[StarVegabond]

#148 Tipei International Airport layout


#149 Entry point of the airport


#150 Airport authority watch tower


#151 immegration counters, very efficient


#152 some interior pictures



#154 India is still not among the preferred travel destination or time zone


Indian Govt does not recognize Taiwan as a seperate country probably due to the fact that it would annoy China.

[StarVegabond]

#155 Taiwan seems to have three official religions Buddhism, Christianity and Islam.


#156 Y2010 is the year of Tiger in China-Taiwan


#157 China follows Lunar Horoscope, following are the signs


Following links explain the meaning of tiger personality
2010 the Year of the Tiger, third sign of the lunar Chinese Horoscope

#158 i am not aware of these painted animals, does anyone know the significance ?


#159 one can buy the flower seeds, but i think it is illigal to bring them into India


The flowers would bloom into something like below






#165 Flower Life Cycle

[arindamray]

In the last post, #77, images are not appearing.

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by arindamray

Bajaj M80 was my first ride too. Used to beg/borrow from my uncle during my 11th and 12th.
Though my area of operation was restricted by him/parents, at those ages breaking the imposed restrictions were more of a norm

My new M80 was bought for RS 10500/- and sold after 5 years at 9500/-
That is what i call resale value.

Originally Posted by arindamray

In the last post, #77, images are not appearing.

I noticed that and have reloaded the pictures by editing the same post within the 20 minutes allowed.

Continuing with the story..

I learnt that Taiwan was originally home for several tribal communities.
There was a Tribal Festival being conducted at the airport.

#166 Demo of Tribal Festival


#167 Typical Home of tribals


# 168 Map showing various tribes of Taiwan


#169 Tribal Vehicle .. yes..a Boat


#170 a Chinese architecture


# 171 various taiwanese cultral products


#172 Part of the demo


#173 a picture of wonderful landscape of taiwan


#174 Taiwanese are fast taking up our spices


#176 Arcitectural stype of Tribals


#177 The Tsou tribe


#178 The Rukai tribe


#179 The Banun Tribe


#180 The Thao tribe


#181 The Amis Tribe


#182 The Paiwan Tribe


#183 The Atayal Tribe


#184 The Tao or Yami tribe


Infact there were several other hoardings, but i could not take pictures well.

# 185 Typical Tribal ware




#188 Modern Tribal ware


#189 Ultra Modern tribal ware

[StarVegabond]

Now the last part of the airport experience

Yes The Gadgets, Airport shops are expensive, hence only worth the Netrasukh (=pleasure for eyes)

#190 Netbooks are coming, here is another one Dr. Eye, i do not know the meaning of the name


#191 another interesting gadget, very useful for Sales guys as well as frequent travellers..that is micro projectors


#192 some interesting bikes


# 193 some of them could be folded and transported


# 194 the ultimate gadget, a robot companion..might come in future


#195 message for myself


#196 as a kid this was one of my hobby, i had a huge trunk full of stamps, need to find out where are they, it must be at my parent's place.


#197 After a long walk, i was tired, picked up a cup of coffee and a criossant and walked to the departure lounge


#198 after an hour of wait, browsing internet, making the trip report, it was time to board the flight..boarding gate



# Flight to Hongkong was very clinical, the transit time at HK airport was very short, quickly boarded the Dragon air flight to Bangalore, after the meal, just slept, when i woke up flight was about to land. This is the sign that welcomed me into Bangalore.


yes, i was begining to miss my daughter and wife, it has been more than 2 weeks since i had left them at Mumbai.

Now i am back in home...to do more of home science experiments.

[StarVegabond]

I just now noticed that the thread has been rated 5 star by 3 people.
I also noted that there have been in all 80 posts in the thread till now including this one out of which 38 have been made by me (~47%), some 18 people have responded, few people several times, Thanks for being there to encourage me, being the cheer leaders. motivating me by asking questions, stating your views and putting in your appreciation where ever you found worth.

The thread has been viewed some 3300 times, My sincere thanks to you who has been reading the thread, posting comments. I am happy that my rumblings have been found worth listening to, my thoughts have been considered worth reading.

