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Travel to the South-East Asia: Hong-Kong and TaiwanDate: 04/09/2004
By: Sandy
Introduction"We are back! I am looking forward to telling you that Taiwan and Hong-Kong is absolutely different lifestyle, it is incredible and instructive. I promise to publish the itinerary and the photo coverage, because for those 12 hours on the plane while getting back home I finished writing all the notes - only the style polishing left!" - which I wrote at Sandytimes still at night on the 7th, but the problems that came up every second prevented me from getting down to the creative process...
The trip was fantastic, but for myself in many ways that was a succession of shocks, indeed. Here is shock number one - two days before the trip:-)))
Wow! The boss! Booking a table himself! Ordering a duck! Almost a week in advance! That was simply incredible, but that was indeed a remarkable event, and in many ways the trip was incredible... Finally, my favorite taxi-driver Pyotr (who regularly gives a lift anywhere to my family folks whenever I can't, drives me whenever I want to have some drink, and who already knows Andrey's private address, the address of our office etc.) took us to the Sheremetyevo airport on the evening of 29th January. That day was dreadful - heavy snow-storms, skids and traffic-jams.. It took us over two hours to get to the airport (by the way, Pyotr was getting back for for over three hours), and all the time we feared to get stuck completely and miss the plane.
Andrey was doing his regular ritual of traveling abroad, explaining all the details to me, since it was the first time we were on a long journey together, and I was not "at the wheel", so was able to maintain any "tradition".
We called all the relatives, said good-bye, listened to valedictory and wished, and went off to the boarding. There were few white people traveling in the plane, those who were flying were mostly Chinese. We picked up some Russian newspapers - "Kommersant", "Vedomosti" and whatever lying on the bar, understanding we might see Russian papers again in a week. Got at the seats. I sat down by the windows - I adore watching sunrises and sunsets through the viewport. Then we took out the whiskey, drank to the success of the trip, to the safe running of our website while we are away, then ... we ran out of whiskey, switched off the lights, had supper and dozed.
 I am filling in forms PART 1. Hong-Kong - aka the special administrative district Xianggang (Xian-Gang as per the Old Chinese maps)30 January, 2004 Hong-Kong, 1 pm local time. Landing almost in the ocean - a complete perception that we are landing on water. There is very little land over here, so they bulked a whole island (!) of soil for the airport (!), two strips - one for takeoff, the other for landing, the traffic is impressive, and the airport is as huge as as a city!
We passed through all the controls easily and went off to the city. But Andrey had to take off his hat every now and then - it either rang or the sanitary inspection feared he was hiding a disease under his hat, or the photo of a typical botanist in his travel passport didn't fit his current image of a "cool cowboy". It is 30 January, winter outside, but 17 C, green everywhere, the sun is shining.
 Bridges...  suspension, open-work...  tunnel Motorways! Bridges! Tunnels! Hong-Kong actually takes a tiny area - the island itself and a little of mainland - Kou Long peninsula, and on the mainland part immediately near the shore there start mountains. To build something, they clear up the construction site, connect the mains and erect a "branch" of skyscrapers.  Multicolored branches of skyscrapers The city layout up to the shore is unwonted - nests of residential skyscrapers located wide apart from one another. The motorways are excellent, were built yet before 2000 under the British guidance (in 2000, the treaty was over and now Hong-Kong is Chinese, not British). The cargo port - we were driving along it for over 20 minutes at 110 km/hr, that is, it is at least 30 km long. That is something incredibly huge, and it is still being built extensively... Hong-Kong is a concentration of cargos and money from all the South-East Asia, which immediately catches your eye - the city is rich and very busy. Inside the city itself, even in the oldest part, construction is underway everywhere - old houses are pulled down, and skyscrapers are built instead.  Construction site  A lodge :-) The Park-Hotel met us amiably and gave us an apartment bearing the lucky number! -)))))  The lucky number means the trip is going to be fortunate!  A scene from the room's window We dropped our luggage, changed clothes, drank a small whisky to refresh after the 11 hour long flight and rushed off to look around the city. We found ourselves on the mainland part of Hong-Kong (Kou Long district) - that was unforgettable experience, but anyway you should stay here for a couple of days: one day for the island, the other for the mainland part. Two days and night is quite enough to look around the most remarkable and interesting - the whole Hong-Kong takes merely 1000 sq. km, but one day is definitely not enough.   We "worked through" our (mainland) part of the city well enough - walked through a dozen of streets located perpendicularly to the embankment, then another five parallel ones. The Chinese New Year (22 January) celebrations were still on, so all the decorations were still there.  At the entrance to the shop  Holidays are still on...  "City night club" We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant, I really had a hankering for really delicious meals - e.g. my favorite miso soup. We, frequenters of sushi restaurants in Moscow ordered a helping of soup and were dumbfounded when they served us each a huge dish of it - as much as 1.5 liters. The soup was so thick to make a spoon stand. Neither Andrey nor I were able to eat it all up - but it was really delicious! So we were eating it long and circumstantially from both dishes, enjoying.. and the sushi was superb. The waiter was desperately trying to figure out what country we came from, but the word "Moscow" proved know over here as well, he was staggered to know how distant our Motherland was and immediately brought us some restaurant souvenirs.  Hard choice! We had a long walk around the city, had coffee at the French "Kafe de li France", some beer at Huppo Pub for recovery - there in Moscow we mostly sit at the PC monitors, in a car, at parties, and here we made a long walking journey a few kilometers long.  Streets  Colonnade   "New mandarins" - in my pseudo-English transcription -)
Well, regarding the that signaling system - we walked along lots of streets, I was about to sit down and take the air, but Andrey was still looking for the passage to the embankment. Wherever we walked, the passage to the embankment was blocked by construction sites, so I decided to do without the embankment, but something was pushing and shoving Andrey not letting him calm down on the seen -))
We spent about an hour over there without leaving the place, only taking pictures of that repast of color music and urban planning of the 21st century. On that side of the gulf, on the insular part of Hong-Kong - on the roofs of endless skyscrapers there were color laser rays crossing and twisting into spirals (regardless of distance between buildings they are all synchronized with the ray colors all pre-selected. When we showed these pictures in Moscow to various people we repeatedly changed planes in Hong-Kong to the Taiwanese flight - the response was unanimous:
On the embankment, we came across just the IT stuff as large as life. We were simply astounded by a photographer with superb digicams and three photo printers on a trolley (he fitted the power supply from a large battery like that for the car). He takes pictures, prints them out immediately, puts into neat transparent covers and all is ready in 5 minutes! There are lots of people wishing to get a photo right at the embankment.  We were also tempted and that was not in vain at all We were taking pictures of all that beauty untiringly, my "ladies'" model of Cassio camera was not up to the mark of course, but Olympus was on par and now it's time to recall all that and imagine those days looking at these photos. We were long choosing to embark a pleasure-boat and look at the embankment where we were standing from out of the ocean, but... that was already a late evening and we would have to get up early the next morning for the flight to Taiwan (7 am local time or 2 am Moscow time).
