Sunday, April 17, 2005
Taipei, Taiwan
I can't believe the last I wrote was Thursday. I guess I've got a little catching up to do. For all those that have emailed me, Thanks. Its been great hearing from you.
So Thursday evening I was in Canberra. We stayed at the Hyatt and it was very nice. The next morning we had an extra hour or so since a customer had cancelled out. I took advantage of that time and went for a 30 minute run. When I walked out the back of the hotel I saw a park out there and decided to go run through that. It was right on the lake that Canberra is built around, so I had a great run and got to see some of the area too.
We then had a meeting with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. On the way to the meeting the driver took us around the city and up to the top of a hill to look down on the town. I thought it was a great area. Right in the mountains and only about 500K people. I'm not sure why all the Aussies say its not worth going to. The DFAT building was a pretty cool building. Meant to impress the foreign dignitaries that show up there. After an hour and a half at DFAT we pushed on to the airport again and took the 40 minute flight to Sydney. Even with that short a flight they were able to serve us a lunch.
From the airport we went to the AT&T office in North Sydney (we got to drive across the Sydney Bridge). They just moved into this office on Monday so it was brand new to them. Jeyan, the GM of Australia and New Zealand has an office that would be the envy of anyone in the US. Its an all glass corner office with balconies that has a view looking out over Sydney harbour.
We walked around the office for a bit and I found Phil Todd, a guy I had hired many years ago. We promised to meet up for dinner that evening. We then went back to the board room to meet with Westfield. This is an Australian company but they own more US malls than any other company. Next we had about 30 customers coming in to the resturant downstairs for drinks. We were supposed to give some talks there also. The resturant was glass all the way around it and some of the big doors were open. As I was giving my talk the birds started getting louder and louder. We stuck around there for a little while but no one really talked to us much and we had to leave to go do a press interview.
I did a quick 10 minute talk on what labs was doing and it went over fine. Stan ended up talking for about 45 minutes and they were just sucking it up, even at 7:00 on a Friday. We finally closed that session down and got to the hotel around 7:20. We were told to meet the car around 7:50, so we had just enough time to get out of our suits and in to something more comfortable.
I really wasn't looking forward to dinner, but once I got there and had a cold beer or two, I had a great time. It was good catching up with Phil. The Aussies are just great people. They love to kick back and laugh and have a good time. I still say its the one place outside of the US, I would like to live.
Around 10:00 I had had enough though. They wanted to stick around a bit longer but I needed to get to bed.
Saturday morning I woke up and went for one of my favorite all time runs. Down to the Opera house, then run up the stairs and do a little Rocky thing ( I didn't really do it, I just thought about it). Then running around the turn and in to the botanical gardens. There are so many paths and areas back there you could run all day, but I ran around the bend back out to another point where I could see Opera House again with the bridge in the background. That's just an amazing sight which I could enjoy for a long time. Then back across the botanical gardens and to the hotel. All in all about a 4 mile run.
Got back to the room, took a shower and met Andrea in the Lobby. We went and got a breakfast along Circular Quay. Then we took a ferry from there to Watson Bay where we did about an hour hike up to the South Head of the Harbour. I've never done that hike before. I'd done the North Head from Manly. This one was much easier and not nearly as wild, but still a good walk. Next we caught a cab over to Bondi Beach. I stuck my feet in the Pacific as we watched the surfers. Then we went back to the ferry and took it back to Circular Quay. From there we walked around the Opera House and up through the Botanical Gardens. Up to Hyde Park and went through the ANZAC memorial. Then another long hike over to Darling Harbour which was one of the big party sites during the Olympics. After that I had about had it. We caught a ferry back to the hotel. I got a shower and a quick nap and then headed back to the airport.
My flight to Taiwan, through Hong Kong was 10 hours during the first leg with about a 4 hour layover and then another 90 minutes to Taipei. It was a long, long, long, long flight. Did I mention how long this flight was? I got to Hong Kong at 5:00 in the morning so there wasn't much going on. I finally found the Cathey Pacific Lounge and hung out in there, doing the head bob and jerk thing as my book collected my drool. (Pretty sight isn't it?). The Head Bob continued all the way to Taiwan, where I finally started waking up.
Once I got here I got another quick shower and then met Stan to go looking around. We went out to a shopping district but couldn't really find anything worth buying. So we walked back, but stopped and got a couple beers and an appetizer at TGI Fridays. When we got back to the hotel I crashed a while before we got back together at 5:30 to go to the night market. His wife and daughter sent him with the one task of getting some Coach knockoff purses. They didn't have any during our daytime spree and the market was packed with people and vendors but they were all food vendors. It smelled pretty gross and after a while we just had to get out of there. On the way back to find a cab a little parade passed us. It was definitely cool. Lots of chinese fireworks going off and people dressed in big costumes. You'll have to see the pictures! Stan thinks it was a funeral. they were carrying something but I'm not sure what it was. Then it was dinner at the italian resturant in the hotel (not very italian) and back up to the room where I got caught up on my blog.
Now everyone is up to date and I can jump in bed to get ready for tomorrow. I'll try to update it again tomorrow night. When I have to do more than one day it takes so long just to write everything down it ends up being really dry. I'll have to spruce it up a bit more next time.
