The only thing to fear….are skis, naturally.
I’d like to think that I’m not a fearful person, that I’m brave and bold and up for anything. Sure there are certain things that I won’t do: like bungee jump, or go on a rollercoaster, or be sans seatbelt in a taxi in Taiwan. It’s not that I’m a wuss, but more that I [...]
Driving 101
If you’ve ever found yourself out and about screaming indecipherable obscenities at passing vehicles or whimpering in a side street after your daily near death experience, then relax. Take a deep breath. While being a motorist in Taiwan can sometimes be a baffling, frustrating, terrifying and illogical experience, there are some tips to make life [...]
Fantasies of Bowie’s crotch
Escapism. Its all something we crave sometimes. To leave our troubles and worries in a far-flung corner of our mind and enter another world. Perhaps if I had the choice, and the bank balance, I would choose to escape to remote locations around the world, battle with mosquitoes, or the native tongue, or unpronounceable food. [...]
I’m no female McGyver…but would you like some lip balm?
Give me a once over and tomboy is never the first word that comes to mind. Nor am I claiming to be one or saying that I am deeply in touch with my masculine side. Manly I may not be but there are certain feminine traits and ‘womanly’ skills of which I am bereft. I [...]
In the realm of spirits
I once took a road trip in University. Four of us piled into an old car, making our way North. The very North, where the top of the Island reaches the ocean, and the dead go to pass on. I shared the car with Ria, my roommate and best friend. We had shared many late [...]
Things I love, or midnight at Casa Kayt.
So, perhaps unsurprisingly, it isn’t an easy thing to write a blog each day when you have work, and friends birthdays and French food to distract you. French onion soup and blogging don’t mix, its true. But I shall persevere, though today’s blog will be short and sweet. A quick list of the things I [...]
Heima
Space. It’s something that Iceland has in abundance. In a country with only 300, 000 inhabitants and 3 people per square kilometre finding other creative types could be something fo a challenge. Luckily for us the members of Sigur Ros did indeed stumble upon each other on the frozen tundra. After a hectic year of touring abroad the [...]
Sleeping with the past
Of all the senses, smell is supposed to be the one most closely tied to memory. It’s true, I can’t deny the power my olfactory senses have to transport me back in time. To this day a whiff of jasmine is enough to incur a wave of nostalgia for my childhood home, where it grew [...]
A street named desire
It begins with a graveyard. It passes by St Kevin’s Arcade, full of vintage stores and Alleluyah Café and then on towards Family, sporting rainbows and more often than not, a drag queen or two. In an overpass high above the highway students wait for buses as trannies wait for tricks. Sex shops and art [...]
The Wild Hunt
When camping, if your friend, who has just left on a beer run, comes careening back helmetless on his scooter shouting “You have to see this. And bring your cameras!” you know you should listen. So, we grabbed our gear, jumped on our scooters and half slid, half drove down the damp path in his [...]
Running Wild
I grew up in a beach town in New Zealand, a place that most Kiwis would have trouble locating on a map. I had a giant backyard, almost as big as my imagination that filled it. The driveway down to my house was steep and gravely. I wore out the bottoms of my shoes flying [...]
Vote for Me on Waakao.com
Nominations are in for the Best of Taiwan and I’m stoked to be in the running for Best Photographer of 2010. Go to Waakao.com and vote now for the best of Taiwan!
I was a teenage blusher.
Think about certain rites of passage in your teen years and the list can read like a parent’s worst nightmare: Initial drunken escapades with $10 vodka, that leaves you far too familiar with the contours of your toilet; your first hazy inhale of a joint; and the first furtive fumblings with the opposite sex. However [...]
A country for old then.
I still remember my first time. I was a little nervous and afraid but my boyfriend assured me it would be fine. The area had been neglected for a long time and now was the time to discover it. With cameras at the ready we embarked on a journey of exploration. We had to hack [...]
8 hours in Bangkok
Bangkok is a bit like eating your favourite meal in a sauna full of sweaty men: Deliciously uncomfortable, invading all the senses. From the moment you touch down and the sweat starts forming you are assailed from all sides: The air that lays heavy in your mouth as you breathe it in, its scent a [...]
I was a sunrise virgin
We rose at 430am and were on the road by 5am, reaching the entrance some minutes later. Then it was just a breathless 20 minute trek to the summit. Beneath the light of the full moon the beautifully barren, lonely landscape was suffused with its own ethereal, extra terrestrial glow. To the right the path [...]
Yenshui Fong Pow
When I was a kid our local fire brigade would organise a Guy Fawkes night, which almost all of our thousand strong community would attend. A massive bonfire burned all evening, Guy effigies tossed into its hungry flames. Volunteer fire fighters threw lollies to screaming flocks of kids and dozens of sky rockets lit the [...]
A matter of tone
Baa, Paa, Maa, Faa. No, the monosyllabic sentence diet of the English teacher hasn’t rendered me inarticulate, rather, I have begun my foray into the Mandarin language. Three hours a week, hidden away in a small corner of McDonalds that doesn’t bother you for not eating, I tackle the Goliath like tongue of the Taiwanese [...]
Unframed Melody
I’m living in a constant haze. Not the purple one or even that comfortable sort of mid afternoon nap variety. Mine is of the smoggy kind and it permanently sits, like an immovable concrete block in a cloud above Chunghua. It gathers as dust along shelves. It turns anything white into a dull grey. No [...]
Not for the birds…
Now I am not going to lie. I am somewhat of a food obsessive. Whole daydreams can be devoted to delightful details of an upcoming or past dinner. It has been a true friend throughout my life. And yet I am also rather fussy. And a vegequarian (sorry my fishy friends, I have not yet [...]
A Twist of Fate
On 10/10 weekend 2008 I nearly died. True story. Find out how below. The road twisted and turned. Slim, flaky and unreliable it wound its way like a tightly strung yo yo around the mountain. Inside was tense air. Nervous glances to our left confirmed that yes we were still on top of the mountain. [...]
A farewell to food
Back in October 2008 I embarked on my very first cleanse and wrote about the experience. For the last five days I’ve been in a monogamous relationship with tea. I have not looked, have not touched, nay have not even thought (much) about another. It wasn’t easy. It took a lot of convincing. After all [...]
Ghost Month
Originally written in October 2008. Navigating the streets for the past few weeks has been a pungent experience. Smoke is in the air and along every road way, on each intersection, outside shops and homes and down every narrow alley fires burn in small rusted bins. Elderly Taiwanese brave the midday heat and sit in [...]
Lost in the little city
This was written back in September 2009 after I had purchased my very motor vehicle, my beloved scooter. Throwing caution into the wind, my life to the hands of chance, and my body into the fray I have continued down the line of ‘Taiwan’s Rites of Passage You Must Experience’ (official title) and bought a [...]
