Here's some "crazy" stuff happening in the world of science.
It's all MIND BLOWING fun!!!!!! Wa~Cha!!!!!
Our domination of the insect world continues:
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22039/?a=f
Excellent article on the future of robotic warfare, and questions which are not being asked:
http://harpers.org/archive/2009/01/hbc-90004275
Excellent article about the changing nature of the India - Pakistan / Pakistan - India conflict with great quotes like: "The India-Pakistan nuclear stand-off is stalemated to Pakistan’s advantage, in that they can launch (or allow) terror attacks such as the November 2008 one on Mumbai and India can do essentially nothing in response. The unmistakable smugness of the former Pakistani diplomat made this evident. However, this situation will not last forever."
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1292/1
and this weeks brain quaking mind blower:
evidence that we may actually be existing inside a hologram:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126911.300-our-world-may-be-a-giant-hologram.html
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Tai-won and back again
Well, I've been back for a week, the house is back in order, somewhat, and it's time to fill you all in.
Before we go, I want you to know that I'm purposely putting in a lot of spelling mistakes. I have future travel plans, and I don't want to spoil my chances for a tourist visa if I write something too nice about a politically sensitive topic. Paranoid you say? Perhaps, but when you have over a billion souls at your disposal and an economy slowing down, it's not too hard to find the money to pay someone a dollar a day, (literally, one US dollar for 24 hours of labour), to sit and surf the net looking for keywords.
Tai - won was great. Absolutely fabulous. Chinese New Year was awesome, and it's something anyone reading this should see for themselves. The winter weather was excellent. Many people seemed to think that it would be cold. When we left Seoul, the average noon temperature was about -2, and -15 at night. Tie- pay at the end of January was +20 at noon, and maybe +15 at night. By the time we got to the southern beaches at Ken ti ng, it was +28 and beyond. Lovely!
Due to the hectic packing of our apartment before we left for vacation, neither of us had time to do any language prep. All my books on travelling Asia were already packed, and the airport had no lonely planets, tour books, or anything on our destination. Eyes and ears open would be our only resources, plus whatever we could muster from our stressed out, overwrought souls.
Friday January 23
Flight from Seoul to Tie pa y on China airlines.
A fine airline, keen on recycling it's seats from some forgotten 1970's airline. Shelley was moderately comfortable, but my safety belt didn't come past my hips after I squeezed myself into the seat. I'm really not THAT big. Personally, I was more concerned with the frayed seat in front of me, well on it's way to freedom. I will give them this, they did deliver a decent vegetarian meal for Shelley.
Landing at the airport, we experienced our first culture shock: politeness.
After living in Korea for so long, we're quite used to people bumping into us. Actually, in Korea, we're used to people bumping into you, then grinding in an elbow so that they can edge ahead of you. So there we are, waiting for our luggage, and someone bumps me, and automatically apologizes in Chinese, then in English. Shocked and flabbargasted, we acquired our bags and made our way outside.
The sky was grey with clouds, and all the locals were wearing parka's and winter jackets. It was windy, and had a promise of rain, though it never got up the courage to do more than sprinkle. For me, it was +18 at least and I was ready to strip down to my T-shirt. We were directed into a taxi by a kindly gentlemen, (couldn't see a bus stop anywhere near), and we told him the name of our hotel.
He didn't know it.
We showed him the address, unfortunately written only in English, which I tried to read for him, but he still didn't get it.
At this point, in Korea, a taxi driver would stop the cab, and proceed to yell, whine, bitch and complain about foreigners not knowing anything and why we were wasting his time, so we gave him some money and hopped out of his cab and headed back towards the airport doors to try again. However, this wasn't Korea, and he pulled his cab over, and followed us to the doorman, and got the door man to read the hotel address for him, as he could read a little English.
There was no yelling, screaming, recrimination, hoopla, drama, or whining. For the first time in ages, it was just a taxi driver doing his job. Culture shock two. At this point, I knew I desperately needed a gin and tonic. In all my travels over the years, I've found that regardless of where you go, within the first hour of landing, sitting down and having a gin and tonic really, really helps with both climitization and culturization. Some people say beer is the way to go, but I prefer to use beer later, to get a handle on the local currency. A beer is a beer, and is roughly paid for the same way.
It turns out that the Landis was formerly the Ritz, which the driver learned when he pulled up. We all had a good laugh, Shelley and I checked in, we were given the location of the bar, and proceeded to relax.
Our two nights we had decided to splash down at the Landis hotel in downtown Tie- pay. http://taipei.landishotelsresorts.com/ 5Star for two nights was a bit pricey, but I promised someone a spa, and since we were splitting the cost, it wasn't too bad. Hotel service and decor was awesome, truly 5 star, but the spa didn't cut it and was not worth the cost. I've had better for much cheaper elsewhere. Also, the sauna and whirlpool were unavailable. Unavailable facilities does not get you a 5star price rating in my book. While this hotel was lovely, especially Rocco and Chu Zhi, the daytime doormen, it was not the best place we stayed at. That would come later.
