Taipei (Part 2)

Note: All these photos are unedited due to lack of editing software.

I took about 300 shots while I was in Taipei and Xi Men Ting. Some turned out well, but others...nah. So here's the continuation...

Can you recognize this building?


Taipei 101

Yes, it's the world's tallest building, Taipei 101. Too bad I can't get a better shot with my camera because I only brought my 50mm f/1.8 lens along to Taipei. So all I could snap was the top part of this skyscraper. According to the lift attendant, (yes, there's a pretty lift attendant in the lift to the 89th floor) the lift is the fastest in the world. I would not doubt that because my ears caould actually feel the pressure while the lift was accelerating up.



In the lift

We loafed around Taipei 101 and felt that the whole area is something similar to our very own Bukit Bintang but slightly in a different way.


Live statue - will dance when you put money into his box.


Jumping beans

This kid is wearing a jumping aid kit. So whenever he jumps he can reach Vince-Carteresque hieght. According to the brochure, this braces can help you grow taller, but frankly I am not to sure about it. But it is still quite amazing to see this kid jumping up and down with these braces.


The MRT station at Xi Men Ting was jammed pack


Mascot of Xi Men....i don't know


Some promotional event for an upcoming movie...looks stupid right?


Skater Shoes


Movie tickets

Me and my friends decided to get a taste of watching movie here in Taiwan, so we headed to the cinema here. Cinemas here are really classy, unlike our pathetic Star Cineplex and the other...erm... Metro something....lol (name of that cinema is not even worth remembering). We chose to watch a local production which became a major blockbuster here in Taiwan, 海角七号 (translated as Cape No.7). The tickets cost NTD200 each (which is about RM21) which is pretty expensive compared to those we get in Malaysia. Overall the movie was OK and I would give it a 7 out of 10 because the lead actor was great. As of 26 Oct 2008, the movie is the 3rd highest grossing movie here in Taiwan after Titanic and Jurassic Park, Amazing? So how can we miss the chance to watch such a movie, right?


Colorful fruits


Shop selling the famous 阿宗面线


阿宗面线


Starbucks...in chinese 星巴克咖啡


Armour outside a Japanese restaurant


Yours sincerely

Lotus

Lotus

These photos were taken at Kenting (墾丁) beach.

Two pilots missing...

Yesterday's headline in most newspapers here in Taiwan "Two Pilots Missing After Plane Crash". Ironically, the place where I stay is just a stone throw away from the Air Force's Chingchuankang Airbase here in Taichung.


Entrance of the Airbase

One very notable difference is I don't hear jet fighters flying around doing their routine patrol around this area anymore. I guess all jet fighters are grounded at the moment.

May God bless the two deceased pilots.

Taipei (Part 1)

10 October is the National Day of Taiwan PRC. And since it fell on a Friday, me and my fellow Malaysians here in Taiwan took the chance to go to Taipei. Main agenda was to eat, play and see...

Bus ride from Taichung to Taipei took about 2 hours. Upon arrival, we were greeted by this unique building which is adjacent to Taipei Bus Station, the Taipei Railway Station.


Taipei Railway Station


Taipei Railway Station

From the bus station we headed straight to Xi Men Ting via MRT. Since it was a public holiday here in Taiwan, there were throngs of people.


Huge crowd


Our MRT "ticket"

At night we went to the famous 士林夜市 (but honestly I have never heard of this night market before this). If you ask me to describe this place, I can only say it's a food heaven!!!

Check out these food... droooooooooooooool....


大饼包小饼 (da bing bao xiao bing - big kuih wrap small kuih)


臭豆腐 menu (smelly tofu menu)


臭豆腐 (smelly tofu)


花枝尤鱼汤 (sotong soup)


肉串 (meat stick)


大肠包小肠 (Small sausage wrapped in big sausage)


大肠 (Taiwan sausage)


蚵仔煎 (Ou wa chien - fried oyster Taiwan style)


红烧鳗 (Fried fish)


超大鸡排 (HUGE chicken chop - the largest I have seen)


柠蒙爱玉 (dunno how to translate...smth like cincau + lemon)

I really enjoyed the food here.... so for you food lovers out there, you would definitely want to come here for Food, Glorious Food!!!!

Problem in Taiwan

There are a few problems which I face ever since I arrived at Taichung. Here I would like to share with you all a few of the major problems:

1. Plug


As you can see, all the plugs here are 2 pin plugs... damn mah fan at first cuz I do not have the adapter for it.

2. Mattress/Tilam



Some call this tilam, some call this "Macbook Air", but what I know is, this is what I sleep on. Sigh. Never thought there would still be people using this to sleep on. Pathetic.