 The ocean liner At the hotel, we tried to find out with the porter where the nearest striptease bar was - to get all the impressions of "high life", and they directed us to the Kangaroo bar. By the bar, there was an unbelievably jaunty sports-class Ferrari, but our attempts to get into the bar failed - the owner of that Ferrari hired the bar together with the striptease dancers... "Bummer" - as Andrey said :-)
 In the pub We were slowly coming back to the hotel, understanding that were were unlikely to see that marvelous view again... Too difficult to get here, too far away, too expensive, and - simply too little time for such travels. That was really smart of Andrey to plan it all carefully in advance (which is by the way shock number two!) so that were able to gain those 24 hours for Hong-Kong and see the city instead of simply changing planes at the Hong-Kong airport to a flight to Taiwan, which we regularly do, that we got a detailed idea of the local shops, restaurants and smoking-rooms at the airport :-)  Hong-Kong P.S. I hope it is clear to everyone - you have read a coverage of the First day of our travel. It will be continued in part 2 that follows:
31 January, 2004 Part 2. Hello, Taiwan!Early rise, breakfast at the hotel - regular, European, tasty enough. On seeing us at the table, a merry Chinese waitress is racing somewhere skippingly. She then brings the bill and smiling charmingly is handing it over to us, we are trying to explain that all has been paid for, but fail to come to a consensus. We pull out our guest cards, she is slightly aggravated and is explaining something to us in a Chinese-English mix. We hardly understand that she is giving us a 40% discount for the breakfast. We are lazy to argue (we were terrifically sleepy - over here it is 7 am, while in Moscow it is 2 am). Anyway, it's time to leave, we pay and leave the restaurant - she comes up with us by the lift and returns all the money back, still spluttering something, thinking that she explains all in a good English language - funny. Here is the taxi. The porter explains the taxi driver where to drive us - looks like the word "airport" is clear enough, but nevertheless the explanation is long and detailed-)) Again we are riding through a ripping tunnel, over those incredible bridges, looking at the branches of skyscrapers... The city is snorting, in many ways a city of the 22nd century, although ancient China is peering-))  Three-tiered crossovers of Hong-Kong airport...  Winter, last day of January - a farewell to Hong-Kong. I was amazed by the mandarin trees growing everywhere. They told us later that strawberry and mandarins are winter fruits!   The boss is hurrying outside to smoke again and again before the journey although it's not long - merely 1 hour 35 minutes, the bus-like planes travel to Taipei and back every hour. Motto of the day:  A smoke-break before the flight. I am sitting and watching the takeoff strip, the Pacific, the planes ... I did like the Drakon Air, a Chinese air company, with a huge red dragon depicted on the fuselage rear of every plane.  A small plane by Ketti air company - looks like an Icarus passenger bus. On the plane, we are served with breakfast sort of McDonald's big Macs - awful muck, much worse that that served at Aeroflot planes. At the same time, high-tech is where it should be - monitor displays at every chair back, earphones, lots of TV programs, the chairs themselves are simply a miracle of convenience...
I am looking at the Taiwan island from above - there are lots of neat little ponds, they collect water for irrigation and storage (salty water is everywhere), all the houses are mainly low - the island frequently suffers from earthquakes. The landing - Taipei airport is no match to that in Hong-Kong, it is smaller, but no smaller than ours, Domodedovo. Chang Kai Shi airport - 31 January 2004 - winter, the sun is shining, +17 C in the shade. We pick up our suitcases, walk through all the check-ups, taking off the hat traditionally -))) There are two types of taxi standing on both sides - the first row is red, the other one yellow. I choose the yellow, we are trying to get in - Andrey is holding out the address note to the driver who grabs the card, splutters something and rushes to the dispatcher who then directs us to a red taxi. In so doing, the dispatcher is explaining something to the taxi driver at length, although we have the hotel's card on hands where all is told in details, even with Chinese hieroglyphs. As we found out later, neither card nor note help dealing with taxi drivers. The only option left is oral explanation, so on leaving the hotel the porter gave all the instructions to the taxi driver, but more often we called those whom we were to meet for talks, then handed the receiver over to the driver... then we listened to a long Chinese talk, and finally he drove us to the place we requested. What a scorcher that taxi-driver was! He was overtaking all, changed driving lanes every minute, and was rushing like a madman. Poor boss who has a horror of fast driving and yells "Slower!" all the time just turned mad and was bellowing all the way, but was unable to explain anything to the scorcher - he does speak English at all. In the end, breathing freely on getting out of the taxi by the hotel he forgot completely about his favorite hat that he had put under the glass at the seat back, and .. the taxi rushed off at the same crazy speed, leaving us deeply upset.. On the way, frozen on the seats with both hands to secure against the rough maneuvers of the driver, Andrey anyway contrived to show me the sights ... and even take pictures of them.  The palace that Chang Kai Shi gifted to his wife is impressive... Our hotel - Agora Garden - is simply magnificent.  The front door to the hotel  The New Year illumination of the hotel stays there for almost a year round...
In our hotel, all the apartments are de luxe suites, two-roomed and, most importantly, connected to Internet. Having dropped our things, we first thing logged on to the net (of course, Andrey brought his notebook) - looked how 3DNews was going on without out tender guidance. It's 10 am in Moscow, and Pavel Alashkin calmed us down that all was going well. Then we, Internet addicts badly yearning for the net for almost two days, chatted in turn from Andrey's ICQ with all our numerous friends and partners, signing all the time if it was Andrey or Sasha, since our manner of communication is different, and the briefness of the boss makes quite a difference from my extended messages, so it didn't make sense aggravating our regular chat partners with my abrupt dryness or surprising those who are used to Andrey's conciseness of replies:-))) We also received emails confirming the dates for our meetings for the nearest coming days. I made corrections to the calendar of appointments for 5 days compiled while in Moscow and rushed out to look around the hotel's neighborhood because here like in all southern countries it gets dark quite early. Andrey wanted to show me some sights before it gets dark, and when we got to the hotel and unpacked our things it was already 5 pm.  A huge one-stop department store where you can buy virtually anything -three very long buildings linked with crossovers.  The center, also called "moll". All in all, we are not used to such thing like a moll. It is an aggregation of trading, spectacular areas and catering establishments. You can spend a whole day over here - shopping, cafe, restaurants, cinema center and lots of other attractions.. simply impossible to list all what is there in here. Families with little kids come here for a whole day and spend it getting bright and varied experiences. Of course, such amusement will not suit to all - personally, I would have got bored in a couple of hours, but I realize many people find the place very interesting and rejoicing. Young Taiwanese who drive around the city on scooters (motorcycles and petrol is too expensive for them) come here to have some fun after work or studies. On one of the lower floors of the moll, there is "a food house" - a huge premises with lots of cafe show-cases where you can buy the food from all the world's countries and eat it up right here sitting at the tables disposed over the endless hall. We quickly ordered a lunch at 150 Taiwanese dollars (amusingly, the Taiwanese dollar is almost equal to the ruble, so it's easy to count) made up of soup, salad, tea. The soup was in a big enough plate with noodles and lots of gifts of the sea, so neither Andrey nor I were able to eat it up although it was absolutely tasty and we felt hollow after the flight.  An ocean of mopeds and scooters. All over the city there are lots of scooters and young people with books, copy-books and notebook PCs. They all study - there's the impression that all the youth study - in the cafe, in the streets, underground - everywhere. The difference in living standards between the company professional worker who speaks English and the ordinary Chinese is immense. acquired All want to have a life of dignity and invest lots of efforts for that - very impressive, and you understand why they are progressing so fast. We haven't seen neither drunkard nor drug addict anywhere - I understand it's there in remote districts, but there were NO ONE dilapidated, disorderly young Chinese wherever I was. Frankly, it is enviable.   