KTV. Part 2.

As part of the farewell party of Simon and Lisa, we went to a KTV again last night. Some of us spent more than 8 hours in that room; another, japanese, went directly from the airport to the KTV around midnight, and was welcomed with a big ovation. All in all, a memorable KTV session, that I am afraid it will be difficult to best.

It was very funny. Apart from playing the clown singing, we laughed ourselves silly. Even after the first time I went to a KTV, I didn't imagine I was going to have such a good time. This was a different one and there were many more English and Japanese songs. And you could tell.


Anyway, if I could sing the Hanoi Rocks's song Tragedy, you can imagine how it was.

Tea time

One of the traditions at the IAA is the tea time at about 3pm. It's a moment when most of the people there get together, if they are not too busy. There is coffee and tea for everybody, with cakes, cookies or fruit. Some special days, be it because somebody is celebrating something, like having a baby, to welcome somebody new, or to say goodbye to somebody who leaves, the amount of food can be larger and more varied, and of better quality. Since I am staying in a different campus, I miss most of them, if I am not there because of some talk or paperwork I had to do.

Today, we said good-bye to Simon, an australian postdoc that was here for more than a year and a half. I became friends with him and his partner, Lisa, not only because they are some of the few "westerners" here. So, we have had the traditional giving of keepsakes, good luck wishes and all that.

It's surprising how many people I have met that is leaving. The postdoc's fate. As it happens, his next postdoc is in Barcelona.

We still have KTV tonight, though.

Píjiǔ

I was asked yesterday if there was any beer in Taiwan. Of course, there is. Apart from the bars that have specialized in imported belgian beer, of high alcohol content, or other american or european beers, there is also beer brewed in Taiwan. The ones I have tried are generally similar to a Heineken, a little softer probably. There are two main brands, one maybe better that the other. Neither spectacular.

I saw one beer very different last Friday. I was told later that it was part of a special edition brewed by a taiwanese beer lover who brews his own beer. One night, I had tried one of his, 14 per cent, that he had brewed to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the bar where we were. This one has something else

a Creative Commons license. It has a version number too: 3.2. An open source beer. It wasn't bad at all, belgian type, but with a different taste. I don't think you can install Linux on it... yet.

Water

No, the typhoon has not dragged me to the sea. I have only been too busy to remember to write anything. Now I think I finished the more urgent things.

We saw the Sun again today. We had been seeing only cloudy skies for days, but there was a beautiful sunset this afternoon. The typhoon has gone away and now it is going slowly towards the south of Japan. It was still raining hard yesterday morning, softer and on and off, the rest of the day.

But, how much rain these last days. I read in a newspaper that they estimate that it fell 1 metre of water in the mountainous parts in just three days!. Looking at the maps of the rain, I'd say that it rained maybe over 800mm in Taipei. It gives you an idea of the scale of the thing. In the end, because the central part of the typhoon did no cross over Taipei, the wind was not as strong as I had expected, or so they say. I have seen pictures of the damages it has wrecked on the island. Five or six dead people, some fallen bridges, overflowing rivers. Nature does not joke.

Sinlaku

It is finally here. The typhoon Sinlaku has touched ground or it is about to do it. It is a large one and it has spent a few days getting closer, because it is moving very slowly. According to the forecasts, tomorrow is the big day, if I may say it so.


I have seen some very strange changes in the weather this last couple of days. As soon it was raining a lot for 3 minutes as it stopped, there was a fine rain a few minutes later, then another shower, anything. For instance, yesterday evening, I saw an impressive show of changes of colors in the clouds: from red to purple, then blue, and finally gray, in less than 10 minutes; water curtains that don't let you see anything farther away than ten meters, and then a clear view.

The talk that I had to give today was postponed to next week and they cancelled all the events planned for today. So, after buying some more food this midday, I will spend the weekend at home. It was raining the whole day today and, even if it's not windy yet, it's uncomfortable to walk around in this weather.

And the truth is that I have enough work to do to keep me busy for more than one day.

Second one

This afternoon, I experienced the second earthquake since I arrived to Taiwan. I was in my office this time. 6.1 too. The building swayed softly like a cradle. The feeling of rocking still took a while to go. What about people?, they do not seem to care. If the tremors are like this, it's ok.

Now, we'll see if the typhoon that is nearby comes here or not. It looked like one was brewing, because we had splendid weather and clear skies these last three or four days. But there was an odd rain this evening. Very fine, but constant, with almost clear skies on top of me. We aren't exactly bored here.

Night markets

I mentioned them many times, but I think I have never really talked about what it's known here as night markets. And that's what they are, on their own particular way.

In different parts of Taipei, or other cities, there are whole streets, usually narrow, where the shops are open until late. Late depends on every zone and the day: it can be until 9, 10 or 12pm. Every place is different. That's basically a night market: many shops, selling any thing, lots of places to grab something to eat or to drink, be it restaurants or stalls in the middle of the street. All full of little lights, many billboards and people, rivers of people. I was told that one of thing that taiwanese love the most is to go to a night maket. It really looks like it.


I don't know how many there are in Taipei. Some, as the one in Shilin, are very famous and can be found in all the guides. Others, as the ones in Gongguan, Shida or Jinmei, are not so well-known, but that does not mean they are empty, quite the opposite. I was also in one in Keelung. All have things in common, and things that set them apart. There you can buy, apparently, anything. They are specially places where you can try really good dishes, even if the environment does not look like it. So you can try stinky tofu, bubble tea, all kinds of dumplings, fried things, taiwanese oyster omelettes and all those things I have talked about in other posts. And also places where you choose where you want to eat and they cook it in the pot in front of you, while you are in the queue and keep out of the way of all the people coming and going, of course.


When I was in China, I saw one in Jiayuguan too, but it was small compared to the ones in Taiwan. I guess they must be very different in the big cities.

Thinking about it, it's been quite a few days since the last time we went to one, not counting going to a restaurant nearby. Oh well, I don't think it will take too long to go there again.

Storm

Nobody knows where it will begin. You thing you are going to talk about something and that it won't be long and, all of a suddent, you find yourself in the middle of a road filled with possibilities and many different ways to go. Even if it is always a little bit dark and you presume that many of the possible paths go nowhere, it is always very exciting to follow them until you reach that obstacle that definitely blocks your way.

That is what happened to a french postdoc, who has been at the IAA for five years, and me. I wanted to talk to him about a proposal we were planning on submitting to use the SMA (Sub-Millimeter Array) on a subject I do not have much experience with. We were there for more than two hours, because during the process of understanding what was the goal of the project, if it was feasible or not, what could we get from it, ideas started popping out, related to the original one or not, of other things to try. We left the room with two or three ideas that had to be further explored, and we only had written a few sketches and notes, nothing really defined and well thought-out.

I do not know what will come out of it, not much probably —we have already seen today that we'd better forget about one of them—, but there are few more attractive things than a good old-fashioned brainstorm. It is the beginning of a road that you never know where it will take you. All in all, that was one of the goals of my travelling so far from home.