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Mr. Asia

Hanshan Temple New Year - It's been an interesting and cold couple of days. Irene had a fantastic idea of going to Suzhou's famous Hanshan.... January 2, 2009 5:12 PM

4 trillion dollar pie - My friend Lars puts together some nice investment newsletters for his company, but since no one is investing these days,.... December 27, 2008 11:01 AM

Counting 1-10 Shanghai style - We had some friends over last night and they were goofing around with different ways to teach Rico how to.... December 6, 2008 11:17 PM

MOFCOM busted - Anyone who deals with foreign investment here in China is very familiar with MOFCOM. They're like a Turing Machine where.... November 24, 2008 3:06 PM

Shattering Beltway Illusions - Today I discovered a new punk band called Shattering Beltway Illusions. The first thing I noticed was that they all.... November 16, 2008 1:42 PM

Swords, stewardesses, and stimulus packages - Sitting on a flight up to Beijing, a stewardess hands me the China Daily, and the first headline I see.... November 14, 2008 10:20 AM

Worse than expected - It makes you wonder what kind of chaos is happening up in Beijing behind closed doors when WJB comes.... November 13, 2008 2:50 PM

Beanergy 好状态 - I saw this drink advertisement on the side of a bus. The drink's name is "Beanergy" and in Chinese is.... November 13, 2008 1:58 PM

What's your cut? - Chatting with some investment banker friends the other day, the topic drifted quickly away from small talk and gravitated to.... November 10, 2008 10:09 PM

Attitude towards adversity - I thought this headline today said a lot about the past and the future...of the US. LA-Z-BOY TO CUT 850.... November 8, 2008 8:36 AM

China Cigar Ambassador - I saw this magazine the other day, and was glad to see that Obama is now the official China Cigar.... November 3, 2008 11:02 PM

Bretton Woods 2 - Video game review - I went out the other day and picked up a new Play Station video game I saw at the local.... October 26, 2008 4:24 PM

What's happening in China's economy? - I've been asked by HQ to summarize in as few words as possible the implications of the current mess in.... September 21, 2008 9:15 AM

Exhibit of Benoit Vermander - My friend, Benoit Vermander, is having an exhibition October 7th, at The Sunbow Art Gallery on Moganshan Rd. Beside.... September 10, 2008 4:30 PM

偸桃换李 - I thought I had a pretty good handle on economics until recently when I tried to really fully understand the.... September 6, 2008 11:19 PM

Is China actually being democratic by not being like Taiwan? - As a staunch believer that Taiwan is a great place, you kind of have to shake your head in shame.... August 22, 2008 6:35 AM

You turn your head away... - I turn the TV and computer off for a week while I'm scrambling around Ningbo and all this amazing stuff.... August 20, 2008 1:23 AM

Sushi, foot shooting, and the house of cards - It's a bit depressing being back in Taipei this time. The economy feels slow, unless you're eating at the new.... August 1, 2008 7:03 PM

Xian pollution, Generalissimos in pajamas, and J-pop - Being in Shaanxi for a few days was an eye opener. I needed to do some work which you can.... July 27, 2008 7:18 PM

Semen cannabis paste - I'm not quite sure how I feel after this dessert I had last night on Changle lu. In Chinese it.... July 22, 2008 1:45 PM

What goes around... - Andrew Leonard, who writes the interesting column called "About How The World Works" for Salon, often writes a lot about.... July 16, 2008 8:58 AM

How to win friends and influence people China visa style - I got a good laugh out of this long chat thread waiting for me in the morning. It's from a.... July 10, 2008 5:42 AM

478-GY - For those of you drive and swear at moron drivers in Taiwanese like I do, this photo is pretty funny.... June 11, 2008 9:42 AM

Kill spermatozoom? - The fifth circle on the right is quite interesting... Thanks to Marc van der Chijs' Shanghaied Blog.... April 21, 2008 2:56 PM

China Business Network - I was asked recently by the China Business Network to to chat about doing business as a foreigner in China..... April 15, 2008 2:55 AM

Chinese Hospital Sign - Now that's a bit rude!.... April 10, 2008 5:46 PM

Quality Fade - Quality Fade A 3q2u Production A John Woo Film Starring: Denzel Washington, Tony Leung, Maggie Q, and Clint Eastwood In.... April 6, 2008 12:06 PM

Wizlong - Walking back from the office today I saw this interesting site advertisement. I tried to figure it out from the.... March 18, 2008 7:24 PM

700 million - Given the current state of affairs in the US and China's 1.4 trillion dollar savings account, I found this old.... March 7, 2008 8:10 AM

China Red - The Bird's Nest was lit up for the first time yesterday. An interesting political and social statement of how far.... March 7, 2008 7:47 AM

First all boys then all girls in Shanghai - Very interesting past couple of days. My colleague, James, dropped a note saying he met an interesting couple in Hong.... March 2, 2008 10:56 PM

The Troubadour of Tong Li - Our friends A-jie and Ning were in town, so Irene and I took a little day trip with them out.... March 1, 2008 9:43 AM

