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
I haven’t really said too much about the new office location. Over Chinese New Year we shifted from the sticks of Shilin to the bright lights of Keelung and Jhongxiao. Downtown baby!
The investment in the new place is impressive, easily putting it on par with many European offices. The office is small (we seem to have instantly filled the place), but has impressive detailing and intelligent use of space. Energetic, and a professional step up in the world.
The down side is certainly that I had to cancel Chinese study with Michael in Tienmu. We had a good six month run of continued study together with the school near my old work, and more or less on his way home. It was a very pleasant way to stay in touch. The shift to the new downtown school on An He Road (and now six hours a week, up from four) is good, but I do miss a language study partner.
The shift in geographic focus is having some interesting side effects. I am cooking far less at home, now I am in such easy proximity of my friends, and all the bars. And in general I am spending less time at the apartment – not that I was ever at home much anyway. So, I need to be more careful about my sleep patterns, which remain pretty eratic.
I’ll put a bunch more photos up when the professional shots come back from the developers, but for now here is a shot from the recent grey days of Taipei early spring… now replaced with glorious sunshine and outdoor beers!
101 at lunch
The ubiquitous Blue Van is a Taiwan icon.
Adidas, with their recent boutique store opening in Jhongxiao Dunhua have decorated one in a way surely only possible on this one Pacific island. Great fun.
My Adidas
Box Fresh
After almost zero publicity, myself and my friends discovered that The Prodigy were playing Taipei. Rather an unusual location too – in the national soccer stadium – so I was interested to go and check it out based on the olde Chinese arcitecture.
It was definitely worth it, and was as crazy as a Tuesday night out could be in Taipei. Usually, I would not think of going to see them live, but the VIP passes were free (thanks to Charlotte’s connections) and there was a nice bunch of people going along. One of the most special things was, as a result of the location next to the airport every few minutes a plane would fly over head – totally awesome at a large rock and roll concert!
Firestarter
Nelson comes well prepared – and no he is not a tiny man, those beer cans are HUGE!
The sun really does shine out of Danny’s ass
Rich looks guilty
The group, after we persuaded a security guard to allow us to hang around more after the show – basicallt because he was so happy about taking a photo of us! And you can see the stage set up in preparation for the huge 50 Cent concert at the weekend.
I have a love/hate relationship with Taipei 101 – the world’s tallest and most over-decorated building. On the one hand I like the fact that it is unashamedly Asian and Chinese in style, but frankly I think that is no excuse for the heavy handed detailing and curious lack of height perspective as a result of the inverted ‘bamboo’ sections – which somebody pointed out look rather like a pile of Chinese food take-out boxes with some chop sticks stuck in the top. Perceptive.
The one thing I do quite like about it, however, is the way the authorities use the faces of the building to communicate with the world beyond. Major events like New Year’s Eve or Valentines Day become decorated in lighting down the side. It rather opens a conversation, I suppose, with the city.
In Love with 101
As a post-script to this entry, I heard an interesting story about Taipei 101. The French free-climber that scales all the major buildings in the world without the aid of satefy equipment, arrived in Taipei to attempt 101. He, very reasonably, asked that if the building could be cleaned before the event – grease and dirt build up is obviously a hazard. The response was nagative. He then asked if it was possible to clean a small strip up the side, and was met with the same answer. It turns out that the building is simply not cleaned! Sadly, I think this sums up the attitude towards the built environment in Taiwan.
Rich, Nick and I stepped out for a micro road trip away from the big smoke. We spotted a couple of nice things on the way that are worthy of a quick post.
Prohibited: ‘yes’ if you need to ask
Cool mini-temple roof near Mucha – tea capitol of Taiwan
Louis Vuitton moves into the dental health care industry
Weddings in Taiwan share some attributes of their Western counterparts – distant family feigning recognition, uncles and brothers ending up with their shirts hanging out of their trousers, and kids running around chairs until they knock their heads of some piece of well-placed wood.
There are, however, acute differences. The couple usually has their official family wedding several weeks before. There is an elaborate system of ceremonies, particularly focusing on the bride and her family, as far as I can tell. Perhaps I’ll cover that in more depth one day (though I cannot predict exactly how much detail at the moment, if you catch my drift).
The larger affair that I was at had 50 tables populated with every person they have ever met. The idea then is to fill each table with food and booze, leaving only the food remaining at the end. Specifically, it is the primary aim of every person in the room to drink the groom under the table – not difficult when he has to knock back a glass of whiskey at every table. By the end, Ryan had a small crowd of only marginally less drunk minders propping him up and guiding him to the next table, their faces full of joyous expectation, ready for the moment of marital vomit.
I returned home at 3:45pm totally hammered – some sort of new record I think.
Rather a beautiful temple roof detail, don’t you agree?
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.
