West of Austin is Texas Hill Country; an area of rugged hills that reaches as far as the suburbs, and provides access to some pretty splendid hiking and biking. One of the tourist honeypots of the area is Enchanted Rock, an enormous granite rock dome, rising 130m above the surrounding area. We thought it would be a grand day out for the Bogners, Lattos and, well, Biddle. Perhaps due to the ‘snowpocalypse’ of the previous week, there were fewer people venturing out – and this combined with the fantastic weather and cool air, made for a great day.
ENCHANTED ROCK. YEAH!
It was steep!
Skylar has different ideas on the route. “Should we stop him?’
Les Bogneurs
The girls were on fine form!
Rugged, yet thoughtful. The designer’s designer.
Flyin’ high!
Which way?
Whoa!
Eric gives me the thousand-yard Texas stare. The children’s clothing draped round his neck finishes the look.
GOOD TIMES
Practising for when he needs to work at Dell.
Peekaboo!
Different shades of cuteness.
Yay!
The adventurer sets off once again
Pistols at dawn.
Granite
After, we headed to the truly bizarre Trois Estate … home of a faux-real Texan Mexican ranch church grotto cap-gun museum wine bar. All slightly unhinged, but lots of fun.
Accessories.
Doors leading somwhere
Silly moos.
Silly cow.
Dinner was at one of the ‘seven’ true Texan barbecues; Coopers. I have to say it was not a patch on the truly carcinogenic Louis Mueller’s … I still dream of the steak brisket I had there.
While Taiwan celebrates Chinese New Year, my boss took the opportunity to bring me over to Austin for a week or two with the team. I didn’t struggle too hard, since I can reschedule the holiday, and anyway flights out of Taiwan are pretty expensive during the holiday period. I have been through LA a couple of times, but never stopped for more than a couple of hours, escaping from LAX to Manhattan Beach for a swift beer.
This time, however, was different. I finally took Pip up on his offer to visit, and he picked me up at the airport in his new Range Rover. Without hesitation, he asked ‘do you surf?’ and I was too deep in exhaustion and jet lag to say anything else but ‘hell yes’ … I am not going to look a gift horse (or a Brit in a Range Rover) in the mouth. So, before I had even sat down, I was walking out of a surf shop in Santa Monica with surf board and wet suit in hand. Life is Awesome. Otherwise known as LA.
Range Rover + Surf Boards x Los Angeles = Pip Tompkin
Pip in his natural environment
Manhattan Beach in the daytime … long board in hand.
Limited snowboarding and wake-boarding experience have even more limited application to surfing, but I wasn’t about to let that stop me from trying. I mean, first time surfing here … what a start. Pip gave me the basic pep talk; essentially, paddle really quickly, jump up in one motion, don’t fall off … and we were off. I was far from completely fluid, but I did legitimately have some real standing time … I will be back.
After an extended chat on the beach and with my brain still being faxed over from Asia, we spot that the waves had receded. We grabbed the boards, paddled out to beyond the break, and hung out a little more. Some fins approach in the distance … “are they sharks?” I calmly ask. No, a school of dolphins swims by us, flirting in the wake. I bob there, mouth agape, and more than a little overwhelmed by the scene of dolphins, salt spray, and California rising up in the distance.
Jet lag completely forgotten, I decide this is time to catch a proper wave for the first time, and am caught by a fairly serious swell building up behind me. Arms darting into the salt water, I build up precisely the right amount of speed to catch the full momentum of the wave, and it picks me up like a rag doll as I dive off the six-foot wall of water. Screaming like a schoolboy (and with feet flying into the air) I plummet to oblivion, only to be spun around like an old t-shirt at the bottom of a washing machine. Twice.
Emerging from the water, I had nothing but a smile on my face, and water leaking out of my ears. My first proper wipe-out. Time for a burger. Time for In ‘n’ Out Burger.
