johansvennung(臺灣)

Cheese n wine on a saturday night

I tried different kind of cheese on this saturday night...

It was nice...things like this is very rare in the parts of asia where I usually hang out...

What ever program there is on TV in Christmas times...

Chrsitmas tentd to be a holiday where TV programs are very good...

What ever program there is on TV...a MJ program takes it all...so superior, fun and interesting...

Lord of the ring on tv...

I saw "stjärnorna på slottet" on tv, that is always so interesting...

I also saw parts of "lord of the ring", I was at the place where this scene was made in Wellington earlier this year...

I acted the horse...it was fun...and the rider was cute...

Gothenburg visit...

Winter in Gothenburg...

The wheel togetter with the liseberg tower is making an interesting combination...

I met up some old classmates...

And we had some before-noon tea...

Made of chocolate...

And some Amarone again...(as last time we hooked up)...

Rainy gothenburg...snow never lasts too long...

I also passed by Saamets place, delivering a book...

Omg, some friends told me about the running competition on new years eve...we will c if i will participate...

I had alot of problem entering my brothers appartment...something wrong with the code device...

My old friend Pether called me in gothenburg and drove me to Alingsås...

My mom did not recognize him after 15 years...

We had alot to catch up on...

And I drank alot of coffee...super high on caffein...we will go fishing next time we meet hopefully...

A quick Stockholm visit...

I went to stockholm yesterday...

Having luggage for one night, but my friend was heading home to his home country after they short visit...

We went by 1st class...so we got some hot towels...

It was a dark snowy landscape we passed by on our way up...

 My friend enjoyed taking pictures...

 

Who wouldnt with that professional camera of his... 

We arrived at 10 something...

 

 Heading to my sister...and found a nice snow man in the back yard...

 

 There are many traces from a baby here...

 

 And some wedding pics...

I packed my bag with neccessary things...

 

 We were heading for a walk in the city...

I found man spanish places...

And Thai places... 

 

 Wow, the Munich brewery, where I use to work when I was young...

 

 There were many boats that wasnt taken up due to the winter...

I wonder if they are in service...

We went to the city hall...and I saw a big Dala horse...

Its a famous building in Stockholm...

Many chinese tourists were here...

I guess scandinavia is focusing on asia nowadays...regarding the toursit industry...

I understood some words...

We were preparing and taking many pictures of the city...

We met an old friend and went for a lunch...with an intersting coffee table...

I had some seafood sandwish...

Their interior design was also interesting...

It was super crowded...

I had a princess cake as dessert...

We ahd to wait for a long time, for visiting the toilet...

This is the name...of the place..."Vete-katten"...

 

 Many people were walkig on the icy streets...

 

 Here there was a bomb that exploded some year ago...

 

 We had to hurry, since the sun will set around 15-16...

 

 The main street in Stockholm is super crowded...

 

 This is the central square...

 

 People pushing snow from the roofs...

 

 It was alot of snow...

 

 We went to the royal palace...

 

 I found a nice donald duck painting...

 

 Small streets in the old town...

 

 Getting serious...when changing camera lenses...

It is nice to see the houses that are lighted...

 

SOldiers marching around the palace...

And Margaretha Kroks statue is very warm...like 50-60 degrees C...

Itis standing at the old theater in the city...

Wow...they also have a TGI fridays...

And at Hötorget the market was still open...

Back to one of the main streets...where people still was walking...

There were deocrations on almost every street...

We went to flippin burgers that is the best burgerbar in town I was told...

Sara joined...

We had to wait outside for some hour...

So instead we coninuted on the icy streets to near odenplan...

And went to a local restaurant..where I tried beer from Gotland...

The bread was super nice...

I had a burger...

AFter this we went to a meat resturant, where there also is a bar...

We tried some local stockholm beer....

It was hard to find this palce...if Sara didnt show us...

This is the entrance sign...

In early morning...theday after my friend took the express train to Arlanda airport...

I took the morning bus back to alingsås...it took 7 hours...but I had internet access...so it was ok...

A snoyw landscape...

But sunny...

At uncle nils...

I made a quick visit to uncle nils some day ago...

The liseberg tower still stands strong...

Nils (NG), has a nice x-mas tree at home, as most ppl in sweden nowadays...

And an intersting ginger house...

We had a nice set up of the table...

Sith salmon starter...

Yuriy made success talking about USA etc...

And a nice fish soup...

...with nice Aioli and bread...

Björn, so embarrasing...asked stupid questions...

There was a nice dessert as well...

And chocolate...

And I fanally spent 1-2 minutes on the rowing machine...it was fun...before heading home...

Christmas day...

The day afte christams...

We have many fires in the house in these days...however im walking around in shorts inside...

