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Taipei Day 4: Shihlin Night Market

This is a baked potato that's been deepfried in batter, then stuffed w bacon, turkey, corn, egg, pork floss & drenched in Gouda cheese. Shihlin Sin.

It was part of our healthy dinner for the evening. In fact, we just stood around and shared snacks from various stalls at the night market.

The night was clear from rain this time and we managed to experience more of Shihlin this time.

These are giant takopachi balls.

You have to try this Papaya Milk Shake, 木瓜牛奶.

Hot dog on a stick, deep fried to golden sinfulness.

Spicy fish balls on a stick! Ryan had three sticks of these.

The wife bought some pineapple tarts (also available with green tea and blueberry filling) for our parents, while Ryan and I tried a small air rifle range.

For NTD100 per 12 rounds, we shot at red ping pong balls with an M16, an M16 with scope (not zeroed one, bluff people kind) and a Glock pistol.

The young man who ran the range took pity on us and gave us a small soft toy as a consolation prize. We did spend NTD500 bucks there, firing his non-zeroed weapons.

Taipei Day 4: Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall

We were surrounded by items of great historical significance to the Taiwanese. Ryan shared his deep knowledge of Taiwan and China's history with us as we gazed upon photos and artifacts from Taiwan's past. What a gorgeous museum they have here.

Ryan chatted with a helpful elderly volunteer at the Memorial. She was most impressed by his knowledge of Taiwan history.

I felt a sense of awe here. Sure, it felt like a Singapore Discovery Centre "National Education" experience here, but you really felt the sense of history they were trying to convey.

An art exhibition was going on inside the Hall and out in the courtyard, young people wer practising their flag throwing and drumming.

Taipei Day 3: CAESAR PARK HOTEL TAIPEI

Here's a little tour of where we are staying in Taipei, the CAESAR PARK HOTEL TAIPEI, located in the heart of Taipei, near the Taipei Railway Station. Thanks to sponsors Wotif.com and Caesar Park Taipei hotel.

We love it to bits for the location and comfort.

They have a gym and spa in-house and a roof garden in the floor above our 20th floor rooms. I quite enjoyed the spread of their breakfast buffet too, and I don't normally think highly of hotel breakfasts.

Not only was the hotel near the Taipei Railway Station and the MRT, it is actually connected via a basement passageway. We just had to take a lift to Basement 1, walk through a bunch of shops into the M6 entrance of the MRT station!

They also provide a Luggage Service at the basement, should you need help with your luggage after coming in via the MRT.

Marina Bay SINGAPORE Countdown 09/10: A Chat with Iskandar Mirza Ismail

Meet the man behind the music for this year's fireworks at the Marina Bay Countdown, the talented Mr. Iskandar Mirza Ismail.

Taipei Day 3: Breakfast then it's off to Shimen Ding

We left the wives to have their breakfast at the hotel's complimentary buffet while the two of us slipped out to have some local food.

The breakfast of champions: 铁板面 (hot plate noodles)，葱抓饼 (Taiwanese prata no curry)，猪扒三文治 (pork chop sandwich)，奶茶 (Teh).

This is the 铁板面.

This is 葱抓饼.

We LOVE Taiwan.

Taipei Day 2: Smelly Tofu and 24h Bookstores

Ryan, my wife and I got adventurous and decided to go out for some late supper and bookstore browsing. Ryan spotted the Smelly Tofu stall and could not resist buying some. It's not as good as the Hong Kong one though (not as smelly) but still tasty.

This is the heavenly Eslite's 24-hour bookstore.

The wife can probably appreciate it more than me. She reads Chinese
books. I can't. Haha!

The wife found a Taiwanese singer she liked and bought her CD right away. Her name is 小娟&山谷里的居民 and the album is called 紅布 綠花朵.

Then we ended the evening at a 24-hour Hong Kong Cafe nearby, where the food was pretty close to Hong Kong Cafe standards.

Burp!

Taipei Day 2: 11 degrees C

It's getting a little cold here in Taipei. Our visit to Taipei 101 was a mixed bag. The superfast elevator ride was nice, all 37 seconds of it taking us up to the 89th floor.

The poor view due to the fog was a little disappointing. It cost NTD400 per person.

We were told we could experience both the 89th floor viewing gallery and the 88th floor. We quite liked the giant balancing ball at the 88th floor but not the part where we had to walk through the whole 88th floor of Coral Gemstone shops to leave.

We did get to try the audio video guide gadgets though. It helped to explain what we could see from the Taipei 101 Observatory... especially since we couldn't really see much.

Taipei Day 2: Taipei MRT

The Taipei MRT rocks, man. The token system is also way way easier to use than our blasted ez-link single trip cards.

We're on our way to City Hall station to check out Taipei 101 skyscraper!

One area where their MRT kicks ours: 1-minute intervals between trains during rush hour. And their people QUEUE in an orderly way to board the trains. And they stand on the right of the escalators if they are not moving in the "fast lane".

Taipei Day 1: The food! The food!

Even the 7-Eleven stores in Taiwan are light years more fun than ours! They sell Tea Eggs and hot Yong Tau Hu!

Ryan had to stop for this. His fave snack of Jian Bao. We never seem to stop eating in Taiwan. Haha!

Taipei Day 1: view from our room

We've just checked into the Caesar Park Taipei and this is the view from our room. It overlooks the Taipei Main Station. Time for some food!

Off to Taipei!

The wife and I are off for our vacation with my cameraman/buddy Ryan and his family. It feels odd seeing him without our usual huge video gear backpack. Even I am traveling light.

But this is a holiday and not work. Just don't tell the wife I brought the Macbook, Vado HD video camera, Zoom H4n recorder and assorted gadgets. Don't worry, I only brought the Light edition of our work gear.

