I had a business trip to Taipei yesterday to install a system at a customer site. The hardware, which costs $30K US and is the size of two pizza boxes stacked, was the precious cargo. So, instead of taking a charter bus, our company called a taxi. Or at least I thought it was a taxi. I was called at 1:00pm telling me they were waiting for me downstairs, so I quickly took the goods and brought them downstairs. When I got out, it seemed that the company had called a car service... an S-class Benz. Sweet. It seemed like an "extended" (elongated?) Mercedes, with tons of floor space in the back seat, such that I could extend my legs straight out and not touch the seat in front. It was nice to sit in a pimpin' ride like that for a 1 hr ride to Taipei. On the side of the car was a plaque that said "Chairman", which was rather appropriate since I went to Taipei with the Chairman of our project.*

That night, I attended a CCPN gathering at a pub called Lady Bird, which strangely enough had pictures of ladyBUGs all over the place.

My coworker told me today that that car was actually from a Korean maker called SsangYong, that uses Benz engines, but is essentially different. And then they just stick the Benz emblem where necessary to make it look like a Mercedes. Well, doesn't change the experience.