Bu ke da bian - Outside of the Suzhou train station are a row of really smelly but fairly clean stainless steel toilets. I know.... February 20, 2008 3:18 AM

Poker Coffee Healthy - In Chinese this makes perfect sense, but in English it's just weird..... January 17, 2008 11:44 PM

The $1.4 trillion dollar question - After reading this fascinating article by James Fallows about what China is doing with it's 1.4 trillion dollar savings account,.... January 10, 2008 10:35 AM

Provincial Poetry - This is great stuff. Kaiser Kuo wrote this for his blog, and I just wanted to spread it around. In.... December 30, 2007 12:17 AM

The Committee of 100 - I had never heard of The Committee of 100 until today when I read their just released 71 page survey.... December 17, 2007 5:34 PM

The Coneheads in Shanghai - I've noticed that the Coneheads have invaded Shanghai and are disguising themselves as owners of a pizza franchise. But we.... December 16, 2007 9:38 PM

Shanghai Pajama Sunday Brunch - Keeping with the Shanghai tradition of wandering around outside in your pajamas, we decided to have a Sunday pajama brunch..... December 11, 2007 10:13 AM

Suzhou Creek - I was at an event in a warehouse up at Suzhou Creek for the Shenet International Shanghai Launch. The invite.... December 2, 2007 12:13 PM

No, it turns out the Singaporean government actually invented hip hop - This is just utterly unbelievable... The story is here..... November 30, 2007 1:52 AM

It turns out the Chinese also invented Hip Hop - . November 21, 2007 3:32 PM

Ah, Taiwan - Bouncing back and forth between China and Taipei all the time, I start to notice things I missed before. Like.... November 20, 2007 11:18 AM

Songs about stocks rise on China's Web charts - The Daily Yomiuri Satoshi Saeki - Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent (Nov. 11, 2007) http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/world/20071111TDY04302.htm SHANGHAI--Songs about stock investment by an amateur.... November 12, 2007 4:41 PM

Sweet Potato Heads - These sweet potato guys were all on a break having lunch in a little alley on my way to buy.... November 11, 2007 11:56 AM

Taikanglu - Right down the street from my house is a cool artsy touristy cafe ridden bastion of bohemianism filled with little.... October 30, 2007 9:58 AM

Plower Prebent - . October 30, 2007 9:47 AM

What's with the pajamas? - This whole wearing your pajamas thing out in public cracks me up. I shot this at the Tesco at around.... October 26, 2007 12:34 PM

Man-made leather - What's the point of calling it "man-made leather" when it's just a cheap plastic notebook?.... October 25, 2007 7:56 AM

Gourmet powder? - Went to the grocer to pick up some sugar for the wife (and some beer for me) and walked.... October 15, 2007 7:51 PM

Hairy Crabs - A friend was in town today and we all went out to Yangcheng Hu in Kunshan for their famous Dazha.... October 14, 2007 12:08 AM

Flattening of Raj's World - I recently finished reading "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman, which puts a nice framework around the current globalization.... October 12, 2007 2:31 PM

You are here - I went to the Shanghai Expo 2010 promo exhibition on Sunday with some friends. They had a lot of cool.... September 10, 2007 12:05 PM

Cat on a Dog - I was at Vienna Cafe yesterday with some friends, and somehow the topic came to cats, and I mentioned this.... September 3, 2007 6:49 PM

Remind me not to start a business I can't pronounce - I passed by this place the other day and thought, "That's cute." Then I realized I couldn't pronounce it. Iceason..... August 28, 2007 9:29 AM

Aura of Congeniality - I just got off the phone with a Japanese friend who asked me "So what's it like doing business in.... August 26, 2007 2:31 PM

Yuck - I'm kind of bummed. While I was getting my hair cut yesterday, the store's cleaning lady knelt down and dug.... August 26, 2007 1:47 PM

Moan my IP baby - I just love it when a sexy girl moans my IP..... August 23, 2007 5:17 PM

Why bother? - Sometimes I have to ask myself why bother to learn the language since speaking Chinese usually leads to more confusion.... August 22, 2007 8:31 PM

Go Li Ning! - When I was 11 I had to have a pair of Pumas. When I was 12 I had to have.... July 26, 2007 11:22 PM

What you gonna do? - "Some foreign media, especially those based in the U.S., have wantonly reported on so-called unsafe Chinese products. They are turning.... July 16, 2007 3:32 PM

Multiple Virginity, Barbarian Prince Charmings, and Other Contested Realities in Taipei's Foreign Club Culture - With a title like that passing my inbox I had to read it. Here's a quote to see if you.... June 28, 2007 4:41 PM

Finally, some business - part 2 - The pink light place downstairs just wasn't getting any business, and as I predicted, it finally closed, as did the.... June 11, 2007 9:36 PM

The death train - I bought a last minute ticket to Suzhou for a business trip, and was fortunate enough to get a seat.... June 9, 2007 6:24 PM

Ningbo Jazz - Went to Ningbo's only jazz club tonight, but only heard cover songs and the prerequisite "Smooth Operator." Met an Indian.... June 2, 2007 12:15 AM

