It's got to that time of year again where I'm about to have a little break. We've got five days of work left then we'll be jetting off home again for a couple of months. Friday afternoon will be hectic as we have to stay at school for a recognition ceremony, get home and get all those little loose ends tied up before our driver arrives at 5 pm. We've got another stack of frequent flier points which this time we've used to upgrade to business class for the two long hauls this week and again coming back in early August: luxury in the brand new flat bed Cathay Pacific business...we'll try not to get used to it!

Through the week we had the weirdest morning. Two giant blue birds with a cavalier degree of aggressiveness carried on with squawking shrieks at a very loud volume most of the morning, frightening the cats (the wimps!) and annoying us as we were getting ready to go to work. They eventually settled down a bit but Cass had a most bizarre incident in our lane on the way to work (I was riding the scooter due to my dentist's appointment later) A local street cat pounced like lightning on a myna bird right in front of her and carried the squirming prize into an underground garage. She was just getting over this shock when one of these huge strange griffins swooped down from the overhead wires into the same garage, seemingly to rescue his "brother" from the jaws of the cat!! Cass heard all sorts of noises but wisely didn't hang around to investigate!

The lower school party was on last Friday night up at the traditional haunt of Shann Garden. It was a good night, Gurecki, Lewy and I having a few beers first for the last time at big brother bar at Qiyan (last time for Lewy at least). It went on and on and Wal, and I managed to last and last at a great sequence of bars and pubs. Suffice to say that we needed a big sleep in on Saturday morning!

Today was dreary with rain, but we went out for Cass to spend some gift vouchers up at the Eslite bookstore. She found a couple that matched her vouchers exactly that she needs for book club next year. It was good timing as they only picked the books on Friday night at their last meeting of the year. They went to a Japanese restaurant in a hotel over at Neihu and they all enjoyed the food and ambiance. No doubt we'll be returning there at some stage come the new academic year!

I'm loading my e-reader with books for bringing home, and Cass plans to get to the library soonest. Gurecki and I had yet another article published in the school magazine last week, with yet another pending for first edition next year. The unpublished one is all about e-reading as we are both converts. I'll post a link when I have one. Photos: a few shots Lewy took of our night up at the Mexican restaurant in Damshui for Gurecki's birthday, one of the giant attack birds and Cass in the rain today!

 

I enjoyed the dubious delights of the great outdoors on Thursday and Friday when I attended (for the 9th year in a row I might add!) the Grade 3 camp. A far cry from the bad old days, the unimaginatively named Camp Taiwan has counselors to help run the activities, food which is plentiful and bordering on gourmet and accommodation which while still “under canvas”, certainly negates the camping experience a lot by being under double layers, built on a wooden platform and having rough bunks with foam mattresses….luxury! It nestles in a high valley, a long steep winding road above the coastal village of Wanli on the northern tip of the country. The freeway landslide still has not been resolved so we had a tedious trip out there on the number 1 freeway and some back-tracking through the foothills. The bad old days I refer to had us inviting parents to help, where they were more useless than kids, ferrying great loads of food up the mountain and then cooking and preparing it, as well as living in stinking cramped ant infested rotting cabins…do you get the vibe I’m in?!

The surf has been quite pathetic this week, barely lapping on the shore of the east coast, so it hasn’t been an option. While it might have whipped up a little this morning, the annoying squally wind and rain would have made the trip and the end destination unappealing.

I came home and saw Cass for a while on Friday evening and we watched the Knights capitulate again in the last 10 minutes of their game against the West Tigers: they look the goods for such a long time every week only to fall at the final hurdle. I had agreed to go up to Lewy’s to watch the blockbuster AFL game on Friday night so made it there about 8.30. We had a good time, drank some beers and the group of us enjoyed one of our last get-togethers before another one of our “brethren” flies away to location exotic (in this case, another one to Singapore). We’ll have a night out at the lower school party at Shann Garden next Friday and that could well be it. Oh no, Craw’s and Kenny’s band, QvQ will play downtown on the last Wednesday and we all plan to go to that.

Speaking of the Craw, we attended the wedding reception of Andrew and Sophie this afternoon at the newly re-located French restaurant, Le Jardin, in Tienmu. Craw is a big tall Aussie boy who is an articulate quiet intelligent member of my book club. Sophie is the long term personal assistant to the superintendent. They are both delightful so we couldn’t be happier for them. We gave them an interesting gift of, along with some cash, the three essential guide books we took to Italy with us, which proved to be real winners. We included a card decorated with a hand drawn picture of a church in Florence that we bought there. Guess where they are heading next year? Right, Florence it is! The afternoon was very sophisticated and lovely: the restaurant was just the spot for the smart casual do: they had married, just the two of them, through the week at a registry office and just had 40 or so close friends join them for a quiet celebration this afternoon. Earlier, we were due to set off in the teeming rain but I ventured up to the main road to hail a cab, then directed it around to our front door to pick up “Princess Cassy” resplendent in beautiful silk and delicate Italian shoes!

