Chill with swedes in Taipei
I recently went to play floor bal in Tianmu
Many swedes and suiss people were there
It was very hot outside
After that I went to Fikafika, a swedish coffee house
They had many kinds of coffee
I had some dish, not sure if i accidentally ordered double coffee, sometimes the waiters dont have the same logic as me...
This was one of the coffees I orderedsome brown sugar coffee
And these are both the coffees
And a square cinnamon bun
I also had a cheese sandwich, pretty nice but rather expensive
They also ahd drip coffee
Anders was there. he likes to take selfies
Fikafika had many coffe brewing items
Fika fika won the nordic roaster 2013, also 2007-2010?
We continued to longshan temple
snake alley
some police snatched some person who was said to snatch
the classical snake alley
Epic guy separating the yolk with his hand
We later had some coconut drink (or someof us)
Some tourist place in taiwa
Intern at some swedish company
Some cave
Interesting lobster
We later on headed to ximen
omg Kavalan maked water
I had some lychee drinks
And after that we headed to Sababa in Shida, its one of my sweidsh friends favorite resturants
We had some mediterranean dish (mezze?)
And a Chicken Souvaki
Like a pita wrap
Sababa...
Saturday with singaporeans
I went to an all u can eat last night
Some hotpot with free beer and french wine
And icecream
some cuvee wine, it didnt taste that good
Felt like pouring some liqour
First batch
and some salad
and beer
omg, mango on a stick
It was easier to take many glasses
An old favorite BBQ has closed, too bad
Many people oin ximen ding
Random street performance
And a toilet display telling which ones are free in the MRT
And a visit to longshan temple
And snake alley
crocodile, snake etc
Omg, some interesting street art in ximen
This place was full
So we went to G paradise
Many foreigners
Some had lychee drink
I had peach, 2016 continues
A 3.6 km walk
I recently went for a wal
The people who invited gave misinformation, saying "every 10% walked will get a bike", but it turned out to be a promotion trick
I brought some beer
My friend has a appe watch, another strange thing is that we were told to be there 7:30, but it turned out that it wasnt until 8:30 that we needed to be there, not sure of this logic
At 8.45 we started to walk
People blocking the path to take pictures
Another group photo on the path...also funny logic
It reminded me ot hte nijmegen walk
Some bridge with walkers
A narrow pavement
And some intersection
Locals using umbrella, cus its sunny
We then walked alon a river bank
Omg, I met many aboriginals
They came from Pingdong
After half walk, we got stamps, super long queue, and many staff not active, cus there was a long queue created at the first two people stamping, and no other staff reacting to it
I asked why they dont walk back and stamp peoples cards while they queue, but no answer
Last minutes of the walk
Paiwan people
Some friends in the dark
Some old people dancing on a stage
And some group photo
Kids dancing on the stage
And bikes to be given away
Many people were waiting for the bike lottery
Probably some thousand participants in the lotery
Nope, no wins, the second the last number was released eveyone went home....
