Back in old Kaohsiung again

Train trip back from Hualien was good in that it provided a pretty good glimpse of a lot of countryside on that side of the island. Mountains on one side and sea on the other with rice fields and villages and other fields squeezed in between. Saw my first few cows and goats in paddocks. That side of the island is a bit like the Great Ocean Road.

Signed a petition for World Peace at Taitung rail station one a short break while changing trains. [I know you will laugh at me signing a pettiton especially for world peace but I was relaxed and on holiday mood - caught in a vunerable moment - plus I fugured no one I know would see me in front of a petition for world peace at the rail station in Taitung ] Lady with petition had been to Sydney for Olympic games as a dancer with Taiwan team ( I think).

Went around Kaohsiung on back of scooter today. We managed to avoid getting squished by a bus or a HUGE HINO truck. Casey is good at going for miles down shortcuts - mainly the wrong way down one way streets. Some of the one way streets had more scooters going the wrong way than taxis and cars going the right way.

We went to lunch with casey's mother at a fanatastic restaurant in Fanshong. Its on a train theme and is done up like an old train station with lots of trianspotters nostalgia and sort of a mini train / rail museum - completes with music of the era [which is a combination of Taiwanese singing a style of USA crooner and pop and big band style stuff] - sounded great. It was all very well done and the food was delightful - possibly the best yet although thats a hard call.

There seems to be a bit of a nostalgia push on here at the moment - anything 50's goes down well with the older people [ like me] and a retro style is popular with the younger hip set.

The railways had re-introduced the old style lunch boxes to recapture the positve feelings people had about it. Very good food it is too. A chain of 7 - 11 type stores have also introduced the old style food lunch train box as well.
New shops opening up with a 50s theme on clothes and the hottest thing is to own an old retro Italian scooter. Caseys friend Jewel today had a bright red retro original Vespa - very high status!

I think Bridget and Casey want to go out to the films tonight and see The Passion of Christ. I'm a bit worried the film is spoken in Aramic (?) and the subtitles will be in Chinese characters - still it will be a visual experience I guess.