Where previously, world weary shacks and higgledy piggledy housing was the norm along the canal bank near our place, these days there are more and more wafer thin sky-scraping apartment blocks lining the rare piece of open space. There is a glimpse of some mountains and city, but more importantly, the immediate outlook, unlike most other accommodation which looks out onto yet another apartment block, is one of green space with the background gurgle of gently running water. Many of the buildings, due to site constraints are just one apartment wide, and some of them rather thin rooms at that! I walked round the river again on Saturday and the spring blooms are weighing heavy on branches of trees dotting the banks, people enjoying the sights at all times of the day and evening. Some stroll, others jog or shuffle and the odd person performs that peculiar Taiwanese habit of hitting themselves as they walk, shouting out in guttural tones at odd intervals, deciding to walk backwards for a short spell, or sometimes try to combine all three! They're not mentally impaired but rather following some strange advice that has them convinced this is a cathartic ritual that helps to keep them fit and healthy.

Cassy flew off to Kuala Lumpur accompanying a serious young coterie of mini United Nations delegates on Thursday lunchtime. She has been in regular email contact and reports that the whole process is actually quite fascinating. One downside of the trip has been the need to dress up for all public appearances, necessitating a rather large formal wardrobe be squeezed into our modestly size "mid-range" suitcase. She is the official passport holder and photographer as well as being the point person should anything go wrong, including being on standby to accompany anyone home early if need be. She nearly had to go to the police station to report a minor fraud involving one of the kids, but thankfully sanity prevailed and she was spared a repeat of her recent Parisian experience! Her hotel is quite lavish, the food is great and she is hoping to just sneak a little glimpse at the rest of the city for a few hours this afternoon with her friend and colleague Kristin, leaving their other colleague Peter to hold the fort. Apparently the kids have been stellar ambassadors in terms of behaviour and official performance, not a bad feat from Grade 8 kids. They are having a pretty good time too in between their official engagements as Cass reported, "After they finished the formal stuff yesterday, there were games for an hour or so, then a dinner and the kids sang lots of karaoke till about 7:45 then we hopped on the bus and some poor "slaves" had to clean up the mess made by well over 300 (350?) people!"

As I knew I wouldn't be disturbing the Friday afternoon resting routine of my darling (!), I invited some guys around for a few beers on the balcony and then we watched some AFL on TV. Some stayed till rather late and we managed to drink all the beers that were brought, including a stack I already had in the fridge. Dave M, Gurecki, Wol and Shaun were all on board at some point or other and it was a great way to celebrate my birthday from the day before. I was stoked to hear from all three of my diligent siblings (onya girls!) and they had various messages, cards and facebook howdys sent my way. Mum is also overseas, enjoying the delights of Germany in different cities, all based around the amazing Wagner's Ring Cycle. She is coping well with her various walking tours and her concerts and adventures/sightseeing sound fantastic. Even with her pretty hectic schedule, she also sent me a text of best wishes. Chris and Val rang me on the morning and wished me all the best as well as posting off a lovely card and gift. My aunt Virginia also wrote to me and Cass for our birthdays, with an interesting family update as well. My cousin's youngest son is entering Grade 3, my teaching grade, and I haven't ever seen him! We definitely need to catch up more often!! Friends from Taiwan and Australia facebooked me or texted and my colleagues at school put on a little show as well. Cass and I are both hoping we don't get quite as much attention next year: a milestone we're not overly keen to have acknowledged widely!

I've spent a lot of time today watching football on TV as the day is unseasonably cold and rainy. The Knights just scraped home with a win which was encouraging. I did a little domestic duty with a load of washing, but might hold off on the sheets and towels till tomorrow afternoon, as the weather isn't aiding the drying process. Cass is back late tomorrow night so I (and the cats!) will be very glad to welcome her back. Both Cass and I will be dealing with proctoring a battery (appropriate vocabulary!) of tests this week, so it should be relatively cruisy but probably as exciting as a Grade 8 mini United Nations speech marathon.
Photos today are of some interest, especially the car suspended in the air on a forklift: if the boys want to do a bit of re-tarring, lookout....you'll just get lifted out of the way! Cops on scooters don't really cut an intimidating jib do they? Cass is by a viscous metal sculpture downtown, the blooms are burstin', another Taipei sign, this time near the train station, scooter individualization and an email sent shot of the mini United Nationers.

