Jonathan Biddle – Made in Taiwan

Tag: Taiwan

  • Anke&Lars

    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.


    Ludvig, George, Martin (obscured), Marta, Anke, Lars, Michael, Tanja and Moi in our wee garden

    See you soon!

    Postscript:
    In the series of ‘no, this is their real farewell dinner’ dinners, this really was the final farewell dinner. It was very nice to be surrounded by the guys that have made the Taiwan experience what it is, and a few bottles of wine certainly did not hurt matters one jot.

    Xie Guang Ling!
    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • La La Shan

    4 metres into the ride and all is well …

    The ride of the year … 2 weeks of planning and avoiding bad weather were very nearly ruined 100 metres off the first climb when, losing a touch of balance / direction / control I veered off a cliff, landing 15 foot from the path, downwards.

    … then my world shifts by 15 ft. Checked all the bits were attached. Took a photo.


    Blurry, in more ways than one : “I’m okay!”

    Luckily, the sound effects of splitting bamboo helped break my fall and I landed, frozen in motion with my bike suspended 7 foot in the air, caught on the branches. Luckily – very luckily – I escaped with little more than an hour of mild shock and a rational fear of going near the edge again. Several handfuls of peanut M&Ms; later, however, and I was feeling a bit better.

    This improvement was sadly checked by three and a half hours of the hardest, most gruelling, demotivating hike-a-bike that I have ever endured, the slippery singletrack only broken by trees pushing into the queue in front of us.

    To cut a long and cold story short, we made it up to 8 Km by 12:00 (our designated cut off point) and started on the tough walking descent … but how much psychology is important! Our spirits returned with our energy and we were hopping over the trees without looking back once.


    Motivated by the bright sunshine and dancing girls, Team 7-11-7 discuss race tactics

    7 Km of epic singletrack descending through Bamboo forests, with the distinct feeling we were in land of the giants, and being watched by bands of lycra-clad ogres.

    And with steam whisping off our disk brakes as we return to the final bridge, there was no question we will be back next year. But time with better weather, felled trees, and a nice parking spot at the top of the trail with 16Km of some of the best descending available snaking out in front of us.


    Back at base (after a rather shaky bridge ride)

    Our trained maintenance crew inspects the bikes for water ingress

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Ryan’s Wedding

    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.

    Johnnie Walker is massively popular in Taiwan – especially at this wedding, it seems.


    The aftermath – you can see the dream of the western wedding, but through an Asian lens

    The DEM crew stagger home
    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Taoist Temple Roof

    Rather a beautiful temple roof detail, don’t you agree?

    Roof Detail
    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Lord of the Rings

    “The cameras go live to the nation in 1 minute … please tell us about your design concept …”

    Arriving at a client to find five teams of cameramen with journalists is alarming. And being told to talk to five blinking red LEDs about your concept with 35 seconds of preparation time is certainly a new experience for me. Welcome to the world of Celebrity Wedding Ring Design!

    The ring leader


    Smile for the camera

    Two months ago Demos – my boss – was on Taiwanese celebrity Tao Zi’s television show being interviewed. Unfortunately for him, he lost a bet which ended with him committing to design her wedding ring. Famous across Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and the whole Asian region (think Chinese Oprah), I am sure it seemed logical to ask a Brit designer with no jewelery experience to deliver the goods.

    The end result – a diamond, cut in half and concealed under an ergonomic bulge … more details of the design to follow, I am sure

    I knew on Thursday that the press release had been passed onto the media. Finding out it was in every major daily paper on Friday was rather a shock – especially since I had not seen it in the flesh at that point. I had been warned to dress up a bit on Friday (obviously, I still didn’t shave) but I was not so prepared to speak into six microphones at short notice with a brace of pretty interviewers fluttering around me. A blur.

    Tao Zi on the left – also with a bump. Demos looking cheeky down below

    As I left work, in a daze after the afternoon, text messages and phone calls started arriving from friends who had seen me on different channels (in between reports of the election – it wasn’t even a slow news day). I headed over to Nelson’s place to watch the TV and make use of the split screen function to keep track of the TV stations. Typically, two hours passed before I saw myself, and Nelson had to endure my jumping around pointing and screaming at the TV.

