Taiwan life 4 months later

My thoughts and observations 4 months later

Life in Taiwan is tough.

Time flies in Taiwan. I'm four months here, living the fast-paced life of Taipei City and it's killing me. The first month was cold, rainy and I needed a lot of time to figure out whether it was good to leave everything behind and move to the other side of the world. I came for love and for new valuable experiences, for an investment in the future, that would benefit me, my wife and our future family. And when I came, I got a job very fast - I was finally able to do exactly what I always dreamed to do: International business. I knew it will be tough, it's always tough when millions are in play and faces need to be saved, but this is beyond my wildest expectations. I learned so much about how it is to work in a big Taiwanese company, I could write a book about it already: After only 3 months! But I won't even blog about it, because "the internets" are a very small place and I don't wanna feed the rats.

Life is tough and stressful in Taipei. The noise and air pollution are amazingly high for someone, who was used to be surrounded by fresh air and chirping birds. The population density is one of the highest in the world and the problems related to that are seen on every corner. It's almost impossible to go a popular place in Taipei and not encounter huge crowds. That's awesome, when you are a visitor in Taiwan (and traveling in Taiwan is one of my favorite hobbies), but when you live and work here, you just want to get away from the hustle and bustle as far as possible. With all that said, I would not want to return back home, I am not a quitter. I'm starting to get to know people I would never had the chance to meet in my previous life. I am meeting new real friends and I am gaining a lot of experience in this very new field of work. I'm not sure, whether I will burn out in a couple of weeks (it's possible!) and change the job to something less demanding (like teaching) or whether I will toughen up, learn more and aim for something higher. This year is the most challenging year in my life and it can go either way with me. And it has nothing to do with Taiwan, it has everything to do with me.

I wish that one day I can write a post like Jenna here.

[My LIFE IN TAIWAN page][Photo by MKL, 2011]

New blog design for 2011

Howdy, my friends. How have you been lately? I've been very busy and I will be more busy in the next weeks. Unfortunately my blogging suffers under the recent developments and my updates will be a little scarce, probably for the first time in my blog's history. But after a month I should be fine, I'll find a way to manage my blog and my life at the same time, that's for sure. I have some posts in drafts for a while now, so they'll jump in for the time being.

How do you like my new blog design? It does keep some elements of the old blog, but colors are completely new and especially my header is totally changed. I think it looks a bit more professional compared to my old one. I removed the rotating header photos and added a summary of my posts to the blog's main page. The sharing buttons are also new, I think they complement the design very well. But I still want to tweak some minor things, especially the sidebars and my pages. That will have to wait, though. The main part is done now and I want to keep this layout for a while (until I get bored with it). I have also undone the right-click disabler and sorted my resource on Taiwan, Taipei and travel in a new way, because I have too many articles and I want them to be easier accessible.

Wishing you a lovely week.

Next post will be a big one about Ximending, it's long overdue.

Japan Quake 2011: The things I've learned

Some things, that have popped into my head these days

In the last 4 days my blog had over 6000 visits, because I was updating on the situation in Taiwan and Taipei right after the horrific earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11. Even in this very moment people are still googling things like "Is it safe to go to Taiwan", "Has Taiwan been affected by the tsunami" or "Will Taiwan be hit by the tsunami" and coming to my blog. All this makes me think about life and people, be it the ones close to me or the ones I've read and hear about in the media. Here are some things I've learned or realized these days and I would like to share them with you.

1 Reporting on Taiwan in English sucked

Check some of the comments I received on my previous post:

"I stumbled across your blog while looking for news on Taiwan. Thanks so much for the update (it's the best I've seen yet)!" by Bunny

"Thank you for the updates, you're currently the best source on the web." by Tim Poultney

"Thank you. Sitting half a world away wondering about my wifes family. Google search for tsunami taiwan 2011 gave me your site, and your news was the only I could find, better than CNN and BBC afas the situation for Tawian." By Anonymous

I was lucky to be at home, when the quake hit Japan. I felt I need to report the things I saw here in Taipei, share my view from Taiwan, especially after CNN announced that the tsunami might hit us as well. Those two hours were very nerve-racking and even though I knew Taipei will be safe, I was really worried for the good people in Keelung, Ilan, Hualien and Taitong. Interestingly, it seemed that nobody was really prepared for a huge tsunami here, life continued pretty normally even after these things were reported and warnings were issued. It was a surreal feeling, as if people knew that nothing will happen. Luckily, they were right, but I'm still wondering, why people seemed to be so indifferent. Who knows, maybe my perception was wrong, but that's how I saw everything. It is sad, that I was one of the best sources in English about what's exactly going on here. Don't news networks know that people are hungry for news? Some were planning to fly to Taiwan these days, some had friends and family here and of course they were worried.

2 People don't really know a lot about Taiwan

Those foreigners, who are here, are experts on Taiwan. We know every spot, every city, we know how close we are to China and how far from Japan. But generally, people don't know a lot about this country. That also includes my mum. She knows where I am, she knows it's in East Asia, close to China, Japan, Korea... but that's all. Most people just can't imagine how Taiwan really is. Even, if you see tons of photos and videos, it's still not enough. You need to come here and then you'll realize how wrong your idea of Taiwan was before you came. I know that happened to me and I am well traveled, always interested in geography and I see myself as fairly well educated. But Taiwan was something else for me, when I first set foot on the island: The smells, the noise, the scooters, the people, the languages, the architecture, the food... so many new things for me and of course most of them were a pleasant surprise. Some of them were challenges, but I overcame them very quickly.

3 New things to worry about

Being in Taiwan not always easy, especially when you think of of the tricky political situation and China's missiles pointed at us. I'm still not used to this, partly because I've nearly missed a real war in 1991. Although we were lucky back then, I won't ever forget the fear I had felt when the conflict was unfolding. And now in addition to the fear of war, the recent events in Japan added a fear of a big natural disaster happening here as well. We have nuclear power plants and a high population density and that's something that does make me feel a little uneasy. I really really hope that Taiwan will not experience anything comparable to the quake and tsunami in Japan, but that's all I can hope for, I have to say I feel a little helpless in all this. I don't like remarks of the sort "nature is angry". Nature has always been this way, these quakes are normal. They just happen in heavily populated areas and do a lot of damage to the people, that's why we feel very shocked and saddened. Had a quake of the same magnitude happened in Antarctica, how many of us would really have these apocalyptic feelings right now?

4 Disasters bring out the best and worst in people

These days you can read all kinds of messages, some will touch you, some will appall you. It's incredible how humane and helping people can become in such catastrophic times and also how vicious and evil some others can be. I guess that's what you get, when half of the world is connected via internet. The most funny thing is, that even though the internet is the biggest information source in the world, some people still don't have a good understanding of Pearl Harbor, World War II and Nagasaki and Hiroshima. One of the things I have realized these days is how stupid people can be, sometimes so deeply stupid, that I'm not sure whether I should laugh or cry or do both at the same time. It is just mind boggling.

5 Life is precious, we have to cherish it

These days we see how short and precious life can be and how fast it can end. It must be so saddening for those people who argued with someone on March 10 and the next day he or she was gone forever. We can't reverse the events in Japan, but we can learn from them. We can at least try to be more sensitive to the people we love and cherish small things life much more. Live your life every day as if it was the last time. Do things that you never have thought of doing before, be spontaneous, be friendly, spend time in nature, surprise your dear ones... just appreciate life.