So with a degree of sadness hanging about us this week with the impending departure of yet more good friends, we’re keeping busy writing reports and doing all that other end-of-year madness that no matter how well you prepare yourself, always seems to creep up and bite you hard late in the peace! Photos today are of Cassy visiting her friend, Kristin’s, two very new and tiny kittens through the week, a shot of my book club mates Gurecki and Grande, Cass with Karen and Paige, each with their short grey “dos”, and me with my surfing mate Dan who is pulling a very strange face!

Cass is reading The View From Castle Rock and I'm reading the Chinese dictionary (on occasions!)

Cass has had one of her busiest times of the year this week when the middle school play eventually got into full swing. Starting with a few previews on Monday it’s been action stations all week. She really has the system down to a fine art now though: although still taxing and draining, Cass has honed the practices of her team of girls and her supply line buying down to a really efficient production. After all these years, she’s seen it all and can anticipate any problems beforehand. One of the big problems this year was the sweatbox conditions in the small makeup room. Filled to capacity with excited, emotionally charged “stars” as well as the crew and with a rapidly approaching Taiwanese summer, it gets very hot, very quickly. Trouble is apparently, that the air-conditioned makes too much noise! Something that needs to be fixed for next year!

Cass arrives home exhausted from the shows, so we’ve been pretty low key this weekend. In a precursor to the weekend, I drove a group of boys up to Danshui on Thursday night to celebrate Gurecki’s birthday. He was keen to eat some good Mexican food, and the best we’ve found is all the way up at the river mouth where Eddie’s Cantina is. We had a great time on the way up and back, a number of the crew surprised at the quality of the car as they hadn’t seen it. They even commented how “adult” it was being driven in a nice vehicle: we’ve become so used to zooming around on scooters or catching cabs here! Anyway, the food was indeed great, the company raucous and entertaining and Lewy, me, Wal and Gurecki had a great night all round.

There was a big golf challenge to be held today, where representatives of each school division were to battle it out in a bragging rights tournament. As a pre-cursor, Wal set up a discussion of tactics/slanging match round of pre-drinks at Diamond Tony’s on Friday night. It’s so expensive there, we were reminded why we don’t visit that often, but it was fun to see the teams going at it. I wonder how that all turned out today?
I made a spur of the moment decision as Cass was walking out the door for the final matinee today, to make a dash for the coast. She anticipated she’d be away about 5 hours, so I thought that sounds about right for a trip out to the surf and back. When I arrived, the surf was a not altogether inspiring 2-3 feet with a slight onshore wind. The beach was deserted however, so I thought I’d make the most of a lack of a crowd and get amongst it. I got a few waves, but had ten times as much fun when I ditched the board and had a good old fashioned body bash. I was just reveling in the easy glide and power of the waves and the refreshing zest to the water: it’s just magically restorative to have a good surf!

On the way to Jinshan today I was taking more particular notice of the landscape and what was making its mark upon it. A sweat of cyclists jostled their way up the steep narrow roads and avoidance action was necessary quite often to avoid these garishly coloured, licra-bathed mini pelotons as they whir away up at walking pace and then glide down at an astonishing speed, almost as if all that pent up frustration as they grinded their way to the top is released with abandon on the way down and down.

I know it’s nearly time to go home for the break when that very Chinese phenomenon, the rice harvest, is imminent. I noted again how really beautiful the paddies are. It’s almost like a giant has left his lunch strewn on the terraced hills; big, plump, startlingly green sandwiches bursting with filling and fresh enough to eat. The colour is so vivid it’s almost artificial. It’s a good match for Yangminshan’s Calla lilies of which I bought a dozen on the way back. They have impossibly long succulent green stems which gradually transform to a cupped white flower: it’s always quite hilarious juggling them on the scooter on the way home, occasionally obscuring vision and threatening to throw themselves off at any moment.

At least four dozen birdwatchers had descended upon a patch of road on the lower slopes, lining both sides of the road with their gaping lenses trained on the elusive bird, not only they, but their cameras swathed in jungle camouflage material, tripods in rows like alien creatures from “War of the Worlds.” In fact, the sight of onlookers gawking at the assembled throng of ornithologists was another attraction all on its own…it was quite comical as the numbers swelled so the road was choked down to just one lane!

No photos yet as the camera is at school and I’m waiting on Lewy to supply me with a few from the other night. Check again tomorrow/Tuesday. Now, got some Calla lilies, me doing a science experiment in class and some of my readers
.

