The train scythed through rice paddies, hurtled through built up areas on the edge of cities and jettisoned into mountain tunnels all at an astonishing clip, eclipsing all steel road traveling we'd done in Taiwan to this date. We were on our way at 300 km/h to Taiwan's second largest metropolis of Kaohsiung for a long weekend of touristing, taking advantage of one of our personal days to extend the regular weekend into Monday.

We ate our breakfast on Saturday at a civilized hour before loading up a single "trolley dolly" to trundle down to the MRT station at Mingde, ride to Taipei and transfer to the High Speed Rail. We'd left far too much time, forgetting the awesome efficiency of this place. Nonetheless, we boarded a slick bullet train, not dissimilar to the Shinkansens in Japan and the TGVs in France that we'd used in the past many times. Our hotel was a skip beyond the main station that we linked to via Kaohsiung's own version of the MRT: too easy, even our value added cards worked! The functional hotel room was equipped with everything you could think of and possibly more, the pulsing, massaging shower being the highlight....ugly but incredible! We got the lie of the land, got sun-screened and hatted, then braved the searing heat to wander the streets in search of the Love River.

Kaohsiung is a busy port city and is fed by the creatively monikered "Love River". After quite a trek, we wandered the banks and eventually found a tiny cruise terminal where we shared a cute boat with a few locals and motored up and down the river gazing at the awesome modern architecture and quirky river traffic. Back on dry land we wandered some more streets, were surprised at some of the street art installations and found our way to a nearby metro station. Our destination was Formosa Boulevard, where a massive glass installation was quite the attraction. Murano glass installed by Germans and Mexicans under the guidance of an Italian artist, the installation is quite spectacular. Part of it was shrouded for a backstage area and we weren't there at the light show times, but even so, it was quite the sight. The heat, however, was enervating and we were glad to get back and shower and cool off, grab some local quick bites for tea and get ready for Sunday.

Breakfast at the Kindness Hotel was quite the event! We'd been regaled with the wonders of the complimentary "midnight snacks" the night before, which apparently was a magnet for our fellow travellers. We'd wandered in, around and straight out when we realized the "snacks" were catering to the local taste and not offering us the cake and coffee we were searching for! The breakfast buffet was vast and a massive counter was stocked with dumplings, fish, noodles and  vegetable dishes of every description. The other side was dedicated to salads, breads, eggs, fried foods, omelettes etc. Cass and I each sourced suitable fare from the array of choices and, fortified, we headed out again into the searing heat.

We had the metro system wired after a day: it was so similar in style to Taipei's, albeit more shiny and new! I'd discovered a few highlights of the city blogged by a couple of young Singaporean girls which, incredibly, seemed to match our taste exactly. We followed their advice to visit Pier 2 Art Area followed by a ferry ride to Cinjn Island. First up, Pier 2! What a trip! The entire area was spread out over a few blocks where abandoned warehouses had been restored and re-purposed allowing spaces for creative workshops, live music and theatre as well as art workshopping. The buildings were splashed with giant murals, and even utilities like electric boxes were creatively re-used with interesting ideas and artistic additives. There were crazy sculptures of enormous scale: shipping containers tilted into a gravity defying helix and invented creatures confronting the old buildings while Logan's Runesque light rail trams whispered through the park. It was a creative oasis of wonder in the middle of a bustling city, yet despite its artistic salve, the brutal realities of a hot day in the south of the country were taking their toll on the pale skinned visitors!

We burrowed into the depths of  the subway system yet again to emerge on the edge of the harbourside precinct. Enterprising stallholders were selling all manner of hats and coverings so I got a cheap hat which we were surprised to find was 100%paper, according to the label. Winding our way a few blocks to the ferry wharf, we were met by a queue of people waiting to board, but the line soon whittled down as one ferry after another magically maneuvered into minuscule spots on the wharf and people and scooters embarked and disembarked accordingly. Seven minutes later we'd braved the port entrance and were disgorged with the masses onto Cinjin Island.

Swapping a little money and an identity card, we were soon armed with a tandem bike with electric assistance motor, roof adorned with Winnie the Pooh and a map of the island's bike paths. First stop, the starlight tunnel. The walking tunnel through the headland leads to an ocean-side boardwalk complete with rugged, rocky cliffs and copses of flowering cacti. It was here you could almost reach out and touch container ships entering the narrow port entrance and get deafened by their warning horns. Back on the bike and past the "fat sweating men" bar (!) we journeyed from one kitsch seaside sculpture to the next for various photo opportunities. It was beautiful to catch the sea breeze and look out on the ocean vistas as we purred along. We retraced our tracks to deposit the bike back with the entrepreneurial rental boys, lined up, ferried back then subwayed our way all the way home to the hotel. We'd sweated copious amounts so were relieved to shower and cool off before embarking on our next adventure of dinner at Andrea's Pizza!