A trip to YIland beer bar in Yonghe
I went to Yilan beer bar in yonghe some days ago
It is a nice place, its not hte first time I went there
Some chicken and dumplings
I had a green beer, as a change
Underwater photography session with Mr Kokkola
I joined a swedchamb event recently
A guy who had photos that has been selected by National Geographics (top 10, on their website)
I also met Robin, who was a business developer within IoT
Tommi, the diver had his "dive team" polo on
Anders shared some IoT links with Robin
Tommi told us thta its ok to use photoshop as long as you dont add or remove items (these are interntioanl riules in competitions)
Some diving equipment
And my favorite fish, 6 meters in width
Some green/blue eyed fish
And some yellow fish
Tommi will talk at some exhibition leter this year
We also had local food, the swedchamb said "free flow of drinks and food", but when we came there they didnt have it
Banqiao Marathon
I ran a marathon some day ago
MAny people participating
It was 35 degrees, its often trouble, cus high risk of hehydration of to drink too much
Luckily im used to hot weather and long distance from my annual trip to nijmegen in holland
Later I went to some cinema
I also passedby a resturang with "expensive taste"
I also had macaronis gratain, the tais often call Pasta/macaroni etc noodles, so confusing,
"10% cleaning charge", i wonder if i get withoug it i have a dirty plate, they also had a buffet with 4 dished, (water melon, noodles and some other stuff) called "infinie buffet"
Later I passed by a Wally store pretty intersting, I use to paint this character some years ago
Water fight promo film production
Omg, fjällräve bag
They are soo comon nowadays
I met my buddies at Taipei Trends Play some days ago
for some water fight
this guy was interesting
he was a green pig
Some super heroes
And chris with the camera
And some movie shots
The crew ahd TT Play t-shirts
Chris checking weather
And some heroes waiting for next scene
A canadian and a german guy
And a pic of ber made in taiwan
That can be found at this place (a guy in the team recommended me)
Later on they made a motercycle scene
At the end people were pretty wet
And some were heading to some other water fights, like the canadian guy, he said hw was a software freelance, moving around
Taiwanese quote of the day
I just had a talk with a taiwanese friend who said that "you shouldnt take bus, that will be wierd, people will look" and "you whluld take taxi, becasue you are a foreigner", so funny how some have prejudice and stereotypes ;)
A violing concert in Neihu
I went to Neihu recently
Seeing "dont drink and drive" posters at the MRT
I met with Mr Anders and Co
At this place
We observed swedish coloured balloons
And went to see this guy, the son of a teacher of Anders wife
Some kind of greatudation concert, we signed our names on the poster of him
HE played with some girl who played a piano
People wernt applauding when he was done the first songs, but in the end they did
Some local snack
Some local traffic signs
Vegetable stick
The kids were playing ball, whileme and Anders were checking out the camera functions
Another kid
Close up pic
Pic with local girl getting volleyballs on her stomach
"dont take a pic of my face right now" pic
I also took some group photos of some of Anders friends, the guy in middle has a similar nams as "jesus"
Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic with the son of Jesus
V-pic with the son
Other people also taking pics
I bought myself a pyramid
I bought myself a pyramid
i bought it from an old friend, not sure what I will do with it
I also visited a local night market, for some kiwi juice
A visit to Uncle Bens burger
I went to a burger bar recently in Yonghe
Near a place that is called merry christmas
The name was Uncle Ben
"american hamburg"
Some super hero dolls
And the burger, a match for Mr 220nt
After that a visit to this snow ice place was made
Omg, a wheel chair on taiwanese pavements, good luck!
The snow ice had peanut flavour
PIzza Rock Yonghe
I went to Pizza Rock today
They have a Yonghe branch, but originates from Taizhong
Omg, they offer local beer
from 23-brewingcompanycom
They have many kinds of pizza, with 2 sizes
I had the 2 local beer they offered
Both were very bitter
And a hawaii with extra cheese, but it didnt taste any special, a little bit like the other restaurant in taiwan
I manage to fit the price almost equaly divided by 220nt, the staff commented that it was special
Mr 220NT
I went to a restaurant today called Joe Johns BBQ
It was in Yonghe
They had some chiense menu and poster
And wooden tables
I am Mr 220nt, the rare low value money in taiwan
Old school bench table
The entreance floor was nicer than the basement
I had some noodles, I wasnt super hungry, but ate for fun
And some Skewers, the food was equaly divided by 220nt, so convenient,,,
My new favorite coin
I got taiwanese 20nt coins
It is an aboriginal on the coin, and aboriginal boats on the back, so cool, its a mystery that the tais never use this coin
Ikea show room
I passed by tianmu recently to check some floor ball, and also participate
It was hot, some guy even fell and got injured, the weather here is very up and down
I also saw an old poster from the EU day that was some weekend ago
Next stop was the ikea show room
They had mostly food and fike stuff
Omg "ecological" is covered
And some other dining room interior design
the bath room
and more food
and a kitchen
They even had a normal oven
They also had alot of food
The waitress name was kiwi
The menu in chinese
I had some lingon berry juice and chocolate cake (almond)
The logo of this place
I also went to try some local beer after that
And later I also met an old friend and had another beer, but european
Omg, they even had Reese here, epic
An evening Zhongxiao dunhua
I was suppose to meet some swedes some nights ago
but only got an address, and google showed some things, bing another and the streets showed nothing, so I had to ask many random people, these even treated me some skwwer
Omg, some hard character, for the locals (thus their bpml system on the side to teach people how its pronunced)
I soon got swedish connection, and we went to a place where they ahd wallpaper
I had some chocolate drink
The swedes, had floorball on my schedule in the morning, so I left not too late
Aboriginial fashion show
My friend designed some clothes inspired by Bunun clothes
He was exhibiting recently in taipei
It was at some graduation event
and many people for FuDa university was there, they have an exchange program with Högskolan i Boras
Some 80 year old lady from germany who lived in taiwan for 60 years, opened some art school, she is christian, probably a missionary
Some young host
And the theme for this year
The jniors at the univ had their clothes showed first
This was my favorite
This was Bunun style
And this (blur enought?)