Finally, some business - There's this pink light house downstairs from my office, and I pass by everyday to see how's business. I feel.... May 11, 2007 3:02 PM

He's free - I was sitting on the 47th floor of a fancy revolving skyline view hotel bar in Pudong tonight having a.... April 24, 2007 1:12 AM

Ruining the environment - In the elevator. Pizza delivery girl from Hebei Province looks at me, I look at delivery girl. "Do these foreigners.... March 7, 2007 7:00 PM

Sunday morning drive - I was driving around way out in the NE corner of the city early this Sunday morning, and after a.... March 4, 2007 6:21 PM

Introducing the ADSCCU - Part of my work has to do with keeping up with the flaming pace of the Beijing real estate market..... March 3, 2007 8:28 PM

New rules at CKS - Apparently starting today there are new security procedures in effect for CKS airport requiring you to arrive 3 hours ahead.... March 1, 2007 6:19 AM

Foraging in Chaoyang District - One of the things I've grown to really enjoy about Beijing is that almost everything can be delivered to your.... February 16, 2007 2:17 AM

Ow - My belly button started changing a few years ago. It was slowly turning into an outie. I figured this was.... January 28, 2007 12:44 PM

I've always wanted to go to Mongolia... - File this under: What I can do if I just want to say 'The f*%k with everything' and really change.... January 9, 2007 12:05 AM

Don't stick things in your mouth - The holidays kinda sucked. I got that loving feeling in my chest on the 23rd which can only mean the.... January 2, 2007 7:06 PM

Sanlitun - Sanlitun is not really my favorite place to grab a beer, but The Tree is in that area, so that's.... December 23, 2006 3:00 PM

Fish treatment - Last Sunday morning I was hanging out in Beijing's UES (Upper East Side) which is a large residential complex in.... December 12, 2006 10:28 PM

Friday night jazz at Ikea - Friday night I had to stop by Ikea to grab some items for a tenant moving in Monday. Trust me,.... November 17, 2006 9:02 PM

The refreshing scowl - I was in a cloth market yesterday looking for sofa fabric, and it was refreshing to see that some of.... November 8, 2006 8:22 AM

Weather nose - I can tell exactly what the weather is like every morning in Beijing, subconciously even before I'm awake. When it's.... October 19, 2006 5:33 PM

Proud Cum Cruise - After reading about the poor Ban Qiao computer engineer who could be jailed five yeas for posting naked photos of.... September 28, 2006 12:08 PM

Protestor Girl - They used to call them poster girls. Now they are protestor girls!.... September 24, 2006 9:01 PM

Chinese Korean BBQ tuition - When you order food in China, you'll see that the locals will always squabble over the bill with the waiter..... August 23, 2006 11:31 PM

If a noodle falls in the forest... - I'm sitting in CKS airport, which you can only describe as a "cute" airport, and am having breakfast in the.... August 17, 2006 9:49 AM

Do you know Satoshi? - This seems like an interesting game. Sort of an online story puzzle, real life treasure hunt. I got this letter.... August 10, 2006 3:37 PM

Three naked men - My friend Tony and I were sitting at a folding table by this cool little park back behind the Asia.... August 6, 2006 8:54 PM

Wealth disparity - The wealth disparity thing in China can be fairly well exemplified by my typical bipolar morning breakfast routine. I walk.... June 29, 2006 9:43 PM

Haagen Duhhh - So there's a group of us sitting under the picnic table umbrellas in front of the fancy Haagen Daz next.... June 11, 2006 4:45 PM

I'll have the deep fried Air Trainers please... - While I was back in Taipei, Irene and I went down to Nantou county with some epicurean writers to visit.... June 7, 2006 5:10 PM

Bow wow - I went to a local diner, and was greeted by this really cute white toy poodle leashed up near the.... June 2, 2006 12:28 AM

Can I please see a fat staff? - "Excuse me miss, but I'm feeling a bit invalid, can you please direct me to the proper fat staff for.... May 31, 2006 8:01 PM

Taipei, a suburb of Shanghai - Being back in Taipei after a month in Mainland makes you realize just how far Taiwan has fallen behind China..... May 27, 2006 6:51 PM

It's HR stupid - I was talking the other day with my old highschool friend, Dana, who works with HR departments globally to get.... May 20, 2006 8:03 PM

Cruising around - I met up with DJ Ijapa Chen (Ijapa apparently mean "Turtle" in Swahili) at a rehearsal studio to check out.... May 8, 2006 11:02 PM

Jazz hunting in Beijing - It was my night off and I was needing to hear some live music, so I ventured out to explore.... May 7, 2006 11:48 PM

Ni shuo shemma? - It's Golden Week here in Beijing, and most people leave, so the city is nice and empty for a few.... May 3, 2006 7:56 PM

Taiwan funny story competition - I got this in the mail the today and thought there might be some Taiwaners out there interested in submitting.... April 29, 2006 7:53 PM