    My five minutes of fame!

    Deeply surreal
    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • 18 months.

    I realised that last week was the 18 months anniversary of being in Taiwan. Quite a strange feeling, being on the straight to 2 years away from home. Very strange.

    The next few months will see a few of the crew moving to different locations in Asia, so there will be several large parties in the coming months, and more than a few sad goodbyes.

    For now, I am battling through to Christmas and some deserved time with my family and friends!

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Johnnie Wa*ker

    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.

    My crazy new white shoes – one-offs from HK

    The dance floor at the end

    Nelson & Christina give it the attitude … and next weekend will be a bit more healthy 😉


    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • The Great Sausage Experiment

    My Mother sent me a hilarious package of things which arrived this Friday. Key among the items was a pack of 6 Newmarket sausages which we wanted to send via post to see if they survived the journey. Or, at least, if I survived when I ate them.

    They certainly did not smell bad, and there seemed to be a good trick – included in the parcel was a pack of Cadbury’s chocolate. The shape had been maintained, so I can only assume that the temperature during transit never got too high.


    Slap Up

    The final test of course came in the eating. I had all the ingredients for a full English breakfast, which I woke up George for as I bounced around the apartment cooking. Sausages, Bacon (American Style), Mushrooms (Grilled with Olive oil and Thyme), Beans (HP, sadly), HP Sauce (HP, gladly), Tea (Tetley’s), and Orange Juice.

    I am hungry again thinking about it!

    It was all fantastic, but the sausages certainly had a certain special additional … bouquet. Half way between lemon and vinegar in the background, they did taste a tiny little bit strange. However, I have had more than my fair share of dodgy kebabs without (many) problems so I ploughed straight through them and enjoyed every last bite.

    So, if I am still alive tonight and my gizzards have not fallen into the toilet I’ll make a sausage salad or something tomorrow. Yum.

    Full English

    As a post-script to this exercise, I went to Taipei’s newest high class restaurant a few weeks ago – ‘The Frying Scotsman’. Taipei’s first Fish N Chip shop! Not bad, but the owner, a heavy Glasgwegian guy, has managed to make the entire place authentically AVERAGE. It is not even really very great. Which, in a way I was rather pleased about. No Haute Cuisine. Just a nice nosh up. I think I’ll be heading back when I feel the need, but it is not the same as my Histon Fryer.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Stairway to Heaven

    I had one of the best rides of the last few months on Saturday. Several sections have been intimidating me for some time, especially because some of the rest of the crew are a bit more daring than me when doing bigger stuff.

    However, I was feeling strong and confident (all important) and the conditions were excellent. For the record, the weather in Taipei in November is truly wonderful – a light English summer day with clear skies and none of the usual horrendous humidity. A perfect set-up for mountain biking heroics!

    My primary nemsis in the past few months has been a very demanding set of steps to climb up. A series of steps, placed about 2 metres apart get progressivly higher until the final step with is over a foot tall. Several of the more experienced riders demonstrate a technique of gently lifting the front wheel up the step and then bunny-hopping the rear up, without losing balance for the next one. I have attempted it in more times than I care to remember, usually ending up in swearing at the hill, which does not help, but certainly it feels good!

    This, however, was my day. The technique, finally was correct, the speed slow but confident and I smoothly lifted the bike up step by step until I collapsed in a heap of glee, a wave of intense joy hitting me. Finally!

    Jonny 1 – Hill 15

    This return to confidence continued in two further sections of hard, technical downhilling that I had previously walked down. So, all in all, a wonderful giant-killing day. Perfect for a balls out night on the town!

    Bishan Camping Ground…

    Information signs at the stairway

    Taiwanese people are a bit neurotic about their little fluffy dogs!

    George of the jungle

    First attempt at the dreaded step drops ended in success (and a sore bum)

    Team 7117 in effect!
    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Worn Nobbies

    Mark has set up a web site specifically for the mountain bikers in Taiwan … the old expats of Yang Ming Shan to write their tales from around the world…

    Look out for more posts.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…