Saturday January 24th
The breakfast buffet at the Landis filled us, we proceeded to the spa, followed by some RnR. That evening we set out on a mission to find a vegetarian restaurant. After two years in Korea, a country where when you tell people that you don't eat meat they answer with, "Uhh? Huh? Wha?????", Shelley was most interested in finding an actual vegetarian restaurant. This is her after seeing the menu:
Now that's happy. Here's some menu shots:
And the food was absolutely fabulous.
Above are the remains of the deep fried eggplant. Sorry we didn't get a picture before we totally devoured this dish, it smelt and tasted so good!
Above is a skillet of vegetarian "steak", and it was absolutely fabulous.
above is a picture of the vegetarian "fried chicken". Made from soy, it had an outer crust with the exact same texture as fried chicken and an inner "meatiness" that was the same as white chicken breast. The sauce was absolutely gorgeous. As you can see, we devoured this one too.
Sunday January 25
Checked out of the Landis and headed straight to the HSR train station. Despite warnings that we would face tremendous crowds of people travelling during the holiday, we decided to brave it, and barrel our way to the beaches of the south. We arrived at the station, and found it moderately empty. The HSR got us from the capital to the southern end of the Island in about an hour and a half. Average speed was 299 kph but it felt like we were doing 60, it was that smooth. After that came a few hours on a bus that dropped us off in Kenting, where we stayed for nine days.
Nine days you say? Oh yeah.
We rented a room above the strip and enjoyed nightly street fairs and fireworks. A great place to spend Chinese New Year. It never rained for more than 20 minutes. An incredible place to spend the end or January/beginning of February.
Traveling back to Tie Pay on our way out we followed the same path and arrived back in the capital to, unfortunately, the same grey skies as when we arrived. The weather did not dampen our spirits, however, as we stayed here:
"the grand hotel."
Don't let the name fool you, this hotel was nothing short of incredible. Although it is only rated as 4star, and prices are quite reasonable, the interior and the service was insane. Fabulous sauna facilities, (although segregated by sex), immense lobby, massive brunch buffet, impressive staff. It's located on a small mountain near one of the largest night markets. To have explored this hotel completely would have taken a day.
What hit us first about this place was the size:
(above is you know who in the lobby)
with hallways in which we wondered if we would be attacked by either a) hordes of screaming ninjas or b) an axe wielding Jack Nicholson.
There's a lot of pressure for me to get this post out, I haven't finished, and I'm busy as hell right now, so I'm going to post this, incomplete as it is, and hope that I have time soon to finish the rest. Trust me, there's much more to come.
Before we go, I want you to know that I'm purposely putting in a lot of spelling mistakes. I have future travel plans, and I don't want to spoil my chances for a tourist visa if I write something too nice about a politically sensitive topic. Paranoid you say? Perhaps, but when you have over a billion souls at your disposal and an economy slowing down, it's not too hard to find the money to pay someone a dollar a day, (literally, one US dollar for 24 hours of labour), to sit and surf the net looking for keywords.
Tai - won was great. Absolutely fabulous. Chinese New Year was awesome, and it's something anyone reading this should see for themselves. The winter weather was excellent. Many people seemed to think that it would be cold. When we left Seoul, the average noon temperature was about -2, and -15 at night. Tie- pay at the end of January was +20 at noon, and maybe +15 at night. By the time we got to the southern beaches at Ken ti ng, it was +28 and beyond. Lovely!
Due to the hectic packing of our apartment before we left for vacation, neither of us had time to do any language prep. All my books on travelling Asia were already packed, and the airport had no lonely planets, tour books, or anything on our destination. Eyes and ears open would be our only resources, plus whatever we could muster from our stressed out, overwrought souls.
Friday January 23
Flight from Seoul to Tie pa y on China airlines.
A fine airline, keen on recycling it's seats from some forgotten 1970's airline. Shelley was moderately comfortable, but my safety belt didn't come past my hips after I squeezed myself into the seat. I'm really not THAT big. Personally, I was more concerned with the frayed seat in front of me, well on it's way to freedom. I will give them this, they did deliver a decent vegetarian meal for Shelley.
Landing at the airport, we experienced our first culture shock: politeness.
After living in Korea for so long, we're quite used to people bumping into us. Actually, in Korea, we're used to people bumping into you, then grinding in an elbow so that they can edge ahead of you. So there we are, waiting for our luggage, and someone bumps me, and automatically apologizes in Chinese, then in English. Shocked and flabbargasted, we acquired our bags and made our way outside.
The sky was grey with clouds, and all the locals were wearing parka's and winter jackets. It was windy, and had a promise of rain, though it never got up the courage to do more than sprinkle. For me, it was +18 at least and I was ready to strip down to my T-shirt. We were directed into a taxi by a kindly gentlemen, (couldn't see a bus stop anywhere near), and we told him the name of our hotel.
He didn't know it.
We showed him the address, unfortunately written only in English, which I tried to read for him, but he still didn't get it.
