6 September 2006: Fatigue

We had accomplished little today; did random stuff and we went to Ximending (again) for some entertainment. I promise myself not to go there for the next few days, period.

Keen fans of Jay Chou（周杰伦） should have known that his latest album 《依然范特西》 is already out on sale in stores. For the past few days, I have heard the hit song 《千里之外》 being played umpteen times at the streets of Taipei. Taiwan must be crazy over him. In contrast, we don't really display the same level of enthusiasm and interest in our very own Stephanie Sun（孙燕姿）with her upcoming albums. So fellow citizens, please show some support for our local pop industry! Don't exhibit it only when shows bent on sucking you dry are aired on national TV!

The only incentive that I find for buying the album is this above-mentioned duet that Jay Chou sings with veteran Fei Yu Qing（费玉清）. Fei Yu Qing gives a splendid performance in both the bridge and chorus of the song, and in my humble opinion truly deserves his reputation as one of the best evergreen artises in Mandarin pop. I hope that I can remain unscathed after such provocative comments. Please pay heed to intellectual property!

Anyway, Jay Chou will be holding autograph sessions for his new album in various places on the following three days: 10, 16, and 17 September. I'm still contemplating the possibility of purchasing his album and then getting it signed by him. But I dread the expected queues, and I'm not really a great fan of his songs. I'm the wrong person to be in the right place.

Oh here's a note to Tze Shan: thanks for your well wishes! If your dear Luo Zhi Xiang holds any autograph session for album releases or is simply out for publicity on any occasion, I'll grab the best off him for yours to keep! Thanks again!

I'm too tired to talk about other things; now in a daze from lack of sleep. Earlier in the morning, water dripped from corners of the wall after some renovation works in the upper storeys. Cheap things never come good. The same logic applies to dormitories or hostels. I woke up to dirty puddles of water on my desk and bedframe. Yucks! Here's a piece of advice where it comes to selecting your merchandise: doubt the quality, but never the price.

5 September 2006: Ximending--A Shopping Haven

The sporty Taiwanese volunteers and our SEP pals had gone for a game of basketball, and left Francoise and I to our own devices. Both of us made an impromptu decision to head for the famous Ximending（西门町）for dinner, and landed ourselves in a theme restaurant of a beach setting. The restaurant has floors covered with sand and tables filled with seashells and pebbles. We sat on swings, reminiscent of the ones we had in our childhood playgrounds. A great dining experience, I must say.


We had gone to Ximending a few days ago, but the trip then was too short a time for us to tour and shop around. This time, we took pains to explore every single alley and street, and I dare say that we had covered most of Ximending, if not all. We saw some interesting stuff, including these:

If I'm not mistaken, Debby has one of them. Debby was my small-group leader for the Hong Kong leg in the Lee Shiu Summer Programme. She is cheerful and chirpy, and behaves like a cat. Her only misdeed was to leave me at MacDonald's for some grand buffet on my last day in Hong Kong. Just kidding, but she is really very friendly and nice! I hope to see her soon!

Ximending is indeed a shopping paradise, but I would regard Hong Kong as a better place to splurge your money in. Just a brief comparison, but Hong Kong does offer more international brands and diverse products to satisfy the needs of any consumer. Nevertheless, enthusiastic shopaholics can derive great pleasure from visiting Ximending, and they will seldom leave with disappointment.

4 September 2006: Rao He St. Night Market

Taiwan is famous for its night markets. Knowing this, Francoise, Hisashi, Jasmine, and I went to the Rao He St. Night Market after dinner. This Night Market offers a smaller variety of goods than the popular Shilin, but Hisashi still managed to find a bag that he fancies and bought it after some haggling for NTD 10 off (largely at my pathetic efforts and Jasmine's).

I had spent about a week in Taipei, and realized that Taiwanese celebrities indeed rake big bucks in by their endorsements in various products, ranging from accessories to beverages. To date, I have seen Jacky Wu（吴宗宪）, Mike He（贺军翔）, Rainie Yang（杨丞琳) , Luo Zhi Xiang(罗志祥）, Jay Chou（周杰伦）, Jolin Tsai（蔡依林）, Wang Leehom（王力宏） and others in either commercial ads on TV or posters hung in stores and outlets. Here's Jacky Wu in some of the photographs displayed in shops and stalls:

Globalization and commercial interests in capitalism. What else is involved?

3 September 2006: Books, Heights and Rain

Francoise, Hisashi and I went to the Taipei City Hall vicinity, with the frail hope of spotting the charismatic Chairman-Mayor Ma Ying-jeou. Although I had seen him before (and shaken his hands once), I would still appreciate it if I can see him again. Obviously we failed to, and ended up in Taiwan's biggest bookshop--the Eslite（诚品） flagship store.

The bookstore is a building of about six stories high (I think). It houses a sizeable collection of books, ranging from serious academic references to entertainment guides in Chinese, English and Japanese. Apart from books, the store sells a variety of products such as apparel, cds, and souvenirs. It is certainly much larger in scale than both Borders and Kinokuniya combined.

