Hello 2008, Goodbye 2007

And suddenly a new year looms. How time flies. Re-read what I blogged about last year this time - the mood's different this year, for starters, I'm happier. I guess I have much to be grateful for in 2007:
- God for giving me a do-over opportunity with Taiwan
- for a closer walk with Him in sending me here alone cos sans distractions it's easier to witness the Good Lord work His miracles everyday
- friends esp those who were there during the down times. Sadly enough not many, but to those who did, thank u.
- family plus Michelle (who married Ian in Oct 06 - my agent and a great friend)
- good health for everyone in my family
- fresh new adventures here in Taiwan

And this leads into obviously, New Year Resolutions... Thinking thru, I realised the list I made last year this time can be recycled. Not that I hadn't made much progress, but a majority are nontheless still WIP. Recycled from last year's list :
- focus on relationships with people
- Discipline. Discipline. Discipline.
- stop gossiping
- work on my fragile faith
- Be open to new things, new events, new way of doing things
- be a friend to all esp those I don't like
- sign up for musical guitar lessons

Forgiveness

What is it about the year end anyways? Why do people feel melancholy and depressed all at the same time? Why feel the need to reflect upon the year only after the entire year has passed you by and it is too late anyways to do anything about it other than sit and rue?

Despite being in Taiwan where Christmas isn't celebrated much - less of that crazy consumerism that drives me nuts. But yet, I miss Church, I miss Advent, I miss penitential mass, I miss pre-Christmas activities in Church.

Despite being in Houston for a marketing summit where I do get to feel a little more Christmassy, and get slightly caught up in the buying of Christmas gifts.. Yet, things don't feel any better.

Ok ok, I'm a contradiction.

I was listening to music and clearing emails/work that piled up from being away in Houston and also having my HDD die on me last day there. And this song hit me. It's all about forgiveness, letting go.

If there's 1 flaw/sin I have, and those who know me well will attest to this, is my ability to let go.

Don Henley & the Eagles on Forgiveness

Advent - the season of preparation for Christmas

Those who know me will also know that ever since moving to Taiwan, I've been really living it up. Garin once commented with disdain that I led a 'disgustingly hedonistic single' lifestyle. And you know what, I was rather proud of that. Until Friday night's reading. Jesus' words were so pointed.

Luke Chapter 21
29 And he told them a parable, 'Look at the fig tree and indeed every tree.30 As soon as you see them bud, you can see for yourselves that summer is now near.31 So with you when you see these things happening: know that the kingdom of God is near.32 In truth I tell you, before this generation has passed away all will have taken place.33 Sky and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Be on the alert 34 'Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened by debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will come upon you unexpectedly,35 like a trap. For it will come down on all those living on the face of the earth.36 Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to hold your ground before the Son of man.'

I went extra early to church on Sunday.

Pls prepare your hearts for the coming of Jesus this Christmas.

Reunited with the HardCores this weekend

The Hardcores came in on a Thu evening, left on a Sun evening like a tornado. Actually there're 2 typhoons approaching Taiwan right now. Guess God was gracious enough to give us good weather and hold the typhoons back for a while.

Right now, I am nursing a pinched muscle in my right arm, a missing house key and lots of dirty sheets to wash...

BUT BOY WAS IT FUN!!! I climbed 3 days in a row, laughed and ate and hung out like old times. Here's our photographic evidence of being hardcore and enjoying every moment of it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157603288785093/

I miss them already.

Derek - weather forecast is 13-14degrees this week. God loves you! And tonight's news, there are 2 men missing from Longdong (they showed the same entrance we walked in from), they were fishing from the rocks. Rescuers found only their fishing gear... Pls pray for their safety.

Yz - you should've stayed back to see both typhoons.. Damn it is so wet now. Here's a pix of the typhoons for you to imagine...

Jo - I hope you enjoy touring rest of Taiwan. Gimme a call if you need anything. You know how I speak/behave like a local now :)

PS My missing housekeys saga update - landlady passed me her spare keys, but seems like I need to replace the entire lock to be safe, that'll set me back 4500NT. Sob!

Happy Birthday!

God is great - my 1st birthday here coincided with TDC (Taiwan Development Center) Annual Party. It was a formal do held at the Grand Regent Formosa. The theme was 'bling-bling'. I went shopping earlier with Sharon & Angela, didn't find anything bling enough, so I borrowed Sharon's long pearls/shiny stones necklace.

My team knew it was my birthday that night, so predictably, I had to drink quite a bit. Then I won one of the better prizes of the night, 3000NT of Sogo vouchers. Yay! Then I had to drink with more and more people... By the end of the night, I was totally wasted. Ghee Hwee & Sharon walked me home (one on each side)... left me asleep on my couch, can't even make the stairs up to my bed.

The good thing was, I was only really drunk towards the end, so not many people saw me. The bad thing was, word spreads. Monday all day, every meeting I went to, everyone I met asked if I was feeling better. Damn... So much for reputation now.

Climbing!

I realised how my blog is slanting towards my tourist activities over weekends. Lest it be forgotten, I AM A CLIMBER! Here's some evidence of my climbing - typically I manage to climb perhaps 2x a week.

