Blimey!
I’m 27!
The detail I will remember will surely be racing around town attempting to arrange a last minute emergency Visa for China, but realising there was less than 6 months on my passport … hence an emergency application to the Hong Kong Embassy – a result of the diplomatic status of Taiwan in the international community. Hopefully, I’ll be on the plane next week!
A fantastic birthday dinner with a really great array of friends
Kenting’s ‘Spring Scream’ is the highest profile music festival in Taiwan. So, along with Erin and a few friends we winged our way down south to the sunshine – thankfully free of the stifling humidity that plagues Taipei.
I am doing a little experiment using Google Maps to log the positions of where I am going. Click the link below for a birds-eye view. Sadly, there is not much data for Taiwan yet, but it’s ok. I am hopeing at some point in the future it will be optimised for tasks just like this!
Wings
Happy Babe City – and how
The place that we were staying was a real delight. The unfortunately titled ‘Kenting Youth Activity Centre’ was constructed to resemble an old Chinese village, and the results are very elegant indeed. A rare sight in Taiwan. And a very nice surprise on arrival to realise it matched the pictures on the internet!
Doorway to Heaven
A room with a view
Thoughtful detailing makes exploring the place a pleasure
WOW – I fell in love with some of the crafted ceiling buttresses
The festival itself was a pretty small affair. The live music mainly comprised of Taiwanese bands I had not heard of (and I do know some good ones), Japanese imports thrashing their axes, and some token white guys that probably wahsed up from the LA scene. Of more interest was the dance music – mainly because my friend Sean (DJ SL) was spinning on both nights. This of course also guaranteed free admission, which I am rarely to snub.
The crowd was from all over Taiwan, and much more free wheeling than what I am used to in Taipei, which is often rather sterile with too much emphasis placed on style rather than musical substance. Some very amusing conversations to be sure.
“You’ll never guess who I had in my cab the other day” – a London taxi lives its days out in the sun
… while Erin poses in front of the festival’s primary posing machine
A very nice touch – during the heat of the concert, a dragon arrives to shake its thing in the middle of the show. Fantastic.
Of course, no party would be complete without an after party. We found a really lovely one on the beach near to Sean’s place frequented with groups of people making fires and enjoying the sea breeze. People were setting off fireworks at the shore and it really was a beautiful scene – the musical backdrop provided by a group of vegetarians with guitars and violin.
While staring at the stars, I realise that they are singing The Beatles’ ‘Hey Hude’ and of course I start to sing along quietly. When the chorus arrived, I realised that most people on the beach were doing the same thing … a most incredible feeling. Folk Karaoke? Who cares – one of the most touching moments in Taiwan this year.
Palm Beach
After Party
Two days of partying left us a bit sore, but still the flight home on Monday morning brought with it the realisation that we were leaving the perfect summer sea breeze of Kenting and returning to almost certain thunder storm or humidity. We guessed correctly, as the captain announced that we needed to circle Taipei because of poor visibility and hard rain coming in to land.
The next thing that happened came as rather a surprise, with more than a little delayed shock. The bright flash and dull thump I could instantly recognise. Lightening had struck our plane! The pilot informed we were to land at Chiang Kai Shek. TaoYuan. One hour from Taipei. A nervous landing and there we were, stuck on the tarmac with the pilot admitting that nobody knew what to do. Finally, we disembarked and Sean woke up – disbelieving the whole story!
There was clearly no space at the civilian terminal, since we wer ushered into the holding pen at the Coast Guard building. 45 party goers walking into a room with an equal number of armed guards with dogs made for some very nervous looking faces!
The postscript was the discovery that the lightening strike had been featured in the news! So, it’s official! I got struck by lightening. It certainly explains the X-Ray vision.
Military bags
PS: Cafe is one of my saviours. A cool, laid back place where I have met many of my friends, and where I know I can go where people know my name (cue theme tune from Cheers). There seems to be a high percentage of creative types, marketing dudes, designers and musicians here, and I have spent many hours here studying Chinese, drinking coffee / beer and chatting to the owners – Jared and John from New Zealand.
Cheers to PS
Awesome photos from Anke & Lars as they see China and India. Awesome!
They said jump
If Sydney was a city of personal trainers, Melbourne was one giant café – a place clearly designed by a comittee of switched on 27 year olds. Most people work in bars, are grafitti artists or jazz musicians. I am not completely positive how anyone actually makes a living, but the place is marvellous as a result … Like looking at Britain through a 35 degree celsius lens.
The original reason for coming out to Melbourne was to see Beto – a great friend I met while learning to dive in Guatemala at the Iguana Perdida hostel. It was really amazing to see him – and always amusing when you meet people again after seeing them while travelling. Always neater and less tanned… in most cases. Beto, however, was exactly the same. And exactly as amazing!
