While eating dinner at the local street-side live shrimp vendor next to the brothel and gangster hang out, we went to grab some drinks at the local 7-11 … all I can say, kids, is don’t try this at home. Sweet beer-flavoured tea is positively disgusting.
Beer Flavor Green Tea – Avoid!
I had a day wandering the streets in the rain last weekend, and it was well worth checking out some of the nooks and crannies of Taipei that I have not returned to in a while. It has been seriously pissing it down for months now (without much exaggeration) with a seemingly daily shower timed to coincide with leaving the office. Its really getting a bit boring and predictable!
Orange Adidas hit the MRT escalator
A taxi lies in wait
Wandering off to Guanghua Arts District to check out one of the graduation shows.
Zhongshan / Zhongxiao intersection while waiting for the lights to change.
It has been a little while I posted anything outside of the Taipei Times, so that must mean that it must be time for … Gratuitous funny packaging shot!
This is for Taiwanese brand ‘Boring Pie’ spicy rice crackers, which was hilariously funny, right up until someone pointed out the Chinese name ‘無聊派’ means the same thing! Hilarity ensued.
“Digging into boring pie
Getting out of boring time”
The Taiwanese do see eating more as entertainment, and with packaging like this, who can blame them?!
Boring Pie
Please whoever checks English – never ever check this packaging.
So, this is where I work – in the Dell “Experience Design Group” (the ID Team) – in the Taiwan Design Centre (the building that also includes the engineers).
Our offices were featured on the Chinese-language pages of Engadget, so for those that are interested to see what our place looks like (admittedly, before anyone arrived, so it looks eerily clean at the moment) do take a gander.
Surprisingly, it has now been five full weeks since I began work there, which is pretty amazing. It’s been a roller-coaster so far (what experience in Taiwan isn’t?) but I am really learning a huge amount, and the team is pretty ace. Members from Australia, USA, Japan, India, China, Taiwan and of course the UK – pretty good!
Oh my god. Is this the future? This makes me feel sad.
Soon, everyone will have an MBA
Time to take some pictures of reflections to cheer myself up!
Taipei Times – Chinese Learning Technology
It’s two in two weeks, as I am introducing the mobile section of my Chinese language review series.
I do aim to catch up with developments in my new job but I have barely had a moment to think thus far – it is making DEM seem like a holiday, so far. Enjoy.
Taipei Times – Chinese Learning Technology
It’s been a wee while, but I am back on the writing bandwagon after a ‘sabbatical’ – or rather, a break while I got my head around changing jobs and going on holiday.
But here it is – and this is something I want to make regular – a focus on learning Chinese technology for those of us not blessed by having Chinese parents.
Tune in next week for mobile products!
View Larger Map (me playing with maps as a header – how would it look at the top of the page, I wonder?)
It’s a few weeks late, I know, but I thought I would never the less get down to writing a few words about Bali in Indonesia.
This was the holiday that was in my targets for a very long time, and nothing was going to stop me going over there and maximising on my first two week holiday (outside of the UK) in a long time. All in all, it totally exceeded my expectations – I expected a Thao-style holiday island, but it blew me away with its multi-layered culture and religion, soaring mountain peaks, perfect waves and fantastic, fantastic food.
Villa Klarissa, where I was able to splish into the pool as soon as I woke up. Yum!
My sunset account is certainly in the red
I packed my bike, flip flops and a couple of books, and let the rest look after itself. Fortunately, I was lucky enough that Rich from Taiwan moved there six months ago or so, so I was exceedingly well set up with awesome places to stay and a group of people to guide me around the back lanes – of which there were many.
The highlight of the fortnight with Rich was stepping out for a three-day road trip around the volcanoes and lakes of the island – really very special. And this is where I turned 29 years old – staying by a lake in the centre of a volcano.
Chips
Chips (at 2000m wrapped up a bit warmer)
Refuelling … chip oil?
The island of Bali is a lush paradise. The abundance of rich, arable soil and temperate climate creates an economy that can afford to support a lavish offshoot of Hinduism, which effectively every house on the island integrates a temple. The local ‘Animism’ worships every object, so there were some pretty esoteric places of worship – I even heard of places to respect the gods of television, though this may be purely anecdotal. None the less, climbing up into the clouds, I was never anything less than impressed by the amount of effort put into their built environment.
When stepping into the foreigner-dominated areas to the south, this care and attention on the one hand is lost, but on the other hand there is the ‘Bali Style’ architecture found in the villas, hotels and restaurants that are mimicked around the world.
One of the many gods.
… and one of the many, many temples.
Rich looking cheeky.
One of the members of the local Bintang population that we did a fairly good job of trying to eradicate.
Sunrise over the lake… and I need to clean my lens.
Photo of a volcano, in lake, in a volcano. This is cool.
SLIGHT ADVENTURE – that’s exactly what I got!
Four years in Taiwan … boy how time flies when you are having fun (mostly).
People often ask me ‘why did I come to Taiwan?’ and it is a pretty good question. A yearning to see the world? Seeking a full pay backpacking adventure perhaps. Heading for the biggest Time magazine trend of the century in Asia and China – almost certainly.
It certainly seems to be working out pretty well so far, despite my frustrations and occasional bouts of uncertainty. I arrived not knowing if I could even stick it as a designer with a capital ‘D’, and I am now Industrial Design manager at Dell … and hell, I was running the design team of the highest-profile bureau on the island. My Chinese, although stuttery, is still improving, and I am living in the hottest street in Taipei. That’s … pretty good, yeah?
But still … I am camping just the same as at university (okay okay, I have a nicer bike and computer now) and I am not that settled yet. But perhaps I haven’t been since the day I left for Glasgow in 1998 (was that really ten years ago?). Wow. Is that a long time or just a drop in the pan? Am I ahead or behind? Or should I stop struggling and just enjoy it a bit more?
The new job is making me feel pretty good about things. I am cycling to work each day and getting into the hills most weekends. Cooking more and more. Enjoying some of the good things. Still single – and that is grating, I do have to admit. 29 eh, old boy? Its been a roller-coaster nine years since the front number ticked around in Glasgow, but hey – wow.
And my Sis? Getting married this year! Puts things in perspective.
I love Taipei.
All the building developments in the city have an enormous amount of money thrown at marketing and branding, usually ending up gleefully making impossible promises about the life-changing factors that come along with purchase of your, as an example, ‘Noble City Castle’.
However, there are times when the English checking team clearly left early for the day, and you end up with such incredible names as this – opposite the Siemens / Nokia building on MinSheng and Fuxing – it must have made their day.
Town in Town = TiT
And seen in context … of one of the busiest intersections of the city.