接下來的打算...

不知不覺的，11月底要到了，這也代表我已經在台北過了 10個月了！
真的好快，多兩個月就做滿一年了！
因此，最近很多朋友都在問我接下來有什么打算...

是繼續在台湾工作呢？還是回新加坡找工作？還是留在台湾但是換個公司？留下來的話會留多久？是轉成目前公司的全職員工，還是繼續跑現在的實習計劃？問題還真的蠻多的...

所以乘機跟大家告知一下，我現在還在跟公司“研究”不同繼續在公司工作的方法（主要是研究拿到居留證或工作準證的不同process)
但是意愿是想留下來繼續工作下去，所以短期內應該不會回到新加坡工作。

不過，我明年一月份會回新加坡一下下... 1/14晚上會抵達新加坡，1/15傍晚飛往印尼，1/17傍晚回到新加坡，1/19再回到台湾。

另外，農歷新年的時候我一定會在新加坡。

所以如果要聚一聚話，還是有機會的 :)

我“上報”了！ :)

AIESEC 北大分會09/10團隊發起月刊的電子報，剛好找我做個采訪，所以我才有機會“上報”

剛好也是我第一次用中文進行采訪，講得不是那么的好，只能希望大家還能看懂 :)

有興趣的話，可以到這看看：
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B6S_vaIhwdfKY2U1YzE1ZDEtYzBlOC00MGQ5LWI1MTYtZDMzZmYwZGQwY2Ri&hl=en

緊接十月台風的花蓮之旅

看了日歷記錄和上傳到facebook的照片才發現，我從六月到現在只去了

1. 嘉義縣的阿里山 - 6/27 & 6/28
2. 台北縣的烏來 - 7/12
3. 台北縣的貢寮市 （劃獨木舟）- 8/16
4. 上海和蘇州 - 8/24 至 9/18

雖然從上海回來后，確實去了桃源縣的大溪和新竹，但前者是與AIESEC身份去的，而新竹是為了工作而去的，所以都比較算是工作不是旅游。

還好十月份的時候，阿姨從新加坡來台湾玩，所以我才有動力再次出去“探險”台湾，到花莲去玩。

台湾的東部（尤其是花蓮和台東）跟西邊相比是較缺乏資源，城市與產業開發過程也比較慢。可能因為如此，東部的生活節奏感覺比較輕松，大自然也保存的很好。

我們這次到花蓮非常期待能體驗到花蓮的自然美，尤其是太鲁阁國家公園和七星譚。不幸的是，周末的前幾天剛好有台風接近，即使到了周末還是一直下雨，所以我們最后體驗到的花蓮是濕濕的。

惡劣天氣造成了很多不便，太魯閣的許多步道因有落石而被封閉，七星譚因風雨太大而不方便讓人們在譚邊散步或觀賞風景，清水斷崖也因被蒙在霧中而造成我們無法看得很清楚。

雖然覺得非常可惜，但這次的花蓮之旅也讓我們體驗到另一種美：

近距離接觸到瀑布的美

平時的不到應該不會出現這種狀況的!

這也是因雨水造成的小瀑布，就在我們步道旁邊

有如神仙居住的地方的美

大自然有渺小的，也有威力的美

小小的植物與強流的溪水對照

花蓮到處都是山，大量的雨水形成的瀑布就這樣從山上流下。
住在山下的居民也只能希望不會有落石、土崩之類的天災發生。

其他照片：http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=327580&id=576355703&l=dbe7e22f68

悅智亞洲 - 上海辦事處

前幾個文章都分享到9月到上海和蘇州的心得和照片，一部分的人應該會以為我是去旅行的，但是其實是為了工事而過去的。

什么工事呢？就是我們公司（悅智全球）創了分公司（悅智亞洲），并在大陸設了辦事處！

公司之前主要还是服务位于台湾的廠商，但是最近有幾個案子都包含協助廠商開拓大陸市場，或協助他們在大陸的經營。此外，在大陸和台湾關系暖和之下，兩岸的廠商對開拓彼此市場以及與對方合作的興趣也提高了。這也形成向我們這種顧問公司能提供價值服務的機會。

這次很幸運能加入公司的大陸團隊，參與一切的準備。雖然自己對大陸市場還是很陌生，對這種“創業”的過程也很不熟悉，但就因為如此而讓我吸取寶貴的學習經驗！

在這裡就順便跟大家分享我們小小開幕儀式的照片：

悅智亞洲在台北的籌備處開幕
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=328111&id=576355703&l=25e46bfd3f

悅智亞洲上海辦事處的開幕
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=316334&id=576355703&l=cd1e5e3aa8

Adventures in China (Shanghai and Suzhou)

Long overdue photos from China trip (featuring Shanghai and Suzhou)

Adventures in Shanghai - Part 1 (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=310790&id=576355703&l=fc4c0d5696)
Adventures in Shanghai - Part 2 (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=312415&id=576355703&l=bda8454789)

Adventures in Suzhou (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=313501&id=576355703&l=1170a98472)

Some highlights :)

東方明珠、上海灘

上海美食

蘇州之美

Thoughts on Shanghai - written 27 Aug 09

This is my first time in Shanghai, and actually only my 2nd time in China.. the 1st time was in Guang Zhou in May 2008 and I spent about a week and a half there…

But somehow the impressions of Shanghai are really quite different from that of Guang Zhou… as a matter of fact, the main things I remember about Guang Zhou now are 1. lots of traffic 2. lots of good desserts and food 3. lots of promotions about the Olympics… (but I suppose this is normal considering how short a time I spent there actually walking around in the streets and seeing the place)

Anyway… the first impression from Shanghai is how HUGE everything is… it suddenly made me realize I’m truly from a very small country… my Taiwanese friends used to say all the time that Taiwan is so small and of course I would bring up how much smaller Singapore is… but even then, as much as certain aspects of Taiwan (and Taipei) reflect how much bigger and larger they are than that of Singapore, it was nothing compared to what I felt in Shanghai…

From airport and immigration, lots of people, long queues, huge halls and corridors that seem to go on forever… from MRT stations to expressways to condominiums, housing apartments and office towers… from the size and width of the roads, staircases at MRT stations to the size of shopping centres… everything is big… some people will probably think this is what everyone knows about China in general and it’s probably true… but all I can say is, seeing it for myself definitely has a much stronger impact…

The second impression I had of Shanghai is that of disparity… it’s a strange kind of feeling, one I can’t quite place or describe properly... it comes from knowing and fully experiencing how fast development is and will continue to be in Shanghai… from the construction going on everywhere, to the grandiose of the buildings and towers constructed, to its global reputation as THE economic centre to be today… yet not too far from our office building, you’ll find tiny shophouses that look extremely local… from the 6th floor and above of a 4 star hotel, you’ll find yourself looking out at an expanse of two-storey flats occupied by locals who hang laundry and cook meals on their rooftops… you’ll find a housewife walking around in the Xin Tian Di area (kind of like the central business district where the expensive offices and condominiums are) in her night gown at 10am in the morning… when you’re in a taxi heading to work, you’ll see 5-storey apartments where people hang their laundry facing the main road (so yes it’s quite a colorful display… plus I wonder if that doesn’t just makes their clothes dusty again)… in buildings that are hundreds of years old, you’ll find restaurants and cafes selling anything from Brazilian to Mexican to American and Japanese cuisine…

I think this feeling about the disparity is somewhat similar to what I felt in Vietnam, though if you think about it, Shanghai and Vietnam are worlds apart in terms of development… yet both places seem to reflect societies that are growing so rapidly despite the poor infrastructure and seemingly disregarding (note the use of “seemingly”) the presence of its very local culture… it’s like trying to answer the question “how do you create your own unique culture when you are opening so fast to the world, when your people within the state itself are so easily divided into classes (natural considering the size of Shanghai), and when certain aspects of your society don’t seem able to keep up with the pace of development?” Is it really possible to create such scale and magnitude of wealth, and let everyone, if not the majority, enjoy a share of that pie?

On a slightly related note, Lee Kuan Yew came up in a few conversations these days… it was brought up about how his brilliance helped bring Singapore through a remarkable phase of development from 3rd world to 1st world country… yet I have been wondering… I have always felt that LKY should be given due credit for the accomplishments and foresights he brought to Singapore… I have also felt that while he achieved his end means, I wonder if perhaps his approaches are really the best and only way for us to move forward… I also feel that his accomplishments might not have been so fantastic if not for the fact that Singapore is a small country, geographically and in terms of population, and that the government relished rather strict and tight governance over its people…

Given that, I wonder how he would fare if he were to govern Shanghai… lots of economic potential and prosperity, a government style that is openly controlling, lots of “migrant communities” (people from out of state, with different backgrounds, mother tongues, cultures etc), but on a scale 5 times that of Singapore…I really wonder…

Anyway… I realize my original intentions to pen my thoughts about Shanghai and the places here have gone somewhat awry… in any case, it feels good to finally get these thoughts out of my head… the photos and travelogue will come for sure… at least for now, it’s these slightly deeper issues flying around in my head…

我回來了！

很久沒在這裡寫東西了，現在快快地通知一下，我已經回到台北了！

之前因爲工作而出差到上海，在上海呆了大概三個多禮拜，昨天傍晚才回來。
這次出差是我第一次到上海，第二次到中國，所以對所看到的及所經驗到的有蠻多想法的。
希望接下來會有耐心把這些想法與感受放到這裡。:)

在台北吃新加坡式早餐！

自從來到台灣，我一直在找道地的新加坡食物和飲料。到現在是有吃到幾家不錯的海南雞飯，但味道還是會有點不一樣，而且喝過的咖啡都完全不像新加坡的。

所以後來發現亞坤 (http://www.yakun.com/) 的連鎖店也有開到台北，就快速招了同事一起去試吃。

台灣亞坤賣的還是有點不一樣，基本套餐有一粒半生熟雞蛋，兩片土司和一個飲料 （新加坡的是兩粒雞蛋）。而且，攤位提供的是醬油，所以比較像馬來西亞的吃法，因爲新加坡用的是黑醬油（類似這裡的醬油糕）。

雖然如此，那天還是吃得很開心，因爲味道非常道地，非常有家的感覺！連平時不太喜歡吃半熟蛋的同事們也覺得好好吃！

各位有興趣品嘗新加坡式早餐的話，可以到信義區新光三越，Ａ８館，Ｂ２樓的亞坤試試看！
而且特別提醒，雞蛋一定要加胡椒粉和醬油，記得在攤位櫃檯先加！

Capitalism at the Crossroads

note: this post is in English because there are just too many thoughts running through my head that I have to get them all out quick!