Photo on the left is Queen's Head, located in Yeliu. For me, "she" is the symbol of Taiwan. I think as long as she stands there and rules over Taiwan so proudly, I will feel safe and secure.

Read more about Taiwan here>>

Blackout Korea scandal 2011 - A view from Taiwan

And a comparison of foreigners in Taiwan with foreigners in Korea

For quite a while I've been following English language blogs in Taiwan and Korea, because I'm very interested in both countries and I want to be up to date on what's going on in each country. Regarding Taiwan, my primary source of information is my girlfriend, who is born here and so I think I'm very well informed about stuff that goes on in the media, even if I'm not fluent in Chinese. In addition to that, I like to read other foreign blogs to get another perspective on things. As for Korea, my primary source are few popular foreign bloggers such as the Metropolitician, James Turnbull, Roboseyo and some others. I can't really be 100% sure that the reality they see in Korea would be my reality, but I know they back up their claims with solid arguments, they don't just write stuff without giving it some serious thought. But as much as I want to talk about foreign bloggers in South Korea and Taiwan, I would like to touch on the general idea of being a blogger in a foreign country. What has triggered this post was the recent "Blackout Korea blog scandal", that's upsetting local netizens as well as foreign bloggers in South Korea. Let me briefly explain what happened.

1 The Blackout Korea blog scandal 2011

A 20-something foreign English teacher started a blog in 2009, named it Blackout Korea,...

...where he and other foreigners submit photos of excessively drunk Koreans sleeping it off on the streets (later pics of foreign binge drinkers were posted, too). Most photos are accompanied with one or more silly foreigners posing alongside the drunk (read passed out) person. You can be sure that the very moment the first photo was published the blog became a ticking bomb waiting to explode. And that's exactly what happened in recent days. It was discovered by Korean netizens and some media and as Koreans are, they weren't happy about it. If you want to check the blog out, go to: blackoutkorea.blogspot.com. I fear it will soon disappear from the web, so be quick.

A Korean blogger started a counter-blog named Who Teaches English in Korea (englishteachersout.blogspot.com), where he's using the photos from Blackout Korea (even though there's no evidence that the people appearing in them were English teachers) and comparing them with the infamous Abu Ghraib photos of American soldiers humiliating Iraqi prisoners. Of course this was a ridiculous thing to do, but it shows how careful one has to be about what they put online. All that upset the Metropolitician, who wrote a post encouraging his followers to comment on that blog. And that's what they're doing and the dance continues.

2 The South Korean online community

This is how things look on the surface to someone like me, who does not know a lot about the Korean foreign and local online community: There's a small, but vocal group of expat bloggers, who constantly complain about the country and its people and don't care how it comes across. They vent, they rant and use offensive language, oftentimes purposely, because they want to provoke Koreans for whatever reason. On the other hand there's a vocal group of Korean netizens who reject every criticism of their nation from a foreigner, even if it's constructive and well-argued. Not only are they spewing threats to those who dare to say anything "bad" about Korea, some even go as far as to gather information of a particular foreigner and try to harm them in real life. And then there's a significant part of the South Korean media, that seems to be biased towards foreigners. These 3 fractions are usually the ones, that are the loudest. Many times they start nontroversies, fabricate the truth and reinforce stereotypes. They're the ones that operate with ideas like "English teachers are losers in their own country, dangerous sexual predators, troublemakers" and on the other hand "Koreans are stupid, rude, overly proud and aggressive". Apart from these three fringe groups, there's the silent majority of foreign and local blogs, websites and forums, who keep it decent and non-confrontational and seem to get along fairly well. Of course their stories of peace, love and harmony won't spark as much interest as a scandal involving inconsiderate foreigners, drunk Koreans and unflattering photos (these comments are telling). All this is of course not only typical for Korea, but can be observed in many other countries.

3 The Taiwanese online community

I think, if you're generally not a trouble seeker, you won't find any in Taiwan. Things here are on much smaller scale compared to South Korea, because foreign (read Western) residents are still a very small minority. Hence the English speaking online community remains relatively small and is mostly overlooked by Taiwanese netizens and media. That has it's good and bad sides. If any, it's the political blogs that gained some recognition such as The View from Taiwan. All other domains are fully dominated by Taiwanese bloggers, who are probably one of the most passionate in the world. In comparison with Koreans, Taiwanese seem to be more forgiving to foreigners, who point the finger at some of the flaws of their country. That may partly lay in the fact, that the Taiwanese society is relatively young, greatly divided and still seeking its identity, while Koreans, who throughout history suffered attacks and invasions from China and Japan, had to stick together in order to preserve their language and culture and therefore formed a strong national identity and a strong sensibility to all "attacks" from the outside (or outsiders). With that said, there are always boundaries one should not overstep, when blogging about Taiwan and Taiwanese people. You will hardly find any drunk people sleeping on the streets in Taiwan, so that topic would not fill a blog. I guess the number one reason for Taiwanese to get upset are politics, which is common in many other countries, but I've never seen a democratic nation so greatly divided by political convictions as Taiwan is. Yet, despite all these divisions, the country functions better than many other so called "harmonious" countries out there. That's certainly fascinating and I would surely have a lot to say about it, but I won't. I won't touch Taiwanese politics on my blog other than what I said here in this post. If others do that, it's their choice. I rather stick to fun stuff like food and travel. I would only make an exception, if something really bad happens and I want to share my view from inside. Back to Taiwan's media. As a foreigner you need to be more careful outside the virtual world. Small irrelevant things tend to be reported and sensationalized and there's always someone with a camera at hand, who can take a photo of a "silly" laowai doing something funny or bad or just embarrassing. Not sure how often it happens, but I think my freckled face must have landed on a Taiwanese blog or two... I just hope they didn't write anything mischievous about me.

4 Taiwanese are tolerant, but...

...there are of course limits to everything. I just don't get people, who come to East Asian countries to live and work and behave like they are back home and even want to apply the same standards to the country they have moved to. Coming from a small less known country like Slovenia, I can relate to Taiwan's situation well. And the small yet unique Slovenian culture helps me understand Koreans and Korea. Well, to a certain extent. I feel that, if you're a blogger, you're putting yourself out there and people will judge you. It's impossible to please everybody, when writing a blog, of course, but there can be a difference in tone and manner. So many bloggers just keep on criticizing without even offering any ideas, how they could make it better. They don't take an effort to try and figure out why something is different than in their world and just bash and trash continuously. I usually unfollow these blogs instantly, I don't want to waste my time by reading someone's personal frustrations all the time. And there are a few blogs about Taiwan, who hate everything about the life here (I wonder, what keeps them here). I always tell my girlfriend, that foreigners see reality with different eyes. I can spot every dirty spot or every weird thing someone does, while walking to the MRT station, but my girlfriend would not see a thing. It was interesting to see the reversed situation last year, when she visited Slovenia and Europe for the first time. She saw so many things I haven't noticed before and caught every person staring at her. It was like seeing my own country with completely different eyes. That's of course great and very insightful, but it's totally lame, if you use it for ridiculing people, making fun of traditions or mocking the way of life, just because you have some personal issues with that. You're not doing anyone any favors by behaving this way. In relation to Taiwan, I've found this odd blog post from 2008, written by a female English teacher nicknamed imaniou:

Cranky Laowai... having an "I hate Taiwan" night (rated R version)

"As I mentioned before, I lost my cellphone in a taxi two weeks ago. I finally broke down and bought a new one tonight for $2500 NT (a little over $80 USD) at the Tong Hua St. Night Market after dinner. As I rounded to climb the pedestrian overpass, I saw two high school kids copping a smoke on the steps, completely blocking the path save a narrow space between them. When I got close, they started saying something about the "heiren" (black person, literally). As if those two shits had any room to talk. After a surreal night last night, bad service at dinner (I'm not even sure why I bother thinking the waiters will do their jobs despite smiling politely and looking into their eyes to say thank you every time they do what they are paid to do...which rarely happens) and only a few hours of sleep, I was in bitch mode and not to be trifled with. As I passed, I "accidentally" kicked the shit monster on the right's box of milk tea down the filthy stairs into a mucky puddle below and pai sei'd him (the untouchable word for absolving fault in Taiwanese). Gosh. If he hadn't been sitting there making it hard to maneuver around him, it probably would have never happened.

"Ni kan, hei ren" must have been the theme at the night market as every tai ke scumkin made it a point to turn, point, whisper, and stare as I walked by in search of a phone. I stopped into one store to be violently ignored before I muttered "fuck this" and walked out. I stepped into another store where the two dribbling xiao jies giggled and pointed. I waved the money I had planned to spend there, put it back in my pocket, and said that it was no wonder they had no customers. Then I cranked my MP4 player up and moved along. From the toothless hag selling polyester beaded clothes on the street to the betel-nut chomping creep in the stained wifebeater dribbling red betel nut saliva into the greasy sausages he was grilling, I was a source of entertainment. And then I realized why the street was so dead. Most of the decent people in this country wouldn't touch this place with a 20-foot pole and a gallon of disinfectant. Now Taiwan in general is a filthy, repulsive place to walk with dog shit, blood red betel nut spit and chewed up pulp, litter, human waste, and prolific cockroaches everywhere you look whether you are in the city, in a small town, or even in the national parks. The Japanese tried to civilize the originals (the ones that most of the taikes are comprised of) and CKS's people tried slaughtering them and both groups tried to get them to drop their culture and assimilate to their conquerors. And yet they still persisted to spread all over the country, bringing their ignorance and taike-ism with them even into the cities. The bid for the UN is laughable at best and pathetically oblivious at worst and voiced the loudest by those who would discard a half cup of milk tea into a bush, make their kid piss next to the slide at the playground, and not even blink when dumping the dog they bought because it's no longer tiny and its bad behavior is no longer cute. Even the Philippines does not treat every inch of its country as a public toilet/dump/temporary home the way the Taiwanese treat their land and still have the audacity to think not only are they better than the rest of the world, but that they deserve a place in deciding what happens to it when they can't even get people to stop dumping their domestic garbage into (or rather, on and around) street litter bins.

Buildings are filthy, covered in dirt when they are covered with tiles that are easy to clean off if someone actually cared enough to clean them. Wires hang all over them, off them, across rooftops weaving in and out of windows and air conditioner holes. The little bit of green on the ground is crabgrass and weeds, but mostly algae growing on congealing puddles of dead land where people couldn't be arsed with walking on the actual sidewalk. Or couldn't walk thanks to the thousands of parked scooters and illegal carts of clothes, food, and cheap plastic shit clogging the already narrow walkways.

Most days, I can look beyond the filth of both the landscape and see the beauty of many things here. Sitting in the classroom with my students and having a rare glimpse into the fact that the kids I am having engaging conversations with are all Taiwanese non-native speakers who, for some, have only been learning English for four years. I know how badly I sounded like after four years of French and I had a lot more class time than they do.

But for tonight, I feel that Taiwan is making itself easier to not miss when I leave this fall."

Post: Source

I'm not saying, that bad things don't happen in Taiwan (or Korea) and I'm not saying one should not vent, but some things are better not to be published, after you write them down. I rather vent to my girlfriend or send emails to family back in Slovenia. It's not like the cyberspace needs to store every thought that pops up in your head. Just know that words and photos have consequences and it's better to be overly sensitive than overly insensitive. I try to walk a fine line between being funny, entertaining and informational and now and then critical and analytical. Sometimes I go too far, but I have no problem to correct myself, if necessary. The important thing is, how you do it, not if you do it. If you write controversial stuff, be man (or woman) enough to sign your real name below.

In regards to the above topics, my questions are:

• Are those photos of drunk Koreans going too far?
• Is that blog attacking English teachers in Korea going too far?
• Which topics do you personally avoid to write about on your blog?
• How should a Westerner in East Asia blog about the things he sees?
• How did you find that rant of the "cranky laowai" about Taiwan?

Very interested to read your opinion on these issues. More about Taiwan here>>

Leaving is never easy

I'm leaving for Taiwan very soon

Finally! My passport and my verified documents have arrived. The embassy was a little slow, but I forgive them, since it was Chinese new year. I was a little worried these days, that the mail will take too long and I will have to postpone the departure date and have additional costs as well as waste more time. You would not believe how much more time, money and stress this adventure has cost me so far. I used to go through a lot in the past months, but so has my girlfriend, who I want to thank here for supporting me so much with so many things, it's just impossible to name them all. She's been an angel every day. She's already made a nest for us in Taipei, she only needs this European bird to migrate to the East. And that's soon about to happen. Thank you, sweetheart, I love you to bits.

Every time I went on a big journey to the other side of the world, I felt that the days right before departure were passing the fastest. Maybe that's because I'm conscious of every day now, every hour. I have so many things to take care of, so many people to say goodbye to. I think packing my things and leaving my home here will be very hard. You have to know, I'm an emotional person and I get very attached to people and to an environment, where I feel safe and secure. I know I was living in a bubble for too long. Other people have had great careers in recent years, I on the other side was wandering around the world, exploring the Far East. I was never and nowhere really at home. When I lived in Malaysia and Singapore, I hoped to strike roots for a while, but I had to leave too soon. Same happened last year in Taiwan. I was just getting used to everything, things were starting to get better and better, but then I had to leave. Last year was really the best year of my life. I've seen and done so much and it was totally unexpected. Now I feel a little tired. I feel it's impossible to pull off another 2010. I feel old. At age 30. I miss the days of early twenties, where every experience was so fresh and new, so exciting. It's a big difference when you fly to Asia for the first or for the sixth time. And it's a big difference, if you're 24 or nearly 31. Sure, some people travel more times a year, but for me that 1 time a year was something special, something life-changing, reality-altering, something like flying to the moon and expecting to discover a new part of yourself or to just be someone else, but not by artificially changing or acting, but by finding that adventurous open minded explorer inside you, that finally had the chance to break out of the confines of your suburbia boredom. I loved to be that explorer. But now it seems he's gotten tired. Tired of being released and confined every year. I have to stop leaving. I'm not going to stop traveling, I love it. But I gotta stop leaving the people I love. I hope this is the last time I leave like this. I need a home. And I really hope that for the next years Taipei and she will be the place I can call it one.

