happy chinese "niu" year!

here's wishing everyone a happy chinese new year! (year of the ox)

earlier tonight as the clock struck midnight, the temple down the street from my place let off fireworks for about 20 minutes to bring in the new lunar year.

here's a video taken from our bedroom window showing a couple minutes of that firework display.....



祝大家新年快樂! 萬事如意!! 恭喜發財!!!

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moblog: i heart sushi

having lunch at sushi express, the rotating sushi restaurant.

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moblog: gangster bus driver

"Waddup. They call me Blackdog"

update: all buses in taiwan now have a nameplate on the back with the driver's chinese and english names. as you can see here, this drivers english name is blackdog. i'm assuming his nickname in chinese is "黑狗兄" (hei-gou-xiong) which literally translates into "black dog brother". this is a common moniker given to gangsters here, altho' i doubt this bus driver is one, unless the current economic crisis has hit the underworld as well so he had to take up another job. lol!

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more of olivia talking on the phone

don't know what she's saying but she sure loves to talk!

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more of olivia walking

just some more footage of olivia walking. around the 0:25 mark, you can see her ask me to hold her by putting her hands out and saying "bao bao", which means to hold (or hug) in chinese.....

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2008 company year-end party... the last supper

last weekend was the year-end party (weiya) for all of our company's business units in all of taiwan, which accounts to about 900+ people.

due to the current economic crisis and some other bullshit reasons, my business unit (which consists of 24 people) is getting the axe and shutting down for good in a few weeks. so, with this year's party potentially being our last, we dubbed it our "last supper" then proceeded to tear it up and get shit-faced!


the night's entertainment. some local band, altho' they sang mostly english songs the whole time.


here's the lead singer.


900+ people. big venue!


of course the girls behaved themselves.....


as for the boys, that's another story. let the games begin!



























"sorr im so fuckibg drubk"

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olivia the reindeer

haven't taken many photos of olivia lately, but here's a few taken during new year's eve at hukou.....

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the ufo pod village in sanzhi

for many years, i've known about the ufo pod village homes along the north coast. i've driven by this mysterious and allegedly haunted place many times before but never actually went in. however, last month, along with hui-chen and mj, we took the opportunity to go inside and walk around this abandoned housing community during our trip to frank's texas bbq, which is located just a few minutes drive from the site.

for the story of this housing project, go to the following link: http://sofree.twbbs.org/blog/2008/01/20/truth-about-frp

in summary, these were developed as vacation homes some 30+ years ago but the building company had to halt everything and abandon the project due to financial problems.

didn't take any photos but here are some videos i took there.....









the following is an excellent timelapse video by jason chen.....


here's the google maps location.....

view larger map

i'm really glad we went to visit this place because it has been demolished since!

what a shame!

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