Contrasting the tourist profile of Sydney, in Melbourne I took pleasure in floating along in the social current. Beto seems to know anyone that thinks they are anyone, especially in the music business, and this meant that I had four days of free entry to the town’s best bars and clubs, and by the end seemed to be cultivating my own friendship circle. It was that frantic. And a real pleasure to get some self-generating urban culture flavours.
Similar to my last trip to Hing Kong, I also seemed to have hook ups with people from all over the world, drafted from different stages of my life. Joannie – one of my old friends from Glasgow, her friend Fiona, Grace – gf of Nick here in Taipei, plus Nelson and Christina from Taipei were all around. It was quite strange but very natural to hook up with Joannie and Fiona. The vibe in Melbourne is very similar to Glasgow, and I seemed to slip into the old routine quite quickly of sitting outside enjoying the sun… the difference was, well, about twenty degrees celsius.
Note to self. Move to Melbourne.
Bird Strike
De rigeur Havaiianas
Beach huts, Aussie style
Rollin’ – the great outdoors really is just that in Australia
Spooky!
Suzie, Beto, a very drunk Jean Pierre and me, narrowly avoiding aesphyxiation (spelling????!)
Grace and I dodge the camera
7-11 – comfort zone
Against several self-imposed raised odds of not making it to Australia, here I am … G’day!
Sydney is fantastic, and justifiably feels proud of itself, but without being smug. The cityscape is ever changing, giving you chance glances of the Sydney Harbour bridge through vintage Ned Kelley tenaments and crystalline high rises. The Opera House is simply EPIC and takes your breath away in its form and thoughtful detailing. And the food mixes masculline meat pies with white wine and oysters – a theme that defines the city somewhat.
It’s certainly very ‘Californian’ – everyone looks like they are a personal trainer, or at least running during lunch break. You can understand why they are so blinking good at sport!
I’m hanging out with Richard and Claerwen – Rich was a colleague from the Web-Imps days of 1999 – and I am feeling pretty blessed again that I was able to meet up with several more friends from Taipei and Canada in the evening.
I’m impressed with Sydney. Another city has been added to the list of those that I would love to live in or raise a family – which is exactly what Richard and Claerwen chose to do.
Brunch of Champions – oysters and white wine at the fish market kicked off the day nicely
Approaching Sydney Harbour Bridge on the ferry – Keep Clear
Engineering Details
Approaching the Opera House on foot, and about 500 Mb of photo opportunities
In the middle of being blown away… I was surprised how fantastic the building was, especially as it is so old
Exploring…
Infinity
Internal details, lifted straight from NASA
The Max Power ‘Utes’ were just fantastic. Deeply cool, and unforgivably crass at the same time
Cheers to Sydney!
100,000 drunk revellers descended on Princes Street in Edinburgh for the annual Hogmanay bash, and at the last minute Phil and I decided to join them by taking the train up to Scotland. It was really worth it, since I got to see old Glasgow buddies Craig and Ali, plus Masters pals Andrew and Kyle. Plus, of course, I saw Scotland and recharged my Whiskey batteries.
The street was full of horny Glaswegian girls, drunk Aussies and high numbers of bemuzed looking Chinese visitors. Drunk Chinese conversation of course meant that I lost the group within about 3 minutes – and feverish multiplexed cell phone calls to the guys only made matters worse.
After the bells, we retreated to my first proper arty party in over a year and a half – a very nice reminder of life in Glasgow. I also met a nice chap who happened to be sales manager for premium Glenmorangie whiskies and I humored him through an extensive sampling session, well into the morning.
A stonking hangover, healed only by the MacDonalds (the only open food hole in the morning) was partially soothed by the wonderful train ride, passing by Durham, York and Newcastle – all bathed in clear winter sunlight. Something you do not get in Taiwan.
George and I prepared a belated housewarming brunch to say farewell to Anke and Lars – two of the first friends I made in Taipei, and a pair that I will miss in the coming months.
I’ll miss their vitality, enthusiasm to entertain at their apartment and ability to make me feel lazy! Some of the most memorable times in Taiwan have been with them … but who knows, after their move to Shanghai perhaps we will be sipping tea on their balcony sooner than expected.
See you soon!
We do quite a bit of work for Diageo at DEM – something I rarely complain about. Friday saw a large party in aid of their ‘Centenary Blend’ Johnnie Walker Gold product. The result was a large amount of free Whiskey and a storming hangover which seemed to last the duration of the weekend. I would say I have learnt my lesson, but that is blatantly untrue.
Guns and Roses London Fan Club
The old days in London! I’ll be seeing you rockers in the new year.
“Slippery When Wet”