Pix of Peter & I bouldering at 内湖运动公园. 内湖 is an awesome place - wide open skies, the Keelung river flowing by and the winds there are simply awesome. I almost froze to death bouldering in my Prana singlet. Thankfully that day was a warm break in winter - it was 25degrees but after a while, you'd be cold. In the distance of the bouldering area, you can see the Taipei 101 and the city sky line. Just to the side, on the banks of the Keelung river, cyclists are going up and down... Was a beautiful day to be out, bouldering, walking, living life.

My climbing kakis from Singapore arrive this Thursday. Needless to say, our plans are simple - climb everyday. I can't wait.

Taroko Gorge 太魯閣

I wanted to visit since I got to Taiwan - the Taroko Gorge certainly lived up to expectations, it was really beautiful.

Formed 1st by ancient limestone which metamorphosed into marble over millions of years, some seventy million years ago the rock strata under the sea were forced up to form mountains, including the Taiwan Mountain Ranges - exposing the horizontal marble strata, eventually creating the vertical valleys of the Taroko Gorge. -- taken from the Taroko Gorge govt website.

All my pix - http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157603110029640/

It was a great trip, we stayed in Hualien in a homestay - it shall remain nameless as I don't want to plug for it. It was new and nice - but the owner tried to fleece us while we were there. So, I would not recommend going back to stay there.

Day 1

- Arrived Hualien 10.20am.

- Brunch of Bian-shi noodles - it was good!

- Bulowan

- Tunnel of 9 Turns

- Tiansiang

- Eternal Spring Shrine

- Dinner in a Hualien restaurant - including 3layer pork. Good!

- Hualien night market. Garin outshot me at archery, shooting and ball throwing. It sucks!

Day 2

- Road trip down the East Coast with views of the Pacific Ocean

- Baci Viewpoint

- Jici Beach

- Lunch at Guanfu village

- back to trainstation and home.

I had a great wknd at the Gorge, the slimey owner of the minshu fleecing us was the only thing that marred an otherwise fantastic wknd. Again I ate lots, laughed lots and got a good break away from Taipei.

Will be back - this time might be easier to stay in Tiansiang and be closer to the hikes - I want to do at least 1 good one - like the Baiyang hike.

Taroko Gorge - I'll be back!

Jolted dreams...

I experienced my 3rd earthquake this morning. Shaken awake again. Didn't think it was as strong as the last one which was about 3 on the Richter scale in Taipei, but disconcerting to be shaken awake nontheless.

BUT, I am going to visit Taroko Gorge this weekend. Yay! Finally! So what if it's cold and wintery already. Damnit, I've been wanting to go there since I got here.

Booked this homestay or 民宿, SeaBlue Sky. Bought our train tickets to Hualien. Took Monday off work. ALL SET! Mountain hiking here I come!!!!

---
Thu, Nov 08, 2007 - Quake rattles north Taiwan, no reports of damage
TAIPEI

A MODERATE earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale rattled northern Taiwan on Thursday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 6.54am was about 46km east of the north-eastern Ilan county, at a depth of 4km, the Central Weather Bureau said in a statement. Earthquakes occur frequently in Taiwan, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin.

One of Taiwan's worst-recorded quakes occurred in September 1999. Measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, it killed more than 2,400 people and destroyed or damaged 50,000 buildings. -- REUTERS

Hoping Island

Garin & I intended to go to Yeliou rock formations beyond Keelung. But the tourist information folks at Keelung told us we were a little late and as it gets dark by 5.30pm in winter time, it was not advisable to still proceed. Instead they recommended Ho-ping Island, about half an hour by bus from Keelung.

Ho-ping Island was not bad - the coasts were pretty spectacular. As with most weekend when Garin and I find a tourist spot outside of the city, the coast, the waves, the sea breeze was a fantastic break from working/living/being in the inner city all the time.

The winds were pretty strong today and it drizzled the whole time... so it was pretty wet and cold. Good thing kiasu me had my winter jacket on already :) According to the lady who sold us the entry ticket to Hoping Island - it was grade 6 waves, rough by their standards.

Happy All Saints Day & All Souls Day!

Thu was All Saints Day - strangely there were no extra masses in the churches here. I had to call just about every Catholic church within the Taipei city district. At least now I know where all the churches that has English masses are! Anyways, Aaron and I attended 8pm mass at St Christopher in Little Manila. We tried to get Fillino food before mass but they were mostly closed - ended up with Subway.

All Souls Day - Aaron suggested night market as he was returning to US for thanksgiving and someone in Houston asked him to get the stupid bobbing head dolls. We ended up eating way too much fried food, then Aaron bought 2 pairs of jeans - he refused the jewel studded ones Sharon kept insisting on. They needed time for alterations - we ended up buying the dolls + sit thru a foot massage session.

The 2 of them were hilarious.. they kept complaining, wincing and then exclaiming when the masseur tell them it's for their brains, liver etc... No wonder boss always complains about having 2 Sharons & 2 Aarons on the team...

I now know where to take the HardCores when they come for an excellent foot massage - plus they close at 5am. Cool or what?

