Zhuhai (English)

This city or is it a village? Well, whatever. It is nice here. Not so big, not so busy. But you have all you need. Zhuhai is another 2 hours by bus away of Guangzhou in the direction South. It is a harbour city with connections to Macao and Hong Kong.

I will fly to Shanghai from the local airport here tomorrow and will spend the night here.

I walked around downtown for a while today and made some interesting discoveries. First off all, they do have a pedestrian area here. You know what that is, right? No cars allowd on the road, and little cafes or shops in the middle of the street. But yet different from a nightmarket in Taiwan, as the roads are broader and there are trees. A really unique discovery for me in China until now. The pedestrian area actually reminds me a lot of German cities, yet a lot more lively and noisy.

Zhuhai is also a paradies for people from Hong Kong and Macao, as there are good connections to the two cities and prices are a lot cheaper then there. Prices for what? Well, I got a massage, they washed my head, haircut and beard cut for 25 yuan, that is about 2,5 Euro. One hour massage? How about 30 yuan. A meal for one person, don't think you would need to pay more then 20 yuan.

And there is another attraction, interesting for mostly the male visitors with certain desires. I cannot talk about prices, as I did not more then getting name cards from attractive young women, but as I have been told....a forget it.

Guangzhou (English)

The past 3 days and 2 nights were spent in Guangzhou. The city is located about 2 hours North East of Shenzhen by bus. The bus system in China is really good, buses are frequently available, clean, with airco and VERY fast. The last element must not certainly be an argument pro bus here. The bus drivers are the FASTEST in the whole country. Buses are taking over the role of sports and luxus cars in other countries and race on the highway or downtown. The breaks are only used when no other solution is open anymore. Really a scary experience.

But that simply also describes how China is, and how a lot of people think here: The bigger, the better and the more rights you have. Especially compared to weaker ones!

Guangzhou left a decent impression on me. It is yet another huge city though, with a lot of buildings. Guangzhou is the capital of the "business province" Guangdong. This is the province that makes everyone think and talk about money and profits, maybe more then in any other place on this earth.

We visited another few companies there and I got some nice impressions on how business in China works. (I won't publish it here, please wait for my book...).

After having a cold for a week now, I decided to get some advice from a docter and some medication. This has to be done in one of the plenty hospitals. The doctor subscribed me some Chinese medicine, which had to be infused. It took about 2 hours, to wait for the whole liquid to enter and revitalise my body. But it was worthwhile the time, I feel a lot better now.

Shenzhen the workbench

Today I went to visit a factory for water resistant LCD TV's. A small company in a clean factory environment. When we arrived the energy was halted already (a regulation by the government to control the massive energy consumption).
The manager of the company showed us around and gave us the chance to try and test their products.
The trip to the company was a nice experience by bus. We had to switch a total of 3 times, both ways, and drove through an uncompleted and extremely growing city. It is amazing how fast things change here. After a road has been finished it might not take long and construction starts again to expand it, to be able to deal with the huge traffic. I think they don't have a rush-hour here, simply because there is no opposite to that term existing. Whatever time of the day, roads are busy and crowded.

Hong Kong, Shenzhen and China (English)

I am back to the mainland, the motherland almost it seems. After a brief stop of about 8 hours in Hong Kong to obtain my visa to enter the People's Republic I arrived in the flourishing business city Shenzhen.
It is not as humid here as it is in Taipei, but there are not as many air-conditioners as on the island, so it still is pretty hot. One great rule (I really mean great) is that air-co's may only cool down to about 28 degrees. Sounds hot, but it is cool and a great measurement to reduce energy waste. The air-co's in Taiwan are so cold that it is almost nicer to stay outside in the humidity.