My face or yours - Beijing people are very straightforward. I like that. Since it's so damn dry here, I needed to buy some cream.... April 27, 2006 5:08 PM

Shaken not stirred... - We met up with some friends the other night. Beijing has changed so fast my head is still spinning a.... April 26, 2006 8:17 PM

Vintage flight - For our recent flight to Beijing, Brett and I took the shortcut flight up through Jeju Island in Korea..... April 25, 2006 1:45 AM

Yes, it makes no sense - I thought this was a perfect indication of how to get things done in Taiwan. Today I woke up and.... April 17, 2006 12:27 AM

A guy walks into a bar... - Tonight I was behind the bar, and had an enjoyable evening long conversation with a guy named Jeff Falcon. Jeff.... April 14, 2006 2:49 AM

Love that chocopie - "The Lotte Chocopie is soft biscuit with the good taste of enrobing chocolate and more chewing marshmallow. We are.... March 30, 2006 12:37 AM

Where does he think he is? - I was making a left turn with about 20 cars and almost drove right over this aggravated European standing in.... March 19, 2006 3:27 AM

Fitness is for the dogs - You have to check out this work out video by Mariko Takahashi. Those wacky Japanese..... March 9, 2006 5:54 PM

Got Milk? - I was trolling around the Forumosa.com website today, and found this hilarious post about roommates... "I had a roommate who.... March 6, 2006 4:12 PM

Is Mickey getting even? - This interesting NY Times story on HK Disneyland's poor ticketing practices could be made even more juicy with some.... February 4, 2006 7:45 AM

Good question... - So I'm standing at the bar, and I spot these 7 customers who are wearing blue dress shirts and dark.... September 27, 2005 11:33 PM

Woops, I forgot - Last night, during our monthly Retrosexuals show, I saw a lot of foreign faces in the audience. I asked jokingly.... September 18, 2005 11:00 PM

Tress - Just two days ago we adopted "Tress" - an 8 week old half black lab and half sheepdog mix. Tress.... September 9, 2005 2:22 AM

File this under: Getting old - You know you're getting old when you... ... are out at the movies, and you are shooting hoops at one.... August 29, 2005 12:55 AM

What a crock! - Irene and I went out for dinner, and like millions of other people in Taipei, I was sitting in my.... August 17, 2005 12:40 AM

Blast from the past - I was just preparing to knuckle down to some serious work. Pen in hand, notebook open, notes scattered around, cigar.... August 11, 2005 1:39 AM

He's not stupid, he's my broker... - Q) So when does $80 million dollars equal $8 billion dollars? A) When you are a moron stock dealer at.... June 28, 2005 10:02 PM

Yoshinoya - FYI, starting today, June 1st, you can actually walk into a beef bowl place and get a bowl of.... June 1, 2005 12:56 PM

People in Taiwan - I just think it's so cool that in the course of 6 hours, I've gone shopping for mattresses, had a.... May 12, 2005 4:13 AM

Chunghua Post Office - Wow. I'm really amazed at the quality of the Chunghua Post Office English website. Well thought out, fast download,.... April 18, 2005 11:02 AM

Multi-level orgs - I went to visit my friend John at his office the other day. He was weaing this weird thing around.... April 16, 2005 8:12 PM

Mt. Datun - . April 13, 2005 2:56 AM

Coffee, beer, fish, and speakers - I've been so lax lately. The club business keeps me way busy, so my blog time has hit record lows..... April 6, 2005 12:02 AM

No Victoria's Secret models? - I just got off the plane from HK after a nice hang out trip with Tiffany, and almost forgot to.... March 18, 2005 10:01 AM

I fought the hotpot and the hotpot won - It's that time of year again. It gets a bit cold and people start craving Ma La Huo Guo. So.... March 2, 2005 1:07 AM

Does that white chick come with a manual? - For all those Asian guys who marvel at the seductive charms of that elusive creature known to us only as.... February 25, 2005 2:22 PM

Hey, isn't that my uncle? - Ok, I found this delightful little Taiwan tour guide through the Taipei Kid's site, which linked to Chewin in the.... February 24, 2005 11:33 AM

Can you say "Does this come with bulletproof windows?" - Sounds like this karaoke royalty collections guy will need to install bullet proof windows on his Land Rover..... February 22, 2005 2:59 PM

Vote for my friend Ben - My friend Ben has a security products company, and they hope to win the 2005 SecuTech Awards for Best Alarm.... February 21, 2005 9:54 PM

24hr flower power - Ok, it's 3:00am, we've closed the club, and are dropping off fresh nian-gao presents to friends who are of course.... February 5, 2005 4:52 AM

Geeks - Wang Lee Hom dropped by the Living Room tonight for an interview with a reporter. It's private, no crazed fans,.... February 1, 2005 2:18 AM

With a conspicuous sigh - I saw this sign while waiting for a taxi at the Shanghai airport. You can click the photo to make.... January 26, 2005 9:41 PM

Those some big clams - 88 took me to this little 10-seater sushi shop which was voted as the #1 sushi restaurant in all of.... January 26, 2005 9:35 PM