Cass has been at the middle school play this weekend as her yearly commitment starts to really ramp up. The dress rehearsal early yesterday morning is a pre-cursor to a preview on Monday morning (in her preparation time for class) and the main event next Friday, Saturday and Sunday. She went down to the Watson’s treasure trove through the week and loaded up with all sorts of makeup ready for her team to decorate the brace of actors who’ll perform. She has a pretty good crew of seventh and eighth graders who know what they’re doing which is a bonus, but she did have some issues with the lack of air conditioning in their stifling little makeup room: apart from anything else the stuff just runs straight off their faces: apparently the air conditioning makes too much noise(!)

We went out to dinner at Din Tai Feng earlier in the week with Leon and Nicole and had a really enjoyable time. We managed to get a few orders mixed up, but that kind of added to the fun and we had a great chat. Nicole is a really lovely young woman: Leon has definitely done very well for himself. We’d lent them the scooter for the week and I think it was already paying dividends: there are just too many places to go that are off the main MRT/bus routes. Leon’s local knowledge has helped a lot too: although there are bigger and glitzier shops, stores and restaurants, he reckons the basic Taipei is still there pretty much the same.
Wal was away on camp (I have that dubious honour in a couple of week’s time: uggh!)this week so I had a relatively  quiet time at work in the latter part of the week. Cass and I are both in that weird time as the end-of-year flurry approaches where we’re pretty much just in a bit of limbo waiting for the frenetic stuff to arrive. I handed out my ESL letters to the kids on Friday, but I have reports to write soon.

Friday night was a farewell for Lewy and Alison along with Yama and Parker who are all off to greener pastures. Yama is off to Doha, L&A off to Singapore as already mentioned and Shane has finally had enough and is heading back to Tasmania. It was a pretty good night all round and was at the Sommelier wine bar tucked under the supermarket on Tien Yu street.

Cass and I went for a big walk along the canal today, arriving home a bit sweaty due to the good pace we set, even thought the temperature had dropped a little today. It was frustrating to see the Knights go down to the Titans in a very close game today….especially as we knew Chris and Val would be sitting there on such a magnificent day nearly topping off Mothers’ Day with a win. Cass had spoken to them on the phone just as they were leaving. I tried to ring my mum today but she was out, but I do know that she received the flowers we sent yesterday, which was great (Belflora, Broadmeadow, shame on you for not having a Mothers’ Day delivery option!)

I went to a very flash dental clinic downtown to get some more work down on my problematic tooth. The opulent lounges in the waiting room and the 10 minute consultation with the fluent English speaking dentist didn’t fill my heart with glee: all I could do was imagine how much it was going to cost! A lot for Taiwan but only a conservative 25% of what it would cost back home, so…..My dentist, Dr. Hsu, was something else: she almost gave me too much information and her regular updates, while meant to be soothing, did little to calm me down! Anyway, I’ll be back for a couple more visits to the Ren Ai road super clinic before this little saga comes to a conclusion.

Leon and Nicole dropped the scooter back in this afternoon and we had another chat: it seems they’ve really enjoyed the week and the scooter was liberating so we’re glad we could make their experience a little better. It will be good to see them again in the New Year when Leon hopes to bring his young son up here to visit his country of birth. Photos: are still in the camera at school, so I’ll post them tomorrow!At Din Tai Feng with Leon and Nicole, with my student Anna and the famous monkey, Chee Chee.

Friday night was a good night for the driving range and it was great to get the gang back together again after a few weeks. Wal was back from Shanghai, Gurecki was back from Japan and Lewy joined us as well. Brandon even made a cameo before going home to get his rest before playing a real game the next day. I was in superlative form managing to have a few slices sizzle in front of other patrons’ noses they were that fine and crowned it all off with snapping the head off my 7 iron in a particularly vicious and inaccurate shot! At this rate, I’ll get rid of all these clubs pretty soon as I gifted Lewy my pitching wedge as Gurecki had “mislaid” his the last time we were out there.

Saturday, we tried out a new burger restaurant very close to home, the less than creatively named, “Eat Burger” We got a flier in the mail and it certainly looked the go, so we wandered down to a little lane behind the SOGO complex down the road and found ourselves in a little, spic and span American style diner. There was sauce and mustard on the table, 50s style posters on the wall and the burgers when they arrived were surprisingly delicious: a good find, but we won’t be able to frequent this place too often if we’re going to keep our waistlines in trim. We’d never really had a proper floor by floor wander through the SOGO except in the madding crowds of opening week, so we thought this would be a good chance. It was great fun looking at all the product and we eventually lost all track of time and place in the “Hands Tailung” shop up on the 7th floor. Housing all things Japanese, the range of goods went from the curious to the bizarre and it’s intriguing to find all this stuff that you never knew you needed, but somehow can’t possibly live without! Showing remarkable restraint, we walked out with just a coffee cup with the Italian flag emblazoned and a tiny iPod speaker in the form of a large die (and yes, it works really well).

