Jonathan Biddle – Made in Taiwan

Tag: Scooters

  • The Daily Commute


    My daily commute

    I wanted to put some effort into logging some of my (now) more mundane activites, which upon reflection may not be so standard for you folks back home. For those that do not know, I scooter to work each day on my trusty ‘Duke’ and this is one of the places where the lights catch me each day for a couple of minutes. It is in these minutes that I sometimes get a bolt from the blue reminding me that I am in the South China Sea – particularly when I pause below the Grand Hotel near to my office. Still an arresting site, even after so much time here.

    One thing that I have realised is that my life back home is as exotic for the locals as it is the other way around. So many assumptions and stereotypes have been squashed by by time here … and an equal number reinforced! And it is of course funny to talk to them to hear what their views on what our lives are like back in Europe.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • To Feel Exuberan Tly Happy

    Say no more.
    More Scooter English.


    To Feel Exuberan Tly Happy

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Mods ‘n’ Rockers

    What started out as a quiet night yesterday turned into an alcohol / petroleum fueled jaunt through Bangkok…

    I had a final walk along Koasan Street and got a wee bite to eat at the food stall at the end of the street. Quite surprised how early all the bars and clubs shut, I was pleased to get chatting to some local guys sprawled over some of the most beautifully preserved original Vespas I have seen. My enthusiasm clearly rubbed off on them and they quickly took me under their wing feeding me beer and banana pancakes before taking me on the most kinetic of Bangkok tours … on the back of a fire breathing, screaming mustard yellow Vespa scooter.

    Somewhat different from Taipei, these machines can wheely and smoke tyres at will. Screaming through the streets, stopping at secret night markets selling ‘borrowed’ items, and whistling at girls, boys and whatever in between gave me quite simply the widest grin that my face could handle. Adrenaline and alcohol stoked an overwhelming feeling of being very fortunate to be living in Asia.

    The guys hang out waiting for the action

    Beautiful machines looked even better at night time

    Today, I did the tourist thing and visited the obligatory Grand Palace (shiny), Temples (glittery), and food markets (tasty). I stay one more night here in Bangkok before jetting off to Koh Samui and then Koh Tao for some diving and hot beach action. I’ll land back in Bangkok on Wednesday ready for my flight back to Taipei on Thursday lunch time. But for now, I think it is time to go and join the music rattling by the window and crack open a beer. Enjoy!

    The Grand Palace in Bangkok

    Guards mark the entrance of the inner Palace

    While others seem more pensive…

    A ‘Wat’ (temple) on the south of the river

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Scooter License

    After a year of rocketing around on an International Driving License, the time finally came to sign up for a real, bona fide Taiwanese scooter license. After the devastating failure the previous week of failing the computerised ‘written’ element, we tried again (completing the test on the government web-site would have helped, seeing as it is an exact copy of the final exam… over confidence!).

    The total test format is as follows:

    1. Height and weight test (where everyone in the room can see)

    2. Eye test – basically involves saying which way an arrow is pointing…

    The examination room rigorously tests the potential drivers … total chaos

    3. ‘Physical Exam’ – squat once and grip your hands … all overseen by a doctor!

    4. The dreaded computerised exam … split into multiple choice and true/false sections. Easy if you practice – I got 98%!

    The test room – you have about 20 minutes for the test. 4 minutes is more reasonable

    Scooter Test

    As an example, I got both of these questions incorrect in the previous attempt…

    5. The real driving test! The test course (if you can call it that) could probably fit into a school gymnasium. The first section you pass by driving very slowly (unnatural on this island) along a perfectly straight line, and you fail if you take less than 7 seconds or if you touch the sensitive strip along the sides – this is actually surprisingly difficult!

    Then, you meet a series of tests. First, is a red traffic light. If you successfully stop at this, go when it is green, and repeat the same thing for a pedestrian and then railway crossing you pass! That’s it!

    The test course…

    Some ‘tricks’ for passing the Sailfish test – whatever that means.

    The main ‘straight’ – you can see the test strips and counter. If you fail all manner of buzzers and sirens go off… it is taiwan after all.

