It feels like an apocalyptic scene from a movie. In an ancient forest as pterodactyls hone in on a target in a vicious laser -like dive and bombing, tearing the scalps from unsuspecting humans fleeing along the forest floor. In reality, it isn't that frightening, but these Taiwanese blue magpies certainly know how to ratchet up the terror dial!

The park adjacent to our place has been home to a pair of nesting Taiwanese blue magpies for a couple of years when the temperature warms and flighted creatures turn their minds to procreation. Unfortunately, despite being quite rare and beautiful, they're also fiercely territorial it seems, and they've taken a distinct dislike to my balding pate! Every time we walk through, they shrill and bark out their distaste to our invasion and, unerringly, they zero in on my head for a warning shot. I've taken to erecting a flimsy defense by walking along with my bag on my head! Apart from attacking passers-by, they've also drawn their own dedicated band of photographers keen to capture their exotic plumage in flight or perhaps even a glimpse of their fledglings. They're real celebrities there's no doubt about it, but I long for the day when they take off somewhere else again!

We've done our first major shop at the new(for us at least) PX Mart, fondly known as the "Blue Mart". Our reconnoiter the week before paid off as we were able to find our way down the extra block or two then negotiate a trail round the inside of the supermarket itself. The only major absentees were broccoli and tinned tomatoes. When I asked a worker, he replied in Chinese that they didn't have any, but he was unclear if that was just a momentary lack or a permanent one: I guess we'll find out. Pretty chuffed with our efforts, even thought it took a bit longer than usual, we made plans to go down to the SOGO and have Din Tai Feng for our afternoon/evening meal.

As usual, it was a veritable feast! Cassy had the vegetarian mushroom dumplings and I had the traditional chicken xiao long bao, accompanied by special fried rice with egg and prawns along with stir fried cabbage and pickled cucumber....ahhhh! A whiz around Uniqlo on the 4th floor yielded some "active wear" for Cass which she's pretty impressed with, and a T-shirt and socks and undies for me. Wendel's bread on the way home completed our shopping trip for the weekend.

We attended a memorial service at school for one of my ex-colleagues on Sunday. Joyce was a much loved member of various departments at school but more than a decade ago, she was diagnosed with cancer. Despite a long battle and various stints of treatment that initially went well, she finally passed away quite recently in the U.S. Her husband, Ralph, also a good friend and colleague, is back for a couple of weeks based round the service. I've written a story, as requested, of our memories of Joyce, and it was quite cathartic and also very well received by Ralph. They're going to compile the contributions into a book to give to her grand-kids when they get a little older: at this stage they are all very young. The service was quite delightful and a genuine celebration of life, just as Ralph wanted and requested. Of course, like anything like this so close to home, we were quite reflective and thoughtful afterwards: Joyce was just 67, the same age as dad when he died.

Photos: A shutter of photographers, the weapon herself (stock photo), Cass illegally perched on the building's chair lift, Cole's meat at the PX Mart (!), a giant hibiscus, the sedentary babies, and a very red tongue from eating a dark-fleshed dragon fruit!

Only the sound of gravel crunching underfoot disturbed the generally bucolic soundtrack that played out along the ridgeline of the Tienmu Gu Dao track on Sunday. Plump lizards scratched and bustled away from the human disturbance, and I occasionally caught a flash of their neon back patches or scuttling legs as they did mini bush crashes in their haste to be away. Locusts cast a symphonic net over the mountain and the occasional beeping bird call played accompaniment. The rhythm section was comprised solely of the distant but distinct shrieks of a barrel of Taiwanese Macaques as they swang low, smashing fronds and cracking branches, as they traversed the canopy above.

Our weekend had begun in a standard manner with both of us having social Friday nights, after watching some football together in the fading afternoon before we tripped off to separate events. Mine was the standard beer and sausages affair with Wal, while Cass went to the other end of the culinary spectrum with her visit with the "Bookies" to the "too cool for school" slick outfit that is Il Mercato down on Chung Chen Road. We both enjoyed our catch-ups and despite the fact that the food and drink quality varied widely, we enjoyed the meal as well!

