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Taiwan IV 2nd Half: Rock Home

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Tianxiang , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. BONUS MATERIAL in this super long-winded post (fourth in the series of many!): Taiwan Celebrity-- Juice Jack ! Took a long drive in the mountains ( with fantastic views ) and eventually reached Tianxiang , a large river terrace recreational area. Beautiful area where Dasha River and Taci Jili River converge to become Liwu River. The river cut through the mountains revealing smooth, marble boulders. At the end of the Pudu uspension bridge was Xiangde Temple , that's only accessible by climbing the many steps up. SK wasn't thrilled by the idea, so she decided to rest in the car. So, KH and I had the chance to go paktor -ing again. Really quite challenging to rush up to the temple since Lewis only gave us an hour. But luckily it was quiet enough for us to hold hands. Hehe. At the top, there was a tall White Robed Guanyin Statue and the Tian Feng Pagoda. The elevated views were quite breathtaking but the main stemple wasn't qu

Taiwan IV 1st Half: Taroko Rocks!

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Lushan , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. BONUS MATERIAL in this super long-winded post (fourth in the series of many!): Taiwan Celebrity-- Bilu Billy In the middle of the night, KH got out of bed to use the loo and get some hot water. Seeing that his stirring woke me, he brought me some water to drink. Turns out that he had developed a sore throat. The next morning, SK also declared that she had a sore throat. Wonder if it was the millet wine or the fried stuff for dinner, combined with the hot springs. I was OK, but maybe because I had a sore throat from the beginning. Haha. Of all the bed and breakfast places that we stayed it, the place at Lushan actually provided breakfast! Hallelujah. A porridge buffet, but they labeled their porridge as stirabout. It was served in the typical Taiwanese style with peanuts, dried bean curd, fermented bean curd, omelette and some pickles. Satisfying and warming for the belly. Checked out from the place and took some pics at the suspension br

Taiwan III 2nd Half: Frog in a Hot Spring

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Paper Dome I , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. Left the Sun Moon Lake area after that and went to the Paper Dome , Puli ( check out Taiwan Celebrity: Paper Dome Dominic ! ). It was actually a temporary church structure ( made of paper tubes and steel by Shigeru Ban ) in Japan after the Great Hanshin Earthquake and was subsequently donated to Taiwan after the 921 earthquake. A recurring theme at the Paper Dome is also frogs! -- on mosaics, statues, signs, paintings and sculptures. Perhaps a shrine to Fable Fawg's Taiwanese ancestors. A perfect place to camwhore with its distinct architecture. Also went to see an art exhibition of 'paintings' made from butterfly wings. Sounds a bit macabre. Dinner was quite special-- chicken roasted in an earthern jar using lychee wood. A sure fire way to kill vampire chickens. Having discovered that we were from Malaysia, the lady boss asked her Indonesian maid to get the orders from us. In addition to the trademark chicken

Screw First, Praise Later

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Shout it! , swiped from Jimmy Jack Kane on Flickr. During a meeting with my client: BizUser: I think the system should have the capablity to {insert business requirement here}. MyBoss: For the time being, we do not have this feature. BizUser: I think it should have. MyBoss: Er.... ProjectDirector: BizUser, I do not think that this is in the scope of what the system should do. BizUser: (Starting to protest) ProjectDirector: I WON'T REPEAT MYSELF. It is not in the scope! (If you are familiar with Dune, it's like the Bene Gesserits employing the use of Voice) BizUser: (Black face and muttering under her breath) MyBoss: (Shocked look) (5 minutes later...) ProjectDirector: I'm sorry to interrupt again. First and foremost, I would like to apologize to BizUser. She is a valuable member of the team. So far she has asked many intelligent questions, displaying her business and technical acumen. However, when it comes to scope, I still need to control it. I hope you understand. Thank

Taiwan III 1st Half: Sun & Moon

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CaishenTemple , swiped from williamnyk on Flickr. BONUS MATERIAL in this super long-winded post (third in the series of many!): Taiwan Celebrities -- Munching Max, Chicken Wing Wilbur and Coin-toss Corey! Woke up a bit earlier the next morning to visit the nearby God of Prosperity temple just a stone's throw from Taiwan's main Jeet Kune Do Academy ( doesn't ring a bell? Think Bruce Lee ). Don't think its a common temple back home in Malaysia. On our way out of Taichung, Lewis brought us to Yong He to try their famous soy milk. A peculiarity for me having yutiao dipped into soy milk for breakfast. Even more peculiar was having taufufa made savoury by adding in yutiao , soy sauce and black vinegar. Really an acquired taste. Next stop was Sun Moon Lake , the largest body of water in Taiwan. Supposedly, the east side of the lake resembles the sun, while the west side of lake well, resembles a crescent moon. Imposible to tell when you're on the ground really and I