Wonderings of Little Bear

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears,

Happy New Year!  It is the year of the snake, which is very auspicious for those of us born in 1989, or every 12 years before or after that.   Now off to the real blog post…

Sitting on a bench listening to a mix of Bob Dylan and Mumford and Sons looking out over Victoria Harbour to Kowloon, it is easy to capture the magnitude and chaotic order that is Hong Kong.  Historic Star Ferries come and go carrying people to and from Kowloon and the surrounding islands amidst cruise ships and freighters.  

Hong Kong has a very interesting mix of its colonial history and its booming present as the center of East Asian finance.  One can slip from streets filled with New Years celebrants to the quiet solitude of Hong Kong park in a matter of seconds to look at a surprising large collection of birds in their aviary.  Sitting on the steps of one of the many Gucci or Rolex stores on the weekends are dozens of Filipino women who are enjoying their day off from house cleaning because they live in their employers homes.  Sitting behind a Chinese-theme village and on top of a souvenir shop is the Big Buddha on Lantao Island.  It is a city that seems to be at odds, but works.  The one thing that I noticed was that there was very little Asian or Chinese about it, other than the mass of people.

I am not terribly religious person at this juncture in my life, but visiting the Big Buddha and having the sensory overload of massive amounts of incense burning both eyes and nose, the monks chanting their sutras was a very spiritual experience.  Having all of your sense bombarded really allows you to empty your head and be present in the moment and contemplate your place in the world.

Overall, it was a very good but tiring due the jet lag.  One of the interesting was a very early morning walk and subsequent losing of myself at 4:30 in the morning of my first night there.  I could not sleep and so I decided to get out and see how the city starts up in the morning and see the sunrise on Mt. Victoria.  I got lost and could not find the mountain, but I did get to see a very unique Hong Kong that was mostly absent of people.

Travelling, and consequently walking everywhere, has made me realize two major things.  First, I am sorely out of shape.  This will be remedied by having a training partner for a half marathon the Great Wall in May.  Second, wearing new shoes for the first time while walking around 10-15 miles a day leads to many blisters.  Don’t do it.  

To quote the ever-quotable Darjeeling Limited, “I want us to be completely open and say yes to everything, even if its shocking and painful.  Can we agree to that?”

Peace, Love, and the American Way,

The Little Bear

To the Senate and People of Rome,

This post marks the beginning of a new and exciting adventure for me into the Middle Kingdom.  One could say this is Middle Kingdom Adventure Mark 2.5 (does Taiwan count???)  

Sitting here in the airport waiting to board the Boeing 747 (I have never been on one before!) is a whole bag of things but mostly just hot.  They seem to not have noticed the heat wave outside Chicago at 32 degrees.  Wooh, I am melting.  

For those curious, I will be flying to Hong Kong where I will stay until Monday morning.  During my stay, I hope to experience some of the festivities of the Spring Festival which officially kicks off on Saturday night (Friday for you folks back in the U S of A).  Following Hong Kong I will make my way over to Shanghai and meet up with my Hoosier buddies Liz and Brian.  I am sure they will make an appearance or two on this very blog as the months unravel.  After Shanghai, I will be going to Nanjing which will be my home for the next 5 or so months.  

I will try and update this at least once a week, but check back often so you don’t miss anything ;).  I’ll post my plans as I make them.

Until next time, Peace, Love, and the American Way.

P.S

I like posting pictures of food on here, not because they are particularly splendid photos, but because they provide a glimpse of how the common man (or woman) eats.  Also, because I really like food.  So here we are, meal numero uno.  

Hey friends, it has been a good summer of this one-way communication, but alas, it must be coming to an end.  This entry will track my experience last weekend at Sun Moon Lake (thank you Aunt Ellen for suggesting it!). 

Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan’s biggest body of water, happens to be located in the only land-locked county in Taiwan (irony???).  It also happens to be located in a rather difficult location to get to without a car, so I was very fortunate to find out that one of my co-workers was going down to a town that was a short bus ride away.  When we got to their stop in Puli, my co-workers fiancee showed me around his family’s mushroom farm and store.  I ate some delicious fried mushrooms and drank some interesting mushroom based beverages.  It was a neat experience.  Following that, I took short ride to the lake.

Once at the lake, I walked a few steps to the Shuishe Visitor Center to rent one of their bikes.  They all happened to be Giant Bikes which are pretty cool.  The prices for renting varied greatly, but one could spend almost $100 to rent one of the top of the line bikes for the day!  I opted for the cheapest version which still set me back about $30.  It was well worth it.  So with a little map, some tips from the very cool bike rental people, some water and a bike, I set off to cycle around the lake. 

The ride started off weaving in and out of the slower moving cars and trying to break through to get to clearer streets.  Once out of the town a little bit, the road immediately started climbing which I was not really prepared for mentally.  It was about 12 AM and very hot, but I persisted and made it to the first stop, the Wenwu Temple.  It was a neat little stop dedicated to some people from the famous Chinese epic, popularly known in America as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.  They had a stair case with 366 steps to represent the days in a leap year leading up to the temple from the lake.  It was time to move on!

After that there was some very much needed, although all-too-short downhill relaxation on the bike with some spectacular views of the lake.  There is nothing like riding down some pretty steep hills on winding roads going about 40km/hour.  Safety aside, it was really cool!  But, like I said, it was short lived, as the climbing began again and a few switchbacks were added in for fun.

Quick break:

Going up switchbacks=Really hard work

Going down switchbacks=A lot of fun

Going up switchbacks in the rain=Misery

Going down switchbacks in the rain=Danger

OK back to the action.  After the climbing, I was thoroughly exhausted and out of water, so I stopped at the very conveniently placed drink stand where the owner was all to eager to hand me a delicious beverage, for a small fee.  Taking my drink and camera, I went up to the next temple which was all white (even the courtyard had white rocks).  Even better, they had an awesome bell, which I definitely rang!  After checking out the awesome view of the lake and getting my picture taken, it was time to move on as the clouds were moving in (the rest of Taiwan, however, was beautiful with clear skies I am told).

After going down the best hills of the ride, I stopped into a little town and rode around and looked at the crafts and goods, but quickly rode on since my bike had no kickstand (I found that very strange).  Logically, after going down some awesome hills, there were some terrible hills to climb up afterward.  By now it was getting pretty dark and there was thunder in the background.  I went off the road, and started up the bike path of death (pictures will be posted).  After getting through the bike path, I realized that it took be back to a place I had already been too, and seeing as it was starting to pour, I did not feel like doubling back that whole way.  Back up the diabolically slick bike path of doom.  Back on the road, feeling rather wet and miserable, my bike chain came off, which was probably the low point of the ride.  I was soaked, greasy, and frustrated. 

After cycling through the rain with the wheel spraying water into my unprotected eyes and thinking I was not going the right way, I finally found some people that I had run into at various points throughout the ride.  They reaffirmed me that I was indeed going in the right direction.  We rode together for a bit and took our picture together until we got back to the main town, concluding the 33km circuit around the lake.  It was an amazing experience and I would definitely do it again!