Our girls, Virg n Mary, aren't in the prime of their lives. They've been so robust and immune to any sickness or disease that we'd been lulled into a false sense of security concerning their longevity. They're really senior citizens now having just passed their 14th birthdays. As if a switch had been flicked, they simultaneously decided that their medicated hard food that they've eaten exclusively for their entire lives was now to be shunned. As they lost weight, week after week, we were desperate to get any food into them at all, so we've tried every variety of wet food we can find, visiting many shops and supermarkets. We're still experimenting, but we've found a couple they'll tolerate, one in fact, that they wolf down quite ravenously. So, anyway, for the time being at least, they're hanging in there and might even be putting on a couple of grams!

Seguing from shops and supermarkets, it is in fact true that our trusted local supermarket, Mingde Wellcome, is shutting down....in fact, it's closed already! We scouted out the Blue PX Mart nearby and it seems to be reasonably good, a worthy substitute. Although a rather lengthy block further away (which is a factor as we lug the shopping by hand), it follows our preferred route through the park, across the river and along the "Boulevard of Dreams", so we think we'll try it for a while at least. We shopped at Carrefour this week and also went to Wendel's and Pizza Oggi, so we felt we'd spent the entire Saturday looking for supermarkets, buying supplies or food and getting takeaway!

Back to the Sunday trail...not only did the aural senses get a workout, but the scene was lit by the most amazing spring sunshine. It pierced the foliage with barbed rays that danced on the path as the breeze shook the treetops, and dappled sun spotted the path as I marched on from the top of the stairs all the way to the Cultural College steps at the end of the mountain pass. As the sun patches intermittently struck the steps, a kaleidoscopic flutter of butterflies dipped and swirled. The brand new leaves were golden green and shimmered with new shoots and then, emerging with a crack from the spearmint mist were the aforementioned troop, cartoon monkey style, all four of different sizes swinging languidly above the trail up ahead and then, effortlessly, up, over and gone.

Photos: My Orphanage Club officer election speeches, sights you see walking home from school, shots from the trail and Cassy all Italianed up to visit Il Mercato. Video: capturing the serenity up above for now, but here later.

We've had a couple of birthdays in our household lately and even though the girls have just had their 14th (!) anniversary of birth in fairly lacklustre style, it's not them I'm referring to. Cassy had hers in very low key fashion a week or so back on a weekday and I followed up this Saturday with my own.

Cass hates the hiatus between birthdays and curses the unfortunate circumstances that allow her to be the elder partner in our relationship for a solid and seemingly never-ending nine days. I try not to alleviate the pain by dropping one liners periodically which acknowledge that she, and she alone, has reached such senior status to be almost unbelievably ancient. Equilibrium has been restored now, at least until next year!

My annual pushup challenge was just that, a challenge, this year. In my 49th year I thought it might be a good trick to do a fair few push-ups for my 50th birthday. In the giddy headspace which accompanies initial success, I decided that I could even do the same number of pushups as my age. If only I'd stuck with that. In my euphoria that I seemed strong enough to do 70 pushups at the time, I decided to set "my age plus 20 extra" as the benchmark for that very first challenge at the half century. Six years later and with a generally wrecked and contorted shoulder I've fallen short, only managing to achieve 70 instead of 76. I took today off as is tradition, but I'm determined to get back in the winner's circle with 77 this time next year so I start another year's training on Wednesday....nuts?....I know!

We had no real set plans for either of our birthdays, which was just as well as Cassy has been frustrated with another bout of sinus related trouble. We're cursing the hacking, sneezing mess of teenagers we work in close proximity to each day....these kids have a fairly loose interpretation of personal hygiene and etiquette! We needed to get up to the doctor's on Saturday morning to source some pills, and Cass was a very quiet shell of her usual self all weekend and has even decided to take a rare day off work today.

Before she was struck down, Cass managed to have a very enjoyable night out with her friend Lisa, where they made their way down by train to the 1914 Huashan Creative Park to a theatre to see a live production. The Diary of Anne Frank was being performed by a professional cast of old and young adult actors, but also starred in the title role, young Camryn, who is a student of Cassy's this year, and also happens to be the eldest daughter of her great friend, Kristin. What a triumph it proved to be! Cass and Lisa were stunned not only by the professional performances, but also the choreography needed to work their way round the set so perfectly for the couple of hours. As Cass says, "We all know the ending, so that's not part of the tension", yet the actors kept the audience riveted to their seats throughout. Here is a link to a review in the Taipei Times. The girls ate a relaxed meal at a cafe on the grounds before the performance and reported it be tasty and sufficient!

