大學生涯比作10件事

Round-Island Scooter Around Taiwan Update #3

Now that the mode of transportation has been decided, now we must get into the details about riding a scooter. 

3 issues here:
- Scooter license
- Scooter rental
- Scooter choice

A quick search on the internet on obtaining Taiwanese scooter license yields this. It shows that for a scooter 50cc or less only require a written test, while 51cc to 250cc requires a written and road test. Now, both written and road test must be taken at a local testing office. I know one near my house in 百福, the same place where I got my driver's license. I've seen the road test, and its not hard. Mainly there is a test for the ability to ride in a straight line within confined space, and a test for basic road signs. 

Documents needed are residence permit, 3 passport sized pictures, and the fee for testings. 

Next on the agenda is scooter rental. At this point in time, I have no suggestions on which scooter shops are best. Nonetheless, a bit of research leads me to here. Things to be of concerns are A) Reliability of the store, B) Quality of scooter, and C) Insurance coverage and other issues. I dont think I can make any more progress in this issue right now until I get back to the country in a few months time. Will update. 

Finally, scooter choice. Generally, what I found was that the average stocked 50cc scooter have a top speed of about 60kmh to 80kmh, where as a 150cc have a top speed of about 100kmh. Of course, I wont be riding in top speed this entire journey, but its something to be of a concern. If we were to assume we choose a 50cc scooter, traveling at an average speed of say, 15kmh (assuming average speed between city and rural locations), then a journey of 1200km will take about 80hours, or roughly 3.3 days non-stop. That said, if the traveling time is broken down equally throughout the 2 week trip (14 days), then the daily riding time is about 5.7hours, a relatively acceptable time frame.

Now, heres where the scooter beats a car: if along any point of this trip we were to decide to take short cuts, and use other forms of transportation other than scooter, both the Ju-Guang Hao and Fu-Hsing Hao trains have the ability to allow riders to carry their scooters along with them on the train. This is a definite aid if we were to change plans on the fly. 

With all that said and done, all thats left is to take the scooter test and choose which scooter we'll be riding in. 

More updates to come soon. Meanwhile, I've found two Taiwanese movies based on the idea of round island journey. Both movies are done by bicycles: 

rOar

痞子英雄

痞子英雄 (English: Black & White), the latest drama series that aired in Taiwan, finally broadcasted their finale episode yesterday. I've been following this series throughout its first release, and I must say, I am very impressed at the quality at which this series presented itself. 

The story involves around two cops where one of them is, for a lack of a better word, a slacker, while the other is a cop who sees every thing with only two sides (good or evil). The two of them are at the extremes when it comes to cop work. One day, their lives becomes intertwined with the Triad boss's daughter, and since then, their unusual relationship begins to develop. 

The series aired their final 24th episode yesterday. To put it frankly, this series is nothing like I've ever seen before. Everything in it is believable: story, dialog and action. From the production quality to the level of acting skills, this drama series truly presented the high level of cinematic skills that Taiwan now possess. That said, each episode is of Hollywood movie quality. Dont believe me? Check it out for yourselves. 

Action packed, suspenseful and crazy plot twists with a tint of love interests made this drama my number 1 of my list. If you havent check it out yet, shame on you. You can watch the entire series here on Youtube, although it is not English subbed. 

A movie of this was announced right after the last episode was aired. In continuation of the story, the movie will follow the plot that was left at the end of the series. Scheduled shoot date begins at the end of 2009. 

So if you've been living under a rock and not heard any of this amazing series before, shame. Get out there and start watching. You'll thank me later. 

rOar

HTC Announces Latest Phone: HTC Hero

HTC launched their latest product, the HTC Hero, at a London phone exibition yesterday. The new phone, following the G1 model, is an android touch phone. What does this mean? Look out iPhone 3G S, you got competition. 