As an added bonus, the people at the bike shop gave me a Coke and certificate saying I did it for free!  I thought that was a nice touch.  After relaxing in my soaking clothes and looking at the lake as the weather finally cleared up, it was time to go home. 

This was the last real travel experience of the trip, so this will be the last blog its kind until the next adventure.  I will have a summary one and one in Chinese for my Chinese only speaking friends from the office as a sort of farewell message.  After that I will post on things I find interesting back at home.  Keep reading though, it has been a pleasure!

To steal from the lovely Kristen Broyles, this trip is over, closing the door on another adventure, but opening the door to so many more possibilities! 

As promised, here we gooooooooooooooooo!!! In this episode we will see the little bear in his familiar environs of Taibei and Hsinchu County.

This Saturday, after an evening of gorging myself (not really gorging, just indulging) on many a delicious lamb dish and a trip to Costco onn Friday, I found myself with little to do so I decided to go up to Taibei to see some of the things I missed before.  I decided to make two stops, one at Danshui, which the river that flows through Taibei and into the Pacific and then out to the suburb/former tea village at Maokong.  The Danshui stop on the MRT is the final one on the red line and the Maokong stop is the last one on the Brown line.  They are pretty much opposite sides of the city and the trip between the two took almost an hour and a half. 

Danshui was really pretty, but it was extremely hot and fairly crowded.  They had some neat little cafes and a pretty old church built by Puritans or some similar sect a long time ago.  It is mostly a scenic spot to go see, so after looking around and eating some pretty delicious mint chocolate chip ice cream, I left to go see my next destination.  I was kind of disappointed though, because I saw some really cool Buddhist wall hanging things that I wanted for my room next year, but they were fairly expensive (I didn’t bring my card and I needed to make sure I had enough cash to get back home) so I did not purchase one.  I thought I could get one in Hsinchu, but all of my co-workers have no idea where to find them. 

In order to get up to Maokong, one can either take a car up the winding mountain roads, or one can opt for the very cool, but very hot, gondola ride up to the village.  It was about a 20 minute ride that offered views of the whole of Taibei city as well as the gorgeous mountains.  At the time I went up, it was in between the first group of day trippers heading down but before the night crowd headed up, so it wasn’t too crowded at first.  My first stop was to get some winter melon tea (truly one of the things that I will miss upon my return home) in order to cool off.  Taipei in a strange turn of events was hotter than Hsinchu and well over 100 degrees with very little cloud cover.  I walked around for a while and looked at some of the tea farms and tea houses and decided since I was in a fairly famous tea growing area, I should go ahead and purchase some tea. 

I stepped into an unassuming store room that happened to have huge bags of tea on the ground.  It looked good to me so I stayed around while the young man helped the customers in front of me.  One was a foreigner, while his companion was a speaker of Chinese.  They were deciding how much they should give (prices were flexible) and what exchange rate to use (the man was paying in USD for some reason).  It was an amusing conversation between the worker and the companion and they were surprised to hear I could understand them.  So I sat down on the bench and waited for them to finish up.  The worker (who was probably no more than 15) poured me some various types of tea (I could pick whichever ones I wanted to try), and we chatted in about 50% Chinese/50% English (he wanted to speak English) about tea and language.  I found out that his father was in China and happened to be a master tea roaster and that this was their wholesale business.  Soon after that, his father came in and served me some more tea.  After a while it was time to purchase some tea, and since they said it was really cool that I could speak Chinese, they gave me a discount. 

The sun had set and so I found a cliff side cafe and ordered a delicious, but expensive, glass of cranberry-apple juice (by now I was very much full of tea) and relaxed with a beautiful view of Taipei’s skyline.  After my beverage it was time to return to Taipei.  On the Gondola down, I sat with a mother and her 2 young daughters, her baby, and a couple sat across from me.  The two girls were cute, but every time we passed a support column and the car rumbled, they said earthquake, earthquake, earthquake.  The couple and I laughed, but I felt kind of bad for them because I am sure they were hoping for a romantic ride down with the beautiful view in front of them.  As if that wasn’t enough, the mother decided to start breast-feeding her baby in our very cramped gondola card.  I am all for public breast-feeding as it is about the most natural thing in the world, but in a very cramped space, it was a little odd.  Upon arrival I waited at McDonald’s and read some of Gandhi’s An Autobiography or My Experiments with Truth as I waited for my friends who were returning from the east to pick me up and give a me a ride home.  The book is fantastic and unbeknown to me, it provides some background history for the struggles that I read about in Nelson Mandela’s autobiography.  Go Freedom Struggles!

On Sunday, I went to a small mountainous village/tourist area outside of Zhubei to take in the scenery with some of my coworkers and to go to a hot spring after.  The village was home to one of Taiwan’s minority groups, although I forget which one.  They were really big into lavender and had many a lavender smelling product to sell.  We walked around and took in some of the fantastic mountain vistas along with the gorgeous valleys as well.  I truly can’t underestimate how awesome it was.  As it was also really hot, we got some ice cream and chilled out for a bit.  I choose blueberry milk ice cream and lemongrass ice cream, but instead got the blueberry and mint chocolate instead.  The blueberry was delicious and the mint was pretty average.  It was all handmade though, which was cool.  I picked up some more tea (this time peppermint-jasmine I believe). 

After the village, we took a short drive to the hot spring.  I was the only one to participate, since the others were to hot to want to.  It was an expensive, but totally worth it experience.  I choose indoor, since the outdoor one was basically just a pool.  My room was very simple, but nice, with tile floors, wood walls and ceiling and a tub.  The windows were wood slides that needed to be slid into position to allow for a fairly cool view of the mountains and some much needed airflow.  The hot spring was delightful and very relaxing.  The water was super hot, so one could only stay in for about 10-15 minutes before needing to sit out for a couple to cool off.  I was a little disappointed when they switched my girl T-Swift out for some soft Eastern Classical music.  I actually really enjoyed the musical selections and I pondered the meaning of life for my hour in the room.  Very much enjoyable and I will try to go to one once more before I leave for home.  Oh, the water at this particular type of hot spring is supposed to make your skin more beautiful. 

That pretty much covers me up until today.  Thanks for the patience and keep checking back!  This weekend I am planning doing at least one of three things: biking the 18km scenic shoreline in Hsinchu, going to Yilan, and finally going to Nantou county and biking around the famous Sun Moon Lake.  It would be about 20 miles with lots of things to see.  I am thinking that is what I will do on Saturday.  My bucket list is quickly being checked off, although I am not sure I will be able to do everything due to time constraints.  Peace and love from across the world!

Hey guys, it’s been a few days, but I have been busy and putting this off since it is going to be a long one, but here we go for part 2!  This post will update you to this weekend’s activities, and will take me to the South and back up to Hsinchu County and Taipei.

