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.