While only having about three things on the menu, other styles, ingredients and upgrades can be had with the use of secret code names … a very cool idea.
The burger was pretty awesome, but mazing out on all the code names that I could think of broke my flat-mate’s #1 rule of buying burgers: get the basic one. ‘Animal Style’ and whatever happened to the fries, was delicious, but oh so oily. Ah well, start as I mean to go on!
After a quick brunch at Santa Monica staple, Norms, it was time for a tour of the LA sights. Naturally, we swap cars for something a little more befitting of Beverley Hills, Bel Air and Hollywood; yup – a drop-top BMW coupé. Music, shades and attitude packed, we prowled the streets, wowing at the cars on display, the wanton display of wealth, and imagining what celebrities are waiting around the corner (or at least I did). Since we were not rich Chinese tourists, we pointed the car at the mountains, and took in views of Hollywood from Mulholland Drive. It was surreal, taking in all these sights that I knew so well, and yet had never seen.
Wait a moment for the movie to load
Pip has two rather beautiful fixed-gear bikes, and he was kind enough to take out his baby for a spin – what a host. Cruising along Venice Beach was a cultural lesson in taking recreation very seriously; this is the melting pot that lead to skateboarding, surfing, hip-hop and BMX. It’s pretty humbling, and highly entertaining to see new forms of street culture bubbling up in front of your eyes.
Swap four wheels for two.
LA all the way.
Cavendish takes the green jersey.
Santa Monica amusement park at sunset … why doesn’t the whole of America live here?
Watching the scene; I could stay here the whole day.
An absolutely phenomenal weekend … thanks so much Shannon and Pip. You are welcome in Asia!
A bit late in the writing, but who cares – this year was another HK mission to seek out the new year in style. Flying back from the UK, I popped my head round the door for about 18 hours, before heading back to Taiwan. Lots of fun!
We chose the rather amazing Magnolia as our scene for pre-NYE eating and drinking … BYOB. Cajun food. Great company, insane amounts of food.
Watching the chefs prepare the meal from our ring-side seats.
Insane amounts of meat.
Delicious … but it didn’t stop coming. This mac and cheese probably would have fed us all on its own.
Edgar doing his very best Budda impression.
Obligatory photos of HK neon.
At the Bloomberg studios to watch the fireworks from between the HSBC and China Bank buildings. The prime vantage point … or so we thought.
Pretty cool Bloomberg kit everywhere.
Screens all blank.
My camera lens chose an excellent time to fail … but frankly we couldn’t see anything, since we were actually INSIDE the fireworks display; it was all off the buildings essentially above us.
T-plus five minutes, four seconds … looks rather like the beamer from Tron, don’t you think?
… and if you want to watch the fireworks from Kowloon … we are in the building with the rainbows on it, on the right side!
Congratulations to Michael & Tanja! Newest Mum & Dad in Hong Kong!
Massively proud, and delighted to be able to drop-in on you before the big day … but not the most punctual baby in the world, might I add?
See all of you soon!
There is probably a rule about pregnant ladies not being allowed ice-cream.
Michael practices photography on some other babies.
WAS THAT IT?! Ready?! EMEGENCY!! What? Oh okay. My nerves were on-edge, as I imagined myself helping rush Tanja to the hospital with Michael.
Rules about giving up seats to those in need simply do not apply in Hong Kong. I am positive someone would give up their seat if challenged, but it’s not really good enough, is it?
2010 was the Chinese Year of the Mountain Bike, starting it in style on two wheels in Hong Kong, taking in some of Taiwan’s best riding, and ending up recently with a new bike to call my own. After proving the intra-Asian transport options over new year, I cashed-in some air miles that were burning a hole in my pocket and decided to fly to see Sam, plus Michael and Tanja before their wee one arrives on the scene.
