Jonathan Biddle – Made in Taiwan

Tag: Friends

  • Pigs Might Hike

    I had a very pleasant walk today with Anke, Lars and Alex (Aussie dude). We planned for a 6K hike, which was slightly waylaid due to ignoring the wrong things in the hiking book, but the result was a splendid wee series of random events that made us all laugh over the Pizza in the evening.

    The star of the show was certainly Ah Fu – the Chinese pig that thought he was a dog. He was the coolest thing to be walking with and much calmer than most dogs, and had the amusing habit of eating the plants as he went his oinking way. A definite hit with the other walkers, a source of total bemusement to the other dogs (“hey, you are supposed to be dinner!”) and was truly full of character.



    Ah Fu investigates



    A loyal pig, it really liked walking between its owner’s legs



    We stumbled across a few amusing things. The Taiwanese are masterful at turning public spaces into community spaces. You can see what I mean here – at a break in the path we found a small medicine cabinet with some supplies in it, and alongside it were tethered 3 pots of various balms and lotions – one of which was Tiger Balm.



    Alex and Anke dig the whiffs

    As a hilarious post-script to the walk, we came up against an army check point, complete with guns, guards and bunkers. We wondered how to get past or around it when the station commander came storming out claiming we were on army property, and ‘what were we doing there?!’ Somehow, we had breached the defences of the back door to the base so we actually came to the gate from the wrong direction … Taiwan eh! We gave the guards a quick nod, but on second glance we could see them laughing as well, in on the joke.



    Special Agent Anke cracks the security at the maximum security check point … with a stick

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Life, Oh Life

    Had a sustained day of drinking with Phil n Graham today in town – it felt great to be with all the guys again and was just what I needed. We did the obligatory curry, pub run and of course ended up in life oh life which was sadly much shitter than usual (yes, even more shit).



    Cambridge, near The Eagle pub and impending hangover



    Myself, Phil, Ewan, Mark and Joanne in formation

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Back Home (in the pub)

    I landed after travelling for what felt like days without sleep and obviously took the wise decision to meet the guys in the pub immediately after saying a quick hi to the fridge and to my family.



    In The Anchor are: Phil, Omar, Ele, Moi, Karen, Ewan, Rich and Gray made me feel really welcome (except for their game of ‘let’s ignore Jonny’ when I arrived which I can tell you was hilarious!)

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Andrew’s Birthday

    We had a nice wee celebration for Andrew’s birthday in the office today. It gives me a chance to introduce some people, too.



    Claire, Andrew, Cesare and Diego in festive mood



    The Incredible Fukang works it for the camera



    … and Mitch looks after the details (with Debbie in the background)

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Nearing Christmas

    I have not really written much in the last two weeks. I have found Taipei quite hard in the last fortnight because of work, and because of a that life seems to sway too much between that hard graft and rebellion at the weekend. However, several of the big projects I was working on have now drawn to a close and I can concentrate on Christmas, spending time with my family and reflecting on 6 months. I believe that when I come back in January things will be rather more in focus. Judge for yourself.

    Anyway, far be it from me to bring down the festive tone! I have had some very nice nights out recently. On Saturday, I met up with my design friends from several other companies and we enjoyed a boozy sushi session at Jogoya.



    Free wine free wine!

    After, Gerd took us to a local bar called Cream but it seems that it had become a private members club fronted by a bathroom sales showroom. Undeterred, we headed around the corner to find ‘So Nice’… it wasn’t, so we ended up in the Irish Pub! (first trip to Irish Bar in Taipei – it must surely be a record for a European visitor)



    Tanja and I at the Christmas tree near Taipei 101 … from the inside (now you know how it feels)



    View up the middle of the tree



    If this doesn’t make you want to drink Jaegermeister nothing will…

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Glas Vegas

    Robin Smith from 4C Design in Glasgow visited for an evening – an old friend off my university course, PDE at the Glasgow School of Art. He was doing business in Taichung and swung by on his way home. It was a real pleasure to see him and we had some good fun.

    He had visited Taipei before, visiting Tim (also from Glasgow) when he was designing here. I persuaded him to wear his kilt and we headed off to Shilin night market. We got some good food (although we got shouted at for not finishing i!t – food is seen as more precious here) and had plenty of photos taken of us, or at least Robin, as young girls came bouncing up to have their tourist photos taken with him.



    The Glen of Tranquility

    Many people were pretty amazed by the kilt, but I think there are so many whities in Taipei these days that they are less fazed. Still, cool to have these girls running up to us! No complaints.

    Markus had his Betel Nut party which was great fun. Plenty of fun and drinking and Robin got a great reception. Markus had done an amazing job of decking the place out and had put little packages of presents in Betel Nut packages – very cute. Our Taiwanese colleagues were on good form, though they really regard Betel chewing as a lower class activity – only Fukan admitted that his dad ate them. I think there is a real desire to move up the class structure, in the same way as 1950s Britain, perhaps.

