coffee

Trips in Taiwan: From little Bavaria to little Italy

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map-1Fancy a little bite to eat… Lusting for some good German food… Then head out into the countryside of the North East Coast, to a little place called Smoky Inn.

It was a little tricky to find (I’ve borrowed the map to highlight its location). You can see the mark there. We nearly missed the turning, as it is easier to find from the SanChih direction.

But we found it. I’ve linked to the Google Map of the area for you.

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We went in the latter part of the day, just before dusk… Tim, Cindy and myself. Since we drove, our only beverage was non-alcoholic beer, but it was tasty and COLD!

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Their website boasts: “ENJOY THE REAL BAVARIAN MEALS. OUR SPECIAL ARE SMOKED PIG KNUCKLE, SAUSAGES AND OTHER TRADITIONALS. ENJOY TASTY BAVARIAN CHEESE AND NUREMBERG SAUSAGES, HOME MADE MUNICH SAUSAGE SALAD, ROAST PORK, POTATO BALL AND BREADS.” (their caps, not mine!).

And this is what came: Large sausages of all kinds, Sauerkraut, Bavarian potatoes, horseradish, and pickles, … We enjoyed the food, had some leftovers, and paid a reasonable NT$1600 for the three of us. Four would have cost about NT$450. The neat thing was taxes and service charges were INCLUDED. I haven’t any idea why more restaurants don’t do that. If you decide to go on a weekend, call ahead and reserve a table. Don’t be put off by the automated answering service. They’re too busy to answer phonecalls most of the time.

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Needless to say, the local wildlife were attracted by the bugs buzzing round our lights, and they had their own bug meal. I do have a video of this, too. If you can’t see clearly, it’s a gecko! A very active one, judging by the speed with which it devoured its prey. Then we drove to a nice coffee shop near JingShan called Young Door.

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It’s a well-known coffee shop on the North East Coast highway, and probably serves the best coffee in and around JingShan. Of course, we’ve paid more than their but had much worse coffee! I can guarantee their coffee is always good! You can read the review in Chinese. Prices are reasonable, and coffee is great! What more can I add?

Typhoon Weather: October 5th and 6th.

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I’m used to posting daily updates on this website, but unfortunately on October 5th~6th, Taiwan is facing a large and powerful Typhoon (or Tropical Storm) … It has heavy winds and rains, so it’s possible that my DSL connection to InvestorBlogger may be lost for a few days. We already have had most things canceled for the day, and possibly Sunday, too. One of the local coffee shops was open just downstairs from my apartment. I slipped down to buy a coffee, and got completely drenched in just a few minutes… That’s how heavy the rain is.

While I have lost my camera, I couldn’t make any typhoon movies, I’ll leave you with this video: So if you aren’t getting new posts, please bear with me and check out my past posts in the archive. Or search for your posts that might interest you, such as making money, etc.

The general Taiwan weather situation.

The second link didn’t load for me, but the first worked beautifully: http://www.goes.noaa.gov/sohemi/sohemiloops/shirgmscolw.html http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/real-time/visir/westpac/visirjava17W.html

For local weather, you can’t do better than… http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V5e/typhoon/ty.htm I’ll update the weather on this post. If I can, I’ll keep posting other stuff, too.

Best Wishes Kenneth

Did this drive you around the Benz?

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We were at Taipei’s 101 Shopping Mall, on the 4th floor where we discovered that there two new coffee shops and a Harper’s Bazaar exhibition with a very unusual exhibit. Pictured below… how would you like to drive one of these?

Is it enough power to turn the ladies’ heads, John? This is my Moon Festival Car of the Year, 1886 to be precise. Enjoy.

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Look at its rear mounted engine that could generate 2/3rds of a horsepower at 250rpm. A later version could ‘gallop’ along at nearly 10mph. That’s 0-10 in about 120 years, perhaps. Still, a wonderful feat of engineering, and worthy in any car museum.

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I don’t think too many Zonda mechanics would know how to fix this engine! Apparently, Benz’s wife, Bertha, undertook the first long distance car trip in the world (without her husband’s knowledge! “honey, I just borrowed the Benz!”) and drove nearly 200km. I had a look at the wheels, it can’t have been too comfortable, but what a thrill! A mechanized carriage without horses!