Just a few short blocks from the hotel and scoped from a Google maps search for pizza near out GPS location was Andrea Pizza, in a backstreet and a postage stamped size, just three tables and a bar. It's the best pizza we've had in Taiwan, even besting the famous Oggi! We reckon it rivals (and Cass says the quatro formaggi beats) the best we've had round the world including Gusta Pizza in Florence and Amsterdam's Palorma Pizzeria! We even had our favourite cherry and blond Belgian beers as an accompaniment and left after a relaxing meal, bellies full and minds blown by our discovery in a little Kaohsiung alley.

Late breakfast and checkout was in order on that most decadent of days: when you're getting paid to work yet you're doing nothing of the sort! Monday morning late we caught the metro out to the terminal station for the High Speed Rail, Zhouying, with plans to shuttle bus onwards to a massive Buddhist monastery and series of temples and giant Buddha. We shunted our bag into a locker after some comical efforts at reading the instructions, then discovered we'd just missed the shuttle bus and another wouldn't arrive for an hour. Undeterred, we decided to walk to another attraction a couple of kilometeres away, the Lotus Lake. After another enervating, hot walk where we were entertained by birds and squirrels along the way, the cooling winds whipped from the waters of the lake were very welcome. The lake was ringed by out-sized temples, pagodas, dragons, Buddhas and other statues, all interesting and diverting. We tried an alternative route back, got discombobulated by swooping and stacked expressways, and eventually wended our way through to the back entrance of the station with loads of time to retrieve our bag, re-fuel, then board the juggernaut ready for the trip back home.

Successfully whisked back to the top of the island with a minimum of fuss and time, we dined at an Indian restaurant in the main station before getting our own metro back home to Mingde. Mary was pleased to see us and we were pleased to see she'd survived her heroic three days without support. Somehow, we'd remained in a media blackout in order to watch the Knights "live" which we did and they won: a perfect cherry on top of a blissfully full and delicious dessert of a weekend! Photo album here.

In our opinion, there is no more unsettling feeling than a gargantuan, five story edifice of steel, brick and concrete of unimaginable weight and substance, shaking and jolting with powerful violence for extended periods. Despite the fact that earthquakes shake the city many times nearly every day, they are at best imperceptible and just occasionally noticeable. On the more extreme occasions, such as mid week, mid lesson, they are no less than terrifying!

The school building has never sustained such a thorough and lengthy jolt such as this one in our long tenure in the building. Surprisingly, at the end of it, there was no obvious damage and only a few buildings downtown were affected. The metro system as well as the high speed rail shut down automatically but opened again within hours: there's a lot to be said for stronger building codes, infrastructure and automatic alarms that have been instituted in the last 20 years. The trouble is that one's equilibrium is upset for weeks following an experience like this and the slightest shake, bump or knock, even the slamming of a door, can re-activate that queasy feeling. Even Taipei 101's famous dampening ball got some sway up! (101 damper sways)

On a happier note, Cass again partied on with her Book Club on Friday night and despite a couple of apologies, they had an excellent night at relatively local French restaurant, Le Jardin. The food is always delectable and the ambiance couth and relaxed. The night itself was spitting with rain but that didn't seem to dampen any of the enthusiasm for appreciation of good wine, food and company. I had a rare night off from my beers with Marcus as he was occupied with his boys who had been staying mid-week with the grandparents so they were heavily present over the weekend!

After a medium length lull, I challenged the 1300 steps of the Tienmu Gudao old route again on Sunday before the Knights' game was due to begin. To say it was a challenge was an understatement! The atmosphere was steamy, 95% humidity and intermittent sun in the middle of the day in an increasingly changing Spring. I was a lather of sweat half way up the steps and my foothold was tenuous owing to sodden leaf litter carpeting the steps from a tropical downpour overnight. Alarmingly (to the maintenance crew), the "newer" steps are starting to crack and break away at the edges causing further chaos in selecting a firm foothold. The old sections of the path are still as solid and firm as ever and they even have a different, more sedimentary, stone that offers a firmer grip. I eventually negotiated my way up to the top, huffing and puffing, had a brief stroll along the ridge line, then headed back down to drink some sweet elixir (chilled water!) and headed home via Lutetia for a date with the football. I shouldn't have bothered, as the Knights turned in yet another dismal performance: all the stars, but no teamwork it seems...