 

Our spring break has been an absolute cracker. Check the slide show above and all the photos, you'll get the idea. We went to the Taipei International Floral Expo, had Cassy's birthday out, went to the coast a couple of times, saw a lot of Taipei street theatre etc. I'll blab on at greater length sometime tomorrow, but for now, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

The highlight for our Spring Break was definitely the amazing weather. Taipei really turned on a show, which we fully appreciated and reveled in for the duration. While other friends travelled down south or mostly off-island to exotic locales such as Thailand, Vietnam or Bali, we were pleased to be able to enjoy some of our own home-grown exotic Asian island weather!

We walked around the river many days and just enjoyed the bursting spring blooms, light winds and a sun just kissing the skin rather than blowtorching it (which will happen all too soon…)! We got across to Ilan through the tunnel on the off days, they being not Tomb sweeping day or the one prior, as the byways and highways are all choked with traffic as the ancestors are honoured by the surviving relatives, and gravesites scattered throughout the island are tended. It’s a beautiful tradition and one that most seem to adhere to “religiously” (!)

We had Cassy’s birthday dinner out at a very up market little hideaway restaurant down in the Ren Ai road area of downtown. Nestled in a tiny lane in the general area of Taipei 101’s high end shopping district, “Flavors” restaurant is Swedish and chef Ola is a bright and bubbly and very talented Swede determined to bring fine Swedish dining to the Taipei restaurant scene. We had an amazing selection of foods, caviar and salmon for Cass and I had the Swedish meatballs and the slow cooked steak. Their apple pie for dessert has to be experienced…words failed us: just melt-in-the-mouth bliss bombs!  We had fun on the way there and back as well: the train always provides a slice of Taipei life and the back alleys showed us hidden away champagne house, bars, restaurants and sleek metal sculptures on the way back to the station.

We thought we’d be very clever and avoid the two “big” days where people would be off work, so had organized to travel to the Taipei International Flora Expo on the Wednesday after Tomb Sweeping. Well, best laid plans and all that! Although the crowds may have been down on the previous two days, we still experienced a massive press of humanity and were actually unable to enter any of the big pavilions. All the pavilions had huge lines of people snaking away from their entrances with signs indicating “120 minutes wait at this point” with people stretching well beyond these on many occasions. However, the outside plantings and flowing fields of flora were just magnificent: even I was very impressed! We took lots of shots which can be seen in the slide show above or at this link when I remove the slides above.  We hopped off the train at Yuanshan station before walking through the park and stadium close to here. Crossing the new pedestrian bridge across Chung Shan road to the Taipei Fine Arts Park, we were able to see all the international exhibits, some slicker than others. Thailand and Bhutan were standouts, USA and Holland less so, and some countries hadn’t even bothered (like Australia). All in all, in typical Taipei style, the logistics, transportation and displays were uber-professional and sensationally well organized. After checking out this park we caught a shuttle bus to Xinsheng Park where there were even more magnificent swathes of flowers and floral sculptures. Once again, the pavilions were super crowded, but we found heaps of stuff to look at outside. We didn’t even make it to the biggest area of the lot down by the riverside park on the opposite of the Neihu bank, and as the Expo ends in a couple of weeks I don’t think we’ll make it either!

