Ingenious way of being environmentally friendly

Last week, I went to 7-11 to buy dinner and they helped me microwave heat my noodles... then, the lady at the counter used this amazing blue thing!

Here it is before it's true purpose is revealed... a harmless blue piece of something...


actually....

It's a carrier made of paper-ish kind of material!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Just cut grooves of the appropriate length at appropriate spots and you get this amazing and ingenious creation!!!!

We should have this in Singapore, anything to reduce the amount of plastic bags we use....

Rats!

As much as Chinese New Year is over and we are officially in the year of the ox, some still are living in the past...

so yes! There are rats in the office! actually the rats are in the whole building... since we're right beside the MRT station, and since there's a whole lot of underground construction work going on at the main road in preparation for a new MRT line, the rats have been activated into action inside offices... and our office has not been spared! We have found rat droppings, rat pee, stashes of food bits, chewed up paper bits as evidence on the floor and on some desks... It's almost like they're taunting us!

so we had to call in the office management people... and here's what they did: put sticky boards in the ceiling, put food on the boards and hope that it catches one if not some of them...

Here they are in action, placing the boards up in the ceiling...

And this morning, they found 1 victim! (last week they caught 3 but I didn't get a photo of that).. Here's the unfortunate rat stuck to the board... it's quite small, just like the 3 from last week... my colleague says it's because they're young and inexperienced that they got caught... the bigger, older rats are smarter and know to avoid the traps...

Now this is something you don't usually see in Singapore for sure...

One Day Trip to Ping Xi (平溪)

Finally, I took a trip outside of Taipei City!

Place visited: Ping Xi (平溪) area
How we got there: Took a bus from Muzha MRT station, journey was about 40 mins and we alighted at Ping Xi itself...I would have done a chronological commentary but that would have been super long, so I decided to just cover some highlights :)

Train, railway tracks and tiny stations
We basically traveled along the whole railway line at Ping Xi, and it was an interesting experience to be walking on and along the tracks, hopping aside when the train came, alighting and boarding at tiny train stations, seeing the old, quaint train set against the backdrop of forests and rivers...

That's us after walking on the tracks through a tunnel... we were heading from waterfalls to the next station, since the waterfalls were between stations.

Nature everywhere and Waterfalls at Shih Fen
Ping Xi is really beautiful.. it's surrounded by mountains and the Kee Lung river runs through it... everywhere you turn you see nature and green - green trees and even the water looks green... definitely a refreshing changes from life in the city itself...

These 2 are shots from Spectacles Cave Waterfall (眼鏡洞瀑布). The biggest waterfall in the area is actually Shih Fen Waterfall (十分瀑布) but it has unfortunately been closed for a while due to an ongoing legal case between the government and the villagers or something.

Coal Mine Museum at Shih Fen
While most people know Ping Xi for the sky lantern festival, it is actually also famous for coal mining... no mines are in operation anymore today, and the Coal Mine Museum in Ping Xi is the only one in the entire Taiwan set up to commemorate the efforts of the many coal miners from the past... exciting part of the tour was when we got to ride in the coal carts from the entrance area to the museum itself... felt very authentic as we rattled and shook our way along the tracks... the tour guide was very engaging by telling stories of actual Taiwanese coal miners, some of whom still live in Shih Fen... through that, I think we all learnt a lot about the hardships of coal miners, without whom the economy then would not have been built up...
www.coalmine.com.tw

Sky Lantern and Sparkler fun at Chin Tong
We headed to Chin Tong for dinner and of course, sky lantern!


Many thanks to CCLC for organizing the trip and inviting!

Full album of adventures in Ping Xi are here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=221902&id=576355703&l=ceab0

My Welcome Party

My host LC hosted a welcome party for me and all I can say is, it was great!! I had sooo much fun!

The welcome party was held in a cosy little restaurant called 上帝的後花園 and it's located at 台北市大安區羅斯福路三段, which is near the National Taiwan University.

