Archive for February, 2010


Lovely Delvene  co- owns The Beach Hotel at Byron Bay.

The feature travel story in the Taipei Times (see below for address) is accurate.  The pictures could have been better though.

My friend Bob Beale is mentioned as a ranger handing out a $300 ticket (fine) for someone sleeping in the car overnight.  That’s a huge fine.  Probably in a National Park area.

Byron Bay began ‘going to the pack’ twenty years ago.  It changed from a sleepy coastal town with hippies  into an international back backing destination with prices to match.

Then new council rules, parking meters and hoards of young international tourists.

Locals were resisting a McDonald’s coming to town at one stage.

Probably about the time The Beach Hotel was constructed the big changes began in the late 1980′s.  (Similar change occurred simultaneously at Cairns in North Queensland).

Sydney city changed with the 2000 Olympics.  Prices went up 20% everywhere – and remained there.

The girl shown with an ice cream (in the old main street of Byron Bay) is Delvene Delaney,  a former TV model-actor.  Her husband co-produced three internationally successful Crocodile Dundee movies and directed the worst two of them.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2010/02/27/2003466768

Bob Beale of Byron Bay says:

Yes, the iron hand of Environmental Management protects the East Cape of the Australian Mainland, ‘they may crap on the town itself but not on my patch, no prisoners’. Hell mate, i knew i was known in Byron, Big at Bangalow an icon at Ocean Shores but, Terrible in Taipei when will it end. Its still just me mate, Father of the six, Grandfather of the nine, Mate of many, guzzler of the V.B. and as some call me “The Keeper of the Cape”. Must chat with you in person soon mate, got some good tales to tell.
Cheers Bob


Delicious dish

Delicious dish

 

 

 

Fantastic combination - cooked to perfection, very friendly staff.

Fantastic combination – cooked to perfection, very friendly staff.

 

In Australia I have been a free diver for almost fifty years.  In the early days we caught many rock lobster called crayfish in those times.  Australian lobster do not have the pincer nippers. Only the Atlantic Ocean lobster have these.

Tai Spring Cuisine have two restaurants.  The new site is very close to a Carrefour department store.  The chefs are experts with seafood – the best I have experienced in Taiwan.

The suggestion was to have the live lobster from the fish tank out front cooked with XO sauce.  A second version with miso soup.  A perfect suggestion.  The soup was magnificent.

Atlantic lobster compared with the Australian rock lobster?

Australia has a large coastline with several varieties of rock lobster.  The best is also the rarest,   a smooth shelled Green Rock Lobster found along the New South Wales coastline.

Live or cooked $55 to $107 per kilo (at my local fisherman’s wharf co-op).  The price varies with supply.  City prices even higher.

This lobster is  fine eating but rarely found in restaurants . They mostly have the more plentiful cooked and  frozen spiny lobster from Western Australia.

An exceptional restaurant is the famous Doyle’s at Watson’s Bay, Sydney Harbour.

Doyle’s has Portuguese and Chinese chef’s when I sampled their green rock lobster.  Cooked to perfection by true experts, and with high international city prices.

In Taiwan we found the juicy meat in Atlantic lobster to be a memorable first experience treat.

The nipper of an Australian mud crab is superior to that of an Atlantic lobster.  But eating them can be a health hazard due to polluted coastal estuaries these days.

If a mud crab nipper was ten points (out of a possible ten points) then I’d give the Atlantic lobster seven points.

Australian lobster are usually eaten cold after being boiled.  Live mud crabs are more commonly seen in Asian supermarkets and restaurants in Australia.

Lobster or crab are both good and if you are lucky to be able to sample any of them – then enjoy.

map

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Volunteer 228 Museum guide, Mr Vincent Lin has a proud association with Taiwan.

His ancestor’s formed the popular Estate known today as the Lin Family Mansion and Garden (near Fuzhong MRT station).

In 1945 Vincent’s grandfather did 22 months in jail, at the end of WWII while seeking a new government for Taiwan – following the Japanese surrender.

It was a fortunate piece of mis-fortune as it turned out to be ‘protective custody’.   Outside the 228 massacre  would soon begin.

The story which triggered those atrocities remained secret or taboo for decades

The 228 Museum was established as a cathartic outlet to balance  anger of many elder Taiwanese.

NOTE: On April 1st 2010 the museum will close for an expected eight months of information updates and renovations.

ROAD TO DEMOCRACY

The young man, a magazine editor, today has a separate museum dedicated to his efforts and  memory following his suicide with petrol in his office as police stormed to make an arrest.  (He had vowed never to return to prison).

The beautiful girl – who was she?  Answer: Ms Wang who later became successful in politics.

228 represents February 28, 1947 – the date now etched into Taiwan’s modern history.

Museum 228 location:  Use exit 1 at National Taiwan University Hospital MRT station.  South West corner of the park.

AT the museum I learned: Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese all had a crack at establishing Taiwan as one of their colonies.  (Formosa being a Portuguese word).  China ruled the best they could between 1683 and 1895 then lost the island to Japan which then made the most significant improvements during the next fifty years, as they planned their conquest of the Pacific.  Taiwan was their showpiece colony.

TAIWAN IN WWII

Note the amputees

Aircraft may be an American DC3;  Japanese naval flag WWII



Established in 1950 KaoChi is a Shanghai-ese style Dum Sum restaurant.