A quickie in Tokyo - - Nice hotel. - Successful series of meetings. - Tasty and educational imo sochu research. - Caught up with some.... January 25, 2005 3:00 PM

Let's do Internet! - I got a phone call yesterday from a band promoter, and he said something which was the funniest thing I.... January 8, 2005 3:40 AM

I, Sisyphus... - I try to manage staff. I try to delegate responsility. I try to give clear instructions. I try to give.... January 4, 2005 9:07 PM

Kung Fu student - This kid belongs in his own kung fu movie. I think it's hilarious they can film this in the classroom..... January 3, 2005 9:07 AM

We are so small... - Inger showed me this amazing tsunami animation last night, as any conversation invariably turned into who we knew who was.... January 1, 2005 8:16 PM

Imo Sochu - Jeroen stopped by last night, and this was an excellent excuse to break out the bottle of Imo Sochu that.... December 31, 2004 11:47 AM

China's first Official Supermodel site - China's first official supermodel site is finally finished. It took a bit longer than we anticipated, but the 4 C's.... December 2, 2004 10:13 PM

Just like High School...sort of - I think most guys in Taiwan would beat me to a pulp if they knew what I was doing today..... November 15, 2004 3:04 AM

How to embarrass God - TAIPEI, Taiwan (Reuters) -- A man leaped into a lion's den at the Taipei Zoo on Wednesday to try to.... November 5, 2004 10:46 AM

Baywatch...Taiwan style - I stumbled across this on Shirlee's site, from some photos of her daughter's 9th birthday on the beach. And.... November 4, 2004 1:35 PM

Your case or mine? - A friend was asking me about what ever happened to Beauty4, a pop group I started and produced a few.... October 28, 2004 10:53 AM

5 Japanese jazz musicians - 2 guys from Hokkaido, 2 guys from Nagoya, 1 guy from Okinawa..... October 22, 2004 2:18 PM

Top of Taipei 101! - Today my friends Keiji and Eiji visited from Taichung, where they are playing the Taichung Jazz Festival with jazz singer,.... October 15, 2004 8:32 PM

Grease on the go - Albert is one of those friendly spammers who puts you on his gee-my-friends-would-love-to-see-this list and bombards you with garbage. So.... October 9, 2004 1:48 PM

Kia K2700 - "Destined for greatness, in performance & mechanism, this very stylish yet powerful 10-footer cargo truck boasts the very latest.... October 6, 2004 4:24 AM

Hit No. 258 - . October 2, 2004 4:04 PM

The Mr. Fu, Mr. Lu, and Mr. Shou Hotel - This building is about 40 min east of Beijing, close enough to be considered the suburbs. It is situated.... September 23, 2004 3:43 AM

Dim the lights for Taiwan Cinema - I thought this pen slogan was very appropriate considering the current state of guo pian [local movies] in Taiwan..... September 21, 2004 12:58 AM

Grab your ass - This video is very educational for all those people who just can't seem to climb up the MRT station steps,.... September 20, 2004 2:27 PM

The fruit and the bowl - When I was taking art class it looked like this: These days it looks like this..... September 19, 2004 4:11 PM

I think I'm turning Japanese... - Today begins my foray into turning Japanese. After speaking Japanese when I was a kid, then forgetting it, then relearning.... September 14, 2004 11:28 AM

Lonely Planet Taiwan - Interesting discussion going on regarding the updated Lonely Planet Taiwan guide over at Forumosa..... September 11, 2004 2:31 PM

Raindrops keep falling on my head... - One picture is worth a thousand words..... September 11, 2004 1:49 PM

Tokyo Olympics - This is pretty cool. A coin operated internet connection in a hotel lobby in Tokyo waiting for the airport bus..... August 25, 2004 1:36 PM

Corrupting the youth - Sometimes in my role as bartender, an educational request comes up that cannot be passed by lightly. Last night.... August 17, 2004 3:54 PM

Is it me.... - ...or am I missing something here in this quote from the VP of Taiwan? "Lin Wen-hsiung (�L�嶯), an Aborigine from.... August 5, 2004 1:59 PM

Momentum - I'm bummed. I've been trying to achieve the simple goal of exercizing 30 min a day for 21 days in.... July 29, 2004 3:39 AM

Banking consultants, Thai singers, and dancers - How's this for yuen fen [fate]... My pal Doug calls me a few weeks ago and tells me he met.... July 27, 2004 3:51 PM

Still searching for the perfect massage - This search for the perfect massage leads you down strange paths. No, not down dimly lit corridors above some KTV/restaurant/foot.... July 21, 2004 1:53 AM

You know you are old and a geek when... - ...your wife needs an hour to do her nails or something, and the very thought of sitting there reading gossip.... July 17, 2004 5:30 PM

In search of the perfect massage - There's a zillion massage places in Taipei. You can get your feet tortured, your back stomped on, your face moulded,.... July 13, 2004 7:53 PM

Quote of the week - Girl: "I just love a man with a big saxophone..." Me: "!!!" Bill had a big saxophone too..... June 27, 2004 2:47 AM

