Back to Taipei : Taipei 101 and extras!

By the time we were back to Taipei, my Panasonic Lumix FZ-7 has run out of battery. Silly me but I kept the spare charged one deep in the luggage under the bus compartment.

So for now, I just got to rely on my Nokia N73 for a while until it run out of , battery as well.

First thing first, comes the most important attraction of Taipei which is the Taipei 101. HAI!!!

Anyways, we paid like RM30 to get up to the 87 floor or so since our tour did not include that. Fortunately my colleage that recently came here told me that I should go up and say hi to the little wind damper.

It took us like less than a minute and we were already up there. Hmmm... not so dizzy luckily.

After a cuppa coupled with the Movenpick Ice cream, we hurried to say Hi to the wind damper

According to Wikipedia:

A tuned mass damper, or harmonic absorber, is a device mounted in structures to prevent discomfort, damage or outright structural failure by vibration. Typically, the dampers are huge concrete blocks mounted in skyscrapers or other structures, and moved in opposition to the resonance frequency oscillations of the structure by means of springs, fluid or pendulums. High-tension lines often have small barbell-shaped Stockbridge dampers hanging from the wires.

More of the wind damper can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuned_mass_damper

And the Taipei 101 here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei_101

After that, we started visiting those must go places around Taipei, namely the National Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine

, and the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall (Now known as Taiwan Cultural something something, no thanks to the current idiotic Primer Minister)

As for dinner, we finally went to 西门町 (Xi Men Ding?) where the famous Ah Chung Noodle 阿宗面线 located.

A long que here even though it was merely 6pm when we arrived.

The noodle is already too soggy, so making the whole deal like a cheap shark fin since the broth is thick. They sort of put a lot of the Japanese fish bonito flakes in it for extra flavouring. Yum!

Most of the eatery here does not offer seating. Not uncommon to find customers standing all over the walkway eating. Besides, there won't be enough place to accommodate this many people as well.

A must try I would say.

Location of Ah Chung Flour Noodle Place

http://tw.lifestyle.yahoo.com/biz.html?bizid=f022b38718bcc845

So that concludes my trip to Taiwan. I hope you all have enjoyed it. Next will be me trumping all over Korea (erm, at least Seoul and Sorak San) hehe... do tune in soon!

Gosh, it is getting to be back logged too much and I really have got to work harder blogging.

Wu Jiao Chuan Ban (Five Dime ) 五角船板

I cannot help but let this restaurant to have its own post.

That's my dad with his usual bright yellow raincoat, that he use it as his warm jacket (???)

In fact, I have passed by this restaurant on the 2nd day when we were in Taipei. I just simply brush off the fact that this could be a restaurant, when its outrageous outlook feature a dingy night club more than anything else.

But here, we came to have a our lunch and enjoy the weirdest interior design of all.

I don't know for sure if it is true, but the lady owner that started this place originally like to collect junk from all over and turn them into useful stuffs. One day, she stumbled on a plank of wood washed ashore. On the piece of log, she found a 50 cent. From that moment on, she dreamt that is she ever open a restaurant of herself, she will name it the 5 dime restaurant or in Chinese 五角船板.

At here, from the table to the chair, to the walls, to the food containers, everything is unusual. It is hard to describe, so you see it yourself.

The food weren't bad either. We were arranged with some common dish, e.g. the Kung Pao Chicken, stir fried four angle beans.

Yum yum, rice with sweet potato

But if you are ever here, please do not forget to try their specialty - The homemade milk mochi. A form of soft milky glutinous rice cake. A classic itself.

I would definitely come back here if I am ever in Taipei again, but I heard the reservations is long while the price of the food is not cheap if you ask for a la carte.

Here's the website to their restaurant (only in Chinese)

• http://www.five-dime.com.tw/html/homepage.htm

Apparently they have got 4 other branches now all over Taiwan. Wonder if the other places are just as strange looking

Hua Lian 花莲, Taroko National Park 太鲁阁and all about the aborigins

Waking up the next day, it is more bus ride for us! By this time, we are on way back to Taipei up north.