New Year holidays are still on.  Elegantly dressed streets. Our hotel is located in the district of the new Down Town, a busy city center. Office buildings, banks, expo complex (it's within short walking distance from the hotel where journalists are usually put up during Computex) - all is new, impressive, rich and nice.   New Year tree.  Local "Yukos" - a tower of the Taiwanese oil company.  Almost built symbol of the developing Taiwan - the highest tower in the South-East Asia. Construction of this skyscraper building in the form of a banana palm tree was launched two years ago, which is to complete by November 2004. Unfortunately, the observation platform still won't be complete by June's Computex, and the boss won't bring any photos taken from the very top. For now, the highest if the tower in Hong-Kong, but in Taiwan they are proud that theirs is going to be higher. The tower is seen from great distance, even from the airport which takes 40 minutes drive to get. But for today sightseeing is over, at 7 o'clock we are to meet Jean-Pierre and May - from our Taiwanese advertising agency IT Mediagate, as well as to see HER - the famous Peking-style duck.  The duck is already on the table with lots of hors-d'oeuvres. That is a family-run restaurant, the wife is in the kitchen, the householder is doing the most important part - cutting the duck, the daughter is a waiter, the son.. and two more people streaking by.  The householder - a restaurant owner - is at work. There are only two halls; the one we were in had merely 7 tables. Each table is taken by a Chinese family with a lot of little kids, and then a ritual starts. That is a whole procedure - lots of small dishes with snacks are served - vegetables, herbs, almost all is spicy but tasty. Then the householder rolls out a small table and cuts the duck in thin slices, having cut loose the skin in advance. The dish is put on the table, and blintzes sort of pita is served. You take a blintz, put a slice of duck skin on it, soak it in sauce, wrap it up in a roll and .. gulp in now time. Really tasty.  The duck is already on the table with lots of hors-d'oeuvres. Then they serve the neck and the backbone, or bouillon is brewed of all that (the thing they brew it in looks like a Russian samovar), which is also served on the table.  the Chinese "samovar". Andrey and I felt greed on seeing all that abundance and overate in 10 minutes, so could hardly taste what they were serving as appetizers to the duck again and again. The restaurant is very well-known in the city, so have to book a table in advance. As many as 40 ducks are eaten during an evening over here - a whole flock. The place is very cozy, home-like curtains on windows, the clients help themselves to the beverages they want - juices and water from the refrigerator. At the same time, it is a well run albeit small enterprise - there is a smaller hall for VIP servicing. I adore well-established business, especially family-owned. They say the householder was several times offered to sell the well-developed restaurant, but he refused to give up the family business point-blank - the Down Town is 200 meters away, so there's no end of visitors. Jean-Pierre, a big, calm and hasteless man who comes from Switzerland, and May is Chinese, local but absolutely non-typical - she is full of spurting energy, she can hardly sit calmly for a long time, running, bobbing up and down all the way. We three with Jean-Pierre drank a big bottle of "sake" but weren't rocked at all - a weak warm booze. May didn't drink at all: as they explained me later, alcohol is homicidal to Chinese ladies because they almost never take strong drinks - after a tiny cup of sake the girl is already deadly drunk. May and I made friends despite my complete inaptitude of talking English. Andrey went out for a smoke-break, and Jean-Pierre was bewitched while watching May and me socializing lively using gestures and some English words, discussing my boss -))) She simply asked me if my boss is good to me, if we are friends. And I said to her that it was not bad indeed, the boss is good and we normally are on friendly terms, but sometimes disputes nearly end up in fighting (which is absolutely true!) The guys were simply shocked to know that we've been working for 5 years already, and later we figured out why - it's normal over here switching jobs frequently (funny to realize - a new job calls for a new wave of patriotism to the new company). May adores all to do with horoscopes and immediately put forward a vast "scientific" theory saying we've worked for so long together because I am a Capricorn, and Andrey is a Leo, which means opposite signs gravitate to one another etc.. Entertaining. Meticulous May was inquiring me at length about all I do, my duties, then gasped with surprise and leeched to the boos with the question what my MAIN job was. There was a long explanation, narration and then Andrey finally enunciate is like this: "Alexa is my notebook PC!" (very funny - I even noted that down to remember)  The duck has been eaten, the acquaintance is made. The last day of January was very long and replete with impressions (Hong-Kong, Taiwan, flight, duck-))), and on return to the hotel apartment, recalling the sake with disgust we drank "to the arrival, I had some whiskey, Andrey - tequila to refresh himself... and fell asleep like a log. I hardly switched on the alarm clock in my mobile phone to be in due time for the pre-paid breakfast-)) P.S. That was Day Two. Continuation to follow in Part 3...
01 February, 2004 Part 3. Sunday - a day-off before the workweek:-)Morning. I hardly woke up on hearing the alarm clock in the mobile go off - I wish I slept more and more, but ... the pre-paid breakfast is until 10 am, so I have to get up definitely at 9. Repeating it again - it is 5 am of our Moscow time :-) There are quite a few people in the restaurant hall - either the hotel is half-empty, or the guests may have had breakfast much earlier. There is a vast choice of breakfast meals over here, and the early rise was not a problem for tasting local fruits and vegetables, and cheese. While in Moscow, Andrey has breakfast at supper time, so it's coffee, more coffee, and a bit of juice... Today companies are off work, all our meetings start from tomorrow, so today we are looking around the city, the boss is going to show me round as the time allows. First, the rear part of our hotel - "Paris' gardens"  Three-tiered "gardens".  Waterfalls...  Colonnade and waterfalls Then, we are coming down the local underground. Andrey is teaching me: -
 "Exit" in Chinese OK, "exit" - got that, agree there must be an exit, be it in English or Chinese! The underground is new, light, abundant in hi-tech - lots of metal in the finishing of stations. There are merely three stations with one "hub" stations, all is arranged smartly, many templates and pointers, but... you never what they mean :-)  At the underground station  The train is coming Andrey took a picture of the train's arrival sitting on the floor, putting the camera lens on top a pack of cigarettes. Polite Chinese were reverting their eyes :-)  We are riding to the "building" - a 51-storeyed tower with an observation platform. Arrived a bit early, but on the occasion of a day-off all works since 11 o'clock, so we went off to a local "rag fair". Very nice, overchoice, it's a pity that taking pictures is not allowed. Bought a small cooler - weighs as much as half a kilo!  The housing - a dream of any modder - is something between a PC casing and a car housing :-)  "The Mouse Kingdom" - mice, mouselings, "rats" for gamers. I did buy a mouse for myself, optical, metal - wonderwork! Andrey brought me an amusing mouse from the last Computech as a gift, but after six months it is malfunctioning. We strolled around the market over all the storeys and decided to come back by the end of the week (a great pity, it didn't work), we could have picked a lot of souvenirs, but for today we've got a lot to walk and walk and don't feel like carrying all with us. We got back to the tower - observatory, 244 meters high, 51st storey, construction completed in 1993. The observation platform is on the 46th storey, the lift is fast and we feel a bit of zero-gravity while lifting up, the flysheet proudly telling it took 30 seconds to get to the 46th storey. The first what we see through the opening lift doors is a huge photo of Gorbachov with a comrades who also used to be here. Only then we see photos of other world's eminent people...  Here it is, the tower! The view is magnificent indeed. There is some little fog, and the mountains are not seen well enough, but anyway it's beautiful.