    Will he pass!? As soon as you reach the end of the speed test you have pretty much nailed the test. Only a fool would fail at a traffic light (michael 😉 )

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Scooter English

    It is high time that I posted an entry, since I have been quiet for a few weeks. I now have enough photos of scooters to warrant a full homage to Taiwanese ‘Scooter English’. I am sure this post will grow, since I am sometimes howling with laughter at the genius of some of the prose. Sit back, and absorb…


    My scooter: “Duke … ECOLOGY NEW STAND & NEW LIFE”


    “We reach for the sky. Neither does civilization … SNIPER”


    “GENERATION POLLUTION ON THE EARTH LOW 50 FREINDL LIGHT NO. 01 POLLUTION FRIENDLY SCOOTER NEW”


    “TACT … MET-IN … JUST FOR YOU THE NEW GENERATION … FAST FIRST AND BEST”


    “Going … MOVE YOUR CREATIVE HEART”


    “Your future depends on … MOVIE 125”


    “JOG IS FASCINATING TO YOU”


    “Going … KYMCO BRINGS OUT THE GENIUS IN YOUR CHOICE”


    “Jockey are riding with us”


    “THE BEST FUNCTION AND GOOD SENSATION“


    “CHACHA … KEEP CLEAN, KEEP PLEASANT, KEEP HEALTHY … GIVING YOU THE BEST SENSATION ALL I HAVE”

    “Dio … SHUTTLE IN THE CITY JUNGLE. THE NEW SPEEDY SNAIL CLAN CHARACTERISTIC. DIGNIFIED. AGGRESSIVE”


    “CAOW … WITH FASHIONABLE FEELING”


    “MAN … enjoy yourself … boy”


    “YOU GOT TO FEEL … FEVER … THE HAPPINESS OF RIDING”


    “Junior … THE GLARING HEADLIGHTS OF A MOTORCAR”


    “SHEN YANG … THE NEW GENERATIONAL SCOOTER FRON EARTH”


    “J\O\G … IS FASCINATING TO YOU”


    “GOING … THE MORE YOU LOOK THE MORE YOU LIKE”


    “125 … FOR NEW CENTURY”


    “Spanking … The Dreaming Touring Motor With Spanking Kwang Yang Scooter 100E”

    After a whole year of being surrounded by this, it does begin to become invisible to you – a shame. However, occasionally I will walk along a row of scooters with camera blazing, chuckling away to myself. I do feel jealous a little of newcomers who point every strange thing out – things I cannot see any more.

    Although it seems very funny, this is the relationship with English that most local designers seem to have. And I have to work with them, using Roman characters to ‘decorate’ their designs. Frankly, we are often the same in Europe – exotic Chinese symbols seem trés chic tatooed onto our arms, eh.

    Update:

    Lars had some extra photos lying around of scooters. Some new, some when I had no camera – if only you could take photos at traffic lights you could get so much more lyrical goodness … I can see this taking a life of its own!


    “FOVEP … YOU GET TO FOOL THE HARRINESS OF RIOING”


    “Freeway … specializing in boble model street bike for noble life”


    “TACT … MET-IN … JUST FOR YOU, THE NEW GENERATION”


    “RR … RIDDING ON THE WING.”


    “SNIPER … AEROTYPE … Just for wind cutting”


    “THE EPOCHAL SCOOTER”


    “SANYANG … THE BEST FUNCTION AND SENSATION … KING OF THE RIDER”


    “FOR TOUR NICE SCENE”


    “FANGIER … NEW EDITION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE … GET AWAY WITH IT ALL”

    A new wave…


    Duck – Be Pure – 125 SP – To resist drugs and violence – amazing


    Dock – THE DUKE TEAM SO SPEEDING & DOMINANT


    6 – THE FRIENDLE SCOOTER ON EARON – ER


    To Feel Exuberan Tly Happy


    LAEIH (?) – HAHAH
    A SUPER SPEED – WE OFFER TOU SAFETY AND QUALITY


    And so it continues…

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • We Reach for the Sky. Neither Does Civilisation.