An ambitious two day itinerary was set for the riding; the Taimoshan trail only being pieced back together after seven months of trying to find it again after new year. The weather held, and we were left with two lovely days of sunshine, eating, drinking and riding. Intense, but just the thing to kick off a good Autumn of fun and frolics. I am now in fact considering a week of mountain biking in New Zealand for Chinese New Year 2011. Just need to book those flights!
On the way to the ferry terminal – riding in HK is a different beast to Taiwan; no scooters ironically makes it less bike-friendly, and the boisterous buses were not pleasant riding companions.
On the ferry out to Lantau island … makes for a pleasant change from riding for 35 minutes through Taipei traffic!
Stopping for a photo at the infamous ‘Refrigerator’ rock – well framed, don’t you agree!
The weather on the first day got to all of us – it was bloody hot and humid. This didn’t seem to effect the fellow mountain bikers on the boat back, who scoffed at our meagre efforts; the higher proportion of bankers in the HK expat population definitely equates to more wankers. Such is the order of things.
Very happy to make it to 7-11 at the end of the ride … I have never drunk so much Gatorade for such a sustained period of time.
Some more waiting around for the guys to finish work on Michael’s bike – some mechanicals that needed to be sorted out (and free replacement brakes, no less!).
So, the end of Day 1 of riding … day 2 saw zero photos; we were too busy riding! You can however see the photos from earlier in the year if you want to see what Taimoshan looks like.
Hanging out with the ladies – was amazing to see Tanja, and Tony’s fiancee was in town to sort out wedding docs.
Sunset over Kowloon.
Obligatory shot of wires.
Good luck next month guys! It was simply wonderful to see you!
After our company trip to Yilan, Paul and I opted to stay overnight and do a hike the next day. It was dead good fun to see Taiwan from a slightly different angle for once, and we built up a nice healthy sweat as we hiked up through the humidity, and into the relative comfort of the cross-island road, connecting Yilan with Taipei; I really need to get my road bike finished and hit the tarmac!
Looking out towards Turtle Island.
Shipping containers turned into local cafe in the hills.
I was going to link through to some hiking trail links, but I both did not find any good ones, and the leads we did have were blown by the taxi driver dropping us off in a completely random location anyway (near Jiaoxi) … none the less, a nice wee trail!
Chat Roulette is the latest darling of the internet community. Connecting you, via webcam, with random users from around the world, it takes all that is miserable, squalid and immoral debauched about the internet, and conveniently gathers them in one place. At the slightest hesitation or lull in conversation you or they have the power to ‘next’ them into oblivion, never to be seen again. Naturally, I had to get this projected on the wall and invite a bunch of people round to celebrate my birthday.
You don’t need an economics degree to guess what type of users we encountered most frequently. The original idea was to get everyone downing a shot each time they saw a guy’s junk, but we would have ended up completely hammered in 15 minutes. What we did do, was settle on a system of serve, volley, smash that had myself and most of the party howling with such belly-aching laughter that the police arrived to break us up. It only seems fair to share our process:
1. Combine Webcam and Lamp into a ‘Weblamp’
We set up the web cam attached to my desk lamp, so the spotlight, quite literally, was on you while filming was taking place; is there a product idea in there? This gave everything the element of theatre, as the spotlight swung around the room in search of its next victim.
2. Get any guys away from the webcam
Sorry fellas; when the camera was on us, we would get ‘nexted’ within fractions of a second. Since most of Chatroulette is frequented by guys in their underpants, this comes as little surprise. Get rid of the guys from the initial view.
3. Recruit some girls; preferably dressed as nurses
In the invite, I asked everyone to wear something silly, or bring some sort of disguise. Georg’s girlfriend, Sharo, dived in feet first, and came dressed as a nurse, and simply ruled the party. As soon as we shifted focus onto these guys, the retention rate of users went sky high, and we instead could begin the hunt for some unsuspecting prey.