It was great to meet up again with Leon and Nicole today and spend a little time catching up. They’re Queenslanders here for a weeklong visit, but we know Leon from his time here before. He said it was 7 years ago that he left, and we could hardly believe it. Nicole, his partner was over here for her first visit and she was taking everything in her stride, even surviving a Saturday night straight off the plane in the crowds of the Shilin night market: a real badge of honour, we reckon! They came round mid morning and we had a good catch up, and also talked about some of the harsh realities of living overseas and back home: a refreshing talk to have. I gave them the keys to the scooter in case they want to use it through the week and we tentatively organized to get together for dinner and a couple of beers mid week. Leon also handed over a whole stack of "Rugby League Week"s he'd brought over especially to give me: I'll be able to distract my self for a while reading all those!

Off to Miramar after that, lunch at Auburgine enroute, and before we went in to the flics we ran into our visitors again half way up the cinema building! They had lunch at the teppanyaki shop in Tienmu North, a place Leon remembers well from his time here and were just having a wander…coincidences. We had booked our tickets online earlier, which was just as well, because the huge cinema was just about bursting at the seams. Ironman 2 has only just opened and its big action appeal and fairly limited dialogue is a great match for a public hearing the movie in another language. It was a good fun movie, visually stunning and star studded. It was enjoyable to listen to all the in jokes, joking homage to other superhero franchises and just generally a real sense of fun that seemed to pervade. A curious note was right at the end. Somehow, everyone knew to stay till right at the end of the credits when there was a little fade out teaser to a possible 3rd installment. Normally everyone walks out as soon as the credits role, which often annoys us. How did they know to stay this time?....bizarre!

The weekend weather was sensational, just hovering round the 30 degree mark, but not too humid just yet. We think we might finally be seeing the belated onset of summer. Photos: Great fun outside the SOGO with brave souls taking to the skies in what I sensed was a tentatively tethered balloon! Cass pretty in orange, and the girls using each other as a pillow. I’m reading the thought provoking Nikky Gemmel book, “Why You Are Australian: a letter to my children” and Cass is reading, “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett.

At 4.45 a.m. the streets of Tienmu are very different from their normal hustling, frantic normality. As I scootered up to get the car in the pre dawn gloom there was a slop of Friday night revelers pouring themselves homeward, taxis crawling optimistically along the curb side of streets and a general sense of desolation: Taipei doesn’t do weekend mornings until at least 10 o’clock!

I met Andrew and Dan out at Green Ball before 5, as we’d judged the swell, wind and tide ideal at just this outrageously early hour. It was well worked out. Scrambling down the rock face to get to the jumpoff point in the gloom, the waves had a slight off shore spray and smooth faces. It wasn’t big, but just big enough to be interesting and we all had a great time. I was stoked to get my best 5 or 6 waves since Christmas and it restored my faith a little in what I had assumed were my waning skills. Back home to be greeted by a blinky eyed Cassy who assured me she’d been awake, “For a little while”, a breakfast of champions, then a relaxing morning reading.

After lunch we went to visit a friend of Cassy’s, Rhonda, who was in one of the local hospitals. Cass supplied her with a stack of magazines and stayed and chatted for a while. Cassy could well have saved this woman’s life and I hardly exaggerate. On Thursday night, at her regular book club meeting, Rhonda complained of pains in her calf and Cass asked her to describe them. They were exactly the symptoms that had led to Cass discovering her DVT, and the insistence of all to seek immediate medical help might well have been critical. She was hospitalized on the spot and remains there at least for the next week. Although Cass didn’t want to seem alarmist, she rightly told the others of the remarkable similarities and they acted upon her concerns: very lucky!

Afterwards, we went to the coffee museum down near Shipai station and had a pleasant hour or so chatting over our lovingly roasted ground bean drinks and a piece of cake. As we had lingered a while, we decided to get Spice Shop Indian takeaway on the way home to heat up for tea and subsequently it proved to be quite delicious.

We went to have a brunch at a new place we’d heard of over in Dazhi, near Neihu. The Door is an unreal find and pretty much mirrors the American diner style of café, The Diner, from way downtown. This place is a much more reasonable distance from us, so we’ll definitely be back. It was a pretty lazy day after that, although I did head up the hill to go to an Anzac day footy party, mainly to be there for a little half time presentation to Lewey that I had been worded up about beforehand. After a hit and run mission, and just the one beer, I came back home and Cass and I had a lovely walk along the riverbank where she told me all the news from home. She had been chatting to her Mum and dad and hearing some more about their further adventures in China and Singapore. Back again, I watched some footy, Cass did the grocery shopping and now we’re counting down to one of our least favored aspects of our job: the dreaded professional development day, which we have scheduled for tomorrow. Let’s have the kids any day, please!