All of a sudden our trip will be upon us next weekend! We booked some HSR tickets online so we'll take the bullet train down south to Taiwan's second largest city, Kaoshiung, next weekend. We're leaving on Saturday morning and have taken a day off work on Monday, so we'll return on Monday evening. We'll try to figure out a few sights to see, but I imagine we'll be playing it by ear when we get there to a large extent. Should be fun!

Yet another year has hurtled past, we two feeling it's just been a blink of the eye since this same birthday season was upon us last year. Cass is delighted that I've finally caught up to her again: she takes the nine days when she is senior to me very much to heart and visibly relaxes when my birthday has come and gone! In Taiwan, our birthdays almost always coincide with the onset of blooming sakura and other Asian blossom, so it's warm and sunny and the spring in the atmosphere transfers readily to our step: a great time of year in the northern hemisphere!

Marcus was busy coaching athletics at a regional carnival at school over three days in the latter part of the week, so he was an unlikely starter for Friday night drinks. When I say regional, I mean that 5 international schools sent their best athletes to Taiwan for the annual showdown. It's a huge deal and of course the schools make it bigger than the Olympics: there are "official" officials, video replays, sensor timers and every other latest trick and gadget necessary to pump it up to level 10 in seriousness! As it turned out, Marcus was happy to come and have a few beers at Uli's to debrief: I think the antics of some of the coaches needed to be aired in a neutral zone! Cass, at the same time, took the opportunity to go and see Joe the Jeweler on some mysterious trip seemingly based around Val's pearls. Usually something else materializes from these trips....I'll wait and see.

We decided to do a combined birthday celebration and picked out a favourite for both of us, the upmarket American chain Ruth's Chris, where we've never had a disappointing experience, in fact quite the opposite: each time we're more and more impressed. We went for years to the branch downtown, but this time and last we've tried the branch over at Dazhi, near the Neihu commercial hub through the tunnel from our suburb. We got an Uber there and back for extra convenience: despite a plethora of yellow cabs flooding the roads at all hours, we can get the Uber door to door allowing for cover from rain and kindness to high heeled clad commuters!

As usual, we were escorted to our table by liveried wait staff, this time being ushered past the drifting curtains to a richly upholstered booth and table near the back. The place was far bigger than we'd realized and already filling up with expectant diners! We ordered fillet steaks of different sizes, accompanied by some asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, and a plump, piping hot baked potato smothered in sour cream to share. The steaks arrived on a sizzling plate radiating a frightening heat, just perfectly cooked to our specifications. Cass had mentioned it was a birthday celebration in the booking, so we received a boutique serve of bread and butter chocolaty pudding with a blazing candle perched on top. We shared a substantial cheesecake with raspberry sauce and cream for dessert: as usual, the food was sublime, the ambiance relaxed and the staff attentive and competent. We had a wonderful celebration!

Exciting(!) activities like grocery shopping and football watching occupied different slabs of time on my actual birthday, but it was nice to get a call from the Williamson clan as well as mum. I got email messages from the sisters and numerous messages on social media making the passing of another year just a little more acceptable!

I've had two frozen shoulders diagnosed affecting my annual push-up performance last year, but this  year could have been even worse as I've cut down just a little after the surgeon I consulted back home expressed horror at my regime of exercise. I rallied for the task and managed to punch out the same total as last year: says a lot about positive thinking and visualization...it actually works! See video up the top for a week, then here later. Photos: book-ended by blossoms, some temple structures and shots from the restaurant.

The strains of Shakespearean soliloquies settle as softly as light through yonder window breaks when the eighth graders search to besmirch villains and honour heroes this week. They are all tasked with delivering an introductory speech to explain their monologue choices and advance the poetic techniques within, before reciting said speech without notes, summoning their most robust dramatic instincts and delivering with power and aplomb. At least, that's the ideal. Some rise to the challenge quite stunningly and mere mortals fade away as they stumble and bumble their way through excruciating performances. Another week of intrigue and drama is set to unfold!

I had another classic school experience on Friday: I heard an explosion of exclamations outside my door and looked up to see two recent college graduates very excitedly laughing and almost crying! I had taught them in Grade 3, 15 years ago, and they were so excited to see me still here, albeit in a different role. After much fluster and giggling, we took a couple of selfies and they went on their way still bubbling. It' so lovely when moments like this happen!

On Saturday I picked up some furniture pieces that I'd ordered form a shop just literally around the corner during Spring Break. They make all the items to order, so it takes a little while for them to arrive (a couple of weeks) unlike other goods in Taiwan when the delivery men beat you home from the shop quite literally. "Macro Maison" is a furniture store stocking the Taiwanese "Strauss" line of designer wood products and we got some beautiful wooden "shapes" to use as end tables in our lounge room back home. I decided not to pay the delivery fee of $25 and instead wandered around to pick up the three pieces one by one and carry them home.