Apart from those days, we spent lots of time eating hot white toast really late in the morning after big sleep ins, went out walking in the sunshine in the day and stayed up late going to movies or watching TV shows at home. We ate out at lots of our favourite or newer restaurants, also having a few decadent lunches during the week. I went out a couple of times with Wol for a beer and both Cass and I went over to his place to see his haul of pots that he purchased on a trip down to the middle of the island through the week with some of his horticultural interested friends and teacher (see photo above) Photos are an eclectic mix of street theatre, people and places we saw through the week.

Well, we're absolutely stoked to be enjoying our spring break! It often comes hot on the heels of the Chinese New Year holiday, but it didn't really feel like it this year. It's a very restorative break for us and gives us that much needed "shot in the arm" for the downhill two month stretch before we go back home. Our last couple of weeks at school have not been very good at all, just an awful mix of circumstances that came together to create a perfect storm of work/stress/ you name it. Cass had a particularly busy last week and collapsed into the holiday with great relief on Friday night after putting her last swathe of marking behind her at school.

Suffice to say, we celebrated the start of the holidays in our own unique styles! While I was watching football, drinking beers and eating a pie and mashed  at patio 84 with Wal et al, Cass was enjoying her 7/11 salad and watching "question pour le champion" on the lounge with two hot balls of fur!

I had the alarm set for an early hour to get across to the beach to meet up with a mate, Simon, another Aussie I've met in my travels here. He hasn't had a surf for months and I said we'd be a good match as I've been pretty slack too. Anyway, after the dramas of the week before when the car wouldn't start (flat battery), I was relieved when it fired up and made the trip in fine style. The day was sensational and the water glittered on arrival. The only trouble was the lack of swell! I met up with Simon and soon enough Dan and his family arrived so we had a good time bobbing around in the very cold water (cold current), soaking up some beams and having a lot of fun. The trip back was fantastic, scenery wise as it's rare to crest the top of the mountain without a shroud of mist and rain spoiling the endless views. Saturday was an exception, and you could see forever: beautiful views to the point I nearly ran off the road a couple of times trying to take them in as I drove through the endless curves!

On Saturday afternoon, we planned to go downtown to the Chungshan area to pick up Cassy's bag from the infamous "bag shop". On the way, we thought we'd enjoy the magnificent spring weather and have a bit of a stroll around. We poked our heads into various new high end "home living" shops that have mushroomed around our little pocket of section 6 and marveled at the beautiful things. As we have half an eye on continuing to furnish our place back home, these forays are always a little interesting (as long as they don't last too long, I always reckon!). We then wandered through the SOGO forecourt, past their impressively huge and plentiful black granite garden seating and garden surrounds out the back to the little alley near Zhishan station. "Eat Burger" is a favourite occasional eating stop for us. We'd be there way more often if we let ourselves go crazy, but feel we can only justify the calorie overload every now and then! The food here is so good: piping fresh and served in a cool atmosphere, always with great English speaking staff, which just takes that extra little bit of pressure off sometimes.

Very full, we again strolled in the sunshine to train and whizzed through the northern reaches of the big city down to the heart. Cass picked up her bag which had been custom designed and lengthened just a tad to accommodate her new wallet. I was even quite impressed with the end result. We babbled away with the craftsman about another one she might get made, talked about the size and materials then went away to think! On the way back we had a cup of coffee on the mezzanine level overlooking some fancy makeup counters. The chandeliers in this place had to be seen to be believed: Cassy was most perplexed as to how they could possibly clean them! After our heart starter, we caught the train back home, watched a little football then had a nice quiet night in...we were a bit exhausted!

Well, Saturday kind of caught up with us today and the most excitement I've had was watching a heart-stopping NRL game live between the Knights and the Dragons, where the newly privately owned Knights nearly pulled off a huge upset. Although I did jump around the room quite a bit, I'd hardly deem it as exercise! Cass was very good and did her river circuit in double quick time, but she was huffing and puffing a bit when she got back. She'd set off in jeans, but about halfway around she realised that the heat meant shorts would have been a much better option!