Bye!
So Thursday evening I was in Canberra. We stayed at the Hyatt and it was very nice. The next morning we had an extra hour or so since a customer had cancelled out. I took advantage of that time and went for a 30 minute run. When I walked out the back of the hotel I saw a park out there and decided to go run through that. It was right on the lake that Canberra is built around, so I had a great run and got to see some of the area too.
We then had a meeting with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. On the way to the meeting the driver took us around the city and up to the top of a hill to look down on the town. I thought it was a great area. Right in the mountains and only about 500K people. I'm not sure why all the Aussies say its not worth going to. The DFAT building was a pretty cool building. Meant to impress the foreign dignitaries that show up there. After an hour and a half at DFAT we pushed on to the airport again and took the 40 minute flight to Sydney. Even with that short a flight they were able to serve us a lunch.
From the airport we went to the AT&T office in North Sydney (we got to drive across the Sydney Bridge). They just moved into this office on Monday so it was brand new to them. Jeyan, the GM of Australia and New Zealand has an office that would be the envy of anyone in the US. Its an all glass corner office with balconies that has a view looking out over Sydney harbour.
We walked around the office for a bit and I found Phil Todd, a guy I had hired many years ago. We promised to meet up for dinner that evening. We then went back to the board room to meet with Westfield. This is an Australian company but they own more US malls than any other company. Next we had about 30 customers coming in to the resturant downstairs for drinks. We were supposed to give some talks there also. The resturant was glass all the way around it and some of the big doors were open. As I was giving my talk the birds started getting louder and louder. We stuck around there for a little while but no one really talked to us much and we had to leave to go do a press interview.
I did a quick 10 minute talk on what labs was doing and it went over fine. Stan ended up talking for about 45 minutes and they were just sucking it up, even at 7:00 on a Friday. We finally closed that session down and got to the hotel around 7:20. We were told to meet the car around 7:50, so we had just enough time to get out of our suits and in to something more comfortable.
I really wasn't looking forward to dinner, but once I got there and had a cold beer or two, I had a great time. It was good catching up with Phil. The Aussies are just great people. They love to kick back and laugh and have a good time. I still say its the one place outside of the US, I would like to live.
Around 10:00 I had had enough though. They wanted to stick around a bit longer but I needed to get to bed.
Saturday morning I woke up and went for one of my favorite all time runs. Down to the Opera house, then run up the stairs and do a little Rocky thing ( I didn't really do it, I just thought about it). Then running around the turn and in to the botanical gardens. There are so many paths and areas back there you could run all day, but I ran around the bend back out to another point where I could see Opera House again with the bridge in the background. That's just an amazing sight which I could enjoy for a long time. Then back across the botanical gardens and to the hotel. All in all about a 4 mile run.
Got back to the room, took a shower and met Andrea in the Lobby. We went and got a breakfast along Circular Quay. Then we took a ferry from there to Watson Bay where we did about an hour hike up to the South Head of the Harbour. I've never done that hike before. I'd done the North Head from Manly. This one was much easier and not nearly as wild, but still a good walk. Next we caught a cab over to Bondi Beach. I stuck my feet in the Pacific as we watched the surfers. Then we went back to the ferry and took it back to Circular Quay. From there we walked around the Opera House and up through the Botanical Gardens. Up to Hyde Park and went through the ANZAC memorial. Then another long hike over to Darling Harbour which was one of the big party sites during the Olympics. After that I had about had it. We caught a ferry back to the hotel. I got a shower and a quick nap and then headed back to the airport.
My flight to Taiwan, through Hong Kong was 10 hours during the first leg with about a 4 hour layover and then another 90 minutes to Taipei. It was a long, long, long, long flight. Did I mention how long this flight was? I got to Hong Kong at 5:00 in the morning so there wasn't much going on. I finally found the Cathey Pacific Lounge and hung out in there, doing the head bob and jerk thing as my book collected my drool. (Pretty sight isn't it?). The Head Bob continued all the way to Taiwan, where I finally started waking up.
Once I got here I got another quick shower and then met Stan to go looking around. We went out to a shopping district but couldn't really find anything worth buying. So we walked back, but stopped and got a couple beers and an appetizer at TGI Fridays. When we got back to the hotel I crashed a while before we got back together at 5:30 to go to the night market. His wife and daughter sent him with the one task of getting some Coach knockoff purses. They didn't have any during our daytime spree and the market was packed with people and vendors but they were all food vendors. It smelled pretty gross and after a while we just had to get out of there. On the way back to find a cab a little parade passed us. It was definitely cool. Lots of chinese fireworks going off and people dressed in big costumes. You'll have to see the pictures! Stan thinks it was a funeral. they were carrying something but I'm not sure what it was. Then it was dinner at the italian resturant in the hotel (not very italian) and back up to the room where I got caught up on my blog.
Now everyone is up to date and I can jump in bed to get ready for tomorrow. I'll try to update it again tomorrow night. When I have to do more than one day it takes so long just to write everything down it ends up being really dry. I'll have to spruce it up a bit more next time.
Bye!
