Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Taipei travel log - Part I


It's been a fun week, the MS Vista/DTM Fest was a good learnin exp, got to meet more cool guys, and got exposed more to TP. It had been a tightly packed schedule as I was roaming around town looking for stuff afterwork these few nites. Went to 2 night markets, my TW colleague showed me gov't buildings and youngsters town (like Shibuya Japan), and got acqainted to the subway :) Too bad I only called Ka late tonite (1:00am) after hitting the pubs. We couldgo bar-hopping, but he's on a flight to HK already. Anyways, some thoughts:
1) Presentation says it all: It's so important, girls are so much attractive if they clean up (!=makeup), there's some stores like Giordano-G2000 that sells clothes for 10% more just by hanging them up and having nicer store decors. Damn, I need to be careful not to overspend.
2) Realistic yet nice people: With a capitalistic society, people are more cautious and realistic. It's a bit ironic, but the people are nice once you get to know them though, and locals are very polite. In SH, locals bow and say nice stuff to u as u enter their shop, but frown upon you if you leave (i heard curses too!)... ha ha, but here, you don't see that here. People are nice even if you choose not to buy stuff.
3) Night market: The night market is a MUST go if you visit TP, it's what every big city should have; tents of food, trinkets, good looking ppl strolling around, and good deals that you can haggle for a better price. I went to two already and I'm longing for more! I was so full that i barely could move after :p
4) Clean food, fresh fruits: The food here is very clean!, along with lots of fresh fruits, good drinks. Today I had: Fire-dragonfruit, Kiwi-passion fruit mix, Mango today... so good.


5) Old buildings: Don't be surprised to see old buildings everywhere in a modern city. It's cuz the gov't is nice and don't just dismantle the building that belongs to ppl. China is different cuz if you buy a house, the house belongs to you, but the land is still the governments' so they can take it back within the contract time frame.
6) Nice system: Hey, asian ppl actually knows how to line up! I was amazed to see that there were lines drawn on the floor in the subway station, along with ppl leaning to the right on elevators letting people walk on the left. In China, you'll starve to death if you line up for food. Heh, no wonder Taiwan wants independence (my colleague was very hyped up about the topic and I somewhat understand why as I've been to the two largest city in Taiwan and China.. ho)
7) Salary: Just for comparison sake - for a starting engineer position (converted to CAD); annual salary - 24K in Taipei, 8k in Shanghai... but, the talent skill is stronger here in TP.
More details and pics to come as I continue exploring TW this weekend witha fully packed schedule! :)

5 comments:

Edmlee said...

Thanks for dropping by Faerie :) Ha ha, looking fwd to a more official Vista release! (I only got up to 5840 build)... lols

Doc to be: Henry said...

Really? Vista is so interesting?

24k in TP eh? I really need to start thinking about my future...

可可 said...

Sounds fun -
I kept telling you Ka is flying back Friday night, but guess you were too busy to pay enough attention :P

akaie said...

If fresh eng grad is making 8k or even 24k annually, how much does a non-professional make? Can't imagine how the locals survive there even living expenses may be lower.
Sound fun to visit TP with good foods and drinks. I haven't had the huge dragonfruit for so long since last time in Hong Kong.

Edmlee said...

Yeah, Taipei is quite fun. Gosh, it's such a difference with Shanghai now that I experienced another asian country.

Yeah, the wages are low... but the living standards are quite low too, if you know where to look. In SH, i eat lunch with the locals and it's around 8RMB (1.1 dollar) for a meal (3 dishes + rice + soup). With such a low price, of course it's not that good; but I would enjoy it much more if people learned how to line up so that I don't have to fight for food everyday. Geezes.