We've got a week stretching before us with no work, no plans, just lots of leisure. Cass has a birthday on Tuesday, we're probably off to the flower festival on Wednesday or Thursday, but apart from that, we're free as birds.Good times. Cass is reading, "Family History" by Dani Shapiro and I'm trying a touch of fantasy with "The Magician" by Raymond Feist. Photos: a weird mix today, Cass threatening me with an iron for trying to take her photo in sepia tones while doing housework in her house clothes!! (this will only last as long as I don't show her before I have to remove it!), a shot of a full burqa wearing woman on the street in Taipei...very unusual. Each of us at our swish cafe, waffles with tuna(!), a dead fish I liked at the beach, the small surf and Cassy at the very cool, "Eat Burger".

Nothing today! I'm taking a mini break. Crappy rainy weather all weekend and we didn't do much. See you next week.

 On such a densely packed island, not everything can run as loosely and perhaps as efficiently as we're used to back home. I've made mention of Taiwan's garbage disposal system here on the blog before, but a recent video I watched re-ignited my interest in this unique system. Basically, garbage does not touch the ground. As trucks can't squeeze themselves down all the tiny lanes and alleys, it is incumbent upon residents to get their bags to the truck. There are a mind boggling array of options and we have to sort the garbage into edible scraps (which go to feed pigs), general refuse (for the special paid-for blue garbage bags) and then recycling of all different sorts, which is free. Some days, the Styrofoam is taken, on others it might be glass or plastic and yet others it is the turn of cans and paper or "flat plastic". I can tell you it took a lot of getting used to!! It is a classic "user pays" scheme, and as only the non-recyclable trash is paid for (in the nominated district garbage bags you can buy at the local 7/11), there is very little left to throw in the garbage truck as most people seem to really resent having to pay to throw things away. Enforced recycling seems to work really well. Anyway, check out this video and short article: it captures the feel of this bizarre practice really well.

There is always something weird happening here, but often, we don't stop to note it, photograph or video, just because we are so used to it. On our way home on Thursday, we were just walking past the local temple where they were practicing their puppet show from the garishly coloured puppet van. Normally we wouldn't give it a second glance, but I stopped and asked Cass, "Would we ever see anything like this at home?!" We both agreed we wouldn't, so the other video up top is of this strange practice. Check Cass standing over to the side as I pan around. Puppets like this are so popular here, they even have their own dedicated cable TV channel...I'm not kidding!

Cass had her book club on Friday night and I went on the Tienmu pub crawl. I can report a rollicking good time from the pub crawl and Cass had an equally great experience at the book club. In fact, her host for the night actually made it to just the third pub we stopped at: indicating how very late we were already running! Cass had her customary chicken enchiladas and a delicious cheesecake and the girls all had a great time. I had a chance to catch up with a few people I don't normally catch up with, which was interesting. Tommy A is off to Tanzania at the end of the year for a new assignment, so it was interesting to hear what he knew of the place already.

Suffice to say we had a relatively quiet Saturday, although Cass managed to walk herself to a near standstill, first doing her river walk circuit at high pace, then going off to the supermarket and returning with bags laden. She followed this up with a trip to Wendels and the new SOGO, so by the end of all that she was pretty exhausted.

I managed to keep the lounge warm watching an amazing array of NRL games and we both watched the Aussies get thrashed by Pakistan in the world cup cricket. We've actually moved form a shocking situation where Australa Network had been outbid for the NRL rights and were not showing any at all this season, to a point where we'll get better coverage here than back home! A revamped NRL HD streaming site now shows nearly every game live and every game on a few hours delay, on demand. Because we have a lightning fast internet connection and no download, upload, or streaming limits, we can remotely beam the picture and sound across to the next room for as long as we like.  I watched the entire Foxtel Super Saturday program, 3 games in a row, all live, including the Knight's great win. I'm not sure if Cass thinks this is a good thing or not. She commented that, "we can watch NRL every day of the week now, can't we?" to which I enthusiastically agreed! Maybe the novelty will wear off soon...

