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.