Thank you very much...

Now moving ahead with the story...

Most of the time when i return from a travel, i have to simply ring the door bell, irrespective of time, door gets opened with a cheerful smile and i get ushered in.

But being summer and MBA period, i am welcomed with a locked door at some 1.30 AM in the morning.

It is time to find the key for the lock , where i have kept the key ?
I can't remember...

Is it in the laptop bag ?
I search the outer most zipped compartment... No i can find it
I search the section where the power cords and other stuff is placed...No
Then i remove the laptop and search inside..No it is not there.

It has been over a week now since i locked the door..I remember keeping it inside the pocket, where did it drop it ?

now i begin to worry how to open the door ?
Another key was with my wife and she is some where in Mumbai or Pune.

Then i suddenly remember, i might have placed it inside by luggage bag
now it is the postmortem time.. of the luggage bag...

quickly the tiny lock of the bag gets opened..
slowly the hand goes in and begin to search..slowly the clothes begin to fall outside

eventually after few minutes of search, i grab the keys..Yes..i found them

it has been some 10-12 anxious minutes...

just then the phone rings.. guess who..it is the better half..
she is checking whether i have landed and reached home

I say..yes i reached home.. She says Good Night, sleep well
Ok, some greeting is better than nothing.

It has been a long and hectic week, time to hit the bed in my own home.
Actually the bed at home is more comfortable than a bed in a 5 star hotel.

so i must have slipped into deep sleep shortly

i was woken up by my phone ringing, it was 9:45 AM.
again it was better half..

[StarVegabond]

So after an hour and half long debriefing each other, it is almost noon time.

I quickly complete all the morning chores, put the cloths into the washing machine, my estimate is it will take at-least 3 loads of washing. I set the regular cotton wash cycle, now it is time to put the detergent. I could not locate the packet of detergent, so one more call to you know who solves the issue.

so now the washing cycle is started successfully.

Not it is time to switch on the TV, as soon as i switch on, the electricity goes off, the fan stops, washing machine stops, the sweating starts.

so i decide to step out and have my breakfast or lunch whatever it is. But the hot sun outside discourage me. so i decide to stay back home and wait for the clock to hit 4:30 PM.

after some 60+ minutes the electricity emerges and washing gets re-started. Then i realize the washing cycle i have chosen is of 120 minutes and there is no way of changing it. so after about 2 hours, the first load is out. In goes the second one.. the shirts.

I go back to my TV, some movie is being played...i just slip into the swinging chair and watch the movie.

By the time the second load gets done, it is almost 3.30 PM.
Still, one more sets to go..the trousers. I have no patience left.

i just start the third load and grab the car keys and drive to my favourite resturant Swati Gardenia, Have some good set dosas with some sweet lime juice

I realize it has been my first Indian breakfast in a week's time, that too at 4 PM.

Drive back home, soon put the trousers for drying and decide to take a nap.

if my wife would have been here, this would have been the only activity i would have done, so i realize how lazy i have been before, but i love being lazy once a while.

so having finished leaning a new course in home science class, i sleep for some 2 hours. I was woken up by a call from one of my ex-colleague who stays in Yelahanka.

I realize that he is a co-student in the summer MBA course and we decide to meet for a dinner.

I am still having the chinese hangover, so we decide to meet at Shanghai Junction restaurant in Sahakar Nagar

#200 Shanghai junction resturant..picture taken from the menu card


This place is a middle class restaurant with affordable prices, I love their manchow soups, veg spring rolls, noodles, fried rice and veg manchurian.
i took liberty to order, two forced bachelors exchanged the events that brought them to this situation, happenings over last few weeks, some office gossip etc.

we were the only other table occupied in the restaurant. One thing i do not like is the lighting, it is very dull.

#201 dull lighting and decoration


The sister resurant just across the road named Beijing Bites has a better ambiance, uniformed waiters, increased prices, but same kichen-cheff-menu items and same owner.