Sounds like Scott might be in the crossfire... - Here's a letter that popped into my mail box via Nicole Darcy re: Scott Ezell's predicament in Taitung. This kind.... June 16, 2004 1:47 PM

We foreigners - Sunday afternoon, Breeze Center: I'm walking towards a set of glass doors next to Starbucks. An older lady pushes up.... June 16, 2004 1:59 AM

But we knew... - Stefano and I were having a pizza and some Belgium beer at Cosi Cosi tonight when these two young women.... June 12, 2004 5:02 AM

The 2 hour flu - It was the weirdest thing. Got into the office a little earlier to actually try do get through the pile.... June 11, 2004 3:24 AM

Bring it on - B is back from NYC, and we were talking about the reality of starting up a China venture fund. I.... June 9, 2004 2:07 AM

Bar Beer - Near perfect day off. 12 hrs sleep, something good to eat, play ball with the dog, an episode of The.... June 8, 2004 12:47 AM

If you got it flaunt it... - I was alerted of this interesting career move by The Taipei Kid. This was me getting with it at a.... June 6, 2004 1:07 AM

Mt. Chi-Hsing - After several non-weekends, we finally got some time to invite some friends over for dinner and a short hike up.... May 31, 2004 2:41 AM

What are they thinking? - I've seen a few things recently that makes me wonder what goes on in old people's minds. I was double.... May 14, 2004 5:48 AM

Chinese wet dream - A classic manisfestation of the Chinese wet dream....... April 27, 2004 1:54 PM

Case of the upside down telephone - This is pretty interesting. Ah Bien has been shot, the day before the elections. The country is at a standstill..... April 14, 2004 1:36 AM

Meet Jia-rong - My friends Christofu and Christi just adopted a beautiful Chinese baby! Meet Jia-Rong Ingoldsby....... April 10, 2004 10:09 PM

Whose money is it? - A better tomorrow asks... "If Taiwan really isn't a part of China, then shouldn't Taiwan return all of those Chinese.... April 7, 2004 4:17 AM

Old Fisherman's Trail - Today was Brett's birthday, and he asked if I wanted to do a hike with him up the Old Fisherman's.... April 7, 2004 12:50 AM

Big speakers, trees, and French food - JP called and asked if Irene and we wanted to drive out in the mountains after a lunch at his.... April 6, 2004 2:43 PM

Bringing home the bacon - The Chinese are very practical when it comes to food delivery..... March 26, 2004 11:06 AM

Don't spill your beer! - I guess democracy also means that the people who aren't allowed to vote in an election are still allowed to.... March 25, 2004 2:23 PM

Friend Poll - I've been randomly asking my Chinese friends the following simple question: "Do you think it was fake or not?" Results:.... March 24, 2004 2:08 AM

Case of the wandering wound - Once again, the CNN photo. The President is bleeding on the right side. But the doctors seem to be working.... March 23, 2004 1:07 AM

Case of the disappearing blood - CNN shot of Chen standing in the back of the jeep immediately after getting shot. Blood is clearly visible on.... March 23, 2004 12:56 AM

A New Explanation to the "Shot" - New police drawings speculate on yet another possible explanation for the bullet trajectory....... March 22, 2004 4:17 PM

Pictures finally - Ok, so now there are finally pictures of A-bien's belly connected to A-bien's head. Why that took so long is.... March 21, 2004 10:56 PM

This is really democracy - It was pretty amazing last night watching TV, and seeing thousands of upset people demanding a recount. When I first.... March 21, 2004 11:55 AM

Bang Bang - Ok, so instead of working this afternoon trying to figure out a way to create revenue, utilize my time, and.... March 19, 2004 8:01 PM

Who would you vote for? - I thought this was pretty funny. I "borrowed" it off of wayne's a better tomorrow site. To lead this country,.... March 13, 2004 1:43 PM

Political annoyances - I've been getting these poll questionaire calls every couple days. Usually they are about credit cards, or a TV show,.... March 7, 2004 3:53 PM

Bob One Eye - Just had a couple of good Belgium beers with Stefano and his bro from Chicago at a place opened by.... March 7, 2004 1:18 AM

Money money everywhere... - Wow. The former wife of JOSEPH ESTRADA, the estranged ex-president of Philippines wrote me a letter to give me $18,000,000..... March 6, 2004 2:38 AM

Bummer for Chocolate - Former ICRT disc jockey Charles Mack (���J�O) has been given seven days to leave Taiwan after police said he had.... February 2, 2004 2:58 PM

Uncle Kashimoto - Uncle Kashimoto used to be a famous sumo wrestler. Then he married a young and pretty enka singer, and she.... January 26, 2004 3:49 PM

Brrrrrrr.... - 11c in the house is just way too cold for comfort. I look like some crazed French rasta hillbilly skier.... January 24, 2004 1:56 AM

Getting tougher to find good gay orgies anymore - What's this town coming to? Used to be that a good looking guy could go up to a door in.... January 21, 2004 2:52 PM