I can't describe to you the mix of emotions I'm having these days. Excited about seeing the woman I love, excited to hold her, kiss her, talk with her. I want to see her eat and sleep, walk and smile, I want to hold her hand, tease her, ride the subway with her. She's really my soulmate, I feel so safe around her. Even when we argue, I still love her so much. And then there's that part of me scared of leaving my mum, my sisters, my cats behind. The stupid cats that only annoy me and always run away, when I want to cuddle them a little. Yet, I love them to bits, too. I love everyone here and I love my girlfriend there. I know I want to be there, but part of me will always stay here in this old house and in this boring valley surrounded by forest and with a small creak, that you never hear rippling. I'm Slovenian in and out and we're just not made for big cities. Most of us live close to nature, that's where we feel safe for over 1000 years. Life in Taipei scares me. It's fast, dynamic, it can eat you alive. Especially a foreigner. I know I will have my angel looking over me, I could not survive there without her. She's my lover, my best friend, my guide, my shoulder to cry on, she's my rock, my inspiration, she's everything I ever wanted. I will do the best I can to pay her back every tear and drop of sweat she wasted on me, on us. All I can do is be the best man I can be, the best man I ever was. I have to set the bar higher for myself, I have to surpass my own expectations. Only then I will be able to say "that I made it right", when I'll look back in a year from now.

Frankly, I have no idea what I will write on this blog in February 2012. I'm not sure, if I will be alone and in tears like now or surrounded with laughter and lots of people. I have no idea, if I will be able to survive Taipei's fast-paced reality and meet my own expectations and the expectations of all the people I am about to leave and meet very soon. I worry about finding a decent job, I worry about whether I will be able to learn proper Chinese, I worry about what problems I may face in Taiwan. I'm a very experienced traveler, yeah. But I always left, I always returned to where I was born. But this time it's for real. I'm leaving for real. The stamps on all documents are official and final. I will be able to stay, I will be able to strike roots and live. How all that will be, that's written in the stars. I wish I knew... but then again, better I don't. Whatever will be, will be. I'll try to make the best of it, like I always did. I need to shift my mind away from the melancholic tendencies and back to her. Back to her sweet kiss and warm embrace.

I just want to be happy.

My blog's traffic for 2010

My blog's traffic for 2010

I've noticed that some bloggers published their annual blog stats, which gave me the idea to publish mine. Actually my title should be "My blogs' traffic", as most of you know, I have 3 blogs (with 3 feeds), but they're all from one Blogger account and have the same name. That's my concept and it's really going well for me.

1 My stats for December 2010

I had 21,640 unique visits (and 60,132 page views), which is 698 visits per day.

2 My stats for the whole 2010

I had 212,182 unique visits (and 476,091 page views), which is 581 visits a day.

3 Subscriber stats

My main blog (this one) has 171 subscribers in Google reader, my Quick-post blog has 37 and my photo blog has 5, because it's relatively new. There are of course more feed aggregators, but I haven't checked any other than the one from Google. I've also noticed that there must be at least 20 regular visitors, who bookmarked my blog and about 30 who come irregularly, but also bookmarked one of my blogs or posts.

4 Most popular posts

Believe it or not, my most popular posts are usually the one about women. They bring me the most traffic from Google and that's why I like to write them. They increase my blog's searchability and many people are browsing my other stuff, too, when they come here looking for a post about a certain model or singer. My best day was August 25, when I had 7747 visitors on my blog in one single day and they were all reading my most popular post of 2010: Visit Taipei in traditional Chinese (22235 views in the whole year). The runner-up post was about Elly Tran Ha (18990 views in the whole year) and third was about Yao Yao (15862 views in the whole year). It's funny that these two posts became so popular, because they're so simple and boring. But for some reason they always show up close to the top of Google's search results, even though there are thousands of posts about these two (former) internet sensations.

5 Plans for 2011

I doubt that I can top 2010's traffic, but if I come close to it, I'll already consider it a huge success. I'm just a simple blogspot blog, who writes about so many different things, so I think my traffic is not bad. Sure, I hope I could have around 1000 daily views and double my subscribers, but that's hard to predict. I'll continue to write personal, funny, trivial and encyclopedic posts, mixed with my travelogues and foodventures. A lot will be about Taiwan, because that's where I will soon relocate, but I try to make it general and interesting also to those, who don't care about the country so much. I can't wait to go around Taipei with my girlfriend's DSLR and visit all the night markets, temples and famous spots. I do aspire to be the number 1 blog on Taipei and one of the best resources on Taiwan in general. Besides, my girlfriend and I plan to visit Japan, not sure, if we can make it, though. If we do make it, be sure I'll blog about it for a month. Regarding my layout, I'm never really satisfied. The buttons I use on my sidebars are all made with Photoshop and are in jpg. format. I'm thinking about making a CSS styled vertical navigation bar. And also I think I'm gonna make all my 3 blogs same color, so it'll really look like one.

What do you think about these ideas regarding the layout?
What was your traffic for 2010 and which posts and topics were most popular?

Let's tear down some walls

So long, best year of my life!


This is the biggest wall I ever made. Hope it'll last for decades.

What a year this was for me. A year of travel, love, new horizons, new food and new adventures. A year of many ups and few downs. A year of work, saving and enjoying. I've seen all of Taiwan and Slovenia this year, went on a trip to Macau and Seoul, toured Vienna twice, saw Bratislava, Trieste and Gorizia for the first time. I helped replacing the old roof on our house, we worked on it for 3 weeks. I constructed 3 walls in our basements and helped to pave a 10m long road near our house. I was lucky to buy me a new laptop, which helped me to blog faster and easier. In the end I even won a blog award with the help of my awesome friends. Looks like everything was somehow paying off this year. I wasn't already there where I thought I'll be by the end of 2009 (read my resolutions), but I'm happy how things turned out. I have never thought I would see Seoul and Korea so fast, I never thought I would go on such a big road trip with my girlfriend and have so much fun. There are so many more things I have not anticipated this year, too many to list them here.

So what's next in store for me? I have no idea. I have plans, hopes and dreams for next year. Moving to Taiwan and tying the knot is not something you do every day. And I hope I can have a good career and a happy harmonious life. Although I love adventures, I need a peaceful environment, where I can retreat. And in recent years it's been too much back and forth, so many travels and changes, it affects me. I need to find my base and hope that will be in Taiwan. I enjoyed my life the way it was, 5 intercontinental trips in 5 years, living in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan all together for a year has given me so many new perspectives on life, has broadened my horizons the internet could never do. I love it, when you guys read my travelogues, but my posts could never really give you that atmosphere, that feeling, when you're somewhere in rural Malaysia in a house of friendly Chinese, who cook for you and make you feel special. Or the feeing to walk in a tropical jungle or to dine on top of a super tall skyscraper with your loved one. How many times I arrived and parted in these past years. I connect tears of joy and tears of broken hearts with airports, I love and hate them. Yet, I can't live without them. It's for me hard to live without my laptop, but even that you can take away from me. But don't take away from me the ability to hop on a plane and end up on the other side of the world the next day. My life's a big journey.

