One of my earliest memories of encountering Taiwan’s farm equipment was one day riding up a bit of a long stretch of mountain. With the sun shining down, the pace steady but slow and nothing around me but the gentle breeze of the wind I was in cycling heaven. About halfway up the slope though [...]

When you arrive in Taiwan one of the first thing you’ll notice as you leave the airport is that there’s three things in absolute abundance in Taiwan. 7-11′s, neon covered betel nut stands and hundreds and hundreds of KTV venues. Traditionally I’ve known the concept of KTV as the much more familiar karaoke that we [...]

I, like most Australians I imagine, had no idea who Mark McInnes was until earlier this year when he was named at the centre of a sexual harassment scandal and resigned from his position. Of course the details of how his name was leaked before any legal action or the plaintiff was named are long [...]

By now you should be reasonably confident in balancing on your bike as well as operating the pedalling mechanism. Being able to make your bike go and stay on it though is only two thirds of the triangle of essential skills you need to ride a bike. The third of course is turning. Turning a [...]

Ever since arriving in Taiwan it feels like I’ve started a journey of cultural awareness with no end in sight. One of the more particularly well known cultural customs of Chinese and Taiwanese people is that of burning money. I first came across this practice outside storefronts lining the streets of Taichung (Taiwan’s third largest [...]

I’ve never ridden a scooter (or motorcycle) full time before so I’m slowly learning the ins and outs of basic maintenance and repair for a motorized two wheeler. One of the things I’ve been dreading is a punctured tire. With no room to carry a spare and not much idea on how to remove either [...]

Simply put, Melbourne hasn’t had a decent run with landmarks for the better part of a decade. Federation Square is a jumbled mess of architectural vomit, nobody visits the docklands, the Southern Star Oberservation Wheel was a colossal failure and that giant space near the Yarra river, Birradungarunga-something-ma is nothing to write home about. Our [...]

It was the tail end of Chinese New Year and we’d gone to visit the parents of one of our students. Towards the end of the day we headed out across some fields to have a look at a nearby fishpond. As we got to the end of the streets in the nearby area where [...]

Movies and television have a lot to answer for when it comes to the public perception of prison. HBO’s prison drama ‘Oz’ alone has etched several unforgettable storylines leaving me quite happy to not ever see the inside of a cell. With that in mind for those going in for the first time, these public [...]

Over the past few years I’ve become increasingly annoyed after reading story after story of Australia’s judges letting criminals off the hook. Despite serious crimes being committed and often the fact that it’s a reoffense, case after case is simply dismissed with suspended sentences or supervision orders. Thankfully however there appears to be at least [...]