A swedish pennant...looks like a ukranian falg...

Omg, almost back to 100kg, i should exersice more...

 

 I went to Östad, hanging out with my friends...

 

 It was fun...

 

 And more people showed up...talking about interesting things, many people are here in Alingsås temporary....

 

 I brought the dar aladdin, they also had one...nice with chocolate...

 

 Tomorrow morning there will be a hunt...maybe I will participate...

 

 We went for a walk as well, while it is light...

 

 And resting the dogs...

 

 Then back to the house talking to my cousin, who I havnt met for some years...

 

 Inspecting the fridge...

 

 Watching some swedish movie...

 

 

 MY cousin was fixing some broken clothes...

Omg, the slippery spot in my other cousins room...

Watch out...

So slippery, its always been a mystery in our lifes...why its so slippery there...

Ong. many obama supporters here...

And some nice painting about Bornö, where we have a summer house...

We also tried to see a Giant's kettle...but it was hard to find with all the snow...

Yuriy brought his Mark III...a littl bit better than my camera...

Back home, with more fire...

And some chrsitams food again...

I also made a pizza...

 

 Then I went to Gothenbur...meeting Therese...

 

 She had a new coffee machine...

 

 With different flavours...

 

 And the Mark III ready to use...

 

 I got a christmas drink...

Its always so warm at Therese place...so nice in these cold days... 

 

 And I also got some glögg...

 

 And then we watched some TV:..

 

 Yuriy enjoyed this...

 

 Later we continued to Anders, my old chalmers andIcecream Parlour friend...I was invited by my cousin...

 

 I was driving so Julmust was my best friend for the evening...

Ona nice cocktail glass...

Many people were there...

Wow, this guy has muscles...

They had a nice view towards Partilla and Sävedalen...

Erik will return to London tomorrow...

But is enjoying himself here, during the short stay...

Spilling some drinks over himself...

I also met a girl with some intersting tattoos...(12 of them, and she will get a new one in 2 days)...

It was also very warm there...so we were at the balcony alot...

Erik is so nice...but speaks with heavy brittish accent...

More mngeling...

I had a piza salad aswell...

And some ppl here works as bartenders...so they were very good with the drinks...

And some were good with the cigarettes...

Later the guys started to wrestle...as usual...

Poor the guy down under...

We also played many interesting songs...

 Acid jazz etc...

People with smart phones could change songs with them, it was conveinent...

I heard this one before...

 People dropped of, one by one...

 We alsohad a guest book, with some theme...

I made a classical Donald Duck, and Yuriy adjusted it...

We came back home at 5am, and slept until lunch the day after, preparing new adventures...

Christmas...

My christmas started rather late...

Woke up at 2pm, since I came back from denmark at 10.30...eating christmas food...

Having many candles in the kitchen as usual...

My nephew is a big fan of water...

My parents were drinking snaps...and trying to sing songs...

I prefered julmust, eating on the golden decorated table...

 

 My mom likes golden colours...

 

 Here is the snaps...

 

 There is alot of snow outside...

 

 One can see tracks from many vild animals in the snow...

 

 My sis was preparing her trip back to stockholm...

 

 I also got some Aladdin chocolate...

On christmas it is ok to take from both layers... 

We also had some swedish cheese cake... 

My father acted santa...not sure why...using a blond wig... 

My nephew did not understand much...

I got some DVDs...as a gift...

With movies of me and my family when I was young,,,

And a SIM card with many free sms etc...if you want an SMS from me, email your cellphone number...and I will send u a couple of messages...

I also got cadnies...

And a star wars guy from my younger sister...

I gave my mom a flying lantern...(my nepheq gor a toy gun what one can use for shoting rubber bands with...

I was reminded that I got cadnies from the bridge guard, when I went to denmark...

I gave my mom some cigarettes (as a joke)...

Nice with some fire...

My father has control over the situation...

I gave him a whisky...

I was also looking for my friends to arrive from south of sweden...

When they came we ate porridge...

And more chocolate...

My sister went all in for müsli...

My friend has a Mark III camera...so cool...

He also brought chocolate from eastern europe...so sweet...

We went out to fire the flying lantern...

 It was an old dream iI had, since i was 15 to have one...(I saw some students create on at school)...

I might buy more...not sure aobut the legal aspect...but its almost the same as fireworks...

It was an interesting project....

But fun...

It went up in the sky and disapeared...

I wonder where it will land...

We continued for some tea...and later on chirstams was over...2012 continues...

A trip to denmark

I just came back from Denmark...
It was fun, I saw swedens highest building...drank some coffee etc...
Merry Christmas...

Heading to gothenburg in snow storm...picking p some girls...

Fee for the denmark bridge 780SEK (return ticket), 3500NTD...