The resturant takeaway menu says, they make home/office deliveries, but i have never tried. Out of the 6-8 times i have been there only once the food dish was not up to our expectation, else i would rate this restaurant good value for money. Bill this time was RS 310 for 2 people for the above mentioned dishes.

At hindsight, i find it amazing that the first proper meal i had once i am back in Bangalore was a chinese meal despite being bored / distressed having to eat the chinese food in Taipei.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

I just now noticed that the thread has been rated 5 star by 3 people.
I also noted that there have been in all 80 posts in the thread till now including this one out of which 38 have been made by me (~47%), some 18 people have responded, few people several times, Thanks for being there to encourage me, being the cheer leaders. motivating me by asking questions, stating your views and putting in your appreciation where ever you found worth.

The thread has been viewed some 3300 times, My sincere thanks to you who has been reading the thread, posting comments. I am happy that my rumblings have been found worth listening to, my thoughts have been considered worth reading.

Thank you very much...

Star - that's a lot of statistics , and the best part is the way you had put it across. You know sometimes people would torture numbers to confess to what they want

I can say that I come back to read your logs because they have a very refreshing view about the things you write about. Most of the time it is the simple things in life that you touch upon, most often forgotten / overseen by many of us in this mad race called living. I love the simple way in which you express the views and your choice of words.

You are a really a star. Keep logging.

Time to meet up - its been a long time since we caught up with each other.

[arindamray]

+1 to Lalu's comments.
@Star: It has been a nice read all through out, different perspectives, some food for thought. Though I do not comment often, reading your log regularly and being an silent admirer.

[pulsar56]

Originally Posted by laluks

I can say that I come back to read your logs because they have a very refreshing view about the things you write about. Most of the time it is the simple things in life that you touch upon, most often forgotten / overseen by many of us in this mad race called living. I love the simple way in which you express the views and your choice of words.

+1 from me too!
Most of us have been checking and reading the updates regularly!

[StarVegabond]

Hi Lalu, Arindam, Pulser56,

Thanks verymuch for your kind words, i feel honoured.
There is a saying...writer is made by his readers. This is more true in my case.

staying with the story...


Saturday night, i once again got the opportunity to watch 3 movies back to back on HBO/Star Movies. I was watching movies on TV after long time, almost an year ago was the last time.

LCDTVs redefine the TV viewing experience. Home theaters really make one believe he is in the theater. In my Navi Mumbai Home i had made the arrangements for the DTH + hometheater (including consealed wiring) as well as wall panels for the LCD mounting including ambient lighting arrangements. But we never used it as we moved to Bangalore.

Having worked in the area of AV-TV-DVD-HTiB-STB design area for 6+ years, i had carefully chosen my LCDTV + DVD Player combo 2 years ago and i have not disappointed myself since.

but watching movie alone is not a great experience. if given a choice i would love to watch a movie in a theater or on LCD TV with the dear ones, with all lights off, with a reclining chair and space to stretch one's legs with with good sound sourrounding oneself, with popcorn/snack or a drink on the side table is what i prefer.

probably i must have dozed off early morning say 3:30 AM or so.

Sunday is a Funday for kids, but not so for the forced bachelor
Plenty of things he will miss viz.

1. Sunday morning cuddling time with the kid daughter and stying in bed for some more time, till wife urge you to get out atleast a dozen times.
2. morning tea along with newspaper
3. hot and liesurely sunday morning breakfast

these things we take for granted, now looks like lost for time being.

more over he also has plenty of things to do

1. Getting the clothes ironed
2. Doing the dishes getting accumulated in the kichen sink
3. getting the house in order becasue the whole week things have been thrown arround mainly news paper, clothes etc.
4. thinking about all Ws and Hs of breakfast, lunch, dinner

I had one more work to do, my parents were arriving on that day from my native place. fortunately they were to reach my brother's place.