In our immediate neighbourhood is everything you could conceivably imagine. Taipei is really just gelled and joined tiny villages and this village atmosphere exists within our small few blocks within 5 minutes walk of our apartment. There are multiple doctors and dentists and vets, along with restaurants of every size, shape and cuisine. Shops sell cheap goods alongside exclusive boutiques with designer furniture and clothing. There are convenience stores and pizza takeaways, dumpling shops and nail salons, real estate agents and electrical stores side by side with police stations and office buildings and giant department stores which replicate many of the places on the street. You name it, we've got it, then it is all replicated just 10 minutes down the road again. This is the sort of convenience life in the big city affords!

In this spirit we sauntered down to the incomparable Taiwanese institution of Din Tai Feng on Saturday afternoon for our fix of xiaolongbao and dumplings with spicy cucumber, prawn fried rice and wok tossed cabbage to accompany. The skies were clear and the sun gently smiled on us on a magnificent spring day to make it a most pleasant outing. Uniqlo offered us a couple of trinkets on the way home and we also delivered a few items to "lady", the little shop where alterations of all and sundry are carried out in some sort of organized chaos: I'm always surprised when they can find the pieces we left upon our return the following week!

I also picked up some framing from the "Wooden Frame Art Center", where our guy does an incredible, professional job. I picked up three small items framed and matted behind glass for $1,000NT (about $40). One was an original letter written by Henry James, a treasure we've been meaning to frame for ages!

On Sunday, Cassy picked up some original Italian style pizza from Oggi, another close neighbourhood store. It's no wonder we keep the car in the garage for months at a time! We got it late afternoon in order to watch the Knights, but it was bittersweet: the pizza was mouthwatering but the footballers capitulated! Oh well, it topped off another relaxing, interesting and rejuvenating weekend!

Photos: Cass with Youbikes on the way to school, the reunited ex-students and teacher and a couple of lovely plants.

While perhaps not the most scintillating social gatherings to attend, memorial services can act as a catalyst to reinforce known ideologies, or to inspire thoughts about new or fresh ones. Cassy's much loved and respected long time principal, Cathy Funk, died recently after a lingering battle with cancer and her life was celebrated at a glittering service in the TAS auditorium on Saturday afternoon. The proceedings ended up being quite a fitting tribute to a demigod in the international school administrative ranks and a pleasant reminder of the great things she did for many people over the years, Cass included.

Speeches galore were the mainstay, all in the right spirit, delivered by articulate and clever professionals and all quite lengthy(!). People had flown in from all around the region and some from as far away as the U.S. and Austria. The auditorium was subtly lit, the stage beautifully prepared and the speech podium flanked by two enormous stands of lilies and other floral arrangements, a nod to Cathy's penchant for having fresh lilies in her office at all times. The service ended with a bang when very talented faculty members wrote and performed a song in her honour, a fun version of "Uptown Funk" cleverly wrought by Naden and friends.

We demurred on the delights of sharing anecdotes over the bain-maries next door as a lavish spread was prepared for the assembled throng, instead opting to whisk ourselves across the other side of the suburb to the always superb Spice Shop and our own quiet reflections. During the service there was video of Cathy giving an inspiring speech to the departing eighth graders at the American School in London just a year or so ago. In the speech she stated three wise tenets that had served her well and been pivotal in guiding her life and thoughts and actions. They were: 1. Expect the unexpected, 2. Don't be afraid to ask for help and 3. Live in the present. Obviously, they were shaped and highlighted more during her diagnosis and treatment, but sensible and good advice nonetheless for anyone at anytime. We talked about those things and ruminated whilst being grateful for all that we had in our lives.

We had a lazy Sunday, luxuriating in a late breakfast, doses of "Insiders" and "Offsiders" and decadent pottering around the aparment befitting a squally, unappealing grey day outside. It's been a delight to have Cassy back in situ and we're both psyching ourselves up for the final ten weeks of the year.


There is a paucity of photographic accompaniment this week as memorial services are not really the forum for multiple photo shoots and the restaurant afterwards was a place for reflection, and photos  were forgotten. Cass is never keen to pose for photos at school, so the walking away, hand in the air shot was a sneaky one I included! There is one photo from the service and a shot from Uli's when Trev was here last week. I also got some groups in one of my classes today as a bit of filler: 14 year olds are not usually impressed with random photo takers!