Happy Halloween!

My new condo - looks almost ready. Thanks to Francis who sent me the pix.

Hopefully I'll be able to rent it out easily.

Happy Halloween! My team decided to celebrate the occasion!

Phiten-ed

Decided to check out the Phiten shop since it's on the walk home anyways.

The lady at the store was pretty nice - I still have the Phiten plasters on my left shoulder (she says leave it for up to 7 days) and she also applied the Phiten fluid onto my sore shoulders. I climbed the night before - the bloody sloper route killed me. I feel like Ms Hardcore - got 'koyok' on my shoulder 1st time in my life.

I bought the wrist band afterall. Hopefully it will cure my achy fingers of my right hand. Wasn't too expensive - NT490.

Lee Ang's "Lust, Caution"

Ashley gave me free tickets! Yay Ashley!

Taiwan being a more sophisticated society, showed the movie in its entirety - read no censorship.

Personally I thought the sex in it was pretty unnecessary, isn't the movie about war and the underground resistance against the Japanese occupation? The steamy sex scenes took away some of the message - or at least I assume that's the message Lee Ang had.

Garin seemed to enjoy those scenes alot - he even noticed details like how she didn't shave her armpit hair, how you can see Tony Leung's balls... Maybe the Catholicness in me blocked my vision, I caught nothing!

http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/lustcaution/trailer/

Vanity thy name is woman...

The weather's gotten colder - it's now 22-25 degrees celsius. I had to go shopping for warmer clothes.

Tagged along my colleagues expecting to just buy a jacket or 2. I ended up spending almost $500SGP - bought all the furry stuff I always wanted but couldn't in tropical Singapore. I even bought boots that stop just shy of my knees. Garin thinks it makes me look slim. Hee...

It's only Oct and I'm cold. Probably I'll just die in Dec... Brrr...

Important milestone - my first scooter ride last night. Peter whom I met at the climbing gym gave me a ride to the MRT station after our climb. I had wanted a scooter so bad when I first got here, but everyone else tot it a bad idea... well, i guess scooters are really overrated. It was er.. dusty.

The weekend I forgot my camera...

The weather turned cooler - it's now average 22-25degrees, grey, drizzly mostly. This affects my brains - I am more forgetful now. Ok ok, it's an excuse. I missed numerous photo opportunities this wknd.

Saturday
Promised the hardcore folks to do this. Buy Longdong topo guidebook. Once done, went to climb in the gym in Beitou - Idea. It's way bigger than Y17 and open in the day (Y17 only open to public evenings) and allows leadclimbing. Cool!
-- forgot camera, no pix. Imagine.

Sunday

I tot I saw rafting at some activity centre near Shilin. So Garin and I went to verify this unreliable info. So I'm wrong. There IS an activity centre, but no rafting. The Keelung river nearby stinks and is too pathetically narrow there anyways.

We were right by the Grand Hotel so went up to check it out. It is beautiful! I want to get married here! First I need a guy to marry, small technicality - sob! :(
-- forgot camera, no pix. Kicked myself. Imagine.

Then we went to Tienmu for dinner as Garin's never been there. This is like little America, actually it's rather nice. Quieter, nestled again mountains, just no MRT station nearby and a little far out of city. Lots of little restaurants and stores. Saw a Hello Kitty store and spent some time giggling thru it.
-- forgot camera, no pix. No cutsy shots. Imagine.

There's also a Phiten store there. I was tempted.. but resisted.

We eventually ate at a Chinese restaurant that had Peking Duck in its signboard - but they bluff us, they ran out of duck! Dang...
-- forgot camera, no pix, no duck anyways. Imagine.

Messy then massive cleanup week

Calvin came to visit Monday shortly after I returned from Houston. He bought a birthday cake - awww.. how sweet.

Also gave me some cushions for the couch so the place looks more homey.

The whole apartment is so small - with their luggage and me sleeping on the floor downstairs, it got a little cluttered and messy. I took 4 hours to clean up after they left and felt so good - it's true, housework is rather therapeutic.

Nontheless they left Friday early morning, and on Friday evening when I came home to an empty home, I missed them. Missed all our night chats. Sigh. I miss my big bro... Comforted myself with the last slice of my birthday mango cake - cake is good... and he's right, my fridge is set too cold, i had to thaw it out a little first before gobbling it down.

Greeted home by Typhoon

Another typhoon - 4th this season greets me. It's nice to have someone (thing?) meet you at the airport. I did however get a great taxi driver who literally backed into the main door & deposted me and my 60pounds of lugguge dry and at my doorstep. Can't ask for more. I have his name card - the best taxi driver I've met thus far in Taipei.

Typhoon Krosa lashes Taiwan, halting air and sea traffic - from the China Post. It's stronger than the last one which gave us a holiday ;) but as it hit Yilan - which is real close to Taipei, it's really windy and rainy right now. Probably stay in, unpack, nap and do chores like laundry.

The last 2 weeks in Houston was nice. It was good to meet the extended team in Houston, plus I got to eat my brains out with hamburgers, tex-mex (I love tacos and enchilladas), pizza. I added 1 kg butt (pun intended) my body fat went down - probably due to the 3 guilt induced gym visits. The Hilton Garden Inn gives you free access to a huge 24hr gym just behind it.