MAny lanes to choose among...

Swedens highest building...the bridge pelars...

The bridge is followed by a tunnel...there is a running competition here, once per year...maybe I will participate in it some year...

I was back home 10.30 in the morning...

Dan före dopparedan...

The day before christmas...so fun...

I also made some rösti to some people during lunch... 

With lingon berry jam..

My oliver twist cape...ready to mingle with family...It was snowing alot today...

The x-mas tree was more docorated...

It was rather slippery on the roads...

I also went to meet my uncles and aunts...

It was nice...we also drank some Glögg...

And giner bread with blue cheese...

Alot of cheese...its mostly for grown ups...

And all the small kids getting older...

But we still belong to the "younger generation"...

We contined to my counsins place...

It was snowing even heavier...

Maybe I will go to cross country skiing tomorrow...

They have some x-mas games preprarations...

We were there to bake some ginger bread and hang out...

And had some lapin kulta...

And some spaghetti with meat sauce...

It was nice...

However, we wanted to stay until the baking faded out...

Hearts...

And some bacteria creations...however bacteria looks like....

Still snowing outside...

It is always fun to hang with my cousins...

The ginger bread was bought as dough...

I made some ginger bread house parts...

I wonder if my counsins will finish it...my ister didnt want to drive home in chaotic snow weather...so we left a little earlier than expected...

It was interesting to drive back...

 My brother is packing he is heading to Barbados tomorrow, I will drive him in early morning...to the airport...

Saturday in Sweden...

A cold Saturday...and we are heading for lighter times...(yesterday was the darkest day on the year)...

Starting of with some semolina porridge...

My nephew was running around in the house...

I went to play some floor ball later on...

It was fun...

I had some injuries, but its ok...

Later my brother joined to the local supermarket...

Recycle system that works...earning alot of money (refund)...I like it...

And a scanner device...useful in crowded christmas times...

No queues, compare to the outher countries, at the self scan area...

I bought some beers...kind of nice...

We also got a new christmas tree...not fully decorated yet...

And some kitchen hang out...

Later we fixed the projector my mom has...

My father, brother and brother in law watched Taken 2...

I was semi watching and playing some internet games...

Second day home...

I started my friday with coffee and cheese sandwish...

Its nice...and kind of common here...

A little snow...it was ice on the lake some week ago, but not anymore...

-1 deg C...

The x-mas tree...I guess my parents r sick n tired of christmas administration...

Some "julbockar"...

However the tree outside was bigger...

Wow...0 in the south, -30 in the north...

Hugo has been taken care of...

Pytt I panna for lunch...

Super good, I added some garlic...

Then I went to Alingsås...

Some market at the square...

A swedish book store, no ppl are reading books that are to be sold...

Later I got a beer from Gotland (the largest island in Sweden)...

And I ate som twist chocolate...

We have many fireplaces in the house...they are used more oftennowadays...

I made some nacho cheese with onion and tomato...after dinner...super nice...

First kebab pizza for december...

I got a kebabpizza when I came home...

It was a little spicy...especially with wine...

My parents got alot of christmas cards...

A bli pic showing my weight...97kg...maybe I will gain everything I lost during last ime in taiwan...

At Beijing airport....

It is a jungle here...in Taiwan...

Nice but rainy...

Alot of traffic as usual...

It is always chaotic at asian airports...many people dont understand the concept of security...they bring many bags and strange things...try to pass through the customs...

 

 no cellphones at interntional room...that was new...

 

 Wow, cusomter suggestions...that is a rare sight...

 

 Also funny when a guy 40 seconds before take of...stands up to get his luggage...maybe ht thought the the fasten seatbelt sign was a recommendation or a decoration...

Same when we land, people see warning signs as recommentations...

I ordered beer and wine as usual...

And met Yen...a guy from Kaohsiung who will study in Pennsylvania for 2 years...he was a NTHU student, and his sister studies at NCTU...

 

 He had a nice pad...that he recommended...

 

 Beijing...-3 degs...not that much snow though...

 

 But some frost...

Well at the airport I met "obama" or olli, a guy from Nigeria who studies at a university in northern china...he seemed to be smart...mostly asians were in his class...(all of the foreigners)...I gave him some tips of nice house songs and a pen....my friend/trip ratio is getting higher...

I also spent some time trying to create a VPN to nctu...he gave me a site "that I never found...but succeeded in entering NCTUs vpn...after a while...

it is a nice christmas feeling here...they are playing christmas songs. mixed with songs from the sound of music... 

Leaving beijing...my display was broken...so boring...if i cant watch movies...

But the girl beside me was super nice...and we switched seat...she was studying mechanics anyway...no need for TV watching...

She studied chinese in China...

