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.