My mate Mark has just landed back in Taipei from Japan, where his beloved father-in-law has died quite suddenly. He reckons he has aged a year in just a week, as a result of stress, shock and the burden of Buddhist funeral ceremonies and family support needs. Not a happy time.

Bookwise, I’m just finishing Dark Mirror and Cass is quite intrigued by The Magician’s Assistant. Photos: Cass and the pineapple guy who we often buy produce from in front of Mingde station. Lewey’s party last week, courtesy of Steve, the official photographer. Me at The Door. STOP PRESS: last photo is of Freeway 3 on Sunday arvo, between Taipei and Keelung. This is one of our most frequented roads and we are very shocked at this landslide. Just a couple of weeks ago, we were on this stretch with Chris and Val and we are on it most weekends. Here are some amazing pictures

It was an extremely social weekend, at least in the evenings. The big farewell show for Lewy (or Delbridge Racing, Asia) was on last night and went to the wee small hours. Lewy and Wal and Shaun and I decided to have a few quiet ones on Friday night leading up to the big event and that too turned into quite a celebration! We did do a great trip down the east coast, however and enjoyed some sensational weather and sights and had a surf.

Midweek I had my birthday and was stoked to get so many cards in the mail, along with lots of email messages, electronic cards or messages on facebook. Thanks one and all for your thoughts: even though we’re rock solid over here now after all these years, it’s always nice to know you’re not forgotten and that people think of you from time to time.

I seem to get sucked into the organizing role of various events these days. What started as a voluntary role which I was more than happy to do, in farewelling friends like Ross and then Josh, has become almost my given role. In Lewy’s case, I was really happy to help out a bit as he’ll be greatly missed next year. We’re of a very similar vintage with similar interests (including horseracing), and of a similar political bent, globally, nationally and institutionally. I did a little ground work setting up the venue, getting the invitation done and tracking the rsvps, then making the DVD/slideshow/video.

The night was a spectacular success and we had our fellow book club members, The Craw, Kenny G and Wally H as the major part of live band QvQ, the obligatory visits from the cops to try to close us down due to noise, and the subsequent Mexican stand off as they waited, arms folded, for the band to dare to start playing again! It was pretty hilarious. There were speeches and presentations, and Lewy was kind enough to give me a special print he’d had made up almost 10 years ago of one of the first horses, Drizzle. We’d worked out a great deal with the bar where we could drink Taiwan beer or various cocktails all night for just $NT600, which was pretty cheap. As a result, and throwing in a rocking band and a late finish of 2 am, most people enjoyed a very, very good night.

Our trip down to the east coast started latish in the morning, but we relished the late start and relaxed pace of it all. I was determined to check out Nan Ao’s surf break when I knew there was not much swell around, just to see if it broke at all, and if it did, how. We had a scenic drive down and enjoyed the mountain roads once we’d dropped off the end of the expressway. The vertigo inducing drop-offs were frightening (for me) and the azure colours stunning. The light offshore breeze dusted the surface of the sea to make it picture perfect and we stopped at a few lookouts along the way to drink in the view. Nan Ao was indeed pretty flat, but we’re quite intrigued with this area and wondering why there is no building near the coast. Perhaps, it is just too far away from Taipei to be attractive. Apart from one immense duck farm and a quilt of verdant rice paddies, there is nothing in sight.

Driving back, the beach at Su Ao was pretty but the surf was small and weak. Wushi Harbour on the other hand was strong and bigger, but we were stunned by the swollen crowd: it just always seems packed here. The Taj Mahal (so called for the adjacent mosque) was the choice, and I had a short but pleasant surf there while Cass dozed under a stand of shade trees up on the promenade. An interesting recent development at Taj is a hotel which has sprung up with gleaming white façade and little turrets mirroring its “big brother” next door! In fact the whole rate of development in this area is phenomenal: it’s a far cry from when Ross and I stumbled upon a bucolic backwater after our excruciating mountain drive some seven years ago.

Photos: at the deserted Nan Ao, scenic lookout, koi carp for sale!, me getting a small wave at the Taj.

It’s only when you experience it again that you can recall with any clarity other times it may have happened. I often scoff at literary clichés such as a “fog of pain”, dismissing them as wild exaggerations. After this week, I’m no longer such a naysayer. A week of suffering, at times, the most nauseating bouts of pain and after some dental surgery on Saturday to alleviate it, I can claim to be a fan of all but the most ridiculous descriptions of hurt!