I had alot of beer and wine on this flight as well...

16.00 in sweden and dark...(and for the tai ppl whioreads this, its only dark this early in sweden during winter time, in summer the sun sets super late, so its not a dark country in general)...

The east coast of sweden...

And the take off lane...show on a display...

I had to get a new boarding pass for my domestic flight...

Nice, fika for 180NT...welcome to sweden...

I also met Lasse Berghagen, a swedish celeb at the airport...

The newspapaer said what I always thought...china is hisotry, indonesia and vietnam is the new country to invest in...

Gothenburg by night...

Shorts weather in Taipei

Im still wearing shorts and flipflops...soon i will b walking in snow (or normal winter rain),,,

I went to a chinese class in Taipei...it was nice...

I learned alot, and met a guy from Nepal who has been to Tibet...that was interesting...

I went all in on fish in the night...

With some white wine...nice combination...

Late night work...

I spent some time for projects...

Deadline friday...

It is fun to work...

After work with the Swedish trade council

I joined an After work with the swedish trade council today...at Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, near Nanjing east road...

Some ppl had burger, so I also had to try this (I went for the Hawaii pizza last time I was here), and i tried most of their beers (local)...and their lighter beer...

I met many intersting people as usual...one guy was doing exactly was my friend is planning to do...import things from europe...I promoted Recorderlig cider and Three hearts beer at 7-11 many times...he is the guy who got them on the shelves...

This was a dark beer...

And this was more red...like the one I tried on the beer brewing class (when hops are added later in the boiling process)...

As usual I stayed until last man...and met many new swedes...who lived here for 5-2 years...it was interesting...

Sunday night...

I was about to attend a cours ein Mindgasm, it the time was tight...

I headed to ikea isntead...for a while...

Eating meat balls...

Enjoying swedish things...

And eating the standard 15 balls dish...

Nice with some Christmas feeling (Jul)...

Wow, Aladdin box...so nice...

Some advertisemtn of swedish provinces...

Later on I went to pablo...

We drrank some wine that he got from his spanish friend...

I wa asked to play misuc...we also identified jpo-world, our dating site wemade someyear ago...

It was a friends birthday aswell...

We also tried this wine...

He has an advent calendar...

We later on went to an arcade...

Im not so much into bowling. but decided to join now...(if they had my shoes size)...

I also brought my taipei beer...

We could also pick bowling balls of different sizes...from super light to very heavy...

I picked these ones...

Im not that good...but someone decided that we played in teams...and then my team won...

On the way back, I saw a scooter with this sign "kuk"...interesting (from a swedish point of view)...

Taipei Fubon Marathon

I participated in Taipei Fubon Mraathon today...

It is the same marathon that I participated in last year as well (probably the most fun marathon in taiwan so far)...

How ever I need to wake up in early morning...the start and finish is near taipei 101...

Many people are participating...

We dont run back and forth all thetime as most marathons in taiwan...that makes it more fun (like a normal marathon)...

I ran in my friends name...he kept the free t-shirt, I got the medal...

Super many people, I think its not a mass start...to the timing is kind of fair...even though slow runners like to block the road at many times...

I got all my stuff last night...I came to the start 10 minutes before start...

Some hours later I got my medal...my friend might get a diploma sent by mail...

I also met some swedish runners (4)...some of them were pretty fast...this guy was wearing a swedish flag tagged on his shirt, a good reason to make contact, and then we talked for a while when running...

Late night work with wine and cheese...

Late night work is nice...

Especially with some red wine and cheese...(i only had goat cheese left, but its ok)...

Taipei hang out

I went to my old friend Ellison's apartment today...

It reminded me of the movie "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai"...

It was on a roof top...near taipei 101...

A place that was going to be restored...

We later on went to a local resturant...we asked for burgers but got sandwished...ite very comomn here...

I also got a chip and the start number from my friend Pablo.

Its the second time in some weeks, that I run in his name in a marathon...to bad that they always start so damn early in the morning on a weekend...but it is the most fun marathon in taiwan, from my experience...

A visit to the book store...

Taiwan has an intersting  book store culture...

Its fully acceptable to open the books or magazines in the store, and read, without paying...

Resulting in that many boks are wrapped with plastice protections...

Most international books are...while many taiwanese books are ok with that ppl read it without paying...

There are people everywhere reading books, that others might buy...

I need to watch my step...

I wonder who wants to buy a book that is kind of torn out...I asked around, and got the answer that if someone really wants to read a book many times. they might buy it...

Late night snack

After hanging at Ximen last night I went to a 24h open chinese restaurant...(about 3-4am)...

They mainly had hotpot...

I ordered hot chokolate...

And chicken nuggets...time to go to bed...

Friday hangout...

It was really a nice day this friday...

