Good buddies and Burl the cool...

Ivo and Burl came over to visit Dylan the other day, Sandy tagged along to visit Heather...They play so well together lately...Burl is looking so alert and with it..He has got this cool look going about him...nice play time together...good job guys!

Yoga with Dylan...

I love this... Dylan is a natural yogi....He is often doing spontaneous yoga poses...downward dog seems to be a favorite at the moment...He did this before I started yoga so I reckon it is not form observation. When I do yoga and he hasn't gone to bed or is still asleep he likes to join in with me...without fail he has to join in...

Yoga and music...

So haven't blogged fer a while cause things are way too hectic at the moment...There's the baby, which is about 9 cm? I think...Then Heather and Dylan were sick with mega head colds for a week. Pregnant woman plus head cold not good. That was two weeks ago, last week things began to look up but work was hectic since the semester is winding down to an overdue end...lo and behold come Saturday and Dylan caught Oral herpes...Sh*te. Nothing we can do about it since it is viral...just keeping him comfortable and hoping fever doesn't occur. So I've been looking after my two beautiful patients and stressing, Heather will be off work tomorrow to look after D. At least Heather is on the up and up. I've been doing lots of yoga to keep me sane, once a day...and listening to some cool music...My current favourite 'listen to' is an indie band called the 'Silversun pickups', their album 'Carnavas' blows my mind...It's full of musical and lyrical genius that leaves me breathless most of the time. Innovative, unique and some much needed escapism.

'Wild' weekend in Taipei...

So we were off to Taipei last weekend, as the grand finale to mom's visit to Taiwan and incidentally part of the plan was to visit some good Chinese friends in Taipei that we have know for a few good years...We were whisked away on the coolest...well actually it was hotter than hell...weekend to see a part of Taipei we had never experienced before...Wow! What a beautiful place Taiwan is! We drove up to Taipei and booked into one of our favourite group of hotels...just one we had not been to before in an unknown area but we were confident that they were pretty much the same standard. From there we went to the National Palace Museum, we had previously gone there before the renovations...etc..Very cool Museum...Mom loved it...We loved it.

Peggy and Vincent picked us up from the Museum and that was it until Monday...they commandeered our weekend...We didn't mind...they were very gracious and took us to the most stunning places. We zoomed up Yangmingshan first, via a route known well by locals. The view was fantastic...Taipei is massive and very beautiful. It started raining but Vincent just continued up the mountain to some hiking trail he used to frequent as a student...I'm thinking 'there is no way we're going to walk in this downpour' but by the time we got there the downpour had passed and we went off into the hills doing the healthy nature walk thing. I later told Heather that if I hadn't been exercising and doing yoga I would probably have died on the slippery slopes down to a waterfall that apparently ended up being a squirt of water splashing over a rock. We never made it down...at the beginning of my journey had taken off my shoes since I was slipping all over the place and was carrying Dylan who had fallen asleep and would not be roused....We went down down a trail to a waterfall...thinking short walk...everyone told us 15 minutes....45 minutes later and up and down a steep and slippery stone pathway with Dylan wheezing from the humidity and we decided to call it quits...what followed next was a test of determination and parental love as we climbed back to the base camp...drenched in sweat...carrying a 15-16 kg squirming toddler up a mountain path ain't no joke...Crazy thing is we still had a great time and enjoyed the scenic and peaceful Yangmingshan with its deafening buzz of cicadas and rain forest...anyone looking for a sound track for a horror movie should record the disturbing cacophony of these grotesque bugs from Yangmingshan...they won't disappoint. Vincent took us back to the hotel, we were most grateful to catch a shower before going to 'Cha for tea' one of our favourite restaurants here in Taiwan...



Near the hotel Vincent suddenly quips in what must of been the classic Chinese way of modestly informing you of something to be wary of...first Peggy says Vincent has a hotel near his home that we can use next time...we say thanks Peggy...then Vincent says..I paraphrase....'Ahh...nice Japanese restaurants in the area that your hotel is in'...find something good to say about the area and then drop the mind bomb...and then adds without a moments hesitation.....'...yes many Japanese come here to get girls...'...end of conversation. I'm thinking...'oh'. In our hotel room we found conformation of this little factoid so succinctly dropped into our evening revelings...the most bizarre 'chair' I've seen in my life resembling the kind of chair found in a gynaecologist's examination room...only this one vibrated baby!...made watching CNN a little more interesting having my 'gluteus maximus' massaged while I contemplated the state of the world....still a cool hotel though...breakfast included and what a breakfast...I suppose all those Japanese guys need some nourishment after a wild evening plunging against the amazing vibrating contraption of a chair....(smirk)...My mother-in-law thought the chair awfully funny and took a snap of it for friends back home...