I am here to visit a friend and I can stay with a family. This is great as it is the opportunity to see more of the real China. Actually Shenzhen is a special place compared to other cities. It really is a melting point of all the different cultures within the great Chinese empire. People from all over the country come here to make a better living as business men or working in factories. All of them bring along their own customs, dialects and traditions. The real people of Shenzhen are barely existing, as the real Shenzhen is nothing but a small fishing village, located north of the great Hong Kong. That is one reason why the term 外地人 (people from a different region) is not used here, there simply are too few 本地人 (people from here) to use it.
The sphere might be somewhat close to New York or other immigrant cities during the time of maybe the late 19th century, when the US where the place to be for those hoping for a better live and making a fortune by working hard or even being smart. Of course the same downsides can be found here and there, today as well as back then. Quite some crime and a huge gap between poor and rich. But I was told that the actual presence of police officerers every 200m helped to reduce crime in boom-town Shenzhen.

An end to the quietness...(English)

It has been quiet recently on this blog, about a week of no new posts. Did nothing happen? No great news to share with the rest of the 3 billion webusers?
Well, it happened so much that I could barely keep track of it in real live.
The most important news is that I left Taiwan today. It was a quiete heart-aching good-bye and I feel now already how much I enjoyed the time there and how much I am going to miss it.
Currently I am at the Airport of Hong Kong, waiting for my visa to Mainland China, it is just 6 hours of waiting time, so no wories please. Luckily enough is there free wire-less LAN available and I have the right adaptor in my baggage to use Hong Kong enery - that way I can expand my wireless LAN pleasure!

So, 15.7: Mit dem Motorroller durch das Zentralgebirge (Deutsch)

So, 15.7: Mit dem Motorroller durch das Zentralgebirge

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Fabian auf Achse: mit dem Motorroller durch das Zentralgebirge
am Sonntag, den 14. Juli 2007 in "Taiwan Heute"

Fabian auf der Pagode Sommerzeit ist Ferienzeit. Fabian Roday und Florian Göbel haben sich deshalb wieder auf ihre Motorroller gesetzt und sind in Richtung Süden aufgebrochen. Mehrere landschaftliche Höhepunkte standen auf dem Programm. Fabian und Florian berichten heute vom ersten Teil der Reise: Wie sie von Taipei aufbrechen und dann ohne Benzin in den Bergen des Zentralgebirges liegen bleiben. Am Sonntag, den 14.7.2007 im Sonntagsmagazin in "Fabian auf Achse"
Bergpanorama	Fabian und Florian
Trotz Regen guter Dinge: Fabian und Florian
Erster Nachmittag

Fabian auf Achse: Auf dem Nachtmarkt zur "kleinen Nachtmahlzeit" (Deutsch)

Fabian auf Achse: Auf dem Nachtmarkt zur "kleinen Nachtmahlzeit"

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am Sonntag, den 1. Juli 2007
mit Fabian Roday und Florian Göbel

Foto Tourismusbüro Taiwan: auf den Nachtmärkten ist die Auswahl groß, um den "kleinen Hunger" spät abends zu stillen

Heute ist Fabian wieder einmal "auf Achse", diesmal geht es allerdings weniger um eine abenteuerliche Reise zu den landschaftlichen Schönheiten Taiwans. Fabian stellt zusammen mit Florian eine Spezialität in Taiwan vor, die sogenannte "kleine Nachtmahlzeit". Dazu haben sich die beiden Feinschmecker auf einen der vielen Nachtmärkte in Taipei begeben und sind den Essgewohnheiten der Taiwaner zu später Stunde nachgegangen. Diesen Beitrag senden wir am Sonntag, den 1. Juli 2007 in "Taiwan Heute".

Gaelic Football (English)

It is never to try new things! Today was the day I took part in my first Gaylic ... ehm sorry
Gaelic Football training across the full pitch.
Gaelic Football is a mixture of soccer (or football) and rugby. You are allowed to kick the ball, but also to pick it up. When you have the ball in your hands you must pass it by fisting. You get points for scoring above the goal post. The is no kick off point as there is in soccer and players stick to their position on the field and the man they are covering a lot more then in that sport.
Actually everyone is covering a player, whether offence or defence. It is rougher then soccer, but not as rough as rugby looks (I never played it myself, so I don't really know).
It was a lot of fun to play with these, definitely to some extent crazy Irish people and their fellows from other English speaking countries.We were also very lucky with the weather here in Taipei, no rain, no sun and about 24 degrees. Perfect to run around on the pitch.