I met some friends for lunch...at NCTU...

 Even the street dogs enjoyed the summer temperature (swedish perspective)...

 Young schoolboy in school uniform...(pyjamas)...

Kai and Johnny...

Some flag that they never removed from some exhibition...most ppl here dont understand the concept of this flag...

I went to check what happend to the bike some guy promised me at the park department of NCTU...

They tried to put me in the Taiwanese circle...but Im kind of used to that now...so I didnt leave until I got an answer...we met 2 other guys there...and finally we got the nubmer to the guy incharge...I will get my bike (or atleast some info about it) on monday...

I also met Sina and Mukesh...talking about future parties...

We went to the DJ club for playing music...when I called Kai who already was on his way to Taipei...I rushed to thebus station to go back with him...

Later we went to luxy, a special event today with tai students...all you can drink before 21.30 (starting 18.30)...

I met some friends there...it was totally chaotic, no structure and ppl dont know how to queue...

These guys sneaked ahead...

And so did she...

And this guy (with my help)...

Some latino had our ticket...we waited for somehour (just 10 minutes according to them) :S ...

When it was not to much time left...and probaly seveal 1000 ppl inside we decided to cancel the luxy visit...

W-bar is in the horizon...

We went to Ximen Honglou instead (read theater or something)...a nice place...

And to Cosbys burger...

I had a double beer and double burger...

Then we went to Bear bar...for a Coconut milktea (yeguo naicha)...

They had a live singer...

So big...with green tea flavour...

My friend has a tequila sunrise with to little alcohol, i asked the bartender for more...

Then we went to cafe Dalida...

A new waiter...(or old according to him)...

I had a moroccan tea...with milk...

Many people here tonight...

And some old guys posing at some speedo underwear commercial...

Lucia event with CITO

I went to Hsinchu yesterday evening...

OMG some chrsitans praying on the street...it looked strange...maybe they are members of some organisation...

I met up my swedish friend Kristoffer, for a snack before the event...

It was a classical Lucia event...

Many people...including Kai...I tried to make so much contact, and now he suddenly lives in Hsinchu...

They had ginger bread...

Many taiwanese ppl here spoke some swedish...

Many foreingers were also here...

Glögg...and Christmas music in the background...alot of christmas feeling...

IKEA saves many lifes...around the world...

OMG, my Älvsborgs badge...

 

 The party people of CITO 2012 (Autumn)...

 

 I brought some Whiskey...

 

 Wow, adventsljustake...

 

 And dance around the chrsitmas tree...

 

 Many songs...and dances...

 

 And the "safe"...so cute...

 

 And some after party before heading downtown...

 

 We passed by the swedes appartment first...

 

 Wow. Costco beer...mostly Ales...

 

 Its always tricky to match people in the cabs...they always argue about whether there are 4 or 5 passengers allowed...

 

 I headed to the DJ club...

 

 Then to Simon pub. its a pub where we accidentally went to last summer, its popoular since its often empty...

Many students were here...

I headed to McDonalds again..to sympathy eat with my friends...

Spichy powder thats shaken in a bag...with the fries...

And back to the bar...meeting Abbey..super cute girl...

But we mostly stayed at the biljard table...

Some were so professional...

And my ukrainan friend brought some "magic Coke"...

We had a tournament, I usually suck in biljard...(today aswell) but made som lucky shots sometimes...

Free candies...

Misspelling...

And a world map, where unimportant places like "Arendal" was listen (a super small place outside Gothenburg...

More biljard...

We signed a 20SEK note...(me and my 3 swedish friends who were there)...

Since they had a bill selection...

Then we enjoyed some dart...

Abbey was happy (so many customers, from NCTU)...

My name on the bill...

There was also a place for private biljard cue...

Final game...some ppl went to clubing, some went home...2012 continues...

An evening in Tamsui

I paid a visit at my friends company today...

It is a little bit far from the city...

They have vouchers from their job, for free meals...

A big company...it seems to be nice...

We gathered for a meal before exploring tamsui...

Among the options I picked typical taiwanese school food...(a buffet of semi cold food)...

I havnt been in tamsui (hanging out) for a long time...

Kids use to dance at this area last time I was here...

We went to a bar that had super many kinds of beer...

These ones are just for decoration...

And these ones are for sale (most of them I found at Carrefour or RT-mart)...

We sat at the river side...watching the river...it was nice...

I had a weissbeer...its soft and easy to drink...

We went more to Tamsui downtown, where I found there pakistanian kebab place...super cool, I will go back here some time and order things...

We headed to this New Zealand bar...

With great view over the river as well...

We had a bunch of beers...(Belgian)

I also tried their cheese burger etc...

They played music from a live music CD...it gave the place a super nice atmosphere...

