Tag: Asus

  • Shrimp Fishing

    One activity that is truly Taiwanese is to go shrimp fishing. A swimming pool area is reserved for the wee crustaceans and we fire at them with bits of liver and smaller shrimp babies on the end of rods. Now, these babies really are quite a bit bigger than you may expect… and in fact are the largest shrimp (and most aggressive) I have ever come across. Not quite lobster sized… but big enough to hurt when they grab you, and grab they do, as you pull the hook out of their little mouths. Here is the pool… “come in – the water’s lovely!”

    Here is the lineup of the team at work (we had a whole pool booked for our pleasure)

    Michael hard at work drinking:

    The lovely, appetising bait:

    Rod’s eye view of proceedings (plus Lorenzo in the background):

    FOOD

  • Bob Su’s Masterclass

    Bob Su, provider of Pro Engineer confusion… and the team who were at the learning centre at the same time. From the left… Bady, Diego, Michael, Anke, MR. BOB SU, Shiao Chris, SanD, Cesare, Da Chris, me! Bob Su’s level of English was incredible – 4 days of pain from laughing at this guy. I felt guilty…. okay another lie.

  • Bowling

    Bowling here was like something out of King Pin or the Big Lebowski. Crazy music, poor skills and lots of beer. And here it is… presenting the future… the Brunswick 2000 bowling machine. “My brain is the size of a planet”

    Bowling in Ziantan:

  • Night Time

    Walking home from the office over the bridge next to my hotel… thought I would take the old classic traffic shots…

    And this is where I work… although we plan to move to a renovated old building in the near future.

  • First Day

    Made it! And how.

    So, left Joanne to a few hours of contemplation in Heathrow, drinking tea and reading the paper. I arrived with about 4 hours to kill which was okay but not ideal. I was on my way. Which makes me think of being at home and having that knot in my stomach and diving off into the unknown.

    The trip to Frankfurt was fairly uneventful and met a guy selling ‘adult’ energy drinks on the plane, which was quite amusing – remember the shot of the plane in full reflection though – that was preety cool. The connection was a bit late which meant I got onto the next plane with not much time left. Note to self: Lufthansa airlines are not generous with movies and snacks! 5 Euros for a face mask! Fell asleep through breakfast. Damn.

    Final hop to Taiwan was okay. Clear run, and cannot believe I am in the south China seas. What?! Except I fell asleep on the landing and missed the descent. Oh well. Smooth customs and got picked up by a guy who took me to the hotel – no problems, and the first song was ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ on the radio by Sinead O’Connor. Should have maybe taken a rest, but hell, went out with my colleague Fukan and looked at a couple of apartments. Not bad, a really nice community and an interesting trip, but sounds like the location is a bit out of the way. It is worth taking some more time to look for the one I want. Go to Shilin ish area tomorrow and check out down town.

    So anyway, went to the company and met the team. Wow. Seems like a good operation and a good office to be a member of. Looking forward to move to new custom office, as it could be pretty special. If I am floating around maybe I will get fully involved? Was not long until I had dinner and I have to say it was very good. Appreciating being a member of a german/taiwan team – the first non-german speaking foreigner! Random! Give myself some time and I think I will get into this.

    So this day that is so organised continues and after checking my e-mails we head to a house party to met the folks. Man. Different style eh. House parties in Berlin are exactly the same as the UK. This is not. Some nice chats with the boys and learning mandarin tomorrow will be cool in a cafe somewhere.

    So I am left here – in my hotel room – typing this and am all rather surprised I am winging it in Taipei. Alan Wicker except I am in the show. This place is mad. Mexico on Acid.