The surrounding of Hua Lian consist a lot of gorge, rivine, high banks, rivers. Apparently during rainy seasons, where typhoon strike especially, the amount of water that washes towards the sea is so huge that bridges gets destroys along with roads and railways!

Our first stop of the day, surprisingly was the toilet stop. :P

The boastful tour guide was saying he was very thoughtful to let us stop at this place as it was a R&R operated by the Taiwan Sugar Ltd. The specialty here are ice cream made by them.

The ice cream ain't bad for the price we paid. Pic shown here is peanut butter flavoured

But one thing i like about the public toilet in Taiwan is that the flusher always uses the foot to step. The makes the whole weewee experience so much more hygienic without using your hand on the flusher.

After that we continue with the journey to Hua Lian, eventually stopped at the Taroko National Park.

While many of our Malaysian friends relate Taiwan to their small snacks and local entertainment scene, many of us actually did not know Taiwan has beautiful sceneries as well. Most of us would only think that of China when comes to getting such fantastic nature sights, but at Hua Lian here, the stony mountains seem just as hard to tame!

Our biggest disappoinment of the whole trip came when we were told that this is the only place of the whole of Taroko National Park that we were going to visit. There were other beautiful sights e.g. the Cihmu Bridge, Jiucyudong (Tunnel of Nine Turns) Trail, etc that laid along the Central Cross-Island Hwy.

What makes the highway special, was that it was constructed by Kuomingtang army with simple tools at the post war era. General Chiang Kai Shek was worry that the army troupes would do silly stuffs when there aren't any war for them to fought. The whole area of the route are by the high hills looking deep down into the dangerous valley.

But too bad, we didn't get to see any of that. Instead, we were first wisked to the Lingzhi shop then to the marble stone (cum semi precious stone) factory later on.

For you guys that is curious how beautiful the Taroko National Park can be, here's a link towards some of most scenic spot at there.

http://www.taroko.gov.tw/TarokoPortalEng/4_1_0/Default.aspx

After dinner, we went to the Amei Cultural Dance Night. The supposing natives danced their traditional steps, playing their simple tunes. Can't say it is very exciting really.

One thing make me thought for a long time was that their dancers, this is especially for the boys as they seemed a little too young. Apart from that, hardly any of them look beautiful or handsome, very much unlike what sung in old folk song 高山青. I guess finding dancers with peanut pay ain't easy these days!

Happily, my dad finally found his CD comprising of the Amei aborigine folk song 山地歌.

If you are ever there, don't forget to visit the toilet, as the men's toilet has got this little surprise for you. It showcase a rather simplistic art form of human anatomy.

Hakka Village, Biggest Sea World in Asia, Hot Spring Resort...

The next day pretty much is another long day driving for us.

At first, we came by this Hakka Village - Mei Nong Hakka Culture Village 美浓客家村

Not much here really, except people would use the Hakka culture as a kind of attraction which I find it highly fascinating. Seeing that there are so many Hakka people walking around in Malaysia, no one would be interested to know them more.

Then again, there are many Malay people in Malaysia too but still many curious white foreigners would set toe in the Malay village to learn about Malay livings and believes. So I guess anything goes as long as you know the means and ways to market it.

Anyway, one of the attraction at this village belongs to this uncle. He has a ability to play tunes using various UNUSUAL object as his music instrument : Lately he is into playing strings with his wood saw, and sometimes he blow weasel with a small bit of leaves. Apparently he has been invited to perform on the television many time with this skill. My dad and somehow feel a little cold and scary when he started playing with the saw, it resembles the sound effect of a ghost appearing in a haunted movie!

So then our next destination was to the biggest aquarium in Asia. On the way there, we stopped by to get some fruits -- In Malay we call them Jambu Air, or Sui Wong 水蓊 in Chinese. But the Taiwanese call them Lian Wu 莲雾here. Big and Juicy, YUM!