I remember in the summer on these streets...they use to be crowded...

We had a nice deal of the beer...how ever, I think he charged me for more than I ate... :S

They guy who had the place use to live at many place in New Zealand...its a nice place...

Tuesday hang out...

I hanged out with a friend of mine last after noon...

We went to the german restaurant for some snax...

And later on we went to some friends that were heading back to europe for christmas...

They were preparing the bread...

Nice view, from their appartment...

They got the food from france (so most things were not possible to buy here)...

And they set the table very nicely...

First it was onlt french speaking ppl, but some dutch student arrived after a while...even though I enjoyed the french conversations...

There are alot of french students at NCTU this year...

We sat at the table, waiting for some later comers, before we could start the buffet...

Waiting...

Waiting...

I opened my chips bag...as a teaser...

And some french wine that was bout at the local 7-11...

Realizing that some ppl will be late...ppl started the feast...and after some minutes, most of it was gone...it was really nice to eat french food...

Then some swedes arrived...

And Linnea was there...she will leave Taiwan tomorrow...

The food was refilled, so the swedes also could enjoy it aswell...

Foie gras...so exclusive...

I tried to leave to catch the bus back...it was hard...so many ppl to talk with...

And so many interesting ppl...

And so much nice food...

However, before the last bus went back to Taipei...I left...taiwans student life is a nice life...(except exams, homeword, bureacracy, student loans, unceratin future, nepotism, cold dorms, culture problem, etc etc) :P

I visited a new burger bar in Taipei city today...

Their english was not super good, and they misunderstood my order :S

They had burgers, and some pasta etc...

This is the name of the place...

I had a double burger, and soup...it was ok, however the meat was pretty small...but it was probably "home made"...I wonder how they transported the meat from the home to the restaruant, I dont know...

OMG, I got Reidel...

Omg, I just got a "too early" chirstmas gift!

A set of sommelier glasses form Reidel...

One step closer to a more complete life!

 

Lucia event, CITO hangout and late night snack...

I joined the swedish trade councils Lucia event today, at the European school in Tianmu, Taipei...

There were many swedes I never seen before...and also some english speaking people...

Nice speeches...

My friends had already arrived when I came...I had problems finding the location...

It felt really like christmas times...even if this was the 9th of december not the 13th, as it use to be...

Many kids and teenagers were there...and 3 chalmers students...

And some young girls talking about candles...

And Louise (the boss), thanking the sponsors...since we got some things from IKEA, Ericsson, Enspyre, Scania etc...companies that have business in Taiwan...

Then it was glögg time, and some ginger bread and lussekatter...

Many people there...I was about to as Henrik the old boss of the trade council about some contacts...

Chrsitmas feelsing (i did not wear shorts to this event (even thoug I changed when I came home)...,

Some V.I.Ps...

We contined to Wendels...me and the chalmers students...I had some german beer...

They had some cheese plate...

It was nice...we talked about many interesting things...

And as usual we got free refil of bread...

I had a german sausage  with extre mashed potatoes...

They had Jägermeister at the entrance...nicely sealed to a wooden piece..

I also passed by their store, to check what products they offered...may german things...

And nice christmas decoration at the entrance...Thank you CITO for the company etc!

I later on went to Ximen, to meet up a friend who was in town for a short visit...and saw many strange people on the street...

We went to Dalida for a Pinacolada..and I found that they had my favourite burger there (outsourced)...

It was with a cherry...but maybe to much ice in it...

And the burger...super nice...but today I had a single meat, and we shared it, so it was more like a night snack...

I also returned a screw cork for my friend to deliver...that i borrowed from the DJ club...

And saw this interesting add in the taoilet... "GisneyLand"...

Saturday night hang out...

I met up with some old classmated last night...

We went to an "all you can eat and all you can drink" resturant...

I went all in on sushi...

And we had some wine bottles at the table...they were nice...

I met some friends that I havnt met for a longtime...

Omg, the GMBA is still using this old poster...I found it in Taipei downtown...

So interesting...

We there after headed to the spanish restaurant near the Taipei main station...

It was fun---

I had a german beer...with swing top, that I saved for later use...

They also had a nice white wine that was very fruity...

And some tip can, you got a free meal if you could balance your coin on a floating lime...

I found a nice smart phone cover...

Young people didnt understand what it was looking like...

Omg, so many coins...in the tip box...

We also went down stairs to play some music...I couldnt use the keyboard...

But my friends used the guitars...

Rock´n roll...

Later on I went to CLub Fifi...

MAny nice people were there...

Absolut vodka...I feel llike home...

Some Hsinchu people in the dark...

Many people were mingleling around...

These nice guys were planing to cycle around taiwan tomorrow...