In time for my previous goal set of reading at least 1 book a month, I have finally reading Capitalism at the Crossroads by Stuart L. Hart... many many thanks to Shirley and Rina, without whom I would never have ended up with the book in Taiwan (in brief, the book belongs to Shirley, who lent it to Rina at a conference but forgot to get it back when she was in Singapore, which Rina brought to Guangzhou but forgot to pass it to Li Zhen who was going to Rotterdam, which Rina passed to me to bring to Taiwan because Shirley might drop by sometime to visit family before starting work but didn't in the end cos she found a job too soon.. phew! :p)

anyway, I say finally also because I had previously started on the book in Singapore last year but never continued it when I got to Taiwan... so it's been a long journey with this book, and thankfully that journey is now complete! :)


I have to say this book is a must read, especially for those interested in innovation, sustainability and business models... I won't go into the details (because you deserve to discover them on your own) but here's a brief about the contents, followed by some of my thoughts...

The book's main proposition is that in today's world, Multi-National Companies (MNCs) are the entities best equipped to deal with the world's sustainability problems, because they have the resources, the technology and the scale to create products/ services that meet the triple bottom line of: Economic impact, Social Impact and Environmental Impact..

While most companies today already know that sustainability or CSR initiatives don't have to come at the expense of profits and market share, the book emphasizes the huge potential for MNCs to positively impact the community, address environmental issues AND strengthen their own long term corporate sustainability by looking towards the Base of Pyramid (BoP) , the 4 to 5 billion people at the base of the economic pyramid, people considered too poor to do business with... The author argues that the BoP is the pristine consumer base where
1) most other competitors have not penetrated
2) people there do not have pre-conceived notions about using certain products
3) people in rural communities often get bullied by suppliers, who charge more because these villages have little say...

To illustrate the potential based on these 3 points, the average household in the city would probably be used to using fluorescent lightbulbs and would not be inclined to switch to LED lighting which costs more upfront but lasts way longer and is more environmentally friendly... if an MNC is able to create, through R&D, a simplified and cheaper version of LED lighting designed FOR the poor (perhaps powered by solar panels), the poor family in a rural village could possibly welcome it as an alternative to consistently spending money on matches and candles bought from shops which do not enjoy enough economies of scale to bring prices down..

The book offers many other case studies of MNCs that have succeeded as well as failed in trying to reach the BoP... it also highlights the pitfalls that MNCs can fall into, especially if MNCs only view this simply as a means of marketing their products without integrating and engaging the locals in order to build new business models, co-invent products and services and design new channel distribution models which move from within the community, and which in the process help improve overall living conditions in those very communities...

All in all, the book offers many exciting ideas and perspectives different from most of what is taught in school, simply because what has been expounded mostly so far is an economic model focused on those at the top of the economic pyramid, where infrastructure, education and means of marketing and communication already exist to facilitate the introduction of new products and technology...

You can find out more about the BoP Protocol at http://www.bop-protocol.org

While I haven't mentioned very much about technology and innovation, it is a very crucial aspect for companies to drive sustainability from within... It was very interesting to see case studies highlighting concepts such as "Cradle to Cradle" (designing the product till the end of its lifecycle, possibly where it's construction materials are designed to be recycled after its use to generate other products) as well as "Creative Destruction" (innovating new technology which destroys the need for existing technology which the company depends on now, thus opening up a whole new market space)

Personally, the role of technology struck a chord in me... Having come from an engineering background (and from a stream where I did learn about product design), I kept wondering...

What if our students actually were exposed to this concept right from within our education?

If technopreneurship is such a relevant topic still, why do we not learn about such ideas within our courses of product design, of Engineers & Society, of Engineering Innovation and Design and so on?

Why are we still so unaware of some of the research projects (within Singapore and around the world) which are addressing such sustainability ideas?

If it's a requirement for engineering students to take some modules from Business, Science or Humanities, and this requirement stems from the need for more broad-based thinking, why do we not marry sustainability, management and engineering to create modules which spark ideas and guide thoughts about the impact an engineer (in an entry-level position, within a large corporation etc) can bring through technology?

And just as it was mentioned in the book that MNCs also have the largest resistance in cultivating such revolutionary innovation in both technology and business models management (due to size, structures, habits etc.), I wonder what's the solution to the seemingly ever-present situation where education in our institutes lags one or a few steps behind addressing the challenges and problems the world faces right now...

簡報...

跟各位快快地報告一下，因爲最近工作比較忙，所以一直沒時間更新部落各的内容。
下禮拜的時間應該會好多了，到時候再跟大家分享最近發生的事：

• 12號到烏來玩
• 17號到桃園玩
• 25號在台北嘗試亞坤的新加坡式早餐

=)

反省后的一些想法...

不知不覺的，我已經在台灣呆了快半年了... 可能是因爲上個星期剛過了二十五嵗的生日，或是因爲最近周末都沒出去玩，加上最近工作比較輕鬆（應該是暫時性的，希望是:P），所以花了一些時間來做一下人生的反省...

反省的過程中，回想到當初會要出國工作，主要也是為了多看多了解新加坡以外的世界，挑戰自己的適應和辦事能力，並從中更了解自己的能力、自己在事業上的方向、以及自己在世界和社會上能付出的貢獻...

至今，我發現其實對自己下來想走的路還是有蠻多疑問的... 而在某种程度上，也對自己的能力有所疑惑... 雖然覺得自己到目前的確有學到很多東西，但還是懷疑自己好像並沒有突破性的成長，在了解下來的人生方向也好像沒有什麽突破性的發現...

但后來跟幾位同事聊了一下，然後再回想到自己在AIESEC的經驗，結果發現其實現在走的路是有符合到自己去年定下的 “個人五年發展計劃”... 也領悟到，每個人走的路畢竟是不一樣的，所以用來發掘自己人生方向的時間也不一樣... 雖然我現在並不是非常確定未來方向，但至少在發掘它的過程中還是在做有挑戰性的工作、還是遇到很多非常優秀的好人（並跟他們學習)、還是在做對社會有貢獻的事、還是在發現台灣的美...

當然，這些都算是好事，但經過這次的反省，也決定要讓自己生活更加充實，所以定下了一下個人目標：

提高自己的中文水平
在認字方面，已經有相當的進展了。但發現有時還是沒辦法很清楚地用文字或語言發表自己的想法。所以決定，以後的部落各文章以及工作上的電子郵件要盡量用中文寫。

更積極擴充自己的知識
我給自己的目標是，每個月都要看完至少一本書，而且中英文的都要看（應該就輪流看吧，這個月看英文的，下個月看中文的）。
還好公司收集了很多有關商業管理、品牌管理的書，要看小説的話應該可以跟同事或朋友借...

健康生活
已經找到運動伴了！下來的每個星期四晚上要到附近的公園跑步了！

目前大概就這樣吧...
很顯然的，反省的過程並不一定能讓我們找到想要的答案，甚至會讓我們越想越困惑... 但我想，有了困惑才能有新發現、有突破！
希望在人生中，我們一直會有困惑，一直有發現和突破！

p.s. 我用了接近一個小時把這篇寫完，真是太慢了

p.p.s. for those of you who can't read Chinese, I hope the Google Translate toolbar I added on the left of my blog will help!! Please note that you will not get a perfect translation (it's a machine doing it after all)... perhaps if time permits in future, I will post in both English and Chinese so you get exactly what I am trying to say :)

Ali Shan and Chiayi county - 27 & 28 Jun 2009

My family was in Taipei to visit! Lots of funny moments since this was the first time my parents are in Taiwan and first time since a loooong time ago since my mom traveled overseas...

They touched down on the 23rd and stayed at the TS Hotel in Xi Men Ding (really reasonable rates for a decent and comfortable 3-persons room)... most of the next few days saw them going around in Taipei and occasionally I met up with them for some eating and traveling after work...

in any case, the highlight of their trip was probably our visit to Ali Shan and Jia Yi county over the weekend... This was a tour package I signed up for via one of the local tour agencies and for a one-time fee, covered the following:

• Overnight coach ride from Taipei to Chiayi
• Trip up to Ali Shan to watch the sun rise and see the forest park
• 1 night stay at a 5 Star hotel (耐斯王子 Nice Prince Hotel in Chiayi)
• complimentary dinner and breakfast at the hotel (international buffet style for both meals)
• All other meals, as well as transport costs e.g. train ride on Ali Shan) were also catered for
  
• Tour in Chiayi city which includes Chiayii city park, Chiayi Insect Museum and a visit to 布袋漁港 (Bu Dai Port) including a boat trip to sea
• Return coach ride back to Taipei

We didn't get to visit the port unfortunately as the waves were too rough due to a nearby typhoon that week so they brought us to a farm resort... unfortunately it was themed around Bali and Thailand so we didn't find that very authentic or attractive haha...
(If you're interested in this package, check http://tour.colatour.com.tw/b03ticket/show_ticket.asp?seq=402&type=3 for more info... the tour is organized by the hotel and promoted by tour agencies)

Anyway, it was really fun, enjoyable and totally worth the money (which wasn't really that expensive considering what the trip included)... I didn't get a lot of group shots on my camera but here are some from the trip:

Us on the train to the peak of Ali Shan.. This was about 4 plus in the morning... and yes it was cold, probably 15 deg C or less.. hence my mom's attire...

The sun rise on Ali Shan, at about 5.15am

Cool sign we saw on Ali Shan

Night view of Chiayi city from our hotel room on the 14th floor

Now I can proudly say that I have conquered Ali Shan as well as the Sun Moon Lake! Key icons of Taiwan!!

More photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=275510&id=576355703&l=b2e5de7d99

明池山莊 - 30 & 31 May 2009

2 weeks after my visit to mid-Taiwan, I was heading back to 宜蘭 (I-lan county) again, this time to spend the weekend at 明池山莊, Mingchih Forest Recreation Area with 3 of my colleagues...

There's a dedicated shuttle bus service (not free though) that leaves Taipei City for the recreation area and the journey takes about 2 plus hours I think... The recreation area is actually within a "basin" created by surrounding mountains so it's some distance above sea level and the journey there involves some mountain roads, which meant lots of winding left and right on the bus... for those of you who get motion sickness easily, better bring your motion sickness meds and avoid too heavy a meal before the journey!

Despite that, I think being in the area itself makes up for the winding journey up.. and I'm sure most people will feel better already the moment they reach the area... we were greeted by very fresh air, lots of greenery everywhere and the sounds of nature (birds, water, wind blowing through trees)... Once there, we went on a guided tour through the area near our resort and the guide introduced us to the history of the area as well as to the different types of trees growing there...

the next day, we went on another guided tour, this time higher up in the mountain (another winding bus journey up) where we saw the famous 神木 (literally translated to God Tree) forest... these 神木 are trees that HUGE and extremely old (1500 years is considered quite young here)...

For nature lovers who want a definite break from city life, this place is extremely recommended! Do note that since it's in the mountains, the temperature can get low so bring your coats... Also, it's a pity that the tour guides only speak Chinese but in any case, you can move around on your own as well if you don't want to join the guided tour... It's probably advisable to go there with a group of friends and perhaps book a chalet room for 1 night and share the cost... otherwise, if you drive or intend to stay over in I-lan, the recreation area is good for a 1-day trip as well... oh and 1 last thing, those who are staying over, bring your own snacks!! There is only 1 restaurant in that area and no convenience stores at all... :)

Here are some photos of the area

You can view the rest of my photos at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=7049291&l=d7bea1209f&id=576355703

Day in Changhua County - 18 May 2009

This post is way overdue.. but to do justice to the trip, I still have to update it here :)

as mentioned in the previous post, I traveled with Prior and Eva to the middle of Taiwan... Saturday (17th May) was spent in Nan Tou county where I finally saw the Sun Moon Lake... Sunday (18th May) was spent in Changhua itself experiencing lots of wonderful food... :)

Here's a map just to show you very quickly where Changhua is within the whole Taiwan Island... It's quite a quiet place where you can see immediately that the pace of life is quite different from that of Taipei. There aren't as many tall buildings either so it's refreshing to be able to see so much sky...

We started by picking up Sandy (who was in the area having attended a wedding the day before) and headed to our first stop, the temple street at Lugang...
You can probably tell from the roof that this temple is really old.. old enough that its construction did not involve using any nails at all; everything is pieced together using wood...

As a matter of fact, walking around in this part of Lugang gives an overall "old" kind of feel...
The houses here really date back tens, even hundreds of years for some... so it was definitely a cool experience walking around in these narrow alleys and occassionaly peeping into people's homes...

We also paid a visit to 八卦山 where there is a sitting Buddha statue that overlooks the entire Changhua city... I thought it was really great that they made the area around the statue so family-friendly since it brings people together and makes things more lively...

That aside, the rest of my Changhua trip was mainly full of food.. here's a montage of all the food I ate and had taken a photo of (yes I missed out some)

1. Yam Pork Bun
2. BBQ Squid
3. 麵茶, a kind of paste in peanut-ish sauce
4. 地瓜球 (Tapioca balls)
5. 狀元糕 (literally means Scholar Cake), tastes a bit like Kueh Tu-Tu in Singapore
6. 五味庚, a dish that had cuttlefish, prawn dumplings, pork dumplings, mushrooms and vegetables (hence the 五 or five in the name)
7. Shaved ice dessert
8. Pork Bun
9. Fried chicken wing
10. 肉圓, pork dumpling (ate this on Monday morning in the office)

I actually ate more cos we had breakfast and dinner at Prior...

All in all, extremely fulfilling weekend trip to mid-Taiwan which I highly recommend to anyone looking for a cultural, scenic and gastronimical experience!

For more photos, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=258209&id=576355703&l=d79096179e

Day in Nantou County - 17 May 2009

So this is again way overdue but because I'm committed to the cause of enticing more people to come to Taiwan and discover its beauty, I'm still going to post this :)

So on Friday evening 16 May 09, I traveled to Zhang Hua county with Prior and Eva since Prior was going back to his hometown and invited me along.. this is my first time to the central part of Taiwan and it did prove to be an amazing weekend...

on Saturday 17 May 2009, we headed to Nantou county (see map on the left). Prior drove and the trip took just abit over 1 hour thanks to a new expressway that opened linked Zhang Hua and Nantou...

As you can see from the map, Nantou is actually the only county in the whole of Taiwan that does not touch the shoreline... so yes it's entirely inland...

Yet despite that, I can assure you that it's visited by many many people because the allure of the Sun Moon Lake is just too great


It really is very very beautiful! they say that the lake looks different at different times of the day and I do believe it even though I did not see it (we spent about 3 hours plus there)... surrounded by mountains covered in greenery, the lake gives a really peaceful feel to visitors...
The road goes all around the lake so there were a lot of tourist buses as well as cyclists... our 1st stop was the Wen Wu Temple (文物廟), a beautiful temple directly facing the lake.. a large part of it was damaged in the 1999 earthquake but thanks to aid that poured in from within and outside of Taiwan, it has been properly restored...

We then went on to take a boat ride on the lake... these boat rides come with and without guided tours... we did the one without since Prior was pretty much an experienced tour guide already :)

The boat trip was about 1.5 hours and included a stop at another smaller temple as well as a view of this mini island in the lake (it used to be much bigger but most of it sank in the earthquake). If you go during the weekdays, you can even go on the island... you can't do that on weekends since there are already too many visitors then and I'm sure that island will sink if we all went on it :)

for more info on Sun Moon Lake, visit http://www.sunmoonlake.gov.tw/sun.aspx?Lang=EN

After the Sun Moon Lake, we then headed to the Pu Li brewery
The brewery is actually featured in the book "Blue Ocean Strategy in Taiwan" as one of the case studies... Once a pure brewery that almost went out of business, it is now one of the biggest and most famous breweries in the whole of Taiwan and draws huge crowds of locals and tourists every day to buy products related to 紹興酒 (Shao-xing wine, a form of traditional Chinese wine fermented from rice) or to visit its museum and learn more about the process of making various forms of alcohol as well as random facts about alcohol...

A tunnel whose walls are made up of wine urns...
More on Puli Brewery at http://www.sunmoonlake.gov.tw/TW/04001114.aspx

Our final stop of the day was at the 中台禪寺 or the Chung Tai Chan Monastery... located in quite the rural part of the area (we passed by farms and large plots of lands before reaching it), the monastery is built by the largest (I think) Buddhist association in Taiwan and is said to cost NTD 4 billion to build...

From the outside, you can already tell that a lot of effort was put into the design and construction of this monastery... when you step inside, it's even more amazing...

Here you see the grand hall of the monastery on the 1st floor... that statue on the left is one of the four guardians in the halls and is 5 storeys tall and weighs 120 tonnes... It is entirely hand-sculpted, just like many of the other statues and structures in the monastery...

They definitely didn't hold back when it came to getting the best materials and the best craftsmen for this monastery...

Only the 1st two floors are open to the public and there are monks and nuns who help explain about the statues, the construction and of course about Buddhism... they cater to foreigners too (we passed by a group where a nun was speaking fluent English)...

It's an interesting way of spreading Buddhism to the world... this organization has also opened schools in the area where children learn Buddhist values from young while receiving high quality education (all students have to learn Chinese, English, French and Spanish)..

To find out more, check out http://www.ctworld.org.tw/english-96/html/index.htm (the chinese website features more information but the english one is not too bad.. comes with a virtual tour too :P)

So all in all, it was a very enriching day where I saw great scenery, learnt about wine making and had my breath taken away by the monastery while learning more about Buddhism... Definitely a worthwhile trip!

More photos at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6892183&l=3934180b1e&id=576355703

Just a thought...

People have often asked why I chose to come to Taiwan, considering that the culture between Taiwan and Singapore are quite similar... and I am always confused by this question...

I'm confused because I don't understand how people know that the cultures are similar when they have not lived in both Singapore AND Taiwan...

After all, isn't culture more than what we see on the news? in the newspapers? in books? Isn't culture more than just food? and fashion? and isn't culture also more than that group of friends you have from that country?

Definitions tell me that culture is a set of behaviors, values, beliefs and attitudes within a group/community of people... I don't dispute that, I think it does make sense... but on the other hand, some part of me insists that culture is nothing more a pair of "perspective lens" that Man puts on due to our very innate need to group, to classify and to distinguish...

Isn't it conflicting? We seek to belong yet we seek to differentiate ourselves... We learn the accents that the locals speak, we shake hands and exchange name cards the way locals do, we hang out at local spots to experience life like the locals and sometimes we fear being found out because it means we will get charged tourist prices.. yet we also seek to be special; we look for differences, we ask questions about the way things work, we point out how things are like in our own countries, we ponder why some things suck back at home when they work so well here locally...

and it is in this process of classifying, grouping and distinguishing that we slowly get the sense of what, in general, this "culture" thing really is... so if you think about it, cultures exists, or more accurately, we recognise culture BECAUSE there are differences... it's like how you can't see air which is all around you, but you can recognise it when you experience
1. a lack of it or
2. the differences in the environment when air moves or changes its state (e.g. when the wind blows)

If this is the case, saying that cultures are similar is also acknowledging that there are differences.. and if differences exists, that means that there is something to experience by going or living there... and if there is something to experience, why does it seem strange for people to uproot themselves sometimes and live in another country?

Am I making sense or am I going round in circles? Just a thought...

HIV / AIDS in the World

Fantastic talk and presentation by Dr. Hans Rosling on HIV/AIDS...

http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_the_truth_about_hiv.html

I can't embed it here but I assure you it's definitely worth a view!