The plan was i would reach by brother's place for lunch and stay till dinner. i could reach only by 1.30 PM, my bro lives in south bangalore.

having fed with a sumptuous lunch, the sleep deprived person hits the bed as usual. Evening was spent conversing over a cup of tea, visiting the nearby temple, walking with my brother's kid son to nearby bylanes etc.

i drive home by 10 PM after having a dinner despite everyone insisting that i stay there as i had work to attend the next day.

but before returning, it was decided that after couple of days stay at my brother's place my parents would come to my home and spend few days with me.

It was indeed an occation, i was going to live alone with my parents again after 1974, that was the year my brother was born. Atleast for few days i will have my parents all for myself. No one to share them with not even their grand child who used to grab all attention last 8 years.

i was pretty excited..

[StarVegabond]

I was going to live few days with my Mom and Dad, just three of us, after 36 years...

from 1974 onwards, we were always 4 people till i got married (after that the count increased to 5, later on to 6). My sole ownership of my parents had ended within 2 years of my birth. To my best knowledge i never had an opportunity to be alone with my parents since 1974
so this occasion was unique from that perspective.

My thoughts moved to what essentially has changed in last 36 years. I was thinking how best i can express the change.

then i received an e-mail forward, which brilliantly puts a difference between then and now for a person. I would thank the original writer (i do not know who) as well as the person who forwarded it to me (that is my wife)

Life is beautiful !!!

20 years back - School bag.
Today - Office bag.

20 years back - Navneet Note book.
Today - xxxxx Note book (Laptop)

20 years back - Hero Ranger.
Today - Hero Honda.

20 years back - Half pants.
Today - Full pants.

20 years back - Playing with plastic car running on battery and remote.
Today - Playing with metal car running on petrol and gear.

20 years back - Scared of Teachers and exams.
Today - Scared of Bosses and targets.

20 years back - Wanting to be class topper.
Today - Wanting to be ' Employee of the month ' .

20 years back - Quarterly exams.
Today - Quarterly results.

20 years back - Annual School Magazine.
Today - Company Annual Report.

20 years back - Annual exams.
Today - Annual appraisals.

20 years back - Pocket money.
Today - Salary.

20 years back - Waiting for Diwali crackers.
Today - Waiting for Diwali bonus.

20 years back - Running after grades and prize cups.
Today - Running after incentives and promotions.

20 years back - Craving for the latest toy in the market.
Today - Craving for the latest gadget in the market

20 years back - Eager to watch the latest cartoon show.
Today - Eager to watch the latest blockbuster.

20 years back - Fruity.
Today - Brandy.

20 years back - Crush on class mate.
Today - Crush on colleague.

So essentially nothing has changed !! Life is beautiful!!!

even though the above in totality is NOT applicable to me, i tend to agree with the conclusion, not much difference when it comes to the relationship between the parents and their kid. Life is still beautiful.

I was very eager and looking forward for the next 3 days to end quickly
it actually did, Job/work ensured that the 3 days flew by very fast.

[StarVegabond]

Summer was slowly turning the heat on, Even by Bangalore standards, this year the summer was more scorching, temperatures were higher than normal (or at least i felt so, nothing linked to the previously said salary review effects ),

then it rained, mother nature was very kind enough to shower us with her blessings, the first rains of the summer is always very refreshing. The smell of the earth is simply fascinating, no man made fragrance can match it's effect. Simply irresistible.

21st April 2010, noon time, it rained in Bangalore North. That day, i was working from home as i had several conference calls, decide to take it from home itself.

#202 then comes the rain...


#203 in few minutes it is water everywhere..


Rains are another wonderful event of the nature, still it amazes me how the sea water gets converted to clouds which gets again converted to rain shower which again converted to streams to rivers back into sea.

All this happening automatically, perfect way to recycle.

The first rains are always very soothing, bringing down the temperature and providing relief to all of us.

[MX6]

Nice to see rains! I'm still waiting for them in Pune. Impressed to read about your home theater system. I have a small set up too. But what's impressive is my 800 dvd collection

[jacs]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

then i received an e-mail forward, which brilliantly puts a difference between then and now for a person.

Its very true, nice one .

Some nice pictures there Star. How much did the pocket projectors cost in Taiwan?

I really liked the Harley moped.