 The Government House. You can't buy souvenirs from the 46th storey! It would be nice to have a snack on the 46th storey, but you don't feel like eating at all although there are lots of small cafes and restaurants. We walk around, the whole Taipei and lots of Taiwan is seen from here-) Local humidity prevents from looking far away...  A souvenir shop  "Wow!!!" We are contemplating the Chang Kai Shi memorial from above to which are now turning our steps - it is a must-see place.
 Chang Kai Shi memorial - top view. The road down below proved not that short and clear like it looked from the 46th storey - we had to look into the map to get to the street we needed. We were walking for quite a long and felt tired: - Which gates shall we take to enter the memorial - the Central? - The closest! I sent this photo immediately to those who asked me about the weather over here.  The chilly, rainy winter of Taipei-))))
Chang Kai Shi memorial Central gates to the memorial  One of the gates of the memorial  At the memorial park  The central building The memorial is humane, without much piety, but with much reverence and respect. What I really liked about the memorial library is that the personal library of Chang Kai Shi is turned into a computerized reading-room with free access to Internet, there are many children here - all study, and they do study, not play! There is a strange feeling that when all these kids get education this great number of well-educated Chinese will flood the whole world!  Madame Chang is a beautiful woman  With a limousine behind...  Change of the Guard of Honor The photo against the background of flowers was taken after my phone call home - in Moscow, there fell the rain, frost, everywhere all skating-rink, but here...  The winter in Taipei :-)))) Andrey is laughing:- "They kept telling me the winter is awful here - damp, dank, chilly, no central heating - dreadful! But over here it is paradise, 16-18 C (23 C in the sun), all is in bloom, warm wind, sunshine...  An alcove at the memorial against the tower We are coming back to the hotel by taxi, with feet hardly moving... the taxi driver reading the hotel card closely and delivered us to the place. Andrey is telling me what superb kneaders we are having at the hotel and we are going to find out more details. A flock of charming Chinese ladies not understanding a word in English chattering something in chorus... Andrey is trying to explain that "Massage for a lady!" is needed. In the end, employees from the reception get involved and we are trying to explain it with joint efforts - massage can be done immediately because there will be a two days break. Long, uneven explanation that I need a massage of feet, and... three Chinese ladies leading me away. The boss feeling keen about me is asking all to call him to his room if something goes wrong or is the Chinese ladies and I fail to understand each other. That's all right - the lady kneader knows five English words, I - fifteen, so we talk fine helping each other with gestures. She is tiny, delicate, but with very strong and cunning hands. They are bringing in some delicious tea for me - I am hardly help yelling of pain.. She is wresting limbs and massaging the muscles. It is especially painful in some points of feet, the lady kneader is showing on her belly what precisely is wrong in me and why it is so painful (that's right - these are my nephroliths), then pointing to my thoracic girdle (that's also right - I sit a lot at the monitor) etc.-)) One and a half hours of agony ( plus peeling, salts of the dead sea, strong hands) and I am given firm guarantees that my feet will be so strong that I will fly, which was right - once I got to the room I completely forgot about the weariness. By the way, on leaving we were given two bills - one from the SPA for my massage at 3240 Taiwanese dollars (100$), the other for the mini-bar at merely 280 for 6 days. VIP-services!-))) Then we are going to the mall for lunch, it's very close. On the way, we come across two jaunty Chinese old ladies on scooters - they are getting used to the modern lifestyle.  Andrey's favorite Chinese young ladies at the entrance to the mall... Noodle soup with seafood, very thick - big helpings, too much for me, but Andrey asked for a porringer of rice additionally and added - no sauce. I admired at that, but he was telling tutorially: Another Chinese of himself-))) Andrey went off to the hotel to lie down for a while, and I decided to look around the mall closer - my feet are now revived. May and Jean-Pierre were asking me surprise - how could I do without shopping, so I had to go for it...
By the way, where do fat Chinese ladies attire, do they all walk in robes? In our luxurious five-star hotel there many rich and fat Chinese men are living, and we immediately understood why a plump Chinese god should be caressed over the bald patch and big belly - to keep fortune in. It looks like getting married to a rich (i.e., fat), old (bald-headed) Chinese man, caress his head and paunch is done for making money pouring in - that's what happiness is all about! :-) Got back to the hotel, we took a breath, chatted with Moscow over the Internet by turns, got a progress report from colleagues despite Sunday... By the way, as the evening came, the boss tired of favorite sushi declared he urgently want some "fried ribs with meat", so we went out to "Ruby Tuesday" pub. European food, young Taiwanese families walking by the windows, nice music playing. Discussed things to be done tomorrow and headed to the cinema center (as many as 23 cinema halls).  With a T-shirt on by the New Year tree - it's winter!  At the stairs of the cinema center - Andrey's feet were not massaged, it's easier for him to sit than stand up...  Hello, Batman!  Here came the MONKEY year! Coming back to the hotel, we saw a TV commercial on a round pedestal - so unusual, interesting.  TV-pedestal. Late in the evening we watched Armageddon in English over the TV, Andrey was interpreting it to me carefully, we were nipping whiskey until got into a serious quarrel as usual. The next morning we couldn't recall what the row was about (I vaguely remember that I felt doubts of his artistic nature - anyway, the contrariety was indeed very serious!). But mostly we are on friendly terms in this fantastic trip :-)
Part 4. Business meetings - Abit02 February, 2004 "We aren't supposed to start a day with whisky, are we?" - Andrey said coming up to the refrigerator and pouring some tequila for himself :-) - That's much better. Now you can work fine, - and switched on the notebook. Our meeting was postponed to 2 pm, so I decided to snatch a nap for two more hours after breakfast, and the boss, a workaholic, started making up Starter's review: what if our employees won't cope with that while he is away-))  Tequila - a good companion in life and at work...  Souvenirs are ready - 3DNews' pots and packages-)  Awaiting the first business meeting in the hotel's hall. Tony and Scott - Abit Computer Corporation - came to pick us up to the hotel, so we headed for the "homely" lunch at "In house" restaurant, walking and talking.  "At home", i.e. "In house" -)) Just at the lunch, Andrey got down to implementing his cherished dream - learning the Chinese language. He leeched to Tony and Scott and started noting down Russian expressions in the Chinese translations with English transcription of course in my notepad-)) Well, guess which phrases my boss, a reputed fancier of charming Chinese ladies, decided to learn? -)))
All that was noted down in the course of lazy talk about new hardware rigs, Abit's plans, forthcoming CeBIT, June's Computech...in my notepad, and when I read all the phrases in sequence using my logics - the picture that built up was clear enough-)))
- I like you.
