worked all day. had plans to attend the milonga at night.
before the milonga, went to that beef noodle house i found in the alley behind the sogo dept store at chunghsiao fuxing. order a bowl of their specialty beef noodle soup, and it was just as good as i remembered it. apparently, i am not the only one, because it was just voted best beef noodle house in taipei!
my stomach fulfilled, i headed to the milonga. there's a lot of people at the milonga. about twice as many as the previous week. which sounds about right, given that there were two milongas the previous saturday, but only one this week. with that many people, i got bumped and stepped on a few times. a couple of my partners kicked others. what i noticed (and this is a generalization of the group as a whole, not of any particular individual) is that the followers do not dance close embrace well, and they tend to kick or do some other embellishment, so when its that crowded, accidents are going to happen. very different from buenos aires. nevertheless, it was a fun night. there was a follower, ya-ting(sp?), who had been dancing only a couple of months, and is amazing at following. as a comparison to the la tangueros, her ability to pick up subtle leads is as good as naomi and mary. i'd love to dance with her three years from now. fow now, i'm getting to know which are the good followers, and still trying to find one who can dance milonga style.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
progress
the weather continued to be cold today. it's actually only with the wind chill factor that it's so cold. cold enough that i really wish i had brought my overcoat. without the wind, it actually feels like a brisk winter day in los angeles, which is quite nice.
tried a new beef noodle place near chunghsiao fuxing today. and i took pics. unfortunately, was not very impressed with the food. afterwards took a short stroll down the street, and noticed a beef noodle house in the alley. took a closer look, and turns out, its a branch of my favorite beef noodle place! pretty sweet, since now i don't have to go as far to get great beef noodles.
i headed towards eslite. eslite is the only 24 hour bookstore in the world. the first and last time i went was 8 years ago, at 2am, in their original store. i've never seen a bookstore so packed. this time i was there to check out a food demonstration of argentine cuisine. this branch of eslite in xinyi, the most modern area of taipei, covers 3 stories is much newer and extremely nice. i used the restroom, and if you ever have to use the bathroom in taiwan, find an eslite. the toilet covers automatically raise, and the toilet seats are heated. toasty.
because i was early for the demonstration, i headed downstairs to starbucks and got a latte. wow its been a long time since i've had a decent coffee. the price wasn't bad at NT$100 (approx US$3). i also saw that they sold starbux mints. and not the big ones that they now sell in the states, but the original beads in the blue tins, so that you get 100 mints, instead of 30. all for NT$77 (US$2.30). guess i didnt need to buy a bunch of tins when i came.
the food demonstration was kinda boring.
afterwards, i had time to kill before meeting a friend for dinner. so i headed to the eslite cafe, where they serve austrian beers. i thought the same-- why austrian? anyway, had a egglesberg dunkel. yum. and worked on my software. and i got tiled rendering working! which means despite my decreased productivity this past week, i'm actually ahead of schedule. next up, workflow managed, cloud enabled, distributed, real-time rendering.
met up with my friend at the starbucks in the basement of bellavita (upscale department store just next to the eslite building). we then headed another floor down to the food court. this isn't any food court. there's food for many countries, and it's all upscale. there's even a dining area where you get table service, and the menu is just the compilation of the food from all the places. i order an omakase (japanese, 10 course chef's choice meal) for NT$380 (approx $11.50). it's nowhere as good as sitting at the sushi bar at nishiya, but it was better than any food court food i've had, and quite filling at that.
dinner lasted 3 hours. i miss having good conversation like that. but it was lacking a bottle of wine, a craving that's left unsatisfied still...
tried a new beef noodle place near chunghsiao fuxing today. and i took pics. unfortunately, was not very impressed with the food. afterwards took a short stroll down the street, and noticed a beef noodle house in the alley. took a closer look, and turns out, its a branch of my favorite beef noodle place! pretty sweet, since now i don't have to go as far to get great beef noodles.