Today Cass had to negotiate a mountain of marking so I took the opportunity to venture up the hill to the Tienmu GuDao walking trail ("the steps"!). It was hot and sunny, so the trip up was sweat inducing. The trail up top is in dappled light and shade and a few degrees cooler than below. I decided to do the top path, then drop down and down on some precipitous paths to a little oasis we had first seen many years ago. The waterfall and pool at the bottom of the valley is hard to get to, yet apart from the few irrigation pipes spoiling a perfect picture, it is very peaceful and beautiful. The water is clear, but traces of sulphur have stained the rocks and set off a kaleidoscope of rusty colours in and around the stream which contrast so starkly with the verdant canopy drooping over the top. I fell on my bum a couple of times on the way down and up as the moisture on the path had made the steep path quite mossy and treacherous. Eventually, I made it back up. only to then have to head down the stairs to get the scooter back home.

This week is shaping up as a real test of patience: I have conferences for two days followed by three days of professional development workshops and meetings. Cass also needs to endure these three PD days at a slightly more casual pace but we'll both need to brace ourselves! Photos: puppet theatre, stairs, paths, foliage and waterfalls, along with a tiny shrine I found beside one of the narrow paths hugging the side of the steep hillside.(Photos and video taken with phone only)

Yesterday, Cass had an incredibly “fun” time with her girlfriends. To be honest, the description of the day sounds very similar to one of my worst nightmares, but each to their own, I suppose! Her book club mates had decided to have a decadent lunch down in Taipei city and follow up in some kind of “chick nirvana”, a bag shop: as I say….

They arranged to meet up at Zhishan MRT station and after a few false starts because of multiple entrances, they were on their way. Cass was in charge of the directions and was slightly trepidatious about the whole deal, but she steered the group through a few different stops and changes and they ended up in perfect time at Papa Gio’s down at Dunhua. They lingered over their choices and shared a bottle of rose along with various salads and pastas and fish. It all sounded very classy, but I think I would have been choosing wildly different dishes from the menu!

After a long lunch, they made their way to Cassy’s secret bag shop that they had all been keen to visit since Cassy’s description of an “Aladdin’s Cave” of beautifully crafted, genuine leather bags, all bearing an uncanny resemblance to stratospherically priced bags of noted designers in the swanky malls virtually shadowing this little shop. Tucked in behind the giant SOGO store at Zhongshan MRT, the shop did not disappoint its enthusiastic crowd. I was amazed how long they could spend down there: hours! All the girls ordered or bought at least one bag, some of them bought two. From reports, the whole day was a wild success and they plan to meet up for lunch again soon, perhaps trying a different after lunch activity like the jade market. I’m actually loving this: it saves me another trip to this area that can hold my interest for about 10 minutes, yet I think Cass would be happy there for about 10 hours!!

Today, the sun streamed in and woke us from a slumber earlyish and we thought it would be a perfect day to get down to Yuanshan Park and the Taipei Fine Arts museum. On our previous trips to Paris, we’ve never missed an opportunity to visit the amazing Musee Marmottan, nestled in a nondescript Parisian suburb. The house holds a priceless treasure trove of the most exquisite Monet paintings and its bottom circular room definitely IS a place I could spend 10 hours. Well, suffice to say that if you visited the Marmottan anytime between now and the beginning of June, you’d be bitterly disappointed: there are 32 of the most magnificent Monet paintings in the world hanging on the walls of Taipei FAM, just three train stops from our front door!! We wandered through Yuanshan Park with thousands of Taipei’s citizens as they marveled over the Taipei International Floral Exhibition in the spring sunshine. Eventually we were directed to a shuttle bus, as the art museum is actually within the floral festivals grounds, and you need to be ushered into the grounds in a group. In we went and after paying the ridiculously small fee (less that $10), we wandered into a Monet wonderland. They had certainly raided the very best of the paintings too: giant waterlillies studies, the bridge at Giverny in all different lights, agapanthus and iris, the Seine in dappled light and a beautiful piece we had never seen borrowed from the Scottish national Gallery and yet another from a private collection. The bulk however, was from the Marmottan and it was both surreal and unreal to view them again in our own backyard. I’d say a return visit or two is definitely on the cards.