Nice to be driving again - I miss driving! Just that driving on the wrong side of the road took some getting used to.

Working on my butts

I'm really blessed. Aaron sent me a list of where to go, what to do, where to shop and where to eat cheat sheet of Houston. That plus the fact that I have a GPS (trusty lil' old thing) and a car. Hmm...

Working on Aaron's list...
Red Robin - 8/10
the hamburger is just aweeeesome! I ate the whole thing and was so done. Plus
there're free refills for drinks and my server gave me 2 at 1 go. Ooo....

Papasitos - 8/10
boss & I shared 1 appetizer & 1 main. The quesidillas/fajitas are so good... And, she drank the Wave magarita. I was too jetlagged to drink, but I took a sip out of hers. It is strong stuff!

Goodsons -6/10
authentic Southern food. I had the Chicken Fried Steak - which begged the question, is it chicken or beef? They all laughed at me. It's steak - battered up and fried like chicken. Typical Southern style, it came as 1 hunk of meat. I much preferred the bun, very dough-y.

Red Fish - 6/10
Japanese. Ok, this ain't on Aaron's list. It's a Japanese seafood place. My skin's already trying to adapt to the drier air here, I didn't want shrimp which will aggrievate my eczema balance. Went with Salmon - was ok.

Papa BBQ - 7/10
Copied Donna and had the BBQ beef. It was so tender, it falls apart when I stab it with my fork. This one I could finish...

I'm sorry I have no pictures - I'm with my co-workers and/or my boss and didn't want to appear like some teenager with an incessant need to take pix and blog about it afterwards. Well, I do have an incessant need to take pix and blog about it afterwards.... but it's about the IMPRESSION. I am a professional on a work trip in Houston. If I say this often enough, I will believe it and so will the world.

Oh and I did try 1 feeble attempt towards countering all that food - I get free access to Life Fitness which is just behind the hotel (by American standards, it means you drive 3mins down the street). It was a huge gym full of machines which I cannot work - where is Yz when you need her?! Oh and they have a rockwall too but it was closed that evening. Dang.

I'm a resident of Taipei

I keep forgetting that - I'm now a resident of Taipei.

Am in Houston for 2 weeks and every customs form I fill in and each time someone asks me where I'm from - I get it wrong. The answer should be Taipei, Taiwan - not Singapore. This takes some getting used to.

The other thing that takes getting used to is driving on the wrong side of the road. Yes - I am driving in the US. All you Singaporeans be glad I am far far away. Not only am I a slow driver (I'm doing 40-50miles and astutely avoiding the freeways), but I am a bad one - each turn I make, I gotta remember - keep right. Yesterday was dicey, but this morning I started to drive to work and feeling a little more confident, then yeah, I turned onto the wrong side of the road and had to pull back in a hurry in a busy intersection close to HP. So, back to using the GPS and no radio and just keep to my "keep right, keep right, KEEP RIGHT!!!" mantra.

Happy PDC 5th Anniversary

This week the office (called PDC) celebrates 5yrs of being in Taipei. We had this pretty glam dinner where the food was so-so, then everyone got so drunk. I stayed sober - remarkable record considering I'm such a teetoller. Guess I don't feel that comfortable with my colleagues yet.

The very next day we had a teambuilding event which involved 10 games (mostly of the silly run-around screaming juvenile sort). It was held at the Nangang Sports Hall which also had a rockwall in their hall, so naturally rockclimbing is 1 of the 10. They found out I climb rock so I most gracious (inwardly I was thanking God) to be Game 3 - rockclimbing, game marshall. Plus I tried out the wall 1st before everyone got there, hey someone has to ensure it's safe! Then I stayed back after everyone left to boulder on my own. So yeah, it was a good day.

Another Touristy Wknd

I've been here 7 weeks and still feel like a tourist. Guess it doesn't help that I am a tourist every weekend.

Saturday - slept in then went out to the top of Yangmingshan to this classy restaurant for dinner. Like gazebos/marquees built into the mountainside facing Taipei city. Pity it wasn't a clear day - barely making out Taipei 101. We were celebrating Sharon's birthday - naturally we overeat then went to Roxy99 and overdranked on vodkas then tequilas. I drank little - wasn't me who got drunk :)


Me with the birthday girl. Yes, in case it doesn't show, we got pretty wasted...

Sunday - after church, checked out the outdoors shop along Chungshan North, need a chalk ball (not that I climb a lot, like twice since I got here) but they were closed on Sundays. Then walked around the nearby Peace Park where most of the political rallies are held. Inside the peace park is a monument commemorating the 228 incident - an uprising in Taiwan of the then locals vs the Nationalist soldiers that settled in Taiwan during the war. The same scism continues til today - bet local Taiwanese and the descendants of Nationalist soldiers - pretty much situation between DPP & KMT. More colorful history to come during next year's elections. Boy, am I glad I'm here to watch 1st hand.