i headed towards eslite. eslite is the only 24 hour bookstore in the world. the first and last time i went was 8 years ago, at 2am, in their original store. i've never seen a bookstore so packed. this time i was there to check out a food demonstration of argentine cuisine. this branch of eslite in xinyi, the most modern area of taipei, covers 3 stories is much newer and extremely nice. i used the restroom, and if you ever have to use the bathroom in taiwan, find an eslite. the toilet covers automatically raise, and the toilet seats are heated. toasty.
because i was early for the demonstration, i headed downstairs to starbucks and got a latte. wow its been a long time since i've had a decent coffee. the price wasn't bad at NT$100 (approx US$3). i also saw that they sold starbux mints. and not the big ones that they now sell in the states, but the original beads in the blue tins, so that you get 100 mints, instead of 30. all for NT$77 (US$2.30). guess i didnt need to buy a bunch of tins when i came.
the food demonstration was kinda boring.
afterwards, i had time to kill before meeting a friend for dinner. so i headed to the eslite cafe, where they serve austrian beers. i thought the same-- why austrian? anyway, had a egglesberg dunkel. yum. and worked on my software. and i got tiled rendering working! which means despite my decreased productivity this past week, i'm actually ahead of schedule. next up, workflow managed, cloud enabled, distributed, real-time rendering.
met up with my friend at the starbucks in the basement of bellavita (upscale department store just next to the eslite building). we then headed another floor down to the food court. this isn't any food court. there's food for many countries, and it's all upscale. there's even a dining area where you get table service, and the menu is just the compilation of the food from all the places. i order an omakase (japanese, 10 course chef's choice meal) for NT$380 (approx $11.50). it's nowhere as good as sitting at the sushi bar at nishiya, but it was better than any food court food i've had, and quite filling at that.
dinner lasted 3 hours. i miss having good conversation like that. but it was lacking a bottle of wine, a craving that's left unsatisfied still...
Thursday, March 25, 2010
a change in the weather
yesterday it rained, and the temperature dropped into the 50s (F). For the first time in my memory, Taiwan was cold. Cold enough that I wished that I had brought my overcoat. Instead, I layered the two light jackets that I had brought. People on the street wore scarves and beanies and snow jackets. The air was crisp and clean. If it were like that all year in Taiwan, I'd live here year round.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
work, an exploration, and a beer
i worked all day yesterday. though i was not that productive. i spent a great deal of it trying to figure out why i was getting errors from attempting to load a symbol from a dynamic library. geek tech i know, but that's my line of work. anyway, i gave up on that and tried the exact same thing on a linux box, and it worked immediately. so i suspect that as with all the wierd errors i've been getting in the past few months, it's a 32/64bit compatibility issue on the mac. good thing i brought 3 laptops with me to taiwan!
at night, i decided to go explore the chunghsiao fuxing area. other than xinyi area (which has taipei 101), it's the most vibrant modernized area. i walked the back streets to see what was hidden behind all of the high rises. quite a bit! i found that the wonton place from the other day was actually a small chain. they have 3 or 4 stores in that area, all just as crowded as that first one.
and i found a "french" place that serves a pretty good variety of beer, including leffe blonde, westmalle, bitburger, anchor steam (3 varieties!). i put the quotes around "french" because the food seems very poorly executed french food, but i dont really expect more, given it's taiwan. anyway, i stopped in there for a beer. the woman was shocked that i was alone and only wanted a single seat at the bar, but was very accomodating once she got over that shock. i guess people don't really go out by themselves in taiwan. order a leffe blonde, and heard the two women sitting next to me speaking in english, so i asked one of them where they were from. she said that she was local, which i believe is a lie, because she speaks english perfectly, and her attempts to speak both chinese and taiwanese were laced with a heavy foreign accent. so i ended the conversation, finished my leffe (my first beer in a couple of weeks), paid, and left. i have to find more bars that serve good beers.
observation: the bus drivers in taipei are paid a base salary plus a commission based upon the number of fares they pick up. that means, when you are lost at a bus stop, you can always ask the driver if they're headed somewhere, because they want you to board if possible. it also means that they're willing to stop when they see you running towards the bus, and that they'll pick you up if they're at a stoplight still within the vicinity of the bus stop. contrast this with the buses in los angeles. the combination of union pay rules and liability laws means that the drivers do not open the door for you even if you've banging on it, if you're not standing on the curb where the bus stop is located. it also means that they won't wait 5 seconds for you to catch up if you're running like mad towards them. rare, but in this aspect, the bus companies in taiwan actually provide better customer service than their western counterparts.
