Hey guys, greetings from beautiful Taipei, Taiwan! Arrived Sat. night at the hotel (10 a.m. Sat. morning your time) after 26 hours of being awake (left MSP at 2:45 p.m. Friday afternoon)...
13 Hour flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo, a couple of hours between flights, then another flight of 4 hours to Taipei. Luckily the 1st hotel is right by the airport, so I was ready to crash when I got there. Although... I did wake up 3 hours after going to bed because my body said it was 2 p.m., not 3 a.m.!
I'm taking a bullet train from Taipei (north end of the island) to Tainan (south end of the island) later this morning. It's supposed to take 1.5 hours, so not bad to cover a lot of ground.
I'm meeting with suppliers in Taiwan Mon./Tues., then I go to Malaysia for 3 days, then into China until Thursday of next week.
I'll try to post some pics when I get a chance as the trip develops.
The first pics are kind of a head scratcher. I'm in a very nice hotel, and the glass in the bathroom has a switch that takes it from normally frosted to clear. The first pic is 'before' and the second pic is 'after'. I guess that's for those folks that rent the room by the hour?
There are quite a few hotels and clubs out there that have that smoked privacy effect type glass. Its been around for years actually. First time I seen it was during my drinking days at a night club in Downtown Minneapolis.
Lost in the 60s said
Oct 22, 2011
Seems the glass goes clear so you can watch the pole dancer from the "workbench".
SShink said
Oct 22, 2011
I'm watching the world series now on espn live. Kind of weird being 6500 miles from home and hearing it in Mandarin...
SShink said
Oct 23, 2011
After taking the bullet train (184 mph!) to Tainan, my host took me around the city and we had some 'local' lunch, checked out some temples, and a cool fort that was built by the Dutch Trading Co. in the mid 1600's.
Pic 1 is the 'local' lunch where the cook sat inside the building and cooked everything right there on the spot. Our version of a short order cook. Interesting that the vent for the stove went right into the room...
Pice 2 is typical scooter parking in Taiwan. There are scooters everywhere!
Pic 3 are hand painted movie posters for movies being shown at the theater nearby. Do you recognize the actors? Angelina J. and Jim Carrey...
Pic 4 is the 'outer' part of a temple with a courtyard in between and then the temple with the paticular god is inside. Taoism has a god for everything from an education god to one of water.
Pic 5 are some figures from their children's stories.
Pic 6 is a confused asian building that is a catholic church.
Monday morning view from my hotel room. A little congested and hazy...
Woke up at 3 a.m. local time after going to bed at 8 p.m. last night. Jet lag was kicking my butt even though I was on the move all day and got plenty of sun to get that vitamin D!
Just had a good western breakfast (non-Asian food) at the hotel this morning, so I'm good to go most of the day in case I get food that doesn't taste so good later...
Looks like your having a good time. Don't drink anything except bottled beer.
Chris R said
Oct 24, 2011
Is the food that bad there?
SShink said
Oct 24, 2011
Chris R wrote:
Is the food that bad there?
Two rules: 1.) ONLY drink bottled water and that includes brushing your teeth and 2.) DON'T eat the food from the street vendors.
Last year I travelled with an engineer that ate the street food, and 5 days in the hotel room and 20 pounds later, he was well enough to get on the plane and come home...
Lost in the 60s said
Oct 24, 2011
SShink wrote:
Chris R wrote:
Is the food that bad there?
Two rules: 1.) ONLY drink bottled water and that includes brushing your teeth and 2.) DON'T eat the food from the street vendors.
Last year I travelled with an engineer that ate the street food, and 5 days in the hotel room and 20 pounds later, he was well enough to get on the plane and come home...
And don't bring the Asian Bird Flu home with you...
SShink said
Oct 25, 2011
Tuesday night Taiwan time:
Finally a post that will interest the car guy in all of us! I met with a supplier that makes door lockset parts for Schlage (a division of Ingersoll Rand that I work for), and they also make Ford and Harley Davidson approved parts!
As soon as I walked in their office I saw a mid 60's Mustang grill emblem sitting on one of the desks and thought hmmmm... this could be a fun visit!
We all knock overseas resotoration parts, but these were nice. It was clear they weren't knockoffs since they had to be approved by Ford and HD before they were authorized to make them.
I've attached pics of a Ford pickup emblem, hood emblem, Mustang fender letters, and Caroll Shelby wheel center cap, Bronco emblems, and a Camaro SS 350 gas cap (Sorry Mitch, they wouldn't let me keep it!).
The parts are either zinc or aluminum die cast and then chromed. And yes, there were a bunch of Asian ladies sitting around a table deburring and polishing them!
It was clear this company was about making quality parts and not skipping corners. Nice to see for aftermarket restoration parts. I showed them a pic or two of the Chevelle, and told them they should get into making parts for us!
Not to worry on the gas cap. My car was built in Feb '67 after the introduction of the 396. Chev dropped the 350 from the caps and made them all SS so they would work with both engines.
SShink said
Oct 29, 2011
Sun. A.M. Fuzhou, China time.