The week started very well, with Taiwan’s Tomb Sweeping Day coinciding with Cassy’s birthday (as it always does on April 5th) and a day off work for all. Cass had already planned and booked her birthday lunch, taking advantage of the day off to have a meal in the middle of the day and also to take advantage of Chris and Val’s last full day in Taipei to celebrate all together.

We took the MRT down and wandered through the forecourt of Shin Kong Mitsukoshi’s twin department stores on our way to the restaurant. The space was just beginning to come alive, lots of street performers just setting up their magic show, yo-yo demonstrations, straw art stalls, sketching, dancing, singing etc. We ate a mighty meal at Cassy’s favourite Macaroni Grill (which has just been voted Taipei’s number one Italian restaurant by readers of Hungry Girl, a favourite blog of ours) and managed to fit in appetizers, main meals and dessert along with wine! Cassy’s plan was to have a lunch/dinner combo and the mid afternoon timeslot allowed us to do just that: we were still full the next morning!

Daniel the driver had been arranged to pick up Chris and Val at 9 a.m. as they were on their way to Beijing. All went without a hitch and we’ve heard from them since, where they have set a hectic pace visiting and/or revisiting many great spots. They have a guide and a driver all to themselves at some points, not planned that way, but the lack of other customers has worked out well for them.

I’d known for a couple of weeks that I would have a wisdom tooth extracted this Saturday. The trouble was that mid-week the tooth next to it that is the real problem started to ache, at first annoyingly and then almost unbearably. By Friday, I was steeling myself for the wave of pain that seemed to come, rather bizarrely, every hour. It only lasted about three minutes, but I needed to stop everything (walk out of the room if I was teaching, which I was a few times!) then wait it out, tensing muscles, sweating profusely and basically wishing the world would end! By the time Cass got me to the dentist on Saturday I didn’t really care what he did as long as it relieved that rolling world of hurt.

This weekend, after my delirium filled taxi ride home which I don’t remember (!), I’ve just been popping pain killers and lying around. I’ve tried not to be too bad a patient but I’m sure it has been tedious for Cassy. Stitches are not due to come out till next Saturday and then I’ll look forward to the root canal treatment for the tooth that has been causing all the problems….joy!

Suffice to say that after Tuesday, we haven’t done much. Photos are of Taipei 101, now the world’s second tallest building behind the Burg in Dubai, Macaroni Grill, and wandering back down our lane after lunch (like Mr. Lee’s razor wire?!) I’m reading Barry Maitland’s Dark Mirror and Cass is reading Outliers. Cass was stoked to hear from all members of my family, Mum and sisters, along with Aunt V, her sister, Thurza and Lois and a few friends now scattered in other parts of the world for her birthday….thanks!

Taroko Gorge beckoned for our visitors on Monday and all 4 of us were up and about early in the morning, Cass and I preparing to return to work and Chris and Val ready to taxi down to Taipei main station.
The trip was a great success and they were lucky to get some great weather for the three days they were there. The train trip down the coast is always scenic, with the ocean on one side for a good chunk of the trip and the mountains on the other. As mentioned last time, they were staying at the newly renovated Silks Place and it really lived up to its hype.

The Silks Place bus picked them up from Hualien station and took them deep into the gorge where the hotel nestles into the gorge at a splitting of two arms of the river. The rooms offer majestic views of the gorge itself, the river continuing to flow around gigantic boulders of stone and marble. The dining areas have been extensively remodeled to incorporate some outdoor dining and decks overlooking newly planted gardens. They enjoyed the all inclusive dining and many of the facilities, including the three giant heated pools in the basement level. During their time, they went on lots of hikes, including a half day 8km hike, the Sha Ka Dang, where the bus dropped them off and picked them up at the end.

On Friday they set off up the MRT line to Danshui and wandered the streets, Chris in search for an elusive hat stall he’d bought a much loved hat from last time, and generally enjoying the sights, sounds and smell of the river on a full tide. They bought some tickets for the short hop across the river to Bali and enjoyed the riverside park there, a place we have only recently explored ourselves. On Friday night Cass and Val visited Joe the Jeweler to pick up Val’s pearl pendant which had just been completed. I was at a school get-together down at Alleycats for an hour or so, so I got some Indian takeaway for all of us as it had just started to rain and our plans to get out for dinner would have been awkward. We washed it down with some Jacob’s Creek red bought at the Ker Qiang Rd 7/11 store: it’s weird buying that here, just around the corner!