The topic was "Gentry in the Mountain" since bunun have many mountain trails
I want clothes like this, like a swedish folklore dress
After this, the students got gifts from friends
And got to take pics with their deans
This guy had a hairdo with a part in the middle, it deserves a picture
Omg, an H&M bag,,,2016 continues
Some japanese judge
I liked her collection
And this was the winning one
My friend Liou, he won prices form his clothes
And some celebrating kids
VIp chairs
An ikea bag with a zipper
A visit to Sanxia tea place
I went to sanxia recently
Some mountian road, probably road 110 (100+ roads in taiwan are often mountain roads)
beetle nut trees
And mountains
and reconstrution
and some not good quality roa
Sometimes it was narrow, when cars met up
Up at 700meters above sea level pinetrees became more frequently seen
Thats where the deistnation was
road 109 was continuing from here
and some "forrest recreation area"
omg, they even sold italian pasta
and organic tea
I wanted to try th elocal tea
but I also bought some australian wine
Normal view from the mountain area
Some taipei suburb down there
and my red tea
Dark clouds approaching
Omg, my "milk" was solid
Since I bought wine I got free tickets to the "tea area"
Some gate was guarded, and people needed tickets
it was some stairs in there
And tea bushes
It looked nice
And nice view
The logo of this place
and the forest recreation area gate
Tai people walking around
A japanese style house was also passed by
Omg, some trash area was also passed by
And houses looking like in ShiTing
Some interesting tree
And many people not wearing helmet, just like at the east coast of taiwan
Back in Taipei, 91 seconds of red light,
1000 of scooters idling
After some minute, they drive to the next traffic light, "people who complain can go home to their country", since global warming is not global, I was told here ;)
rAndom all you can eat in Zhonghe
I went to an all you can eat recently
It was rather a steak house, where on can pick side dishes, as much as you wanted
Normal tai road
Desserts
some soy meat
and vegetables
typical taiwan "colour" ice cream (each type has a colour, byt the flavour is hard to distinguish)
nutella, peanutbutter (sweat) and sweet butter
they also had some "sushi"
,,,and fruits
I started with friut, nutella and peanut butter
and has some suop later
and some pepper sauce soup
The corn soup to the right, and the the left they have pepper sauce, its hard to know, which is "sauce" and which is "soup"
finally my stake arrived
I ended with some ice cream with chocolate, "what did johan eat today? see above,,,
3 happenings on a friday
I find that taiwanese people seldom care about redusing the fumes, not sure if it is an education matter
But by far most traffic lights that i know about has a count-down, still the tais doesnt turn of the scooter, even if it is some minutes until it turns green, so each traffic light often has a 20-60 scooters lingering, with locals wearing masks to protect themselves from the fumes they self spit out, very intersting
I also found that taiwan has a 20NT coin, I will get some next week, its still a myster why tai ppl seldom use 20nt and 200nt, they are much more useful than some of the other bills, in my opinion
I also made a qiuck visit to Le ble dor, trying theyr seasonal Chaomai, it was ok, tasted a little like all the other "non dark beers"
Fich, cheese and wine
I had alot of cheese, fish recently, and occasionally trying some wine or beer
European food culture at its peak
A lame pizzeria in Gongguan
I went to a pizzeria in gongguan recently
They had many pizzas on the menu, but few in stock
The name was amore pizzeria
Hmm, and they didnt let me add extra cheese on the only pizza i wanted, strange logic
I ended up having some tomato and basil leave pizza
A trip to the library
I recently went to the library
Had to ask some people before they acctually gave me the correct direction (not sure why people here consistently pretent they know a direct instead of saying "i dont know",
EU day in Taipei
There was an EU day in taipei recently
some 20-30 vendors promoting alcohol
exceot the swedish tent, that promoted innivation
I also passed by some local art place
and after a while it started to rain
cloudy day - heavy rain
Once in a while people visited the swedish tent
some wine glass, but i prefer riedel
some good sales offered a sip for free of Konjac with grapes from champange