    In typical Weegie-style Robin challenged Mike and his friend to a Ryder Cup of drinking – USA V EU, downing pints in a small boat race. Anke started our team off, but did not realise we had started so we had alot of ground to make up! Luckily, she did her job, Robin did a strong middle leg and I managed to deliver a victory, with enough time to see the Americans choke on their juice. What can I say? Those years of training have paid off.



    Fallout



    Yi-Ju and I rocking out with face paints



    Anke ‘Betel Pimp’ Schabuschabu, Jonathan ‘Coughing Tiger’ Biddle, Mike ‘The Lethal Grin’, and Lars ‘Strike a Pose’ Torkhul



    I can see you!



    Robin and I went out later on the hunt for a late bar or club, but we got dumped in the middle of nowhere by an embarrassed cabbie, then we could not get into Luxy (though it was 4:30 in the morning!). Here is me with my street drinking Bar Beer.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Sun Yat Sen

    Lorenzo and I caught some rays near Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall – one of Taiwan’s most precious national monuments and most ugly of buildings. Lots of kites and families (and not the free single women we hoped for). Still, the ridiculous hedges made us question humanity itself.



    Hideous Taiwanese Fire-Spitting Thunder Donkey of the southern mountains



    Lorenzo arrives in Style (with SYS building behind)



    The very nice grounds of the National Taiwan University (NTU) – and still no girls to be seen



    Later, we went to eat Stinky Tofu with Ji-Ru … it smells like camel sweat, but actually tastes quite good

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • One night in Taipei

    I think this sums up Taiwan, Taipei and some of my experiences so far. One crazy night in Taipei.

    T.H., the president of our division, deemed that he would generously give us all in the department a meal out and a night out at Ministry of Sound in recognition of the fact that we have won some IF design awards for our corporate book shelf. Very nice.

    So, we went to Jogoya near Taipei 101 which is an all you can eat sushi place. On the way there I bumped into Tanja and Michael. Walking through Main Station we were marauded by a flock of school girls demanding to talk to us in Chinese for their homework. This was absolutely hilarious and it completely brightened up what was otherwise a bit of a shitty week.

    All you can eat sushi; I think my standards have shifted as the sashimi ain’t really all that good, but the chocolate is exceptional, and worth it for that alone. Henry and Cesare – two designers from our department – had their standard eating face-off (ridiculous quantities of food) and all the Taiwanese got very drunk and rowdy in typical style.

    The time came to head to MOS, so we piled into taxis and cars and promptly all headed in completely different directions to make sure that we all got as lost as possible. Some people arrived relatively directly and phoned us to inform us the queue was about 500m long and stretched around the block. Luckily we had planned ahead and booked a private room. Except, I think everyone believed it was like a restaurant and it would be possible to get a room with two hours notice. Yes, they phoned at 5:00pm, only to find out it was not possible. Well done. You fucked up again.

    Instead, we piled into our cars again (we were still driving as we headed off in the wrong direction down the motorway, and were trailing the main crew) and went to Holiday KTV near to my place in Shilin. Luckily, we managed to get a big enough room, and the Taiwanese set about populating the play list with hundreds of Chinese songs ensuring it was impossible for us to get a look in. I find that rather strange – little sense of team work between our two groups sometimes. Anyway, between us realising that, settling in to drink and leaving two hours before our songs came up we got hammered, and it ended up with Markus and I serenading eachother with a song I can’t quite remember.

    Roman, an industrial designer visiting from Munich, was clearly totally bemused, but I think it gave him a good impression of what we are up against. We want to build a world-class brand and we cannot even organise a simple visit to a night club!



    Elvis has left the building

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Michael’s Birthday

    I had a great weekend that helped me recover from a stressful and frustrating week learning Pro Engineer software at work. I best not speak about that, as all I will do is get angry again! Anyway, Tanja – Michael’s girlfriend – planned a big surprise birthday party for him in the wilds near Wulai (see earlier posting).

    Although the game was given away slightly by Michael insisting on riding deep into the national park, Tanja did a great job of keeping the lid on a dozen people arriving on over laden scooters (beer, cakes and two people on each bike meant lots of sparks from the floor hitting the road on every small bump).

    Anyway, here are some photos that Tanja took prior to our arrival, just showing the rather beautiful countryside that Taiwan boasts, and the reason why the Portuguese named the island ‘Formosa’ … ‘Beautiful.’

    The sun peeps out from behind the clouds:

    The Wulai river valey:

    The waterfall near our illegal camp ground:

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Party Time

    Here are some pics of the party…. lots of scooters, not quite enough beer (midnight run to 7-11 required) but plenty of food… and awoken by 30 keen Taiwanese who set up their breakfast sets next to our tents. Okay, we admit – camping and fires were not allowed, and that was exactly what we did!



    We are drunk – we take no responsibility for our creative ideas



    Anke, Tanja and Michael – clearly entertained by one of my jokes



    Michael & Louisa



    Tanja’s head provided light, heat and warmth for the whole gang

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…