Light drizzle came, and we walked to Taipei 101 in the rain. We all know that Taipei 101 is the tallest building in the world, but few might have realized that it has the world's fastest lift (made by Toshiba) to its reputation as well. We were taken to the observatory located on the 89th storey of the tower, and gained a paranomic night view of Taipei's skyline. Indeed, the experience was worthy of the NTD 320 that we had paid for each admission. We were surprised to see Bingxun and Lulan(our Korean friend) at the tower right before we left the observatory, and Rainie Yang's hit Ambiguous rang in my ears there and then.

We had a memorable night. Sweet dreams to everybody, wherever you are now!

2 September 2006: Gold Ecological Park

We went to the Jinguashih settlements in Jioufen. Unknown to many, precious metals used to be mined in Taiwan, and these metals include gold, silver, copper, iron and tin. Taiwan's former masters, the Japanese, had established mining settlements in the northern region to exploit the godsend resources. Notice the Japanese-style Crown Prince Residence in the backdrop. However, the local mining industry soon came to a gradual decline, and we can only explore a former mining culture through exhibits and ruins. It's a pity that I can't bag some gold back at present, but I promise to treat everyone I know to fried noodles at hawker centres if I ever strike it big here.

After tours in the exhibition halls and an expensive lunch (notice the irony between gaining and losing money) at a mediocre restaurant, we took off to a taxing climb up the mountains. We chose a mountain of significance, known as Teapot Mountain, and spent hours dodging ahead despite accumulated short breaths and aching muscles. It proved to be very much worth the effort. We were all captivated by the paranoma of the sky above, and I will appreciate it if I can really enjoy that paranoma as a daily setting for part of my life.

Anyway, I spent a great deal of the day interacting with my newfound Japanese friends, Hisashi and Maiko, and have rekindled my interest in the Japanese Language after almost a decade of losing touch with it (I used to study Japanese as a Third Language in MOELC in my secondary school days but fared terribly in it). I had learnt many Japanese phrases and words from them, and hopefully I can communicate with them effectively in Japanese by the end of my SEP. An elusive dream, perhaps?!

We descended at dusk and took a long bus ride back to Taipei, where we had a late dinner at about ten in the evening. Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

1 September 2006: Picturesque Jioufen!

I woke up much earlier than I usually do to catch a train to Ruifang（瑞芳）, and from there departed for our eventual destination of Jioufen（九份）. Jioufen lies in the outskirts of Taipei and is located near Keelung（基隆）, and it took us approximately two hours to reach there.

We stayed in a family-owned-and-managed hostel（民宿）, and had enjoyed great hospitality from the hosts. That is, we derived excellent service at really cheap rates. It had cost us NTD 500 for a night of lodging there, and I deem it a bargain to die for!

Soon after checking in, we roamed the bustling streets to scout for exotic food and souvenirs. We combed the place to find ourselves munching cuttlefish balls, smelly beancurd, taro balls and yam snacks. As for souvenirs, all shops sell basically the same touristy stuff and they didn't really appeal to me. A group of us then decided to spend our cash on tea and dinner instead at a restaurant that offers superb ambience and magnificent view of the rustic landscape of Jioufen, and we found it!

Our group is a cosmopolitan one, in USP spirit and fashion. We have Belgians, Japanese, Koreans, Taiwanese and Singaporeans. We remained in the restaurant till dark, and the view from the balcony where we were sitting at was simply breathtaking. As the sun set below the horizon, so had the chicken rice and lavender milk tea in the same motion to my stomach.

The wonderful day came to an end with playing cards and some booze, and we slept to gear ourselves up for yet another exciting day ahead.

31 August 2006: Keeping in touch with friends

I woke up late in the morning, so instead of the initial plan of having breakfast with my fellow SEP pals Jasmine and Mu'en, we settled on brunch at a nearby pasta restaurant. The servings in Taiwan are generally larger than what we get in Singapore, so I always experience something known as "food-drunk" after the heavy meals. By "food-drunk", I refer to the process of blood concentrating near the stomach region of the body after ingestion and as a result of this mad flow into the abdomen a person kinda feels drowsy in the brains. I feel it good to take a nap after lunch, but I never did. Instead, I went back to the laptop to complete my essays and stay in touch with my friends via msn, and many of these friends are from Hong Kong, a wonderful place that I went to for the recent 2006 Lee Shiu Summer Programme.

It doesn't take Thomas Friedman's The World Is Flat to convince me into liking globalization. Well, at least some aspects of it. To spare ourselves the rhetoric I would just say that it keeps friends from all over the world connected to one another. I feel happy that I can chat with my friends from Hong Kong online. It's delightful to know that they have been getting on well with their lives, and I sincerely wish them all the best in the coming semester ahead.