Delighted to have the company of the wife this time. Travel is always fun with her.

So Lomo

I've been playing with my iPhone 3Gs a lot lately. Here are some Lomo-ish photos I took for fun.

That's my favourite bicycle shop and Uncle Teck, who fixes up most of my rides.

These are the new flats at Duxton, with the pretentious name of Pinnacle@Duxton.

It's hard to believe but a certain recording studio exists inside this old building.

Rain cannot stop this cyclist. We have many in our Katong area. No, we have no nice bike paths here. It's each man for himself. And yes, the nut job is riding on the WRONG side of the road.

View of the IR from ECP.

Marina Bay SINGAPORE Countdown 09/10: Wishing Sphere Pump Face-off!

I judged the face-off between the pump used for the very first Marina Bay Countdown Wishing Spheres and the new 2009 pump!

the mrbrown show: Singapore saves the planet

Can Singapore host the next Climate Change Summit please? Pretty please? Details at mrbrownshow.com!

Me and My Friend, a MARUAH project

It is easy to forget that people with special needs also deserve the same rights and dignity as all of us. That's why I am excited to share this series of events with you guys.

MARUAH (Singapore Working Committee for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism) is holding a series of events, entitled “Me and My Friend”, to highlight the often-overlooked rights of people with disabilities. Tomorrow, 12th December, for instance, there is a walk at Hong Lim Park called “Me and My Friend at the Park” at Speakers’ Corner.

So take yourself and a friend there at 5pm and have fun.

Other upcoming events:

14 December 2009 – “Me and My Friend Enjoy a Movie” Film Screening @ Golden Village, Great World City

10 December – 31 January 2009 – “Me and My Friend CityLink Showcase” @ CityLink Mall

Find out more at their site.

The mrbrown HP Printer Giveaway RESULTS!

Contest results time!

You guys were fantastic. Many of your entries entertained me, touched me and made me laugh. The tweets and emails I received was beyond my expectations. I had a really really tough choice to make. But I only have one printer to give away so...

The winner of the HP Photosmart Plus All-in-One with TouchSmart printer is...

Shanny a.k.a. @wildfirest who said:

"I want an HP printer from mrbrown because the photos printed on my current printer is crying out for help."

@wildfirest was also one of the earliest to respond. She sent a tweet before my Tweet about the contest even went out. She must have seen the blog post early. Being the first few to respond was not part of the criteria but it was still a cool thing.

Her blog, Paperweights for Sale, was also fun to read. Go check her out.

I hope you all enjoyed the contest. You can read some of the entries on Twitter too.

You know, this contest was so fun to do, I think I will do another Christmas giveaway soon. I do have a another very nice prize to give away. Watch this space.

P.S. Sorry for the slight delay in posting this. I know I said noon. Officially, I want to say that the accountants I hired to audit the contest took too long to count the votes. Unofficially, I was too caught up playing with my new Apple iPhone 3gs, in my boxer shorts. Ok, time to put on some pants.

Insing column: mrbrown and the new VW Polo 2

A post-rally recap of our 30-hour Non-Stop rally from 21st to 22nd November (Saturday and Sunday). Find out more about the new VW Polo and our rally at Polo.sg!

Latest weekly Insing column is "mrbrown and the new VW Polo 2"

Excerpt:

Having spent a reasonable amount of time with the car, Ryan and I found ourselves fairly conversant about its features. Instead of just standing near the Polo and looking pretty (like male Race Queens), we ended up chatting with people who wanted to know more about it.

"Yes, the leather seats and 15-inch alloy rims are standard. Which part of the cow is the leather from? Er, I'm not sure."

"Four disc brakes, yes. No, the ESP on that button stands for Electronic Stability Programme, not Extra Sensory Perception."

"No sir, I am not sure if they sell bigger spoilers than the one included."

One thing you discover about Singaporean car buyers is that not everyone is into engines and power. We got asked about cup holders a lot (there are four in the front alone, and in the back seat, one big enough for a 1.5-litre soft drink bottle). Singaporeans must drink a lot of soft drinks while driving. (cont'd)

The mrbrown HP Printer Giveaway

Ok folks, in the spirit of giving, this Christmas, I am giving away an HP Photosmart Plus All-in-One with TouchSmart printer. You can see the B209a model here.

In order to help me decide, you have to tell me why you want one.

All you need to do is to send me a Tweet (@mrbrown) that starts with "I want an HP printer from mrbrown because..."

If you do not have Twitter, then send me an email (mrbrown [at] mrbrown [dot] com) with the Subject title "I want an HP printer from mrbrown because..." and complete your reason in the email.

Keep it short (140 characters or less please), concise and interesting. I will pick a winner and announce it on mrbrown.com and my Twitter on Friday the 11th of December, 12 noon. That's two days away. So hurrry!

The winner will be informed via email or twitter (please follow me so I can DM you). The printer will be delivered by HP to the winner.

Full disclosure: I am currently using an HP Photosmart Premium C309g they have given me to try. I will post a review shortly. I am not getting paid to do this but HP offered me the free B209a to give away, and I thought I'd share the love with you loyal readers.

So if you need a new printer, quickly tweet it or email me.

Not a bad thing to get for Christmas, eh?

P.S. For obvious reasons, I can only give this printer to someone living in Singapore.

mrbrown at the Esplanade Mall: Lamborghini Ride!

I got to go on a ride in a Lamborghini to see Christmas lights, courtesy of the Esplanade Mall! The Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder (from Luxe Car Rentals) can be yours to drive for two whole days if you win the mall's contest. Details at the Esplanade Mall site!

the mrbrown show: National Cooling Off Day

We are so looking forward to the proposed Cooling Off Day for the elections. We cool off at mrbrownshow.com!