at night, i decided to go explore the chunghsiao fuxing area. other than xinyi area (which has taipei 101), it's the most vibrant modernized area. i walked the back streets to see what was hidden behind all of the high rises. quite a bit! i found that the wonton place from the other day was actually a small chain. they have 3 or 4 stores in that area, all just as crowded as that first one.
and i found a "french" place that serves a pretty good variety of beer, including leffe blonde, westmalle, bitburger, anchor steam (3 varieties!). i put the quotes around "french" because the food seems very poorly executed french food, but i dont really expect more, given it's taiwan. anyway, i stopped in there for a beer. the woman was shocked that i was alone and only wanted a single seat at the bar, but was very accomodating once she got over that shock. i guess people don't really go out by themselves in taiwan. order a leffe blonde, and heard the two women sitting next to me speaking in english, so i asked one of them where they were from. she said that she was local, which i believe is a lie, because she speaks english perfectly, and her attempts to speak both chinese and taiwanese were laced with a heavy foreign accent. so i ended the conversation, finished my leffe (my first beer in a couple of weeks), paid, and left. i have to find more bars that serve good beers.
observation: the bus drivers in taipei are paid a base salary plus a commission based upon the number of fares they pick up. that means, when you are lost at a bus stop, you can always ask the driver if they're headed somewhere, because they want you to board if possible. it also means that they're willing to stop when they see you running towards the bus, and that they'll pick you up if they're at a stoplight still within the vicinity of the bus stop. contrast this with the buses in los angeles. the combination of union pay rules and liability laws means that the drivers do not open the door for you even if you've banging on it, if you're not standing on the curb where the bus stop is located. it also means that they won't wait 5 seconds for you to catch up if you're running like mad towards them. rare, but in this aspect, the bus companies in taiwan actually provide better customer service than their western counterparts.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
badly curated art and more food
tuesday morning i headed to taiwan's bureau of administration for military service to ask about the specifics of my ability to stay in taiwan and still avoid conscription. so, to bore you with the details, due to the year in which i was born, i can stay in taiwan w/o being conscripted as long as the following hold true.
until i am of age 36 (according to taiwan counting, i am now 33)
* i do not stay for an uninterrupted full year in taiwan
* i do not stay for an uninterrupted four month period more than three times
so what does that mean? it means i can pretty much move back to taiwan for the rest of my life. if i were to start now, i would need to take a trip outside the country twice. good to be old.
afterwards, went to the museum of natural history. my uncle works there and had free tickets to the van gogh exhibit there. i enjoyed the art, especially seeing van gogh's early works, and the constrast of the darkness and bleakness, vs. the impressionism influences once he moved to paris. what i hated was the curation. the lighting was horrible. the drawings were housed in disgusting frames. they put physical barriers so that the closest you could get is approx 1 meter. if you raised your arm to point at something, you got yelled (yes, yelled!) at by the docents because they were afraid you'd ruin the artwork. the drawings were hung side by side, so tightly together that each picture was about 3 people deep. it also didnt help that everyone was listening to the audio guide, so no one was moving. and when you finally exited the exhibit, you entered the gift shop that was almost as large as the exhibit, where the docents (at least they were dressed the same) are more numerous than in the exhibit, and hawking the items at you.
afterwards, stopped by camera street to get a replacement lens cap. this time i got one with a string attached, so that i wouldn't lose the cap again.
then for lunch, went to this tempura house. this is taiwanese tempura, which is mainly fish cakes. this place has been open 40 years. my aunt used to go there when she was in high school. they've obviously done well for themselves. the handbasin to wash your hands is no longer the industrial metallic box with a rubber hose attached to the faucet. it's one of those fancy sinks that you'd expect to find in the bathroom of the most upscale restrooms.