Basic specs:
- Qualcomm MSM7200A (528MHz) processor
-512 MR ROM / 288 RAM
-Support 7.2M HSDPA and 2M HSUPA
-GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, WLAN
-5M auto focus camera
-3.5mm standard hearphone jack
-MicroSD card slot
-Touch Sense (upgrade of the TouchFLO 3D)

Further details (Traditional Chinese webpage)

Release dates are as follows: Europe: June 2009, Asia: 3rd quarter of 2009, North America: late 2009. 

rOar

Round-Island Scooter Around Taiwan Update #2

Recently there has been some concerns on the mode of transportation that I should take when embarking on this journey. The issue is of traveling between a scooter and a car. After some thinking, heres my conclusion:

5 main categories can be argued between these two vehicles. These are:
-Safety
-Quality of Experience
-Equipment
-Ease of Travel
-Cost

Here are my opinions on these issues. 

Safety:
Indeed. Safety in this trip is of the highest priorty, especially this is a week long of traveling. Seeing how Taiwan has many scooter accidents in regards to careless bikers or ruthless drivers that hit them, it is clear that the obvious choice in terms of safety goes to traveling in a car. 

Quality of Experience:
Here the quality of experience is defined as person enjoyment of this trip. As such, it is more fun to travel in the less conventional way to go round-island. This trip is meant to be more about the journey, and not so much on the destinations that we'll visit. That being said, riding in a car would yield less rewards in completing this trip. My vote here goes to the scooter.

Equipment:
Equipment here represents everything that we might need for a week-long trip. This includes, but not limited to, personal clothings, safety equipments, first-aid, ration, and others. This category is a bit iffy in terms on which of the two vehicles would win, since it depends on the equipment we'll be carring. If there are alot of things to be brought along, then a car would be better. But if the items can fit in a heavy duty traveller's back-pack, then a scooter would be enough. So at this moment, I'm taking a conservative approach, and assume we'll be carrying alot of equipment. So my vote stands for having a car. 

Ease of Travel:
This category encompasses the whole aspect of travel. This includes how easy it is to find parking, to find repair shop, and to find areas of rest along the road. My vote here goes to the scooter. Heres why: First, parking will be ALOT easier with a scooter than a car. Especially in Taiwan, it is near impossible to find parking for a car with little effort and cheap parking rates. Next, a scooter wins in finding a repair shop than a car would, since scooter shops are littered throughout the entire country. Imagine the process needed if a car needs to be towed into a repair shop. Not only that, the time for repair of a scooter will be significantly faster than  of a car. Thirdly, a scooter is alot easier to pull over on the side of the road, if we were to get lost, or need some temprorary rest along the way. This goes back to the parking issue also. A scooter would be better when we pull in at night, since the places that we'll be staying would be in home-owned hostles, most of them have little or no parking for cars (unless motel). So in this category, the scooter has my vote. 

Cost:
Lastly, the cost of having a scooter versus a car is of an issue. Considering the cost of rent (including deposit/insurance), gas, and repair fees, my vote goes to the scooter here. 

Heres a summary between these two vehicles:

Scooter wins 3:2. And this is assuming conservatively in favor of a car too. 

More updates to come soon. 

rOar

Hot Babe (Friday)!

K, was away from blogging this past week cus was away/busy. So to compensate, heres a beauty I've found recently:

Name: Larisa Angela / 瑞莎
DOB: 2/21
Nationality: Greece-Ukraine mix
Occupation: Taiwanese talent/model/race queen/actress
Official Blog: http://www.wretch.cc/blog/reishacem (more pics there)


Saw her in the latetest Power Sunday episode, with her sexy Rumba dance. All I can say is: GAWD DAMN! lol

And of course, what kind of Taiwanese would I be if I didnt show this following picture?

Beautiful, dances, a European mix, and loves Taiwan! Perfect girl? Hell yea! :)

rOar

轉吧!七彩霓虹燈

FINALLY FOUND IT!!!

Some background on this song first. As with any distinctive culture, music is of course a major element in identifying oneself. For example, some would think of rock & roll when it comes to America, Bollywood-style music when it comes to Indian music, or Enka songs from Japan. 

