Well, it's that time of year again, and we can scarcely believe it has been a year since we were sucked into this vortex of last week plans, appointments, calls, visits and everything else that comes with winding up an academic year, closing down a household for a couple of months and leaving things and people in place to look after the cats.

The tornado started to increase in velocity last weekend, but Cass was incapacitated with a shocking bout of tonsillitis which necessitated nearly a full week off school. She rallied to attend her final Book Club meeting of the year mid-week, a bittersweet moment as her good friend Paige is leaving to go back home to Canada. They dined on Wendel's outstanding fare and a few sips of Moet to ease the pain helped them present her with a card and small gift. May/June is not a good time for expatriates!

School is fizzling out, but still has enough wind speed left to generate some end-of-year tests for Cassy to grade, as well as write reports and I have to attend various shows and recognition functions as my kids "graduate" out of elementary school (don't ask!). A love-fest faculty meeting for my division on Tuesday will drag on before a visit to the dentist, then a farewell for two departing members of my team. We both need to attend the all school recognition service on Friday afternoon and then get home and do any last minute preparation for returning to Oz, as we get picked up to go to the airport at noon on Sunday.

My Book Club is threatening to have a meeting on Wednesday, but I'm hoping to dissuade them from reaching a quorum, as it usually involves a very late night, and I don't think I want to face a Thursday in that condition this week! The massive end-of-year BBQ immediately follows the Friday recognition ceremony, and yet another farewell party is rumoured to be on Saturday evening down at Patio 84....we'll be glad to get on that plane!

This weekend we went to see the film "Edge of Tomorrow" which has a similar basic premise to one of my favourite movies of all time, "Groundhog Day". The main character dies each day only to wake up the next day at the same point, just a little better trained, prepared, knowledgeable etc. than the day before. He, of course, needs to save the world in the end, but hey, Tom Cruise in action mode can do it all, can't he?! One of the very interesting things about this was that we saw it before its official world premiere in the U.S. I'm not sure how Taiwan continually gets away with this....perhaps they don't know and/or don't care! Anyhow, it was pretty slick....give it an "A", pretty sure Cass would concur.

I went up the so-called 1,000 steps on Sunday (in actuality, there are significantly more) and it was an exercise fraught with trepidation as mountain runoff streamed across the path at various intervals, making the descent in particular, quite precarious. Up top, fungi was flourishing on every craggy trunk and every stand of lush moss, the path was boggy and treacherous, and the overhanging trees loomed dangerously from loose-looking, muddy banks. We had experienced a fallen tree in sodden ground in the little park we pass on the way home from school earlier in the week, so I was especially sensitive to any creaks and groans! A haze of heat mixed with smog hung over Tienmu as I looked down upon our little suburb, and I imagined it might be good to swap this for a while and soak up the delights of the stark, searing vistas available at Merewether Beach. Recharge, take stock, relax. Lock down in the storm cellar of  bucolic Newcastle, away from the frenzied tempest which is our school and city, just for a while.....we're ready.

Photos: One of my little girls' poor first attempts at writing a poem; I couldn't get too upset considering the subject choice! Gift of amethyst jewellery for Paige, fallen tree shock (Cassy had a little friend!), gecko on the verandah door, hamburger that is actually a cake (class party), and a couple of shots from the "steps".

I'm having a break from the blog writing while we're away. I anticipate the next entry somewhere around August 10. Thanks for putting up with us for another year!

We were embroiled in the latest incarnation of the tongue-lashing rituals of our local temple whether we liked it or not last Friday afternoon and evening! The two videos up top give just a tiny insight into the cultural carnage that was wrought upon our normally bucolic hamlet for a few frenetic hours. The next day of course, apart from some lingering wafts of gunpowder on the breeze and a few slowly rousing pink-shirted temple boys, you'd hardly realize that anything had happened at all!