Dr. Rosling talks about how we always tend to oversimplify the HIV/AIDS problem into something that is "Africa" and he shows with hard core statistics the disparity within African nations, and even within the different cities of an African nation... He also talks about why it's essential to tackle the problem by preventing transmissions instead of only focusing on developing and delivering treatment...

Something that really struck me was with regards to statistics that we typically see. For example, we occasionally see statistics about the number of HIV/AIDS infected people in a certain country, or the % of people in a country / region that has the AIDS. This really doesn't paint a very accurate picture if you think about it.

For one, if people don't get tested, naturally the number of infected people will be less. Because we just won't know.

For another, in some of the worst hit countries in the world that are too poor to deliver much medical support to those infected, these people die young from the disease. Which then affects the total number of people infected (which usually only refers to the living)

If you flip this around, it means that a country with a moderate number of infected people and has the ability to provide more medical aid can help these people keep the disease at bay and ensure they can live longer and more meaningful lives. And this again affects the total number of people infected.

So what should we do in the face of this daunting challenge that faces mankind, and the very strong tendency for us to "over-simplify" or "out-classify" the problem when we see the news or the statistics?

As far as I can say, let's get ourselves tested so we know for sure and let's spread the word so people know more about HIV/AIDS, how to protect themselves and how to curb the transmission of this terrible virus.

Dilbert MBA Series - funny!

This 2nd one is so classic Alice :)

Help with survey

Please help with a survey, it will not take more than 3 mins of your time! Thanks in advance!
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=cms1aFQtWlhCNEU3SjQwN1EwOGtlOVE6MA

or

http://tinyurl.com/o2lzmp

(they are the same so just fill it up once :P)

Labor Day Company Outing

Labor day wasn't an official holiday in my company but quite a few other companies were off so while we did go back to the office, it was extremely casual... plus, we had half day off for our own company outing...

The outing started with the all-important item: food!

and it was Thai food!! and quite authentic one too!! which meant it was tasty spicy!! sooo good... unfortunately for my colleagues though, they were all sniffing by the end of the meal...

anyway we then headed on to 大溪 (I don't really know where it is exactly but I think it's somewhere west of Taipei city and lies along the border of Taipei county and Tao Yuan county).. there we met up with our boss and went for a nice stroll checking out the rice field and greenery around..
everything here is so green... very good for the eyes :)

There are Tung flowers here as well lining the side of the hill... for more about Tung flowers, check out my previous post on Miaoli...
This is us at a "garden cafe"... you can see my colleagues and the king of the day, Da Wei! He's Quentin's 2 year old son and I think he had the most fun that day :)

The other major highlight of that day was seeing fireflies.. it was too dark to take proper photos and videos but it was really an amazing sight! The bushes and undergrowth were dotted with small blinking lights and some lights were even flying along... I also managed to catch one and in general they seem quite content to just stay on your hand and just.. flicker :)

So yes it was another outing full of nature... loving it!

for more photos, check out http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=251682&id=576355703&l=0ad88f9675

Dave was in town!

Dave was in Taipei for about a week thanks to the Golden Week in Japan (where's the golden week in Taiwan??) so of course we hung out and had lots of fun :) it's also cool cos this is the 3rd time we've met up with each other and it's always been in a different country... 1st in Japan in March 2008 during APX, then in Singapore in December 2008 when he was on holiday, and now in Taipei... I wonder where we'll meet again next...

Anyway, this post shall be a photo feast cos otherwise it's too hard to describe all the stuff we did :)

We had Sichuan noodles lunch with the rest of my colleagues and Dave was cordially invited to join us the next day at...

Karaoke! random self-organized thingy in a really fancy KTV place... I thought it was a hotel when we walked in... plus, they served really good dinner, had very well-dressed waiters and waitresses, and all in all really looked like a hotel... our KTV room even came with an attached bathroom... I am so impressed with KTV in Taiwan... even Dave was impressed, which says a lot since he's in the land where KTV was born (Japan)

then we went for hot spring at the 八煙溫泉會館 Ba-Ian Hot Spring Resort on a Saturday... my first Hot Spring experience and a really cool one... the place was in the middle of another mountain 金山 so while soaking we could see outside to the vast amoun of greenery...
and we ordered the package that came with lunch, which was a Japanese meal with a lot of dishes! here's Dave posing with his Unagi lunch set... there was rice, salad, cold tofu with sea urchin sauce, curry fried chicken, mushroom soap and pickled fish with lots of roe...

So we got back to Taipei city at about 3pm and since it was Dave's last day in Taiwan, we had to try something very Taiwanese... which led us to...
Ding Tai Fung 鼎泰丰 for dinner! This is our basket of fish dumplings and a bit of our vege dish... Aside from really tasty food (it tastes better than the Singapore one), I was really impressed by the service quality because

• when I submitted our orders (you get to place your order while waiting for your seat), the waitress asked if I was new and recommended their Xiao Long Bao... I told her my friend doesn't take pork and she went through our other orders and pointed out that the shrimp dumplings came with pork. She then proceeded to inform me which ones didn't contain pork
• The queue was really long as usual and we were told we would have to wait about 45 mins. But 30 mins into waiting, another waitress came up to us and asked if we were ok to share a bigger table with other guests. We said ok and were ushered in.
• Turns out they placed us at an international table as the other guests who arrived were all Japanese... so all the waitresses and waitors who served our table were the ones who could speak fluent Japanese (and English of course, since they didn't know Dave is "from Japan" too)
• when our 1st dish arrived, the waitress checked our order list and confirmed if we did order a pork bun... which meant she actually knew that ours was the sort of "don't eat pork" type... and this was a different waitress from the one at the door.. so they have really efficient communication throughout the whole restaurant!

and finally, after our sumptious dinner with great service, we headed to Ice Monster 冰館 for some dessert: Mixed Fruit Ice! We were both so full after that :)

So it has been a bunch of very fulfilling days and meals.. isn't it great when friends visit? :)

Weekend in Miaoli / Hsinchu - 25 and 26

I didn't realise how much of a backlog this was until I looked up the exact dates I was in Miaoli... But I'm committed to clearing all that backlog today so reader beware: you're in for my blogging diarrhea fit! :)

so yes... the trip to Miaoli was quite a last minute decision... Justian from YZLC MSNed me on Friday evening asking if I was interested in joining their ICX Functional Meeting (yes again.. I am becoming a regular on their monthly FMs) which will be held in Miaoli this month (April)... so naturally I said ok and next morning, we met up at Taipei Train Station for a 1.5 hour (I think) train ride to Miaoli.

Miaoli is further South of Taipei and at this time of the year (end April till early May) is famous for its Tung flower blossoms. This is the season when the flowers start falling from the trees and because the flowers are white and extremely plentiful, they have been described as 五月雪 or "Snow in May".. you can read more about the flower and the season HERE

Of course, one can see these flowers in other parts of Taiwan as well (even in Taipei) but this season is even more significant in Miaoli because of its link to the Hakka people and their culture, which is another characteristic of Miaoli...

If I could summarize this weekend trip to Miaoli in one word, that word will easily be: Nature.

We stayed at a peaceful hostel high in the mountains... riding up on scooters from the train station took us almost 45 mins and involved some pretty winding hill roads as well as some really really steep roads... but the scenary along the way was really amazing and once we were at the hostel, it was so refreshing to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city...
Here are some shots of the hostel (it's actually a 三合院, one of those oldish chinese houses with a courtyard in the middle) and the greenery found on the way to and around it... (they're a bit small but don't worry. I will provide my facebook photos link at the end of this post)

The hostel is called 黃石山莊 and I definitely recommend it to anyone looking to spend some time within nature... they only started operating early this year as a hostel. Their main "trade" is actually hand-making lights using bronze and colored glass so the craftsmen work in the left section of the house, while the hostel rooms are on the right...and needless to say, you'll get a chance to see their works of art around the house...

Anyway, after checking in we headed to the Wood Sculpture Museum area, not to visit the museum but to check out the mountain (hill?) park beside it... it was surprisingly crowded and goes to show how the Taiwanese enjoy their nature :)


We climbed up quite a lot of steps to reach the top of the hill and all along the side we could see Tung flowers on the ground... some people were even picking them up and stringing them into a flower bracelet :)

right at the top, we were greeted by the sight of a HUGE tea plantation maintained by some Buddhist society... and beside the plantation, there was a specially maintained meditation area which is open to the public.. (Shirley, I think you'll love this place :P)

So in terms of actually introducing Miaoli, this is really all I have... for the rest of my photos, check out http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6633795&l=547d5e9d81&id=576355703
You'll find some shots of the hostel in the early morning with fog rolling all over the place.. it's like being in some really zen and heaven-ish place :)

We headed to Hsinchu on Sunday afternoon instead of staying on in Miaoli because the weather was getting quite bad with rain and lots of fog... and I didn't get to see much of Hsinchu since the trip was mainly to go for Karaoke there :) lots of fun, but more on Karaoke later on :)

Think about it...

"Truth has nothing to do with words. Truth can be likened to the bright moon in the sky. Words, in this case, can be likened to a finger. The finger can point to the moon's location. However, the finger is not the moon. To look at the moon, it is necessary to gaze beyond the finger, right?"

Quick Update

Here's a quick update from my very happening weekend... elaboration post will come later in the week (might be a bit busier this week, plus it was REALLY happening)

Anyway, in just the past 2 days, I have

• traveled to Miaoli county by train
• stayed at a hostel right in the mountains
• climbed a hill, saw beautiful flowers and experienced very strong chilly winds
• Pillion-rode a scooter up some pretty steep mountain roads to reach the hostel. It was about 7pm, quite dark at some stretches and raining
• Slipped off my scooter which slid backwards because we were on a slope, the road was slippery, and our scooter brakes didn't hold properly
• Walked up the slope to get to the hostel.. it was sooo exhausting
• Saw fireflies along the walk up... pretty!
  
