12 Feb 2017

So I finally made it up to Taipei !!  Many thanks to our “cover girl” Jenny for taking care of me and enabling the bulk of my Taipei activities !!  What a joy to have re-connected with all of you … hopefully I’ll have my whole family with me the next time I come to Taiwan … please come to Switzerland anytime you’d like !!

Tie-in notes here … Furbo is Victor’s brainchild … designed for dog-owners who are as attached to their dogs as their dogs are attached to them !!  Jenny and I managed to stop into the office for a wee visit just after lunch with the full(-ish) Ting group … the product is doing very well in the States and hopefully the team will come to Europe soon (hint hint !!) … at least for a little looksie ?!

As for the library … woowwwww … I think everyone knows that I’m an incurable book worm … the New Taipei City Library is incredible !!  Jenny allowed me to tag along while she took a work-related tour of the place.  I’ve never seen anything like it … modern & futuristic w/ an ample supply of high-tech gadgets but … also full of “real” books (like with paper-based pages, yo) … a beautiful public facility which hopefully will serve its surrounding community in infinite ways for many generations of library patrons … investments like this give me hope for the future !!

1 Feb 2017

Lunar New Year festivities still in full swing !!  Kaohsiung Lantern Festival is all lit up now … its *KITCH* (sp?) factor is world-class and certainly did not disappoint !!  My hosts judiciously skipped it and I can see why … I on the other hand couldn’t possibly give it a miss !!

this … Puhu … Chang’e …

28 Jan 2017

Happy New Rooster Year !!  Lights and lanterns are going up all over town … so exciting !!  Calorie consumption is also going up all over town … sheesh !!  I’m trying to move as much as possible between dining events … I’m updating this site next to the workout room here at the homestead … current observations indicate that I’m not the only one trying to offset the eating fest !!  Here are some colours for you … posted by the light of the setting sun !!

Random delights abound in KHH these days !!  Local kindness, hidden fun spots, spontaneity !!  So today is Lunar New Year’s day, marking the beginning of the year of the Rooster … Ariane & Eddie’s year !!  The build-up to this day has been tangible around the city, which I hope is evident by some of the pixels that I’ve posted above !!  Hopefully my next post will feature the lanterns and lights beaming in their new year glory … I’ll have to rejuvenate my camera battery in order to be ready for all the night-time shots that I plan to take !!

Within the next week or so, I hope to return to Foguangshan to check out their New Year’s festivities.  I also hope to check out a film at the Kaohsiung Film Archive … this place is amazing … free movies all the time, a library of film-related books and magazines, and a spotless café area to drink it all in.  Because so many shops are closed right now, the biking conditions are top-notch.  Mercifully, tomorrow’s big banquet meal won’t happen ’til the evening, so I hope to get out on the bike a bit before we all stuff our faces again !!

Once the New Year holiday has drawn to a close, I’ll meet up with Jenny and a few other Ting family members 😀 in Taipei … as of press time it appears I’ll most likely be there from 7th – 10th Feb.  Then come back down to KHH in time to cheer on the runners at the 2017 Kaohsiung Mizuno International Marathon … these guys are going to run a block away from Uncle J’s !!  Grubby and I will cheer them on … I’m already a little bit jealous of all the incredible food that the athletes can chow down on (and for so cheap !!) once they’ve crossed the finish line … those lucky-lucky-duckies !!

22 Jan 2017

Finally sleeping a bit better as of a few nights ago … what a difference the ZZZZs make, eh ?!  My Freddy Krueger Skin is still raging but hopefully it’ll get better soon !!  I’ve now finally seen my beloved Pacific Ocean (thank gawd !!) and figured out how to bike to it … yahoo !!  I’ve also gotten a bit better at negotiating the local buses and metro … a must for any illiterate adult wandering around a foreign city. ;-D  Uncle Jason continues to be an excellent tai chi and yoga instructor, leaving Auntie Juline on tour guide duty !!  Let’s see if I can stop babbling now and pixelate this post:

A few sundry footnotes … Auntie J is a Master Foodie !!  She claims that she “doesn’t know where to play” but she “definitely knows where to eat” (and buy good food) !!  Uncle J served as President of his apartment complex association awhile back.  As such, the common area infrastructure — reading room, workout room, karaoke room — still carry his signature.  The staff here are absolutely lovely !!  Always smiling, always helpful.  Once I get up the courage to do so, I’ll start snapping some shots of them.  Perhaps they might like to adopt Grubby once I’m gone … if they’d like to do so collectively, then they can either make use of “him” or sell him off collectively and share the profits.  I’m too shy right now to suggest this to them, but hopefully I’ll work up the nerve to do so before going home !!

17 Jan 2017

Greetings from Kaohsiung, Taiwan !!  I’m still jet-lagged but doing my best to pretend that I’m not !!  Uncle Jason & Auntie Juline have been wonderfully welcoming … I could not have asked for a better welcome party. ;-D  So far, we(/I)’ve done a little bit of this and little bit of that … karaoke, tai chi, Mandarin lessons (yikes!), biking, farming, painting the town red … here are some pixels ;-D …

I’m still horribly jetlagged and my Freddy Krueger Skin is the talk of the town (well not really but I do wish people would keep their thoughts about it to themselves … alas, I am in Taiwan … so it goes … ;-D).

The other day while I was wandering around, I came across a wee little bike shop which of course I had to check out !!  The owner (/ manager?) Terry was a sweetheart … turns out he spent some time studying English in San Francisco ;-D  … I bought a “H₂O” bottle, asked about bike rental, tried out a used bike that he was willing to sell me (’twas a perfect fit !!).  Upon my return “home” I bludgeoned my way thru a conversation with the apartment receptionist regarding bike parking … it was a clumsy discussion but we sorted out that if I bought a bike, I could park it near the scooters … good news … ;-D

The following day, I combed the neighborhood for a nearby bike rental station … asked a few unsure (optimistically helpful ;-D) peeps who kindly pointed around and told me “inggai keyi” (“you shoouuuld be able to”) … after searching for awhile I gave up on the idea of renting a bike and splurged on the purchase of Terry’s used bike …

Yeeeee-haaawww !!  Yeeeeeahhhhhhh !!  Provided that it doesn’t get stolen too quickly (it looks pretty grubby but rides well => perfect combo ;-D), I hope to have some fun on it !!  I took it out for a few hours yesterday and had a blast !!  I’ll probably give it away upon my departure in mid-Feb so if anyone (here in Kaohsiung ;-D) reading this is interested in having it, please let me know … I’ll aim to take some snaps of it at some point !! ;-D