Cass has been struck down by some flu like bug and her throat has been a raw striated mess, meaning she's missed a few days of school ( a very unusual event for her). I was meandering my way home alone on Friday afternoon only to be interrupted by cacophonic percussion and long streams of pink-shirted men and women parading their various wares down the thoroughfare of Chung Shan North Road. They were snaking their way in and out of alleys disturbing as many people as possible and then threading their way back and forth across the main road at regular intervals. There were dragon dancers and Taiko drummers, banner waving enthusiasts and beer guzzling, betel nut chewing marchers.

The most incongruous participants, however, were the go-go dancing girls on the back of 4x4 utes. The utes were ablaze with light and pulsing with shrieking music issued from tinny speakers. The girls were dressed in very provocative gear and were writhing around a pole set up on the back of the small trucks. When they spotted a spectator (like me!) they put on a particularly energetic performance for their short burst of infamy. I've never really understood exactly what is going on here, but it was explained to me once that the gods need to be appeased in various ways: I can't deny that this is a very entertaining method of appeasement, and way better than some maudlin praying or chanting!

Later on, as Wal and I enjoyed a few of Uli's finest ales, the circus re-appeared at regular intervals and we even braved the rain at one point to join in the procession, upon enticement from the participants. The big-headed puppets, looking like they were suffocating under plastic rain hoodies, and their entourage, seemed only too delighted to have us join in for a while....Taiwan, ahh!

Cass was really laid low by her illness, so we had an exceptionally quiet remainder of the weekend. I did a few jobs on Saturday and we did the shopping together on the scooter. On Sunday, just so she could escape the apartment for a bit of air, we scootered up into Yangminshan. Instead of veering right to the fumuroles and Jinshan at the top of the mountain, we went straight through, down and around to the Cala Lilly fields nestled in an old volcanic crater and surrounded by soaring, lush mountains. It was busy with car, scooter and pedestrian traffic and we wound our way slowly though beautiful carpets of stark white callas, shocking blue hydrangeas and past rustic little cafes serving mountain vegetables and aromatic teas.

We eventually found ourselves on a tiny, undulating road that wound it's way along a ridge line of one of the mountains. We were amazed at the lack of traffic until after about 15 minutes, the road just petered out to nothing but a picnic table nestled under some pretty foliage and a family picnicking! We just did a u-turn and enjoyed the ride back around, noting the spot for a future adventure perhaps. We stopped for a little stretch at a lookout near the summit before heading back down the mountain, where the warm quilt of air lying heavy over the city rose up to meet us.

I'm reading Dr. Sleep by Stephen King and Cass is reading ?. Photos: temple preparations, an interesting car, procession happenings, ramen translation(!), a landslide area on our quaint little road and the lookout on the mountaintop.

Not content with three sellout shows as well as a preview and a full dress rehearsal (like previous years), the middle school drama powers decided that they needed an extra full performance on Thursday night last. It's a fait accompli that all tickets are sold to every performance, because despite the cavernous depths of the main auditorium, when you have a cast and crew of hundreds, all those relos have to be squeezed in somehow....cue in multiple airings of the extravaganza.

Cass was again embroiled in the "fun" this year as the makeup director, and she efficiently got her crew together some time back. She prepped them and got some design work happening weeks ago, and has had various meetings in the afternoons during the last few weeks. Miraculously, yet again, she seemed to get just enough volunteers, but not so many that she needed to cull and they were a pleasant mix of Grade 6, 7 and 8 kids. This year's production was Peter Pan, so the makeup demands were relatively straight forward with a few rollicking pirates, a glittering Tinkerbell and a dog and alligator being the main challenges. The production design was really stepped up a notch this year with flying harnesses and wires fitted to a coterie of the main stars!