at night, i went to the raohe(sp?) night market next to the songshan train station. that used to be the train station i would take to visit my maternal grandfather in taichung. it used to be just a parking lot and two tracks. now it's all nicely renovated, and all underground. the night market is a different matter. which shilin was tremendously crowded, raohe was virtually empty. all the vats of oil looked disgusting (instead of bubbling beautifully), as they didnt turn on the fire until you ordered. and the food, just not quite there. the stinky tofu was bland, though had a good garlic sauce. i also ordered an oyster pancake. that wasn't bad, and i'm glad i got quite a bit of oysters. there was a period about 10 years ago where instead of raising the prices, the vendors put less and less oysters in the pancake, to keep prices the same. it got to the point you had only 1 or 2 oysters, and not with it for NT$25. the prices are now NT$40 (~ US$1.25), and i like that it's now loaded with oysters.
observation: you can't get napkins in taiwan. instead, when you reach for a napkin at a food vendor, you get toilet paper. i suppose that the cost per piece is lower for toilet paper than it is for actual napkins. the problem is, toilet paper is meant to be used once, and designed to break apart at the slightest hint of water so as to not clog up your pipes. so you can imagine how that works out when you try to wipe your hands of grease or some liquid. but, i guess what's good enough for your ass is good enough for your mouth.
until i am of age 36 (according to taiwan counting, i am now 33)
* i do not stay for an uninterrupted full year in taiwan
* i do not stay for an uninterrupted four month period more than three times
so what does that mean? it means i can pretty much move back to taiwan for the rest of my life. if i were to start now, i would need to take a trip outside the country twice. good to be old.
afterwards, went to the museum of natural history. my uncle works there and had free tickets to the van gogh exhibit there. i enjoyed the art, especially seeing van gogh's early works, and the constrast of the darkness and bleakness, vs. the impressionism influences once he moved to paris. what i hated was the curation. the lighting was horrible. the drawings were housed in disgusting frames. they put physical barriers so that the closest you could get is approx 1 meter. if you raised your arm to point at something, you got yelled (yes, yelled!) at by the docents because they were afraid you'd ruin the artwork. the drawings were hung side by side, so tightly together that each picture was about 3 people deep. it also didnt help that everyone was listening to the audio guide, so no one was moving. and when you finally exited the exhibit, you entered the gift shop that was almost as large as the exhibit, where the docents (at least they were dressed the same) are more numerous than in the exhibit, and hawking the items at you.
afterwards, stopped by camera street to get a replacement lens cap. this time i got one with a string attached, so that i wouldn't lose the cap again.
then for lunch, went to this tempura house. this is taiwanese tempura, which is mainly fish cakes. this place has been open 40 years. my aunt used to go there when she was in high school. they've obviously done well for themselves. the handbasin to wash your hands is no longer the industrial metallic box with a rubber hose attached to the faucet. it's one of those fancy sinks that you'd expect to find in the bathroom of the most upscale restrooms.
at night, i went to the raohe(sp?) night market next to the songshan train station. that used to be the train station i would take to visit my maternal grandfather in taichung. it used to be just a parking lot and two tracks. now it's all nicely renovated, and all underground. the night market is a different matter. which shilin was tremendously crowded, raohe was virtually empty. all the vats of oil looked disgusting (instead of bubbling beautifully), as they didnt turn on the fire until you ordered. and the food, just not quite there. the stinky tofu was bland, though had a good garlic sauce. i also ordered an oyster pancake. that wasn't bad, and i'm glad i got quite a bit of oysters. there was a period about 10 years ago where instead of raising the prices, the vendors put less and less oysters in the pancake, to keep prices the same. it got to the point you had only 1 or 2 oysters, and not with it for NT$25. the prices are now NT$40 (~ US$1.25), and i like that it's now loaded with oysters.
observation: you can't get napkins in taiwan. instead, when you reach for a napkin at a food vendor, you get toilet paper. i suppose that the cost per piece is lower for toilet paper than it is for actual napkins. the problem is, toilet paper is meant to be used once, and designed to break apart at the slightest hint of water so as to not clog up your pipes. so you can imagine how that works out when you try to wipe your hands of grease or some liquid. but, i guess what's good enough for your ass is good enough for your mouth.