(L-R) 228 Peace Monument, Statue, Old gates

This horse actually reminds me of a friend. Horse (it's an inside joke) but also cos of the spirit & vigour within it, u can see the veins popping on its neck.

This is dedicated to Ms Hardcore!

Just outside the Peace Park, along Ketagalan Boulevard, if you look straight to the end, tadah!.. the Presidential Building & in front of it, the East Gates (also called Jingfu Gate 景福门). One of 4 ancient gates to the city.

(L-R) Presidential building with the UN referandum posters ; Jingfu men in the intersection of Xinyi, Zhongshan, Ketagalan & Renai.

Enough history & culture and I was hungry - called Garin out for lunch.. the guy is such a sleepyhead.. Once he was conscious, he took me to this cool secret restaurant called People's restaurant. Nondescript stairs, secret bronze doors, magic way of opening it...

Interior decor is very very cool, I tried to take pix, but it was too dark...

Then we went to ride the Miramar Ferris Wheel (美麗華摩天輪) - cool! But too short a ride! Built into the side of the Miramar movie theatres.

Unfortunately it was drizzling while we were there, the doors to the cable car were wet, there were windows but they were covered with nettings.. these were the best I could do under the circumstances. But believe you me, the view from the top was spectacular.

Yangmingshan 陽明山

My Taiwanese collagues, Candice, Ashley & Tony were nice enough to take me up Yangmingshan one evening after work. It was a pretty long drive thru Neihu, Tienmu, up Yangmingshan and into a spa place where the food was great. They talked, I ate, my spoken Chinese isn't all that great, so predictably, I ate too much. Also ordered black chicken soup to boil on a cooker on the table. And we drank it after hot spring, came back for the soup when you all airy/lightheaded from the soak. Awesome.


Unlike Beitou's hotspring, Yangmingshan's smelt less of suphur. At least at night it was cool outside and hot in the water. As I can only get naked with Ms Hardcore, and she ain't here, so individual cubicals it was.

Place is worth re-visiting, perhaps when Steph gets here
http://www.kawayu-spa.com.tw/how.htm

MaoKong Cable Car

Taipei launched this during June - when Ms Hardcore & I were there. But there were long lines for it, it kept breaking down and trapping people in, it was 40degrees in the height of the Summer heat wave, probably closer to 50degrees in the little cable cars with no ventilation save 4 small round holes...

Siew Bee's here for 2 weeks biz trip and wanted to go. Weather's a little better now and 2 months on, you'd think they've resolved all their teething problems.

Perhaps my expectations were really low, but the views were fantastic. And it by far a safer & more fun way to get to the top of the mountains in Muzha. I say that cos I had to travel down via a mini-van. Yes, the good folks of MaoKong cable car shut down the service due to "lightning warnings". Of cos they didn't have the good sense to stop people entering before telling us. We climbed 4 storeys up to the platform only to walk back down after much confusion.

Nontheless, a good trip - albeit I didn't get my round trip :(

Muzha area is famed for its oolong tea plantations. We ate lunch at one of the numerous tea houses - picked the farthest one (read highest up the mountains) to avoid the crowds. Food was passable, but tea was nice, here's us brewing tea.

Earthquake!

I experienced my 1st earthquake.

It happened in the night, I only remember waking up to think "EARTHQUAKE!", and I'm on a wooden floor (upper storey of the loft), then went straight back to zzz. Ok, I climbed til 11pm, I was tired!! Gimme a break! :)

Key takeaway - do not sleep naked in case your neighbours need to dig you out.

The 6.6 magnitude temblor struck at sea, 74 kilometers (44 miles) southeast of the eastern city of Ilan at 1:51 a.m. (1751 GMT Thursday). Ilan is about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of Taipei.
** from the China Post.

Old friends in a new city & Moving in finally...

Finally met up with Garin - Kuansie found me his Taiwan mobile tel. He works for Dell - the competition! But it was great to see him again. Then we managed to convince Kuansie to come visit for the wknd. So she did what Ms Hardcore did - fly in Friday evening and leave Sunday afternoon. Life of a jetsetter, spend your wknd in a different city. :)

Food - yeah, she wanted to eat.. a lot... so Singaporean hor?
Check out her Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/tankuan/sets/72157601762442777
Thanks to Kuansie, we now know http://www.prawn.com.tw/ It's actually pretty good, albeit pricey.

Top of the World
We paid 350NT + additional 100NT to check out the view from the tallest building in the world. I can see my work place, my apartment... Way cool!

Agora is the service apt I lived in for my 1st month - moved round the corner, walkable distance.

Office is next to the 101 Building, perhaps a 15-20min walk to work.

Gross Encounters
Snake street. Boy, was it was cruel! I saw 3 snakes murdered. No pix allowed during the show - but mostly my hands were over my eyes.. sooo...

Smelly Tofu. It tastes as bad as it smells, contrary to what folks say about it's taste. EEyew...

Home Sweet Home
The next day after Kuansie left, I moved out of the Agora and spent my 1st night in my
apartment. I must say, my bed is rather soft and comfy. More comfy than Agora I thought...

The Year 1996

Did u know that Taiwan considers this year to be 1996?

