It's peaking into full-on winter here in Taipei, but you wouldn't know it. The sun was incandescent on the weekend and the temperatures mild to warm, with a murmur of a breeze and a couple of cotton-ball clouds dotting otherwise clear, blue skies.

I wasn't feeling massively energetic so decided to challenge the "back steps" of the Tienmu Gudao, which although more precarious, are lower in intensity, depth and length than the original punishing ascent. I haven't scootered along the ridge line leading to the trail-head here for a few years. On such a stellar day, it was a joy and relaxation, the newly tuned and tyred "Blackie" purring up the hills and cruising gently around corners. The road starts in an impossibly narrow lane wedged between housing tracts before opening out to hug the contours of the hill then forks to the right, ever upwards into the thickening forest.

There's no pretense at safety on the path, as you can see from the video above (for now, or later here). There is a sulfur infused river and waterfall cascading over boulders 100 metres below this path, and a wrong footfall could have one tumbling off the edge all the way to the bottom through ferns and humus. In fact, when I was heading back down taking the video, I deliberately took the more precarious outside path when I met an elderly couple coming up, which was lucky as old mate fell into the bushes on the lee side as I passed. I think he was mesmerized by seeing the "foreigner" trekking down this path in the middle of nowhere and lost his footing!

Cass, in turn, went strolling across town in search of a few items for our trip at the end of the week. She was only mildly successful, but did renew her acquaintance with a retarded fellow who has a shop assistant's job at one of the local chemist shops. She loves him as, quite ironically, he's one of the few assistants around who speaks a bit of English: who'd have thought it?!

We spent a fair bit of time watching the day/night cricket match from Perth over the weekend as well! We luxuriated in the playing schedule as, once a year when they play in Perth, the times match up exactly with us here in Taipei. It was quite intriguing cricket, a real battle of wills and the Aussies eventually triumphed. They also neatly packaged their win into four days, so we saw it wrap up last night instead of missing the final sessions when working today!

Tomorrow, the kids do their final exam for the semester which consists of a five paragraph essay on Fahrenheit 451. We'll have a doorstop of grading, close to 100 each come 10 a.m. tomorrow morning. We then have to get them all graded before class on Friday, hand them back, then prepare for our trip to Germany later that night. Blog will be on hiatus for a few weeks till we get back from the Fatherland! Photos: Cass, Todd and I dressed in our 451 t-shirts on Friday, Oggi pizza is always great on the weekends, and the trail was spectacularly lit in variegated greens.

If you're a foreigner in a city anywhere in the world, where would you rather live? Unsurprisingly, Taipei has been voted the best city in the world for ex-pats two years in a row. Check out the short news item here.

It's turned quite cold here in Taipei in the lead-up to winter and the warm clothes and accoutrement have begun to appear (maybe they did the aforementioned survey in spring?!). We've switched the air-conditioner to heat mode and have just feathered a warm breeze around the apartment to counteract the cool, humid pervasive feel. It's worked pretty well and the obligatory lounging tracky dacs and Ugg boots have completed the job! Mary's old bones cry out for her fluffy rugs and she now has many nesting spots set up in most rooms of the house!

The inhospitable weather has been compounded by incessant, annoying rain morning to night. Cass braved the conditions on Thursday to meet her book club mates at a local Indian restaurant, Moksha. They found it to be excellent, a step up from when Cass and I had visited previously when I found the curry dishes a bit on the politically correct side of "saltlessness"(!). Apparently, they've corrected this minor flaw and everything was fresh, beautifully prepared, presented and served. As it was a "school night", they were very circumspect in their wine consumption and an early night was had by all.

We did the grocery shopping as usual on Saturday. Readers in Australia might find this a quirky exercise. We never use a car and very rarely a motor-scooter: most of the time we walk and lug the bags back by foot. We stroll through a park opposite our place then cross a bridge over "Sulfur Creek", always keeping half an eye out for the turtles sunning themselves on the rocks below. Then we cross another park dotted with tennis courts and temples, Cass always stirring some interest from the old guys huddled around the mahjong boards! Down an alley, across a busier road and down into a basement supermarket where we can source a lot of things, not all. We then hump the four big bags on our shoulders, tracing the same route back, up the stairs to the third floor and unpack. The shopping experience itself in-store is another story entirely: I'll save that for another time!