Last weekend, with the prospects of yet another typhoon, I took a took a trip with my boss/friend down to the south to see where she grew up and some of the sights down there.  Our first stop on that Saturday was to Tainan, via the Taiwan High-speed Rail.  A quick aside about the THR; it is a hugely convenient form of transportation that allows one to get from Taipei to Kaoshiung (the northernmost major city, to the southernmost major city) in about 3 hours (stops included) for about $10.  For all those against high-speed rails, you have not used them.  They are great.  Back to the story.  Tainan has a long history of Dutch influence, and so we set off to visit the former Dutch fort that was still intact.  But alas, we are getting ahead of ourselves.  On the way to said fort, we came to one of the many temples in Tainan that had on that day welcomed some visiting performers from Taipei to come and worship or something of that nature.  It was very loud with firecrackers and music.  It was a very colorful ceremony (as in bright colors). 

Fort Zeelander (as the fort was known) was pretty interesting as it had remained intact for the most part for over 400 years…they just don’t make ‘em like they used to.  The gardens and trees that have grown there are really beautiful.  In Taiwan, and I assume China to some extant, will reroute a road to circumvent a certain tree that grows to be very large as it is considered to be unlucky.  I will post a picture to show you what I am talking about.  After the fort we went to a tree house.  I was expecting a house up in the trees, but I quickly realized that the house was being taken over by the tree, or rather, many trees.  It was an old tea warehouse that the British had used, but been overrun with trees.  Again, pictures will be up soon.   After that we ended up going to a Confucian temple, where we saw some odd slow jazz 80’s type band playing.  It was a little out of place I thought.  We then got poured on as we waited for a taxi.

That night, we took the train to Kaoshiung where my friend Jessy’s parents lived and where we would stay the next two nights.  Her parents were absolutely delightful and they provided me excessive amounts of mangos and watermelon during my stay.  The next morning we (Jessy, her father, and I) took a trip to Kenting, as it was going to be the only day that would allow for snorkeling due to the weather.  It was about a 2 hour drive to Kenting, which is as south as you can go on the island.  It was raining fairly hard, but it was still packed when we got there.  We ate a lot of seafood then went to the ocean to get suited up for snorkeling.  It was a miserable day outside, but it was really cool to go snorkeling none the less.  I thought it would be peaceful and quite beneath the surface, but it was actually really loud.  It was a truly awesome experience to see all of the colorful fishies in their natural environment. 

After snorkeling we drove around the coast for a bit and stopped at a national park to look at the cliffs and coast.  Our timing was very fortunate as the skies cleared up enough to stop raining and even turn a little blue while we were out.  Not only was it not raining, but we were alone for about 10-15 minutes before groups of people came and joined us.  We left soon afterward and it began to rain yet again.

The next day we went to see a very large Buddhist temple for a very large sect.  The leader of which, I am told could easily win the presidency of Taiwan had she any political inclinations.  We visited a few more locations and then had to head home to Hsinchu.

I know I said I would fully catch you up on my travels, but I am tired and its been a long day so I promise that I will finish up tomorrow!

Hey friends, it’s been many a (busy) day since I have last updated so this will probably be rather lengthy, but bear with me, k?  We will get started with 2 weekends past.  I regret to announce the passing of my headphones…it was a good, but altogether too short a run my friends.

Two weekends ago I made a trip up north (I believe one of the most northern points in Taiwan…certainly close to the tip of it) to an old coal mining town called Pingxi with WNC’s photography club.  It was a gorgeous 2-ish hour ride into the mountains of Taiwan.  Truly one of the most awesomely pretty drives I have ever been on with very green mountains surrounding us on all sides.  Once we got there we proceeded to take a walk through the town while taking many, many, many a picture.  Only one person lorded over me and my non-DSLR camera once.  The town has kept some of its old-time flavor, although it is completely a tourist destination now. 

After that, we went to a big train station/really, really small town.  It is affectionately known as the cat village due to its numerous cats that are not really afraid of humans.  They are really not all that clean, but that did not seem to stop people from touching, looking, and generally mingling with them.  It certainly didn’t stop my group from spending an 1.5 hours taking pictures of them in a place that I walked around completely in 10 minutes.

Following the cat village, we stopped at Keelung (home of Taiwan’s biggest port) to get some delicious food at their night market.  All I had were some dumplings with some hot sauce.  We didn’t stay that long because it started to rain.

The next day (Sunday), a co-worker and her husband took me to Keelung where they were attending a wedding and I was to get a bus to go to JiuFen, a former-gold-mining village-turned-tourist destination/relaxation dreamland. JiuFen is named so because originally the town only had 9 (Jiu) households for tax-collection purposes.  It literally means 9 parts.  It was a gorgeous day, and the crowd was really not too bad because it just rained before arrival. 

After wondering around the picturesque (in the old Chinese style alley sense of the word) alleys and purchasing a few things here and there, I stopped into the village’s oldest tea shop (1860’s I believe) to stop in for a little relaxation outside with a great view of the ocean.  Oh, I forgot to mention that this town blew the previous one out of the water…it was one of the prettiest destinations I have been to. Really.  The tea was really expensive, and I think it was meant to be shared.  It was well worth it because it allowed me to check something off the bucket list and I learned how to properly steep and prepare tea.  It was also really nice relaxation.

Before taking off back to Keelung, I had some kumquat juice.  It was pretty good, but really acidic after a while.  Back in Keelung, we went to the same night market, but ate tempura (not the shrimp kind) instead and had some pretty awesome fresh kiwi ice cream.

It’s been a long one, so we’ll continue tomorrow.  Keep reading!

Hey friends!  At just past the halfway mark in my journey in Taiwan, I thought I would come up with a bucket list of things to do before I leave.  I will elaborate here:

1.  Watch dolphins (and hopefully see some whales too) swim - Yilan

2.  Taroko Gorge - Hualien

2a. Late night deep sea squid fishing - Hualien

3.  Hot Spring of any kind - Yilan, Hualien, Kaoshiung, Hsinchu County…

4.  Snorkeling - Kenting, Hualien

5.  Kaoshiung/Tainan ( Haven’t decided…maybe both) (Both)

6.  Tea Ceremony/Experience - not sure where

7.  Snake Alley - Taipei No Snake Alley, but snake none-the-less

8.  General tropical island leisure and relaxation - Kenting

9.  Foot massage - Hsinchu

That’s it for now, and if I think of anything else I will add it.  I only have four weeks left, so I need to get on it!  Any suggestions or comments, email me at mabwhite@indiana.edu.

Keep in Touch!

Hey friends,

Part of my goal for this summer was to get in shape, and god willing, lose some wait. This post is in part for publicly stating what I have done (in the hope of gaining encouragement from  family and friends as well as making me more accountable to actually do more of it), as well as to encourage other people to join me in my efforts across the sea…father *ahem*.  No excuses.

As a progress report, in about 13-ish days (I have not been the most faithful in keeping records this past week and a half) of running, I have accumulated roughly 30 miles for an average of 2.3 miles per run.  My high has been 3.7 in 28 minutes (7:34 minutes a mile) and my shortest on record is 1.3 in 10 minutes.  My average mile time is 8:16. 

I have also started doing sit-ups and basic upper body lifts, although I am not sure on the weights as they do not mention them on the dumbbells.  All I know is I started out on 5 and I am now on 8.  