I myself had an unusual repast on Friday evening as my usual German sausage haul was replaced with spicy chicken from KFC, home delivered by a sharing friend! I was just settling in to watch the Knights game against Melbourne when Wal rang and asked to come round and watch. He brought us some beers and the dinner so he was a very welcome guest. We later went on and out and about to watch more football so it was a nice little birthday entree.

Crazily, end-of-year routines are starting to be advertised at school, and Friday and Saturday nights are getting clogged with social engagements from farewells to retirements to celebrations of life. Looks like we'll be as busy as usual, as April drains away to May and a finish to the year looms large in early June. Photos: Cass had a cherry beer for her birthday, Mr. Squiggle's spaceship has come back down to earth as a paper money burner in our lane,  a breakfast celebration at Wendel's and a possible answer to our biggest question of late: why has the quality of fruit and vegetables rapidly declined lately at our local supermarket? Possibly....it's closing soon..."bye bye sale"?!

Warning: ...verbosity!

Hitting the train station in Nagasaki early the next morning, we were determined to get some food on board to sustain us for a big day of railing,. The JR office sorted us the multiple tickets we needed to get to two destinations further south, then we had enough time to visit the Royal Host for some coffees and pancakes before embarking on the next leg of our vaguely planned journey.

The limited express train rocked us on up to Shin Tosu where we could make a quick-fire change to the shinkansen heading south. We bustled across platforms and up escalators, sorted our possible entry point then waited just a few minutes before the impossibly sleek bullet train whispered into position right in front of us. It seemed we were barely settled in as the train hurtled along before we were reminded to be ready to disembark at Kumamoto for the briefest of stops.

The station is similar to many in Japan and as an exchange hub, there are associated shopping and restaurant areas. We sorted our bags into a giant coin locker, hailed a taxi, and we were bound for the famous Kumamoto castle. Our driver, Keiko, was keen to talk and, although it was a bit exhausting, it gave me a chance to brush up again on my shaky Japanese. She explained that the castle was still devastated by the huge earthquake of 2016, and although steps were being taken to restore it, the task was mammoth and time consuming. On the lead-in drive, the outer walls of the massive fortification were crumbling at points and completely breached at others. Huge bags of earth held up precarious, damaged giant stone walls and scaffolding was evident on the main castle. The moat walls had collapsed at intervals and monolithic stones had cascaded into the dry channels, a sad mess of granite and dirt. The juxtaposition of the bursting bloom of hundreds of ancient sakura in front of this chaos was quite surreal yet calming. The hanafubuki effect of falling petals again had us entranced as we wandered the castle grounds among the trees before we teamed up with Keiko for a trip back to the station, a tasty Italian lunch nearby, then back onto the train, this time bound for Hitoyoshi via Yatsushiro.

The less-than-fancy commuter rattler to Yatsushiro was crowded and uninspiring: our first dud! One thing that never fails to astound me is how the Japanese lose all sense of their usually impeccable manners and sensitivity to others when boarding a train. I suppose getting crowded enough to employ "pushers" in the city will do that, but our "first people in the queue and on-board" did not guarantee us a seat with these seagulls going after a hot chip! The largely uninspiring countryside melted away into a magical vista as soon as we chugged out of Yatsushiro on another branch line. To restore our faith, a lovely man gave up his little 4 man booth so we could begin to enjoy the incredible views of pea soup-green river water sluicing downstream over rocks and between boulder beaches. The train rattled its way further up the valley following the river and we stared goggle-eyed at blushing sakura dotting the banks and saturating the steep mountainsides which swept down straight to the water's edge. We "oohed" and "aahed" all the way to Hitoyoshi, or "Little Kyoto", as this tiny mountain township likes to promote itself: and Cass, unbeknownst to her, was about to be initiated into the ancient and curious art of the Japanese onsen!