The above photo shows me and my dear friend Paul Chan from Hong Kong, in one of the ceremonies held in the Lee Shiu Summer Programme mentioned earlier. I hosted the Opening Ceremony then and I made a blooper out of it, thanks to my edgy nerves at that point of time. Being an Emcee in the presence of a Minister of State has never been my cup of tea. I hope that as time progresses, my skills at public speaking and presentation will gradually improve.

Anyway, I went out with Francoise and Jasmine for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant in the neighbourhood. Delectable beef noodles! Oh, Francoise is a nice lady from Belgium, and she always wants us to communicate with her in Mandarin. We will keep that in mind!

And before I end, do allow me to say a very happy birthday to Mr. Wang Dingguo! Thanks for the call of well wishes before I leave for Taiwan! And a Happy Teachers' Day to all educators in Singapore, though I will be saying that to myself in a few years' time!

30 August 2006: A Day of Relative Inactivity

Oh yes, I had forgotten in my previous post to thank Marc, Raymond, and Chee Ming for taking the time and effort off early in the wee hours of Sunday morning to see me off at the airport. I actually didn't expect anyone at the airport prior to this, since I had kept my departure at low profile and Tipin even chided me over the phone right before I left for not informing my dear friends about my impending trip. Sorry guys, but it's only for five months, so please take care and feel free to tell me if you need anything from Taiwan, say limited editions and collectibles.

Today, 30 August, has been cosy and quiet. I bought a Starbucks tumbler after lunch, and like any other tumbler across the world, it is unique to the city of purchase. Thanks to Daniel Chua for this great suggestion years ago. Sounds like those Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts, isn't it? I think that with the purchase, I still fall in the league of people who need to depend on physical mementoes or souvenirs for fond memories of their past tracks in life. No offence to anyone, but I aim to go beyond the material and seek to keep the best memories only in the heart, without the need to infer from any source. I mean, if you require photographs and the like to remember an event or incident, then it may not be that enduring or steadfast after all, isn't it?

Oh here's to mention that my volunteer a.k.a. buddy is Connie Lin, who is a kind and nice lady majoring in Agriculture in the National Taiwan University. Along with her are two friends, Zhang Gang and Tuo Ping who have been assisting us with the nitty-gritties ever since we came in the weekend. Here's thanks to all three all them! I have also known David who studies Agricultural Chemistry in the University, and his birthday falls on 15 December. I plan to play possum by either making a quick leave for somewhere or reducing my dosage of gingko nuts on that day in order to save some cash for my pending trips. But in all seriousness, he's a very nice chap and I enjoy talking to him. My neck aches when doing so, because I'm a pygmy when it comes to facing this 1.8m tall guy.

David (also known as Kang Rong) and his friend Bing Xun, as well as Tuo Ping brought us to a steamboat buffet and we gorged ourselves with the goodies served there. Kinda Singaporean style, I would say. Dead beat now, as I'm typing this in early morning and the internet had been down until now. Thanks again to saviour-of-the-day David who helped me gain access once more.

Early Days in Taipei

I went to Ximending（西门町）today, and bagged nothing from my shopping experience there. It has been unproductive for the past day, so I decide that before heading for bed, I had better set my blog up as a fulfilment of a self-promise when I embark on my SEP to Taiwan. Here it is, the start of records of my SEP experience in Taiwan.

I arrived in Taipei in the afternoon of 27 August, and three kind Taiwanese students from the National Taiwan University picked us up at the Chiang Kai Shek International Airport. They drove us to the dormitory, and after we had dropped our luggage there, ferried us to the local Carrefour hypermarket in the vicinity.

The Carrefour is humongous. I purchased bed linen, mattress, blanket, pillow, and other necessities and all these have cost me a hefty NTD 3000+. Looks like I have to settle on cheap air tickets to my preferred destinations from Taiwan.

I went back to the dormitory and made friends with my Austrian roommate, Marcus. For a split second, I thought he's gonna speak German to me but it turned out that he can converse well in English. If linguistics have not posed a problem, the living conditions in my room surely do. I won't deem them appalling, but I spent a good two days srubbing and cleaning until my fingers went all wrinkled. I think I had not done so much housework before this. Despite these efforts, ants still come crawling in from the windows. I continued my efforts at keeping the room clean, till Marcus made a remark that I'm a Singaporean who's always kept himself busy all the time. I can't help it, I guess, though I'm not exactly a hygiene freak.

The second day, 28 August, saw me settling my accomodation with the administration in the university. I had also bought a bicycle for convenience in the campus. Here's thanks to Raymond Kwan who had taught me the now-crucial skills of cycling early this year. I still have difficulties make swerves and acute turns, but I hope that things will work out fine without too many falls on my part. After all, the mosquitoes have reinforced the ants to terrorize me at nights, and my legs are now covered with bites that glow on my fair complexion. Nevertheless, I had garnered enough spirit in the evening to buy a Levi's buttoned shirt. My first and only merchandise in Taiwan, at least for the time being.

Anyway, footages or photographs will be uploaded soon. This blog shall serve as my personal diary on my SEP experience in Taiwan, and as a check on my English proficiency and standard, lest it deterioates during my stay here.