And some guys performed magic tricks...

Like santa claus...

They had nice out side furnitures...to bad it was raining...however, that just made the air more fresh...

Hsinchu BBQ...

I went to HSinchu for a reunion some days ago...

I met some ppl that I also met in sweden some years ago...

And some sweet old foreinger friends who loves to barBQ...

 

 The DJ-club was there playing music...so funny, I asked for a song (a nice party started) and they kep saying "soon", "soon", but as usualy they never delivered it...so common here...

 

 As usual people grouped themselves depending on where they come from...

 

And the asians were fastest with finishing getting their food ready...

Some brought their own beer, this one was from a "sensation white" party in the southof Taiwan...

Wow, the caribeans really made a nice marinade rich food mix...

And the arabic people brought their own kebab...super nice...

It was long time ago I tasted such flavour...

Some guys, hosting the party...

They DJ club kept playing (they already prepared the song list, not sure why they mixed the songs there, when they could have prepared everything...

There were maybe aroud 100ppl there totally...

Ha, smoking and mixing, thats attitude...

Chillin?

They used some computer and software...its what most DJs nowadays are using...

Shuffling?

Harry was there...wearing nice fancy clothes, he just came back form some conferance in Taipei...

I brought my "ble d´or" beer from Taipei...super nice...

Later on we tried to finish the food...I like thiskind of late-night-snax...

Omg, so happy...

So many corns sticks (I might have eaten ofer 50 of them....(during the whole night)...

Later we had to clean up, and replace the things where to borrowed them...

Most things were taken back to the DJ club...the heavy stuff...

I was offered fruit from Taidong later on that night...that was sweet...

And ate breackfast at a burgerbar in the morgning...

Some breakfast:ish burger...

An evening near taipei 101...

I joined an old friend to exersice some days ago...

I saw some adds for Taipei Marathon, and remember last year, when i ran it, it was probably the most fun marathon in taiwan...

We also went to the local gym...

Ha, Messis chinese name..."梅西"...(Meixi)...

They had a horseback ride...it was fun...

And an archery court at the top of the buidling...that is interesting...

Afterwards I tried some vanilla shake with protein...

It tasted nicer than other protein shakes I tried...

And some dumpling and other kind of food...it was nice...

My hometown today

I keep on reading reports about chaotic snow weather at home...

A calm quiet Thursday morning in Alingsås (ye, snow absorbs sound), here in Taiwan im wearing shorts everyday (maybe 20-25 Deg C occasionally). What a contrast...

New Vodka bottles at Carrefour...

I saw a new campaign from Absolute Vodka today...

Many interesting colours...

And unique numbers on each label...(i think)...

Omg

Burgerbar visit in Taipei...

I went to a burgerbar today...

Its near gongguan and called Second Floor café...

They had a motorcycle at the entrance...

And christmas decoration...

Not sure about the name...

The interior design reminded me of the dutch villa in Jakarta...

I got a soups and bread with oil, it was nice...

And wallpaper, which is rare in taiwan...

MY burger was avocado and cheese...it was ok...

Computer Expo and Yilan beer in Taipei...

I paid a quick visit to Taipei Expo today...

 It is near  Taipei 101 and World trade center...

There are always alot of young girls with sexy dresses at these fairs... 

 

 And very clear tiolet signs...

 

 And alot of computer games and other offers...

 

 It is a rather big expo...

 

Many taiwanese guys goes here to take pictures of the posing girls...

I went to see if they had any intersting seminars...

But they didnt understand what I meant...but I was told that they only activity that is, are held near the stand of each company...

Wow...a swedish flag in a flag andtoy airplance store..

I asked if they didnt serve candies as in the fiars in sweden...but I was told that taiwan dont have candies in fairs, they have young girls in sexy dresses (same as the bonglang girls)...

I spent maybe 10-20 minutes in there...and at the end, there were more staff than customers...

I went to the Canon stand to check prices of Mark II and Mark III, but was told that the prices here are usualy higher than at other stores...

More girls...not canides :(

But they taiwanese boys were happy anyway...

Later on I went to a local distributor of Yilan beer in taipei city...

I bought their Pineapple beer (their algea beer didnt taste so much sea weed as the one I tried in singapore)...

They are very good in beer...their dark beer is my favorite dark beer even...very much bread flavour and not that bitter...perhaps very populistic...but I usually agree with the mayor group opinion...

The bottle is always tricky to open...I wonder why they make such a design :S

Spanish lunch...

I ate lunch at a restaurant with Bull fighter theme...

It is full of christmas decoration here in taipei (decoration is as far as taiwan can go, regarding christmas)...

My spanish friend is heading back to spain next week, he gave me a bottle of wine from his company...