All set to continue on to Yoshimatsu and further scenic highlights, our plans were cruelled by the realization that we'd missed the last mountain switchback train that would finish in daylight. The information desk at the tiny Hitoyoshi station recommended a local onsen ryokan to stay and we duly booked and set out to check-in after viewing the kitsch but cute samurai clock outside the station. A pleasant walk later and we arrived at the uber-traditional inn full of kimono-clad, shuffling smiling women and obsequious suited men all ushering us beyond the raked gravel entry courtyard onto the creaking floorboards and into our tatami room of generous proportions. This, in turn, overlooked a sunny anteroom and manicured garden. The yukatas were laid out, the tea was boiling and the onsen (natural hot spring) beckoned. Cass was hesitant, so we first went out to explore the lay of the land.

We went for a fairly long walk and stumbled on various little gems along the way. An ancient temple had a mini multiple gate set-up and beautiful copper roofed main buildings, some in a restoration phase. Sakura continued to flutter down on a little lake outside and the  fading light combined with the pink blossoms painted a pretty palette. We found the remains of an ancient castle and an impressive wall which has seen centuries of floods and calamities as it withstood the river's  attempts to destroy it. We ate at a very cheery izakaya on the way back to the inn and then it was time for our bath!

We got into the yukatas provided and made our way down the creaking corridors to the natural spring, encased in a large bathroom, segregated by gender. I gave Cass her last-minute instructions and she entered the women's area without great enthusiasm. The bathing, scrubbing, rinsing and cleansing all happened on little stools outside the bath then the soaking happened inside the bath as big as a small swimming pool. The air was laced with mineral odours and thick with cloying heat: I like this feeling, but Cass wasn't a fan. I'd spied a little sign that said the gender of the bathrooms might change without notice and of course, it happened right when Cassy was finishing up! A bustling little man came in a'hollerin, but as she didn't understand him, she couldn't really respond....anyway, it was an experience. Tick!

We were gifted a massive treat the next day when, after booking all our tickets down south we waited for our train back. There was an awesome speciality train gasping away at our platform and we only belatedly realized it was ours! It was astonishingly sparkling and liveried to the hilt, special badges and paint indicating it was the Kawasemi bound for Yatsushiro. You can see how special it was in the video above! We tracked the same river and mountain route back, but it was even more special in our custom chariot as the weather continued to embrace us in sunshine and warmth.

We waited at Shin Yatsushiro for our next juggernaut, the shinkansen bound for the southern hub of  Kagoshima Chuo. The time flashed by and no sooner had we begun admiring the countryside as it zipped past us at astonishing speed, than we were being urged to get ready to disembark. Negotiating our way to an outdoors provincial track and platform we were glad to line up: a crowd was forming and we didn't have reserved seats for our trip even further south to the seaside town of Ibusuki. We scored a seat and the little train huffed and puffed all along the coast, bursting through thickets of overhanging foliage with a "thwack", or gently rocking beside bays and inlets. The suburbs melted into fields and groups of farmhouses within little seaside communities were bucolic and peaceful as the train bustled through or made a brief stop to whittle away the remaining few passengers on the train by the time we reached Ibusuki.

A delightful girl on the tourist information counter recommended a hotel by the sea just out of town. It sounded great, a perfect blend of tatami rooms and futons but with the conveniences of a modern hotel. We booked, then taxied our way up there after the girl seemed so relieved not to have to resort to her English! The hotel was spectacular! Our room was generous and looked straight across the bay: in fact, all we could see from our room was water and all we could hear was the gentle slap and tiny crash of waves against the seawall and pocket beaches. We immediately set out for a seaside stroll along the boardwalk.....it was blissful to breathe in the sea air, promenade in the dappled sunlight and gaze out on the sea and sand. We passed the famous foot-baths of Ibususki and the main attraction: the thermal spring heated hot sands with lines of yukata-ed tourists wending their way down to be covered up to their necks in the boiling grit! We spoke to some little girls catching teeny fish on a break-wall, spied a nice cafe for our meal later on, then went back to while away the hours on the hotel's generous terrace, drinking Sapporo beers that we kept replenishing from the beer vending-machine inside! Ahhh, all hail the sun and the sea and holidays in general!

