Taiwan Life

Life and Business in Taiwan 101

Some Weekend Exercise: Don’t try this @ Home

Posted by

3

Somehow this weekend we ended up getting a lot of fresh air. On Saturday, we walked around the fringes of Zhuwei up mountain roads, along past farms, through a University campus, stopped for a nice meal, and took a subway train home! It’s kind of our monthly ritual these days…

Of course, our saunter in the woods was somewhat less demanding than this gentleman’s effors in the urban woods…

Anyway, let’s go… Those strolls … wow! They really tire you out!

100 2115

Let me take a rest now!

100 1809

You can guess the story on the front cover!

100 1814

A view of Taipei looking up the river early evening.

100 1369

Then on Sunday, we visited the North East Coastal Tourist Areas…

100 1795

This is very near a village called LaoMei in Sanchih/Jingshan area.

100 1317

As usual, Christine is setting the pace.

100 0926

I think she’s saying hurry up!

100 0930

And that’s it for Sunday!

These pictures were taken over a number of walks, and composited together as I stupidly forgot to take my camera! Though composited, they capture nicely the essence of our walks over the weekend!

Photo of the Day: Taipei 101

Posted by

Even in 2008, this building is still the tallest inhabited structure as I write this. And it’s phenomenal. This weekend would have been a great time to go up to the top as the haze factor is limited today allowing great photography, esp. if it involves skylines and mountains.

P1000858

Thanks to my Lumix camera, I found that the wide angle lens allowed me to capture the full height from where I was standing (just under the footbridge between the Grand Hyatt and the 101 Shopping Center).

Drive in Taiwan – if you DARE!

Posted by

2

Would you dare… if you saw this on the road?

I was just chatting to some new friends who live in the same building as we do. They just came to Taiwan a few months ago, and we were comparing how we did the driving tests (esp. the written paper!). In Taiwan, if you don’t bring an international driving license with you, if you are not from a small group of countries, to drive here you need to resit your test.

—
Check out more posts about blogging, tech and money from a blogger who DARES to live and drive in Taiwan… subscribe to the RSS feed or email newsletter. There’s a lot more in the Random Walk to Wealth on InvestorBlogger dot com.
——-

It’s quite fine to do this and not much of a problem if you already drive, and it’s available in a number of languages online! This is a great convenience to the hundreds of thousands of visitors and foreigners living here who need to take the test but can’t wait long enough to learn to read Chinese. Try it yourself!

The motorcycle test is similar but today I was watching the news when I saw this fascinating video taken on a small phone camera: watch then comment! It’s amazing. You have to watch the entire video of this woman driving her motorcycle at night… it’s freaking awesome… She did end up in hospital though!

This is just one example of the craziness on the roads of Taiwan! I just wish I had one of those new Flip Camera’s that John is blogging about:

The main reason the Flip is so popular is because it’s so inexpensive. The 2GB unit, which can record an hour of video at 640×480x30fps, can be had for less than $150. That makes the Flip pretty much an impulse purchase.

I’m sure I could get some excellent videos of drivers in Taiwan with it! Or at least my co-pilot could! My hands are superglued to the steering wheel most of the time!

Now, of course, if the rider had a Flip, she could make a blog of her own to highlihght some of her techniques and tips!