I had a great time meeting the members and the interns from Taiwan. It was especially amusing when some of the members said they remember me from the Summer National Conference 2007 that I chaired... I told everyone that I did not understand Chinese, so as to encourage them to speak English with me. Of course I revealed the truth on the last day of conference but since then, I'm sure I left an impression as "the Chair who lied"

There was also a very entertaining cross-talk performance (相聲）by 2 of the members (GREAT JOB!), an introduction by members about the various must-see spots in Taiwan, and of course, I delivered an introduction about Singapore, myself and AIESEC Singapore... it was really enjoyable doing the presentation, everyone was very participative :)

Here are photos from all the networking :)

What surprised and touched me was that they planned a bunch of presents for me as an official welcome thing... I got 3 sky lanterns (orange, yellow and red which each signify something in life that I don't remember), an AIESEC T-shirt and 2 sets of 3 drawers!! I think they saw my previous blog post about shelves and got me some... there was also a hand-made "Welcome to Taiwan" book containing post-it greetings by members! see how nice they are!!

More pictures will come once I re-organise my desk and officially install the shelves :)

Many many thanks to TPLC for a great evening!!!

Update from past 2 weekends

Here's what I've been up to the past 2 weekends...

8th Feb 2009
Lunch was with Tom and Bing-ge, who were delegates at Singapore NLDS 2006... Tasty hotpot buffet at Xi Men Ding, complete with free flow of Haagen Daz ice creamAfter that, I went for dinner with Sandra and her family (thanks Sandra for inviting!).. Her grandma came along and it was interesting because her grandma and mom say I can speak and understand more hokkien than Sandra and her siblings... hehe...

After dinner, Sandra and I headed to to Lantern Festival held at the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, in celebration of the 15th day of Chinese New Year... it was HUGE with lots of people and a lot of lanterns, even a stage for performances and games (including riddles)...

This came as a bit of a culture shock, because in Singapore, the same style lantern festivals happen BUT during the Mid-Autumn Festival instead... and all along I thought that chinese all around the world did the same (I seriously remember my primary school chinese textbook having a story about Mid-Autumn Festival and complete with illustrations of children playing with lanterns)...

Here's a video I took of the main display lantern lighting up...



Photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=220090&id=576355703&l=17587

14 Feb 2009
It's amusing that some buses actually wish people Happy Valentine's Day on their digital signboards... anyway, I had lunch with Elmo and Mino at a nice Japanese place, after which we headed to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall to visit the Andy Warhol Exhibition... Taiwan is the first stop the exhibition is making within Asia and since it was a Saturday, it was really packed... I wonder if there'll be so much attention if the exhibition is in Singapore...

I also finally met some of the other AIESEC interns, all of whom have been in Taiwan for at least 6 months already... unfortunately for me, they've already done their traveling around so I'm still on the lookout for travel buddy(ies).

this coming weekend will mainly feature my welcome party on Saturday (including an introduction of Singapore) and if the weather turns out ok, I just might make a trip to Danshui on Sunday...

After 1 week at work

So I have now officially finished 1 week of work... and since everyone is asking how is it, it's easier to post it here instead of repeating for every single person :)

in summary, I'm totally enjoying work. I like the company, the culture, the colleagues, and the opportunities presented in the tasks and assignments that I do. I do think there's a lot that I still need to learn and get used to such, things like business culture, dealing with people, finance and management terms in chinese and of course getting a better grasp of the industry and general business environment here in Taiwan... It's also interestig to see management concepts that we learnt in AIESEC being applied on a much bigger scale here, and I resolve to take some time to go through some of those concepts as I learnt it so that I can be sharper on my feet when seeing them in application at work...