Everything is first class.  Constant attention from the waiter with hot tea, food presented as an art form with carved vegetables resembling flowers.

Spotless rest room (always a method of judging quality).

One dish we sampled was “Drunken Chicken” which is apparently chicken cooked to a tender texture in wine!    The dum sums were first class of course.

Chicken soup was clear and tasty with large chunks of tender chicken on the bone.  Maybe the best chicken soup ever for me.

Located  on a corner just off  Sec 2, XinYi Road   phone 2341 9971

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After a week of drizzle and temperatures around 12 degrees most of the time, the sun came out today – Sunday morning.  Danshui was going to be popular.

(For a Taiwanese arriving in Australia, especially at Brisbane, they would excused for thinking the city was a ghost town – certainly as compared with the numbers today at Danshui, Australia is mostly very uncrowded – and boring).

The seafood (below)

Small white fish are similar to Australian Whitebait.  The local variety had been boiled.  Quite nice – would be best on a sandwich.

The tiny crabs had been halved then washed clean.    Later, deep fried with garlic, chili and other spices plus whole prawns.

The prawns were a variety we call Coral prawns.  Large heads.  Quite nice cooked this way.  A small bucket for NT $100   The prawn heads could be eaten too, I guess, but I didn’t go that far.  A clever use of small-sized seafood.

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AT the current exchange rates canned abalone is affordable – just.  The Australian version is cheaper but the best which comes from California-Mexico, is aptly named Calmex.  (NT $2250)

Most can colors seem similar to the Calmex colors.

Much cheaper Chilian Locos (which is not an real abalone) have similar can colors.

Labels are printed onto the metal to prevent label switching.

Australian abalone divers, if they own the valuable license should net about half a million dollars per year.

Each shellfish is worth about US $50   (When the above good catch was made they were considerably cheaper)!

It’s not easy times for east coast Australian abalone divers.  A shellfish disease is killing the abalone by the ton.

Many regions are closed – a big worry for any divers who have borrowed heavily to buy a $5 to $7 million license. (The value varies).

The disease is not in Tasmania – that little island down south of the continent that is twice the size of Taiwan.

Divers believe imported food (for an abalone fish farm) triggered the problem when bacteria escaped some years ago.

A consortium of pro divers are to sue the state government  fisheries agencies for alleged negligence.

These wealthy divers suddenly have heaps of problems – both in the sea and on land.  The ‘dream run’  began about 1964, tapered off and became lucrative from about 1970.

Spotted this number while on my way to see Denzel Washington in The Book of Eli.

The movie was good. 7.5 stars out of ten from me.  It does not open in Australia for another eight weeks.  Some good music (drums) and a Bee Gee’s song featured.   The movie might be described as an early-Tarantino  violence meets Mad Max in a Future Western, post Apocalypse World run by bikies.  The color throughout is a type of sepia and suits the mood well.

How well it will rate with the Buddhists is another thing, with it’s quasi-religious theme throughout.

Re the above picture

Australian friends are often interested in latest clothes from Taiwan.  Everything in Australia seems to be from PRC these days.   We have a blonde  friend with a trim figure to suit Taiwan-style fashion clothes.  She would be stunning in this outfit.  The red belt and silver studs were the eye-catchers.   I did not notice the price.

The Taipei Bridge (top) near Dihua Street is a gigantic lump of concrete until you compare it with the bridge at Xindian’s Green Lake Scenic Area, (below).

Both built strong to withstand earthquakes and other matters.  The bridge at Green lake is actually twin bridges, a very clever design when you think about it.

The motel is further up the hill.  A love ‘heart’ neon sign is unknown on Australian motels.  The suspension bridge is known by locals as The Red Bridge.

TREAT FOR THE FEET

Lions International club seem to have sponsored some of these foot massaging pavements in many of the parks of Taipei.

What a great piece of proof that there exists a health connection between our feet and various organs of the human body.

In Australia, many people would still regard this ‘connection’ as quasi-witchcraft.

If constructed in Australian parks, kids would probably smash bottles on the river stones or do their best the ruin them.  Why?

Australia and New Zealand are still ‘frontier countries’ with many experiences ahead before senseless actions decrease.

Compulsory service in the military for 20 year-olds would change attitudes, although when we were  aged twenty we were not keen on the idea as it meant a guaranteed holiday in South Vietnam.

There is no compulsory military service in Australia.

A Labor government abolished it and withdrew troops from Vietnam when elected in 1973, plus many other good things now almost forgotten.

One of the coolest cinema’s left in the world?

The next best-looking one that I’ve seen is in North Queensland, Australia.  Independent cinema’s are slowly closing-down everywhere – although Avatar will give existing one’s some hope.

The Summergarden at Bowen, Queensland has visual charm.  The theatre also has the distinction of Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman being recent patrons.  (The  dud movie Australia was filmed locally).

Outside are coconut and mango tree’s.  Bowen is a hot, dry tiny city with the best mango varieties growing wild and in the many orchards surrounding the town.

During  the Australian winter (June-August)  the town is full of young European farm workers on their working holiday, picking tomatoes and capsicum mainly.

Mangoes ripen in December.

Meanwhile here is a test video of Jiantan at 6pm last Saturday night, before it rained and sent everyone for cover.  Copy and paste into your browser.  It should work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcxhyRjUpfs

(older view)

Movie poster on display at Xin Bietou