Monday, March 22, 2010
a walk down memory lane
fifteen years ago i attended chientan, a summer camp in taiwan, run by the taiwanese government, for children of overseas taiwanese. it was a great summer and i made many friends with whom i did a lot of crazy stuff. sadly, it predated the age of mobile phones, emails, im, and facebook, so i don't keep in touch with many of them.
this camp is situated right next to shilin, one of the largest night markets in taiwan. i used to hate the food they served in the camp (it was very generic) and would head to the night market to stock up on authentic taiwanese cuisine. and that's where i headed last night.
most people go to the night market to shop and buy stuff. everything is ridiculously cheap, and if i were the shopping type, i'd write about that. but i'm the eating type.
first up, the stinky tofu place. they've been open for 30 years and i remember that i used to love how they made it. how does it taste now? i like it still. the skin is crunchy, and its a huge plate for NT$40 (approx US$1.25). the tofu itself is not as flavorful as the one near my aunt's place, but i think its because the tofu is bigger, so the flavors are not as infused. but the crunchiness of the skin really makes up for it.
i then found a vendor selling pig blood cake on a stick. i liked the guy, as he was just standing there, in the midst of a crowd, reading a book. all the other vendors were screaming at you or otherwise trying to get your attention. for NT$35, i got this huge block of cake, covered with hot sauce, covered with peanut powder. it was so big that i could barely finish it.
i had wanted to order an oyster pancake afterwards, but was too full. besides, had to order dessert. which was shaved ice, topped with taro, chewy rice balls, sweet butterfly beans, and passion fruit extract. for NT$40.
this camp is situated right next to shilin, one of the largest night markets in taiwan. i used to hate the food they served in the camp (it was very generic) and would head to the night market to stock up on authentic taiwanese cuisine. and that's where i headed last night.
most people go to the night market to shop and buy stuff. everything is ridiculously cheap, and if i were the shopping type, i'd write about that. but i'm the eating type.
first up, the stinky tofu place. they've been open for 30 years and i remember that i used to love how they made it. how does it taste now? i like it still. the skin is crunchy, and its a huge plate for NT$40 (approx US$1.25). the tofu itself is not as flavorful as the one near my aunt's place, but i think its because the tofu is bigger, so the flavors are not as infused. but the crunchiness of the skin really makes up for it.
i then found a vendor selling pig blood cake on a stick. i liked the guy, as he was just standing there, in the midst of a crowd, reading a book. all the other vendors were screaming at you or otherwise trying to get your attention. for NT$35, i got this huge block of cake, covered with hot sauce, covered with peanut powder. it was so big that i could barely finish it.
i had wanted to order an oyster pancake afterwards, but was too full. besides, had to order dessert. which was shaved ice, topped with taro, chewy rice balls, sweet butterfly beans, and passion fruit extract. for NT$40.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
25 years ago today
my brothers and i immigrated to the us (our parents had already immigrated a few months earlier). we had layovers in tokyo, chicago, and finally landing in memphis tennessee. ironic that today, i am back in the motherland.
what a difference 25 years makes.
i remember john trying to teach us how to write the english alphabet, remembering how i had trouble with the letter "a". i even used that story as part of a design project in college-- i should scan that and post it on here.
i remember not really understanding where america is. i remember getting home in memphis around 7pm, and thinking that the sun is just setting. i remember the bricks on the graduate housing rowhome where we lived, the playground just around the corner. and the sereneness of the place in general.
here's to the next 25 years.
what a difference 25 years makes.
i remember john trying to teach us how to write the english alphabet, remembering how i had trouble with the letter "a". i even used that story as part of a design project in college-- i should scan that and post it on here.
i remember not really understanding where america is. i remember getting home in memphis around 7pm, and thinking that the sun is just setting. i remember the bricks on the graduate housing rowhome where we lived, the playground just around the corner. and the sereneness of the place in general.
here's to the next 25 years.
