The Reason Why We Had No Pho in Taipei…

We had Taiwan beef noodles, hot pot, heck, we even had EPIC curry. But unfortunately, our plans for Dot Com Pho went to the dumps as we had to eat out of modern toilets for our weekly meet up. We never had one string of Vietnames Noodle in Taipei, which we affectionately know as “Pho”. Well, there was a reason for that.

Now John Chow says that we were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. But that’s not the real story. The real story is that when they saw the Root of All Evil coming their way, every Pho restaurant decided to close shop. They didn’t run away when Ed, Michael and me stopped by.

Because John got the boot, that meant that we got the boot by association. Man, we can’t take this guy anywhere! There must be like this super “Pho Network” that notifies other restaurants of the presence of Evil.

I guess the key to getting Pho in Taiwan next year is simple: Leave John happily in his room, complaining about the weather while the rest of us head to Pho!

Dot Com Pho - Massive DUMP Edition

During my trip to Taipei, the Dot Com Pho Crew hit many odd and wonderful eateries. Unfortunately, John Chow wasn’t part of most of those because he wanted to stay indoors and not go anywhere in the hot humid heat…which pretty much means…he never left. Now we thought that our usual digs of Pho Lan had a dirty disposition, but at least they try to hide it in the “Reserve Pho” bins out back. Here in Taipei, when you’re eating out of a toilet, they proudly turn it into a restaurant known as the “Modern Toilet“.

Originally a Japanese concept because that’s where all the weird shit comes from, Modern Toilet is an eatery that celebrates your time on the throne. Even John Chow wanted to come because inside, he’s some sort of deranged phecalpheliac in need of Prozac. As a result, this was our first Dot Com Pho Crew reunion with your favourites like Michael Kwan, Ed Lau and of course, yours truly. According to Michael Kwan, Real Dot Com Moguls eat out of toilets, and after this experience, I would have to say as the Danish do: Kerrect!

That was probably one of the most tasty meals that I’ve ever had on a toilet. I know that some of you work on the toilet or read on the toilet, but have you ever eaten out of a toilet? I can finally add that one to my bucket list

Just FYI, Dot Com Pho: Richmond Pho Lan Edition is back again this week. We’ll all be there at 12:30 today to reunite with the rest of the crew after a long two week absence. If you want to come along, let one of us know so we can save you a seat…or Mr. Lan will kill you…no kidding around :O

I Won Another iPod nano!

Well, lightning has struck twice. Last year at COMPUTEX, I won an iPod nano at the Thermaltake Party. This year, I won another one at the ZOTAC party. Unfortunately, I’m not much of an iPod fan so it might have to be given away at some point in the near future. Ed Lau also won an iPod nano. In fact, he was the first one to get called up. Jokingly, we asked our ZOTAC rep to draw Michael, Ed and me so when he drew my name after the third try, we were totally thinking that Michael would be a shoe in. Unfortunately, he got totally pwned. Poor Michael. First spooning, now no iPod or iPhone.

John Chow, who normally ends up winning something at every party, is currently batting zero. I guess that streak had to come to an end at some time.

Hello From Taipei!

Hey Everyone! So yep, I definitely landed safe and sound in Taipei. We got here on Saturday at around 5:00 AM Taipei time, but since we slept on the plane, it just felt like we got up too early after a 12 hour direct flight from Vancouver. Or at least I did. Michael had problems ignoring the screaming babies in the seats behind us.

So far, Michael Kwan and me have walked most of Downtown Taipei…yes…walked…over the last couple days. As a result, we’ve got some pretty killer blisters, but we’re still having a great time. We’ve already seen all the computer malls and we’ll definitely be going back later this week after we finish up with COMPUTEX. Last year, we only took cabs mainly because John Chow is a wimp and doesn’t like to walk so it was great to actually get out and see the city. Although I did take some Mandarin Lessons last year, I would only classify it as “Survival Mandarin” and made for some interesting conversations during our exploring. We look the part, but we talk like we’re a couple of pre-schoolers.

I’ve been shooting a lot of video and can’t wait to show it to all of you. Since one of my most recent posts was about the traffic in Taipei, I thought that I would make a quick video about the massive scooter population….

If anyone needs to find me in Taipei, I finally got a phone number here. You can reach me at 0930326948. Michael also got a new number and his is 0930138171. This was probably one of our biggest Mandarin challenges yet and we survived relatively unscathed. The girl selling us the cards at Far East Tone couldn’t keep a straight face as we butchered her language.

Tonight, we’re heading to the first COMPUTEX press conference and then the GreenIT forum. Later, we’re going to meet up with webmasters around the world at the Gigabyte COMPUTEX Reunion party at the Tavern. John Chow and Ed Lau should finally be showing up today so that we can have Dot Com Pho: Taipei Edition.

Five Things I Observed About Traffic in Taipei…

Wow, I can’t believe that COMPUTEX is here again!  In less than ten days, Michael Kwan, Ed Lau and myself will be in Taipei, Taiwan for the second biggest Computer Show in the world. The biggest is CeBit in Hannover, Germany. This will be my third time going, and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing all the cool toys and of course, reporting to you live about the whole booth babe situation. We’ll also be enjoying tons of free stuff and lots of parties! Since I’ve sworn off oversized free T-shirts, expect a few giveaways when I get back.

All the big websites that matter will be there like Tom’s Hardware and Anandtech including many huge overseas websites like HardwareZone etc. It will be great to run into old friends from other overeseas publications. Last year, I was so surprised when I ran into people that were just as excited to see someone from Futurelooks as I was to run into them. The last couple years, I stopped in Hong Kong, but this year, the weather here in Vancouver is starting off too nice to miss out on. I was going to head to Japan this year, but I’ll let Ed Lau scout it out this year before I head over next year. He’s heading over for a couple months after the show so I expect to hear about “Beautiful Girls direct to his Hotel”.

One of the things that Taipei is known for is the huge scooter population and the heavy traffic in the city core during rush hours…or hours…as the city is pretty much open 24/7. While in Taiwan for COMPUTEX over the last couple of years, I had a really good chance to observe the driving habits of the locals. I mean, it explains a few things when you head to Richmond and almost die. Here’s what I observed that may keep you from dying if you decide to go there and tempt fate by walking across the street…

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