• ate 7 dishes (and helped prepare 1) cooked by AIESECers across 3 hours as part of a random creative cooking competition we decided to hold at the hostel
• Experienced temperatures of between 11-14 degrees at night and in the morning at our hostel on the mountain
• felt like I was taking a glimpse into heaven, what with all the mist and fog at our hostel and in the surrounding on our mountain
• traveled to Hsinchu by train and sang KTV for the 1st time since arriving in Taiwan

So as you can see, definitely a somewhat random but extremely happening weekend... I'll take a while to organize photos and write a more detailed post :)

Thanks again to the ICX team from whole of AIESEC Taiwan.. seems like I have become a frequent visitor of their monthly functional meetings

Trip to Keelung

So I have been lazy and failed to update my blog as frequently as I used to... but in compensation of that, I promise this post itself will be a proper feature of Keelung, a lovely port city north of Taiwan...

As you can see from the map, Keelung is further north of Taipei but it's really quite accessible. I took the bus and it was a 30 - 4o mins ride. You can also reach Keelung by train, and I'm guessing it takes just a bit longer than the bus ride... Because the city is so north at the coastline, much of its development is thanks to port activity and even till today, while ship traffic has lessened considerably due to developments in Kaohsiong for example, the city still has many trades depending on the sea.

Perhaps due to the fact that shipping hasn't really grown into such a major activity as it did in Singapore, I think Keelung presents a really fascinating mix of modern development (in terms of port activities) and retaining of "old flavor of life".

As a start, let me bring you through the sights I visited:

Bisha Harbor
We started from the National Taiwan Ocean University (which features courses on oceanography and marine biology) to enjoy the view... Imagine being able to see this everyday when you are in school...

We then walked along the shoreline to Bisha Harbor, where many fishing boats dock after their fishing trips. Because of that, the seafood market there is quite an amazing sight in terms of the variety of seafood sold.

Here you see lots of prawn species ready to be bought, cooked and eaten.

and here, you see LIVE cuttlefish!!!! and a LIVE octopus in a net!!!

Frankly, I have only see live cuttlefish and octopi in the Underwater World in Singapore... so it felt a bit weird to come face to face with them just before heading for a big seafood lunch... We also saw live sea urchins, crabs, clams, mussels etc...

Speaking of our big seafood lunch, be prepared to meet some very aggresive restaurant waitresses lining the corridor just outside the market (where the restaurants are located)... they'll literally surround you to persuade you to eat at their restaurants... otherwise, the food there's quite ok (I still think Ilan had better seafood)

He Ping Island (和平島)
This place is sooo beautiful! It reminded me of my Tai Dong visit in 2007 as well as of Cappadokya in Turkey... The island is connected to Keelung by a small bridge and its main attraction is the coastine, which has been weathered by waves and wind into a really beautiful and natural sight...

You see a small inlet where the waves from the sea travel inland, and eventually form shallow and clear wading pools which become home to small fishes, crabs and seaweed.

Further out along the shore, you will find weathered rocks like below:
As you can see, the rocks are kind of in strips separated by "valleys" carved out by the water. There are also small potholes on the surfaces of these huge rocks.

This is shot taken closer to the land. Notice the different colored rocks we are standing on. Clearly the different geological components of the area have led to this very unique final formation. In this photo, you can also see Keelung island, a small hump in the distance which can be reached by ferry from Bisha Harbor.

So in conclusion, if you are a lover of the sea and nature, He Ping Island is a must-visit for its spectacular scenary!

Zhong Zheng Park (中正公園)
Zhong Zheng Park is located at the top of a hill in Keelung city, within walking distance from the train station. It was quite a lot of stairs to climb in order to reach the top, but a climb worth taking. Along the way, we came across a few small temples, a memorial hall for the Lunar Seventh Month festivities and finally reached the Kuan Yin statue that overlooks the town and harbor.

It was nice and breezy at the top, and surprisingly quite crowded by families who had brought their children to enjoy the many carnival stalls there.

However, I'm not sure if there are buses that travel up so if you're not a fan of stairs, you should either take a cab or give this park a miss :)


For more photos of my Keelung trip, check http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6531545&l=cf648dcfdd&id=576355703

And for more visitor information on Keelung, please visit http://tour.klcg.gov.tw/english/index2.asp

p.s. there is a visitor office right beside the Keelung Train Station so remember to drop by and pick up maps of the place!

A tribute to Singapore Kopi

I was lamenting to my colleagues about the lack of really cheap coffee here in Taipei so naturally they asked how much is the coffee in Singapore... and naturally, I told them a cup of hot coffee in the coffee shop costs SGD 0.80, which is roughly about 17 NTD...

Now that's considered very cheap, considering that the cheapest made-on-the-spot coffee you can get here is from 7-11 or convenience stalls and costs NTD 30 (that's for a Latte) Packaged or canned coffee costs about NTD 25 here, so Singapore still beats that...

From there, our conversation continued into how the coffee in Singapore is made, how to order coffee etc... which made me realise how unique our eating and coffee culture is in Singapore...
this post is dedicated to Singapore Kopi! :)

Making Kopi
Here, you have the typical 'equipment' for making coffee...

The boiling water, which goes into the pouring can. On the rim of the can, you can see something that looks like a filter... That is the coffee sock holding the coffee powder. The hot water is poured through the powder.

Here's a close up view of the sock... Here, you can also see the condensed milk and sugar used in Kopi (more explanations on the names in a moment)
Coffee from pouring can then goes into the cup. (p.s. the guy in this photo is showing off his skills.. they don't usually pour from such a height). Depending on the person preparing, the milk and sugar are poured into the cup before or after the coffee goes in.
After adding a final bit of hot water, your steaming cut of Kopi is ready for SGD 0.80!

Ordering your Kopi
Now you know how it's made, you need to know how to order it like a true Singaporean... It's an art similar to how some Americans order their Starbucks (Half-caff half-fat soy latte grande with rose scented syrup and vegan dark-chocolate biscotti)... so here's how it works:



All the above apply to orders for Tea (or in Hokkien, Teh)
Warning though... not all drink stalls may understand this, as far as my experience goes, it works best with Singapore chinese because of all the Hokkien involved... but it really depends, we have ordered Kopi-O gao Kosong at an Indian stall before and it came out just fine...

Prices vary for Kopi, Kopi-O, Kopi-O Kosong and Peng... I don't think they change for Gao and Siew Dai...

and speaking of prices, it also depends on where you have your Kopi...
So here's a quick guide to the types of eating places in Singapore (and where you can find Kopi... If you want to order Kopi in a Chinese Restaurant, do it at your own risk of embarassing yourself)

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall at night

I happened to pass through the memorial hall on Thursday night and took a few shots...

Imagine living in a place where...

you stay in a rustic house like this...

this is the view that greets you from your kitchen window...

this is part of the view just outside your home...

This is the kind of night view you can experience within a 10 mins walk from your home...

No I do not stay in such a place, but my colleague does :) She was nice enough to invite me over to her home on Yang Ming Shan on Saturday (4th April), which is the Tomb Sweeping weekend in the Chinese calendar... the visit to her home was followed by a hike around the area on the mountain...

check out the photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=239672&id=576355703&l=6298d651a3

on a very random note, I just HAVE to post this photo... I find it sooo funny :)

Linking Park live in Taipei on Yang Ming Shan! :)
ok ok... so it's just a spring exhibition thingy in the park :)

Way overdue updates...

So yes... I have been lazy and have not blogged anything in more than a week... my bad... many apologies to all you ardent readers out there for the absence (this is me assuming that there are ardent readers in the 1st place... ahhh self-disillusionment)

anyway... I suppose I shall update briefly about the weekend of 28 and 29 March, aka last weekend of March aka my 2 month anniversary in Taipei... how time flies!

If I could choose one word to describe that weekend, it probably will be "Weird"... here's what happened...

Saturday
I was going to visit Cheng Chi University and do a bit of hiking with Jhenyu (LCP of CCLC) in the hills in that area.. the hike will supposedly bring us to 貓空 (mao kong) area where we will be just about in time for dinner and some post dinner hot tea up in the hills... I was supposed to reach the university at 4.30pm, so I dutifully traveled to the right MRT station, found the bus stop and boarded the right bus number... Just when I was wondering why the journey was taking so long (Jhenyu definitely mentioned that the university is quite near the MRT station) when our bus exited the tunnel and horror of horrors, I saw Taipei 101... which meant I was headed in the opposite direction and was back in the city area!!

Lesson 1: always check the bus boards for the bus routes, and if I can't seem to understand the routes (which I occasionally still cannot manage), ASK THE DRIVER!

so I had a brief tour of the 101 area on a busy Saturday afternoon... only consolation was seeing the Merlion appear in Taipei:

Yes the Merlion was featured on the poser for some Taipei Travel Fair :)
After that round trip by bus, I finally reached the university at 5.40pm... and since the sun was starting to go down, Jhenyu and I mainly walked around one of the smaller slopes on campus... better than nothing I suppose... :) after that we took a bus up to 貓空 and headed for one of the tea shops along the slopes...


Dinner was good as usual... featuring my goose meat mini hot pot meal, and our chinese tea set... thank god for Jhenyu.. despite many tea joys in Singapore, I have yet to master the art of making chinese tea...

Sunday
so I had a good dinner on Saturday, good conversations with Jhenyu and good tea... unfortunately, thanks to the tea, I could not sleep on Saturday night!!! I think I managed to drift off fitfully for a while, though not enough to call a proper rest...

Lesson 2: don't drink too much chinese tea after 9.45pm

In any case, I was up early on Sunday to visit the Martry's Shrine.. it was 329 (29 March),　Taiwan's Youth Day which commemorates the revolutionary Tenth Uprising in 1911 and there was a marching ceremony at the Shrine...
unfortunately, we arrived too late, only to find that the marching ceremony was already over... and that due to some commemoration ceremony that day, the shrine was closed to visitors that morning...

Lesson 3: when it comes to schedules, check and check again :)

so yes.. it was quite a strange weekend in that sense.. but nonetheless, I did visit some places that I have never been to before, plus I always appreciate the great conversations I can have with the people I hang out with...

more photos from that weekend (and some from the weekdays before that) can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=239661&id=576355703&l=0a32b48fa2
p.s. also features some photos on "mini elections" hype in Taipei

How many people have you Validated today?