Cass was occupied for endless hours on Monday and Wednesday for dress rehearsals and previews, along with Thursday, Friday and Saturday night shows. She needed to round the dramatic year out with a matinee on Sunday as well. The overall director is a Pommy chick who is pretty relaxed, but there are some others in the main group as wound up as two-bob watches, so the anality levels are set at "extreme". As you can imagine, she was quite exhausted after so much time "up with people", so we just had a really relaxing Sunday evening. I was a play widower for the majority of the weekend and, despite best laid plans, failed to capitalize on the time and do anything worthwhile!

Before the Saturday evening show we managed to do a little bit of this and that, and we had a late breakfast at 1Bite2Go over the Fulin Bridge in Shilin. We were a little taken aback to find it jammed packed at just after opening time of 10.30 in the morning, and realised we probably should book next time. We were seated at one of the shared benches which was fine, but we just sneaked in for a seat. The place, as I've described before, is really big; so its reputation for excellent food at great value is evidently spreading. We lingered over the giant, strong coffees before strolling around the neighbourhood and the park nearby which is stocked with all sorts of eclectic, "Stonehenge" style rock formations and public artworks.

I did manage to go out and do a few "jobs" while Cass was at the play, one of which is that "only in Taiwan" style of thing. Usually never bothering with the car unless we're making a big trip to the coast or elsewhere, public transport of various modes as well as lots of walking is our preferred method of getting around the city. But what to do when you need a run of relatively heavy kitty litter, for example? The trusty scooter is called into play, and ten bags can be stacked quite easily: the tricky part was riding it home through traffic-saturated Chung Shan Nth Road and then a maze of bumpy lanes and alleys. I made it with only one re-adjustment!

Photos: Peter Pan technical wizardry, the makeup crew posing and at work, 1Bite 2Go and scooters transporting all sorts of stuff: tiny terriers, leering loonies and loads of litter!

Taiwan has many quirky aspects to its lifestyle and culture, but we're pretty much immured to all these things by now. I thought it might be fun to cast our minds back to when we were shocked, horrified, interested or just mildly surprised by some of these things.

Taiwan tiles every building and surface inside and out. There is some edict from the government that buildings must be externally clad in a form of tile. This means that every building as far as the eye can see looks a little like a bathroom or kitchen turned inside out. There is the occasional one that has sought and won some kind of exemption, cloaked in steel and glass, but in the main, off-white rectangular tiles seem to be the clothing of choice. In the sulfur laden atmosphere in the volcanic north of the island, the buildings very quickly look shabby and run-down. To add to this tile fever, many pavements and shop stoops are also tiled in high gloss numbers which can see the populace ice- skating along footpaths during the not infrequent tropical downpours!

Cars are either white or black( except for cabs which are yellow). Sharing the Japanese fondness for white vehicles (perhaps for safety or a sense of conformity), the Taiwanese car-buyer is not terribly adventurous. The roads seem comically kaleidoscopic when we arrive back home with colours of the rainbow, metallic paints and accents. Here in Taiwan, if you buy a top-of-the-line Mercedes it seems de rigueur that it should be black. We, however, with our metallic silver Honda Accord are being outrageously non-conformist!

Although we rave on incessantly about the high quality, variety and value of international food options here in Taipei, it wasn't always so and remains only a tiny part of the city's overall foodscape. Local favourites such as oyster omelettes, beef noodles and stinky tofu are still delectable choices at night markets and stalls, along with a dizzying array of other choices, vegetarian and non-vegetarian. One constant, seemingly on every block and always chock-a-block full of slurping customers, are the "slop kitchens" where every manner of steaming noodle concoction can be had. Many of these brews have floating body parts, largely unidentifiable, of various animals: in fact some restaurants boast that no body part goes unused.....the ultimate recyclers!

It's not uncommon to be driving along a very major thoroughfare and be suddenly stalled in a line of traffic. This is to be expected in a big Asian city (especially one like Taipei where there is an urban legend which says that there are nowhere near enough car-parks for all the cars in the city: thankfully there are always thousands on the roads at any given time!). The cause, however, is often just someone picking up their dry-cleaning, collecting some takeaway, or sometimes, just stopping to have a chat to someone they know! They stop their car right in the middle of the traffic lane closest to the footpath and put hazard lights on, which seems to be the equivalent of a supersonic force-field around the car giving them license to do whatever they like. Everyone just calmly waits, no horns, no yelling, no road rage. Hey, you can do it next time too!