I was never sitting on a pile of banknotes, I always invested them in my trips, which were fueled by my hopes and dreams. Maybe next year that will change, but I think only a little. I'm very eager to see Japan and more of Taiwan. But I don't push myself anymore. Whatever will be, will be, I just hope it will be good. You can't really plan a whole year, you can only hope that some goals you set for yourself will be realized. If it's 50%, it's already more than you could dream of. Don't have too many expectations, but don't be aimless. Don't try to push yourself too hard, but don't lack passion. Embrace a new year with all it's dangers, challenges and possibilities. Don't regret a single thing, a mistake, a quarrel, a mishap. The year will pass too quickly and soon you can make it better in another year... and then another... and another.

Thank you everybody, who went on this journey with me the past year (and the past 5 years). It will never be the same again - it will be different - but that doesn't mean it will be worse. I am now 30, experienced and wiser (or that's what I hope). Sometimes I miss the 24 years old me, who had no idea how the world really looked like. I'm not sure, if I am that much happier now, though. But we can't stop ageing, we can't stop the world from changing. What we can do is make sure, that we adjust our pace to its pulse and hope for the best.

Happy 2011, everyone! Let's tear down some old walls.

PS: I've got another award: Blogger of the year by Netster.

This year just doesn't stop surprising me. Thanks so much, bro. I'm speechless.

Guest post by Lily: My Eurotrip experience

Here's a little post by my dear Lily Chen about her experience of traveling to Europe and Slovenia alone and visiting me. The embedded video is actually a slideshow of some Slovenian spots we visited (it contains music as well), I really recommend you to see it. Lily will reply all your comments.

A month ago I went to Europe to visit my boyfriend and I must say it was an amazing and wonderful trip, even beyond my expectations. I didn't go to Europe before, so for me, when my boyfriend described the food, buildings or things related to Europe, it was hard for me to imagine. Although I saw many images from all kinds of resources like travel books, online photos, even some TV shows which introduced how fascinating it was to travel to Europe, for me they were just plain images, I don't have any feelings to connect with them. And I also missed my boyfriend a lot, after he left Taiwan, because he had to return to his country. So I decide to visit him during summer time, to reward myself with a Eurotrip and to visit my dearest man.

I flew with KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) and I have to say that the ticket price was quite reasonable during summer and the service they provided was also good. They had a whole variety of in-flight entertainment (with the latest movies) and the food and drinks they offered tasted really good as well. The flight was quite long for me (all together around 20 hrs), but at least I felt good and had nothing to worry about. But the biggest change for me was the fact that it was my first time to travel so far and fly by myself. For the first time I only had myself to rely on. Before my flight, I really had fears about that. I didn't have full confidence in my English, but it turned out that the journey was quite smooth. Even when I had to communicate with other Westerners, they still could understand my English and gave me what I asked for (or ordered).

Another thing I thought prior to the trip was the food. I thought I may miss our food during the trip, but the truth is, the food I tried in Europe was so yummy for me, I enjoyed it a lot and didn't miss the Taiwanese food at all. The only thing I did miss was our tea (I'm used to drink tea everyday), but they had good quality fruit teas and all kinds of milk products, so I still can enjoy drinks there. And my boyfriend's mother is a great cook, she prepared several traditional Slovenian dishes for me and they all tasted quite yummy, I couldn't stop eating and always finished all my portions. I didn't know I could love to eat Western foods so much, so the experience made me know myself more.

Another thing I noticed was how old Europe is. The modern Taiwan only has around 300 years of history, so when I saw the hundred, even thousand years old buildings there, I was stunned and speechless. Those buildings indeed amazed me and humbled me. I especially liked the details of the historical buildings, those adornments were so vivid and delicate. I was amazed that from so many years ago, Europeans were already able to make things look so beautiful and dainty without any convenient modern tools, all arts were totally hand-made, which is really incredible.

In conclusion, this Europe trip meant a lot to me, not only did it broaden my view of this part of the world, it also gave me the precious experience to know how Europeans live and I got to know myself a little better. I feel so appreciated to have the chance and time to go there for 2 weeks. And also I have to thank my dearest boyfriend, who guided me and drove me across Europe during this wonderful trip. Without him I couldn't have such great experience there.

Travel is really like a key that opens door to other parts of the world. I wish I could always have the chance to travel around the world and open many doors!

My girl is flying to Europe for the first time!

Share some of your tips and experiences on flying long distance

Photos from my flight with EVA Air Vienna-Taipei (Feb 2010).

My lovely girlfriend will be taking her first intercontinental flight tomorrow evening and she'll be landing in Europe on Tuesday morning. It will be her first flight outside Asia and of course she's a bit nervous. She's flying alone and she has two stopovers before her final destination, where I will be picking her up.

I flew to other continents at least 12 times in my life and I must say I mostly had pleasant flights. I love the food, I love the movies and flying is fun to me, too. Sure, sometimes I had an annoying person next or in front of me, but I thought to myself: Only few hours and I'll never see that bugger again. And it worked. Even though flights, who take over 10h seem long and small things can be annoying, mostly nothing bad really happens.

You take off, you watch TV and eat. Then you sleep. Wake up, eat, watch TV and land. That's how I'd summarize an intercontinental flight. If you manage to sleep for at least 6h and watch 2 movies, the flight passes in no time and you still feel fresh when you arrive in your destination.

Of course it's even better, if you meet an interesting person on board. Last time, when I flew from Vienna to Taipei, I sat beside an older Austrian woman, who was pretty bubbly from the beginning. She was 50+ and told me how she married a man from Zimbabwe and she even lived there for a while, before they moved to Vienna and eventually split up. She told me that in recent years she's traveling to Asia. She was headed to Thailand and Cambodia at that time, where she wanted to stay for 3 months. We sat side by side and chatted like old friends most of the time. But when we reached my stopover in Bangkok, we went separate ways. It's funny, but the seemingly good friends we've became on board suddenly changed to what we were before: Strangers. We said take care and good luck and walked away pretty quickly. I probably won't ever see her again.

For me, flying long distance is a blessing. It's amazing how one day you're in Europe and the next day you're on the opposite side of the world, having a completely new life and becoming a foreigner in an instant. Isn't it like a kind of time travel? I don't know, but sometimes it's like a dream. And I feel I'm so lucky to be able to experience that. So happy that intercontinental travel is affordable these days also to average people, not only the rich. It's one thing to read about a foreign culture, it's another to see it, live it first hand. It's a precious experience and I'm so happy, that my girl has the chance to see my continent and my home country Slovenia with her own eyes. I will be her proud guy and hope she can take my encyclopedic monologues about European history, hehe.

Do you have any tips for my girlfriend about how to have a good long distance flight?
Do you have any funny experiences from your long distance flights to share?
How did you feel before and on your first intercontinental flight?

When White guys speak East Asian langauges, it's amazing!

When East Asian guys speak European languages, it's not. Why?

tysstyle - Canadian guy speaking Mandarin

MrHarlequin2009 - French guy speaking Japanese

trueheart101 - Canadian guy singing in Korean

Have you ever noticed, that if White guys speak one of the big East Asian languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese or Korean), it's totally amazing. Everyone's like: Wow, impressive. Dude, you're so cool. And of course many East Asian girls would say it's so cute to see a White guy speak their native language, even if it sounds broken or the knowledge is limited. A little effort from White guys would massively increase their chances with East Asian girls.

