I just had the best salad i have eaten in about 2 years. I was laughing it tasted so good.
I hate myself for it, but I even took a photo.
Now it’s time to read again for the next few hours.
Salad – the food of Kings
Author: Jonathan Biddle
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Salad
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Beached
And so it begins.
Wake up, walk to the cafe, eat, read, have a beer, read, sun bathe, snack, read, walk to a different position, read, have a beer, return to your room, shower, go out, have a beer, read, eat, have a beer, read, study some chinese, read, have a beer, walk up and down the beach, have a beer, return to room, read, sleep.
Repeat.
It’s a tough life
The view up…
Macro beach – the softest sand I have ever squeezed between my tootsies
Paying people to carry me around the island – “harder!”
The English Patient
Evening entertainment
Leaving on the trike – ‘God Speed!’ (I always wondered if that was an actual speed … “Light Speed…. Warp Speed… no…. GOD SPEED!”) -
Manila
I arrived yesterday in Manila – capital of the Philippines. It has a pretty shaky reputation as a city, and these fears were well-founded, with endless rows of homeless people scavenging away an existence, laptop dancing bars and smog generating buses.
However, perhaps as a result of its Spanish colonisation days, and certainly because of my time spent in the Americas with fond memories, it really reminded me Mexico and Guatemala. I was certainly a project for local taxi drivers to rip off, call girls to attract and I spent much of the time dancing from kerb to street – avoiding said girls, their horrifically aged and overweight Western partners or jumping out of the way of the Jeepneys (Asian version of Guatemalan Chicken Buses, based on old G.I. issued Jeeps).
But through all this, the place has a real robust charm. The colonial heart of the city is attractive(I especially appreciated the golf course outside the city walls, which is probably the only reason it is not shanty town or hotel complex), the people are friendly and inquisitive and the place has the makings of becoming successful, though I assume corruption will keep any real progress at bay for some time to come.
And now? I am sitting on a beach on Boracay. I have a broken wrist, so I can’t dive, eat properly, or do any other activities of any excitement. But this is perhaps just what I need. I have a pile of books to worm through, and there are plenty of interesting looking people walking by as I nosh on a rather good Greek Salad. 9 days of doing nowt. Could be the first and last time in a while!
Colonial relics – the rather handsome centre to the city called ‘Intramuros’
The historic city walls / local golf course – I am not sure the Kind of Spain had this in mind -
Broken Wrist
Jonny had a crash. Wrist broken. Rather sad, since I am supposed to be diving next week, and my new bike arrives this Thursday.
And sitting in the hospital yesterday, I really felt a long way from home!
🙁
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Grafitti in Taipei
For me, Grafitti is not simply defacement of public property, but an intrisic part of urban culture – a reflection of the city, and a barometer for its political climate, sense of humour, tolerance and a thousand other things that people feel the need to express when paint hits wall.
One of the things that I miss in Taipei is having this barometer. The kids simply do not seem to want to express themselves in the ways I am used to. However, it seems the times they are a-changing, and quality artwork is appearing on the streets. Moreover, it seems to have a style not completely borrowed from New York, London, Berlin or Melbourne – and is developing in a subtly Asian way.
The highest quality work has been, without a doubt, the stencil work. Though not up to the standards of Banksy, it is pleasant, and infinitely preferable to visual pollution in the form of adverts, neon and the further commercial hijacking of our environment.
Tree frogs appearing to brighten up the concrete
Rather nice flowers – definitely asian style.Also, one of the things I really love, is the municipal stencil work – I just spent a few minutes looking for some photos – but these will have to wait for next time.
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Ups & Downs
Certainly, one of the disadvantages of living an ‘international lifestyle’ is that the very freedoms that you arrived to seek are the ones that bite you in the ass. I have been here for getting on for two and half years – which is scary, just to write – and have made some incredible friends from all over the world. This is quite an achievement, I think, and something I am quite proud of.
However, the aloofness we grant ourselves does mean that at regular intervals, friends do leave. Sadly for me, a series of good friends have left in quick succession, leaving me sitting here in PS rather at a loss on this Saturday night. It’s a pooey feeling.
The flip side, of course, can be found in my blog posts from Australia, Hong Kong and Japan, where I find myself eating and drinking with people that I can really count as friends (or sisters!) in these amazing locations. And I can’t be too sad – here I am sitting drinking a beer, I recognise all the staff and know them by name, and one of the girls just put on a CD she likes – a compilation of songs I burnt for the Cafe.
And hell. Next week I am in the Philippines. Blah!
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2056 – Supermemo
Yesterday, I passed rather a milestone – I have now learnt more than 2000 characters!
I have not spoken a great deal about my learning Chinese, except for the occasional moments of frustration or amusing anecdotes. But, it does consume an enormous part of my free time here in Taiwan.
Six hours tutoring after work each work – strategically placed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 7 to 9 o’clock – plus about four hours again at the weekend, have slowly but surely raised my Chinese skills to a level at which I could perhaps compete with a five year old. A very stupid five year old.
I have been here for more than two years now and I can conclusivly say that learning Chinese has been the most difficult thing I have ever done. It is ridiculous. And I am positive that if if you were designing a language system, this would absolutely not be the way to do it. And yet… billions do. Amazing.
The other weapon / toy in my armoury is my trusty Palm. I went for 18 months with my old Sony Clie, and recently upgraded to a much cooler Tungsten T3 – with Bluetooth and higher resolution. On this is a piece of software called Supermemo, and into this I place all my vocabulary, including that from the text books. It gives me daily tests and turns the tedious process of learning thousands of characters into something more akin to a computer game, its algorithm intelligently learning which characters I am good (or more likely bad) at. Some relentlessly return every day, and will be tested again in over two years time!
So, every day over breakfast I am doing flashcards as I eat. Usually, I will have about 70 cards in total, but from the first book (about 950 words) I now get tested on about 10 per day – pretty cool. Furthermore, I have added almost 500 of my own characters – mainly related to work, design … bike, babes and beer.
Palm T3
The geek factor – but we all know how much we love stats in sports. Same here.
An example flash card, showing the answer. -
Taking the Dog for a Walk
No comment needed. Just a couple of inane photos from Taipei this weekend.
“Rock is never die” – Paul’s awesome t-shirt
Spotted near ShiDa University – taking the dog for a walk -
Construction Signs
There are many things that mark one culture from another, but it is often in the small details that some of the most striking differences occur. Take construction site signs in Taiwan – cute, friendly and certainly with a heavy Japanese influence – a stark contrast to the clear, informative and authoritorian signs back in the West.
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This is Broken
This is Broken have posted an entry from me! – the sign I took earlier this year while having dinner with Danny and Rich.
My Louis Vuitton Dental Clinic post link.
Still rockin