All this has been intermingled with various days of exercise bike riding, along with my bike rides to and from work and dinner.  When no working out happens on the weekend, I am typically out busy walking or biking around the city.

This weekend if I don’t take a trip down south, I am planning on going on an 18+ km excursion along the coast. 

I am not sure if I have lost any weight yet because there are no scales to check, but I do feel like I am getting in shape and my brother John and I will have a little bit of race.

Keep in touch and let me know if you have similar ambitions/goals!

Hey friends! Again, it has been awhile since we last had a decidedly one-way conversation, and indeed I have missed it so.  Today we shall be discussing a range of topics from books, tourism, and business among others. 

This week was rather literary on my part as I finished John Steinbeck’s  The Grapes of Wrath (ending a long and interesting journey that the book and I had together) as well as the French novel The Stranger.  Both were very good, but very different.  (For those who have read these, bear with me for a bit) The Grapes of Wrath, on one hand depicts the Great Depression and the migration of farmers to California as a whole while also depicting one family’s struggle to survive and the ultimate good that is humanity.  Very good book and I was not expecting the ending, but I thought it was very fitting.  As other commentary has stated, and I tend to agree with, it is a very American novel.  I is interesting to realize how much various characters or themes from the novel appear throughout pop culture.  The Stranger ton the other hand, is almost the complete opposite.  The rather short novel follows Meursalt as he goes through life exploring the meaning of it after he kills a man(reviews have said this is not only an existential work, but also has hints of nihilism, naturalism, determinism…a whole lot of isms).  Both were very good books, and if you were looking for a quick, thoughtful read, I would go with The Stranger, by Albert Camus.

This weekend started out with WNC’s generous renting out of the movie theater for screenings of Transformers 3 3D.  While it was certainly not the best movie I have ever seen, it most certainly was not the worst and better than the 2nd.  It also doesn’t hurt that the movie and popcorn and a drink only cost a whopping $1 USD.  The 3D was good at parts, but again when the action picks ups it gets very choppy.  If you want a lot of explosions, loud noises, Victoria’s Secret models and a few decent laughs, then this might be a good choice, just don’t expect much of a story or to know who is on whose side. On a side note it clears up a lot of questions of history that I was a wee bit confused about before, like our mission to the moon as well as the accident at Chernobyl.  They certainly make it more believable and interesting than any history lesson from Sarah Palin.

Saturday saw me off to Taipei to hang out with some friends and see some more sights, as well as sweat out my total body weight twice.  The first stop I made on my trip was to the Chang Kai-Shek (forgive me for the spelling it is difficult to keep the name right because it is not pronounced anything like that) Memorial.  The compound is pretty big, encompassing the national theater, another music hall, and the memorial itself.  I am convinced that I will not be able to see the respective first president/chairman of either the PRC or the ROC because Mao’s was closed because I went to late in the evening and Chang’s was closed for renovations.  Frustration.  The memorial itself had an interesting museum dedicated mostly to him, although there was some about the founding of the ROC in general.  Let me tell you, the man had many, many an honorary medal from various nations. 

The frustration was short-lived as the next stop was the Sun Yat-Sen’s Memorial a short couple of metro stops away.  While I did not explore the whole memorial as I had a throbbing headache :(, I was fortunate enough to see the Changing of the Guard.  It was much louder, both on the part of the guard, and on the part of the audience, than the American counterpart at Arlington National Cemetery.  Another minor difference was that this guard was not for unknown soldiers, but for Mr. Sun himself.  It is the same procedure at Chang’s memorial which was also closed.  I found out later that I did not really miss much because the statues and procedure at both memorials are very similar. 

After that and dropping my stuff off at my friend’s apartment I’d be staying at for the evening, we met up with some friends at one of the biggest night markets in Taipei.  This was following some serious directional mis-communications (none on my part I might add), we finally made it.  They told us to go to the 7-11 and then to the Adidas store.  Well in Taiwan, there are about 15,000,000,000 7-11’s and 30,000 Adidas stores.  Moreover on one street we went down, there were two 7-11’s exactly opposite from each other.  The night market was absolutely massive with a very large number of people present.  It was mostly hot (94 at 9:00PM) with a lot of stores and sweaty people.  We even found a head shop which was an interesting experience and they mostly had counter-culture and replica items at the shop. Again, really great food for really great prices. Following that, my friend and I were really beat from walking around and all we really wanted to do was go back and relax for a bit.  We grabbed a few beverages from the OK Mart and went back to watch Inglorious Bastards.  If you haven’t seen it, you must.  We decided that we were perfectly content just staying in and relaxing. 

Today I went to a dim-sum restaurant for lunch and ate a lot of food (unfortunately no pictures since my phone and camera ran out of juice).  We stayed there for about 3 hours and just hung out for a bit.  After that it was time to part ways for the day; my friends to go play bike polo or study, and me to go to Taipei 101 and return to Hsinchu.  Taipai 101 is absolutely massive (the second tallest operational building in the world).  The mall at the base is filled with some of the most ridiculously expensive stores I have seen (DeBeer’s, Mont Blanc, Tiffany’s, Gieves & Hawkes, Prada, etc.).  Really beautiful building though, both inside and outside.  They say it is modeled after a bamboo stalk and it does somewhat resemble one.  The ticket to go up to the top public floors was kind of expensive at about $13 USD.  The view was pretty spectacular and you could see all of Taipei with the 360 degree view.  I was able to go up to the outdoor observatory before the storms came in although the view was pretty obstructed from the metal gates/wind breakers.  Part of the path was to see the building’s dampener (the biggest in the world, really it was MASSIVE), which helps to mitigate the high winds, earthquakes, etc.  There were also some touristy stores and oddly enough coral gemstone stores.  They had on display some pretty amazing sculptures made out of the coral.  This apparently was not the endangered coral reef coral, but some other variety apparently. 

After that it was time to part ways with Taipei and take me with my very uncomfortable leg situation home to Hsinchu where the most wonderful and needed shower awaited.

P.S. One of mi best buddies Sandra from across the world made my day this past week.  I would like to publicly send some love express to her.  Thanks for bein awesome!

Hey folks, how’s it going?  My blogging kung-fu has been terribly weak as of late, but I’ve spent this weekend at the blogging dojo. 

This weekend brought with it the pleasure of a typhoon (more specifically a tropical storm, but typhoon sounds more intense).  While it missed passing over Taiwan directly, there was plenty of rain on Friday with pretty strong rain on Saturday morning.  It also prevented me from going to Taipei this weekend (the weather said thunderstorms so what fun is it walking around in that?). Turns out the weather was really not that bad Saturday, but that is neither here nor there.

Friday night, a few of the women from the office took my to a great all-you-can-eat Korean-style barbeque restaurant where you pick what you want and grill it on a circular pan-grill-thing (picture will be posted).   Point is, it was very tasty.

Saturday after making a judgment call to not go to Taibei, I ventured out into the rain anyway on my bike to see some of the sights around town that I had not been to yet.   The first stop after getting thoroughly soaked was the Hsinchu Glass Museum.  It was an interesting little museum that showcased Hsinchu’s long history as a center for the glass-making industry in Taiwan and China.  There were some really interesting pieces, although I could not take any pictures. 