I first smelled a rat when buying milk - surely the cows can't be milked in 1996?????! Smart alec me, tot perhaps they have some kind of cryptic numbering for milk instead of expiry dates.

I just learnt - one of those lightbulb moments, that Taiwan is still using the old imperial Chinese tradition of using the emperor's name and year of reign. It is also called ming-guo (民國), which starts in 1912, the year of the founding of the Republic of China.

Hence, 2007 is the "96th year of the Republic" (民國九十六年, 民國96年, or simply 96).

Months and days are still numbered according to the Gregorian calendar.

Incidentally, Korea and Japan are also using similar era type of calendars.

My source is Wikipedia - so this time I am right. The cows are milked this year. Whew!

Super Typhoon Sepat

This is typhoon no. 3 since I got here. First 2 were small ones affected south of Taipei, 台中/台南.

Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau issued both land and sea warnings for Typhoon Sepat yesterday - calling it a Category 4 typhoon or a super typhoon. Sepat packs winds up to 234kph, with a radius of 250km - will engulf the whole of Taiwan when it hits us as we sleep Friday night and into Saturday.

The typhoon warnings began Thu, being the kiasu Singaporean and 1st timer with typhoons, I went to my new place and closed all the windows I had opened for ventilation. Then went home to Agora for the gym, skipping my initial plans to go rockclimb at the Y17. Then I saw on TV, folks in Taipei were still out partying - peek out of the window confirms it (the Agora is next to the Taipei 101). Chey! Just ignoring the rain and thunder display.

This morning (Friday) boss came by to check on me - told me to stock up on food for the wknd. Guess she didn't want her newest and stupidest member of her team to be casualty no. 1 to 1st serious typhoon of the year. Awww.. isn't she sweet?

And Ashley just congratulated me this morning saying "a typhoon is popping by to say hello.."
So anyhow, my boss popped by at 3pm and told me to go home, so I did, took a nap - ain't that grand?

Went for a walk & dinner with Sam - he wanted me to see his new apartment in Keelung, altho he hasn't picked up his keys yet.

It was dry - no rain, no wind yet but the new typhoon is serious and Taipei are taking the warnings seriously. Windows, doors are tapped and sandbagged. As mentioned on TV, either tape your glass with a mi (米) or cha (X) pattern. Which I didn't quite understand until I saw - refer to photo, the movie adverts are mi and the doors are cha.

Video taken from my balcony. I risked arm & leg, hey this typhoon ripped billboards, trees off, throwing stuff at people all night. Ok, ok, so I got my arm, camera and a little of my face wet from the swirly rain. Dedicated to Derek.

Getting a grip!

Slowly but surely I am getting there. This week, I have gotten my alien residence card (ARC) which precludes everything in Taiwan - from opening a bank account to even applying for a mobile phone.

So now I have a Taiwan Fubon bank account - which is very important cos my salary goes in there... duh!

My apartment is 3/4 clean and unpacked - I feel like such a maid! Who has a parttime maid to loan me? I'm so sick of cleaning, scrubbing, moping!

I have 11 days of being in Agora service apartment where housekeeping cleans up after me... 2 days of honeymooning at work cos boss and colleagues back from biz trip from Monday next week...

Oh did I mention there's a newbie here - he's HK relocating from the US. When I see him, I thank God I have a much easier time. The dude (that's what he keeps calling me) is so lost! No house, no ARC, no bank acct, no mobile phone...

Dinner

Had my first social dinners this week.

Friday evening went out to Mala Hot Pot with Ghee Hwee and Angela - both new colleagues from my NB team. We laughed about differences bet SGP & Twn all nite. Then I went home with Ghee Hwee to see her flat. She stays very close to my apartment but she's paying ~ $350SGP more in monthly rent. Her place is swanky - new building, nice and slightly bigger then mine. But I am still happy with my place.

Sunday evening Alex and his wife invited us to his place for dinner, along with a few extended desktop PC colleagues. I felt more comfortable with them - maybe cos I used to work with these guys and know them for at least a year. But I felt they were much more sincere.. Feasted on mee siam & prawn mee soup that Alex's wife made - Jorraine is fantastic! Then we pigged out on numerous desserts, cake, icecream.. oooo I am fat!

Language Gaffe

I like to think I am managing well. Thus far, except from not being able to distinguish North, South, East, West in Chinese - I've been understood - well most of the time.

Except when I wanted to go to Carrefore in Neihu. That's where all the hypermarts are, Costco, Carrefore, RT, 3C. Needed to buy vacuum cleaner and other electrical applicances (couldn't buy in SGP due to different power voltage, Taiwan is 110v).

My conversation with taxi driver.
Me - pls go to Neihu, I want to go to Carrefore, Kang Le Fu.
Taxi driver - ??
Me - Kang Le Fu? Buy lotsa stuff? (Hypermart mah)
Taxi driver - ?? then starts digging in his pants
Me start gettting nervous, what the @#$ is he digging in his pants for...
Taxi driver producing a Carrefore key chain - you mean Jia Le Fu?

Carrefore is 家乐福, Jia Le Fu. Kapish?

Week 1 Taipei

I survived 1 week of work! Actually colleagues and boss were really nice - gave me a slow start. So work wise I've been ok.