a good end to the week
woke up in the morning to get another fav breakfast-- soy milk plus toasted bun with oil stick. the toasted bun is like a panini, but softer and topped with sesame seeds, and the oil stick is like a churro, w/o the sugar and much airer. then went to the market with the grandparents. i have the market here. there's so much variety in food. one stand has about 12 different types of mushrooms. another has 20 different types of fish. the chicken stands have 3 or 4 different types of chicken, all beautifully cut. i'll have to bring my camera and take pictures one of these days.
spen the afternoon working. got my router to work as a client bridge, so that my cloud nodes have access to the internet, using the router's wireless connection as the wan port.
at night there's another milonga. usually there's only one a week, but this week is special somehow. two on saturday and one on sunday. i decide to grab dinner beforehand nearby the studio. the area around the studio is one of the city's busiest, so there's plenty to eat. across the boulevard is a 24 hour hong kong restaurant. next door is a fried chicken place-- i was very tempted. but based on this post i decided to head into the alley just around the corner. i didnt try the places she wrote about. for me, stinky tofu has to hit your nose when you're down the block, not when you're finally standing in front of it. instead i walked around and found a wonton place that was packed with people. so i grabbed the last seat and order a bowl. wow. i get 3 huge wontons (about 1/2 the size of my fist), each loaded completely with shrimp. and all for NT$70 (~US$2.25). pic below is the sign of the place, so i can find it again in the future. i also get a pearl milk tea for NT$25 (< US$1). they know how to make pearl milk tea in taiwan. just the right amount of chewiness.
at the milonga, i dance with two milongueras who i had met last year. sadly, yuan-yuan no longer does the cute little kick that she used to do. the other is cory, who rides a bus for 1.5 hours from hsinchu to come to the milonga. it's good to see her again, because i can speak english with her. it feels nice to speak english again. the milonga is nice, with a focus on piazolla. so every other tango is piazolla, who wrote the music to be as undanceable as possible. but its beautiful music. on the way out, i'm in the elevator with two kids from national taiwan university (ntu), who speak english perfectly. siwon is a korean exchange student from canada. samantha is a local girl (all the more surprising about her english skills), and also the president of the tango club at the university. i should make an introduction between her and the ucla and caltech clubs. i take the mrt home-- it takes almost an hour :( and that ends my week.
a side observation. i'm one of the taller people around, i'd say im in the 80-85 percentile of height. feels kinda nice.
spen the afternoon working. got my router to work as a client bridge, so that my cloud nodes have access to the internet, using the router's wireless connection as the wan port.
at night there's another milonga. usually there's only one a week, but this week is special somehow. two on saturday and one on sunday. i decide to grab dinner beforehand nearby the studio. the area around the studio is one of the city's busiest, so there's plenty to eat. across the boulevard is a 24 hour hong kong restaurant. next door is a fried chicken place-- i was very tempted. but based on this post i decided to head into the alley just around the corner. i didnt try the places she wrote about. for me, stinky tofu has to hit your nose when you're down the block, not when you're finally standing in front of it. instead i walked around and found a wonton place that was packed with people. so i grabbed the last seat and order a bowl. wow. i get 3 huge wontons (about 1/2 the size of my fist), each loaded completely with shrimp. and all for NT$70 (~US$2.25). pic below is the sign of the place, so i can find it again in the future. i also get a pearl milk tea for NT$25 (< US$1). they know how to make pearl milk tea in taiwan. just the right amount of chewiness.
at the milonga, i dance with two milongueras who i had met last year. sadly, yuan-yuan no longer does the cute little kick that she used to do. the other is cory, who rides a bus for 1.5 hours from hsinchu to come to the milonga. it's good to see her again, because i can speak english with her. it feels nice to speak english again. the milonga is nice, with a focus on piazolla. so every other tango is piazolla, who wrote the music to be as undanceable as possible. but its beautiful music. on the way out, i'm in the elevator with two kids from national taiwan university (ntu), who speak english perfectly. siwon is a korean exchange student from canada. samantha is a local girl (all the more surprising about her english skills), and also the president of the tango club at the university. i should make an introduction between her and the ucla and caltech clubs. i take the mrt home-- it takes almost an hour :( and that ends my week.
a side observation. i'm one of the taller people around, i'd say im in the 80-85 percentile of height. feels kinda nice.
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