We were drawn into a shopping maelstrom, quite unwittingly, on Saturday afternoon. Seething hordes of bargain seekers had flocked to the local SOGO to take advantage of an annual offer of discounts. The bargain offer didn't seem so attractive to us, a little stingy in fact, but it held enough fascination for thousands of people to jam every store and floor in the building. We just wanted some dumplings! We fought our way downstairs and sneaked into Din Tai Feng for our usual feast. Later we went upstairs to buy some supplies at Uniqlo, but the snaking queue for the registers was of such length that we wondered if we'd ever get out of there! Abandoning our original plan, we got some cake at Wendel's, some extra grocery supplies at Carrefour, and went home to hunker down away from the cold.

It was a great relaxing weekend and we're ready for another full week at work. Christmas is not too far away....Photos: Wal and I were featured on The Patio's facebook page, some Din Tai Feng shots, Cassy's favorite lily on the way to the supermarket, the famous red bag carrying (!). The last shot I found quite fascinating: our kids are only halfway through Grade 8 and this was a problem on their Math review booklet...some evidence of the amazing levels of achievement in Asia!

Bowling is an interesting pursuit! I get flashes of "The Big Lebowski" and fun memories of uncoordinated attempts at the local (now defunct) Mayfield Bowling Alley in our early 20s along with sessions with Gurecki in Nagasaki. What intrigues me the most at bowling alleys all around the world is the sameness and nostalgia generated every time one walks in the door. The clunk of pins, the echo of strikes reverberating around the complex, the slide of hire shoes on polished boards, and the kitsch 60s vibe in the decor: they're the same everywhere!

Downtown Banciao in the outer southern reaches of New Taipei City also has a bowling alley and, surprise, surprise, it is no different from any other! The molded plastic seats, the electronic scoring machines, the suspiciously dry hot dogs, the air hockey tables and the sideshow alley attractions are all there along with the aforementioned elements. We took 220 8th graders there for a morning of "celebration and wellness" and my noise cancelling headphones were a god-send! (pictured)

We held our own celebratory party on Wednesday night and gave thanks for our Thanksgiving holiday (god bless America!). Eschewing the delights of the full turkey carvery at school (complete with 100s of screaming kids and the entire staff and faculty invited along with their extended families), we decided instead on a civilized, private affair at one of our favourite restaurants, Ruth's Chris over at Dahzhi.  We texted up an Uber for the trip which took about 30 minutes in heavy rush hour traffic in the big city before we were deposited right in front, whispered up in the lift and entered the slick, couth world we've come to know and admire.

You could almost hear the heavy linen crack as we were ushered into our booth for a delightful evening and meal. The steaks were divine and the accompaniments fresh and tasty and we rounded out the meal with Australian Shiraz and rich cheesecake. Liveried waitstaff, subtle service and luxurious fit-out: it's an escape through the back of the wardrobe into another world. Narniaed back to reality, we got an Uber back home in half the time as the city's commuters settled in for a quiet night and eased the constant stream of vehicles lighting up Taipei's highways and byways.

We reveled in the beautiful spring-like weather over the remainder of the weekend with boutique excursions to do some shopping, pick up some furniture or scooter across the suburb for movies or meals. Normally, the start of winter here can get a little frosty, but we luxuriated in warm days and cool nights, full sun by day and a tinkling shower or two in the evening, lulling us to sleep as the rain tapped and clinked on the iron awning downstairs.

We also watched a lot of cricket! How decadent to get some days off work to fire up the VPN, access our Kayo subscription and beam the days' play from the Adelaide Oval and their day/night test against Pakistan. What could be better than sitting back on the lounge watching the Aussies break some records and David Warner get the 2nd highest test score of all time by an Australian? Not much, we say, and the pink ball sizzled and swung as the bats flashed and flew.

The temple just around the corner lit up like a cracker, quite literally, and entertained the neighbourhood with some giant puppet and portable shrine work. The temple boys sweated buckets on the warm day as they danced and swayed, the Taiko setting a hypnotic beat and the string of fireworks punctuating the happy mood with further excitement. It was a fitting end to an enjoyable and relaxing long weekend: we're ready to face another week....95 persuasive speeches each to sit through in the next three days(!).