Guandu Temple is a magnificent complex of temple buildings built in 1661 and it occupies a site perched on a hill on the bank of the Danshui River with views to the Red Bridge and Bali downriver. We wandered around here for ages enjoying the magnificent granite carvings on nearly every surface we could see. Some of these carvings are so intricate and three dimensional that we wondered how they could ever have been completed. The gardens are pretty and so well cared for but the sights and smells at the “little eats” stalls below were enough to make us seek our lunch elsewhere on that day! Forgoing our adventurous spirit, we ate some fare from the local 7/11 at the little table outside the shop: it was pretty good!

Suitably fortified, we drove through the underpass below the main highway to the other side and sniffed our way to the Tittot museum and display centre. Tittot is a famous Taiwanese glass blower and artist and his workshop is on site as well. We admired the superb examples of glasswork he has gathered from all around the world, and then both Cassy and Val made some small purchases as souvenirs. We made  a stop on the way home at the incredible temple of 1000 statues that we’d visited not so long back after a tip from Mr. Lai, my octogenarian fellow stair walker. It is a hidden gem and Chris and Val couldn’t quite believe the number of stone men but more importantly, “Why?” I certainly couldn’t answer that question! Alleycats pizza for the three while I met up with Wal and Rourkey for a few beers.

Lazy day today after the weather got a bit frowsy again. We all wandered down to the local Carrefour store and Valerie bought a fantastic little Sony camera with great specs and at a real bargain price: electronics seem to deliver so much more bang for the buck than they used to. Cass is going to make her bon curry for tea and I’m looking forward to it: one of the best Japanese inventions ever! Photos are from some adventures on Saturday and the slide show will appear here when I eventually remove it. Cass is reading Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” and I’m reading the shocking but compelling “City Of Thieves” by David Benioff

Wulai is situated deep in the mountainous forests about 40 km south of Taipei City. We ventured there on Monday to check out their famous waterfall and cable car which zips across a steep gorge up to the faded glory of Dreamland theme park on the dizzying heights of the far bank. The trip there was very pleasant, and we were glad we’d decided to go on a week day as the viewing platforms and other infrastructure indicated an uncomfortably swollen crowd attends on the weekend. It was cool and moist and even though our visitors had the very recent memory of Niagara Falls to compare to, not too undersized! The drop was spectacular, the river valley rough and fresh and the Atayal aborigine presence notable in many areas. The cable car provided me in particular some heart shocking moments especially as the ground beneath dropped away and we headed on a crazy angle ever upwards to the far bank. Up top, the theme park was a bit dilapidated, but it was the off season and a very swish hotel/conference centre might be worth a re0visit for some lunch or even an overnight stay. The GPS led us a merry dance on the way home; leading us straight through the heart of the city at peak hour…I think I’ll take my own counsel next time!   For tea, the world famous Din Tai Fung supplied us with steamed dumplings in bamboo cases and tofu and rice and all things nice! A Coldstone Creamery special icecream in waffle cone eaten outside watching the world go by was a fitting dessert.

On Tuesday, the silver bullet picked up the party of Williamson for the drive to the old village of Jiofen and the Gold Ecological Park on the hills in the hinterland of Keelung. As we wound our way up, Jiofen’s houses seemed to be gripping claws into the hillside, jutting out over each other at impossible angles, defying gravity. The steps up to the main road/alley were heart starters and we passed eateries enticing us with views, artisans fashioning product on little ledges and quaint B&Bs touting their charms. The main walking road was filled with tiny shops in the old, preserved buildings selling all manner of product and food. Cass and I had never been there, so all four of us were experiencing the same wonders. The smells were strange, the sounds weird and the sights unusual. Cass chose a restaurant that reflected all of these senses for lunch, some of the meals being more edible than others: I’ll leave it at that! The Gold Ecological Park was equally fascinating. We toured a completely (beam by beam, tile by tile) renovated Japanese house, a house built for the Crown Prince and then descended into the depths of a restored gold mining tunnel resplendent in our hard hats after taking a safety oath in Chinese which meant nothing to any of us! After all that trekking we’d worked up an appetite, so motored straight through to Thai Town at Shinkong Mitsukoshi for tea. After a delicious feast, we were ready to watch an episode of Grand Designs, have a bit more of a chat and head to bed.

A bit of a lay day was in order for Wednesday, so Cassy took Val down to see Joe the Jeweler with Val's new black pearl burning a hole in her pocket! They spent a good while talking tactics with Joe about settings then had an upmarket lunch at the Regent’s Azie café. Chris and I had to get to the mechanics to see about fixing a side mirror I’d snapped off on a parked scooter some days before. We did that, went off to school to try to order and print some train tickets, and then wandered across to Sababa for some Middle Eastern style pitas. On the way home we checked out the big electrical store on Ker Qiang and made a few minor purchases. We weren’t home long before the girls arrived and Joe had worked his magic. Cass cooked up a super big batch of her signature spaghetti bolognaise for tea which was a real treat and we washed it down with some fine Aussie red.