4. Delegate typing to a third-party.
The second element in our armoury was Armando, who first crafted coquettish, flirtatious come-ons for the guys on the other end of the tube. Lulled into a false sense of security, they must have thought they had found Chatroulette utopia … but this all ended abruptly when Armando begin unleashing vitriolic Chinglish slurs in their direction; “show me your eyeballs gothy man!”
5. When ready, unleash a German with a fake willy.
Georg delivered the fatal blow, time after time, jumping onto screen with a hideous fake willy attached to the front of his apron. Playing the role perfectly, the room repeatedly erupted in laughter and screams, as the faces of the victims either dropped in disgust, or split with their own laughter.
6. Let the room say ‘hello!’
If the person was game and stuck around, this was a perfect moment to invite the rest of the room to say hello. We got some appreciative thumbs up, waves, and then sent them on their way with a deftly timed ‘next!’
It was certainly an unusual party, and one that I am pretty sure we will not be repeating (!). At least while the paint was fresh on the website, it was dead good fun to get involved. It was interesting to see how much it felt like being on the internet in the early days again, what with the clandestine chats, poor connection and frequent crashes. Gotta say – thanks to Georg and the girls for being such good sports, and Abe and Armando for going to all the trouble of printing life-size photos of me, with three different lengths of moustache, no less.
Though the departure was a little more hectic than I was originally envisioning, it was my pleasure to jump on the HSR down south and join Michael and Tanja for a weekend of summer sun in Kenting – south Taiwan.
The guys had come through to attend a wedding, and as such were accompanied by a group of 20 German holidaymakers – and all on the same weekend as the largest music festival in Taiwan; Spring Scream. As a result of poor planning on my part, I was actually supposed to be staying some fifteen kilometers away in Hengchun, but M&T offered me their spare bed in the amazing, but less than charismatically-named, Kenting Youth Activity Center. I love that place.
Situated on a peninsular east of the main drag, it is – according to their website – a ‘traditional Fujen(a province in southern China, also called Min) style building with red gate, white wall and red tile roof, and is often reputed as the Museum of Southern Min Style Architecture.’ I wish they gave more of the history, with a bit more explanation of the layout, but no matter; I would probably discover it is made of concrete.
Square clouds … I could just soak this in all day!
Detail view.
Shots of night of the wonderful lanterns, lighting up the courtyard.
Tiles done properly. Almost.
Doors.
The local walk down to the rocky peninsular.
Cable management.
Silhouettes.
Details, bathed in warm morning light.
Birds of a feather.
Little Georg makes a run for it.
Of course, we didn’t have the place entirely to ourselves. As host weekend of the largest music festival in Taiwan, there were some pretty odd sights, and a funny mixture of people. Beginning with obligatory trips down to the local nightmarket (copy and pasted from Taipei?), we then began sinking drinks, seeing some of the outlying stages, and finally ending up on the beach for what was a very nice, chilled out session the last time I was here. Nope – not this time… a huge, thumping sound system, massive crowd and despite signs urging restraint, a barrage of fireworks arcing up into the sky (as well as other places). I must at this moment apologise to all the people with car alarms that we set off, when some enterprising vendor sold us a box of mortars, at 4:30 in the morning. Only in Kenting.
Beer emergency.
Walking the dog.
Little Georg checking the icecreams – it was fun playing with them, though I wished my German had not corroded so far!
Peugeot 106 … waffles.
It was quite a culture shock to land from Texas, and dive head-first into full intensity Taiwan during ‘Spring Break’, all the while accompanied by German family members! Absolutely fantastic to see the Helds on top form though. See you guys again soon!
Taiwanese cowboys – summing up my cultural transition?
This is proving to be one of those ‘intense weekends’. Arrive from the USA at midnight on Friday, get up to help prepare Easter Brunch for a dozen friends (Rabbit, Lamb and Quiche, no less!), then jump on a train down south to meet Michael and Tanja in Kenting; and all with a rainy cloud of jetlag hovering over me: I wish I could have spaced it out a bit.