After that, the day finally cleared up and I dried off just a little bit and took a tour of the nearby Japanese officer’s quarters that were left intact from the time of their stay in Taiwan.  They were very cool looking.  Next to that I took a stroll through a not-quite-bustling flower market.  It had some really cool flowers and if I were staying here longer, I would definitely take up my long anticipated hobby of bonzai tree growing. 

Following those fun I activities I hopped on my bike and headed to in the direction of the Hsinchu Image Museum, but Magellan decided to take a different route and happened onto the city’s only remaining gate from way back in the day when cities in Taiwan still had gates.  While it was not nearly the most impressive gate in world, it was situated in a nice circle (think Arc de Triumph).  I then rode around for a bit looking for the Image Museum,  happened upon Hsinchu’s old school train station from the 1930’s which had an oddly Western look to it.  It was busy and the traffic was bad so I only glanced at it from a distance but I plan on seeing it more in depth if I need to actually use the train.

While aimlessly wandering the streets for a while, I somehow happened upon the Image Museum.  It was really kind of anti climactic because they were playing some indie documentary about a European artist that was about half-way through when I walked in.   After sitting in the air conditioning and listening to old people snore in front of me, I decided that I had no context for the movie and left to go see the actual museum bit where I had a lovely conversation about how her grandson was studying for his masters at the University of Chicago. 

After my meandering through the city, I thought my day over but then my friend Amber called up and wanted to know if I wanted to go to the city’s sole night market.  It was pretty decent sized, mostly consisting of food and beverage stalls and somewhat shady carnival style rides (as well as games) for kids.  I am pretty sure they would not pass the United States safety requirements.

Sunday has been pretty lazy although I did do a little exploring in the late afternoon and went grocery shopping for oatmeal products at the only certified organic retailer in the city.  I am fairly pleased with the purchases, and I think I will be back in the future.  It is reminiscent of Bloomingfoods for all the folks familiar with the Bloomington grocery shopping scene. 

On a work related note, I have a meeting on Wednesday to report on my findings of my research for the past week.  I think I am going to be more prepared this time and make a fancy-schmancy presentation. 

Until next time friends, I hope all goes smoothly for you all.

Keep in touch!

Oh, and on a side-note, there was another small earthquake at the time of writing.

Hey friends, at the request of followers of this here blog, I will attempt to detail the average day in the life of Matt while in Hsinchu.

6:45AM - Alarm goes off and I decide if I want to hit the snooze button or get up.

7:15AM - Eat breakfast from the stand down in the lobby.

7:30AM - Go outside and ride my bike to work.

7:45AM - Work out for anywhere between 20-35 minutes.  I am up to 2.5 miles without much trouble at about 8.6 minutes a mile woot!  I credit having to bike a decent bit anywhere to eat dinner and to get to work.

8:40AM - Start work by growing through and trying to find news about technology related to WNC.  I am now just focusing on researching trends in the United States for the next 5-10 years.  I think it is meaningful work, especially now that I have a better understanding of what I should be looking for.  The people are very friendly and while there is pressure to get things done, it is not an unpleasant place to work.  They actually really want us to feel comfortable and allow for a break or two, windows, and healthy snacks downstairs. 

12:30PM - Lunchtime with the various people in the department.  They really are a friendly bunch and they work to understand my broken Chinese.  The food is really decent and it’s free for me so it’s even better.  Afterward for dessert, I normally have either a mango, 2 kiwis, or a combination of other fruits.  It is really cheap and the mangos are quickly becoming my favorite fruit.  Much better than in the United States. 

1:30PM- Go back to work and start compiling what I have found throughout the day as well as continue researching if I have not found very much.  Since the research is about the United States, I am reading English articles and reports, but when I give my summaries and presentations they are about 75% Chinese, 15% English (due to lack of proper or easy to find translations), 10% Chinglish (the morphing of Chinese and English, think Spanglish only with Chinese instead of Spanish). 

5:50/6:00PM - Get off work.

6:15PM - Exploration for dinner since there are not many places nearby. 

7:15PM - Second shower for the day to cool off/be not sweaty.

7:30PM - Read/Write blog/Watch a movie.

10:30-12:00AM Sleep.

6:45AM - Repeat.

That is pretty much my day-to-day schedule for the week, but if you like more details, please let me know.  The weekends have been typically posted on other posts. 

Talk to ya soon!

Hey friends, it has been a few days and I have had me a case of the tumblr withdrawals, hopefully this will help stop the shaking. To whom this may concern, I would like to wish you a very happy Fathers Day!

These past few days have been very busy with a lot of time in the sun.  Thankfully I was more prepared this time around and put enough sun screen on to only get a little red on the face and neck, which is to be expected after spending more than 15 hours in the sun. But enough of this sun nonsense, let us move on to my adventures of the weekend.  

Friday night kicked off the weekend with a very delicious trip to a spicy hot-pot restaurant, which I am told is very difficult to get reservations.  For those that have never seen or eaten hot-pot, it is very similar, although better than, fondue.  We had one pot that was divided into two sections: one was filled with a milk based broth, while the second was filled with a fairly spicy concoction.  Once the two are hot enough you start to put anything from mushrooms and lettuce to beef intestines and tofu.  It is very delicious (not the beef intestines as they have an altogether creepy-rough texture). Most of the marketing/IR that I know attended and it was a jolly good time.  I think our department is very outgoing and so these events are not very business like at all. 

Saturday was a very full day starting at 1 where I left my living quarters to go to our Office Olympics (technically it is activity fair, but Olympic sounds better).  Think field day for grown-ups mixed with the state fair.  There were five competitions of the day, and every department had a team.  The first was a team jump rope contest followed by a foot race.  After that, I participated in my only event of the day which was a pillow throwing contest.  Think dodgeball with pillows with the goal being to have the fewest pillows on your side at the end of a minute.  Our team unfortunately lost.  Following that, probably the most bizarre event was human foosball (sp?).  It is exactly what it sounds like that.  The last event of the day probably attracted the most attention and it was a big tug-o’-war tournament.  My team, the Super Team, composed of the marketing/IR, Legal, and IT department were not very super.  We did not win a single event. 

The event also had many things to do for children such as Wii games, moon bounces, clowns, etc.  Probably my favorite part was all the free food.  The company provided everyone with a sheet of coupons that could be exchanged for food, drinks, and prizes.  The food was quite delicious and the drinks were refreshing, best of all, it was free. It made for a long day from 2:00PM-8:00PM.  It was very hot and sweaty, but overall pretty fun.

Later that night, when I thought I was settled, one of my friends invited me to see Super 8.  At first I was hesitant, but decided that I really wanted to see it and so I got out of bed and we went to the 11:15 showing.  I am very happy for that decision because the movie was superb.  While the story wasn’t terribly new or original, the whole vibe, acting, and production value were excellent.  Even though JJ Abrams directed it, Spielberg’s influence as producer was definitely felt throughout the movie.  It was very reminiscent of ET, Jurassic Park, and others all under the influence of steroids.  It is very much everything one would hope for in a summer movie of this type.  There was humor, pretty good character development, and plenty of action.  IF you are looking for a good movie that harkens back to an earlier (perhaps better) time in film making, then you should see this as you will enjoy it immensely.  My grade is 3.73/4 stars.