The world wide tour of machines based on designs of Leonardo Da Vinci has hit Taiwan, so we took the MRT down to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall on Thursday to check it out. Fortuitously we arrived right at the changing of the guard and were nearly run down by the high stepping crisply uniformed ceremonial guards on their way to the upper chamber! There was also a display of beautiful lanterns the entire length of the lower hall and some Chinese calligraphy displays. The main event, however, was fascinating and we marveled at the mind that created such a disparate and brilliant set of designs. We headed back to Taipei main station to get some tickets for Chris and Val’s upcoming trip to Taroko Gorge and decided to eat again at the 2nd floor Breeze Centre food area. We chose a teppanyaki restaurant which did not disappoint: flashing spatulas cut, seared and flipped the great fresh ingredients before depositing them expertly into tiny plates in front of us on the hotplate: these guys are real artists. We were fuelled up on a set of beef, chicken, fish, scallops, asparagus and other veggies along with soups and drinks, before going downstairs to the central hub to buy the return tickets to Hualien. Chris and Val are booked in to the renovated Silks Place at Taroko Gorge for three days this week…it should be an awesome experience! We eventually made our way back to the MRT section of main station, and travelled past Mingde to Qiyan and the Lacoco clothing outlet. This is a cheap clothing superstore, but the stock this time was a little underwhelming. Chris sniffed out some good buys however and was fascinated when the lady whisked his new pants off to alter them on the spot for no extra cost! It had turned freezing by this time, so we headed off to a nice warm apartment.

Wendel’s siren call sounded on Friday morning and we were all showered and ready bright and early to sample the gourmet breakfast. It really is fit for a king and possibly because of our unheralded status in the world, it stuck with us through to tea time! The Williamson clan stayed in and watched some movies, Bright Star and The Reader, while I went off to the golf driving range to hit a few balls with Wal. In the evening we had Cassy’s famous pumpkin soup and the equally famous Hirota Puffs for tea!

Yangminshan’s Buffalo Meadow was the attraction on Saturday and we got up there mid morning courtesy of the silver bullet. The walk is always beautiful but we decided to do just ½ the loop before tackling the highest point to check the 360 degree vista. Even though the Gobi desert sandstorm restricted our vision a little, we were able to spot Taipei 101 through the haze in one direction and Danshui in another. Down the hill and we forked off to a trail leading to a waterfall, supposedly just 1.2 km away. After a very steep descent of at least 2 km we arrived at a beautiful little natural fall, the water fresh and cold, the backdrop dripping with lush growth and mossy rocks. We had a sandwich to fortify ourselves for the trek back up and I have to admit the oldies did extremely well as even our relatively young legs were aching by the time we got back to the carpark! We visited the area around the floral clock on the way back and there were some pretty good floral displays. By this time however, once again the weather had turned for the worse, Cassy’s teeth were chattering and we made a welcome retreat back to the car and back down the hill to home. Scootered off to get some Spice World Indian takeaway, some more Aussie red and we were all a bit drowsy and ready for a sound sleep!

SOGO beckoned thew travelers on Sunday morning as well as the Carrefour store and C&V had a great time checking out all the product and wondering the same thing that we often do, “Who on earth buys all this stuff?”! They too saw a lot of lookers and precious few buyers, but I suppose someone must buy it. They got themselves some lunch and ate it outside on the polished granite seats in the pedestrian boulevard out front. Later in the afternoon, we headed off to Shilin nightmarket, the acclaimed big daddy of all of Taipei’s famous nightmarket culture. It really is quite and extraordinary place and we wandered around as the sun was setting and traders set up: it was still hectic and exciting but not quite at the claustrophobic point it would reach a few short hours later. Both Chris and Val got some groovy sneakers and Cass and Val got some reading glasses for the “eyesight infirm”! They were pretty jazzy, but not over-the-top as you might expect from this area. It’s probably because the clientele of most of the product is not in need of eyesight-adjusting specs at their tender age. We walked through most of the main thoroughfares, gawked at the weird foods yet settled on the far more sensible option of Café Onion up the road. We had a 6 course dinner and Cass and I marveled at the fact that the menu has not changed a bit in the last 8 years! Chris enjoyed his snails and chicken, we other three had the New Zealand fillet, although I’m not quite sure that a “well done steak” should be still bleeding! Our visitors are off to Taroko Gorge for three days on Monday and we’re back to school…sob! Photos are a real mix, but you'll get the idea from the text. The slide show is here when I take it off the site.