We also had the mango ice blended which was not bad, loaded with a lot of mangoes for RM10 or so.

Arriving at the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium, the weather turned to be rather sunny. Somehow making us feeling lost in planning what to wear, as we were told that last area of the museum are open air with different exhibition.

But if you ask me, I'd say there isn't a need to plan that much since there aren't that many things to see inside there. Though the are might seem big, but the number of worthy exhibits are few to remember -- namely the Beluga Whales, The big seaweed tank... erm... haha... really not much. Even the biggest conveyor belt showcase tank proves to be dull and lifeless, with few fishes and no corals. A big disappointment compare to Singapore Underwater World.

Anyways, we did say Hi to some of these stuffs. My mom was making hell lot of noise not being able to see the whales feeding show as it was close due to overcrowding.

Coming out from the aquarium, we then start on a long drive to Hua Lian. It was drizzling a lot throughout the drive. Further more, large part of the coastal road located right next to a high cliff making the journey looking extra scary. Surplus to that, the roaring sea waves with a dark sky just makes our journey seemed so perilous per se. No photos here as surrounding got too dark for a good photos.

But anyways, we stopped by at another fruit stalls sampling two types of local fruit -- Sour Soup and the other one 藩荔枝, I too don't know what it is named in english.

After visiting so many places, it was time for a good night rest. We checked into a hot spring resort.

Outside here is a full strenght hot water for curious one to boil egg. While customer staying with the resort can go for a spa like hot spring treat.

While many others decided to shy away from the mini water theme park style hot spring, my parents and I did brave the cold weather for a relaxing dip here. We were told that swiming attire with cap is a must if anyone wants to use the hot spring facility. There are strong water jet to massage the shoulder area, bubbling water like a jacuzzi as well.

By the time we got out from our 15 min dip at the 41 degree water, we were so hot that we just walked back to the room without needing anymore sweater!

But the night just doesn't end there. We all decided to have a night out at a small family bar just down the road. Everyone cheers and eat and sing till exhaustion.

Wild Boar Meat

Veg from the Mountains

Another variety of wild boar meat

Deep fried salty peppered century egg

AHH!! That conclude a long day today. Tomorrow we will be heading to Hua Lian, where the beautiful Alisan girls and boys stays~ kih kih kih

Night Market Again at Kaoshiung 六合夜市

The days here seemed to be rather routine already: Day time sight seeing, night time strolling night market.

True enough, we were not fed tonight and have to look for food at this Liu He night market near our hotel.

First, not sure what to eat, we decided to get a BBQ chicken from this stall because the que seemed very long, though fast service. As you can see, my dad is anxious to get his hand on them in the picture here.

Look at the BBQ stall menu, I don't even understand some of the stuffs they sell here. I am thinking most likely they are related to a certain intestinal part or so.

It wrote there "Seven Miles Fragrant" 七里香, which I recall it is BBQ chicken butt in skewers?

We then ordered this Shark Fin look-a-like thick broth known as 鱼庚, not bad for about RM3 with loads of fish meat in within. Must eat with black vinegar, just like shark fin soup.

Then we move like nomad to the opposite stalls, eating Tan Tan Noodle 担仔面(meaning noodle container carried on shoulder). Bowl of soup noodle with some side dishes that eventually cost us RM20 or so... I definitely think this is cater for tourist business. Besides the noodle is nothing too fantastic at all, so are the side dishes.

I like this one, Pepper Biscuit 胡椒饼, filled with peppery mince meat and baked in a traditional charcoal chamber. Looking somewhat similar of the North Indian Naan oven.

I like this too, various skewers coated with deep fried batter.

At first I though it was with sausages, but to our surprise, it is with mashed sweetened yam. Just like a dessert. Yum!

And of course, this stalls steal the most attention with its "Fully Automatic" set up.