Happy Monkey Year! - Happy Chinese New Year 2004! This year we've got it all planned out. One activity a day, lots of.... January 20, 2004 2:14 PM

Hot chicks, hot cars, hot pee - Taiwan Auto Show 2004.... January 17, 2004 3:17 PM

Wow....I won! - Yeah!!!! I won. I won. I won. I won. I won. I won. I won. I won. I won. I.... January 8, 2004 2:19 AM

Tall buildings and rich people - Every once-in-a-while my partner makes a profoundly astute observation which makes me realize why I married her. We drive over.... January 3, 2004 12:11 PM

Lonely Planet - I met an interesting guy last night. A guy named Andrew Bender walked into the Living Room and asked.... December 28, 2003 12:45 AM

Practicing for Matrix 4? - This guy is out of his mind..... December 23, 2003 11:57 AM

Sunday options - What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon, sitting behind the computer, freezing your hands off because it's only 15c.... December 21, 2003 3:04 PM

Weird Morning Rituals - Living on Yangmingshan, which is a mountain area 30min north of Taipei, you have to do weird things when you.... December 16, 2003 11:14 AM

Attack of the cute singers - Warning: based on a true story... Have you noticed that every time you turn on the TV, someone is jumping.... November 19, 2003 8:17 PM

Super Scooter - This is one trick scooter! No translation is really necessary, but I'll clarify them. Top to bottom, L to.... November 14, 2003 6:35 PM

Ah Bien: The real son of Darth Vader - We all thought Luke Skywalker was the son of Darth Vader, but in order to get a possible seat.... November 13, 2003 4:31 PM

Lacoste ghost money - I was sitting at the dealership this afternoon waiting for them to finish up a routine oil change when.... October 16, 2003 3:04 PM

Oriented - Gathered up a couple of friends and headed down to an Oriented happy hour at Shannon's. Actually I was hoping.... September 26, 2003 10:31 AM

Moon Festival BBQ - I was invited to an interesting kind of block party for Moon Festival Day. Some of my tennis buddies live.... September 16, 2003 4:38 PM

Kind of annoying - I don't know, tell me if I should be annoyed or not. Maybe I'm just too overworked... Some TV people.... September 16, 2003 3:24 AM

Fun things to do when bored in Taiwan - I thought this was pretty cute. A girl from SF spent 9 months in Taiwan on a Fulbright ride, and.... September 11, 2003 2:02 PM

Typhoon Dujuan - Sounds like French and Spanish mixed together, but actually means azalea is Mandarin (杜鵑). Not much fanfare. My dog doesn't.... September 2, 2003 7:50 AM

Taipei tabla troubles... - Where can I find this man? How am I going to put together a new music ensemble without Indian musicians?.... August 17, 2003 12:55 PM

Jazz in Taipei - I'm putting together a new group. It's important to me since I haven't played like that for 5 years. Now.... August 9, 2003 12:21 AM

The difference between Japan and HK - . July 31, 2003 12:04 PM

Cock-a-doodle-doo!! - It all started at the Living Room... INT: Living Room loft restaurant. Couches, mood lighting, Billie Holiday on the stereo..... July 18, 2003 10:45 AM

Crossing the street - I've been in some hot situations before... I remember getting out of a rental car in Tempe, Arizona, once, and.... July 14, 2003 8:01 PM

Break Time in China - Finally, a damned break. I'm so tired of selling these dumb religious icons to these idiot tourists. Oh, yeah..... June 30, 2003 10:25 PM

Taiwan refresher - I found this site put up by Terrie Brown, the pastor's wife at Grace Baptist Church here in Taiwan. I.... June 19, 2003 7:52 PM

Taiwan garbage woes - One of the biggest hassles living in Taiwan is throwing away your garbage. For the many years I lived in.... June 15, 2003 12:18 AM

Meeting your Pop Idol - I've been in Asia for 15 years, and I've been pretty immune to the whole pop idol thing. Well, except.... June 4, 2003 12:54 AM

Bad Driving Mojo Part II - Continuing on with my very dao mei saga from last week, I found out that even though the scooter kid.... May 27, 2003 1:11 AM

BBQ, movie stars, and saxophone - We had our first BBQ of the year yesterday. Got to try out the new super fancy B&Q industrial model.... May 25, 2003 7:49 PM

5 minutes from my house - I found the Yellow Brick Road. It's only 5 minutes away....... May 22, 2003 9:10 AM

Corner of Nanjing & Tunhua - The sun sat down in the middle of the street. A red light moment of beauty..... May 21, 2003 11:00 PM

Shoot them all - "Because we are afraid that some people will go out at night, we will begin phoning people in quarantine between.... May 17, 2003 4:08 PM

Gee, now they release the news - There was a major SARS transmission on 4/26 which touched a little too close to home, and now they finally.... May 17, 2003 3:58 PM

It's getting closer and closer to home - I just found out today that all the employees on the 7th floor of a company my friend B is.... May 12, 2003 11:32 PM

esenapaJ niaR = Matrix? - From Al's Radio Weblog... "Question: did anyone else notice that the green computer rain that represents the Matrix is made.... May 12, 2003 8:59 PM