Sunday in Ban Qiao 板橋 - 15 Mar 09

After a very eventful Saturday, I headed out again on Sunday, this time to Ban Qiao 板橋 in Taipei county... many thanks to Justian and Yue Guang from YZLC for being my tour guides that day :)

Ban Qiao is the largest and most developed area in Taipei county, and is also where the County government is located... interestingly, the building is open to the public so we headed to the top floor (oops I don't remember which floor it is) to check out the view...

it's clearly quite a tall building for us to have such a superb, unobstructed view of the surroundingsfrom this next photo, I am sure you can roughly guess the ratio of scooters to cars in Taipei :)

After that, we headed for lunch and on the way we came across THIS!!
a store selling Singapore fried noodles, rice and Bak Kut Teh!! haha... we didn't eat there though, which was probably a good choice cos I did enjoy our lunch: hungarian beef noodles :)

Our post-lunch itinerary involved total immersion into chinese culture so we headed on to the Lin Family Mansion and Garden (林家花園) - chinese names always sound funny when translated to English, don't you think?... you can read more about the history of the place at http://www.tonyhuang39.com/tony0500/tony0500.html.. there are loads of photos there and in my Facebook album (link will be at the end of this post) so at this point, I shall just feature these 2 shots from the garden:


This guy was just one of the many people painting in the area.. do you see the resemblance between his painting and the real thing?

the environment there was really great and we ended up spending almost 2 hours there, simply because it was so relaxing and conducive for conversations... (p.s. from now till 31st May, entrance to the garden is free as long as you produce a receipt from any other shop in Taiwan)

So if you happen to drop by Ban Qiao, remember to visit the garden, and while you're there, ask for directions to a store selling cuttlefish soup... if you get to the market area, it's hard to miss because there's always a looooong queue... but well, if there's cheap and good food, the queue will be worth it :)

Carrot cake (HUGE!) for only NTD 15 and cuttlefish soup (overflowing with cuttlefish!) for only NTD 35!!!

So yes these were definitely the highlights of my trip to Ban Qiao 板橋 :)

For more photos, check http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=231685&id=576355703&l=b45c83980a

p.s. finally I have cleared my backlog of updates
p.p.s. I just realised that most of my trip updates feature food :)

Danshui Trip - 14 Mar 09

14 March 2009 was White Valentine's Day (mostly celebrated in Japan and Korea as far as I know) and I spent it with a big crowd of AIESECers at Dan Shui...
Dan Shui (淡水) is located north of Taipei and literally translated, means "fresh water"... it's famous for the Dan Shui river, which flows into the Taiwan Strait so naturally, one would expect lots of water, and boats like below :)

The trip was planned by some of the members and we started off with a "store treasure hunt". We were split into groups and each group was given 6 photos taken from stores in Dan Shui... so we had about 1.5 hours to explore the areas and locate the stores... it was quite fun and fulfilling, especially since we also took the chance to explore the food in the area...

This is my ah-gei 阿給, it's glass noodles packed inside tofu with some kind of sauce... isn't it creative? why have boring noodles outside of tofu when it can be inside?

This is me with my stick of potato chips... again, Taiwanese creativity with food... why bother having chips separate from each other and packed in a bag when you can "curve-slice" the potato, skewer it and roast it over fire? (I don't think there's such a word as "curve-slice" officially but it's the only word I can think of, considering the slices are cut such that they are linked together... like skinning an apple in a single slice)

Other tasty food I encountered: Dan Shui fish balls (with meat fillings!) and Iron eggs or 鐵蛋 (eggs which have been repeatedly stewed in a mix of spices and air dried)... that means I've pretty much eaten all the supposed famous food from Dan Shui... hooray for treasure hunts!!

so with a very full stomach, and an incomplete treasure hunt paper (we only managed to find 4 of the 6 stores), we gathered again with the other groups and headed out for part 2 of our Dan Shui adventure...

After a brief (but very windy and cold) boat ride across the river, we reached Ba Li (八里) island... yes there's a Bali in Taiwan too!! :)

It's a small township, and mostly visited by people looking to enjoy some nature and cycling... Here I am with Maxx, an intern from Thailand/New Zealand (he's Thai but has studied in NZ since he was 13) who is working in Kaohsiong but comes to Taipei some weekends just to sightsee and hang out with AIESECers here.

Ba Li is quite nice for cycling, since there are specially constructed tracks for cyclists and you get some really nice views along the way

for example, rows and rows of mangrove trees beside us (that wooden path is for pedestrians)
and a blend again between the city, factories, nature and open space...

So all in all, it was another great day spent with lots of cool people exploring another cool place in Taipei... and just to round it off, here's part of what I had for dinner :)

Mussels, prawn balls, Miso soup, sauteed squid, vegetables and (missing from the photo) diced chicken!!!

for the rest of the photos, check out http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=231682&id=576355703&l=2087f7cab4

Speak Out for RED!

I was extremely touched and proud to come across the “Speak Out For Red!" multimedia competition organized by AIESEC Singapore. What a creative yet impactful way to reach out to the masses and engage them in the fight to raise awareness and dispel discrimination against those with HIV/AIDS. For more information, please visit www.speakoutforred.com

Please support the cause for HIV/AIDS!!

Intellectual and Classical Friday (13th!)

time really flies... another week has just gone by! and all this while I was lazy to update about last week.... my backlog is getting worse... anyway, here's some updates about last Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Friday
My colleages and I went to the Grand Hotel in Taipei to attend a seminar “金融海嘯下，企業經營生存之道研討會” (How enterprises can survive in this financial crisis)... the hotel was quite fancy.. very old-ish kind of flavour (see here) and the seminar was mildly interesting... my boss was one of the panelists sharing his advice and another speaker, Professor Seeto also left quite an impression for the way he was talking about the need for education system to be closer to the industry, so that the people who graduate have the skills and knowledge for the kinds of roles they will play in the industry work force... definitely got me thinking (and I will probably share more about that later on)


After the seminar, I had a quick dinner with one of my colleagues, Quentin at Shilin Night Market, where he introduced me to 水煎包, pork rib herbal soup and smelly tofu... it was really a nice dinner :)
After dinner, I headed to the National Concert Hall at Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall for a symphony orchestra concert titled White Day Concert (next day was White Valentine's Day you see... 白色情人節） Ereca, another colleague had given some of us free tickets so I was at the concert with Prior and his wife, Phoebe, Sandy and Sandy's friend (whom I didn't get to meet cos their seats were further away)... anyway, the music was really good... I felt so cultured and classical after that :)

and that was Friday... very eventful, wasn't it? I think for ease of reading, I shall put Saturday and Sunday into separate posts... :)

Funny but true?

This is so funny... but it's kind of sad that such people exist (I strongly believe in their existence)


On a separate note, lots happened since last Friday.. updates on Fri, Sat and Sun coming soon...

Adventures on Motorbikes in 宜蘭

Some very nice photos from the 宜蘭 trip, featuring a bunch of very yellow people just before heading home on our scooters :)

The following two photos speak for themselves (yes that is me on the left)

Weekend in 宜蘭

I had such a great time in 宜蘭 over the weekend of 7th to 8th Mar 09! The team of LC VP ICX were having their monthly Functional Meeting with the MC VP ICX there and I was lucky to be invited along :)

宜蘭 is south-east of Taipei county, so part of it lies on the east coast of the entire Taiwan island. We took a coach down and if traffic is smooth (like when we traveled there), the ride only takes about 1 hour and 10 mins so it's really quite accessible...

When I spoke with my colleagues, the most common things they would say about 宜蘭 is that you can eat cheap and fresh seafood there, there is a traditional arts museum to visit, there's the 羅東 (luo dong) night market, and there's the really cool beach where people go surfing in summer...

So naturally, I expected a lot of beaches and all... but I definitely did not expect this:
Mountains with clouds rolling along in the distance, rice fields and ponds just beside the road, huge expanse of nature... it was such a refreshing sight...

and then, there was the view when we reached the sea and port area:

These 2 shots were taken from a cliff overlooking the bay... the cliff was about 6 storeys high from the water levelSome of us couldn't resist being adventurous and climbing down to the water itself...That was one great highlight of the trip: being so close to nature, and being able to "exercise" even if it was just a bit through the cliff climbing...

Other highlights include:
A trip to the National Center for Traditional Arts, a very cool place where we also saw how the center is bringing traditional art designs and forms into modern day items such as plates, fashion, accessories and even collectible toys...
A LOT of cheap and super good foodA lot of riding on scooters, whether it was rain or shine :)
And to wrap it all up, a lot of great conversations with a great bunch of AIESECers :)

All my photos (including details of seafood restaurant and homestay hostel) available at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=227841&id=576355703&l=7018c

Part 2 album at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=229895&id=576355703&l=f498aa3b5c

Any floorball in Taiwan?

I've been sharing with some people that I used to do sports once a week and the usual question they ask is "what sport do you play?" Unfortunately, when I answer "Floorball", I mostly receive blank looks.

So here is a post dedicated to floorball, one of the BEST sports to play ever :)

Floorball (福樂球）is easiest to imagine as indoor hockey. It is mostly popular in the Scandinavia countries, and is especially popular in Finland, where a Finnish friend tells me it's almost like a national sport.. in Asia, it is probably only more well-known in Singapore and Japan.

It is played indoor between two teams, each comprising 6 players which includes 1 goalkeeper. Here, you see a photo of the game in action, taken during one of our weekly sessions in Singapore. Our court is smaller than the usual one so we usually play 4 or 5 per side.

The game involves lots of running and controlling of the ball with the stick. It also involves team work to defend and attack. Both guys AND girls can play, and I can tell you that in some of our sessions, the girls seem almost as good or even better as some of the guys :)

The ball and sticks are made of plastic, which means that they are very much lighter than the sticks and ball in field hockey.

Because the stick is plastic and light, if you use the right techniques and right amount of force, you can make the ball move extremely fast. And of course, since the ball is light, it does move very fast, which makes the whole game all the more exciting!