On the other hand, if East Asian guys speak one of the big European languages (such as English, German, French or Spanish), it's not seen as amazing at all. Nobody's like: Wow, impressive. Dude, you're so cool. And of course most of White girls would not think it's cute to see East Asian guys speak their native language. If it sounds broken or the knowledge is limited, it would rather appear funny than cool. East Asian guys can put a lot of effort in learning a European language, however that won't increase their chances with White girls.

How come there's such a big difference?

[Photo by Lawel Style]

Back to the White guys, who speak an East Asian language perfectly. Do you know Mark Henry Roswell? He's probably the most famous Westerner (a Canadian) in China and he's speaking Mandarin like a native speaker. Everybody knows him under the name Dashan (大山, lit. "big mountain"), check this amazing video. Then there's Julien Gaudfroy, a Frenchman doing stand-up comedy in Mandarin. Or Pierre Deporte, the first White guy (he's also French) who starred in a leading role in a Korean drama. It was called Tamra, the Island, aired in 2009 (*video with Pierre's fluent Korean). Of course there are many more Western guys, who speak one of the East Asian languages and they're not famous. You can find a lot of them on You-Tube, such as the two funny guys on the video below. So what's your opinion on Westerners or Whites in particular learning East Asian languages. Is it for the career? Interest in culture? Looking for love or sex?

How to trick people into thinking you're good looking

A hilarious and intelligent video by JennaMarbles

This video has over 3 million views at this moment and I'm sure it'll become even more popular in no time. JennaMarbles, the creator of the video, is really hilarious and although she's very funny, she does make serious points. Her point is: These days almost every girl can look hot, if she has good make up skills and fashion sense.

What do you think on the issue? Most of you would probably say you prefer a natural look. But then again, natural could also mean naked or with a leaf in front of your private parts ;-) I think once mankind started to take daily baths, combing and/or cutting hair and wearing clothes, we bassically said Eff you, nature.

Chinese blogger 妮妮 is a great example of extreme makeover (source).

I don't really feel turned off by fake eye lashes, dyed hair and a lot of make up. It all comes down to how it's done. And of course I still need to like the girl, when she removes everything. When it comes to my girlfriend, she looks good with heavy, light or no make-up, because she's naturally cute. But if the difference was as big like in the case of a Taiwanese blogger or the Chinese girl on the photo above, then I'd say "thanks but no thanks." :-) How about you?

Adrift

You know, life bears many surprises, every day, every week, every month, every year. Would you have known where you are today a year ago? Probably not. Young people of today are dynamic, we travel cross the world, we live a bit here, a bit there... and the we blog about it. We share our experiences. And what did I realize? I realized that living in another country bears many challenges, but it's also very rewarding. But one thing it's for sure: It never gets boring.

My Taiwan adventure has come to halt for now. I'm officially back in Slovenia, but I take this more as vacation than anything else. I had to return home for reasons I don't want to disclose here, all I can say is, I had a great time in the past few months. Although my blog gave you the impression that I'm constantly traveling and enjoying myself with my cute girlfriend, that wasn't always the case. Yes, I had a lot of fun, especially on the weekends, where my girl and I had time to go to places and spend the days together. But in between she was working and I was working, too. It was a very valuable experience for me, the people who I was working for, were very sad to see me leave, on the last day they even gathered to wish me good luck on my way back. This chapter is now closed for me, but I need to add: I will be back soon. Oh yeah. I decided to spend the summer here and my Taiwanese girlfriend will visit me next month! I'm so excited :-D I will show her a little bit of Vienna and a whole lot of Slovenia, maybe even parts of Italy or Hungary. We'll see what's possible in the 2 weeks she'll stay here at my family's house.

Sometimes we do our best, but it's still not enough and we have to stop for a moment, accept the facts and set new objectives for ourselves. At the time when that happens, we feel frustrated, but then our life goes on. And in a year, two or three we look back again to that same moment and realize that what seemed to be bad luck turns out as a blessing in disguise. I believe that this is the case in my current situation. I'm actually totally fine now, but one thing is really hard: I'm missing my girl. I'm missing her every day, every moment. I have never cried so hard at any airport so far. She's totally under my skin... I love her. But I'm not looking back anymore, only forward. I'll greet her in Europe soon and then you'll be able to read "Cute Taiwanese girl's Slovenia adventures" :-) I'm sure it'll be tons of fun. I'll still be blogging about Taiwan, less here on my blue blog and more on my green blog, which will also be full of not only Taiwan related topics, but also a lot about my travels from the past, which I haven't written about yet (such as Hong Kong...), Asian women, funny crazy stuff, random.. Expect the unexpected (business as usual, hehe).

Please subscribe to my green blog, if you're interested or follow via Google friend connect. And keep following here, too. I really appreciate it. I'm a bit adrift these days, trying to realize, that my body is in Slovenia, while my head is still in Taiwan. Your support really means a lot to me, your comments crack me up. I love you, guys. Let's have a great 2010 together, shall we? :-)

[Photo from Bangkok airport, stopover on the way home, by MKL, 2010]

About the young people of Taiwan

How I see Taiwanese people in 2010


Read the same post in Chinese (中文): 我如何看台灣的年輕人>>

I have written about how I see Koreans and another post about Korean women, but I've never took the time to write about the Taiwanese, the people who became so close to me. There can be so much said and written about them, that I think I could write several posts, but I'll try to write down the most important things here and focus only Taiwan's young people, who are this country's hope for the future: Let's talk about the young people of Taiwan.

Oh, Taiwan: The funny thing about Taiwan is, that it is an independent state and at the same time it is not an independent state. It has its own government, own military, own history, own currency, own culture... basically everything that an independent state should have. However, Taiwan (officially Republic of China) is not internationally recognized as a sovereign state and the communist China claims that Taiwan was merely its province and constantly threatens with war, should Taiwan proclaim itself as a fully independent state. And that puts Taiwan and its people in a kind of a Kafkaesque situation: Everything is unclear, everything is contradictory, but people still find a way to live and survive in this surreal political situation.

The past: But the Taiwanese people don't only suffer from the long lasting political conflict between Taipei and Beijing. Inside their own country they are a greatly divided nation, especially the north with Taipei, which is more pro China and the south with Kaohsiung, which is very pro independence. You have to know, that Taiwan used to be part of China in the past, then part of Japan for 50 years and after World War II, the people suffered under a military rule of the Chinese nationalists. In 1949 some 2 million nationalists from mainland China, who retreated from the Communists while fighting for the power over whole China (read more about Chinese civil war), came to Taiwan to establish what was initially meant to be a temporary state. Their leader Chiang Kai-shek was determined to one day return to Beijing and become the president of whole China. But that did never happen. He merely remained the president (read dictator) of Taiwan, which he saw as the continuation of the in 1911 established Republic of China. He died in 1975 and a temporary solution became a fully functioning state with its own identity. You have to know that most Taiwanese suffered under Chiang Kai-shek and his nearly 40 years long lasting martial law, that limited people's freedoms (read more) and forced them to speak Mandarin instead of their native dialect Taiwanese. Taiwan turned into a democracy in the late 1980s and transformed quickly to a modern bustling economy and a high-tech nation.