At this point, in Korea, a taxi driver would stop the cab, and proceed to yell, whine, bitch and complain about foreigners not knowing anything and why we were wasting his time, so we gave him some money and hopped out of his cab and headed back towards the airport doors to try again. However, this wasn't Korea, and he pulled his cab over, and followed us to the doorman, and got the door man to read the hotel address for him, as he could read a little English.
There was no yelling, screaming, recrimination, hoopla, drama, or whining. For the first time in ages, it was just a taxi driver doing his job. Culture shock two. At this point, I knew I desperately needed a gin and tonic. In all my travels over the years, I've found that regardless of where you go, within the first hour of landing, sitting down and having a gin and tonic really, really helps with both climitization and culturization. Some people say beer is the way to go, but I prefer to use beer later, to get a handle on the local currency. A beer is a beer, and is roughly paid for the same way.
It turns out that the Landis was formerly the Ritz, which the driver learned when he pulled up. We all had a good laugh, Shelley and I checked in, we were given the location of the bar, and proceeded to relax.
Our two nights we had decided to splash down at the Landis hotel in downtown Tie- pay. http://taipei.landishotelsresorts.com/ 5Star for two nights was a bit pricey, but I promised someone a spa, and since we were splitting the cost, it wasn't too bad. Hotel service and decor was awesome, truly 5 star, but the spa didn't cut it and was not worth the cost. I've had better for much cheaper elsewhere. Also, the sauna and whirlpool were unavailable. Unavailable facilities does not get you a 5star price rating in my book. While this hotel was lovely, especially Rocco and Chu Zhi, the daytime doormen, it was not the best place we stayed at. That would come later.
Saturday January 24th
The breakfast buffet at the Landis filled us, we proceeded to the spa, followed by some RnR. That evening we set out on a mission to find a vegetarian restaurant. After two years in Korea, a country where when you tell people that you don't eat meat they answer with, "Uhh? Huh? Wha?????", Shelley was most interested in finding an actual vegetarian restaurant. This is her after seeing the menu:
Now that's happy. Here's some menu shots:
And the food was absolutely fabulous.
Above are the remains of the deep fried eggplant. Sorry we didn't get a picture before we totally devoured this dish, it smelt and tasted so good!
Above is a skillet of vegetarian "steak", and it was absolutely fabulous.
above is a picture of the vegetarian "fried chicken". Made from soy, it had an outer crust with the exact same texture as fried chicken and an inner "meatiness" that was the same as white chicken breast. The sauce was absolutely gorgeous. As you can see, we devoured this one too.Sunday January 25
Checked out of the Landis and headed straight to the HSR train station. Despite warnings that we would face tremendous crowds of people travelling during the holiday, we decided to brave it, and barrel our way to the beaches of the south. We arrived at the station, and found it moderately empty. The HSR got us from the capital to the southern end of the Island in about an hour and a half. Average speed was 299 kph but it felt like we were doing 60, it was that smooth. After that came a few hours on a bus that dropped us off in Kenting, where we stayed for nine days.
Nine days you say? Oh yeah.
We rented a room above the strip and enjoyed nightly street fairs and fireworks. A great place to spend Chinese New Year. It never rained for more than 20 minutes. An incredible place to spend the end or January/beginning of February.
Traveling back to Tie Pay on our way out we followed the same path and arrived back in the capital to, unfortunately, the same grey skies as when we arrived. The weather did not dampen our spirits, however, as we stayed here:
"the grand hotel."Don't let the name fool you, this hotel was nothing short of incredible. Although it is only rated as 4star, and prices are quite reasonable, the interior and the service was insane. Fabulous sauna facilities, (although segregated by sex), immense lobby, massive brunch buffet, impressive staff. It's located on a small mountain near one of the largest night markets. To have explored this hotel completely would have taken a day.
What hit us first about this place was the size:
(above is you know who in the lobby)
with hallways in which we wondered if we would be attacked by either a) hordes of screaming ninjas or b) an axe wielding Jack Nicholson.There's a lot of pressure for me to get this post out, I haven't finished, and I'm busy as hell right now, so I'm going to post this, incomplete as it is, and hope that I have time soon to finish the rest. Trust me, there's much more to come.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
quick note
Just a quick note to let everyone know that Shelley and I made it back safe and sound to South Korea.
All is well and fine, so far. We have spent a full day unpacking all out boxes.
The bathroom has been refinished, as well as the kitchen, more to come on this.
Internet is intermittent here as I am busy re-connecting cables and computers and oh man it's gonna be a while as I'm stuck looking for ONE little power cable that's hiding somewhere, in all this mess..... grr.
Rock N' Roll!!!!
All is well and fine, so far. We have spent a full day unpacking all out boxes.
The bathroom has been refinished, as well as the kitchen, more to come on this.
Internet is intermittent here as I am busy re-connecting cables and computers and oh man it's gonna be a while as I'm stuck looking for ONE little power cable that's hiding somewhere, in all this mess..... grr.
Rock N' Roll!!!!
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