-))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
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| Some lyrical digression.
I remember coming to the boss in frustrated mood, tears in the eyes, I am quivering with despair or something.. Having seen me in such a a state, he says to me sympathetically says:
|
For the whole day Andrey was trying to get through to Melody Mo (GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY) to confirm our tomorrow's meeting.
She is not there - what a trouble, not available on the mobile or at her workplace - only the voice of the answering machine...
Finally, he leaves the message:
- Hi, Melody. I don't love your answering machine - I love you!
03 February, 2004
Morning. Again I am walking and sleeping, even at breakfast I am sleepy - I hardly get used to switching the time zones, but Andrey - fresh as ever - got down to work at once.
But, as you can see on the photo, to the left of him there is something that helps him start a working morning cheerily-))
Then Andrey holding a glass of whisky goes into Thinking Big.
As to me, I quickly browse all sent to me and send regards and instructions by email and ICQ to all my usual chat-buddies. Today, we are having some small meetings, Andrey is having some sort of personal... eehmm.. intimate date, and most important is "Meeting with Gigabyte".
It is raining outdoors, but we even didn't take our umbrellas. By the way, the umbrellas...
| Some lyrical digression.
Folks! Near every substantial shop and by many smaller ones, there is a rack for wet umbrellas where people leave their favorite umbrellas and pick up on the way back. If they happen to leave them, they can safely pick them up in a couple of days... Their umbrellas will be still there, patiently waiting for their owners, and no one will grab them... Very sad... Why can't we do that way? |
At 14-00, we get at a taxi as usual, dial Melody's mobile phone number, hand the receiver over to the driver and he gives us a lift to the precise place we are after - Gigabyte's office.
The high-tech style sculpture of Phoenix bird, standing in the hall of Gigabyte's, is there on all boxes for Gigabyte video cards.
Our long-standing helpmate May meets us and immediately leads the way to the third floor allotted to the marketing and sales departments...
There are all girls over the floor. Glancing over the huge premises and having seen such a great number of charming ladies, the boss stops kissing and hugging all whom he has even seen once, shouts to me:
- " Please find it urgently! I have written it somewhere in your notepad! What is the Chinese for "I love you"?
Hardly refraining myself from laughter, I am burrowing into my notepad half filled with writing - it keeps records of appointments, agreements, notes, plans and much else...
I am looking for it, but won't find... Andrey is also standing and looking at me, waiting. All the others around also stopped and keep looking at me in perplexity unable to understand what happened or what Andrey wants from me.
Ugh! At last I found the boss' favorite expressions and happy Andrey is walking round all the girls saying to each "I love you!"
Everyone is happy and adores him.
We are sitting in the negotiations room on the third floor where various employees are brought in for acquaintance and talks with us. Total confidentiality - we were not shown neither test labs nor any other floors.
That is - we are adored and they are glad to us, but.. the order is order, and every time Andrey goes out for a smoke-break, which he did quite often, Melody sends somebody to accompany Andrey to prevent him from taking pictures with his small but powerful journalist's digicam-))
Many interesting meetings, business negotiations... Since there are a lot of girls around, I am all the time served with tea and given various stuff made of rice and something like popcorn flakes. All multicolored, something sweet and melts in the mouth, something salty or spicy, balls, bon-bons, rolls...
Many girls - many varied flavors
Andrey is given a Gigabyte T-shirt. My direct chief immediately takes off his ATI vest in the presence of all, turns naked to the waist making the ladies lower the eyes, grow red and they giggle altogether-)))
Dressed in his new T-shirt wearing Gigabyte label, Andrey is laughing at finding the same three letters ATI on the sleeve - exactly as those on his T-shirt that he has just taken off
We are heading for SPA. For me and those uninitiated into all these trendy things it is a cascade of swimming-pools, saunas and whatever of aquatic lifestyle.
Taxi... and we are heading for mountains. That is too far by the local standards - we are driving for over an hour, it is dark, rainy, the road turns serpentine, we are blinded by the light of the oncoming cars
Here we are. Here in the mountains there are sulfurous springs running (the island is igneous, and there are volcanoes of course), a cascade of swimming-pools with various water temperature. There are methods for treatment and loss of weight, many families come here for a whole day to recreate, have rest and cure.
We had lunch over here as well. At lunch, we continued Russian lessons. Melody is in horror - a mug, a cup, a glass are all about the same thing-))
Melody and May felt shy (no, it's still a long time to wait when Gigabyte will hold presentations in saunas, as our reckless Russian journalists tried to persuade them-))), so they went to the women's sector of the SPA, and Andrey and I went to the common sector because they told us in advance to take swimming trunks and swimsuit with us-)
We tried whatever we liked - swimming-pools with water temperatures 35, 36, 38, 42... then sharply to 13, then various Charcot's douches and water massagers... all what we wanted - it's really curious!
What spoiled our mood a bit was the never-ceasing cool rain, but rushing from one swimming-pool to another, we didn't pay much attention to it - we were steaming. Two hours passed instantly, we even didn't have time to try all...
That's all, coming back to the hotel. The day was grandiose and interesting. Many thanks to Gigabyte, special thanks to Melody and May for all the good they did to us, the care, attention, interesting program...
But.. it's time to leave - tomorrow we are having a very hectic day too.
Everyday work in Taipei!-)))
We are watching a French film in English with Chinese captions over TV - it is a fun.
The plot is thrilling and dynamic - we empathize a lot, and the caring boss is regularly interpreting long parts from dialogs.
But even without it - all is clear!
I am lazily wondering what helps me understand it - "the magic of art" or whisky with tequila?-)
04 February, 2004
In the morning, we (especially myself) can't afford us stay idle and take time - there are so many meetings awaiting us today.
First is Prolink (PROLINK MICROSYSTEMS CORPORATION), we get there earlier than May who arranged the meeting. Just another building, we are there nearby, have already been to one of the nearing offices.
All the IT-companies are based in towers and are all in close vicinity to one another.
A meeting has to be held with Ivan, as May told us, but a charming Chinese lady comes in and says it is she who is called Ivan-)))
Ivan Huang - marketing specialist - is introducing us to the produce.
To our delight, there is Dennis who learns Russian and is already able saying something.
An amusing talk - we are earnestly asked why they need such coolers in Russia. Without them, it is cold over there, isn't it?
We are giving a 3DNews mug to each, and all are happily playing with them finding a place where to put. We are in turn given another hardware rig, and they are doing it so sincerely and happily so that we can't refuse taking it and accept, of course-))
By the way, almost forgot, thanks to Andrey for reminding - a curious detail. When he was standing by the board at Prolink office drawing graphs and relations, telling about the Russian market, our very polite and attentive hosts immediately turned suddenly agitated, distracted from the topic of interest at all (how different are the figures of NVIDIA and ATI presence on the Russian market)... It turned out there an earthquake just happened which was as strong as 3-4 points on the Richter scale. We, frankly, didn't feel anything at all - maybe we aren't used to that at all?-))
The most interesting meetings occur purely by accident - we get downstairs by lift with May and Ivan (for lunch in the nearby cafe), at some of the floors there gets in a sweet girl who then strikes a lively conversation with our hosts... It was then brought to light it was Sylvia from Shuttle and that she's also looking forward to get acquainted to us and is inviting us to her office.
