Times in Taipei

Just wanted to drop a note. I’ve really enjoyed the recent writings the past couple of weeks. Sorry I haven’t been able to join in.

Thing have been quite busy with work. I’ve had to travel to Hsinchu, Taichung and just all around craziness with MIS support issues at local Taipei branches. Meanwhile, things have been heating up with setting up a local business here. Ramping up with the formalities and also doing a lot of business development Taiwanese style.

A lot of business is still done old-style in Taiwan. That means entertainment, food, drinking and lots of face to face discussions over tea or coffee. We usually meet at a “friendly” restaurant or eatery to discuss. What does “friendly” mean? It depends on whether one is affiliated with the KMT (Blue party), Kuomingtang Party, or the DDP (Green party), Democratic Progressive Party. So we’ll go to one of “their” places to chat. That doesn’t mean that Blue and Green members don’t do business together but there is a definitive line that isn’t crossed unless lots of money is involved. Nevertheless, there is a serious split in the country and it’s paralyzing the country.

As a result, my schedule is that I’ve got a day job and an evening job which makes for 16-18 hour days. It’s fun though, I’m really looking forward to the opportunities here and being more and more comfortable with life in Taiwan. This country is quite beautiful. Very lush and green. It is very tropical and many many things to do outdoors if one can take the heat and humidity. The people are quite friendly but underlying the friendliness is a strong pride in “Taiwanese-ness”. This has a lot of political implications which I won’t bore people with here but I can see the country down the road as Malaysia 15-20 years ago.

Anyways, keep on posting and bringing a bit of NYC to me out here :-). I feel more and more removed from the City which has never happened to me since I left in 1999. That doesn’t sound like a long time ago but it sure feels a long time :|.

Cheers,

=YC