PS: The team I played with are the famous Taiwan Gaelic Footballers, who recently won the Asian Cup in Singapore. Congratulations!

A short clip from the match! Thanks to 如秀 for the great camera work:

《施氏食獅史》 (中文)

《施氏食獅史》

石室詩士施氏, 嗜獅, 誓食十獅。
氏時時適市視獅。
十時, 適十獅適市。
是時, 適施氏適市。
氏視是十獅, 恃矢勢, 使是十獅逝世。
氏拾是十獅屍, 適石室。
石室濕, 氏使侍拭石室。
石室拭, 氏始試食是十獅。
食時, 始識是十獅, 實十石獅屍。
試釋是事。

Wikipedia:

施氏食獅史
维基百科，自由的百科全书
跳转到： 导航, 搜索

《施氏食獅史》是一篇由趙元任所寫的設限文章。全文共九十一字（連標題九十六字），每字的普通話發音都是shi。這篇文言作品在書面閱讀時並沒有問題，但當用普通話朗讀或者將作品拉丁轉寫的時候，問題便出現了，這是近代漢語同音字多的緣故。

很多人認為趙元任是希望通過本篇，引證中文拉丁化所帶來的荒謬。但是支持拉丁化的人卻指出趙元任乃是國語羅馬字的主要設計者，他只是舉例說明拉丁化只適合於白話文，不適合於文言文。

Bijbaantje (Nederlands)

Ja, zonder de IB groep achter je naar het buitenland gaan. Soms wordt het dan gewoon een beetje krap met het geld. Ook de leuke beurs vanuit Taiwan is al lang opgebruikt, het is ook al reeds de 12de van de maand. Dus wat valt er te doen, als je niet alleen maar in de bieb wilt zitten om te studeren?
Klopt! Je hebt een bijbaantje nodig! Harm ging dus vandaag even stage lopen als flyer-verdeler. Het was wel een gezicht voor de mensen in het Ximending (西門町) winkel gebied.
Hoewel Harm voor dit keer 10 flyer verdelen nog geen centje kreeg deed hij dat al zeer goed en met groet succes. Binnen de tijd van de video onderaan waren alle flyer verdeelt!
Dus er bestaan beste kansen voor Harm!

Waiting (English)

Waiting means, that what you want to do cannot be done right now.
We do have to wait a lot of times during our lives.
Waiting can put a lot of stress on us. Waiting can be very relaxing too.
We can wait for good things, that we think it is worthwhile waiting for;
we can wait for things that we don't actually want to wait for.

When I was still studying in good old Europe one of my teachers told me that we should be busy with Chinese language all the time, for example while waiting or doing the laundry. He recommened us to listen to CD's or maybe mp3's during those waiting periods, or periods when our brain is not fully used up. The reason for that is that our brain needs to get stimulated by the language we want to learn repetition.

Another thing that need a lot of training and repetition is dancing! A young man showed us today in the MRT in Taipei that waiting for the MRT does indeed not need to be a waste of time....

5 day scooter tour: 合歡山 (English)

The next morning started a bit later then planned (due to some nice little visitors to our room who were running around "above our heads"). But after the local breakfast and a not free refill at the gas station, we were unstoppable again.

The next stop of our tour was the 合歡山 Hehuan Mountain, one of the highest peaks in Taiwan. We went up to a height of 3420 meters, with a temperature of around 20 degrees, amazing clouds floating around us and a nice cooling breeze.
As introduced earlier part of our professional equipment was my newly bought Asus Laptop and a copy of Fifa 07, so we combined both things and tried to play the game on the peak of the mountain. But the bright sunlight made it kind of hard, so we had to cancel that plan. But we had the chance to find a special bird, a species which appears to be very rare in Taiwan.
Another highlight while climbing to the peak was to see the only Taiwanese skiing lift ever, but nowadays not in use anymore and there is nothing left but rusty pillars and a ruin of the former crank house.
After climbing back to reach our scooters yet again, we headed towards the next destination. The famous and romantic Sun Moon Lake or 日月潭. A place all Taiwanese couples fancy to go.
We were amazingly lucky and found a nice room (the last one in the hotel), with flat-screen TV, and nice equipment just before the heavy rain started.
The night was filled with dinner, SPA and FIFA.

