Click on the thumbnail pictures below to see a larger version. Current weather in Taipei
6/7, 11:30pm: Hallelujah - it's done! My feet were aching so bad that I inserted my room slippers into my shoes to help with the padding. Don't laugh - it helped! This last day at the show was busy. I took some time and cruised the show to see what else was offered and what the competitors were selling. Incredible stuff! After packing up all our equipment, we headed out to the Grand Hotel for Szechwan food - tasty! A big thanks to K.L. for being our local tour guide. Heading back home tomorrow not a moment too soon, although the prospect of stuffing myself into the 777 coach-class seat for 14+ hours is disturbing. Anxious to get back home and I hope it hasn't been burnt down or burglarized! -Tom
6/6, 11:30pm: A busy morning working on docs, then a long afternoon on my feet. Afterwards we went to a "Gid Market" where there were computer items of anything that can be imagined. Cool, in a geeky sort of way. Then out to dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and back to the hotel to give my feet a rest. Another long day...
6/6, 10am: Today is my last official day of booth duty and I have all day Friday supposedly off, except for the teardown of the displays. Jeff and I are just itching to rent a scooter and shuffle off into the masses with the rest of the animals. We asked one taxi driver if we should do that and he proclaimed we were " very crazy!" Guess that means we gotta try it! Maybe Friday or Saturday morn before the brutal flight back (a 6' person stuffed into a 5' seat for 14+ hours - ugh).
6/5, 1am: Up early, another killer breakfast and off to Computex (a very LARGE regional computer show) again. A half day of working on sore feet and Jeff and I were off to the National Taiwan Museum. This was a huge place with more artwork than time to see. Some very interesting cab drivers out and back too. There was one lady driver who described the snake blood, poison and "other" fluids from snakes that the local guys drink. Take a guess at what they say it does for men... She then started telling us about Viagra. Hmm... more than I wanted to know. Then back to meet others for dinner. We ate shrimp, tofu, beef, squid, gooeyduck, Daffy duck, and other various and questionable cuisines, many of which resembled bait. After that it was off to the Chiang Kai Shek national memorial, and culminated with a subway ride out to Snake Alley and back. Snake Alley is like nothing I've seen before. ANYTHING goes. I don't think I've seen one fat or obese Taiwanese person. Not sure if it's their tea or genes. They are very kind, small and beautiful people. It's late, I'm bushed from editing docs, my feet are no longer attached to my legs and I have to deal with another night of the tile-floor mattress. Zzzzzz....
6/4, 11:30pm: For those of you 'geographically challenged', click here to see where Taipei is. Think of it as formerly Formosa that seceded from China, after Japanese control during WWII, like Quebec wants to do in Canada. Since then (in the 50s I think) China and Taiwan don't get along too well. FYI, one American dollar is about equal to 33NT (New Taiwanese) dollars. There are thousands upon thousands of scooters everywhere. They are the most efficient transportation in the city and are not allowed on the freeways. They thoroughly line all sidewalks everywhere. The government mandates that no two-wheeled vehicle can have an engine bigger than 150cc.
6/3: Here's just a few pics of my Taipei boondoggle so far, due to me only being
able to hook up at 26k baud at the hotel. As the Grateful Dead said,
"What a long, strange trip it's been". Extremely hard
beds, smog, a kazillion people, thousands upon thousands of scooters everywhere,
great food, great people, history, humid, working hard, playing hard, editing
docs at night, crazy, but
very good drivers, pedestrians do NOT have the right of way, and my feet are
killing me. More later. -Tom