Photos: bowling, Ruth's Chris, Mary sunning herself and the temple, with a final bowling shot included in the stop press: a colleague with a decent camera snapped us at the alley.

Taipei is in the throes of a looming presidential election and various candidates are jockeying for position in the two major parties. It's causing more of a wave than usual this time as the stakes are rising by the day with the Hong Kong uprising uppermost in politicians' minds as well as warnings from China that any possible moves to independence from Taiwan would be regarded as "disastrous". This is pretty strong rhetoric from the world's greatest emerging superpower, but people here are either naive or fiercely brave.

There are many local rallies about independence and there is a groundswell of support for such ideals among a significant proportion of the population. The elections tend to be on a knife's edge, however, meaning that the population is pretty much evenly split on the idea. China's sabre rattling at the very mention of independence worries us, but the pro-independence cabal here seem oblivious to the threat! I just hope that whoever prevails in a few months holds the steady line and confirms the "one country, two systems" ideology in order to avoid "disaster"!

We enjoyed long spells of cricket over the weekend. The first test of the summer from the Gabba is an institution and one which the Australians almost always win. This test was no different: the crack of willow on leather inspires and delights us at this time of year and we relished the chance to enjoy sessions in the sun, thunder in with ball in hand and dissect the field to find the boundary with a flourish of the bat!

We ducked away from the game to do various chores we reserve for the weekend away from the hectic pace of the working week. Carrefour was buzzing as usual, but we managed to flit in and out fairly quickly with our great haul of groceries. We always seem to be carting away bags laden with goods while others are zipping in and out with just a few purchases! We just do one big shop a week while many locals go nearly every day for their immediate needs: it's quite a different shopping culture!

The V8 Supercars were also on this weekend so we tuned in for a while on Sunday to get a glimpse of Newcastle by drone and helicopter as the cars hammered round the city street circuit. The city looked fantastic: who wouldn't want to live there?(!) At one stage we were flirting with the idea of a lightning visit home as we'd purchased tickets to the Kiss concert. Luckily we'd pulled the pin on that idea a while back and hadn't bought plane tickets or made arrangements: imagine the disappointment if we had!

It's a short working week for us, mercifully. The mighty United States of America has decreed it's a weekend for giving thanks, so we'll gratefully accept the long weekend and celebrate Thanksgiving in our own way. A perk for working at an American institution!

Photos: the kids joined a worldwide movement in a "Dance for Kindness", we were issued with new contracts, and Cass jokingly posed with her daily whiteboard schedule! We also got our rail pass from "DB" addressed to Herr Braggett!

We almost literally stumbled upon a new restaurant on Saturday evening after wandering down an alley at the rear of the local cinema complex. Previously housing a very uninspiring antique shop, the Greek Taverna Mussaka was a surprising and welcome sight. We'd been heading towards The Spice Shop to confirm that their online presence had in fact been correct in saying they were all booked up, when we spied this new gem.

We wandered in and were warmly welcomed and ushered to a table. The place was brightly decorated in Greek island blue and white and it seemed like a real "Mum and Pop" show. Somehow, Mum dealt with the steadily filling restaurant and Pop kept churning out the dishes. He emerged a little later in the evening to chat to a few couples they obviously knew. Cass had stuffed tomatoes and I had fetta sprinkled lamb chops just melting off the bone! Some plump and massive goldfish were lolling around in a fish-tank behind me and Cass was fascinated with them, as well as the strange dotted black fish who was puckering up to the tank's front wall. The food and ambiance was great and the "set" inclusions of soup, bread and piping hot, strong coffee just made the experience even better.

We'd been at a session of "Terminator: Dark Fate", the latest in the long running Terminator series. I'm a massive fan of the early movies, especially Terminator 2 when it first came out. This was supposed to be a reboot of the original story-line although to me it fell a little flat. The presence of original megastars, Linda Hamilton and big Arnie dragged it up to an acceptable level: we both couldn't fault the action sequences even though the dialogue fell a little flat and glib at times.

I reprised my mild heroics of last week and challenged the steps again this Sunday. The weather was suitably similar, although choosing to go at the height of the midday sun was not ideal, as the overhead rays pierced through the canopy at more regular intervals. The macaques again stayed their distance and the steps again proved no less steep nor unrelenting! The biggest difference is that on the lower flights the trickling of water has stopped due to a lack of rain and runoff. The upper stream still cascades beside the track and gurgles through the pipes: I'm not sure where it goes after the mid-way point! The water provides a metronomic note to pace oneself by: without it, I plodded (at least that's my excuse!)

