The "Rock festival" and the "Tallest building"

The night just before this day, I was uneasy. I was insomniac. Recently, I have this tendency of being uneasy with early mornings. This night was not an exception. Sleep did not come easy. But finally I slipped in the abyss, the still mysterious world for mankind, SLEEP.

Rising early and get going hasn’t been my thing. I indolently snoozed the alarm. Repeated the same thing twice before reluctantly getting out of bed. We got ready and made some breakfast. I hurriedly got on my bicycle and paddled fast to reach school (read univ).DD followed me. We had to reach there by 8:00am and we had not done a bad job, making it on 8:05. Wei made a call about which I was unsure. I gave him a “what was that glance”. He told me we will drive. I guessed we were driving to Dounan train station. But soon I found out that we were going drive all the way to Taipei. If I believe him, driving is faster than taking a train. So we set out on our little trip to THE ROCK FESTIVAL.

I had had mixed emotions about the trip. I was both excited and confused. Excited, as I am music fanatic. Confused because I was not sure how will it be, head banging to a chinka rock song. So it remained kind of mystery.

Back to the day concerned, the day was bright and sunny. The elements of nature finally showed some mercy. The air was filled with a sweet smell from the rain on the previous night. The sunshine was crisp; the sky was blue with white clouds bellowing above and a light breeze made it almost perfect. Our professor’s assistant and her sister were going to Taipei for something and were kind enough to let us join them. The assistant in her late forties and her sister a bit younger than her were quite chirpy. Jimmy, wei and these to ladies kept on saying something and kept laughing. In the meantime, I was busy in absorbing the morning and get ready for the adventure ahead.

The sun and the foamy clouds were casting shadows on the meadows and lush green hills. These were so beautiful look at that I even took a picture. We were on the freeway. The freeways here are like spider webs. They are full of twists, turns, loops of all kind which make the whole journey a roller coaster ride. With green hills, white clouds, well lined houses, some rice plantations in between, the whole journey was pleasant. It reminded me of the scenic beauty of this country. DD told me that the scene reminded him of Guwahati.

Let’s fast forward to the train station. We had to catch a train to get to Fulong, our destination. The train station was amazing and there were help desks all around. Being a Chinese speaking nation, I think it is imperative to have such facility. The station was clean and plenty of English speaking Taiwanese. We got a ticket and got on to the train. Now, this was the first time I found some kind of resemblance with India. The coach was full of music enthusiasts and couples. But one contrasting thing was that nobody was shouting orders to the people sitting to make some room for others. They sat calmly as nobody disturbed them. They got off when they wanted to. In a similar situation in India, the cacophony and the pushing makes it impossible to get out of the coach. But despite the rush we enjoyed the air conditioned coach. We reached Fulong at around 1pm.

The first thing I noticed as we got of the train was bikini babes. :P Well can’t help staring. After some time you get used to them and get blasé. We got your much needed grub, changed and headed for the beach. The build up was huge. The crowd was young and in large numbers. There is a bridge that leads to the beach. The beach is a bay, surrounded by water on three sides. I don’t have words to describe the view. It was awesome. Surrounded by lush green mountains with angel white clouds casting shadows, cool breeze sweeping your hair, fragrance of perfume everywhere it was lovely. The music started late at around 4pm. We had to leave early, dunno why. But I had seen what I had come to experience. The music didn’t appeal that much to me.

I wanted to go to the top of 101. So we made a plan to scale it. When we got to Taipei, we took a metro to 101. After half an hour, we were waiting in the queue with the next lot to go to the top. The wait was exciting. I noticed a few Americans as well. We got on the lift, the fastest elevator in the world. It took us 33 seconds to reach the top. Standing in the elevator you have the same funny feeling in your ears that you get when an aircraft takes off. There we were on the top of the tallest building of the world. The feeling is overwhelming. The first thing I thought was the things that made it possible. My whole life flashed in front of my eyes. I still remember words DD said after we got down, “We should never forget our roots.” Every word of this adage is true. When you watch those tiny buildings, helpless earthlings and toy cars, you feel a sense of power. You feel you have achieved something. But the building reminds you that no success is eternal. The building will not be the tallest by Sep 2009. So it prompts you to carry on the way you have to scale larger heights in future.