It's a great game to be played with a bunch of friends, great form of exercise, and extremely easy to pick up! It's also very addictive, as can be seen from the increasing number of "regular" players at the weekly sessions in Singapore

So if anyone comes across floorball anywhere in Taiwan, maybe as a school club or a small self-playing group, let me know!! :)

More on floorball: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floorball

random

Merlion struck by lightning on Saturday

I find this piece of news quite amusing and funny hahaha..

Merlion statue at Singapore River struck by lightning; suffers slight damage By Claire Huang, 938LIVE | Posted: 28 February 2009 2219 hrs

SINGAPORE: In a rare incident, Singapore's longstanding icon, the original Merlion statue, at the mouth of the Singapore River has been struck by lightning.

One witness told MediaCorp Radio's 938LIVE that orange sparks flew when lightning struck between 4pm and 5pm at Merlion Park.

Staff in the vicinity said they heard an explosion followed by a loud thud when broken pieces fell to the ground.

About 30 people dashed into a nearby restaurant for safety.

Other onlookers continued to take photos of the 36-year-old tourism icon.

the Merlion now has a bald spot on its head :)

Great Live Band near my house!

I happened to drop by Yong Kang Park on my way home after dinner and came across a live band performing... there was a huge crowd and after a while I guess I know why :)

The band playing is called Spoon-de-Chop, they have been performing at Yong Kang Park for the past 8 years, always on Saturday nights... the band is very international, comprising Taiwanese, Japanese, an American and a Macedonian... they play a diversity of music as well, from Chinese songs to Japanese songs to Taiwanese songs, even solo performances in English and Macedonian... the lead singer is Japanese and really talented; he plays the harmonica, guitar and San Xian (a three-stringed instrument).. what's really cool about them though, is that they play for beer and not for money :) talk about combining passions for music and booze...

I sat there to watch and listen them play for almost 1.5 hours, along with quite a number of other residents...

Here's a clip of them performing the very well-known Suki Yaki (上を向いて歩こう)

and here performing Grandfather's Clock in Japanese (大きな古時), a really beautiful children's song (google the lyrics if you are interested) which I learnt in music class in primary school



More clips that I recorded can be found here:
Folky Japanese song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BwFcLNsxUM
Chinese song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5Y0M52ZDhc
Shima Uta 島唄 (yes the AIESEC dance song): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk8NNojfvqg
Sanshin no Hana 三線の花: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hwg6m7ptSs

To find out when they are next performing, check http://spoondechop.blogspot.com/

Quick and Short post

Yesterday (saturday, 28 Feb) was a pretty happening day so I took a lot of photos and videos, but since I'm still uploading and sorting them out, here is just a quick, short post about politics and quirkiness in Taiwan...

This is the main gate of the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, taken by me on 28 Feb 2009


This, however, is the same gate taken by me on 6th May 2005 during my 1st visit to Taiwan

The words on the same gate are different!!
It's actually because the previous party in power, Democratic Progressive Party or DPP, under Chen Shui Bian decided the name was not appropriate (related to Taiwan's history and the significance of 28th Feb, or 228 incident) and changed it from “大中至正” literally translated to mean "Great Mean/Perfect Uprightness" to “自由廣場” or "Liberty Square". This was done in December 2007.

What's interesting, is that now that the Kuo Min Tang or KMT under Ma Ying Jeou is in power, the gate will soon be updated to its original name of “大中至正”

Perhaps this is a way of boosting the economy through government spending on infrastructure and construction... Let's see when the exact date of change is.. since I stay about 20 mins walk from the Memorial Hall, I just might make a trip down..

p.s. thanks to Sandy for telling me about this on Friday :)

Ingenious way of being environmentally friendly

Last week, I went to 7-11 to buy dinner and they helped me microwave heat my noodles... then, the lady at the counter used this amazing blue thing!

Here it is before it's true purpose is revealed... a harmless blue piece of something...


actually....

It's a carrier made of paper-ish kind of material!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Just cut grooves of the appropriate length at appropriate spots and you get this amazing and ingenious creation!!!!

We should have this in Singapore, anything to reduce the amount of plastic bags we use....

Rats!

As much as Chinese New Year is over and we are officially in the year of the ox, some still are living in the past...

so yes! There are rats in the office! actually the rats are in the whole building... since we're right beside the MRT station, and since there's a whole lot of underground construction work going on at the main road in preparation for a new MRT line, the rats have been activated into action inside offices... and our office has not been spared! We have found rat droppings, rat pee, stashes of food bits, chewed up paper bits as evidence on the floor and on some desks... It's almost like they're taunting us!

so we had to call in the office management people... and here's what they did: put sticky boards in the ceiling, put food on the boards and hope that it catches one if not some of them...

Here they are in action, placing the boards up in the ceiling...

And this morning, they found 1 victim! (last week they caught 3 but I didn't get a photo of that).. Here's the unfortunate rat stuck to the board... it's quite small, just like the 3 from last week... my colleague says it's because they're young and inexperienced that they got caught... the bigger, older rats are smarter and know to avoid the traps...

Now this is something you don't usually see in Singapore for sure...

One Day Trip to Ping Xi (平溪)

Finally, I took a trip outside of Taipei City!

Place visited: Ping Xi (平溪) area
How we got there: Took a bus from Muzha MRT station, journey was about 40 mins and we alighted at Ping Xi itself...I would have done a chronological commentary but that would have been super long, so I decided to just cover some highlights :)

Train, railway tracks and tiny stations
We basically traveled along the whole railway line at Ping Xi, and it was an interesting experience to be walking on and along the tracks, hopping aside when the train came, alighting and boarding at tiny train stations, seeing the old, quaint train set against the backdrop of forests and rivers...

That's us after walking on the tracks through a tunnel... we were heading from waterfalls to the next station, since the waterfalls were between stations.

Nature everywhere and Waterfalls at Shih Fen
Ping Xi is really beautiful.. it's surrounded by mountains and the Kee Lung river runs through it... everywhere you turn you see nature and green - green trees and even the water looks green... definitely a refreshing changes from life in the city itself...

These 2 are shots from Spectacles Cave Waterfall (眼鏡洞瀑布). The biggest waterfall in the area is actually Shih Fen Waterfall (十分瀑布) but it has unfortunately been closed for a while due to an ongoing legal case between the government and the villagers or something.

Coal Mine Museum at Shih Fen
While most people know Ping Xi for the sky lantern festival, it is actually also famous for coal mining... no mines are in operation anymore today, and the Coal Mine Museum in Ping Xi is the only one in the entire Taiwan set up to commemorate the efforts of the many coal miners from the past... exciting part of the tour was when we got to ride in the coal carts from the entrance area to the museum itself... felt very authentic as we rattled and shook our way along the tracks... the tour guide was very engaging by telling stories of actual Taiwanese coal miners, some of whom still live in Shih Fen... through that, I think we all learnt a lot about the hardships of coal miners, without whom the economy then would not have been built up...
www.coalmine.com.tw

Sky Lantern and Sparkler fun at Chin Tong
We headed to Chin Tong for dinner and of course, sky lantern!


Many thanks to CCLC for organizing the trip and inviting!

Full album of adventures in Ping Xi are here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=221902&id=576355703&l=ceab0

My Welcome Party

My host LC hosted a welcome party for me and all I can say is, it was great!! I had sooo much fun!

The welcome party was held in a cosy little restaurant called 上帝的後花園 and it's located at 台北市大安區羅斯福路三段, which is near the National Taiwan University.

I had a great time meeting the members and the interns from Taiwan. It was especially amusing when some of the members said they remember me from the Summer National Conference 2007 that I chaired... I told everyone that I did not understand Chinese, so as to encourage them to speak English with me. Of course I revealed the truth on the last day of conference but since then, I'm sure I left an impression as "the Chair who lied"

There was also a very entertaining cross-talk performance (相聲）by 2 of the members (GREAT JOB!), an introduction by members about the various must-see spots in Taiwan, and of course, I delivered an introduction about Singapore, myself and AIESEC Singapore... it was really enjoyable doing the presentation, everyone was very participative :)

Here are photos from all the networking :)

What surprised and touched me was that they planned a bunch of presents for me as an official welcome thing... I got 3 sky lanterns (orange, yellow and red which each signify something in life that I don't remember), an AIESEC T-shirt and 2 sets of 3 drawers!! I think they saw my previous blog post about shelves and got me some... there was also a hand-made "Welcome to Taiwan" book containing post-it greetings by members! see how nice they are!!

More pictures will come once I re-organise my desk and officially install the shelves :)

Many many thanks to TPLC for a great evening!!!

Update from past 2 weekends

Here's what I've been up to the past 2 weekends...

8th Feb 2009
Lunch was with Tom and Bing-ge, who were delegates at Singapore NLDS 2006... Tasty hotpot buffet at Xi Men Ding, complete with free flow of Haagen Daz ice creamAfter that, I went for dinner with Sandra and her family (thanks Sandra for inviting!).. Her grandma came along and it was interesting because her grandma and mom say I can speak and understand more hokkien than Sandra and her siblings... hehe...

After dinner, Sandra and I headed to to Lantern Festival held at the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, in celebration of the 15th day of Chinese New Year... it was HUGE with lots of people and a lot of lanterns, even a stage for performances and games (including riddles)...

This came as a bit of a culture shock, because in Singapore, the same style lantern festivals happen BUT during the Mid-Autumn Festival instead... and all along I thought that chinese all around the world did the same (I seriously remember my primary school chinese textbook having a story about Mid-Autumn Festival and complete with illustrations of children playing with lanterns)...

Here's a video I took of the main display lantern lighting up...



Photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=220090&id=576355703&l=17587

14 Feb 2009
It's amusing that some buses actually wish people Happy Valentine's Day on their digital signboards... anyway, I had lunch with Elmo and Mino at a nice Japanese place, after which we headed to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall to visit the Andy Warhol Exhibition... Taiwan is the first stop the exhibition is making within Asia and since it was a Saturday, it was really packed... I wonder if there'll be so much attention if the exhibition is in Singapore...