So here you have a nation, that went through so many changes in the past 100 years and all these factors are important to understand the young Taiwanese people of today.

Modern Taipei: Xinyi at night.

The present Taiwanese: The young Taiwanese of today were born during the democratic era, which makes them very different from those older folks, who experienced a lot of hard times in the past. Taiwan today is a successful modern state and its young people are seeing things with different eyes than their parents. Most young and educated Taiwanese speak Mandarin, while the older generation or people from the rural areas speak Taiwanese. Politically the young people are much more pro-Taiwan and less pro-China than the highly divided older generation.

Young Taiwanese want to be seen as Taiwanese first, but they know that they also belong to the Chinese culture, which one of the biggest and oldest cultures in the world. However, the way of life in Taiwan is closer to that of South Korea and Japan rather than to China. Many Taiwanese would proudly say, that they also have some Japanese blood, which is the result of the past Japanese rule over Taiwan.

Sexy promoters in Taipei working hard. Taken in Xinyi.

Taiwanese are hardworking people. It seems that work and family are the two pillars of their society. Respecting the elders is a must and working all day, even over time is expected. I think the latter is a real problem, because life shouldn't be only about pleasing the boss and pleasing the family. In recent years many young Taiwanese go their own way, do crazy things like one blogger, who went to Paris to kiss 100 strangers and blogged about it. Things like that stir are still controversial in Taiwan, while in Europe we merely chuckle about them. But that's because Taiwan is still in a transition. The top-down society is loosening up, being individual is slowly becoming acceptable. It's not always and everywhere, but it's not a taboo anymore.

There are thousands of albums of Taiwanese girls on Wretch (source).

Speaking of blogging, young Taiwanese love to blog or share their photos on websites such as Wretch, Pixnet and Roodo, which are massively popular. It seems that, if you don't have a Wretch account, you're not cool or up to date. And young Taiwanese take blogging very seriously. Unlike me and some of you, who sometimes write random nonsense (no offence :-P), Taiwanese bloggers mostly write very well-elaborated posts about make up products, fashion, travel and food. Many of them get paid for the reviews they write and some of them are so popular, their blogs get millions of visitors and can enjoy a good life merely from blogging. They become celebrities, who advertise products for a lot of money, travel to places for free and write about their fabulous lives... and most of their readers admire them.

Some of those famous bloggers are: IllyQueen, Cwwany, Bajenny, Onion_club, Amaryilliss, Milktea, Off60, Christabelle and many more. However, the two most popular blogs are PlayPcesor and Briian.com and are owned by guys, who write about computers and software. Check a list of the most popular Taiwanese bloggers here.

My favorite Taiwanese blogger is Lily Chen.

Interests and hobbies. Usually the young guys are into computers and photography, while most girls are into fashion and make up (no surprises here, right?). And all young Taiwanese are crazy about food. Food in Taiwan is like a holy thing: It's everywhere, it's worshiped and it's highly enjoyed. Young Taiwanese love to recommend restaurants, night markets and hawkers. When it comes to food, everyone's a food critic, people distinguish between poor and excellent food and usually demand the best quality.

Of course young people love to party, too. There are many awesome clubs in Taipei. If you want to see some amazing photos of Taiwan's night scene, check Steven Vigar's clubbing in Taiwan. But unlike in the West or Korea, young people usually don't get drunk, which is very pleasant. And Taiwanese are a nation of singers. They love to go to Karaoke bars (KTV) or even take part in several singing competitions on TV, that are similar to American Idol. Taiwan is full of young talented singers. Do you remember Lin Yu Chun? Just few months ago he became famous with this stunning performance.

Girls and guys like them are common in Xinyi, Taipei.

Back to fashion: Fashion is huge in Taiwan, but I should rather say Taipei. When you go to big cities like Taichung or Kaohsiung, fashion is still important in some parts, but Taipei is something else. And many young people, who come from all parts of Taiwan to work in Taipei start to dress up well, girls use more make up and dress more womanly. Taipei is not only the administrative capital, it's also the fashion capital. Although Taiwan is a fairly small country, it's very diverse when it comes to fashion and styles.

You can say what you want, but I think he's really cool.

A Taiwanese couple in Xinyi. Taken in Feb 2010.

Teenagers in Ximending (Taipei) are famous for having crazy styles.

You can also see lots of fashionable guys and girls in Ximending.

There are so many different types of young Taiwanese guys and girls, it would need a lot of research to define all of them. You can see young lorry drivers, who chew betel nuts and don't care much about how they look like, to neat and clean guys in suits, who look like movie stars. They're probably the upper class and highly educated, well mannered and well traveled. I'll let other bloggers write about Taiwanese guys, I rather focus on... you know who ;-)

Taiwanese girls love to dress sexy, but not trashy. High-heels are a must (source).

When it comes to girls, it's a bit different. Most Taiwanese girls in and around Taipei take good care of themselves and that consists of a healthy diet (most girls are very slim), using various beauty products like creams and masks and a dress very womanly. You can see a lot of girls in high heels, skirts and stockings walking on Taipei's streets or riding scooters. Oh yeah, you think Italy is "Scooterland"? Come to Taiwan and you'll be totally proved wrong. And trust me, when I tell you, that you'll see some of the most beautiful girls and women, if you ever travel to Taipei, you can be sure of that.

Another thing that's pretty common in Taiwan this year are fake eyelashes. They're much more popular than anywhere I've been before in Asia (and that includes Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Macau and Seoul). Most Taiwanese girls have long straight hair, usually dyed in brown tones, blonde is very uncommon. And so many young girls, especially teenagers love bangs. Sometimes they are so thick, it looks hilarious. This photo comes close to that. Taiwanese girls want to appear young, which leads to a phenomenon, where women over 30 (sometimes even over 40) dress like people 10 years younger than them. And some can even pull that off, because they really look much younger than their age. The "culture of cuteness" (influence of Japan) is very strong in Taiwan. Girls want to be cute, cute is desirable for old and young, so many things can be ke ai (可愛), from accessories to bags, from clothes to watches, key chains and stcikers. Cute stuff makes Taiwanese girls and women happy. And they love to shop online. Online shopping is really big in Taiwan and many girls order things together and then get a big shipment of clothes (usually from China, Japan or Korea), meet up and distribute the clothes among themselves. I've seen that first hand and I must say the girls were very happy. Here are some links of popular Taiwanese online shops recommended by my girlfriend: [Makeup] [Clothes] [Bikinis] [Shoes].

Taiwanese TV at night is full of sexy girls in skimpy clothes.

My impression. How are young Taiwanese really? It's hard to say, I must admit. In some regards they are like other East Asians, in some ways they're same as young Europeans, but they also have some very uniquely Taiwanese traits. In the end, every individual is different and deserves a chance to be judged by their own actions, rather than being defined by a stereotype, be it a positive or a negative one, so take my observation with a pinch of salt.