Some approval from Taiwan Sommelier Association
this was a cocktail, with the Konjac
Soem old fashined dancers started to dance after some half hour
and invited random bistander, or many not so random, this guy seemed to know how to dance
and then it started to rain heavily again
I went for a mojito, it wasnt that good, dalidas mojito is better
and more rain
My friend wanted to go for bread, i bought the most famous bread they had
"is it delicious?", "i odnt know, but it is famous" (taiwan style judgement)
more rain
I went to another tent to try something new
Omg, the bartender shaked the drink so professionally
Some earl grey vodka
And more rain
Omg, my earl grey vodka, or what was left of it, had some toxic taipei rian in it, after cycling around with my drink passing the town
A trip to yilan in may
I went to yilan recently
Checked the discriminative parking lots in banqiao, since taiwanese parking quards are the ones who have the world authority to decide your gender, not you!
typical yilan sight
and some random road
suddenly this house appeard, near the kavalan distillery
They are open until 1800
and they need staff
and they hace some store in the house
pretty commercial
5 standard kind and 3 seasonal
At the bar they had a black board with the beers only ale and porter
2 sized, large and small, if u buy small u get discount, if you buy large, you dont, strange logic
And some non algoholic alternative
"Beer its whats for dinner"
first one, some white ale, it was the best one
then some other ales
some fuzzball game at the corner
and families comming here to try
some decoration and the brewery in the room nearby
and they also have their own glasses etc
just like at barhi in beitou they show the brewing process
and some barrels
they also offer some pork
It was saturday afternoon, and the place was half full
Third round I tried the rest, mostly porter
In general their beer was very bitter
Some ppl enjoying outdoor activites
going strong, the white ale was the best so far
the staff were nice, and were suprised that I paid with 200 notes
Some random indoor cleaning of the outer part of a BBQ machine
the last porters on the tray
some random foreigners, some staff were introducing the beers to them, not sure about their discrimination algorithm
The foreingers left some dark beer
And then got some guiding in the brewery, not sure how to sign up for that tour
They had some souveir shop as well
All of their kind of beer, including non alcoholic
Yilan evning view
Sun setting at the south west
and some brewing chart
Not sure what this meaing "beware of beer stealing ninjas"
this road looks like taidong, both are on the east coast
typical tai building
more sunset viet from yilan
cloudy sky, yilan is called "the rainy city"
I Thin the second highest nountain of taiwan is in yilan county
More urban pic
and a fake 7-11
this place is "famous"
some chicken BBQ
golden rooster, just like me
"no smoking area, just near the smelly and smoling BBQ, strange
another tai house
its not ok with tobacco fumes, but coal fumes are ok
love BBQ
Each customer had 1 chicken
and an empty souvenir shop, i had to buy some cheap things, like pineapple
yilan has many bridges due to the rainy and wet area
many people waiting to get a seat at this "famous place"
my pineapple
and some philippino mango
my "haomapai" (number card"
And some local food
The yilan trip ended at this restaurant
many people here
and more hens, like a european easter image
they had ipads to manage their table bookings
some lotus dish, rather slimy
and rice
and some other "seasonal" vegetable
and the main dish, the chicken
including feet and head, taiwan style
with gloves to tear it apart
some guy at each tables seems to be asigned the tearing job
A ripped chicken
night in yilan, east coast alert, no helmets, atleast not on kids
and some other "famous store"
some bakery
it was crowded in here
probablybecasue it was so good,,,,ehh i mean "famous"
peach butter bread
and some girl who might have been to club atom in tokyo
scooter and scooters, but not as many as in taipei
omg they "yue tai" had traditional characters, thats rare
And the toilet had plants, welcome to yilan
The day was ended at ximen, with some mango drink
A revisit to AK12 burger
I hanged out with Anders recently
He just wanted to mingle around
so we went for a sandwich
they said I could have it for free if i finised it withint 30 mintues, eventhough I had a late lunsh with pizza and sauer kraut, I still thought it could be interesting
