5 posts tagged “travel”
Sometimes, coming home from a foreign country really makes me want to go into the criminal mastermind business.
Departing TPE was easy, stress-free, even peaceful. I didn't even have to take my laptop out of my briefcase, let alone perform all the other rituals involved in U.S. flying, and the other passengers were well-behaved and polite. The airport was clean, comfortable, and quiet.
Arriving at SFO is jarring. It's noisy, smelly, and disorganized. People who left Taipei without any fuss become idiots upon stepping onto U.S. soil--they start elbowing, nervously craning their necks, and running into eachother with luggage carts. Customs is frantic and confusing. The agents are surly and stupid. Everything feels slap-dash--like no one has ever thought about how an airport might function.
We have the worst customs and airport security I've experienced--perhaps with the exception of Estonia.
I'm adamantly not a self-loathing American, but I don't understand the disaster that is the experience of entering the U.S. My suspicion is that it's such a mess because everyone knows, deep down, that x-raying everyone's shoes just isn't a viable security policy. Make enough people go through the motions of a pro-forma ritual enough times, and you end up with a lot of bad-tempered zombies.
Miss Shana terribly. Only needed two extra days in Taipei instead of the four I took. Travel belly. That is all. KTHXBAI
After a very long day of travel, I arrived in Taipei late this past Saturday.
On Sunday, we went for a 20 mile ride around Taipei with a couple guys from Dahon. So much fun. The traffic in Taipei is controlled chaos, and you ride in close proximity to cars, truck, and the gazillion scooters--but at no time did I feel threatened by traffic.
We rode south west of Taipei 101 to Bitan lake were we ate really excellent pizza and and drank Stellas. The pineapple here is like no other I've tasted.
On the way back, we climbed a nice little hill and had an exhilarating descent back into downtown Taipei. On the way, we partook of Betel nut--a working-class stimulant--for which we received some guff.
Monday was consumed largely with Intel. Afterward, however, we went to Dahon HQ to look at bikes and speak with their leadership. The bikes are bitching and the Dahon people really have fun playing with their concepts. Hopefully we will do more with them.
Then it was off to explore more of Taipei with Thomas, Matt, and Ingrid from Dahon. We went to a Buddhist temple, wandered around some night markets, and finally ended up in a Chinese medicinal restaurant.
My pineapple and bitter melon broth with black chicken is in the foreground. I can't really recommend it, but everyone else enjoyed their meals.
Tuesday was again an Intel day and afterward we had a celebratory dinner for IDF participants. We received the sign of approval of our work: an invitation next April to Shanghai. So apparently we were considered valuable to the event and we'll be pitching some new ideas to our customers.
As the party was in taipei 101--the tallest building in the world--Byron and I went to the top (in the fastest elevator in the world). Both are very impressive. I could have stood around taking pictures all night.
Yesterday I spent mostly working and moving from one hotel to a new one. The new one is in a much older, gritter part of town and at half the price of the Grand Hyatt, is has about twice the character.
Then I met with some people--Aron and Scalley--who I met on the internet through Flickr. Aron has some great Taipei food photos and after talking back-and-forth, he agreed to take me eating. We went to the Shilin night market and ate Shanghai style dumplings (Yum!)
Spicy fried chicken breast (Yum!)
Pork buns (yum!)
Stinky tofu (yum!)
Noodles with tripe (eh)
And finished off with odd ice cream prepared using a repurposed drill press contraption to spin a frozen block of the ice cream against a blade, creating paper-thin ice cream shavings.
We had some kind of citrus, sweet flavor and peanut butter. Both amazing.
Busy so far. Much more to do.
On Thursday we flew to LA for Baljam. Shana got herself booked to DJ at Lindygroove and arranged to stay the weekend with Lance and Vicky. The plan was to shop, eat, DJ, and dance Balboa. All four were accomplished.
Thursday:
We arrived at Lance and Vicky's in the afternoon. It's an understatement to say their house is beautiful, even though it's still in progress. The location is wonderful&8212;just off Melrose in West Hollywood&8212;and the 20s Spanish architecture is charming. The guest suite is gorgeous, with an incredible bathroom (marble, tile, HUGE bathtub with dual shower heads), and French doors from the bedroom opening onto a lovely, enclosed front courtyard. It's going to be even more amazing when they remaining work is completed.
After some nice chatting and a dinner at a local place called Table 8, we headed off to Lindygroove in Pasadena. I had a great time, even though I took it easy dance-wise. The floor at the venue is beautiful, and it was packed from beginning to end&8212;Shana's set killed. One quote from a Lindygroove regular, related by Lance (paraphrased by me): "it wasn't at all the kind of music I like dancing to, yet, I was having such a good time I couldn't stop dancing." I think when you go to an established venue and succeed in giving the regulars something new, that's saying something.