Photos: Photo up top is a get-together for an AFL match 7 years ago....we all look so young! The ubiquitous makeup exhibition in the department store, the very best ice cream sandwich you'll ever eat: a Japanese milk caramel made by Morinaga, a "Mory"! Bamboo horses in the park, strings of snags in the open air, and a glittering array of fish in the foreground as Cass buys a slab of salmon.


Just for fun: The current "Game of Thrones" sex and splatterfest series might be based on the long running Taiwan-China territorial dispute according to this article

Where's Wally?!

It was not a shock to stand before a fake of Johanne Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring", because when we paid to enter Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, we were plainly informed by word and text that all of Vermeer's works were digital reproductions: this obviously didn't deter the hordes of art lovers who had flocked to see all his paintings in a reproduced form on the last day of the exhibition.

How appropriate it seemed: in a country spawned by Big Brother across the Taiwan Strait, that Mandarin of knock-offs, fakes and copies, we were viewing the ultimate in high end art as legitimate fakes. The laser reproductions were exquisite and barely able to be identified as non-genuine: a certain patina, a crease of light revealing a flat surface unsullied by paint globs and brush marks or a rogue colour shade here and there were all that set these apart from the real things. The gift shop copies at the end really showed how fine a copy the exhibition works were!

It was cheap as chips to get in and was a cultural marvel to behold. Despite the nature of the works, the place was packed, and every manner of kitsch accompaniment had been found to adorn the main works. There were bandannas to be worn and jackets to drape and people could pose themselves in frames and whole rooms set up to replicate the settings of some of the famous works. Miffy was dressed as the girl with the pearl earring and there were even Lego versions of the painting. In fact, just about everything that could be flogged was being flogged; rampant consumerism at its very best (worst?) !

When we decided to stroll through the grounds of the Hall to take in the ambiance of the Koi Pond, we were startled to see that an army of older citizens had descended upon the grounds since we'd been inside. They were dressed in some type of uniform(s), and were listening to the constant, droning tones of speakers on loud-hailers. They seemed to be assembling at various points, so it was even more pronounced an intrusion than usual when we decided to make our way across the park. As you can see from the photos, we really stood out ! (Red shirted "Where's Wally" Cassy!)

On the way out the side entrance we stumbled across an older couple getting their wedding shots taken against the backdrop of the Hall Park's outer fence. The photographer was encouraging them to do a "can-can" style pose and I managed to capture the moment with the perspective of a street sausage vendor in the foreground...only in Taiwan!

We lunched at a tiny cafe between the Hall and the museum of Natural History that we'd discovered a while ago. This time we both got slightly more substantial meals and they were of similar high quality to that we'd previously experienced. The "Gaspard et Lisa" glasses and crockery were a cute accent on the repast and we had a pleasant direct train ride home later in the afternoon.

We streamed some episodes of recent telemovies "Jack Irish" over the weekend and we really enjoyed them. This involved some sleight of hand and a bit of trickery involving iPads, hiding of ISPs with a VPN then streaming through ABC's iView.....acronym overload!

Photos of said adventures as well as a shot of the tongue lashing temple round the corner in limbo as it quietly prepares for this year's big festival. Cassy is reading Jo Nesbo's third, The Redbreast while I'm still diggin' Charlie!

The inimitable establishment of fine Taiwanese dining, Din Tai Fung, was our destination for our lunch/dinner on Saturday. I've raved about this place before, but we were excited to see that a fifth Sydney branch is opening this week, and that one, in Chatswood, is within easy reach of Novocastrians desiring a real, quality, Taiwanese meal. The taste is superior, the dumplings finely crafted and identical each time, while the signature xiao long bao are perfectly cooked with a soup serving encased inside each dumpling which explodes a little taste bomb at a perfect temperature with each mouthful.