Making small cup cake filled with creamy custard all with one person managing it. Very fast production too.

And I kinda think it tasted quite nice.

There are many "home made" funfair set up here and they are quite interesting too. E.g. shooting balls into hole at the pool table.

One good thing about night market around here is that they planned it very well, from parking availability up to public toilet! We Malaysian should learn more. After all, the longer the tourist stay, the more money they can spent rite?

While walking back, we discover this Bubble Tea House thing is everywhere in the whole of Taiwan! Simple empty looking shop selling only flavored tea with jelly like munchies.

Also, we managed to ask a lot of curious question to this girl that manned a beetle nut stall we happened to past by. She seemed very sweet and cute!

A guy came by to buy two packets, and it is not surprising to find that his teeth was badly damaged by chewing on this thingy for pro-long period of time!

Day 3 - To Kaoshiung enroute Sun Moon Lake, Fuo Guang Shan

It is more bus traveling on Day 3. However this sort of round island tour is quite the usual arrangement for any tourist that comes to travel. Either you travel clock wise or anti clock wise of Taiwan, both way are common.

Very early again, we departed from Taichung moving down south to Kaoshiung.

As we passed by smaller towns, we realized that the occurance of this betel nut kiosk are abundant along the national highway.

The girl, known as 槟榔西施 are usually scantily dressed, so as to attract customers to stop and buy from them. A lot of them are students trying to earn a living from selling the betel nuts.

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areca_catechu):

Areca catechu, known commonly as Betel palm or Betel nut tree or Pinang is grown for its economically important seed crop, the Betel nut. The seed contains alkaloids such as arecaine and arecoline, which when chewed is intoxicating and is also slightly addictive. Areca palms are grown in India, Malaysia, Taiwan and many other Asian countries for their seeds.

So, the first stop for the day is the Sun Moon Lake 日月潭

This place is right high up on the mountain. The lake used to be a lot bigger before the recent big time earthquake. A lot of the things been submerged as together with the quake I think.

Nearby is a temple, and the management people kept pestering us to donate for the temple rebuilding. You take a look yourself and see if rebuilding fee is necessary for this temple.

Then after that we move on to the famous Fuo Guang Shan Monastery 佛光山.

This is where Xing Yun 星云法师 devoting his entire life building up a highly well managed monastery, in view to promote a brand new image of Buddism teaching that fits the new generation spiritual needs.

Can see a lot of work been done at this place. With well organized layout and land scapping too.

These days, master Xing Yun pretty much retired to the back scene due to old age. He has left all management work to his followers. I have listen to his talk on the TV before, and through his speech, the understanding of Buddism seemed so much more meaningful. Followers can easily related to the teaching of Buddism with usual life. So I guess that much be one of the reason he is so famous.

Jia Feng Night Market, Taichung - 台中甲逢夜市

Night markets are everywhere... and we've been to a few which I eventually forgot which is which anymore...

But all of us find this night market by far the most interesting compare to the others. It is next to Jia Feng University, so not surprise to see many young people frequent around here. Either with their love ones, or with their pets on hand, they stroll from stalls to stalls trying new things.



Am I glad that we all pressured that lazy guide to stay here for longer! He just kept mentioning that our bus driver is very tire after a long drive, but we didn't bulge. Too bad the guide fed us with a shabu shabu earlier on that taste aint bad either.







But I guess I would really like to eat local food stuffs here if I have a choice

New things... that is very important at here to create that kind of stirs among customers. If you see any stalls with a long que, you can be rest assured that this is something you don't want to miss.

Just like this one, The Little Mustache Guy soft shell prawn... from a far we see the que was getting uncontrollable.



This guy picks up the prawn from the fresh water tank, and put them on to stick just like satay, and grill them alive! (Rather cruel). When done, he will coat them with the type of flavoring the customer choose, be it lemon tangy, wasabi hot, thai style.





Quite interesting, but I like my prawn to be unshelled the next time please. I find it rather primitive to eat the prawn with shell altogether.

