Jake Ludington’s Digital Lifestyle

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While the night markets in Taiwan a packed with food providing instant gratification, the morning market in Danshui is for people who prepare their own food. The closest thing I’ve ever seen to this in the US is the Pike Place Market in Seattle, but even that doesn’t come close to providing the kinds of meat and it certainly lacks live animals. You have to be an early riser to catch the Danshui morning market, which requires a ride on the MRT subway system to the end of the line. Once you’re there, you can browse fish mongers, see pigs being butchered, buy a live chicken to take home for dinner, or simply stock up on vegetables.

While you’re in Danshui, there’s also a boardwalk along the mouth of the Danshui river and the Danshui Fisherman’s Wharf, which is a tourist site aimed more at local Taiwanese looking to escape the city than traveler’s like me. Small passenger ferries provide transport from the boardwalk in Danshui out to the Wharf, which is highly recommended over walking. Even seeing someone washing their pig on the side of the road didn’t quite make up for the length of the walk. Danshui also has a Maritime Museum which covers a great deal of the history of ships in the port town including an aboriginal canoe on display.

You can also take the ferry across the river to Bali, which has another boardwalk area and the Shihsanheng Museum of Archeology.

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Hauxi night market is a stark contrast to the Shilin night market frequented by both locals and vistors to Taipei. Where Shilin feels alive with interesting sites, smells, and people, Hauxi feels like it’s clinging to a past Taipei would largely like to put behind it. Hauxi night market is the one famous for cutting snakes open and serving cocktails mixed with alcohol and snake guts. I saw snakes in cages, but I didn’t see anyone stepping up to try the snake. In fact, while we were in the section of the market with live animals, I hardly saw anyone. There’s no pictures of the snake purveyors here because they don’t want you to take them (presumably because what they are doing is frowned upon). I did try to get a couple of photos on the sly, but the camera I brought was too slow and blurred the images. I did get a picture of a pile of beheaded turtles, which I think are more for some sort of folk remedy than anything a tourist would find exciting. Fish and crustaceans were in great supply in the Hauxi night market, which explains the number of photos focused on fish.

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I needed to escape the confines of the swanky Grand Formosa Regent last night, so I jumped in a cab and headed for the Shilin Night Market. This was similar to night markets I visited in Beijing, offering many foods that go beyond my ability to recognize. In the covered market stalls serve oyster omelets, giant fried chicken patties, squid on a stick, noodles, hot pot, and tons of stuff I couldn’t recognize. There’s also an arcade and shopping for trinkets under the cover of the large market building. It’s what Pike Place Market in Seattle might look like if there were no health inspectors. Nearby the streets turn into an outdoor bazaar, where vendors setup in the middle of the street and shops line both sides. Plenty of photos of food here:

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One of the things AMD invited Nate and I to attend while we’re in Taipei was the Info Tech 100 presentation where Pat Moorhead did a keynote speech. We went in not knowing just how prestigious this event was and as a result, we were grossly under-dressed (nothing like playing the ugly American). It never occurred to me that I needed to know how to read the characters for vice president, food and basic communication seem like better survival skills. I guess I was slightly better off than the guy I saw desperately trying to get some sort of poop off his shoe in the bathroom prior to the event.

The event kicked off with an introduction and award presentation by Vincent Siew, Vice President of Taiwan, complete with ear piece wearing security detail. I’m pretty sure if it had been the US Secret Service, we’d have been booted from the room. Awards were presented for the top 10 of the Info Tech 100 and then also for the companies that made it on both the Taiwan list and the Business Week Info Tech 100. The CEOs of ASUS and HTC were both on hand to receive awards, along with a long list of other highly successful Taiwan tech companies.

After a brief intermission and the departure of the Vice President of Taiwan, Pat Moorhead kicked off the four keynote presentations offering a succinct look at AMD’s broad vision of the future (or what I will refer to in a future post as how AMD is saving Windows Vista).

The day closed with a keynote from Jonney Shih of ASUS.