anders had a smoothie
And some phubbing
and pics
Here is a blur pic of my sandwich
Omg, its almost tipping
Anders wanted to film
hmm, johan preparing the mental situation to fit it into him, however they added new rules, i also had to finish a sallad and a 1 litre coke to get it for free
Ok, started
I picked the meat first
21 minutes left when i was done with the meat
just alot of bread
the i went for the sallad, it was rather salty, so i had to ask for a refill of the 1 liter coke
omg, still french fries left at 1 minute
and some bread, I tried to blame my late lunch pizza
I finihed all the french fries before I left, but didnt eat all the bread withint 30 mins, I might do it another time, even thought it doesnt fit into my "burger" definition, since its clrealy a sandwich---2016 continues
A recent costco visit
They were selling le ble dor at costco recently
But yilan beer is cheaper i think
they also gave away baileys samples, and some whisky tastings
and red wine
The honey beer at leble dor seems more expensive
I ended the visit with some sandwich
Random airport events
I went to the airport in taoyuan recently
And was told that I should try subway if i never tried it before
People had to check their luggage pass some x-ray machine, so the "convienience" of online checkin disapeared, since the people who checked in at the airport had to wait less time for their x-raying
I bought some fish, reminded me of my sister who liked dried fish, and some asian dried mango
We also saw some english art before that
And I had some japanese beer
Almost like a "last supper"
An ireland potato pic
A birthday bash in Taipei
Its the 3rd of may
Erik preparing his birthday bash
Some beer try out at Q square
The staff wanted to cher erik up
Or Mario
sang some chinese songs
Big hat, erik liked it
The rest of us used party hats
He even got a cake
He also got some solist whisky from kavalan
And some other candies to give ppl back in the UK
Omg, heavy luggage
Next stop is Jollys
Some french taste of the beer
OMg, they were a part of the world brewing academy
Some random thai food
Random streets with alot of scooters
We also passed by ximen quickly, with a place where the staff took orders on an ipad, some technical progress since last time
Pinacolada
Erik had some apple drink
Next stop was dalida, where a mojito was served, Eriks birthday bash is going to an end, atleast for this year
Cruising in taipei city
I went for some taiwanese food recently...
"it is famous" i was told, thats enough for being popular...
Some random tai dishes
They also had a red star for the vegetarian food
Negotiating with the chief about if it is "meat" or if it is "pork" or what definition of vegetarian is...
We got tea and sesamy drinks
Some random side dishes...
And blood pudding with stinky tofu...
And some other tofu...
And Erik...
...and erik...
We passed by a Fjallraven store...they siad that they were the "cheapest in the world"...
plenty of items
strange...just opposite on the street they had another fjallraven store...with the same prices...apparently not the "only cheapest" since the prices were the same...
Not sure about the logic in opening the same store just nearby...since the items are pretty unique...
We also passed by a mango store
also "famous"...
And has some slized ice, imango ice cream and mango peices...
Some lady tried to squeeze in this small gap, but didnt succeed, but it was woth a try for the shortcut...
Next stop was a local beer bar...
omg, they reduced some of the offers they had last week, I wonder why...
I had some beers that I never tried before...
Some were sweeter some were more bitter...
Interesting sign in the toilet...
...and this...
Omg, at the MRT entrance they promoted the mango bar...
Erik is inspecting the mango dish he had...
Visit from a Cousin
A cousin recently honoured me with his presence
He passed by Dubai quickly
And gave me some swedish stuff that are hard to find in asia
He lived near the second highest building in taipei
We went for a quick visit to longshan temple
checking what the tais donated to their gods
and also visited a night market,,,claiming that most of them are the same, this one is more special
after that we went to a hotpot
had some fruit and local stuff
more hot pot
and running around int the sunday traffic
checking the street performance at ximen
Omg, green label
I ended the day by checking the goodie bag I got, so nice,,,
