2011 HSBC Rugby Charity Dinner

On Friday night Queenie and I had the privilege of attending the annual rugby charity dinner whose guest speaker was none other than dual code (union & league) international rugby player John "Bentos" Bentley who featured on the 1997 Lions tour to South Africa.

Paul, Queenie & John Bentley

The dinner is an annual event now and was first initiated after the Bali Bomb Blasts in 2002. The dinners were aimed at raising funds for the families of members of the Taipei rugby community that were murdered in the bomb blasts and also helps those who suffered injury. The charity has also expanded to assisting a young man that was injured playing rugby here in Taiwan, The Harmony Home Aids Orphanage in Taipei and the development of rugby in Taipei. All worthwhile causes. We went with some of our friends including Andy, his wife Julia, Hector and Mark as well as a bunch of other friends we have got to know over the years watching rugby at the Brass Monkey.

The main speaker at the event was John "Bentos" Bentley. John was a dual-code international playing both Rugby Union and Rugby League at the international level. He was a member of the British & Irish Lions team that toured South Africa in 1997 and beat the Springboks. John was an amazing speaker and entertained the audience for an hour with his jokes and perspectives on rugby. It was truly a pleasure meeting him. I have linked to two videos on the history of the tour below:

Lions Tour 1997 - Part 1:


Lions Tour 1997 - Part 2:

The event was amazing and we had a lot of fun. The best part was catching up with all our friends. Pictures of us and our friends are below.

Queenie and Hector


Andy and Julia


Hector, Mark & Paul


Queenie and Julia


John Bentley & Hector


John Bentley and Hector


Paul and Bernie


Table Center Piece


Hector


All of Us


Some of the Taipei Baboons

Queenie and I had a truly awesome time and we will be sure to attend the event next year. It is for a worthwhile cause. The food was awesome and the speaker was great. We had a truly wonderful time with our friends.

Sunday Morning Brunch

We have moved into a great new apartment at the back of the Taipei Library on Chienkuo South Rd. and we have had the opportunity to share our home with many people. Anyway, before our photowalk yesterday we decided to do a brunch with our friends Ron, Melody, Doug and his son Raymond. It was awesome!

Sunday Morning Brunch

Ok preparing for brunch is always fun! I woke up early to do some shopping and got bacon (five packets!), tomatoes, bread, fruit, milk, onions and mushrooms. Most of the stuff we didn't use. Doug bought some sausages and bagels to the brunch and Ron & Meldoy came with dill and lots of fruit - so we had way too much food. Considering Queenie bought (pineapple & mango) cheese and French bread the day before, we definitely had plenty.

Once the shopping was done it was time to prepare! I first decided to prepare the fruit salad (but nobody wanted it as Ron and Melody bought a lot of fruit with them). The next task was to fry the bacon - easily done under the watchful eye of grand master chef Ron! In the meantime we prepared cucumber and tomatoes, bread and some fresh juice to drink. Once the bacon was done Doug cooked the scrambled eggs (even though he can't eat them). And then it was time to sit down and eat. The brunch was great and the food very delicious!

The Angry (not naked!) Chef

Doug Scrambling the Eggs

I finished cookin the bacon

Once prepared, we all sat around our dining room table and ate food! It was brilliant! We have never hosted a Sunday brunch at home before. Everyone had fun!

Sunday Morning Brunch

Sunday Morning Brunch

Raymond at Brunch

Raymond Still Hungry

Of course, after the brunch we all need to sit down and relax before we went out into the hot sun to take photo's! All in all it was a brilliant day!

Doug Relaxing

Ron texting

We are definitely doing brunch again!

Rugby at the Brass Monkey in Taipei

Springbok Supporters

Well the first game of the Springbok's international was on today. A few of us trooped off to the Taipei Brass Monkey to watch the game. We also ran into some old friends and had a thoroughly good time. We also had some dinner there (the chicken pies are always good) and one or two beers.

The game was a good one. Wales went ahead 16-3 in the first 20 minutes. The boks managed to pull it back and get to 31-19 with 12 minutes to play. The Welsh then ran in a try to push the score to 31-24. The boks managed to put over a penalty to push it up to 34-24 and then a bad mistakes by the Boks allowed the Welsh to run in another try to make it 34-31 with three minutes to go. It was a good game. We are glad the Boks won but kudos to the Welsh for keeping the game alive. Anyway, some of the pictures below of those who pitched up.

Doug and Queenie


Hector, Queenie, Andy and Paul


Doug, Queenie, Paul and Thomas


The Crowd


Queenie and Paul


Paul and Mark


Hector and Andy


Hector


Hector and Queenie


Hector, Queenie, Andy


Mark

We had a great time with everyone. Thanks all for coming out to watch and support the Boks and the Welsh. We had fun. Next week, France! Oh, and by the way, The Brass Monkey is a good place to watch live sports. Two chicken pies and four beers only cost NTD1,038. Not bad for a night out.

Highlights of the game are below. Thanks RugbyDump.

Fion and Edward's Wedding

Fion and Edward

Weddings are always special occasions, especially when it is a special friend getting married. Today we were privileged to attend Fion and Edward's wedding. Fion was Queenie's colleague when she worked at American Express and has continued to be a super supportive friend over the years. Edward and Fion have been dating for a couple of years and today was their big day. It was a wonderful wedding and we are glad the couple could be sent off into married life in such a way. As can be expected, Fion looked stunning on her day and well, lets admit it, Edward didn't look to bad either heh heh heh....

Fion walks in with her Mom.


Fion Thanks her Mom


Us with Fion and Edward


Edward with us before Proceedings


The Happy Couple

We wish them all the best for their future and hope that their future is filled with immense joy and happiness and of course tons of fun.

Our Wish for the Happy Couple

Apart from being able to celebrate with Fion and Edward, Queenie also got the chance to catch up with many of her ex-colleagues from American Express and I got to meet some of them for the first time. Hopefully Queenie can establish more regular contact with them. They are a fun group of people. Some of them have moved on in different directions, and others have stayed at American Express. All in all though, I am sure they are all a little wiser than before.

Queenie at the Wedding


Lawrence and Queenie


Fred, Angela, Ellen, Queenie & Lawrence


Lawrence doing his thing

The wedding it self was held at the Banquet Hall in the Miramar Complex in Neihu. In my estimation its a great venue. Excellent food, easy to get too and good service. it was a good choice of venue for them. When we walked in each table had an elaborate centerpiece which was quickly removed once the food started to arrive. Most of the food was traditional Taiwanese wedding food. Starts off with cold meats (chicken, duck etc.) then chicken soup, shrimps and fish with the black chicken soup too. But this wedding was amazing for the rack of ribs that was served. Anyway, a sampling of the food is below. To be honest, the food was so damn good, I had to stop eating before the end and never got to tast the last couple of dishes as I was so stuffed. Wish I had saved more room for the ribs. It was really yummy.

Beautiful Centerpiece


The Menu


Chicken, Duck and Other Goodies


Chicken Soup


Have no idea!!!


Shrimp


Garlic Bread


Fish


Rack of Pork Ribs


Fish


Squid


Dumplings


Black Chicken Soup


Mwajee

It was a fantastic wedding and we were certainly privileged to attend. Today must be one of the greatest day sof their lives, but we hope and wish that they have even greater days that lie ahead together. Good luck Fion and Edward. Today was the first step in what we know is going to be an amazing journey for you both. God Bless.

More Pictures @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/durbanbay/sets/72157623988641125/