My experiences: I must say I mostly had pleasant experiences with young Taiwanese. I can give you one example: There was a Hi-Life (a convenience store) near my apartment and I went there daily to buy some food or drinks, usually for my coffee. A nice young guy, probably around 20 years old, worked there and seemed to be excited to see a foreigner coming to his store. It started by him asking, if I was American. And it continued with a kind of a language exchange every day, because he always tried to speak English with me. Once he had given me a straw and then asked, how is that named in English? I replied: "Straw". And he would repeat that and then teach me: 吸管 (xī guǎn), which is the Chinese equivalent. I remember he once called a friend and they showed me a word they did not understand. Guess what, it was "chimney". You have to know Taiwanese don't have houses with chimneys, usually they don't heat during winter like we do in Europe, so I had to explain the meaning to him with a lot of sign language.

Young Taiwanese love to ride scooters.

Generally speaking: Taiwanese are usually shy but friendly in the beginning, but once you get to know them better, they open up and become very loyal friends. I've encountered all kinds of people in Taipei, from those who stared at me to those who smiled at me, even waved to me, like that one guy, who sat beside a temple and saw me taking photos. I remember once a girl in Ximending said hello to me, when I passed by and she caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting something like that, so I just said hello back and walked on. Another time a girl asked my girlfriend, if she could take a photo of us and we smilingly agreed. I once had a young guy helping me with directions, when he saw me being lost and trying to read a big Taipei map.

I think the biggest problem between foreigners and Taiwanese is the language barrier. Even though you can see language schools on every corner in Taipei, Taiwanese usually don't speak English well and foreigners on the other hand don't speak enough Mandarin to be able to have a decent conversation with each other, that goes beyond the usual small talk. Language is always the key that opens the most doors.

Young people in Hsinchu love to gather for rock concerts.

I will continue to learn Mandarin and continue to make friends in Taiwan, because I think they're great and generous people. I'm very hopeful for Taiwan's youth and the future that lays ahead of them.

If you have anything to add, what I have missed, please comment below. Thanks.

[Taiwan][Taipei][All photos by MKL, 2010, except where otherwise noted]

Super commentator award from Carina

Carina, the lovely blogarina from Norway, gave me a blog award named "Super comments award", that shows a panda on a stick of bamboo. I think she thought that's me, cuz pandas are European bears that moved to Asia... (just made up by me). And the chirping bird must be Carina. She's giving me a small twig with leaves, which represent my award. Woohoo. Thanks, Carina :-) You made one chubby panda happy, hehe.

Your award made me think about commenting. If someone blogs about food, people will say: Wow, looks good, you make me hungry. I also do that, because it's the best I can say. And most of the time it's really true. But MKL panda is hungry all the time anyway. So I don't lie. Do you lie, when you comment? Never? Come on, admit it. You haven't read, but you commented anyway. Why did you do it? Either, because you take commenting as a chore/duty or you it's because you read the post, but had no comments, however you want to let the blogger know that you've read their post, so that they know it and in return read your post and comment. Or godforbid not think that you don't read their blog anymore, but actually you do. So comments are intended to keep the bonds of your online friendship intact. To keep the online universe that you've created running normally, so you can have a normal life, of which blogging, tweeting and occasional Facebook comments are a vital part of it. That gives you a way to escape the stress at work or with family, friends or partners. Nothing wrong with that. 50 years ago people escaped into books. 30 years ago it was the TV. And in the last 10 years it's the internet. How many hours do we waste commenting on random stuff? Did you ever think about that? We could do so many things like... milking cows or something. But all we do now is we switch on our laptops and waste our time by... anyway, you know the drill. You're doing the same, don't you? ;-) What happened to us? We're jerking around with cellphones and ipads inods islobs laptops... Even, if we go out and meet friends, all we do is camwhore for the Facebook photos. It's like: Look at us, we had fun... Then sometimes I think: What did you actually do besides taking 200 something photos with random people and weird grimaces? And good job with Photoshop, your skin looks amazing without the pimples I saw in the club, lol.

Ok, so commenting. Sharing your thoughts, opinions, engaging in discussions... that seems to be tedious lately. But I don't care. I'm not a comment whore, I write whatever I feel I want to share. And my blog's traffic is out of control lately and I'm happy about that. I have less comments, but more readers. That good enough for me. Maybe some of you, who follow me for a while now, are not really interested in Taiwan or the World Cup, but there are many people, who are. And I want to cater to both, to you and to them. And in the end, I wanna blog what I want. So, if you don't have interest, just skip, who cares. Comments or no comments, it's up to you. Just don't complain, that's rude. It's not my job to entertain you, however, I'm still happy if you like to read what I have to say. And one more thing I learned through haters blogging, write your blog's comment policy, when you become popular. You will attract commentators, who may not be as pleasant as you wish. I must say, after being attacked and annoyed (and spammed) by annoying individuals, I tightened my commenting rules. As you know, I'm a neat freak, I want my blog clean and spam free... ah, let's not go too far. Back to something pleasant again...

Back to Carina. I think she's one of the best commentators I know. I love to agree or disagree with her. When she comments, she will defend her point passionately, but respectfully. How can you not like her? I admire her for what she has done with her blog. She can write about fashion, celebrities, events or abused women in Afghanistan. She's bolder than me, she will write about religion and politics, state her opinion and people will still love her. I think she's a fearless blogger and I really admire her for that, because I softened up in this regard. Topic-wise, she's a bit like me, both of us write about various things. Anyway, you need to follow Carina, at least put her in your Google Reader and check her blog occasionally. And I guarantee you'll love her. Maybe you'll hate her, too, but then you're too sensitive anyway and you better just stick with girly blogs about make-up. ;-)

Carina, you're someone I'd really like to meet one day. In case I wander around Oslo, I'll ring on your doorbell, k ;) I remember we once had a terrible misunderstanding, but we patched things up very quickly. That's where I truly started to admire you. You deserve more than just "Super commentator" award, Carina, you deserve the "Kind and forgiving person" award, because that's what you are for me.

Ok, so now all this got me thinking. Since so many bloggers are on hiata (my own plural of hiatus), the comments became less here. People are busy these days. That makes me think: To whom I should give the super commenter award now? Ok, let's check some of my most recent posts and see... well...

Here are my Super commentators. I pass the award to these peeps:

LilyChen: She doesn't comment regularly, but when she does, she does it with luv.

Ejann: Cuz she's lovable and adorable and uber-stiletto-cool! Yeah. And she's my sister.

Jo Hill: She's just one of my top fans and I love her blog to bits and adore her big ti... ;-P

Daisy: She's one of the kindest nicest sweetest bloggers on the Internets.

Netster: He's always commenting late, but catches up with all my posts. He's awesome!
Shingo: Because he's an old uncle and needs some praise. Kidding. He's awesome, too!

Amogh: He's a very nice guy, who always gives supportive comments. Thank you :)
Sabrina: Saby has such a big heart, it's visible! ;) Really, I lurve her comments to bits.

Adamantixx: The English poet is one of my dearest followers and gives great comments :)

Karen: She writes long and interesting comments and always puts a smile on my face ;)

Ok, if you accept this award, you can answer the following question to me:

What are your thoughts on blog commenting? Any funny observations?

Oh, and follow Carina, she's the best :-)