We also had some steaks...the waiters english was not that good, so it was confusing to understand the offers they had...

They had many bullfighters on the paintings...

Some mine predish...

And french wine...we tried to promote spanish wine...

And i had some nice steak...

They even had bull fighters on the serviette...

It was a cuvée...(mixed or stored in tank)...

I had some green tea icecream for dessert...but it was red beans inside...not popular...

Hmm, beans in my ice cream...vegetables or beans dont fit in that many desserts...

Restaurant and Ximen hang out

I went with my friends to a nice rstaurant last night.

 

 It was a fish resturant near Shilin nightmarket...

Many people showed up, among them many ppl from Germany... 

We had alot of Taiwan beer, but there was a girl who promoted Budweiser...

We had somce sushi...

And fried oysters...

We asked the staff to take pictures...

This guy has been to Holland, now he works in Taipei, he taght us some funny chinese expressions...

We later on went ti Ximen...

They had a charity event there...

Many drag queens were there promoting a special drink...

This...called "woo-woo" or something...

They also gave away these red ribbons (its a "stop aids colour)...

And the drag queens were also singing...

It was fun...

This one looked like a doll...

This one danced funny...

They also charged if you wanted to pose with them...

They were super big, like 1.90-1.95, plus high heels...

So people looked very small in their presence...

I paid 100nt for letting my taiwanese friend pose...not sure if they were soo keen on it...but it was fun, for charity and a cultural experience...

My friend Duck is temporary in Taipei, he just sarted doinghis military service here...

Thumbs up...

 

Beer brewing session

I attended a beer brewing session yesterday, creating a beer with alot of "flower" character, since half of the hops wasnt added until the fermentation process...

Its at a café in Bali, where they sell coffee and beer products...

I ordered things from here before... 

They offer courses in brewing, as well... 

We got to se how the restaurant operates, and some process information in brewing techniques...some basic things... 

grinding the malt...not too much not too little...

I ate some of it... 

 

 Then we put it into water...

 

 HEre is a list of the portions we used, to get the characteristics of this beer...

We also tried some beers on the market...

The mix has to be filitered, but before that, it has to be aroung 65 degs celsius, to get enought character (Beta particles that creates sugar)...

More beers...

Some smelling and tasting of different kinds of malt...

This is interesting...chocolate..just like guiness....

Mixing again...I asked why we just dodnt pu the pot in the oven, on 65 degrees, instead of mixing over and over, to be in the temperature spann...but I didnt understand the answer...

Digital thermometer, i ordered one of these...but the delvery is delayed :S

Then more drinking...

 And some theory...(in chinese)...

 

 And more drinking...

 

 Then, since we did not have time to wait for the whole fermentation prices (some weeks), this step was prepared in advance...

 

 We got to try different kinds of beer (mostly depending on the hops, but also the malt)...

 

 Then starting with the alpha particles, then the temperature has to be 70 degrees celsius...for a while...

 

 looks and smells like porrige...

 

 Still looking at the temperature...

Then it was time to filter the mix...

 

And boil it up with hops for some hour...

To get all the sugar out from the malt, we added some new hot water...

Nice buckets...Im using some lame milk bottles at home...

This is how the filter looks like...

And this is the cooler...same as my friends are using in sweden, when they illegally are making alcohol( over 20%)...

We also heated up bottles...

Butting in more hops...

We had 4 different kinds of hops...

It did not smell that much,,,

Then we used this pole to dry the bottles...

 

Home made things... 

Bottles are done... 

Ready to dry them... 

 

 And add some sugar...to the filtered porrige mix...(the hops usually adds bitterness to the beer, i usually prefer light beer, thats not bitter at all)...

 

 Many bottles...

 

 Then we were about to filter the mix again...

 

We continued with the pre prepared mix that was already fermented...while waiting for the boiling to be done...

Tapping...

More tapping...

And now it was time to bottle it...

Alot of alcohole added to kill bacteria, this is an imprtant procedure...

And close the bottles...

A slow process...

Now the boiling was done, time for cooling...

We added more hops, to get a special flavour of this "reddish beer)...

 And we also boiled the cupper cooler, so kill bacteria...

 And in with cold water in the cupper cylinder...

It is important the the cooling goes fast...this took maybe 1-2 minutes, from 100 to 10 degrees...

We filtered the mix again...to get ridd of the hops...(Pijiuhua in chinese meaning: beer flower)...

And pour into a barrel for fermentation...(a super clean barrel)..., and some yeast was added...

Everthing was stored in Cl2, to kill bacteria...

Or sprayed with alcohole...

This nozzle was applied to prevent to high pressure...

We also used this advanced equipment to measure the sugar percentage...(about 20,000NT (5000SEK), most people are using analoge equipment for this part...