Here are some photos of my office and desk area

building where my office is located, right beside Da-an MRT station

View from my desk (front view and window view)

We also had a BBQ gathering at my boss's weekend house, to celebrate the success of the 5th Anniversary event held last Friday... The house was in a villa area on a hill along the outskirts of Taipei county so it was very peaceful and nature-y... plus Sakura was in bloom so I got my first experience of Taiwan Sakura!

Here's the link to the BBQ photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=218537&id=576355703&l=7b4f8

Saving the Earth and Saving Money

I was a bit irked that my desk at home only has 1 drawer (which is quite shallow) and that there are no additional shelves provided... That meant that my desk is usually quite cluttered, since I can't put food stuffs into my cupboard...

So... I did a bit of improvisation and here's what my desk looks like:
Yes I used the box that my water boiler came in and made myself a shelf...

Here it is close-up... I didn't have any twine at home (not yet) so I used a rolled up plastic bag and threaded it through the edge for extra support...

Then I got random and decided to make something out of some extra card board left, and the cup holder I got from my drink during lunch... so... I made a handphone/stationery holder:
Also, my desktop dustbin is now stuck to the side of my fridge to free up space on the desk...

Yay for saving the earth and saving money... I just need to find a shop that sells twine and then I can do something for hanging/airing clothes...

Chilling

Nothing like just chilling with a cup of hot tea on a Saturday afternoon at the park...

Quirky bits of Taipei

Here's a list of things I've noticed since being here that are kind of quirky a.k.a. different from what we usually see in Singapore

1. My weather forecast predicts "sprinkles" on some of the coming days. Sprinkles being light rain and when I say light, I mean REAL light... If you say rain in Singapore, we think thunderstorm or cloudburst or shower with visible rain drops. Today, I walked around in sprinkle rain weather. It's pretty much a fine spray like the kind you get when spraying from a spray flask (or when you spray perfume... it's like a fine mist of TINY droplets)
2. The streets are pretty clean DESPITE there not being many dustbins around. I imagine Singapore is so clean BECAUSE we have sooo many dustbins everywhere.
3. Most eating stalls, whether restaurants or road-side stalls, provide free tissue paper for their customers. The "put a tissue packet to book a seat" act from Singapore will fail miserably here
4. People are encouraged to not throw their used toilet papers into the toilet bowls. There are dustbins provided within each cubicle for this purpose. Apparently some parts of the sewage system still isn't powerful enough to deal with toilet paper.
5. People here will rather stand than sit on the priority seats in the bus and trains.
   
6. Plastic bags cost money here. It's not that expensive but reinforces the whole "use sparingly" mindset. Singapore really needs to learn from Taiwan about this.
7. The garbage trucks here make rounds and play music to signal their arrival. People wait at designated spots at designated times to dispose of their rubbish (that they have sorted beforehand)
8. When taking the bus, you have to check a sign above the driver's seat that will tell you whether you pay for your bus fares when you get onto the bus, or when you get off the bus. Their easycard system only requires them to tap once, unlike the EZ link in Singapore where you tap twice.
9. People give way to cars here. At certain intersections where cars are allowed to turn from the smaller street into the road, they will not wait for the pedestrians to finish crossing. Unlike in Singapore where you will see vehicles waiting for all pedestrians to be gone before turning.
10. Coffee here is mainly found in convenience stalls or in Cafes/restaurants. I have yet to find the equivalent of a Singapore coffee shop where one can buy kopi at equivalent of SGD 80 cents.
    

Ok that's all I have noticed for now... more soon as I go along I am sure.

Group photos on Yang Ming Shan

As promised in the previous post, here are the group photos!

Night out on Yang Ming Shan with friends

It happened that last night, the Taiwan LCPs of 0506 were having a dinner reunion so Nick invited me along. And I'm very happy that I went!