    One of the most distinctive aspects of life out here is the transport. A day never passes without seeing something head-shaking strange. It could be a fork lift truck on the motorway, glass being transported by bike, food vending machines on the back of motorbikes… I have an ever-growing list of strange observations, but for now this is a wee summary.



    So above, we have 1. heavily modified scooter for disabled access, 2. & 3. ingenious parking methods and 4. SCOOTER ENGLISH which is a great hobby to have in Taipei as the tag lines on the sides of scooters make you stumble for superlatives.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Moon Festival

    Ele in Taipei!

    The Moon Festival is one of the biggest annual festivals in Chinese culture. It is a centre-piece of the Lunar Calendar, but mainly seems to involve the entire island making barbecues. The whole place is full of smoke (I am convinced you could see it from Hong Kong) as people cook food in the streets, on the roofs, in the parks … but it is a really nice festival where family comes together.



    Full moon … on the roof with my Chinese teacher, a couple of her students, Ele, Tanja and Michael



    Barbecue on the balcony



    Warp Factor 10



    Rebels without a cause

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Birds of a Feather

    Just a strange photo of a bike carrying pigeons – surely on the way to slaughter!

    The range of strange motorcycle – related vehicles you see over here is incredible. Everyday the ride to work yields another permutation on what is seen as possible to carry on a 150cc bike. I’ll gather together the images over the next few weeks and show them off… they even extend to mini sized Harley Davidsons.

    I have heard a story from one of my friends that he saw a scooter with a passenger on the back holding a medical drip in the air as they rode along – with the ambulance in the background syuck in traffic. It is common to see gas cylinders attached to motorbikes being transported to customers, families of 4 (plus dog), food vending stalls mounted on the back…. and so on. And of course the fork lift trucks on the motorway. Anyway – here is the first of the images:

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Cha

    Klara and I scoot off to the tea rooms in the mountains to the south of the city. Here is a quick view of what it may feel like to be a on a scooter… The awesome power of 150cc’s.

    At the tea room, and here is the tea set we are presented with. It is a real pleasure to hang out and look out over the city. The green tea is very delicate in flavour, though it is surprisingly difficult to get the taste really good, due to over brewing, under brewing, the wrong temperature, too many leaves… and no doubt a multitude of more spiritual factors related to the stars or feng shui.

    And here is an image over the city where Taipei 101 actually looks good and tall for once (it is the tallest building in the world, and yet it looks like a stack of American Chinese Take Out boxes stacked on top of one another.

    On the way back we went to Ting Tai Fung – one of the most famous restaurants in Taipei. It serves the most delicious Shanghai dumplings, and the queue outside to get seats is about 40 minutes. However, they are truly a special flavour. They cook each set in a bamboo basket that pile up into a steam chimney. Quite ingenious, I think, and the food stays warm for ages. Here is the kitchen:

    Klara and I in the Shi Da district of Taipei. Near here is a quite splendid ‘Shaved Ice’ cafe – they create what is effectively a pile of snow and top it with sweet, delicious mango. mmmmm….

    And here is the coolest dude I have ever seen (below, not above – that’s me). This is the absolutely standard pose of people in photos in Taiwan. I have no idea why… but if a camera appears, this is the effect.

    And here is the offending Shaved Ice… this time in fact at a place in Shilin food market. The expression explains things I don’t understand….

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Juming Art Museum

    I had a nice day trip to Juming Art Museum on the north coast with Klara (Swedish girl who sold me her scooter… and it turned out she was a designer… and well we got along ‘very well’). The day was more like a Californian spring day (I imagine) and for once the air was really cool and clear. We had an amazing ride over Yangmingshan mountain – the volcano at the end of my street.

    This is my favourite statue from his Tai Chi series. The amusing thing was watching the Taiwanese take photos of each other imitating every sculpture… and of course taking photos and sniggering.

    Me, hanging out in the sun in front of one of the larger sculptures… and being truly local by being on the phone!

    Wee kid.

    Klara and I in a cafe on the North Coast.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…