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 [...]
Archive for February 2010
BYRON BAY – AUSTRALIA Leave a comment
ATLANTIC LOBSTER COOKED TWO WAYS Leave a comment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es5_j5SE_PE In Australia I have been a free diver for almost fifty years. In the early days we caught many rock lobster which were 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 location is very close [...]
TAIPEI 228 MEMORIAL MUSEUM Leave a comment
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 [...]
GUTS WITH SPICY SAUCE $320 (New Taiwan Dollars) Leave a comment
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 [...]
DANSHUI (TAMSHUI) ON A SUNNY SUNDAY Leave a comment
(click to make larger) 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 [...]
AUSTRALIAN ABALONE IN TAIWAN 1 comment
(click for larger size) 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. [...]
ONE FOR THE LADIES – PLUS MOVIE REVIEW Leave a comment
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 [...]
CONCRETE BRIDGE GIANTS Leave a comment
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 [...]
TREAT FOR THE FEET Leave a comment
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 [...]
NIGHT MARKET AREA – JIANTAN CINEMA Leave a comment
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 [...]