Other interesting stuffs including this Milk Guava.



Price at RM5 a packet, I kinda thing it is too expensive! But later on the guide explained that these guava is consistently being watered with expired milk they gathered from the factory. Thus the texture of the guava is actually rich and milky tasting, which explains by the high price for it. Still we decided not to try at the end, not sure why.

Other stalls including this Big Sausage wrapped with Small Sausage, can wrapped with different fillings too, e.g. veg, peanuts, etc





Smoke Meat, something like braised meat of various part then smoked with tea leaves.



Dessert stall, selling the famous Ai Yu Jelly, lemonade, glutinous rice balls



And my mom decided to try this, Rice cake with congealed pork blood (sound disgusting?)



Usually in Malaysia as well as most South East Asia countries, congealed pork blood are mainly eaten as a main dish itself. Sometimes with rice congee, while other time cook in stewed vegetables.



But here in Taiwan, they mix the pork blood with glutinous rice resulting a greyish solid texture. Then they roll the cut piece with ground peanuts. It taste somewhat salty, oily and with a strong peanut aroma. The texture is chewy and not any disgusting than a normal glutinous rice ball. Should try!

Since that advertising by sticking bills is not allowed in most Taiwanese cities, youngster like this are employed to hold advertisement post like this.



Students here are very enterprising as well, as many start their own small little stalls selling small stuffs, food snacks. Many also take on to open stalls in a chain concept selling various stuffs, and food too.

Taiwan National Palace Museum, High Speed Rail

If you've ever been to Beijing Forbidden City, and you wonder why it seemed to look more like a leftover carcass -- aka looking so empty, that is most likely because you are looking at the wrong place then.

All the knick-knacks, treasure from the Forbidden City was long moved to Taiwan National Palace Museum. This happens when the Kuomingtang, headed by then general Chiang Kai Shek retreats from China to Taiwan. He cleverly planned his move by enlisting all the national treasures , relocating them painstakingly to where it is now. Perhaps, that is one of the never healing scars of China till now I think.

No photography in within, unlike many European museums. At the ground floor prior entering main exhibition area, there are photographs of items any visitor to take a peak on when they get in there. Some date back as far as during the Song dynasty (which in other word means very rare, duh)

As too many people gets inside there, we were all given headphone receiver where we only hear our own guide talks. I think I rather get a guided tour than hearing this bugger speaking, as he mostly mumbles back on the same fact.

One of the most exordinary piece is this Cabbage and Cricket, all made out from one piece of big jade. Known in Chinese as 翠玉白菜

Crafted during the Ching Dynasty, this is meant as a gift from the bride's family to the groom. The cabbage signifies that the girl is innocent and still a virgin, while the crickets on top on leaves symbolize she will bear many children, just like a cricket!

Apart from that, there are many china, bronze statues, porcelain paintings, not too interesting to me really.

We only get to stay there for about 1 hour, which then we rushed to catch the High Speed Rail at the Taipei train station.

My dad strongly recommended everyone to take this ride to Tai Chung as it is more affordable to ride a bullet train here as compare to trying it at Japan, or the TGV in France. At anyhow, the Taiwanese actually bought setup all from Japan, so it most likely to be the same experience as those in Japan.

RM67 to get you from Taipei to Tai Chung in 49min!

I have sat in the bullet train in Japan the last time when I went to Okayama. Sort of think the riding experience is just the same. Very quite and stable ride. Can rattle a little when the train gone up to 240km/h sort of break-neck speed. Might take it next time if I travel to Taiwan myself, especially when I need to get to desired location quickly.

And so, we arrived Tai Chung...

Yeh Liu National Geological Park 野柳地质公园

It rained and rained and rained the whole day today. So much so, our guide was quite worry the pathway around this National Park render inaccessible to visitor due to possibility of slippery walkways.

