Just wrote this on the chalkboard because we are making plans for a little show in our newly renovated barn.  Until recently it was a falling down building where the only exciting thing (for me) was the rain coming in through the hole in the tin roof! So we got some great builders in to help save it, but instead of opening up immediately as anyone sensible would have done, we went to explore the Far East. I know! but Chris was offered a visiting lecturer post in a uni in Taipei, and me, a lover of travel, went too.  As well as exploring Taiwan's art - and amazing food - scene and their many jungle-clad snake and mosquito ridden mountains, and the tranquil coconut palmed subtropical beach filming locations for The Life of Pi, we also popped across to explore the sacred temples, gardens and hot water springs of Japan (somewhere I've always yearned to go) and the coral seas and tropical islands of The Philippines (imagine giant clams, puffer fish and ...yes, coral! - beautiful hea