I also finally met some of the other AIESEC interns, all of whom have been in Taiwan for at least 6 months already... unfortunately for me, they've already done their traveling around so I'm still on the lookout for travel buddy(ies).

this coming weekend will mainly feature my welcome party on Saturday (including an introduction of Singapore) and if the weather turns out ok, I just might make a trip to Danshui on Sunday...

After 1 week at work

So I have now officially finished 1 week of work... and since everyone is asking how is it, it's easier to post it here instead of repeating for every single person :)

in summary, I'm totally enjoying work. I like the company, the culture, the colleagues, and the opportunities presented in the tasks and assignments that I do. I do think there's a lot that I still need to learn and get used to such, things like business culture, dealing with people, finance and management terms in chinese and of course getting a better grasp of the industry and general business environment here in Taiwan... It's also interestig to see management concepts that we learnt in AIESEC being applied on a much bigger scale here, and I resolve to take some time to go through some of those concepts as I learnt it so that I can be sharper on my feet when seeing them in application at work...

Here are some photos of my office and desk area

building where my office is located, right beside Da-an MRT station

View from my desk (front view and window view)

We also had a BBQ gathering at my boss's weekend house, to celebrate the success of the 5th Anniversary event held last Friday... The house was in a villa area on a hill along the outskirts of Taipei county so it was very peaceful and nature-y... plus Sakura was in bloom so I got my first experience of Taiwan Sakura!

Here's the link to the BBQ photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=218537&id=576355703&l=7b4f8

Saving the Earth and Saving Money

I was a bit irked that my desk at home only has 1 drawer (which is quite shallow) and that there are no additional shelves provided... That meant that my desk is usually quite cluttered, since I can't put food stuffs into my cupboard...

So... I did a bit of improvisation and here's what my desk looks like:
Yes I used the box that my water boiler came in and made myself a shelf...

Here it is close-up... I didn't have any twine at home (not yet) so I used a rolled up plastic bag and threaded it through the edge for extra support...

Then I got random and decided to make something out of some extra card board left, and the cup holder I got from my drink during lunch... so... I made a handphone/stationery holder:
Also, my desktop dustbin is now stuck to the side of my fridge to free up space on the desk...

Yay for saving the earth and saving money... I just need to find a shop that sells twine and then I can do something for hanging/airing clothes...

Chilling

Nothing like just chilling with a cup of hot tea on a Saturday afternoon at the park...

Quirky bits of Taipei

Here's a list of things I've noticed since being here that are kind of quirky a.k.a. different from what we usually see in Singapore

1. My weather forecast predicts "sprinkles" on some of the coming days. Sprinkles being light rain and when I say light, I mean REAL light... If you say rain in Singapore, we think thunderstorm or cloudburst or shower with visible rain drops. Today, I walked around in sprinkle rain weather. It's pretty much a fine spray like the kind you get when spraying from a spray flask (or when you spray perfume... it's like a fine mist of TINY droplets)
2. The streets are pretty clean DESPITE there not being many dustbins around. I imagine Singapore is so clean BECAUSE we have sooo many dustbins everywhere.
3. Most eating stalls, whether restaurants or road-side stalls, provide free tissue paper for their customers. The "put a tissue packet to book a seat" act from Singapore will fail miserably here
4. People are encouraged to not throw their used toilet papers into the toilet bowls. There are dustbins provided within each cubicle for this purpose. Apparently some parts of the sewage system still isn't powerful enough to deal with toilet paper.
5. People here will rather stand than sit on the priority seats in the bus and trains.
   
6. Plastic bags cost money here. It's not that expensive but reinforces the whole "use sparingly" mindset. Singapore really needs to learn from Taiwan about this.
7. The garbage trucks here make rounds and play music to signal their arrival. People wait at designated spots at designated times to dispose of their rubbish (that they have sorted beforehand)
8. When taking the bus, you have to check a sign above the driver's seat that will tell you whether you pay for your bus fares when you get onto the bus, or when you get off the bus. Their easycard system only requires them to tap once, unlike the EZ link in Singapore where you tap twice.
9. People give way to cars here. At certain intersections where cars are allowed to turn from the smaller street into the road, they will not wait for the pedestrians to finish crossing. Unlike in Singapore where you will see vehicles waiting for all pedestrians to be gone before turning.
10. Coffee here is mainly found in convenience stalls or in Cafes/restaurants. I have yet to find the equivalent of a Singapore coffee shop where one can buy kopi at equivalent of SGD 80 cents.
    

Ok that's all I have noticed for now... more soon as I go along I am sure.

Group photos on Yang Ming Shan

As promised in the previous post, here are the group photos!

Night out on Yang Ming Shan with friends

It happened that last night, the Taiwan LCPs of 0506 were having a dinner reunion so Nick invited me along. And I'm very happy that I went!

I had met up with Nick and a friend of his earlier for dinner and he brought me to eat... Hainanese Chicken Rice! Yes and it's the same as what you get in Singapore! Especially the chilli... ummmmm I miss the chilli already... not all eating places here provide chilli and those that provide the sweet kind of chilli sauce. Nick says that kind of sauce is usually just bought from the supermarket. Anyway, the chicken rice stall is opened at the food court of Taipei 101 building and by a Singaporean as well. It costs NTD 150 (about SGD 7) for a chicken thigh set (with oyster sauce vegetables) but it's a huge portion.

So after that first dinner, we went to meet the other LCPs (Nick, Sandra, Eric, Elissa, Hugo and Marty) and headed to Yang Ming Shan for our second dinner! It's amazing! I'll let the photos speak for me.

This is what the restaurant looks like. They have an indoor section where the wooden hut is, the downstairs section is for BBQ meals.

On the left side of the wooden hut, it's the rest of the outdoor space. The tables closest to the fenced balcony are heart shaped and so, ideal for couples looking for a nice romantic spot to enjoy dinner. :)
There's a small protruding platform where you get an amazing view of Taipei at night. (click to enlarge image)

Because we were sitting outdoors to enjoy the scenary, it also meant we were in the cold (about 18 Degrees last night). So they have portable heaters. You can't really see the flames here cos of the lighting but they are there, and quite effective! Later the restaurant even provided blankets for us :)

The food is really good too and totally worth it for big groups! They ordered the set for 6 to 8 people, which comprises 6 bowls of rice, 6 dishes you can pick from a list of about 20 and a soup served with the stove so it stays boiling. All for about SGD 20 per person. Considering the location, the scenary, the ambience and all, I'll say that's a really decent price to pay.

The restaurant is called 草山夜未眠 and is a definite recommendation. Just make sure you have a car to get up to Yang Ming Shan. We took a group shot with the night scene as background but that's in Eric's camera so I'll wait for him to upload it :)

Getting to Know my Company

Today was the first day I stepped into my company. I'm not officially starting work yet (officially start next Monday on 9 Feb 09) , so it's more of a day to introduce myself and be introduced to the people working there, as well as to get a better understanding of my detailed job scope.

My company is Atelligent Global Consulting Corp. and it's located right next to Da An (大安）MRT station. That makes it 3 bus stops away from my place, and takes about 30 mins at max considering the time I take to walk from my apartment to the bus stop, to wait for the bus and to go up to the office. So it really is very convenient, and many people have suggested that I buy a bicycle to get to work (or the MRT station) and back.

The company is quite small, I met 6 of my colleagues today, including the CEO. Already I really enjoy the environment: very open, very cosy, no hierachy etc. Everyone's very welcoming and pleasantly surprised at my level of chinese. The previous intern they took was from Brazil and so I guess they had a bit lower expectations :)

Anyway I had a chat with the CEO and here's what I'm going to be working on

Economy / Industrial Studies
Reading assigned articles in management journals and in certain newspapers, summarizing the articles and translating into Chinese. If my boss is using some content for speech or publication, then I will help in the material preparation too.

Project Support
Attached to one of the current client projects, assisting in the project execution (mostly around understanding product and marketing)

Knowledge Database Consolidation
Sorting, updating materials and content for the database, possible further expansion of the project. Also allows me to go through past project materials and understand their methodology

Those aside, I will probably support where I can for admin or logistics or market surveys or whatever that comes up.

It's quit exciting cos it's a lot of interaction with colleagues and learning about the industry, company and the kind of consulting that they do. It's also cool as the company will be hosting 3 symposiums this year around various topics and I'm sure I will get to participate and support. Already they have a networking event on Friday at a fancy hotel and I get to go. Plus the boss is quite open in terms of adjusting my JD based on what I wish to learn and all. Oh and another plus point is that they have a mini library of management books and articles in english and chinese so I don't have to worry about running out of books to read here :)

I forgot to take a photo of my office building so that shall wait. We had a welcome lunch for me too and unfortunately I didn't bring my camera along to lunch.

But I guess you can tell I'm liking the people, the company and the opportunities here already.

My Apartment

Many people have asked where I am staying, what kind of apartment and so on...
So... I am staying alone, in a single room apartment.. It's in the 大安 area and the nearest MRT station is by that name as well...

Before I arrived, this is what the room looks like.. empty,bleak...


Now it looks like this!

my bed complete with pillow, bed sheet and very cosy comforter blanket!

desk with mini "living area" of vitamins, tissue and water.. I get wireless broadband too...

I set up one of those multi-hangars thing beside my door to hang stuff.. and luggage is finally stowed away on top of cupboard since everything is unpacked!

Now I just need to await the arrival of my tv set and my fridge... it comes with an attached bathroom by the way.. I just didn't take any photos of it...

My neighbourhood is quite happening... My apartment is right behind a school, and is 5 mins away from 鼎泰蘴 (the queues there are forever so long).. It's also 5 mins away from a few small streets full of food stalls, cafes and shops selling anything.. Also passed by a park where some youths were performing music and kids were playing at the playground... My place is also a 15 mins walk from 師大 area, where there is another night market with lots of food and with a shop that sells everything for living and home use... I bought EVERYTHING so far from that shop...

鼎泰蘴 Ding Tai Feng (ORIGINAL!)

師大 Area where night market is