As Taiwan located openly towards the Atlantic Ocean, the waves are generally harsher looking more dangerous. The is probably the reason why we don't see a lot of smooth looking white sandy beach around, but instead high cliffs, dotted with rocky seasides.

The guide was mentioning that due to the strong waves, a lot of people fishing on the rock gets dragged down by the waves resulting many deaths every year.

Anyways, as we arrived at the park, rain turned drizzles and eventually stopped. But the sky still look rather grim.

I was not quite sure what so special about this place. Anyones that talk about Taiwan usually relates it to their dodgy entertainment industry as well as the large variety of small snacks.

But coming to here, I realised that Taiwan has some rather magnificent natural tourist attraction as well. We were first greeted by a small naturally carved sandstone, deemed to look exactly like the Formosa Island (Taiwan). How does it look like? But a piece of Yam of course. That is the reason why the local always call themselves as children of the sweet potato.

The most interesting part cames with all these "mushrooms" peaking out from a far. What a sight!

Photography hobbyist came to take their best shot on a cloudy day here as well.

Can you figure what is this two rock supposed to be? (Kih kih)

Answer : Fairy shoe & Candles, Elephant

Jiu Fen 九份, Taiwan

At first when the bus started accending the sloppy road to Jiu Fen, I was thinking of something like Cameron Highlands. But somehow the place was not quite that, apart from the journey up was just merely 20min or so.

Unlike Cameron Highlands nor Genting Highlands, all the existing land around the whole hill have been all built up. There isn't any place for much plantations around, nor jungle exist here really.

Origin of Jiu Fen has been traced up to during the Japanese occupation, where by the nameless hill was occupied with 9 workers sent by some big time boss to work up there. Seeing the road up is rather tedious, the boss decided to let just one of the guy to regularly come down and get supplies. And each time when he came, 9 portion of groceries and stuffs were prepared for the 9 workers up there -- Hence the name Jiu Fen 九份 (Nine Portion).

But for now, there is something of this vacation hilltop, which reminds me the narrow alleys in old city within Kyoto, Japan. Similarly, they packed little snacks in fanciful boxes and ribbons, selling variously knick-knacks as souvenirs. The main attraction is this small little alley, that leads about 1km until the end point, which look out to the hill side and sea side of Jiu Fen.

One of the must try around here is the glutinous rice ball mashed with various tuber stuffs, e.g. Tapioca, Yam, and this purple color tapioca that most people here called 山药 (Mountain herb). You can loaded them in hot or cold, with either ginger tea, soya milk, almond milk, etc.

This uncle is the owner here, though looking very serious, but in actual he is quite interesting. While we were sitting down munching away, he told the passerby to come stop by his shop for a bowl as well by saying "Gimme 35 Yuan, and I will warm you heart with this bowl of dessert on this cold morning." My dad and I was giggling away when we heard him.

It first started with this tapioca rice ball dessert around here, slowly then it evolves into things like fish ball soup as well. I find it too strange to eat seafood related stuffs on top of the mountain. Someone tried them and say the fish balls can be quite pricey and didn't taste that fantastic.

And we walked till the end, the dad stumbled onto this hidden tea house that look very old yet well preserved. Reminiscence of the early China republic era maybe?

My dad insisted that he will have a cuppa there though at that time we have merely 15min less. Never in my life I've got to drink like a cow, with such a delicate pick on hand. Sigh... Further more we've got to squeeze time to take some nice pictures around here as well.

The biggest surprise came when he went to get the bill. Apparently we got charge as per person, even though we all drank from the same teapot and from the same small bag of leaves supplied to us. At the end it was like 1200 Yuan or so (RM120). WHOAH!!! I guess the the deco is part of the charges here...

When we were about to leave, the rain drizzles again. All of us were quite worried about the rumoured typhoon coming by, especially it is just our 2nd day here in Taiwan today. But I guess even though it rains like cats and dogs, we will just have to continue our journey as planned.