On a side note, the movie theater has movies starting at 1:45AM.

This morning, I decided to take a trip up to Taipei to see some sights and visit with some of my classmates from last summer in Qingdao.  Probably the best decision of the weekend.  Leaving the room at 10:05, I made it to Taipei at around 11:15, pretty good time thanks to the High Speed Rail.  Upon my arrival, I decided to go to the Palace Museum, which is the equivalent to the one is Beijing, although the artwork in Taipei is arguably better and more complete.  Upon my arrival I met up with my friends Erica and Brendon.  Most of the art was taken to Taiwan when the Japanese invaded the mainland in order to protect it, although this has been a source of tension between the PRC and the ROC as they refuse to return it.  I would not want to either as they have some very impressive works of art.  I really enjoyed the jade pieces and pottery as well the bronze pieces, although the calligraphy was very impressive as well.  It was very interesting to see the process that was used to carve and work with jade, it seems very difficult making the works all the more impressive. 

After the museum, we had lunch at McDonald’s since all the stores were closed up after lunchtime.  The McDonald’s was really crowded and it was very difficult to find a seat on all 5 floors it. 

Following our short break, we took the metro to see the Museum of Contemporary Art.  While there were not many works of art, it was all extremely interesting and a breath of fresh air from the ancient works (while I like them, it’s nice to see Chinese art that is not ancient).  A lot of it utilized lasers as a main feature.  I want to go back when they have more exhibits open.  It was very, very cool.

After a long day of being sophisticated by going art museums, McDonald’s and such, we decided to meet our other friend Darius for dinner at a night market.  They night markets in Taipei are very cool, and I am slightly jealous there are not any here in Hsinchu.  But it gives me something to look forward to on the weekends and what not.  Anyway, we went to this great Thai place where I had a fantastic green curry chicken combo.  It was a lot of food for only around $4.  After that, we ate a delicious pineapple flavored bun that was filled with either butter or cream cheese.  It was sweet unhealthy bliss. 

After that, it was time to go home, ending a very good day and a good weekend.  Alas now it is bedtime.  Sweet dreams friends!

Keep in touch!

Hey friends, I just thought I would put together a list of the 25 most played songs on my iPod for the past 2 weeks or so.  No judging, this has mostly been on shuffle. 

1.  Hands of Time - Groove Armada

2.  Stick With Me Baby - Allison Krause & Robert Plant

3.  Helicopter - Bloc Party

4.  Don’t Call Me White - NOFX

5.  Respiration - Black Star (Mos Def & Talib Kweli)

6.  No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley

7.  10 Years Today - Bullet for My Valentine

8.  Us Places - Lupe Fiasco feat. Kanye West, Pharrell

9.  The Fox (Live) - Nickel Creek

10.  My Last Serenade - Killswitch Engage

11.  Here Comes the Sun - The Beatles

12.  Red House - Jimi Hendrix

13.  Juicy - The Notorious B.I.G.

14.  How to Grow a Woman From the Ground - Chris Thile

15.  Be - Common

16.  Camisado - Panic! At the Disco

17.  Free Bird - Lynard Skynard

18.  Violin Concerto in D Major - Beethoven

19.  Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra

20.  Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes

21.  The Likes of You - Flogging Molly

22.  Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner - Fall Out Boy

23.  American Idiot - Green Day

24.  Timshel - Mumford & Sons

25.  Love Rollercoaster - The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Let me know what you think or your list of recently played!

Isn’t that what school children across the country say every morning before class starts?  Well, as of late, America has not been living up to what we have pledged for so long.  This will be the first wondering post in a while as the most recent ones have been about the wandering little bear, and it won’t just be a rant against beliefs that go against what I feel is right, but about what I feel is the law of the land.

In California, Prop 8, the controversial bill passed banning same-sex unions is once again in the spotlight as proponents of it are calling into question the legitimacy of the decision that Prop 8 is unconstitutional by US District Judge Vaughn Walker on the grounds that he is and has in the past been in a relationship with another male.  They say that he has a vested interest in the outcome of the case because he is gay and should therefore be unable to rule on it impartially.  First, I believe that anyone who believes in equal rights and fairness would indeed have a vested interest in this case, making it very difficult to find a judge to rule on it.  But casting that aside, the argument goes against good reasoning.  By the same reasoning they use, a black man or woman would have no right to rule on a case that involved equal rights for black people.  Women couldn’t judge a case based arguing for woman’s rights.  In my opinion, and what I believe is in the Bill of Rights, I do not think one can be excluded from doing something because of his race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.  

Now I know that the decision will ultimately be made by the Supreme Court, and that arguing about this will not really go anywhere, but the issue of equal rights, treatment, and justice is very important to me.  It has been for my whole life thanks to the people that have influenced me along the way and being an RA has really reinforced it.  I think the more people talk about the more support the issue will receive, because when one stops to think about it, their argument is very weak, and allowing people equal rights and protections under the law is not only the right thing to do, but also the American thing to do.  I know we are not perfect, but we need to be better than this. 

Hi folks,

I hope all is well in your individual lives.  I am doing quite swell.  I am very happy to report that their is a very nice college coffee shop that is alive and kicking only about am eight minute bike ride away from my dwellings in the middle of the National Tsinghua University.  It is a quaint little place called the Socrates Cafe and the food is pretty decent, although expensive.  The best part is though, that they have great tea, good jazz music, and it is a pretty cool place to relax and read or do homework if that is what you’re in to.  

It was very comforting to find someplace like that where I can just hangout for awhile and unwind.  I now have a hangout, WOOT!!!

Keep in touch!

P.S. On an unrelated side note, for all of those The Departed fanboys out there, the Chinese original titled Infernal Affairs is significantly better than the decent at best (and that is being generous) American remake. 

Hey friends, I hope life is swell. 

To kick things off, in the span of one day, I experienced 2 things for the first time in my life, luckily neither were really that serious.  The first, an earthquake, a real earthquake.  I don’t think it probably registered on the Richter Scale, but i was definitely shaking a little bit (at first I thought I was genuinely going nuts for real, but then my co-workers told me the felt it too).  The second, and fortunately it missed hitting Taiwan directly, was a typhoon.  Typhoons on the Strait side of Taiwan are exceedingly rare, but we felt its effects in the form of really cool clouds and rain that lasted for about 45 minutes.  It managed to cool the city off to a nice 80 degrees.

This weekend has been pretty fun with a lot of time out and about town.  Friday night after work a few of my co-workers and I went to dinner at a tea-focused restaurant that had tea infused everything.  It was pretty good and an interesting experience to be sure.  After that, we went to one of our manager’s house and had some amazing watermelon, pastries, and fantastic chocolate, as well as some delightful Remy Martin brandy to compliment it just so.  All in all a very relaxing and informal evening getting to know the people I work with better.  Good times.  The hospitality shown, by the way, is amazing and has made me feel very welcome by everyone. 