Somehow I've been feeling tired after work - not sure whether it is becos of new environment or lack of a monitor - toll of staring at my notebook's tiny screen all day.. or have I been missing my hardcore friends.

Finally forced myself to go gym on Friday evening - spent 1 hour and feel so proud of myself.

Saturday I slept in a little then went to clean my new apartment. I was astonished at how horribly filthy it was. Expected to finish in a couple of hours, I cleaned house til 7pm.

Today I ache all over - Fri gym + Sat clean house. But I still managed to go find the climbing gym - it is cool! Then walked around and did some touristy photo taking....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157601229753452/

Monday (tomorrow) my stuff arrive - yay!

Scootering in Taipei

It is so convenient with a scooter, esp parking.

1. find a spot

2. shift surrounding bikes roughly aside to make a gap big enuff

3. tadah! park bike





Very interesting. The scooters even have their own unique box to stop in at traffic junctions.








I was shopping in Geant (a bit messy like Mustapha but everything oso got lor), and they sell scooters.

The 100cc ones go for 40,000NT (or $2k SGP). Average taxi ride (home to work) is 70-80NT. In 1 month, I'd have amortised out the cost of the scooter.

Hmm... the only downside is possibly losing life/limb they way the drive here...

Agora Gardens - 亚太

This is home for my first days of Taipei.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157601095763717/

Lessons - Day 1 Taiwan
1. Most banks do not accept SGP$. We aren't world currency just yet. Oh well, at least the money launderers are leaving us alone for now. And, the exchange rate is better here too. Ka-chng!

2. People around me are very nice - from my new colleagues, to Ashley (CPC-MDM) are really helpful and warm. I am so very blessed.

3. I actually miss people from home already. Whine! Hard cores - you guys are the best!

4. Food here is good. Yum, yum!

D Day - relocation!

I gotta say this upfront : God is great! I am so blessed!

The last 2 weeks were difficult. I knew it was going to be rough... selling my car, getting my paperwork done, finishing up work, transitioning work to CK, trying to meet up with everyone and eating farewell meals...

I now know who really loves me enough to cry... *sob* Some of the farewell meals ended up in a teary mess.

God is great, I have such wonderful friends, esp the 'hardcores'. Life is gonna be rough without you guys.

Exercise routine while traveling...

We all know how it is while on the road. You mean to get up earlier to go to the hotel gym or hotel pool.. but what if there is no gym or pool. Perhaps others do floor exercises.

Here's what hard cores do...

Taipei Preview Trip

As part of the relocation, I get to spend 5 nights in Taipei.

I spent 3 days viewing apartments, relaxing in my room, dropping by to say hello to my new NB teammates, eating lunch with my current CPC folks...

Then when Ms Hardcore came by Fri nite to Sun afternoon - we played hard! Of cos la, we're talking abt Ms Hardcore, duh! http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157600736728232/

Or Ms Hardcore's pix http://www.flickr.com/photos/ziinger/sets/72157600724024616/

At the end of the week, I possibly may have an apartment, I brought back my new work NB to setup, and I am mentally prepared/relaxed for the new challenge. Pix of the studio apartment I hope to get... (Steph.. see, not bad eh?)



Bring Taipei on!

Taipei is very Chinese...

Today is a day of discovery!

1. Taipei is very very Chinese.

2. 牛腩麵 is NOT the same as 牛肉麵. I ate brisket for the 1st time in my life - squishy tendons I don't like.


3. Taiwanese measure apartments in 坪. 12坪 studio apartments are too small for me to consider a home. Actually smaller than my hotel room - which I tot was small already.

4. 鼎泰豐is really yummier here than in Singapore. No wonder there was a queue for it, and there was still a queue after we left.

5. Aftermath of kiling myself on Sok Bee's grey route on wall 3 of Yishun - my shoulders & upper arms ache and I got 3 finger joints that hurt. Thank God I have a massage appointment when I return - thanks to Derek!

Opps I did it again...

Forgot to bring running shorts...

Realised while changing in toilet. Yz screamed so loudly in frustration that I think some folks in China walking up the Great Wall stumbled - ok so yeah, 2nd time I forgot *sheepish*

Had to run a long distance wif Ms Hardcore and buy her Haato at the end of the run to appease her.

Now my legs are sore and my waist bigger... Sigh...

Working late - for the LAST TIME for consumer PC team!

My last show with my current team. Getting Neptune ready for show&tell was a lot of work! It was so raw - looks like handbuilt by R&D guys in the US. We had missing drives, wrong drivers, missing DMI, the HD-DVD drive came separate...
Of cos being the last minute cocky idiots who never learn, we waited til end Monday to freak out.

Running around in panic state, calling our Taiwan office, bugging our US folks who just flew in for the Summit (thank God for them).

By the time Terence & I packed up our 8 boxes - we were exhausted. Hey a PC weighs 15kg and a monitor about 12kg. Thankfully my new job is with notebooks - they are tiny relative to what I have to heave around today.

Tomorrow the summit starts & the product fair is Friday. Will be up late setting up, fixing and preparing my presentations... Sigh, gonna be a long next 2 days.