Next : Yeh Liu Geological Park 野柳地质公园 (due - when I feel like it :P)

Shilin Night Market, Taipei 士林夜市

We were all sent to the renowned Shilin night market straight after touching down at Taipei Tao Yuan International airport. It seems that it is one of the must go for tourists coming to Taiwan, where by they could sample a variety of frequently advertised Taiwanese snacks.

Strangely this night market is Indoor... hmmm... and it seems to look empty at most place even though heavily promoted on the TVBS Asia...

I would guess the most popular stalls among them all would be this Hao Da Da Chicken Chop

Selling XL size chicken pieces coated with starched and bread crump, deep friend, and be scrumptiously powdered with Ajinomoto flavoring (BBQ,Salsa,Chilli). No picture, coz just got down from the plane, a bit "kelam-kabut". Anyways, one big standard piece for 50Yuan (RM5)

And another crowded stall... Big Biscuit wrap Small Biscuit 大饼包小饼(???)

Essentially what it is is that wrapping one layer of flour dough onto a glutinous rice dough, where inside it contain various fillings of choice, (e.g. coconut, red bean paste, peanuts). At the end they are all deep fried. 4 pieces for 100 (RM10)

There are many other things as well...

BBQ as picked, with sausages,cockles(clam), meat, mostly animal internal organs, the worst to me is that Chicken butts all arrange in skewer... eek!

The food here... disappointingly, mostly taste worse than run of the mill. Even our food court here can cook better food...

Most disappointing of them all is this oyster omelette 蚝仔煎. Too much starch, too wet, with a disgusting tasting chili sauce.

Anyways, when you are in Taiwan, one thing every tourist is invited to taste is this Smelly Taufu 臭豆腐. How do I describe this smell... the sludge from drain would the closest I guess.

Apart from deep fried, it can be cooked in variety ways, in the smelly sour veg soup that is.

But I like the BBQ style smelly taufu the best, all topped with sour cabbage on top.

U can see a lot of fruit drink stalls here too. And everyone promoting this Papaya milk (was said able to improve women's cup size), as well as White bittergout with honey.

You ask me? I think they are all too watered down for the price we paying. Mostly at 30Yuan a cup.

Yawn... anyways gonna sleep early tonight, as it is another long day tomorrow. Wonder what's there for me ahead. Lucky we managed to sleep in at Holiday Inn Taipei East, perhaps I will take all the soap, shower cap, tea bags, etc.

Back From Taiwan

Current Tallest Building in The World - Taipei 101

Taroko National Park, HuaLian

Fuo Guang San Monastery

Ever Famous Sun Moon Lake

Over Hyped Taiwan Small Snacks!!

Gosh! Just came back from Taiwan, had a VERY early morning flight at 8.30am this morning to catch. Seeing the Taiwanese mostly talk louder than action, we all headed to the airport as early as 5.30am in case there were unsuspected delay even though they always sounded efficient.

Been running around the whole island, changing hotel every night, until a point I no longer able to recall where I was the day before. Pretty much like a nomad.

Kinda tire and with many pics to sort out one by one. Will post them one by one when I am ready.

===

Just updated all about my Taiwan trip finally, click below for each small trips!

• Shilin Night Market, Taipei 士林夜市
• Jiu Fen 九份, Taiwan
• Yeh Liu National Geological Park 野柳地质公园
• Taiwan National Palace Museum, High Speed Rail
• Jia Feng Night Market, Taichung - 台中甲逢夜市
• Day 3 - To Kaoshiung enroute Sun Moon Lake, Fuo Guang Shan
• Night Market Again at Kaoshiung 六合夜市
• Hakka Village, Biggest Sea World in Asia, Hot Spring Resort
• Hua Lian 花莲, Taroko National Park 太鲁阁 and all about local aborigines
• Wu Jiao Chuan Ban (Five Dime ) 五角船板
• Back to Taipei : Taipei 101 and extras!