There is another interesting thing about Taiwan's Din Tai Fung restaurants that I would be interested to see if it is replicated in Australia. The wait staff (young people in the main) have a distinct look. Taiwan is well known for its good looking youngsters as well as an abundance of employable young folk seeking jobs. It is noticeable, however, that DTF's staff, while attractive, are never really handsome, or indeed, pretty. It seems the hiring policy is directed at a pleasant looking, efficient type. Our theory (or mine actually!), is that it is neither distracting nor envy inducing for customers of either sex to have such staff, and the status quo of dining can continue unabated.There is an uncanny sameness in the "look" of these young people that bears commenting upon!

I do know that some other things just will not be replicated. The price point for the meal we invariably order is just $1,100NT (about $35A) and I have massive doubt whether the same fare would be anything less than twice that price back home. In addition, the meal in Taiwan is served as a quick eat, not a full-blown sit down, drag out meal and we've only ever seen people have Taiwanese tea as a drinks accompaniment. I would assume that the Australian equivalent would be a longer stay and almost always accompanied by wine or beer: it doesn't really suit the food in our opinion. We've never had a drink apart from tea with our meals here and we haven't longed for anything else.

We had a very relaxing stroll through the suburb to Eddie's Cantina on Sunday afternoon and delighted in the spring weather, sitting on their expansive verandah and relaxing in a cool breeze under clear, blue skies. Again, we're slaves to habit, having locked on to some delectable menu items here as well, so we ordered up just the same after I initially flirted with, then threatened to order, something different!. On the way home we bought a couple of muffins and slices of apple flan for supper, made by the French bakers at Lutetia Bakery round the corner. A small tub of Haagen Dazs vanilla ice-cream from the 7/11 and we were all set....where do we live again?!

Earlier in the afternoon I'd braved the "1,000 steps" of Tienmu Gudao. I find this a good barometer of my overall level of fitness and although I was dreading the worst, I was surprised at my ability to at least keep moving ever upwards and not pausing for a break. Although many minutes off my "PB", I still managed a reasonable time, though my legs are aching today in late protest! The signs at the top of the steps where the path forks off into Macaque country have been unceremoniously dumped in the foliage beside the path. A new artisic impression map of the trail, along with alien looking monkeys, has been imprinted into a large round cement slab instead. The old water trough has been replaced with a rustic, granite chunk of a basin for washing up  and cooling down. The serenity up top, as well as the sense of accomplishment never wanes, and, as I often do when I reach the summit, I exhorted myself to do this more regularly.

The heady scent of freshly scythed grass, the lulling trickle of water and the lurking threat of monkey action is an intoxicating mix, especially on such a fine spring day. On the way down, I marvelled at some of the clever bush engineering, the lattice work made from bamboo, twigs and vines for the market gardens and the intricate, irrigation schemes channeling precious water across terraces, then spilling into muddy furrows and tiny dams along the way.

Our friend, Wal, experienced the wonderful, caring and honest nature of the Taiwanese yet again this weekend. Losing his wallet with all his cards and the cash equivalent of a month of local wages, it has been found, handed in, intact! He just needs to make his way down to a station in the south of the city to collect it. On a related but lesser note, check the photo up top of a scoop conveniently hung on a hook on a tree along the trail: brand new, obviously just bought to be used to "scoop the poop". How long would this last anywhere else?!

Photos: a pensive Dave, photos of the trail. None of my usual model today....she must be getting shy! Cass is reading the second Harry Hole book, Cockroaches by Jo Nesbo, while I'm still enjoying a reprised fascination with Charles Manson!

P.S. We both had very quiet birthday celebrations recently, but were thrilled that a few people still remembered to send us a card, message, shout out etc. Thank you to everyone!