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I’m a firm believer that having cell phone service on the local network while traveling is a must. I’ve been spared countless communication breakdowns in a cab simply by calling my destination and letting them speak to the cab driver. Making this possible in Taiwan proved to be a challenge because I couldn’t easily find a SIM card vendor. Based on past experience traveling in China, places like 7-Eleven are an excellent source for getting a cell phone service. You pay for a card that comes with some minutes and unless you call outside the country, you’ve likely got more minutes than you’ll ever need. In China, everyone who sells SIM cards knows them as ‘SIM card’, I never encountered a Chinese word used instead. In Taiwan, SIM card seems to be a common phrase as well, I just couldn’t find anyone willing to sell me one. Even the Nokia store at New York New York near Taipei 101(the world’s tallest building), didn’t sell SIM cards. The 7-Eleven downstairs (the 5th such place I tried) finally offered to sell me a SIM card in addition to providing some clarity about why no one helped me previously - the red tape is silly.

Think of the pre-paid virtually disposable cell phone we can buy at Target stores in the U.S. when I say SIM card. They sit equally on the communication food chain. The SIM card pops into an existing phone, but they serve the same purpose in their respective marketplaces. In the U.S., I can buy a disposable phone with cash and nothing else. In Taiwan, a SIM card purchase requires two forms of picture identification, a form that has enough English to fill in the blanks coupled with enough Chinese that you’re not sure what you’re agreeing to. If I’d been under 20, I’d need my attorney present. The SIM card packaging clearly states that I’m buying something with no monthly fee and no bill, but still several interesting hoops to jump through. Not sure if this is the norm in most countries that sell SIM cards, but this is certainly my first experience with inconvenient communication.

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Shortly after landing at 5:40 am local time, two hours after the worst one hour of turbulence I’ve ever experienced, we were safely on the ground in search of an ATM. The money changer at the airport helpfully pointed Nate and I in the right direction. A few minutes later I stopped back at the money changers with 3 crisp 1000 TWD notes (approximately $100 US) and a request to break on of them. After a quick count of ten 100’s in a money sorting tray I stepped away from the counter only to be called back again. The money changer was trying to convince me I’d given him a 500 TWD note and that he’d given me too much money. A nice way to make $500 if you can pull it off. Unfortunately for him I wasn’t that jet-lagged, yet. Later in the morning I was extremely thankful when the cab driver graciously returned my phone after it fell from my pocket on the way to the hotel.

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Stock up on Water

There’s something about Las Vegas that creates a constant state of feeling parched. All the strip hotels charge $3-4 for the convenience of in room bottled water. You can pick up a 6-pack of bottles for that price by dropping in on one of the Walgreens located near the strip. There’s a Walgreens on the northeast corner of Convention Center Dr and S Las Vegas Blvd, directly across from the Stardust, which is convenient for Wynn guests and another one further down the strip about midway between the Aladdin and MGM Grand. Both are open 24 hours and have all the usual drug store supplies (although they aren’t listed on Google’s Map)

Change Your Socks

If you’re doing the Las Vegas conference circuit as I do several times every year, you already know a good pair of shoes will save your feet. Take that a step further and bring 2 pairs of socks for every day you’re in town. Changing socks midway through the day will re-energize your feet.

Avoid the LVCC Monorail Entrance

When the LVCC halls close for the day, a mass exodus of attendees ride the escalator to grab a seat on the monorail. Avoid the temptation and seek other transportation. The lines are long and you’ll easily spend as much or more time waiting as you would simply taking one of the available buses back to your hotel. If you must ride the monorail, take a short walk to the Las Vegas Hilton and use the entrance there. The line is shorter and you’re more likely to grab a seat before the stop at the LVCC where everyone is clambering to get on board.

Get an iGo Universal Power Adapter

Universal power adapters certainly aren’t sexy, but they will cut down on the amount of extra stuff you carry. iGo makes several universal adapters that both reduce the amount of space you need for carrying power cords as well as providing an efficient way to charge your devices. Depending on how many gadgets you travel with the company makes chargers that can re-power more than one device simultaneously. I once eliminated almost a pound from my gear bag simply by removing all the chargers. [Disclosure: I get nothing for recommending iGo, I simply like that they solve a common problem]

Stay Near the LVCC or Stay Far Away

The best casino action may be on the strip, but the best hotels for CES are either near the Las Vegas Convention Center or off the beaten path. The closest hotels are the Marriott Residence Inn and Courtyard by Marriott hotels - these fill early and are often hard to get into. The Las Vegas Hilton also gets you close, while providing the Casino Experience. On the cheap you can stay at the Sommerset House Inn, which doesn’t look like much but provides a clean place to sleep. The Marriott next door to Piero’s on Convention Center Drive is also a good choice for staying close.