We ended the night with a delicious late night snack at In-n-Out. Yum!
Friday:
We spent the day shopping and eating. Lance and Vicky introduced us to a little, crappy-looking sushi place called Sushi Time, where we had an amazing omakase. It was so good my head swims thinking about it.
Then Shana and I went to a few shops, including ReMix. I'm glad to finally have seen their men's shoes in person&8212;I don't like them and so can stop thinking about buying some. Later, we went to AOC Winebar for Shana's birthday where we had awesome Tapas, mediocre wine, and crappy service. The friend who suggested it later told me that she forgot to tell me to sit at the bar to get the best pairings. Oh well, it was still fun.
Then, off to Santa Monica for the first Baljam event: DJed dancing at a nice little event hall. Marianne and Kyle DJed, and I would like to say, in the nicest possible way, that I am fucking sick of the monotonous instrumental trad dreck served up by these two (punctuated by obnoxious, ear-splitting, loud-mouth commentary from Kyle). Granted, Kyle has a great collection and incredible knowledge, but you must also know how to spin. Of the two of them, I have only seen Kyle dance, and then only occasionally and only just passably.
Saturday:
We made our way to Beverly Center to visit H&M. We got some staples there and then, on the way out, I spied the Ben Sherman store and had to stop in. Then, on the way out, I spied the Eilatan store and had to stop in, where we each proceeded to find dozens of shoes. I bought these:
I found out later than the brocade ones are girls shoes. So, if my feet turn queer, that's why.
We also visited Modernica to decide if we want a pair of these for matching office chairs:
Answer: Yes pleeeeze!
That night we had a low key dinner at Whole Foods before heading to Baljam and Jonathan Stout in Santa Monica. It was also low-key, and the orchestra was somehow not totally on. We were both a little grumpy and edgy and Shana decided to go home while I went to the late night dance. The contests were good, but the floor sucked. I enjoy dancing with Teni in part because, when it sucks, she's right there embracing the suckness. That's what we did on Saturday, preferring to stand pulsing and doing touch-steps than continue to struggle with the crappy, rosin-covered floor.
Sunday:
We got up late with a plan of wandering around, maybe going to a flea market, and then going to Ikea on the way to Bobby McGees in Brea. Lance and Vicky decided to join us, so we walked together the two blocks to the flea market. On arriving, it looked kind of lame, but Lance convinced us to go in, offering to pay the $2 cover.
Inside, we started find booths full of good stuff. Great vintage pieces of jewelry, interesting, unique furniture, and lots of books at records. And great prices. Thanks to Lance for dragging us in.
We rounded a corner and my heart leaped when I saw a booth displaying vintage posters. It was one of those moments when you see, or hear, or taste something completely unknown to you, but which you recognize immediately. It was a booth full of original, vintage serigraphs from the 60s and 70s. The style was "familiar" but I had never seen the work before and I fell in love immediately. As I got closer, I realized they were all signed, numbered originals.
They turned out to be from a designer named David Weidman. He had been a Los Angeles illustrator and designer in the world of ads and cartoons from the 50s to the 70s, and then started creating serigraphs as art. Anyone familiar with "Fractured Fairy Tales" might recognize his style. I know it's not everyone, but for me, this is exactly what one hopes to find at a flea market: an under-valued treasure. We bought four prints of various sizes from his nephew&8212;a surly man who implied that he would do nasty things to me if I did not return to buy the prints I had asked him to hold. He became much more friendly when I returned with a fist full of cash.
On the way back we stopped at Fluvog to try on shoes, and the at Goorin Bros. hats. Whereupon I bought hats, undeterred by the fact that I never wear hats.
Ikea and Bobby McGee's? Eh....not so much.
Back at L&V's we hot tubbed and then headed off for the Derby for the last night of Baljam. This was preceeded by a stop for Pho. I learned that I Taiwan Beer is yummy. Also, pho is not too bad.
Shana and I had some really fun slow, made-up Bal-esque dances to Mora's and it was cool to finally see the Derby. Mora's sextet was tight and awesome.
But the true highlight of the weekend was getting to know and hang out with Lance and Vicky, who could not have been better hosts and who, we discovered, are fun, gracious, interesting people. I love uncovering little treaures like that.
Anyone been there? I'm going on business from October 12-19 and need advice. Most of the time I'll be staying on the company dime in the Hyatt near the convention center, but I'll have about two days on my own dime. I need advice on:
- Someplace to stay that is clean, safe, convenient, comfortable, and ideally, inexpensive and interesting. Need not be fancy.
- Not-to-be-missed places to eat
- Not-to-be-missed places to shop
- Not-to-be-missed activities and sights
- Places for excellent bespoke tailoring (I have some leads but always appreciate personal insight)
Any other general advice about Taiwan and Taipei in particularly. This is going to be so much fun.
[Also posted to LiveJournal]