Blissing out from both the sunshine and our art fix, we enjoyed a cup of coffee in the sun splashed courtyard before training home. We decided to use Cassy’s gift vouchers for Chili’s for a very late lunch/early dinner and scootered across to the Shinkong Mitsukoshi building. A window seat to watch the world go by, a pretty girl for a date and some great tasting food….what else could anyone want? We whiled away a couple of hours before getting home to blog duties et al.

Oh, I nearly forgot! I spent a big chunk of Friday night down at Roxy Rocker with my book club mates. Not a lot of books were shown (in fact, none!) but we enjoyed some icy beers, great company and classic, classic music spun up on twin turntables and rockin’ all night….what a blast! Words can’t really do this justice but the pictures can. My phone camera is not great in such low light, so the old fashioned theme of the slide show actually enhances the shots and captures the feel of the night pretty well. You can check the slide show here with a few awful shenanigans up top! Cass is reading "Her Fearful Symmetry" and I'm still on the Harlan Coben

We had a pretty tough week this week. Visiting "expert" meant that we had to endure at least three long drawn out after school meetings as well as some laborious sessions in school time. All this was quite mentally draining, both from being "up with people" and restraining ourselves from saying all the politically incorrect things we might have been thinking!

Din Tai Feng was a very pleasant antidote to all the week's worries on Saturday and we went along in the late afternoon, supposedly to avoid the lunch crowd and to miss the great Saturday hordes that line up from early evening. We did a pretty good job of the timing and we were whisked into a booth with a minimum of fuss. The food here is just sublime: it never disappoints and we often comment that it would be a huge hit in Australia. There is a branch in Sydney and I'd be interested to know business is: we reckon we're reasonably discerning diners and it certainly ticks all our boxes at a very good price.

The weather was again favourable to outdoor activity on Sunday, so I decided to brave the 1000 steps once again. I've had a long layoff because one of my knees flared up again from the up and down movement, so I've been using the treadmill at the school gym as an alternative. I've been setting it on maximum incline and walking as fast as is humanly possible without breaking into a jog. It gets the sweat flowing quite nicely and has been a good, alternative aerobic workout. Anyway, I managed to make it up and back without any major complications so I was pretty relieved. Cass did her river walk circuit at the same time, so before lunch we were all exercised, washed and feeling quite self satisfied!

The monkeys at the top of the steps and along the trail a bit are supposed to be at their most active at dawn and dusk, but today they gave me quite a fright. A whole extended family decided to break from the foliage just as I walked along the upper path and as luck would have it, there was no-one else around. Their bodies are huge and muscular and they are an intimidating sight. The family decided to amble across the path and leap into the trees opposite, but not before big daddy gave me the most awful teeth bared snarl and spit. I literally froze to the spot! When they were safely tree bound I snapped off a shot very tentatively, a half second from running for my life (or at least that is what it felt like at the time!!)

This afternoon we joined a very packed cinema auditorium to watch "The King's Speech". It's recent success at the Oscars guaranteed a large crowd, but this was amazing. We were in the biggest cinema and we were in the 4th row as every other seat was taken. The movie itself was a magnificent triumph for all concerned and although Colin Firth was superb, we couldn't help feeling a little sorry for Geoffrey Rush: surely he stole the show?!

Well, I'm a little ill motivated to write great screeds today, so perhaps mercifully for you the reader, I'll finish here. I've posted a short video and some photos of a most bizarre piece of Taipei street theatre I witnessed yesterday...your guess is as good as mine (especially the bashing of the backs with the cane)!! The other photos are the menacing shadow of two monkeys in a tree and the deceptively cute sign of same monkeys!