Saturday started out with me taking a trial run with the scooter mafia by riding around town with the only other American that I have seen in the department.  He showed me some pretty cool things around town and I can now understand why so many people have made the choice to join the mafia.  Riding around on a scooter is a fun experience and provides a view perspective of the city that is just not available in a car.  After that bit I went home and relaxed for a bit to get out of the sun. 

Having rested for most of the day it was time to join my comrades in the marketing/IR department for a night at one of two Hsinchu clubs for their schoolboy/schoolgirl themed evening.  If you dressed in your school uniform or something similar you got in free, otherwise it was something like $30 USD to get in.  After that, drinks were exceedingly expensive and watered down.  They charged more money to put soda in a drink that traditionally does not call for soda.  Disappointing, but not altogether unexpected.  Luckily, my friends offered me the most adorable of clip on ties to round out my outfit.  It was a fun evening, with some very interesting sights.  First, I could not go to the bathroom without getting asked questions and talked to (sometimes I wish I did not stand out as the only foreigner in the place).  Second, people getting almost naked on the dance floor before they got kicked out.  Terribly funny.  There were others, as the night was long. 

Sunday has been spent mostly relaxing after a fairly long bike ride into downtown in the sweltering heat that was at one point 105.8 degrees with my guess for the humidity between 50-70%. 

A funny thing happened on the way to the mall, however.  I am always  on the prowl for DVD stores that sell American movies on the cheap, like real cheap.  In my search, I typically look for one of two things: A) a sign the says DVD and/or B) movie posters in the window.  Both are typically very reliable for finding DVD stores.  Well, I notice a store that says DVD on it, so naturally I walk in hoping to find cheap movies.  After taking a quick glance around, I quickly realize that this particular DVD store was not the kind I was looking for.  On the covers of the movies were pictures of females in various states of undress.  After very awkwardly apologizing in broken Chinese to the store owner and trying to explain to him what I was looking for, I embarrassingly walked out in shame.  I look up at the sign and realizing that it says “情趣“ DVD which roughly translates to emotional appeal, but with other connotation (Thank you Princeton Chinese book and your lesson on such matters.  I never thought it would actually be useful.)

Well it’s dinner time over here, and as they say, I am hungry to death.  I’m off!!!

Keep in touch!

P.S. We’re at close to 100 visits with about 30 unique visitors! Keep it up!

Hey friends!  I hope all is well for you!

To kick things off, I would like to say announce to the world for the second time (see the first here at my LinkedIn page) that I am a market research analysis intern at Wistron NeWeb Corporation…WOOOOOOOO!!!.  So far they have had me go through news articles and press releases about wireless technology and companies that they do business with and summarize the ones I find interesting.  While there is not much analysis going on at the moment, the practice of summarizing articles in Chinese is very useful and would do the folks at the Indiana University Chinese Language Flagship very proud.

And, if anyone is wondering why the Chinese and in this particular case, Taiwan’s, economy and manufacturing industries are booming, it is because they do not stop…or leave.  We are supposed to get there between 8:30AM and 9:00AM and each department has it’s own special lunch time for the cafeteria (also located in the building).  I didn’t leave until about 6:30PM today (official get off work time is 5:50PM), but there were still quite a few people working diligently.  So for all those naysayers that would just like to think that it is because labor is significantly cheaper here, you are wrong…not completely, but just missing a fraction of the picture. It’s not bad though, because the marketing department has fun and we talk and cool things like that.  The people I work with have been EXTREMELY helpful and understanding of me so far and have taken me around with them.  I really do appreciate them. 

Enough about work for now.  Since Monday was the national holiday known as the Dragon Boat Festival, I took the opportunity to go see the dragon boat races on the other side of town. My co-workers were very impressed that I was able to call and have a taxi come pick me up, although they thought it was much too hot and far away to go.  You only live once right?

The Dragon Boat Festival has a very interesting history, or rather histories.  Their are two main theories, however.  The first include the suicide by drowning of either Qu Yuan because he fell out of favor with the emperor or the forced suicide of Wu Zixu.  In the formers, case it is thought that people through rice and other food (origin of the popular dish rice dish zongzi) into the lake so that the fish would eat it rather than the body of their beloved Qu Yuan.  They would also paddle boats in the water to scare the fish (hence the origin of the dragon boat).  The second theory contends that this is a much older tradition in which people used the power of dragons in the form of boats to ward off evil spirits and illness. Either way it is interesting.  For more information go here.

The actual day was extremely hot and sunny at about 95 degrees by 10AM (not much different than any other day here in tropical Hsinchu) as well as crowded with many foreigners (even a few very good teams participated and won).  I wish I would have done a better job with the sun screen coverage because I am still recovering in some areas.  All in all it was fun to see and an experience that one should try given the opportunity to do so . 

After that a co-worker of mine, Sandra, took me to a department store to eat at my first real Michelin 1 star rated restaurant to try their version of a dumpling.  It was very deserving of the award and I would love to go back although it is rather expensive (about $5 for 9 dumplings). 

Skip ahead two days and back to that work stuff, well after work I should add.  A couple of my aforementioned co-workers invited me to see what they told me was a basketball competition.  Little did I know that what they meant was a mini office Olympics event in preparation for what seems to be the very important all-out office Olympics next weekend.  Today, however featured a Limbo tournament and one of those arcade basketball games.  Overall, it was pretty funny indeed, although the competitors take it very seriously. 

Keep in touch!

Hola!  It has been an interesting few days since I last posted, so I will try to summarize a few things that struck me as most important/cool/interesting (insert adjective here).

I just want to say that if you think the scooter mafia rolls deep in America, you should see Taiwan.  They pretty much run this place without fear of oncoming traffic, pedestrians, or trucks.  It truly is incredible how many have made the choice to join them. There are some places where you can’t get on the sidewalk because they have parked so many on it.

Friday I did not really do much at work, although having read a very large amount of news related to the industry, I feel that I am much more knowledgeable about mobile phone technologies and things of that nature.  I felt very overdressed (and many of my new colleagues told me I do not need to wear those clothes to work).  I did get introduced to most of my co-workers in the marketing department and they all seem very nice.  Our section has very short cubicles whereas the neighboring finance and R&D department have slightly taller walls for security purposes.  I am still not really sure what I will be doing.

Saturday involved a trip to the farmers market (I don’t think that is the exactly correct word but it is close), which had some truly delicious morsels to eat.  I enjoyed the guava jam and black currant sorbet (again I am not really sure, we were having difficulties trying to translate) the most, although I also ate a tea egg and zongzi.  Shortly thereafter my friends and I parted ways and as I returned to my very nice bike (not pink though :( ), I realized that the bike lock had either magically self-changed its code or that it was broken, leaving me with a bike that could not be ridden. 

