In Which Brian Goes to Taiwan

About three months ago, I was approached by my editor with an interesting opportunity. Would I, Brian, be interested in travelling to Taiwan to cover Computex (the largest technology trade show in Asia) for PCMag? It took all of a second to nod, and say YES! because a) that is a huge opportunity for someone only a couple years into their career, and b) I've always wanted to travel to Asia (and eat, and see the sights, and everything else in Asia). Big opportunity? Dream come true? Travelling the globe on the company's dime? Yeah, it wasn't that difficult a decision to make.

So I said yes, and I got myself squared away for the trip. I renewed my passport, I arranged travel, and I brushed up on my Cantonese (okay, maybe I don't speak Cantonese). Finally, a week and a half ago, the day came. It was time to fly to Taiwan.

Travelling to Taiwan looks great when it's presented as a sort of montage. Kicking back in an airplane, eating some peanuts, watching a movie, hanging out for a layover, snoozing in your seat; a good one minute montage, maybe a commercial break, and you're there! Unfortunately, life doesn't really get the montage treatment, and there are no ad breaks. Flying to Taiwan involved a 14 hour flight to Tokyo, a two hour layover, and another 3 and half hours from Tokyo to Taipei. Throw in the hour or two in the airport before and after the flight, and it's a full 24 hours of travel. Twenty-four hours. All of it is boring, most of it is uncomfortable, and (in my case) none of it is spent sleeping.

But eventually I landed in Taipei, and made my way through customs and baggage claim, and eventually found a cab with a driver who spoke enough English to know that I wanted to go to my hotel. I was very excited to get into my hotel room and get some sleep, but once I crawled into bed, the time change suddenly became too much to ignore. The clock on the nightstand said it was 11 at night, but it felt for all the world like 11 in the morning! I barely slept that night, a problem that would crop back up every night I was in Taiwan. Blah.

This was the view from my hotel room.

I scheduled my arrival so that I had an extra day before all the press and trade show events got started, and I tried to put it to good use by making my way to the various venues I'd be going to for the show. It gave me a chance to find my way around, and to take some photos for PCMag's photoblog of the show. Even though there's English translations on all of the signs, there's no avoiding the fact that you're not in the Western world anymore.

Even Burger King is different in Taipei.

This dragon sculpture welcomes visitors to New Taipei.

A nearby shopping center.

What are these? No idea.

Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world.

Taipei 101 next the the Grand Hyatt Hotel, where I spent one of my  days in meetings.

I snapped a few photos, spent a couple hours exploring the surrounding area, and then went to meet up with the only person I knew in Taipei--fellow Ziff Davis employee John Burek, there representing Computer Shopper. John had been to Taiwan a few times before, and he wanted to take me to the must see destination in Taipei, the Shinlen Night Market.

The Shinlen Night Market covers several blocks in Taipei, with block after block crammed full of vendors selling clothes, street carts with all sorts of food, and lots of people.

Shinlen Night Market, at night.

While wandering the Night Market I came upon this shrine.

I ate so much! Among the many things I ate: Grilled oysters, steamed scallops, grilled cuttlefish, a starfruit smoothie, and about a pound and a half of mango fruit.

Mmmm, oysters!

Cuttlefish, close relative to the squid, and just as delicious.

I didn't get any turkey. He was giving me a funny look.

I did manage to find two foods I'll likely not eat again. (It's worth noting that I had to travel halfway around the planet to find a food I don't like.)

Durian: Smells awful, tastes even worse.

The first was a fruit called durian. Wikipedia says that "the smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust, and has been described variously as almonds, rotten onions, turpentine, raw sewage." Travel and food writer Richard Sterling describes it a bit more colorfully, saying the flavor is "...best described as pig-s***, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock." I don't disagree. I won't be eating it again.

Wait, what is that?

The other is a gelatinous dish, served on a stick, covered in a savory sauce, dusted with crushed nuts, and sprinkled with cilantro and chives. This didn't necessarily taste bad, but the gelatinous part... well, it's made of sticky rice and pig's blood.

For the next three days, it was all Computex, all the time. More than 5,000 companies have booths at the show, and more than 130,000 visitors come, including roughly 40,000 international visitors, of which I was only one. My days were extremely busy, with all sorts of press conferences, meetings, and PR events. After crawling back to my hotel room in the evening, I then had until morning to either write a bunch of articles or catch a few hours of sleep.

I spent a lot of time in the convention center.

During the next three days of meetings, booth visits, and lots of articles, I managed to get a lot of work done, but I didn't do much sleeping, and I didn't see any more of Taipei. I did see a bunch of cool tech stuff, but after a week of late nights writing about it all, I don't really feel like writing more about it here. If you're interested, here's the PCMag landing page for the show.

A little company called Microsoft. You may have heard of them.

Thousands of companies come to Computex every year.

Most sell the little parts and components you never think about. This company: nothing but glowing switches.

Lots of companies are showing off all sorts of products.

Early Thursday morning, I packed up my bags and hauled my tired butt back to Taipei International Airport. Waiting for my flight in Taipei and the during my layover in Tokyo were about the most touristy shopping times I had. In Taipei I picked up small wallet for Jess and a Christmas ornament (I think it might actually be a bookmark, but it should look great on our tree!).

In Tokyo I bought some Japanese Kit-Kat bars (Strawberry, yum!) and a T-shirt featuring one of my favorite artists, Katsushika Hokusai. You've probably seen his most famous artwork, The Great Wave of Kanagawa.

My personal favorite piece is Chrysanthemum and Bee, but they didn't have that one on a shirt.

Chrysanthemum and Bee.

Finally, after another 18 hours of travel, and a round-trip of 24,000 miles, I finally got home. It was a good trip, a success as far as work stuff went, but it was seriously exhausting, and I'm glad to be back.