Hehuan Mountain

5 day scooter tour: Day One (English)

Yet again it was time. The road was calling. We could not ignore our instincts any more. We had to fulfil our own deep desires and go on another scooter tour. The first one was a great success. With a lot of experiences and challenges. But this tour topped everything we have seen before.
This time only Fabian "Atze Tiger vom Kiez" und Florian "Paelzer Atze" were daring the challenge.

The equipment:
- 2 x 125 CC scooter from Taiwanese brands.
- 2 x brand name backpacks
- 1x Panasonic Lumix FZ 30
- 1x Nikon Digital Camera
- 1x Asus A8Js
- 2x Joypad
- 1x Fifa 07 (original version)
- X x a lot of other stuff

The tour of our lives guided us through mountain roads, clouds, some of the highest mountain peaks in Taiwan, tropical heat, and a lot of kilometres on the road.

The first day was about leaving Taipei during the beginning of a monsoon phase and gaining kilometres, leaving Fuxing (復興) and other cities behind us. The rain and the sudden drop of temperature made it hard to start of with our tour.
The sudden lack of gas and the early closing time of the local gas station made us stop in a mountain village in a local 民宿 a kind of pension with nice little rats walking on the ceiling of our room.
We still had a chance to get to know the local people and the Filipino house keeper Lisa aka "Pugi" of our host.

Erster Tag Scooter Tour

打屁股 (English)

Yesterday was a day with a lot of events: First of all was it the last day of Annelies' stay in Taiwan, on the other hand was it the day that Malissa, Suey and their Danish friend arrived to get to know the beautiful island of Taiwan.

To celebrate this special day a group of about 10 people went to the Dutch students' "stamkroeg" 5.11 to play the great game 打屁股 or "hit ya bum".
A game played with dices, where one person starts to roll the dices and checks out the amount shown secretly. After that every player of the game has to say a number or give the command to go back or pass. The one who finally says the number which is shown by the dices will be hit on her or his bum. If the hitter hits not hard enough, the tides change and the positions of hitter and victim change. A great game for those with rather special interests, especially in the combination with alcohol.
Annelies, I hope the marks on your bum shall remind you of the great fun we had here in Taiwan with you!

打屁股

Nieuws vanaf het dak (Nederlands)

Sinds een ruim tijd is de uitspraak "ik ga alvast op het dak" bij ons op de dorm vak te horen en zeker niet zeldzaam.
Als wij op het dak gaan, dan gaat meestal ook een lekkere portie bier en enkele zakjes chips mee. Met een aangenaam weertje (niet te heet of benauwd, en geen regen) is het dak inderdaad de leukste plek van ons dorm. De uitzicht is uitstekend en de rust verfrissend.
Ook is er ruimte voor het een of ander leuk gesprek, en zeker een toplocatie om onze gast uit het verre Beijing een bijzonder sfeer van ons Taipei te laten beleven.

Raining Taipei (English)

This summer is really rainy and hot. It can rain for hours or days, and it always rains heavily...

Annelies op bezoek in Taiwan (Nederlands)

Onze medestudente Annelies heeft haar nieuw thuis in Beijing verlaten om te komen kijken hoe het leven of het kleine eiland Taiwan toe gaat. Gister is zij dus op het vliegveld in Taipei door een delegatie in ontvangst genomen. Wel, naar 1,5 uur vertraging vanuit Macau, van wegen onweer.

Nu heeft ze een week om te beleven wat er te beleven valt.
Ik ben al erg naar haar indrukken benieuwd.