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.