Business Class vs Coach

VS

Working for a Taiwanese tech company, there are very few employee perks, especially when it comes to traveling. Business Class, what’s that? Many American companies realize that making sure their employees are well rested on work related travels means in theory their employees productivity will be higher. Take for example Dupont, where Kathy works. Their policy is that if you have a flight over 3 hours, you are required to take business class. The hotel where they stay also need to be an approved Dupont hotel (discounted rates at very nice places…Shangri-La hotel in Bangkok   for example).

That is why I was looking forward to my trip to Brazil. Since the total travel time was around 34 hours with Korean Air (2.5 hrs to Seoul, 5 hour layover in Seoul, 12 hours to LA, 2 hour layover in LA, 12 hours to Sao Paulo) with traveling back to Taiwan even longer, my company allowed me to fly business class. From being able to sleep vertically, to the overly friendly (and pretty) stewardesses it really makes a difference. Granted, the trip was so long I still wanted to kill myself. At least in business class, they provide actual silverware, so even offing yourself is an option! 

Din Tai Fung

On Friday night we went out with Kathy and her family to celibrate mother's day at Din Tai Fung, the most famous soup dumpling restarant in Taiwan. For those who haven't experienced soup dumplings, basically they are like a regular dumpling with some sort of filling inside (pork, shrimp, veg...etc) but when they are made, a small ice cube of broth is wrapped in the dumpling, so when they are steamed, the inside ice cube melts and you get a bite of soup with your dumling. They are VERY yummy. You can see more about them here:

 http://www.dintaifungusa.com/

Anyway, I took a video of the restaurant, and as you can see it is organized chaos. The workers in the back make the dumplings while you watch. The restaurant is always busy, and as you can see from the servers, they are all highly efficient to get people in and out as soon as possible.

The worst snack ever invented

I just had the misfortune of getting this from a coworker who just got back from the US. There are only 2 ingredients listed: potatoes and sea salt. They forgot to include plastic and ass.

All Things BRIX

Decided it was about time to start the whole blog thing, primarily to keep in touch with friends and family around the world as well as to share my life here in Taipei and my travels abroad. Most days I love it here. Taiwan is a tech freak heaven, which for a gadget guy like me, couldn't be better. I moved here with my beautiful girlfriend of 11 years...yes, she has waited that long. We are getting married October 17, 2009, so get ready to hear all about the highs and lows of Taiwan-style matrimony. So, welcome to my blog and thanks for stopping in!