">> Last call for flight 5 to San Francisco. <<"
"Well, I guess this is it."

Why do people in movies always get on planes at the last call? Why can't they get to the gate earlier? And what airport lets guests right into the gate? Don't they have to go through security checks? At YVR, passengers leave their loved ones some 60 minutes before boarding. How inaccurate...

The best part of this trip has been that I've been able to see relatives I haven't seen in almost to 20 years, and some I haven't met at all. In the past year, I've come to appreciate my relatives more and more, and have been trying to put in additional effort to keep in contact with them. I may not have done as much as I'd like to, but one step at a time, I guess. It's particularly special to meet those older relatives that were integral in my parents' up-bringing, when times were much tougher. Most of the relatives I've seen in Canada have been fairly well off, but there are others in Taiwan that are still enduring hard times - so it's been a humbling experience. I hope that I'll have the opportunity to see these aunts, uncles, and cousins much more in the future.

I had an invitation to go to the Computex information technology (trade)show, held June 1 - June 5. This particular show is the second largest in the world of its kind, surpassed only by a show in Las Vegas. I went on Thursday, and was able to meet up with my highschool friend EC whom I hadn't seen since 1st or 2nd year. The show spanned four halls within the Taipei World Trade Center and Taipei International Convention Center. Each hall is filled with company booths from all the big names to all the small companies trying to make a name for themselves. The June 1 - June 4 days are for Buyers, whereas June 5 was open to the general public (with the purchase of a ticket, naturally). I was fairly rushed for time, but managed to take pictures of the larger booths, and those with showgirls. It's funny how shameless the technologists can be when it comes to taking pictures of models. On the other hand, I joined the club and got models to pose for pictures as well... what do I care, no one there will ever see me again. I spent most of my time in Hall 1, which had smaller companies, and made the mistake of going to Hall 2 via the inter-Hall shuttle bus. Walking from Hall 1 to Hall 2 takes roughly 6-8 mins. Taking the bus took roughly twice that amount of time as it stopped at Halls 4 and 3 in between, and took its time through the ridiculously congested traffic surrounding the TWTC and TICC. Nevertheless, I thought it was a great experience taking part in the event, if only for about 1.5 hrs. Besides, it was free.

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Scooter are amphibious. They share the road with cars, and the sidewalk with pedestrians.
Likewise, I'm amphibious. I can be a Taiwanese when I want to, or a Canadian when it's advantageous to be.

Taiwan. A lot has changed since I was here 13 years ago. A few things to note: Taipei's much cleaner than I thought it was over a decade ago. The streets are cleaner and they don't smell as much. Apartments/condos, regardless of how clean they are, will often smell like public washrooms at night... especially near the washrooms, even if they're clean and expensive. Something to do with the plumbing, I guess. Food and merchandise isn't as cheap as I thought they'd be. You'll still pay $3 - $4 CDN for a cheap meal, but usual around $5 - $6, which is about on par with eating Chinese food in Canada. People aren't big on service in restaurants. No tipping is nice. No tax is nice. I am a buffet to the resident mosquitos in the area. Damn them. People drive crazily. People zip around on their scooters like they got an invincibility card and need to pass GO in a hurry to collect. The MRT is very convenient and operates much like the MTR in Hong Kong. Need a 7-Eleven? Walk in any direction from where you are, and you'll hit one within three blocks. The night before I left, I was talking to some friends about girls who sell "Bing Lang" (the Chinese equivalent of tabacco) and how they dress skimpily. I witnessed their stores today. It was cool. Basically, it was a store front that looked as large as a display window, full front window, with one or two pretty (and young) girls dressed a little scantily. I think the neon light out front said "小女紅" or something like that. My aunt says that's the first bit of Taiwanese culture I've seen. I was excited, but couldn't pull out my camera to take a picture in time. Anyway, I guess I can say that I feel fairly comfortable in this new environment... mind you, I'm still only a visitor.

I was listening to a Taiwanese radio station and the lady started teaching the words "Craddle snatcher" as a man who's girlfriend is really young, and that makes him a "sugar daddy", and she'd be a "gold digger". Then she went on to mention "Star" magazine and how it's about "celebrity news", and "Catherine Zeta-Jones" and "Michael Douglas". That's when I turned off the radio station. Anyway, I found it rather humourous.

Go Calgary Go! Sounds like I'm going to miss a pretty awesome series!

The flight went by quickly, having slept roughly 9 hours of the 12-hour flight. I guess I prefer it that way. Almost immediately after stepping off the plane at 6am, I could smell "Taiwan" - and unfortunately, it's not a smell one would describe as fragrant. Flagrant, perhaps. For the most part, it smells like a lot of Asia in the summer. My mom and I took a coach / bus into Taipei from the airport and were greeted by my aunt and uncle. They brought us to my cousin's place where we'd be staying.

We had lunch with a couple cousins (all from different families, including myself), their significant others, and my aunt. It was great to see some familiar faces: one I haven't seen in 17 years, and one I saw only 1.5 weeks ago in Vancouver. The first day awas rather uneventful, but was suitable for getting settled. Internet access comes in the form of free dial-up ISPs for a whopping 54 kbps. It'll have to do.

That's that for now. We're 15 hours ahead, making it 8:45pm right now (GMT +08:00). Cheerio.

I remember...

I remember the days when my sister and I would share my brother's bed when he was away for the summer. And then at night time, we would play with our little stuffed animals. Papa Smurf was my favorite.

I remember the days when my brother and I would holler out the screen door at the back of our house at our neighbour suntanning on her sundeck in her swimming suit, and then we'd duck out of sight and giggle our little butts off.

... those were the days.

Ahh, the convenience of wireless networks. Last night, certain Telus customers in B.C. had internet problems for most of the night. It was frustrating. I realized my dependence on internet, whose importance was further magnified by the on-goings of my recent activities. I itched. Finally, around midnight, I remembered that I can easily connect to my neighbour's Shaw internet connection. They don't encrypt their network and I've accidentally connected to them in the past. What a life saver. By the time I woke up this morning/afternoon, Telus ADSL was back up and life went on. Anyway, I like it when people around me don't know how to secure their networks. :)

I'm going to be on a commercial where I'm lecturing my kid about stealing after he lifts a candy bar.
"Where did you learn to steal?"
"From you, dad, you steal Internet access."

Burn.

Last week, the Governor of Hawaii declared May 13th "Jasmine Trias Day" in the state of Hawaii. I wonder if that means she'll win American Idol Season 3 like Ruben Studdard, who has a "Ruben Studdard Day" in the state of Alabama, did last season.

Feedback needed. Alright, I have a big trip coming up and I want to bring all my music with me. Of course, in this day and age, it's not unusual to have half of a music collection in the form of burned CDs or CDs of MP3s. To put this in numbers, I have have a small collection of roughly 60 original CDs and roughly 60 burned CDs (either audio or MP3 format). Now, I need to fly somewhere and bring it all with me in two trips. I've decided to separate them into two batches, bringing roughly 60 each time... half 'n' halfing the originals with the burned. So here's my question, do you think airport security will care about burned CDs? Likely not leaving Canada since the luggage is out of my sight before they X-Ray it. Arriving in a different country? Do you figure they'd see a spindle of CDs in your luggage and want you to open it? Do you think airport officials will consider it an offence? Has anyone done something like that already? I figure they have bigger things to worry about, and I've never had anyone approach me at customs in another country asking to see the contents of my luggage. Your thoughts?