On Friday night a couple of strange vehicles were spotted on the bustling streets of the wider city. We spied a ute of sorts, looking a bit retro and very interesting: a far cry from the ubiquitous cookie-cutter modern saloons purring the streets. Uber Eats is big business here as in most other places in the world and the ride of choice is a Kymco or Yamaha motor-scooter, so who would have guessed a Harley would be used?! This Sportster model would need multiple thousand deliveries to recoup the outlay to buy it....the mind boggles!

Cass spent Friday night with a meeting of her Book Club. She only needed to stroll across a few alleys as Lisa was hosting and she's only recently moved to a new place near us. Her daughter Atlas kept the ladies entertained with her confident and articulate sassiness and boldly took Cass by the hand to show her all sorts of exciting things! They had a delicious meal and bookish chats along with at least a little gossip about the comings and goings at work.

Photos: Taipei vehicles at night, Greek dining and the steps.

Just around the corner from our alley, a postage stamp plot, a veritable sliver of land, is all that this canny developer must have spied in travels down Lane 10 Ker Qiang Road one day. A long neglected "block" of land next door to where Shaun and Katie used to live is being transformed, quite magically, into some style of house or apartment. It was paved over a few years ago and some cars parked there end to end as parking adjacent to each other was impossible due to the width, which I estimate to be about 12 feet. When the structure is eventually built I'd love to get a look inside: what tricks and trends will need to be achieved to make this a liveable space?! (see photo up top)

The weather here this weekend hit its zenith: cloudless skies, mild temperatures and just a zephyr to wipe away a sheen of perspiration if one was strolling away from the trees in full sun for a stretch. It was so delightful in the daylight hours, with just a hint of coolness when the sun retreated for the day. We went and did our grocery shopping in the flush of a blooming Saturday early afternoon, before strolling down to the SOGO to visit our favourite Thai restaurant for our usual combined lunch and dinner.

This combined meal has two benefits. The first and most obvious is that we only need to cater for one meal versus two, but the other benefit is that we are so ravenously hungry by the time we eat it that anything tastes wonderful! The latter is an added bonus sometimes, but not necessary at this Thai restaurant: the fresh food steaming from the wok is just sublime and we marvel at it each and every time. The eggplant is so vibrantly crimson it looks artificial and the shrimp pancakes are melt in your mouth. We usually combine these with beef and cashews and a traditional green curry chicken: a feast for Thai kings!

I conquered the thousand(s) of steps on Tienmu Gudao on Sunday while Cass struggled with the website for the German train giant, Deutsche Bahn! Cass was keen to explore a few train pass options for our upcoming trip after an informative chat with our friend Ange, who'd done some German train traveling a couple of years ago. We'd already managed to book, but not pay for, some return tickets from Frankfurt to Munich, so we wondered if we could include these bookings under the umbrella of a rail pass. I left Cass to sort out the intricacies while I challenged myself after a long lay-off.

The monkeys were foraging softly, and despite the tell-tale crack of branches from a swinging simian somewhere far away in the forest, they spared me any further heartache. I climbed methodically and cautiously, conscious that my shoes were untested on the surface of the steps and also my heart hadn't been sped up like this for a little while! I'd blown out two pairs of well used shoes at camp and was using a back-up pair. They performed quite admirably yet my heart slightly less so: I was huffing and puffing with a beating heart at various checkpoints all the way to the top!

The stroll around the ridge-line at the top of the steps is always rewarding, but especially so today. The air was fresh, the sun dappling through the canopy, and the warm-down along the path was actually quite exhilarating as the trail winds its way around the mountain with occasional and fleeting views of the valley life far, far below. My shoes held up well and the cooling draught of water at the bottom made it a short excursion to savour.

Cass did indeed sort out the rather confusing DB website and we subsequently purchased a four day (flexi: non consecutive days) pass for some major journeys we might take and no doubt, we'll navigate around the system on a few shorter trips as well over the period. The world continues to be our oyster: we're well aware of this and grateful for everything we have.