The Taipei Kid

Rants/raves + false childhood memories

Video Games First, People Last

This is so nice. Someone dies in an Internet cafe, and people can’t be bothered to look up from their screens. We would have put the photo in this post, but we don’t like putting photos of dead people, especially ones that deserve a bit more of respect than this.

Souvenirs

Just really quickly, and since our quotes to a reporter from a major news outlet never seemed to make it in his big story, we think there is WAYYYYYYYYYYYY too much emphasis on what the mainland tourists can buy and spend here, as opposed to the freedoms they can see firsthand here. Yes, we know [...]

Banking

Poagao’s recent post on his bad experience at Bank Sinopac, a bank I won’t be going to anytime soon, reminded me of the temper tantrum I had at a certain American bank here when I was 18. This American bank and I seem to have had an up and down relationship, and now it is [...]

Right on Time

It may not be the world’s most beautiful airport, but Peach Orchard International Airport was ranked THIRD best worldwide in flight punctuality!

Some Really Neat Facts

We got these neat facts (in italics) from one of the English papers. Can you guess which one it was?
Did you know (newly elected Taiwan president) Ma Ying-jeou is “tall, handsome, athletic, a refined gentleman who is also a go-getter…is popular, not just among womenfolk but among the young hard-working men of Taiwan.”
And we be [...]

There’s Something the News Agencies Can’t Seem to Get Right

A Harvard-educated lawyer and former Taipei mayor from the Nationalist Party, Mr. Ma
The New York Times
The US-educated lawyer
BBC
But Ma, a Harvard-educated lawyer
United Press International
Nationalist (KMT) candidate Ma Ying-jeou, a Harvard-educated lawyer
ABC News
Ma Ying-jeou, a Harvard-educated lawyer
VOA
Can you guess what it is?
Happy Easter!

Champer Pot

Wow…we were really surprised to see that a certain business chamber had purchased a supplement in that English paper, especially since the one who calls the shots has in the past lashed out against the quality of said paper. Then why give them your money?

Online Auctions

Once in a while I will sell some stuff on eBay. Usually textbooks and CDs that I don’t want, although once I did sell an Italian suit. My legs had gotten so fat, almost overnight, that I couldn’t fit in the slacks. It was liking trying to stick a pair of Taiwanese carrots in those [...]

Taiwan according to Wal-Mart

In the World of Walmart, tiny Taiwan is bigger than Africa or Australia.

Honoring Quirkiness

Wallpaper magazine recently gave Eva Air an award (”Best Livery”) for its mile-high shrine to Hello Kitty! Top that, Alaska Airlines!