This song is a classic example of the subculture of 'ghetto' Taiwanese, more commonly known as 台客文化. This song's title is "Spin! Rainbow-Colored Neon Lights", and portrays a style of music commonly heard in cheap karaoke bars or pickup trucks with speakers mounted out back blasting it in night markets.

From what I've manage to find on the web, this song first came out in late 2000, but it wasnt well known then. It is only until in 2008, with the release of the huge blockbuster Taiwanese hit movie 海角七號, that this song gain its momentum. As it turns out, one of the actors in the movie 海角七號 was the lead singer of this song. 

And the rest, as they say, was history. The song snowballed into a big hit in the underground scene. Along with its corny lyrics and catchy tune, it also gained popularity in the rising Y-generation. 

I'm so proud of our 台客文化. 

rOar

殺很大

The above two short commercial clips are the the recent buzz going around Taiwan these days. The commercials portrait a girl (瑤瑤) saying the signiture phrase "Sha hen da" (殺很大), meaning "kill very big" in promotion of a new online video game. 

Not exactly sure why the people who made this commercial would think using the words 'kill very big' would be a good idea. But with the aid of the girl's cute appearance and her 'other' qualities, the phrase 殺很大 has become an internet meme and slang for describing a girl with an appearance that takes a person's breath away. 

Other variations of the phrase 殺很大 has also risen over the past few months:
殺 - (adj): sha, 'to kill'; 'hot', 'stunning', 'beautiful'
太殺了- (adj): tai sha le, 'too killed' ; 'too gorgeous', 'too hot'
殺太大了- (adj): sha tai da le, 'killed too big', 'overkill'; 'too beautiful beyond belief'

So the next time you see a 90+ grade girl, you know she is 'killing very big'. 

rOar 

Round-Island Scooter Around Taiwan Update #1

Okay, now that things are set into motion, heres the first part of the research for my 2010 summer adventure: 

Here I've found a guy's blog documenting his 5 day trip. Included in here is his recordings of the distances, locations, and estimated times of his journey. Quite detailed I must say. 

He also included in here a tried and true route that he has ridden. 

This guy's map included alot of the scenery locations around Taiwan. So that means he doesnt go along just the coastal roads. Many of the locations are in the mountainous or metropolitan areas. Also, his trip was 5 days, meaning he had to speed through alot on his journey. His map includes the northern and southern most points in Taiwan. Also, his focus on his trip is more on the natural sceneries, hence most of the routes he has chosen are concentrated on the eastern side of the island. 

For my trip, I'm hoping for a more relaxed trip, so most likely be a 10 day to 2 weeks ride. Also the inclusion of city touring means that I'll have to plot new courses to ride through certain major cities. 

At this moment, heres a brief summary of the locations I want to visit:
-Northern/southern most points
-Major cities (counter clock wise from the north):
-->Keelong
-->Taipei
-->Taichung
-->Tainan
-->Kaosiung
-->Taitung
-->Hualien
-->Yilan
-Sceneries (not much at the moment):
-->Taroko  (also known as the "Grand Canyon of Taiwan")
-->Ocean Scenic Drive Highway #1 (need to check if thats the correct highway)

Of course, food is also a major theme in my journey. I plan to sample various kinds of beef noodles as I travel. Not just that too, street side vendors to famous restaurants, I'll try to make sure to catch as much as I can. From what I've heard, southern parts of Taiwan tend to make food that are much sweeter than in the north. Strange, huh?

More updates to come soon. 

rOar

New goal - 1200km of Taiwan on a scooter

Found my after-graduation to-do thing: 

http://simon.herrod.co.uk/blog/?p=382

This blog shows a British couple doing this in early this year. 1200km took about a week, and about £3 pounds for gas (I'm not sure thats possible). 

A round-island trip of Taiwan on a scooter. 

...

Anyone interested? 

rOar