Happy to leave Malaysia. Not somewhere I want to go back soon. We finished our meetings a little early, so I was taken to the downtown area of Kuala Lumpur. They took me to a street market and as soon as I got out of the car, they said 'watch your wallet'. I didn't have any local money, and didn't feel like hagling with street vendors, so I did a quick Clark Griswold family vacation Grand Canyon look around, and said 'let's go'.
We did see the twin towers of Kuala Lumpur which used to be the tallest buildings in the world until Taipei 101 was built. Pretty cool, but another Clark Griswold moment.
Got into China Friday after spending most of the day on planes and in the Hong Kong air port. Saw a supplier yesterday, then they took me to a mountain top on cable cars. I tried not to look at the mechanicals of that system as I was a couple hundred feet off the ground thinking why did I agree to do this...
I did have fun on the supplier visit as they make pistons everything from small single engines for Husqvarna to big diesel engine pistons. They also make one and two piece con rods.
I move on to Shanghai today, which will be better as they are more 'civilized' there than the rural area I'm in. There's only 8 Million people in this 'rural' area, and 27 Million in Shanghai! I was like a freak show yesterday walking around the mountain state parkstaring at me since they rarely see westerners. I did have some kids come up and try to speak a little English with me, which was pretty cool.
Still eating things I normally wouldn't... but I did get some Pizza Hut pizza in Malaysia (not the same as ours...) and Popeye's chicken in the Hong Kong airport. That was a treat!
I'll be with my company's team in Shangha Mon-Wed., so that should go pretty good and then I get to fly home!
Yup. And it's fun to see asia from your pics. Not a place I ever care to visit in person.
SShink said
Nov 2, 2011
Thur. morning Shanghai time 6:50 a.m.:
Sitting in the Shanghai airport waiting for my first leg home!
Man am I ready!!! Got traveller's flu on Tuesday (I think it was from lunch on Monday that had some room temperature chicken...), so I'm pounding the prescription imodium hoping for no issues on the flights back. I'll be tearing down the lavatory door if anyone gets in my way!
Back to the good ole' USA, and I don't plan on leaving for awhile! No more loud, smoking, pushy, honking drivers, staring people!
Don't get me wrong, there are some good people over here, but there's no place like home... there's no place like home... there's no place like ho....
I hope you wore your red shoes and clicked the heels 3 times while you said that. Hope your next post is from US soil.
gearlube said
Nov 2, 2011
I am with ya. I like you have been all over the world and there is nothing like the good old USA. When I was in India last year the guys took me to a restaurant and they picked all the food. For the first course they sat the plate in front of me. They said it was a fresh water crab...I was like this could be interesting and good I like crab. I looked down and the thing started walking sideways off my friggin plate!!! Needless to say I didn't eat that night. My team got a good laugh as I came out of my chair...
dashboard said
Nov 2, 2011
Ya, Stan get your tush home still some driving time left. Tom, I’ve also traveled the world. Sickest I’ve ever gotten was after eating BBQ monkey from a street vender in Panama, poor guy had been playing in the trees only an hour earlier.
If my dinner started to walk off my plate, I’d be out of there also.
Hey guys, greetings from beautiful Taipei, Taiwan! Arrived Sat. night at the hotel (10 a.m. Sat. morning your time) after 26 hours of being awake (left MSP at 2:45 p.m. Friday afternoon)...
13 Hour flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo, a couple of hours between flights, then another flight of 4 hours to Taipei. Luckily the 1st hotel is right by the airport, so I was ready to crash when I got there. Although... I did wake up 3 hours after going to bed because my body said it was 2 p.m., not 3 a.m.!
I'm taking a bullet train from Taipei (north end of the island) to Tainan (south end of the island) later this morning. It's supposed to take 1.5 hours, so not bad to cover a lot of ground.
I'm meeting with suppliers in Taiwan Mon./Tues., then I go to Malaysia for 3 days, then into China until Thursday of next week.
I'll try to post some pics when I get a chance as the trip develops.
The first pics are kind of a head scratcher. I'm in a very nice hotel, and the glass in the bathroom has a switch that takes it from normally frosted to clear. The first pic is 'before' and the second pic is 'after'. I guess that's for those folks that rent the room by the hour?
There are quite a few hotels and clubs out there that have that smoked privacy effect type glass. Its been around for years actually. First time I seen it was during my drinking days at a night club in Downtown Minneapolis.
Seems the glass goes clear so you can watch the pole dancer from the "workbench".
I'm watching the world series now on espn live. Kind of weird being 6500 miles from home and hearing it in Mandarin...
After taking the bullet train (184 mph!) to Tainan, my host took me around the city and we had some 'local' lunch, checked out some temples, and a cool fort that was built by the Dutch Trading Co. in the mid 1600's.
Pic 1 is the 'local' lunch where the cook sat inside the building and cooked everything right there on the spot. Our version of a short order cook. Interesting that the vent for the stove went right into the room...
Pice 2 is typical scooter parking in Taiwan. There are scooters everywhere!