We ate a scrumptious dinner at a little cafe up the road: ordered from, then cooked and served by the same little old man! We settled in for a peaceful night back at the hotel, the waves cooing a lullaby to us as we drifted away with them. Breakfast the next morning was in the sea-view restaurant, the staff so flustered by the foreigners showing up that we forgot to proffer, and they didn't ask for, our coupons! Bellies full, we taxied up to the station and took the same quaint little train back to Kagoshima, volcanoes belching in the distance as we chugged on by, transferred to the shinkansen, and quick as a wink we were in Fukuoka by early afternoon. The adventure was entering its final stage, but we had a lot to experience just yet...

Fukuoka's Hakata Station is pretty massive, but we found the coin lockers and squeezed our two bags into the smallest size locker, the only one left available....nice packing by us! Train experts by now, we ate some delicious "station curries" before descending into the subway system to go across town to the other commercial hub of Tenjin. The subway was owned by a private company so our trusty JR rail passes could no longer be used...farewell fine friends!

We wandered round the commercial heart of town and gazed from afar at the glittering shopping palaces and high-end boutiques and shops. The central park was cute and we stumbled upon a kimono attired couple getting married...so cute! I found my way through a labyrinth of shopping malls back to the artisan pottery/jewellery shop I'd discovered many years ago, but this time Cass could meet the owner and select her own gift for her impending birthday. We decided to walk back across the city and on the way were approached by embarrassed giggles of school kids wanting to practice their English and we wandered through a sakura saturated park where more beautiful kimono clad girls allowed us to take some photos. The trees were groaning under blossom and the petals were once again falling like snow! On the way, the hyper commercial Canal City Hakata was a sight to be seen, a multi-storied hub of shops and restaurants with an artificial river and lake running through the centre. Eventually we made our way back to the station, retrieved our bags, then did the short walk to the slick, modern Tokyu Rei Hotel to freshen up before heading out to dinner.

The complex above the station is as monolithic as hubs in other parts of town and no less centered on commercial interests. The top two floors are dedicated to dining and there is no shortage of choice in quality fare, both Japanese and otherwise. We hadn't yet eaten any ramen, so Ippudo was the choice and we were ushered inside and ordered up large, despite the girl being quizzical about me ordering Cassy's ramen with "no pork meat"....wasn't that what it's all about?! We passed international cuisine of at least a dozen countries on the 9th and 10th floor plus dozens of Japanese restaurants. There was also a very slick looking Paul Bocuse restaurant....maybe next time!

The hearty ramen in the busy, bustling atmosphere of Ippudo made way to the next floor where we spied a dessert restaurant dedicated to Fukuoka's specialty in the spring, strawberries! The curiously monikered "Campbell Early" (a type of grape, my research indicates) offered the most mouth-watering strawberry dessert sensations we'd ever seen. The taste mirrored the look; ice-cream, crumbled cookies, custard, yogurt and syrup all combined with the strawberries for the most decadent dessert all while looking down on Fukuoka's busy thoroughfares from floor to ceiling windows.

It was a fitting crowning glory to a short holiday, but one jam packed with all sorts of quirky and interesting experiences. It's not very often that little trips exceed even our lofty expectations, but this one did, and by huge margins. We taxied to the airport, shuttled across the South China Sea then "Danieled" it back home...what was crazy was that we still had a full weekend to relax and get ready for a return to work. That's just too blissful for words!

Here is a link to the album.

Our trip was an enchanting mix of the familiar and nostalgic, the clipped efficiency and the vaguely chaotic, with a dash of exotic, exciting and frankly, bizarre, thrown into a travel cocktail of the highest class and a lingering taste sensation!

We book-ended the trip with visits to our flight destination, Fukuoka, a regional bustling hub at the northern tip of our exploration island, Kyushu. I'd been here on many occasions, sometimes as a gateway to Nagasaki to visit Mark and sometimes as a destination in its own right, usually when Mark visited me. When we landed, we shuttled straight to the train station, negotiated the three JR offices (finding our necessary spot on the second go!), transferred our vouchers for the all important five day rail pass, then boarded the limited express train bound for Nagasaki and our reunion with Mark and Himiko.