Que sars sars, whatever will be will be... - What a messed up weekend. 400 people were quarantined in an apartment complex after finding a dead guy with SARS,.... May 12, 2003 1:32 AM

Taipei Rain - Rain rain rain rain On the window pane... Makes me remember.. The way it used to be..... May 8, 2003 7:45 AM

New subway laws - Starting tomorrow, every mass transit passenger -- subway, bus, trains -- is required by law to wear a mask. Also.... May 7, 2003 12:30 AM

Local Hospital Blues - Just found out that the severe SARS patients from the quarantined Hoping Hospital have been transferred to the hospital a.... May 7, 2003 12:08 AM

Sarso strikes! - I had a meeting at Chunghua Telecom this afternoon, and was stopped at the door for not having my mask..... May 5, 2003 4:35 PM

German sausages, crazy models, and rock and roll rumors - So I having Sunday brunch with Ben and Irene at some German bakery in Tien Mu, before going over to.... May 4, 2003 9:38 PM

Worst technology ever - I'm standing here at Taichung airport, trying to use the Chung Hua Telecom Internet kiosk which is this huge metallic.... May 2, 2003 3:39 PM

Duh! - "...the CDC recommends that 'US travelers to Taiwan observe precautions to safeguard their health ... The CDC suggests that travelers.... May 2, 2003 9:45 AM

Yikessss Sssssnakes - Living where we do in the semi-tropical mountains outside of Taipei, we have to deal with the nassssty reality of.... April 23, 2003 7:48 PM

Chinese naming conventions - Since history began, the Chinese always believed in the significance of a person's name. They have developed a very comprehensive.... April 23, 2003 10:36 AM

Meet Joe Sars - Here's what the little coronavirus looks like... His genomic sequence is available for download here thanks to some hardworking Canadian.... April 17, 2003 9:38 AM

Work safety in Taiwan - Good work safety habits are established by people like this....... April 16, 2003 8:11 PM

Do I really have to go to China? - So what do I do? We're launching a major project in China, and I need to be there for the.... April 15, 2003 7:00 AM

A beer with a chi chaser - I've been taking this weird Chinese medicine lately. It's supposed to build up my chi. After my latest promotional tour,.... April 9, 2003 1:33 PM

No masks at the movies? - We invited the whole office and several customers last night to a preview for "The Quiet American." Some people.... April 9, 2003 9:23 AM

Scary Statistics and SARS - "The number of reported cases of SARS in the world is doubling every 11 days. This is implied by.... April 8, 2003 11:34 AM

Got your mask ready? - Definitely don't want to be staying on the 9th floor of the Metropole Hotel in Mong Kok, Kowloon. Seven of.... April 3, 2003 3:37 PM

How now mobile cow? - I've been having an ongoing beer/sms/email discussion with Jan Signell, Ericsson President in Taiwan (and a pretty good bass player),.... April 1, 2003 3:12 PM

Hakone - After finishing up our meetings in Tokyo, Irene and I looked at each other, "So where we going next?" We.... March 16, 2003 10:19 AM

New Sony Studios - Today was a great catch up visit and lunch with my old friend Yasohachi Itoh. Most friends call Itoh "88".... March 15, 2003 11:03 PM

Catching up with Mikio - It's been a couple of years since I spent any decent time in Shibuya, and this time was to catch.... March 14, 2003 9:58 PM

Welcome to Meguro - Sitting here in Tokyo at the Taiwan visa office waiting on Irene's visa. Definitely the nicest visa office I've seen..... March 13, 2003 3:31 PM

Unusual Tantric Experience - So I was at my usual neighborhood hot spring place the other night, doing the routine 45c hot soak, over.... March 11, 2003 1:15 PM

So much for that idea... - China has no IP protection at all! Our R&D team had been working for months on new products for the.... February 13, 2003 1:56 PM

Japanese Emoticons - I'm always looking for better faster ways to express emotion through the emotionless keyboard. The Japanese have got it down..... February 7, 2003 6:51 PM

Shi Ba La - Chinese new year is here, which means some peace and quiet away from the stress of the office. It also.... February 2, 2003 12:21 PM

Chinese New Year 2003! - Chinese New Year is here! A week of gluttonous feasting, bad TV programming, nosy relatives, late night firecrackers, and.... January 30, 2003 3:46 PM

Aura of Congeniality Theorem - I received an informative voice message today from Dr. Brett, who shares with us his Aura of Congeniality Theorem unraveling.... January 30, 2003 12:43 PM

Politics and Chilean food - What would normally have been a simple pleasant dinner with our friend Doug, turned into a neighborhood showdown with the.... January 28, 2003 11:41 AM

Girl Amnesia - I don't really get out that much more anymore. Two decades of brutal hanging out has sort of numbed me.... December 21, 2002 11:37 PM

Abbott and Costello in China - SCENE : the Oval Office... George: Condi! Nice to see you. What's happening? Condi: Sir, I have the report here.... November 21, 2002 9:19 AM