Friday, April 29, 2005
The World's Tallest Building - Taiwan 101
'101' is supposed to indicate both >100% and be a reference to our digital age...
Elevators peak at 60km/hour, average speed half that.
Crunchy pork leg in garlic sauce in the food court at the bottom - crunchy being a euphemism for pork bones. Well, I suppose 'leg' was abit of a give away.
Mud pie ice cream for dessert. East meets West?
Elevators peak at 60km/hour, average speed half that.
Crunchy pork leg in garlic sauce in the food court at the bottom - crunchy being a euphemism for pork bones. Well, I suppose 'leg' was abit of a give away.
Mud pie ice cream for dessert. East meets West?
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Tasting Notes from around the world
Vodka Martina in NYC - Kettel One plus a twist. Delicious.
"World's best" cheese-cake at Junior's. And not a single calorie.
Meat-ball, bacon and pepperoni pizza in Port Jefferson.
Sockeye salmon and sea bream in Vancouver.
Fusion food and Dim Sum in HK.
Jellyfish in Taipei.
and Warrenville?
"World's best" cheese-cake at Junior's. And not a single calorie.
Meat-ball, bacon and pepperoni pizza in Port Jefferson.
Sockeye salmon and sea bream in Vancouver.
Fusion food and Dim Sum in HK.
Jellyfish in Taipei.
and Warrenville?
From LCG Circum-aviation tour
I am currently on a visit round the LHC Computing Grid (LCG) Tier1 sites (Brookhaven, Fermilab, Triumf, ASCC).
This trip started off by a visit to Barcelona, an appropriate start for a trip heading West.
In Barcelona there is of course a statue of Columbus, pointing bravely in the direction that the new world isn't.
There are a number of sites that claim to be Columbus' landfall in the New World, including on Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands. It was one of my goals to visit all in one year, but only managed Barcelona plus Grand Turk so far.
When I arrived in Barcelona I took a taxi to my hotel. As there is time before dinner, I go out for a walk. Find the Gaudi appartments, drink in the atmosphere etc. On the way back to my hotel I pass another with the same name. Is this just another entrance? No, only one entrance. No, no other hotel of this name in Barcelona. Well, I don't know if it was the taxi driver's brother or cousin, but when finally sorted out my hosts obviously figure that I am not safe to be left alone, which has some advantages :-)
The trip proper started off in New York on a perfect spring weekend. Beautiful weather - a great time to visit. This time I see the 'real' Statue of Liberty, as opposed to the one in Paris. (Hint: watch "Frantic" with Harrison Ford). Take the usual tour. What is the tallest building in NY? (easy), in the US? (easy), in the world? Maybe I should have called this the "Tallest Buildings" tour... (try Google...)
Then moved on to Chicago (Fermilab) and then Vancouver via Dallas(?). A great opportunity to do some marketing for Angels and Daemons, which seems to have made CERN rather more famous than the Web ever did.
Gave a talk on the LCG Service Challenges at Fermilab. An old colleague (from first visit to FNAL back in 1980s) walks up afterwards, wearing a Turks and Caicos T-shirt. Just back from a trip down there, staying at a house just up from the White House on wonderful Grace Bay. For those who don't know, a former flag for the T&C had a pile of salt mistakenly interpreted by a flag maker as an Igloo - somewhat unlikely for Islands 'in' the Caribbean. Wonder what's happened to Jo-Jo?
Normally I have some Asian food when in the US, but as I'll be in Hong Kong and Taiwan next week I decide to stick to something more local. It seems that you really can survive on hamburgers alone in this country...
Vancouver is a great city. Only the second time that I have visited - the previous occasion being last December having missed the connection to San Francisco due to snow.
From Vancouver, a long long flight into Hong Kong. What a great city! Cocktails on top of the Mandarin Oriental - looking down at the harbour. I always think that Rolls Royces look anachronistic in Europe - look perfectly normal in Hong Kong. There's even a Vilebrequin shop, although I don't think I'll be taking a swim in the harbour.
From Hong Kong to Taiwan - surprisingly cold for a sub-tropical island.
Anyway - a good opportunity to start a blog.
So finally "The Flipside of Dominic Hide" is available again. Ordered it immediately. Haven't seen it since the first time that it was shown on British TV but I remember it as one of the most romantic stories I have ever seen. Hopefully it won't be too painfully embarrassing when it arrives.
This trip started off by a visit to Barcelona, an appropriate start for a trip heading West.
In Barcelona there is of course a statue of Columbus, pointing bravely in the direction that the new world isn't.
There are a number of sites that claim to be Columbus' landfall in the New World, including on Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands. It was one of my goals to visit all in one year, but only managed Barcelona plus Grand Turk so far.
When I arrived in Barcelona I took a taxi to my hotel. As there is time before dinner, I go out for a walk. Find the Gaudi appartments, drink in the atmosphere etc. On the way back to my hotel I pass another with the same name. Is this just another entrance? No, only one entrance. No, no other hotel of this name in Barcelona. Well, I don't know if it was the taxi driver's brother or cousin, but when finally sorted out my hosts obviously figure that I am not safe to be left alone, which has some advantages :-)
The trip proper started off in New York on a perfect spring weekend. Beautiful weather - a great time to visit. This time I see the 'real' Statue of Liberty, as opposed to the one in Paris. (Hint: watch "Frantic" with Harrison Ford). Take the usual tour. What is the tallest building in NY? (easy), in the US? (easy), in the world? Maybe I should have called this the "Tallest Buildings" tour... (try Google...)
Then moved on to Chicago (Fermilab) and then Vancouver via Dallas(?). A great opportunity to do some marketing for Angels and Daemons, which seems to have made CERN rather more famous than the Web ever did.
Gave a talk on the LCG Service Challenges at Fermilab. An old colleague (from first visit to FNAL back in 1980s) walks up afterwards, wearing a Turks and Caicos T-shirt. Just back from a trip down there, staying at a house just up from the White House on wonderful Grace Bay. For those who don't know, a former flag for the T&C had a pile of salt mistakenly interpreted by a flag maker as an Igloo - somewhat unlikely for Islands 'in' the Caribbean. Wonder what's happened to Jo-Jo?
Normally I have some Asian food when in the US, but as I'll be in Hong Kong and Taiwan next week I decide to stick to something more local. It seems that you really can survive on hamburgers alone in this country...
Vancouver is a great city. Only the second time that I have visited - the previous occasion being last December having missed the connection to San Francisco due to snow.
From Vancouver, a long long flight into Hong Kong. What a great city! Cocktails on top of the Mandarin Oriental - looking down at the harbour. I always think that Rolls Royces look anachronistic in Europe - look perfectly normal in Hong Kong. There's even a Vilebrequin shop, although I don't think I'll be taking a swim in the harbour.
From Hong Kong to Taiwan - surprisingly cold for a sub-tropical island.
Anyway - a good opportunity to start a blog.
So finally "The Flipside of Dominic Hide" is available again. Ordered it immediately. Haven't seen it since the first time that it was shown on British TV but I remember it as one of the most romantic stories I have ever seen. Hopefully it won't be too painfully embarrassing when it arrives.
