Jonathan Biddle – Made in Taiwan

Month: May 2007

  • Raw Thursdays

    Thursdays has become a regular eating session amongst my friends and I. In tribute to Nick’s very particular stomaxh problem, where he cannot eat cooked food, we have labelled these weekly feasts ‘Raw Thursdays’. Just a bunch of guys eating raw food, basically.

    It’s quite interesting and a challenge to find food that Nick can partake in. Sashimi figures highly in our menu, and this week we headed to one of my favourite little laneside eateries near 101. Excellent ambience at night time, topped off as it is by 101 poking up at the end of the street.

    Sadly, the raw food extended into a raw head the next morning, the result of rather too much sake. But that’s just a demonstration of the lengths we go to to appease Nick’s belly.


    Toby dishes out the goods


    Nick sheds some light on the subject


    Okay, stop now


    Lane 101

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • 300 Posts – Beipu and Hsinchu

    300 posts! – that makes almost 100 posts on the dot per year, which is quite good, I think!

    Speaking of which…

    Jade and I went for a quick day trip to get out of Taipei, and with no particular direction in mind we headed towards Beipu, near Hsinchu. I was semi-expecting another Taiwanese tourist honeypot, but I was pleasantly surprised by some frankly excellent food and charming pre-Japanese architecture. I didn’t even mind the drizzle – it cooled the place down (apparently we hit 37 degrees C last week, which is insane) and dispersed the hungry tourists.


    At the bus stop in one of the local towns


    Take a seat


    I am forever charmed by the little logos and emblems of Taiwanese municipal services – here’s the Hsinchu bus service


    Positive Thinking – An old guy checks the scene in Beipu


    Windows


    Shutters on a garage


    A water well – ‘shui jing’ – with the symbol for water above and well below

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Three Years in Taiwan

    Tomorrow is my third year anniversary in Taiwan, which is simply insane. Three years!

    One year was ‘experience’, two years was ‘proving a point’… but what does three mean? Maybe I am just a glutton for punishment.

    Still, coming to this stage, it does allow me to pause and reflect on what I have achieved and what is possible in the future. I have certainly seen and done some pretty amazing things. Just looking at my first blog posting from the first day fills me with a feeling of vertigo.

    I think I need a beer.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Scooter Justice

    Rich is back in town, and he has not ridden a scooter since December. It is such a fantastic reminder of just how much fun piloting these things is – especially when the daily routine of getting to work in the rain takes its toll.

    A great weekend was certainly had by all – road trip, big night out and long exhaustive conversations well into the night with earth-shakingly important conclusions – if you could just rememember what the question was.


    Steve at speed


    Top Gun

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Rich – The Return

    It’s old news, but the flip side to this international lifestyle or galavanting off to Korea and Japan for the weekend is that friends tend to do the same and galavant off for good. I have had several close friends do this, but when Rich left at Christmas it really left rather a big hole.

    It was with this in mind that I was particularly looking forward to him coming back to wrap up his life before heading off for pastures bright and shiny. I took the day off on Friday and we planned (well, I say, plan – it mostly involved just waking up) and rode off around the north of the island and chilling at the beach, shooting several months of breeze that had been lacking.


    At the peak of Yangming Shan


    Camera around my neck… and on timer for some fun results


    Sign of the times


    An amazing hour spent on the beach trapped between the mountains, the Pacific Ocean and a sunset to melt any ice cap


    The boys are back in town


    Speed demon


    Helmet cam


    Look ma’ no hands! – riding into the sunset

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Last.fm

    I am playing with quite a few Web 2.0 thingies at the moment. Last.fm is a British-based community audio site. It automatically uploads your tracks, decides your listening habits and makes recommendations based on that data. It is still early days, but I keep finding myself skipping tracks I don’t want people to ‘hear’!

    You can find my profile here: Jonathan Biddle’s Last.fm profile


    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Taiwanese Health & Safety

    Coming home from a blast on the bikes, I needed to pop into Sean’s bike shop after shredding another rear tyre. I am, indeed, that extreme.

    Sean’s, apparently, does the best business in Taipei. As such, he is having a nice refit with a shiny new frontage. Many of the workers in Taiwan don’t stop for Sunday, so it was no surprise to see them hard at work. What was surprising was to see them drilling through a water pipe several times, and then leave the drill perilously close to the stream of water.

    A danger to passers by and to any potential user of the drill, all anyone could do was laugh an embarrassed guffaw when i started snapping away with my camera-phone.


    You are now entering a work area

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…