Pic 3 are hand painted movie posters for movies being shown at the theater nearby. Do you recognize the actors? Angelina J. and Jim Carrey...
Pic 4 is the 'outer' part of a temple with a courtyard in between and then the temple with the paticular god is inside. Taoism has a god for everything from an education god to one of water.
Pic 5 are some figures from their children's stories.
Pic 6 is a confused asian building that is a catholic church.
Pic 7 is more scooters filling up a park...
Pic 8 are cannons at the fort
Monday morning view from my hotel room. A little congested and hazy...
Woke up at 3 a.m. local time after going to bed at 8 p.m. last night. Jet lag was kicking my butt even though I was on the move all day and got plenty of sun to get that vitamin D!
Just had a good western breakfast (non-Asian food) at the hotel this morning, so I'm good to go most of the day in case I get food that doesn't taste so good later...
Is the food that bad there?
Two rules: 1.) ONLY drink bottled water and that includes brushing your teeth and 2.) DON'T eat the food from the street vendors.
Last year I travelled with an engineer that ate the street food, and 5 days in the hotel room and 20 pounds later, he was well enough to get on the plane and come home...
Tuesday night Taiwan time:
Finally a post that will interest the car guy in all of us! I met with a supplier that makes door lockset parts for Schlage (a division of Ingersoll Rand that I work for), and they also make Ford and Harley Davidson approved parts!
As soon as I walked in their office I saw a mid 60's Mustang grill emblem sitting on one of the desks and thought hmmmm... this could be a fun visit!
We all knock overseas resotoration parts, but these were nice. It was clear they weren't knockoffs since they had to be approved by Ford and HD before they were authorized to make them.
I've attached pics of a Ford pickup emblem, hood emblem, Mustang fender letters, and Caroll Shelby wheel center cap, Bronco emblems, and a Camaro SS 350 gas cap (Sorry Mitch, they wouldn't let me keep it!).
The parts are either zinc or aluminum die cast and then chromed. And yes, there were a bunch of Asian ladies sitting around a table deburring and polishing them!
It was clear this company was about making quality parts and not skipping corners. Nice to see for aftermarket restoration parts. I showed them a pic or two of the Chevelle, and told them they should get into making parts for us!
Thursday morning Malaysia time:
Not impressed with Malaysia, things are very run down here... Did see a Lambo parked in front of my 'resort' hotel. Lol
I'ts hot and rains all the time here. Glad I'm only here 1 more night... then on to China which I hate to say it... is better than here.
Not to worry on the gas cap. My car was built in Feb '67 after the introduction of the 396. Chev dropped the 350 from the caps and made them all SS so they would work with both engines.
Sun. A.M. Fuzhou, China time.
Happy to leave Malaysia. Not somewhere I want to go back soon. We finished our meetings a little early, so I was taken to the downtown area of Kuala Lumpur. They took me to a street market and as soon as I got out of the car, they said 'watch your wallet'. I didn't have any local money, and didn't feel like hagling with street vendors, so I did a quick Clark Griswold family vacation Grand Canyon look around, and said 'let's go'.
We did see the twin towers of Kuala Lumpur which used to be the tallest buildings in the world until Taipei 101 was built. Pretty cool, but another Clark Griswold moment.
Got into China Friday after spending most of the day on planes and in the Hong Kong air port. Saw a supplier yesterday, then they took me to a mountain top on cable cars. I tried not to look at the mechanicals of that system as I was a couple hundred feet off the ground thinking why did I agree to do this...
I did have fun on the supplier visit as they make pistons everything from small single engines for Husqvarna to big diesel engine pistons. They also make one and two piece con rods.
I move on to Shanghai today, which will be better as they are more 'civilized' there than the rural area I'm in. There's only 8 Million people in this 'rural' area, and 27 Million in Shanghai! I was like a freak show yesterday walking around the mountain state parkstaring at me since they rarely see westerners. I did have some kids come up and try to speak a little English with me, which was pretty cool.
Still eating things I normally wouldn't... but I did get some Pizza Hut pizza in Malaysia (not the same as ours...) and Popeye's chicken in the Hong Kong airport. That was a treat!
I'll be with my company's team in Shangha Mon-Wed., so that should go pretty good and then I get to fly home!
Thur. morning Shanghai time 6:50 a.m.:
Sitting in the Shanghai airport waiting for my first leg home!
Man am I ready!!! Got traveller's flu on Tuesday (I think it was from lunch on Monday that had some room temperature chicken...), so I'm pounding the prescription imodium hoping for no issues on the flights back. I'll be tearing down the lavatory door if anyone gets in my way!
Back to the good ole' USA, and I don't plan on leaving for awhile! No more loud, smoking, pushy, honking drivers, staring people!
Don't get me wrong, there are some good people over here, but there's no place like home... there's no place like home... there's no place like ho....
I hope you wore your red shoes and clicked the heels 3 times while you said that. Hope your next post is from US soil.
If my dinner started to walk off my plate, I’d be out of there also.