Above: Splashing about at Paiwanshan beach

Above: Beautiful coastlines and blue skies...

Anyway...next day we were off to Yeliou...We drove along an amazing coastline that left we knowing why the Portuguese called it a beautiful island so many years ago....We stopped at a beach called Paiwanshan, to see the Taiwanese at play on the beach...interesting...the ocean was beautiful and I splashed with Dylan for a while...Then off again to Yeliou...Wonderful little place with bizarre rock formations from erosion of sand and sea...actually alien like in appearance....Our friends called it 'tofu rock'...there is one rock that looks like the Queen's head in profile. We had some fresh seafood there...the best clams I've ever tasted! We went back after a wonderful but very, very hot time out n the rocks. Our evening was spent in the wonderful Shinlin night market....We do so appreciate and like our Friends Peggy and Vincent...hoping they come visit us sometime here in Taichung...

It was a sad and tearful farewell at the airport on Monday...It was nice to have her visiting us...We all miss her dearly and I'm sure she misses us and this beautiful Island.

Sun Moon Lake and Puli Part 2.

We stayed at the most beautiful guest house ever....Nestled in the sun lake valley...that was drained by the Japanese in order to relocate people from the moon valley when they built the dam.....blah blah. The valley floor is made of...get this 'peet'! About 70 or so meters deep! Some of it on the surface is floating on a spring so you can 'surf' on the peet as it rolls this way and that under your feet.... Everything about Redwood Cottage is absolutely brilliant....fresh air....great rooms....excellent host (called woody).....superb Chinese style breakfast.....homey and spectacular at the same time. Heather and her mom were in blissful euphoria about the place and Dylan had a fantastic time hanging out in the 'wild'. He chased some chickens around the lawn and made a new friend....'Sophie' the dog....mmmmm perhaps that name is off the list if we end up having a girl.

We spent our second day touring around the lake...here are some photos...

Above: The kiss....Dylan has been super affectionate of late....walking down from the pagoda he gave me a nice big kiss....love you too Dylan!

Out and about over Dragon boat weekend...

We had a fantastic weekend over Dragon boat...though I didn't eat a sticky rice dumpling one of my favorite things to eat over this festival... We ended up going to the Art and Science Museums simply because these are family friendly spaces...D ate an ice cream at the science Museum...here are some pics...

Above: Dylan with his favorite book at the moment...he holds it up to your face to see what you look like as a lion or zebra...

Shrek the Third...

We went to watch Shrek the Third which was okay... D is a big Shrek fan...we are so proud of him sitting through another Movie theatre experience...He really seems to enjoy the expereince...popcorn....juice...it was cool!

Painting with Dylan...

So we bought D a paint set...thanks to Crayola Non-Toxic watercolours....yipeeee! We had a ball, us three playing around with some paint on a A2 paper...Dylan 'got it' quite easily thought he mostly preferred to put more and more water into the paint tray...soon however he was making his mark...kinda worried since he has been watching Curious George a lot of late and always coos in approval when George doe s his wall painting stint...

Working with Dylan watching...

D loves hanging out and watching as I work...busy illustrating second book. I love having him climb over me while I work and it doesn't distract or bug me though he can be really demanding at times...he is super inquisitive and likes being in the thick of things.

Playing with water on our new balcony...

Our balcony has been encapsulated by beautiful sliding windows and brand spanking new mosquito nets...courtesy our landlord...thus extending our apartment. Now we have a wonderful sun area where our garden is growing in blissful harmony...and where Dylan, on very hot and muggy summer days, can splash around to his heart content in a wading pool...He discovered the joys of splashing people with water...great fun! It is nice to have a safe area to play with water...his friend Ivo will probably enjoy this new development too...

Above: Naughty but very nice...Dylan loves having fun with water...

Feeding the fish strawberry bread up at Donghai

We made the trip up to the pond at Donghai again, this time we stopped by the local 7/11 to buy some strawberry bread for the fish...they didn't have plain bread in case you're wondering why we wanted to feed fish strawberry bread...Which makes me wonder whether fish can taste different flavours? mmmm...I'll probably look that one up....of course I don't think anyone has ever been a fish and lived to tell the tale...Any case, we had loads of fun. Dylan was interested in feed the fish, he found it more amusing to throw stones into the water which the fish probably didn't appreciate that much. Another cool afternoon with my toddler and beautiful wife.