I had met up with Nick and a friend of his earlier for dinner and he brought me to eat... Hainanese Chicken Rice! Yes and it's the same as what you get in Singapore! Especially the chilli... ummmmm I miss the chilli already... not all eating places here provide chilli and those that provide the sweet kind of chilli sauce. Nick says that kind of sauce is usually just bought from the supermarket. Anyway, the chicken rice stall is opened at the food court of Taipei 101 building and by a Singaporean as well. It costs NTD 150 (about SGD 7) for a chicken thigh set (with oyster sauce vegetables) but it's a huge portion.

So after that first dinner, we went to meet the other LCPs (Nick, Sandra, Eric, Elissa, Hugo and Marty) and headed to Yang Ming Shan for our second dinner! It's amazing! I'll let the photos speak for me.

This is what the restaurant looks like. They have an indoor section where the wooden hut is, the downstairs section is for BBQ meals.

On the left side of the wooden hut, it's the rest of the outdoor space. The tables closest to the fenced balcony are heart shaped and so, ideal for couples looking for a nice romantic spot to enjoy dinner. :)
There's a small protruding platform where you get an amazing view of Taipei at night. (click to enlarge image)

Because we were sitting outdoors to enjoy the scenary, it also meant we were in the cold (about 18 Degrees last night). So they have portable heaters. You can't really see the flames here cos of the lighting but they are there, and quite effective! Later the restaurant even provided blankets for us :)

The food is really good too and totally worth it for big groups! They ordered the set for 6 to 8 people, which comprises 6 bowls of rice, 6 dishes you can pick from a list of about 20 and a soup served with the stove so it stays boiling. All for about SGD 20 per person. Considering the location, the scenary, the ambience and all, I'll say that's a really decent price to pay.

The restaurant is called 草山夜未眠 and is a definite recommendation. Just make sure you have a car to get up to Yang Ming Shan. We took a group shot with the night scene as background but that's in Eric's camera so I'll wait for him to upload it :)

Getting to Know my Company

Today was the first day I stepped into my company. I'm not officially starting work yet (officially start next Monday on 9 Feb 09) , so it's more of a day to introduce myself and be introduced to the people working there, as well as to get a better understanding of my detailed job scope.

My company is Atelligent Global Consulting Corp. and it's located right next to Da An (大安）MRT station. That makes it 3 bus stops away from my place, and takes about 30 mins at max considering the time I take to walk from my apartment to the bus stop, to wait for the bus and to go up to the office. So it really is very convenient, and many people have suggested that I buy a bicycle to get to work (or the MRT station) and back.

The company is quite small, I met 6 of my colleagues today, including the CEO. Already I really enjoy the environment: very open, very cosy, no hierachy etc. Everyone's very welcoming and pleasantly surprised at my level of chinese. The previous intern they took was from Brazil and so I guess they had a bit lower expectations :)

Anyway I had a chat with the CEO and here's what I'm going to be working on

Economy / Industrial Studies
Reading assigned articles in management journals and in certain newspapers, summarizing the articles and translating into Chinese. If my boss is using some content for speech or publication, then I will help in the material preparation too.

Project Support
Attached to one of the current client projects, assisting in the project execution (mostly around understanding product and marketing)

Knowledge Database Consolidation
Sorting, updating materials and content for the database, possible further expansion of the project. Also allows me to go through past project materials and understand their methodology

Those aside, I will probably support where I can for admin or logistics or market surveys or whatever that comes up.

It's quit exciting cos it's a lot of interaction with colleagues and learning about the industry, company and the kind of consulting that they do. It's also cool as the company will be hosting 3 symposiums this year around various topics and I'm sure I will get to participate and support. Already they have a networking event on Friday at a fancy hotel and I get to go. Plus the boss is quite open in terms of adjusting my JD based on what I wish to learn and all. Oh and another plus point is that they have a mini library of management books and articles in english and chinese so I don't have to worry about running out of books to read here :)

I forgot to take a photo of my office building so that shall wait. We had a welcome lunch for me too and unfortunately I didn't bring my camera along to lunch.

But I guess you can tell I'm liking the people, the company and the opportunities here already.