We agreed, but lunch is first. Miso soup, sushi, sake for Andrey and me - the girls fear to get drunk in the middle of the working day -)
Only Sylvia dares to have a cup of sake with us, telling us her husband is the owner of a cofe-club...
Andrey is practicing in Chinese - making a declaration of love to each in turn - Sylvia, Ivan and May. The girls are in delight!
Then we are saying goodbye to Ivan and agreed to keep friendship, then heading for Shuttle office within 15 minutes walk. It is sprinkling, we are all holding umbrellas, walking along the pavement one after another because construction sites are everywhere around and it's not quite comfortable to walk.
Then we went out to a residential quarter where we haven't yet been to, saw either dreadfully overpopulated streets or super-apartments for millionaires who prefer living in the new City near our hotel.
This district is marvelous, it's green all around, spacious, with the residential premises for the middle class, and Andrey is trying to find out how much an apartment is in order to buy it, abandon that of his in Moscow and settle down over here.
Both ladies, May and Sylvia, get dreadfully scared, stop amidst the street and start recalculating - very expensive indeed, but they completely got mixed in the millions of new Taiwanese dollars... so we were unable to find out the price of a "modest flat" in the elite district.
No, my dear boss, you will so far gave to live in the hotel or.. maybe a family of your favorite Chinese ladies will harbor you? -)))
At first, Sylvia (Sylvia Pan, responsible for the Russian market) is leading us round the office, shows, introducing to the people. We are approaching to her workplace - there is a photo of a tiny baby, Sylvia's son.
Andrey is asking politely:- "What is his name?"
The answer:- "He is still 9 months old, so no business name yet for him invented!"
| Some lyrical digression
All these "common" Chinese names - Sylvia, Ivan, May... It turns out - these are "business names" which they choose themselves when they come to work in the company. It is a necessary condition for the convenience of operating with foreign companies and English-speaking employees. Try calling in urgently a - "Light day-spring rising in the east every morning when cane is rustling and singing magic songs" That's how the name of your sweet colleague may be translated into English!-)) |
We are being introduced to Ron, Sylvia's boss.
Ron Carlson - the Supervisor of Sales Department, is it to do with inspecting? I wonder what he is inspecting?
He is white, moves in a wheeled chair, a very influential person in the sales department. Here in Taiwan, like in the West, disabled people are treated with respect - the person is wearing an electronic key card on the neck so that nobody else can make use of it. Ron rolls his wheeled chair fast over the office, and when wants to show us round another floor - hands his key over to Sylvia, she calls the lift, all get inside and only with Ron's key the lift carries us over to the right floor.
We are brought to the vice president of the Development department, Jonathan Yi, who is shown the exclusive news about Abit published at 3DNews.
Andrey posted it yesterday, but the next day after visit to Abit it was cited by all western news sites. All the employees at Shuttle a looking at us in dismay - the information and photos are really exclusive, but Andrey merrily explains to them in his "correct" English that it is perfect PR. At Gigabyte we were not shown anything which could have been trumpeted all over the world, which is not quite right!
There is a good reason why Jonathan is a big boss - not only does he allow Andrey smoking in his study (which is simply incredible - no one smokes over here), he also instructs as to how and what to show to us.
Our May is actively promoting - she tells back and forth about us - how good and cool we are. She is much better at that than Andrey. May is a true brain, she can solve all the problems that come up, but as Andrey once said it, she herself is a problem - her energy is as powerful as that in a bomb! (by the way, during our next meeting in a month at CeBIT, May was taking off glasses from Andrey embracing him)
Here in Moscow all are aware of the gossip and are very curious about who bought iXBT. We know nothing about it and are strongly against discussing it.
We are saying good-bye to Shuttle, vowing fidelity-)
It's high time we hurried - at 4-00 we are having the third meeting.
That is Soyo, a new brand on the Russian market. They want to be friends with us, want adverts and PR. It's good that the meeting was appointed in at Agora-Garden hotel respectable among all. We meet each other downstairs, sitting in the hall, then Andrey decides to invite all into the apartment. May is rushing with me to the bar to buy some drinks.
This time I finally heard how somebody is playing piano in our hotel (we got in here yesterday, so there was no way we could listen!).
Very nice - a young pretty Chinese lady is playing and singing.
I already begin telling Chinese girls apart - the boss trained me to.
Andrey is of course a pro at Taiwanese girls, he kisses and hugs them, tells each girl in Chinese that he loves her, which is especially pleasant for them to hear from a curly-haired blonde man, he is easy to remember, let alone his permanent hat -))
In the apartment, Andrey is telling the two guys from Soyo about us, with May adding more details...
Alen Wang is inquiring about the Russian market, about our niche and the influence on the Russian reader, potential buyer.
The third meeting is a bit too much for me, I got tired of attempts to understand as much as I can from the English talk little known to me (with the Chinese bias, by the way), I am simply sitting and watching all, but one more week like that and I may start speaking myself because I always want to add more things to Andrey's speeches. He in turn forgets to translate it for me into Russian, but sometimes turns to me and carefully explains what they were talking about - in English-))
Very funny, but clear enough - the talk and the topics between us are generally the same...
| Some lyrical digression There is also Vanessa here, an employee from the office of May and Jean-Pierre. She is warmly dressed, we are in T-shirts, she is wearing a tightly clasped warm vest. It is very warm in the apartment, and Vanessa is starting to undress - part by part: first she takes off her jacket, then the woolen warm cardigan, and some time afterwards - her light blouse. This time all are looking at her and wonder - what else is put on her? She is telling rejoicingly that there is something else - a light sweater, a men's shirt, a sports-jersey with a neck... 6 pieces of clothes altogether! Everyone is laughing. We tell her that it is -15 C now in Moscow, her eyes are batting in dismay-))) |
We are given just another box with a new "hardware rig" - the guys have anyway brought it in. Wow! How are we going to carry all this stuff? We have already got several big boxes - it's good that we refused to take Shuttle's barebone now - we would definitely not have been allowed in Moscow -)
At that, they are bringing in items of G standard (A,B,C....) - that is, those very latest developments, so you can't help taking it-)
The experienced boss is calming me down - laying down all the packaged motherboards into a bag and making all the boxes as flat as a pile of cardboard - that's it!
After all the guests left, we say down for a while, took a breath, talked in Russian and headed for a regular European restaurant for lunch...
We are sitting and discussing something ardently. Suddenly, a blonde lady is turning her head to us from a nearby table, shouting in delight:
- Are you Russians? My name is Nadya, I am Siberian, from Tomsk. My Swiss husband and I are traveling to Taiwan on his business for the second time...
But we didn't find her interesting enough. There is such phrase like "Russian wives" who are exported from remote provinces and are always by the husband - until they learn the language or given the work permit, they go on living like either housewives or maidservants...