The next unique thing we saw was the biggest damper in the world. For the non geeks, damper is the thing that keeps the building stable and from toppling. These guys have adopted a concept of “Damper” babies (little baby cartoons) for merchandising souvenirs. I liked the marketing idea. A great way to make cash without fuss.

The next thing we did was to have dinner and get going. The same to ladies were there to pick us up. On our way back our eyes were treated with yet another beautiful sight. Now before I elaborate, let me tell about freeways in Taiwan. Being a small country, the freeways cut right through the cities. So at night with all the lights the sight is breathtaking. Taichung city, 2^nd biggest here, was a beauty. We stopped for a minute. I took two pictures, but in vain. Cameras at night are not the best of the gadgets. The last exciting thing that happened that followed was watching a Lamborghini Gallardo in action. We were driving at 120 Km/hr. At first I was looking the other way. A car, jet black, was just coming to the other side. It was as if the driver was brandishing his car. The next moment, the Beast roared and took off. We were too slow for one of the fastest production car in the world. Within 5-8 seconds it was gone, just like that. Then came the crazy Benz driver. He overtook us and then slowed down to go back again he repeated it twice and disappeared. Those were the last few moments of excitement for us. The day was awesome and full of thrills.

Taiwan....finally it happened....:P

Taipei 101

The whole internship thing was a pain in my ass since the beginning. I was hoping to hit it big, like going to Europe or US, but finally managed just a petty country like Taiwan. But now I realize how wrong I was.

After all the medical problems in the beginning( these stones seem to like me...as they keep coming back....this one in particular really didn't want to leave me... :P ) I was finally going to the place of my intern.

My first day in Taiwan was the most fun. There were three guys with me. Names Dipto, Jimi and one more( i still dont know his name :P). We went around Taipei city in our Professor's car. I was dumbstruck when I first saw the car. Not a Audi or Merc but really luxurious. Then when we entered the city, I was left agape. Globalization at its best. McDonalds and KFC's spread around the city. If you ignore the Chinese, the city was no less than a NY. We had a room booked for the night, courtesy our Professor again :P. As soon as we reached the room, I slipped under the blanket and enjoyed 2 hours of sound sleep.


When I woke up, others were ready to go to the famous Taipei night market. We went to the metro station. At first sight you might mistake it to the one in Delhi(I won't say Kolkata...it sucks..). But soon I figured out the difference. The whole place was automatic. The ticket came out as the coins went in. There were ATMs and whole lot more. The train was in awesome condition(looked brand new to me).

The night market was altogether a different world. The place had all kinds of stuff. The first thing we did was to eat. I was apprehensive at first since it was my first meal in Taiwan. I was expecting cockroaches and squids. Although I was not disappointed, I asked my friend to order me something which has four legs and was not a pig. I got a dish which I identified as beef. It was good, if not great. There is a dish called stinky tofu. People here find great pleasure in making foreigners eat it. It surely stinks. But I found the taste to be ok. I was full. These people have big appetite.


Then these guys took us to a drinks shop( fruit drink). These people love drinks. All kind of drinks. They have tons of different fruit drinks. It is difficult to choose one, since I knew nothing about them :P. They handed me a menu with pictures of some drinks and asked me to select one. A strange thing about drinks here is that each drink has something solid at the bottom. They make the whole drink look like one of the jars used in biology labs with some human fetus. Finally, after all the..... imagining the taste, I chose a red one and inquired about the taste. After I had my first sip I realized these people enacted the taste right. When they were doing there little explaining, I thought either they were signaling a cold drink with red chili or a really sour one. Now looking back, I conclude that Jimi, our translator, acted exactly like one of those centershock ads.

After that, we waded through the crowd for a little longer. Saw the clothes section of the market, went to the gaming or fun zone. These guys have really weird games. There is game in which you fish prawns in a small tank of dimensions limited to a mere 2 m* 2 m maximum, and you pay 100$ for one hour of that. Of course you get to eat what you fish. The last part was going to the snake market and the pet market........

Jimi showed us around the city and showed us the metro station(MRT station) and the bus station, the 23 no. gate which we were supposed to use when we want to go back :)...

After the long flight and our long stroll around the city, we finally got to the hotel and I rested in peace..... :P

This was my day one in Taiwan