My Japanese was rusty and clunky but was working well enough: I was determined to use this opportunity to brush up just a little. Cass marveled at the pretty countryside on the two hour train ride, the first of many we'd undertake this week. The coastal bays and inlets as a backdrop against bursting cherry blossom trees as the train rushed by painted an exquisite spring scene: one that would be replicated time and time again as we were variously jettisoned, or gently rocked, around the island.

Nagasaki trains deposit you right in town by the bay and we were able to catch a tram right out front en route to the Forza Hotel at the end of one of the Hama Cross enclosed malls in the hub, just a few blocks from Mark and Himiko's home and school. After we rang him and he almost immediately appeared, we rushed some lunch in as we hadn't eaten since the night before. It was great to see Mark: his ebullient character and hearty laugh were in evidence from minute one, and we fell straight back into that comfortable familiarity that old and lasting friends often have.

We walked around through some areas that I hadn't previously been: Chinatown looked familiar (!) and Glover's Garden was a living jewel, with slithering well-fed carp in ponds, incredible plantings of all manner of flowers and plants and restored churches and "Scottish" residences, all precariously gripping the hillside of one of Nagasaki's many precipitous terraces in the natural amphitheater surrounding the bay. After a fascinating look at the Okunchi displays and vivid descriptions of same from our well informed and invested host, we moved on to the rooftop of the impressive art museum before finally settling down to a couple of sweet Japanese brews at the decadently placed Dejima wharf and its succession of eateries and bars overlooking the setting sun on the bay.

Despite the lulling caress of the sun and breeze and the beers hitting the spot along with a chance to catch up with Mark, we needed to move on to the famous night view from Mt. Inasa via the ropeway. One of the world's top three night views, the cable car up and down as well as the spectacular 360 degree view from the top of the viewing deck was well worth the visit and we were able to get a better perspective on the size and geography of the city. We were to meet Himiko for dinner soon however, so we didn't linger too long before meeting up with her at Asa Izakaya for some local food and of course, a few extra beers! It was great to catch up there before Cass was able to check out the combined home and school of The Class. They really have a wonderful set-up for living as well as the adjunct school facility.

Himiko's mum had prepared the most astonishing "bento" packed lunch for our planned outing the next day. We'd planned on meeting up with M&H and "MC" as mum is affectionately known, for a traditional lunch underneath the fully blooming sakura trees up near Nagasaki East High School. MC is 82 and suffering a few mobility problems, but nonetheless she negotiated a huge set of stairs from the carpark and then bumpy paths leading to the tree-canopied terraces with aplomb. The terraces were humming and bustling, blue plastic tarpaulins designating each family or company saved spot, and all manner of people enjoying the "hanami" as the sakura fell like snow each time a breeze wafted through (hanafubuki). The lunch was an exquisite preparation of special foods designed to be fairly traditional, but taking into account Cassy's "no pig product" stipulation. It must have taken forever to prepare. We loved lazing around on our own blue plastic and soaking up the atmosphere of the falling petals as we consumed the bounteous feast. A stroll at the end of the meal was in order and the sights just went on and on: would we become anesthetized to the allure of this beauty at any point?!

We arranged to meet up later in the evening to visit MC's favourite restaurant, Kiyokawa, at the confluence of the maze of alleys at the start of the snack/bar/late night district that holds sway over the salaryman most evenings. I've been lucky enough to have been the subject of MC's largess before as, promise as she might, I never seem to be capable of wrestling the bill from her! The courses were delicate and taste sensations: Cass and I both declare the tempura fish was the best that we'd ever eaten....fish that is, and considering some of the fish dishes we've eaten, that's a massive call. There were translucent, thin sashimi pieces, delicate tempura and even the "whey" of tofu topped with fish eggs (pictured above). The culmination was the intricately veined wagyu beef triangles that we sizzled to our own taste on individual hot rocks: Gurecki reckoned those cows were swimming in wine and beer to produce such marbling! MC was keen to go to a bar for cocktails after dinner so we eagerly tagged along and cocktails and beers were consumed before we said our goodbyes till next time and flopped into the Hotel Forza for our last night.

Incredibly, this was just the entree to our Kyushu feast: stay tuned for more southern island adventures (and photos) next week. For a sneak peek at the full album, check this out. Thanks Mark, Himiko and MC....what a blast to be hosted by the locals in this beautiful little city!