Understanding that we've got only one day left and so little time is left for excursions round the city, we decided to drive to the temple. We got at a taxi to a young driver who has a TV screen right in the car and watches films from CDs on the run, which we found not quite... eehhmm... reliable!
| Some lyrical or, to be precise, erotical digression Since they are struggling against excessive birth-rate over here, there is no porn AT ALL over all the 100 programs, just imagine - absolutely no erotics, and the nightly erotic programs simply made me burst into Homeric laughter - so funny. We used to have such "erotics" in the Soviet era! By the way, while in Hong-Kong Andrey was choosing a CD-film marked as "porno" saying: " Well, when in Moscow shall I get Chinese porno?-)) Then he told me he wished he hadn't bought it - the Chinese "porno" is very dull and can be absolutely safely shown to kids... |
A taxi to the furthest end of the city costs as much as 200-300 NT(new Taiwanese dollars equivalent to our Russian rubles), which is accurately rated by the counter. Very nice! Tipping 10-20 NT produces an impression of you as a very generous person, but on the whole it is not done over here.
The underground is more expensive than in Moscow - 20-60NT, while in Moscow it is 20 rubles to get to work and back, says May Chen, an expert at Moscow prices!
Shantao Temple is the biggest and most beautiful temple of Taipei, really impressive!
Each temple has its own saints and only in this temple, that is - a temple is a house of saints and gods. In other temples, there are other saints. Poles look like huge candles, bright and illuminating - they are storages for cones with the remains of those who led a righteous life and sacrificed for maintaining the temples.
What is also interesting, burning a stick with incenses is the prayer itself. Most Chinese didn't use to be able to read in the former times, so they bought a few sticks, burned then in the Temple's tub and thus offered up a prayer to gods.
Thanks to God, it's been two years since they stopped cooking dishes of dogs right in the market - Europeans rebelled against, defenders of nature protested, but such bloodcurdling used to be there formerly! Now you can buy everything edible over here and have it cooked right in place. Turtles, snakes, some giant larvae weighing 2 kilos, crocodiles...there is something absolutely out of the ordinary to the Russian-European eye and taste.
We bought some souvenirs, I finally saw Chinese caftans, so I bought a pair. Andrey has been looking forward to buying such for long, but failed to. Now we are both true Chinese!-))
In Moscow we then walked in such "uniform" until it got warmer - it is comfortable, warm and nice.
Having walked around Taipei to all our hearts along the narrow streets, we returned to the hotel and spent a quiet evening. I was finishing what was left from the whisky, Andrey his tequila, we watched Chinese movies and talked.
We are to depart in a day, and Andrey was already missing his beloved Taiwan which, I must admit, appealed much to me either. Andrey is going to come back here in three months, and what about me?-((((((
He promised he would tease me with information like "I am now in Taipei at the place where you and I used to visit. But I promised I would turn green with envy in reply...
Our talks lasted for rarely long - we discussed the future of Taiwan, the future victory of Chinese nation in all, the release of new hardware, development and enlargement of our private business which proved to be closely related to Taiwan...
05 February, 2004
Morning. Under the door there is a fax from May Chen (Gigabyte) - I always knew she is a fantastic person! "Mr. Kuzin, we found your hat. Please call us!"
Remember when the hat was left in the taxi while we were riding in the taxi that rushed to the airport?
The fugitive is found!
We can vividly imagine all employees at Gigabyte examining Andrey's hat and trying it on-))
The boss decides not to call himself on so important business but ask our May (from IT Mediagate) to find that out.
We are going to some several "meetings", important and serious enough. I am sadly looking at the boss' attire and again trying to persuade him to buy at least a pair of new jeans because his favorite and permanent are on the verge - two fresh holes are about to appear on the part we sit on. I vividly imagine the possible scenes, am telling it to Andrey - he is laughing and telling me he will show them to all and convince that it is a Russian tradition, very trendy. I strongly doubt that some will believe to it, but who knows - Andrey is able reading lectures and good at persuading the audience!-))
| Some lyrical digression. The local damp air makes even my hair curl, and Andrey's hair turned into a mop of curls, so local ladies look at the light and curly chevelure with envy, asking him to touch it. Their own coarse, dark and straight hair can't be waved at all, which is frustrating for them. There is a real complex over here regarding the "non-European" look - a girl is regarded the more beautiful, the closer her face features look European. For many it is important over here how well they look in a film shot with a digicam - you can see that it is important for all, many are asking to retouch the head-spots with Photoshop, which is funny. TV commercials advertising the cosmetics for bleaching and improving the skin are broadcasted round the clock over here. |
We are sitting in the hall of our hotel, waiting for May; today we are all the day either with her or Jean-Pierre.
May is late, that is "she is on the way!" - I am learning English at leisure-))
Andrey is learning Chinese, practicing pronunciation and repeating for 100th time: "I love you" (in Chinese). The personnel passing by are smiling.
And here is quite an ordinary scene - a typical English-looking governess with a Chinese baby, that is, knowledge of a pair of languages from the early childhood is guaranteed. She is trying to make the tiny, toy-looking baby understand something and he seems to be listening to her attentively. Wonderful!
I am putting it down in a notepad and PDA (for which I am immediately reproached by the boss - are you Dr. Watson?! ):
"Kuzin-tradition" - once every three months in Taiwan!
"Kuzin style" - hat, awesome jeans, a sports-jersey with a brand of some computer company or in hieroglyphs...
"it's in the bag!" (or, more precise, in the hat) - Andrey's motto...
Here is May rushing into the hotel: - How is it going?
- We've got a great joy!
- Have you acquired a huge advertising budget?
- No, much better! We've found the hat!
- So, what is the joy about? - says May in surprise.
She is looking inquiringly at my notepads and the PDA, the boss is explaining that I am writing a "tour story". May is rejoicing immensely and explaining to me that I am a very good girl, we are on hugging and kissing terms with her all the time because...
We tell her that we received a fax from Gigabyte and ask May to call there instead of Andrey to find out all about our "beloved" hat, she is calling and strikes a lively conversation with her namesake (there is a difference in writing their names, which is lost in pronunciation) - we are taking an opportunity to strengthen ties.
It turns out that local taxi drivers never look for dullard passengers, but hand everything left over to the "lost and found" department. That is what our driver did - handed the hat over to police at the airport, which is absolutely logical because we can fly back through that way only. As Andrey later made sure, taxi drivers NEVER steal, nothing at all and return everything and always - otherwise, you might lose your job which is highly valued, and there are lots of those wishing to take your place. May Chen has done an immense investigation. Having said a lot of appreciation to her, Andrey found out that he could get his favorite hat right in the airport at the police station before the departure.
We headed for a new and distant district where there are also a few high buildings, but we were in a huge office block where several thousands employees work - I couldn't find a spot from which to take a picture of the mountain house... Half the first floor is taken by cafes and restaurants to feed the huge number of working people.
The office of Info-Tek Corporation is below Gigabyte Group, bearing the trademark Giga-Cub - just imagine!
You can't sort this all out... I am a bit tired of English and am not so attentive while listening to what we are told and shown - for the 5 days I've seen a bit too many companies. Here we are having a first contact, but thanks to May - she tells about 3Dnews so good that even myself would not be able to tell it in Russian, let alone Andrey...
But, as my sometimes very wise boss says: to have a successful cooperation, "you should look into the eyes of each other and beg saying "she-she-nee" ("thank-you" in Chinese)!".