3. Transport

Getting from Point A to Point B is really a hassle if you do not own your own vehicle here. The place where I stay at is very secluded. Besides a 7-ELEVEN, there's no other decent shops nearby. Damn boring can... TMD. Taxi is very common here but it ain't cheap. Sigh.... I miss my ride back at home.

4. Language

Everyone told me that there won't be a problem for me to settle down in Taiwan because I can speak Mandarin. But don't be too sure of that. Back in Malaysia, back in Kuching, the Mandarin we speak daily is not even standard Mandarin because for we tend to mix our conversation with English, BM, hokkien, hakka and other dialects... So when you want to speak to a Taiwanese here, it's common for you to pause left and right, searching for the right words.


Sigh... I still have a lot to learn here...

Taipei

Since last Friday (10/10/2008) was a public holiday (National Day) here in Taiwan, me and Lau went to Taipei to meet up with Ang Wie and Frankie. I just got back about 4 hours ago. I am feeling really tired because throughout this trip I was still not fully fit. I carried my cough to Taipei and back to Taichung. We went to many interesting places, ate different kinds of local delicacies, and even watched a local produced movie - 海角七号(which has became a mega blockbuster here in Taiwan).



More photos in my next entry...

Just How Big Is AUO?

I told you AUO was big but I didn't really say how big it is right. Alright let me give you a tour of my route upon arrival at the motocycle (or they call it 骑车 here).

(Note: Sorry, no pics for this post cuz no cameras or electronic devices are allowed at Fab area)

We'll have to walk about 100 meters to the security hut to get my vendor working pass (厂商工作证). Here, I'll have to surrender my Malaysian IC in exchange for the working pass. After that, we'll need to walk for another 200m to the entrance where we need to take off our shoes and wear plastic sandals (so-called office area sandals, but don't imagine those high-tech sandals cuz what we wear is just something like Japanese sandals). After that we need to climb up 3 floors and continue walking for 30m to come to our pre-fab check area.

They actually have the metal detector door-arc like the one at the airport. The ladies in-charge do actually go through every bags thoroughly to check for electronic gadgets (mind you that no electronic gadgets except a specific handphone brand is allowed into the fab). After that, we'll need to wipe clean our safety helmet with IPA. Then we need to wash our hands before putting on face mask and hair net (damn 麻烦) to enter the gowning area. And since I am a temp here, there's not enough cleanroom garment and shoes for me. So every time I'll need to loan it from the lady in-charge (super 麻烦 again!!!). I must mention that putting on the cleanroom garment is not easy at all cuz the zipper is side ways (so guys, be thankful that your zipper is in front). The gowning area is actually a very very crowded place because this fab now houses about 1000 vendors alone (from my rough estimation). Then we walk a short distance to put on our latex gloves and wash our hands again!

From there, we walk for another 25m to the lift to go down a floor. But this one floor is equivalent to 3 flight of stairs to climb albeit descending. Then we go through the air shower. The airshower here is hot air shower unlike X-fab's cold air shower. From the air shower chamber, we need to walk for 50m and we need to use a roller attached with sticky paper where we need to roll it on ourselves to clean ourselves from particles (cheating!). Then we walk walk walk...... (bored already?) ...to come to another lift to go to the 4th floor. The tool which we are setting up is right at the exit of the 4th floor. Thank God!

I am sure not many of you managed through this boring voyage of mine everyday. Hahahaha...

Taiwan MeiMei

There are many things that Taiwan is famous for. Among them are food, typhoons, and of course the pretty MeiMei...

Here are some photos which I managed to capture when I went to FengYuan town (豐原市) on Saturday.


MeiMei trying to cross the road


MeiMei having McD


This MeiMei has a very cute poodle.


MeiMei buying FengLiBing (凤梨冰) beverage


MeiMei at McD counter


MeiMei on the phone


MeiMeisssssssss...........@McD

So what do you think? Which MM is the prettiest?

p/s: I badly need a zoom lens to be able to capture more zoomed-in photos. Any suggestions?

View From Above

These are a few shots taken from the plane enroute my flight from KL to Taipei


Above the clouds


Any idea where this is?


Click to enlarge and you might just know where this is.... (hint: it's in Malaysia)

Now i know why God always prefer to be looking down on us, because the view from the sky is always spectacular!
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Anyway, here's a sneak preview of my next entry...



To those who have requested for photos of mui mui in Taiwan, stay tuned.

(Note: I am doing this entry purely for those who so badly wanna see the infamous beauties of Taiwan)

Mini

Charismatic

Saw this Hamann kitted Mini last year.

Selamat Hari Raya

I would like to wish all my Muslim friends a very blessed Raya Aidilfitri. Though I am not in Malaysia, that doesn't mean I don't miss celebrating this festive with my friends. I sure am gonna miss the satay, rendang and nasi brani this time around.

Once again, Selamat Hari Raya!