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More Scooter English.
To Feel Exuberan Tly Happy
Tag: Taiwan
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To Feel Exuberan Tly Happy
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Zuo Fan
Writing is rather sporadic at the moment – no internet connection at home at the moment, which is a bit of a pain.
However, last night was the momentous event of being able to cook for the first time in a whole year! I now have a kitchen and want to get back into the habit of cooking for myself. Slightly rusty in the supermarket as a result of being catered for for a year now, I seem incapable of buying things for cooking. I still managed to escape from the place with a pack of spaghetti, some garlic and olive oil, plus the closest thing I could get to a courgette.
Unfortunately, I ended up frying a cucumber, but still it tasted good and I appreciated it alongside a nice glass of red wine in the new apartment, which is slowly getting better.
I’ll post some other events soon. My digital camera is off for repair and I am weighing up buying a new one instead. The humidity of Taiwan destroys electronics, and in my case the menu buttons have stopped functioning, which is handy.
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Starcatcher
Smoking stackThe Taipei city council are a resourceful lot. Not only do they build a rubbish incinerator, but they heat a swimming pool from the excess energy. Not content with limiting themselves to mere swimming, they also saw fit to mount a revolving restaurant to the top of the multi-coloured chimney stack.
Thus, when eating here the stench of rubbish and diesel from the legions of trucks complements the sophisticated atmosphere and forceful service.
I also met a couple of new designers – Wouter from Holland and Nik… from London! Yeah, another Brit dude to complement myself, James and Dean. We are catching up with those pesky Germans, finally.
Getting wasted with the boys -
DEM – The New Office
Life is changing quickly for me. A new apartment and a new job are two significant differences in my life, that should both bring some good benefits. The new office certainly stimulating and I am really looking forward to my job developing over the coming weeks. For now, I should introduce to Prada – the office bitch.
Prada assists
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Taifun
Well I made it back in one piece. One final last night in Bangkok was pleasant, and I spent the evening in the company of some great English medical students that really reminded me of some of my times back home. I have to say, most of the Brits I met abroad have been either dull or total idiots. These were smart, funny and witty and I was able to sharpen my humour blades!
Of course, the flight yesterday was slightly hung over, and the slight anxiety of re-entering the country between jobs made me wonder how my visa would work out. I was told to enter on a tourist entry, and it all worked out fine. Getting back to my apartment was nice – even if it is slightly strange and more like a hotel – so I popped out to meet the guys in Wendels for a beer … and at that point it was announced it was another Typhoon holiday! Fantastic! My first day at work and I am on holiday. Cannae complain. It did make me think though, that if I had been caught in Bankok I would now be enjoying a couple of gratis days in a 5 star hotel.
So, overall, I liked Thailand. It was all too short, and perhaps the parts I saw were too touristy / back packy but overall it looks like a place worthy of more exploration.
For now, I need to sort some apartment things out, and eventually I will install internet in my place. For now, I am in a gaming cafe surrounded by people playing role-playing games. Worth talking about that some other time…
For now, another day off work.
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Typhoon Holiday!
This was the typhoon’s position yesterday – it is hard to appreciate from this picture, but it sharply veers from its course as it hits the Taiwanese coast.
The position today – you can see how the ‘pond ripple’ potential future position of the typhoon have become less broad.
Relaxing here in my local coffee shop, it is hard to imagine that one of the most violent typhoons in recent years has just hit the island. Yesterday, on its collision course with Taipei, Typhoon Haitung veered off course down the coast and hit land in Hualian. As a result, although we all got the day off work today (yay!) the weather is very pleasant. Indeed, Anke, Lars, Tanja and Michael have just arrived to enjoy some coffee and shelter from the warm sunshine outside.Update:
Found a decent photo of the Typhoon’s indecisive path now… the first ‘loop’ in 35 years. Okay, I made that up – but it is the first time a Typhoon’s path has changed like that in ages and ages and ages.
For some previous Typhoon coverage, check these posts out: -
World Cup Mountain Biking
Right at the end of the ride on Sunday we encountered a large group of walkers – an increasingly common sight in Taiwan. Unlike the UK, where you are greeted with at best a nod and at worst a dirty look, the walkers in Taipei are astonished to see anything on two wheels attempting their walking trails, no matter if it is flat earth or a hair-raising descent. Climbing is met with a loud “Jia Yo” which means “Add Fuel”, technical sections get a “Li Hai” (“great!”) and they will invariably greet you with a fumbled “Hallo!” and then stand in front of you smiling as you try to ride around them.
The group on this day, however, were at the bottom of the final section of downhill for ‘Helens’ – named after the coffee bar at the top. 25 birst into sustained applause at the sight of us, and we were not even sure if it was safe to attempt it! On previous weeks it was really touch and go. In my experience, walkers or spectators of any kind mean default crashing but we all got through to cheers and applause! A very nice end to a ride where I could not get a good rhythm going (indeed, I got in a childish bad mood half way through and kicked my wheel, buckling it … frustrations of Taiwan find their way out one way or another!).
Peter (Ireland), George (Germany), Mark (USA), Moi (UK) – the morning crew!I’ll be adding some video and more pics as soon as I get my new server arranged.
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Mattieu’s Barbecue # 2
Jonny & Marta! (my favourite Polish person)Mattieu staged his second barbecue party, hosting much of the French population on his expansive rooftop overlooking the city to one side and the mountains to the other. My new apartment will feature a similar set-up, with even a little garden!
Last time, Mattieu managed to attract a very large number of attractive girls. This time, the guys clearly got wind of this and turned out in force. If Mattieu were to host another, I am guessing the local girls will learn of the quantity of elligible, single, professional European males and thus the cycle would continue. Sadly, his landlord had other ideas and has banned him from further parties due to the noise – on such a noisy little island this is rather ironic.
One interesting thing I have realised is that the French seem to stick together. And the Germans too, come to that. And then there seems to be in the middle – the lone plucky Brit. I am not sure if this is me, or the fact that I am British, but it is interesting none the less. You can also see that Europeans (including the Brits) tend to stick to other Europeans rather than hang out with Americans and Canadians. It seems I have more in common with people who do not share my mother tongue than those on the other side of the pond.
Why won’t anyone listen to me?!” – Gerd and Marta discuss, while Lars screams for attention
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Ximen Operatics Society
A voice like sandpaper singing songs of painful death (I think)I met this fella singing his heart out on his portable bike-mounted Karaoke system. Karaoke gets everywhere in Taiwan, people are surprisingly good and it is a massively popular way to spend a Friday night. For this guy, though, he is unlikely to find fame in the near future.
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Computex 2005
Visiting Computex – Taiwan’s biggest electronics show, no.2 in the world – was a pretty interesting experience for me, mainly because it was one of the most memorable company events from a year ago when I first arrived. I have a feeling it was a slightly more sombre affair this year, but it may be in part to being more used to the environment here!
You can check last year’s event here
One of the most arresting things are the hordes of babes touting electro tat for their companies. There seems to have been an alarming trend over the last year to make it slightly less sexist and rubber clad, but fortunately there were enough companies seeing the light this year to continue with the fine tradition.
Plenty of booty shaking – these girls clearly believe in their product
Michael approaches an AMD clown…
… and gets the desired effect.
NVidia splashed out on bored students with enormous bags.
And I am almost positive these ladies had nothing to do with the stand at all, and were simply craving the attention of the legions of happy snapping geek guys (me not included)