Cycling Pulau Ubin

We intended to go last Sunday but it rained... This Sat unfortunately my uncle flew off so he missed this trip. Sigh. He would've liked this.

We took some creaky rental bikes whose gears stick bad - uphills were painful (that's understating it). But seeing how I went with 2 sufferers of "hard-core-itis", I expected a true blue hardcore trip.

We biked hard (my forearms were so sore from grabbing my handlebars in fear as we tore down steep hills that the next day I couldn't cut my passport photos for my Taiwan work permit)...

We climbed hard - eh? Mountain biking where got climbing, not salah, we cycled to a quarry, stashed bikes behind bushes, and dive off the cliffs only to climb back up. Called deep water soloing where if you fall, you crash back into the water. Derek took videos which were a blast. While uploading to YouTube I kept laughing out loud to my monitor.

We teased and laughed at one another... It was very memorable. I will so miss these 2 hardcore sufferers so much *sob*

Mileage

It's been years since I last used the term 'mileage' ;) shows how lazy I've been.

It was a half-marathon mileage over 3 days.

Mon - 5k with Steph thru HP-Hyderabad Rd. Then we pigged out on Korean BBQ. Yummy...

Tue - 7k with Ms HardCore. Then we climbed.

Thu - 9k with Joanne, Derek and Ms HardCore. Then we suppered on yi-mee cooked with a mountain of lard. Gross!

Hot chick

While showing me his photos on Flickr, Terence saw mine and tot Joanne was a babe...

She was thrilled all nite after I told her...

But the woman still cannot differentiate between Prana & Prada!

So Joanne, this is

PRANA (the cool brand we climbers wear)

The very cool climbing top & pants we bought you for your birthday? Prana!

Prada is the brand of our shoes, handbags, wallets (not including those of us with the Prada accessories from KL's Chinatown.. tsk tsk!)

Absent-mindedness

Some call it blur, I prefer to say absent-minded. Gives the illusion of a mind distracted.. instead of just not having it all together ;)

First I tot I lost my HP access badge. That would've cost me $50 replacement fee. My friends were so nice, they all panic-ed and offered me helpful advice. Ultimate was a colleague who asked me to tell them that I dropped it into toilet, before I flushed...

Found it subsequently after freaking out 1 day in the laundry basket. Blur me dumped both dirty clothes + badge in there.

Next I packed 2 running jerseys and no shorts to go for an evening jog. It gave me an excuse to not have to run with Yingzi (Ms Hard-Core wanted to do laps up and down Mount Faber)... Or I could run in my underwear. No flashing in the Telok Blangah area - Yingzi offered me her running shorts and jogged in surfing bermuda - she looked like some sufer chick all nite.

Last nite, I left my pink and very beautiful Nalgene bottle behind at the coffeeshop after supper. I spent all nite thinking how much i loved it and how some lucky bastard will never treat it as well as I would... *sob* Thanks to God for good friends, Yingzi (again!) picked it up after me and had put it in my car for me.

Conclusion

1. I need to get my act together!

2. God is good! I have good friends!

3. How will I survive Taipei alone?! *wail*

My body hurts...

Ever since the decision to move to Taipei end July, I've been punishing myself...

Cycle - Vesak Day
Last Thu was a public holiday and I went with Yz, Derek, my 50+ uncle in a small band of 9 gung-ho weekend warrior friends to cycle Penggarang. Intended as my farewell ride - selling my Trek to You Chien - my cousin afterwards. I cycled off fast and knew Yz would follow. She did more, she overtook me. The return was crazier : Yz, Kenny & I drafted each other, pushing one another on. It was absolutely crazy the speeds we were doing despite the strong headwinds. Often cruising 28-30km with the strong headwind.

Of cos we pigged out big time on lobsters and crabs and too much food in general. BURP!

Climb - last weekend
2 days later, over the weekend, we drove up to KL to climb at Camp 5. Yz borrowed her brother's BMW, so we went up in style. We chose to stay close to the climbing gym, in Royale Bintang at the nearby The Curve. Hotel was new and way nicer than KL Plaza Suites. The best part, we found out we could walk back after climbing to our hotel room. Need to trek 15mins thru the mall's carpark, by golf driving range, then voila, hotel!

This is me, during and after...

The next day we chilled, Melvin & family went swimming while the rest of us ventured out to shop around at the Curve. Then stroke of luck, Derek's wife found a spa. Amazingly they had slots for all of us - the Urban Retreat was simply fantastic! I will gush again, their Thai masseurs could work magic, absolutely fanastic!

Thursday 7 Jun

Yz proposed this zany plan. We leave work early for a triathlon of sorts : jog 5k, swim 20 laps and then climb 5 climbs. I was on course and couldn't leave til 5pm, so we dropped the swim. The jog went ok, until the last 800m or so when Derek broke away on a sprint. Tried to chase the man (he claims the last run he did was during reservist 5yrs ago!) but he was way too fast!

Then we climbed.

Now I am sore... and Yz sadly hurt her shoulder badly doing a tough climb. Praying Yz for a speedy recovery, may God heal your shoulder!