Rather than leaving it at the university, I decided I would carry it back the approximately two miles back to my home in the near 100 degree heat.  Poor decision.  My skin is still not happy with me for that decision.  About 3/4 of the way there, however, one of my co-workers was kind enough to pick me up and take me to get the chain cut off (for $100 NTD, which she thought was absurd and that the guy had no moral sense) and then took me home.

Later that night, we went out to eat at this really cool place where you grill your own food.  I think it was a seven course meal by the end of it, all of which were very tasty.  One of the coolest aspects of it though was that they built it so that you would not smell like you just cooked enormous amounts of meat. 

Today was probably the least touristy thing to do in that I went house hunting with a new friend and her friends.  I think I would have made my teachers back in Qingdao proud as that was an assignment there which I may or may not have completed fully.  The trip took us all through the generally area surrounding the main part of the city and even into the countryside.  I was surprised to find myself understanding quite a bit of what they were discussing :).

That pretty much sums it up. But on a side note, there are more 7-11’s here than I have ever seen.  There were two on the same street.  Most amazing thing about it though is that they have Coke slurpees…yum.

Keep in touch!

This is kind of a long one, so bear with me for a bit. 

First off, how cool is it that one can wake up in the morning in Chicago, Illinois and 12 hours later be on the complete opposite side of the globe?  Craziness.

I must say that United Airlines stepped up their game the second time around.  Maybe they felt bad about charging $150 for giving my seat away, but the upgrade to Economy Plus was a welcome one.  The little extra legroom really made a difference.  In addition, the movie selection was quite good.  More on that in a bit.

Overall the flight was pretty good without my neighbors invading my personal space too much.  One of them got up shortly after takeoff to sit with his children and the other was a rather interesting fellow.  He certainly had some interesting things to say about Ron Paul, the Federal Reserve, President Obama, 9/11, Osama Bin Laden, etc. 

(Drum Roll)…It’s Movie Review Time!!!

The first movie I chose for my viewing pleasure was the Adjustment Bureau, starring Matt Damon as well as others.  It was an interesting mix of action, thriller, and just enough of love story that came together to form an altogether enjoyable movie.  Other than being slightly predictable in the end, I thought the story was interesting and brought up some questions.  Biggest take away is that one should not just follow the book, but rather make our own paths and destinies in life.  3.5/5 ★’s

Movie Number 2 was the Eagle starring Channing Tatum and some other guy that is in quite a few movies.  If I had internet access at the time of writing (This is Japan, how do I not have access…ludacris) I would look him up.  The movie is set around 120 AD in Roman-occupied Britain both south of Hadrian’s Wall and in the north controlled by the native folk.  The acting was decent at best and the historical aspects of the movie were really bad (by now I think most people know that thumbs down meant the gladiator lives and thumbs up meant to kill him), but overall it was entertaining.  2.76/5 ★’s

Number 3, after a short intermission for some reading, was probably my favorite of the trip.  Cedar Rapids was pretty much a complete movie in my book.  It had a good plot line following a group of insurance salesmen attending the annual insurance salesperson conference in Cedar Rapids.  It was sad at parts, serious in others, but mostly it was hilarious and incredibly entertaining.  This did cause a few awkward moments on the plane, however as there were a few scenes with sexual intercourse.  It’s an odd feeling having the neighbor look over and laugh during them. 4.62/5 ★’s

For the fourth movie, I chose to watch The Rite starring Anthony Hopkins, who does a splendid job being a priest.  While nothing about the movie particularly stands out amongst the recent slew of possession/exorcism movies, I thought that for the most part it was better acted and more interested.  I do have a soft spot for these types of movies.  3/5 ★’s

The Unknown, featuring Liam Neesom, was the final movie selection of the first round of flights today.  It is basically a movie about mistaken/stolen identities and the man trying to sort it all out.  Nothing really original or compelling coming from this film.  I was expecting a little more after Taken, but this one did not live up to it.  2.3/5 ★’s

The flight from Tokyo to Taipei got delayed for about an hour and a half, leaving me plenty of time to accomplish one of my goals in life(although I will not take this off the list), to eat sushi in Japan.  I will not mark it off, though because it was in the airport which probably does not capture the whole experience. 

After arriving in Taipei, I witnessed something so gangster that it became the most gangster moment of my life.  I witnessed a man take out a manila envelope and the proceed to whip out over $10,000 in cash.  So much cash, in fact, that the currency exchange person was not allowed to exchange it all even though it was split up amongst the man and his son. 

Shortly after I was met by a very wonderful driver with my name on a card.  I felt very special.  The feeling was enhanced when he pulled up in a very nice Mercedes with window shades and plenty of leg room.  WNC, I would like to say thank you very much for the great hospitality. As for my room, it is very spacious and comfortable.  More updates to come.

Keep in touch!

As Robert Burns once wrote, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men/go oft awry”, so too have mine.  Unfortunately, it was unclear to me that United Airlines requires international travelers to arrive at the airport three hours before the flight takes off.  I thought an hour should be plenty of time having already checked in online.  Alas, only after venturing from terminal to terminal only to  wait in the only crowded line in the airport did a very pleasant and helpful lady informed me that it would be impossible for me to board my flight since my seat had been given away almost an hour before the takeoff time.  Overall, besides the nice lady that helped me out, United Airlines giving away seats does not leave a good impression in my book. 

But all was not lost, after paying for the switch to tomorrow’s flight, I had a splendid Reuben sandwich at a local diner.  Unfortunately I was not in the state of mind to take a picture of such a magnificent ‘wich.

Having reflected on the events of the day, I have learned many useful things.  First, one should arrive at least three hours before international flights.  I will not make that mistake again.  Second, adapt and learn to new situations.  Third, and arguably most important: life is an adventure, one that has many minor bumps along the way, but in the end, what adventure doesn’t have any mishaps?  If there were not any bumps along the way it would not be a trip.  Whether it’s losing a debt card or two or missing a flight, everything works out in the end.

Keep in touch!

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

As I prepare to go to Hsinchu, The Republic of China in about a day now, I look forward to the many potential trails I may leave behind, hopefully all for the good.  As family, friends, and benefactors, (as well as to whom this may be of interest), I would invite, dare I say encourage you to follow my trailblazing through my postings on this blog.  I think this will be the best way to keep up to date with not only what I am doing in terms of work, leisurely activities, and what I am thinking about. 

To all of my benefactors and people who have helped lead me down the path that has helped me to choose this path, I would sincerely like to thank you for all the support that you have bestowed upon me.

Keep in touch!

foodstuffkb:

I just googled myself… and I’m actually there.

yeah, but the thing about it is, where am I?

For everyone who was thinking about how to think about China or about the eminent threats of Communism taking over our good ole American values and democracy, fear not!  This presentation (Understanding the Rise of China) from TED (Technology Entertainment and Design), a series of lectures with the sole purpose of spreading ideas that are worth spreading, discusses the need for people to start changing the way we view China in order to better cooperate and understand them in the future. The lecturer, Martin Jacques, currently a visiting professor at the London School of Economics and former editor of many a publication shares his thoughts about how people in the West might want to consider viewing China and the various other growing powers in the East. It is very insightful and one should give it a chance.  Until next time, I bid you adieu!