian red salmon!

The week unfolded as casually as a linen serviette on a lap, semi-formally in planning yet relaxed in application with a nice feeling! We managed to negotiate some of the new local sights and sounds, including the new Sogo building and our favourite restaurant, Din Tai Feng. After we enjoyed the artisan dumplings and rapid fire service we made a short trip to our new wardrobe of Uniqlo to show the visitors some product.

Cass cooked up some storms at home where we enjoyed some relaxed meals with fine wine and conversation and we ate out at various junctures as well, depending on what our schedule demanded. We whizzed around the city on the MRT after arming Chris and Val with some loaded Easycards for their convenience on public transport, bikes and convenience stores...the cashless society is really taking off in Taipei! As Cass and I guided and observed it was noticeable to us how much had changed since C&V's last visit some 6 years ago....lesson number two: be more aware(and appreciative) of your surroundings!

Cass knew that her Mum and Dad would love our recently discovered treasure of Houtong Cat Village and we nursed the ailing Honda (spark plug trouble diagnosed by the visitors!) along the freeways and onto the mountain byways to the village. It was a weekday so we escaped the weekend crowds, although there were still a healthy number of visitors. It was wonderful to see the cats roaming free and befriending anyone willing to give them some attention. We wandered and patted and admired until pausing for some delicious waffles and creamy coffee at "Hide and Seek", a cat themed (what else?) cafe perched on teh hillside high above the tracks. Afterwards we wandered across the restored rail bridge and took a ride on a tiny diesel railway engine and open carriages as it explored the old mine workings. It clunked and hiccuped it's way through some leaky tunnels and under impossibly low roofs (think Health and Safety concerns back home....oh!) till coming to a shuddering halt back at its "station" Great fun and the car managed to limp home safely at the end of the day!

On another day, we took the opportunity of a full sun/low smog day to catapult up to the top of Taipei 101 in the world's fastest elevator (still), while I lamented the fact that the building is now relegated to a lowly number five in the world's tallest building list! We wandered around the re-vamped area up top and below and again marveled at the engineering genius (and the amazing array of tempting souvenirs, especially the stone inlaid globes of the world). I ended up buying a new jacket and t-shirts at the trendy Japanese "Superdry" store and we had a light lunch at Agnes B. Lesson number three: don't take your city for granted...visit the sights once in a while!

As we had the week off fro Spring Break we were delighted to feel the first thawing and drying of what has been an unusually depressing long cold, wet winter. We drifted down to the Chungshan station area on another day and Val and Cass had a fine time checking out the beautiful bags on offer at the "bag shop", hidden down a tiny alley in a nondescript building in the shadow of another giant Sogo store. Onward to source a jacket for Cass then some surprises at the Contemporary Art Museum with a queue spilling out the door for their latest exhibition. Chris and I are committed non-queuers, so we all elected to re-charge with a coffee in the stylish adjoining cafe instead!

Youbike action ensued the next day! Perhaps stirred by my over enthusiastic descriptions on this blog, Chris was pretty keen to give the phenomenon a crack, and had requested a session if it would work out. Our new cards slid the bikes out of their racks at Jishan station and we threaded our way through the back streets towards the canal and bike track proper. Valerie survived a scrape and fall with a scooter parked precariously close to a sharp corner and soldiered on for the duration. We had a lovely day with light wind assistance and managed to go quite a fair distance along the Damshui River and the Guandu wetlands. It was picturesque and good fun, especially when we could just bank our bikes when we were ready and catch the MRT back home! Check it out.

The slightly less than crushing crowd at Yuanshan Station and surrounds was welcome on Saturday but initially we were perplexed at the paucity of humanity on such a sensational sunny day. The Farmer's Markets are usually teeming with people on the weekend and the restaurant open area at the rear of the stadium is similarly packed. Tomb sweeping weekend! Vast flocks of the Taipei populace had flown south for the weekend to visit ancestral homes for family time and remembrance of lost relatives: all the better for us and the non-claustrophobic experience! We shopped the eclectic stalls, dined at the English style pub, watched the kiddies drive their mini designer vehicles, listened to some crooners and shopped for some quirky goods at the market before renegotiating the MRT back home. Lesson three: get more adventurous with our food purchases...c'mon, you live in Asia!

I totally blew the cherry blossom calendar yesterday when I suggested we cruise up to our little hidden mountain viewpoint in Yangminshan! Taipei, being south of Japan actually has the early bloom so we missed the full force of blossom by about two weeks. The drive up was interesting for the visitors even with a dearth of views owing to an eerie sweeping mist that whispered across the upper reaches of the mountain. We spied some blown blossoms, game intrepid hikers appearing from the mist and grunting cyclists "enjoying" their mountain climb. On the way back home, we called in at the famous Beitou fumaroles and were amazed to find that they had first been worked in 1697: what on earth did they use sulphur for in those days?! The mini-geysers spat and hissed and a heady spume of egg laced cloud wafted and danced around us as we went from spot to spot. Right on cue, a classic Taiwanese moment occurred as a heavily made up and barely dressed girl posed for photos among the yellow hills and floating mists...Chris was particularly impressed!

We're back at school today so we're wondering what the guests might get up to now they're "off the leash" of their over-protective daughter and son-in-law!!

Youbiking video and photos of our fun first week together!