For far away, The Orleans and the Gold Coast are both hundreds of dollars cheaper per night and have much shorter cab lines than the strip hotels, which means less travel time even though they are far away.

The exception to this rule is Wynn, which is on the strip but provides free shuttle service to LVCC right on the Wynn grounds.

Pack a USPS Flat Rate Box

I make it a rule to skip most schwag at CES, but I always end up with a few extra items. Rather than resorting to sitting on your suitcase and forcing it closed, plan ahead and bring a USPS Flat Rate postage box to ship your extras. You can pack it pre-taped in your suitcase, with your stuff in side, then remove the box and use it for shipping the extra stuff you end up with at the show. Most hotels offer postal service at the desk. For about $10, you won’t have to fight for extra room at the end of the show.

Bring a B Vitamin Supplement

No one gets enough sleep during CES and the constant exposure to cigarette smoke in every building will certainly run you down (and according to some research, deplete your B Vitamin supply). B Vitamins are a great way to help you body purge the toxins and keep your energy up while you’re pushing your body beyond it’s normal limits.

Todd Cochrane of Geek New Central offers a few more CES survival tips.

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I’m headed back to China on Saturday 30 June 2007. I made my first trip to Beijing last summer, when I attended DemoChina to cover emerging tech companies. I was lucky enough to bump into a number of familiar faces, including Lee and Sachi (who were on their yearlong tour around the world) and Sam Whitmore and Christy Andrade (who were also taking in the experience of DemoChina). This time I’m spending 6 weeks in Beijing, studying Mandarin at Peking University and site seeing around the city.

I haven’t made any specific plans to meet with any geeks while I’m in Beijing, but I’m hoping to meet a few kindred spirits while I’m there. The Maxthon offices are in Beijing, so there’s a good chance I’ll drop in on Jeff Chen and the rest of the browser development team. I’m likely to check in on Tudou.com to see what’s new with the Chinese equivalent of YouTube. I may also see if I can’t get a peek at what the Beijing offices of Microsoft are like, since I’ve already spent plenty of time at both the Redmond and Mountain View campuses.

My other big plan for this trip is to seek out some of the modern cultural flavor of Beijing. I saw most of the major historic landmarks of Beijing on my last visit, but I’m also curious about things like the kinds of live music people are playing, where the modern art scene in Beijing is, and what local people do for fun, which are some of the same things I look for when I visit a new city in the U.S. I’m also hoping to revisit some of the places that were under construction and renovation in anticipation of the 2008 Olympic Games. If you happen to be in Beijing or know anyone in Beijing, be sure to drop me a line.

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Seattle is close enough to the Canadian border that a weekend getaway to Vancouver, B.C. is always tempting. I generally drive across the border when I go and have yet to take my passport as my form of identification. Starting on 23 January 2007, anyone who flies across the border from the United States to our northern or southern neighbors will be required to have a passport. People like me have until 01 January 2008 before we’ll be turned away without a passport when driving across the border. We have the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative to thank for this procedural change.

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Almost every flight I’m on from Des Moines, IA to anywhere is either overbooked or over the allowed weight limit. As a result, the airlines are always offering a free ticket or credit if someone will volunteer to take a later flight. I’ve never done this in the past because I’m generally on some kind of schedule. On my way back to Seattle on Saturday, I had plenty of free time. My flight schedule already included a 6-hour layover in Memphis, TN, so when the ticket counter in Des Moines was looking for volunteers I said, ’sure.’ The result was a re-booking on flight with better routing (no going East to get West) and an arrival time 4 hours earlier than my original itinerary, along with a free roundtrip ticket.

Four hours later my new flight time arrived with an announcement that volunteers were needed to keep the plane under weight. Three people volunteered immediately and boarding commenced. After everyone was on the plane, one of the Northwest ticket agents came on board and said he needed 3 more volunteers or the plane couldn’t leave Des Moines. Two people volunteered and I followed, with assurance that I could still be home to Seattle that night. Things got a little hairy, with the airline sweating over whether they could really deliver on their promise to put us at our destinations on time, but as luck would have it, my Minneapolis connection was delayed by 90 minutes, so I made the next flight from Des Moines to Minneapolis and still waited around for the flight to Seattle. And of course, this second re-routing is where free roundtrip ticket number 2 came into play.

While I wouldn’t do this every time I travel, having a flexible schedule certain paid off this time.

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