It's high time we went to the hotel - over there we are having a meeting with DFI, also a contact. They all arrive together with JP (Jean-Pierre) and we are again talking about the business, cooperation, showing the site's statistics, and again samples, samples...
In the evening, we have another Peking-style duck at which we are to meet Irena Chang, a representative of Cetra(Taitra)... Meanwhile, we have a coupe of spare hours, and JP is leading us to look round the new building, almost complete future symbol of Taipei. This building is called 101 (one-o-one), since it is the highest RESIDENTIAL premises on the planet. just imagine - 101 residential storeys!
We are walking and looking round the building - how smartly the sales premises, cafes, restaurants, bars are planned... Right over here they hold presentations - at a distance we can easily recognize the so familiar display screen for demonstrations, a lecturer, a lot of journalists, and some half-naked lady is singing something, deafening all and distracting the audience from the topic.. That was IBM presenting their new notebook X40.
We enter a huge book-store, as big as half the floor, there are books from all over the world, we yearningly watch the huge albums of Beatles - we won't carry them, a great pity.
We return to the hotel for a while together with JP, on the way we ask him many questions about the regular life... There is a lot of reasonable things over here - for instance, the shrinking digits on the screen of every traffic light letting you weigh if you are in time to cross the road during the seconds that left.
Evening. We are again in the same family restaurant with May and JP, a farewell party in Taiwan, we are enjoying the Peking-style duck...
It's a great pity that Irena (Taitra) was unable to come to us, but today she is busy with a very important thing - together with all the municipal administration she is carrying the head of a huge, many kilometers long magic dragon - a closing of the New Year holidays is celebrated.
We watch all that over TV live - so picturesque, joyful and nationwide holiday, we wish we went there if it were not for our departure for Moscow early next morning!
Just another lyrical & statistical digression.
It was counted that for a week (let alone the beer and sake at restaurants) we have drunk a 0.75 l of whisky, Andrey - 0.76 l of tequila (he was also helping me at finishing the whisky!), that is 0.75 liters a day divided by 7 makes 100 grammes a day, which is incredibly a sober lifestyle. 100 grammes even for me at leisure is not felt at all, and for the lifestyle full of presentations and meetings it is almost "prohibition"!
A quiet evening - we are summing it all up... Counting how many meetings we've had, what else is left... The things are all packed - there are so much of them, but not much of hardware, we asked our hosts to send it over to Moscow. We wouldn't have been able to carry it over to the place on our own (by the way, when we returned to Moscow, DHL brought me something every day).
In the morning, we are woken up at 5 am local time, that is 1 am Moscow time, so we are going to have a really challenging day with all those changes of time zones.
We quickly go downstairs to have breakfast for the last time, although don't feel like eating, so we drink coffee and juices. Despite the early hour, there are many guests of the luxurious hotel are already having breakfast and hurry for work - very unusual!
We are heading for the airport on a limo ordered for us by JP. Amusingly, a taxi costs 1500 Taiwanese dollars, and a limo is 800 if ordered in advance.
The biggest adventure is to pick up the hat at the airport's police-station. First we are trying to find out where the station is. At the "info" they don't know where the police office is… Finally, Andrey leeched to a policeman who led him to the office. In a big room, there is a storage of lost and found things, many shelves filled with whatever passengers contrived to leave - suitcases, bags, video- and photo-cameras...
- We haven't got any hat, why do you think it's at our place?
- Let's see, I am sure it is there! There it is, lying on on the bottom shelf, with a tag attached thereto!!!
They took a copy of my passport, home address, finger-prints, and filled a pile of papers.
The happy Andrey put up with all that and as a farewell asked him to be taken a picture of, which caused an awful stir, then they found a policeman in new uniform - we hardly persuaded him.
| The hat. (A Lyrical digression)
In the end, the hat failed to go out to Taipei, it was traveling by taxi and came back to the airport to wait for the master over here! The hat came back to the head - by the way, I wonder what the phrase "a head without a hat" will sound in other languages - "a head without roof"?-)) Maybe it's worth writing a fairy-tale about the hat? It had a lot of adventures in its life, didn't it?.
All in all, the HAT is a talisman and lifestyle!
|
We pass through the controls, hand in lots of luggage and immediately rush to the "smoking room" - how else can it be? A German restaurant, traditional coffee with whisky, I am rushing over to souvenir shops....
Andrey is making up a review for Monday - "if not me, who else will do?"
We buy some whisky - for gifts and for Andrey's good sleep and calm road to do without smoking. A short flight to Hong-Kong, there we again rush over to the smoking area...
Boarding on a native Russian plane, a pile of newspapers - so pleasant! The pretty air hostesses, but they are far forty-something. Andrey is reasoning - why there aren't young? Perhaps to keep passengers sitting and prevent them from flirting during long hours of flight!
We were immediately recognized as fellow countrymen and asked to walk deep into the saloon and take a couple of rows for sitting and sleeping. Law-abiding Chinese will be sitting patiently at their seats each, while we were given travel rugs, pillows, so we laid down putting legs on the folded seats in front of us - very comfortable!
My beloved boss drank most part of the whisky bottle and turned into creativity - he started inventing a film scenario which we'll finish writing together, sell it and become millionaires because the film is going to be a super hit!
The plot is worked out quite thoroughly, only a small part is left to think out - how will positive characters will save mankind from negative?-)))
Finishing with the last grammes, Andrey was shouting among the strongly asleep passengers, inventing new turns of the plot until he woke up a cartography expert sleeping nearby who was embracing a one-liter bottle of vodka in the sleep. They both discussed the merits and shortcomings of vodka and whisky while tasting the last grammes from both bottles, then the boss' boon companion fell asleep in the middle of a phrase.
Andrey was trying to continue work noisily at the scenario, but I persuaded him to concentrate and think over the happy end of the film.
On closing the eyes, he immediately fell strongly asleep and slept well through the whole flight.
As always - some photos of sunset at 10000 meters in the skies.
And there it is - our Moscow of a cold February day that meets us with chill, slippery ice, traffic jams (my folks couldn't get through to Sheremetyevo to meet us!), with news on explosions in the underground... Yeah, so sad, but "it's our Motherland, son!"
We get the luggage, load it on a trolley - you'll never carry the heap over to the taxi on your own, get into the car and start out old new life, calling around our relatives and friends - what bad is going on?
Our magic trip has come to an end. Thanks to all who made it happen and helped in all the ways!
Note:
Once I finished writing it when Andrey is again in Taiwan, - for a whole month!
Here are the links to his photo coverage - he wrote only because there was time, but here he won't ever finish once started - an eternal lack of time!
Addendum 1 (made by me based on the photos sent by Andrey) - Taipei in May
Signed personally by the boss in Taiwan (at leisure time after Computex, meetings with all the companies and crowds of journalists in need of his help and care):
Addendum 2 - Taiwan, Keelung; 23.05.2004
Addendum 3 - Taiwan: Shuttle, at home party; 24.05.2004
Addendum 4 - 29.05.2004. Three days before Computex
Addendum 5 (photos taken by Pavel Sinyakov)- Meetings at Computex-2004
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