All the photos are posted at Flickr:

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/danachow/sets/72157603287420972/

比尔盖茨的做人十理 - Bill Gates Views On Life

from: http://finance.qq.com/a/20070205/000726.htm

Since that some of the readers requested for English version, here you go! However, the English version seemed to make more sense to me.

==========

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.


Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

——世界最受尊敬“商业领袖”的人生体验

盖茨的业界地位仅次于杜拉克

据权威英国《金融时报》调查：全球25个国家的1000位CEO、基金经理认为：微软仍是最受尊敬的公司，并在企业创新、投资价值两项中排名第一。

调查结果发现：商界舵手最重要的表现，是越来越注重领导的创新能力。在企业增长方面的突出表现，是稳中求胜的理念转而改为主动出击的新思维。

今天的比尔·盖茨成为最受尊敬的商界领袖，其地位和影响力仅次于世界管理学之父杜拉克。

盖茨先生在一次讲话中，语重心长地讲了他的十条忠告，相信会对大家有所启发。

盖茨的十条“金口玉言”

1. 社会充满不公平现象。你先不要想去改造它，只能先适应它。(因为你管不了它)。
2. 世界不会在意你的自尊，人们看的只是你的成就。在你没有成就以前，切勿过分强调自尊。(因为你越强调自尊，越对你不利)。
3. 你只是中学毕业，通常不会成为CEO，直到你把CEO职位拿到手为止。(直到此时，人们才不会介意你只是中学毕业)。
4. 当你陷入人为困境时，不要抱怨，你只能默默地吸取教训。(你要悄悄地振作起来，重新奋起)。
5. 你要懂得：在没有你之前，你的父母并不像现在这样“乏味”。你应该想到，这是他们为了抚养你所付出的巨大代价。(你永远要感恩和孝敬他们，才是硬道理)。
6. 在学校里，你考第几已不是那么重要，但进入社会却不然。不管你去到哪里，都要分等排名。(社会、公司要排名次，是常见的事，要鼓起勇气竞争才对)。
7. 学校里有节假日，到公司打工则不然，你几乎不能休息，很少能轻松地过节假日。(否则你职业生涯中一起跑就落后了，甚至会让你永远落后)。
8. 在学校，老师会帮助你学习，到公司却不会。如果你认为学校的老师要求你很严格，那是你还没有进入公司打工。因为，如果公司对你不严厉，你就要失业了。(你必须清醒地认识到：公司比学校更要严格要求自己)。
9. 人们都喜欢看电视剧，但你不要看，那并不是你的生活。只要在公司工作，你是无暇看电视剧的。(奉劝你不要看，否则你走上看电视连续剧之路，而且看得津津有味，那你将失去成功的资格)。
10. 永远不要在背后批评别人，尤其不能批评你的老板无知、刻薄和无能。(因为这样的心态，会使你走上坎坷艰难的成长之路)。

这十条金科玉律般的职工座右铭，我建议作为职工必读的经典之作。要把它张贴在自己工作生活的墙上，经常阅读反省，对我们大有好处。比尔·盖茨之成为最受尊敬的人，成为近十年“世界首富”，恐怕一个重要道理正在于此。

大家放眼望去会发现：大凡成功者，在谈到成功时，很少谈“做事”，而都在讲“做人”。

因为不会做人，就不会做事，就会走上无为的一生，或走上大起大落坎坷艰难的不归之路。著名经济学家茅于轼先生说：“要在三四十岁思考人生，七老八十再想用处就不大了。”人，出生入死要深思！才是大道理。(括号中的话为本刊总编所加)

Work Related - Trainings

Have not blogging regularly these days as I am so bogged down with many things, among them are work, play, fun, mess...

Anyways, was glad to have Don, from our Singapore principle company to helped me out with a training for the DNA sequencer at a customer's place recently. We had a lot of fun pipettings, running samples, learning how to improve our techniques, etc.

Who say work is boring? It all boils down to what sort of perspective you are approaching it from.