ONEBUBBLE

warning: immense load of pictures than my previous post so try not to get caught at work because the last thing we want is for them to block ONEBUBBLE. COM at your company…..actually that would get us A LOT of publicity and then maybe we could do this as a full time job.

Sooooo, Tyler and I met up with some old friends in Hsinchu that I haven’t seen in 10 years, which makes it the last time i saw them was 14, ANNND when i was 14 i looked completely different: height was the same but width wise — @_@. In any case, it turns out my friend majored in interior design, worked for a firm for a year and ended up closing shop and opening up a NEW shop but this time: serving UDON noodles, which i thought was crajee-lah!

Butttt….the restaurant had a really paris-cafe’esque theme to it which i thought was great, really classy lighting, and she had clocks installed which displayed different timezones which i thought added a nice touch of variety. The “little shop” as her mom had warned me, wasn’t as small as i pictured, as the restaurant was able probably to house no more than 25 at a time, but ANYSPACE beats I’s Cafe.

The house is known for a lot of their items, but I ended up ordering the fresh tomato sukiyaki which consisted of –> mushrooms, sausage, egg, udon, and a random piece of shrimp but NO tomato which i thought was kind of odd…see if you can find it.

While Tyler ordered the curry chicken sukiyaki which tasted great. It had a bold curry taste far from anything offered at Mesala Grill. Overall, taste wise it was great minus the tomato mishap, but of course EVERYTHING tastes better when its free =).

My friend along with her younger brother, took us to this place called NEIWAN known for its tradition food and mini go karts . It’s a historical landmark recently buffed up with street vendors to make it more accommodating towards tourists so you can get food, drinks, even watch old school movies on a giant projection screen.

The bathrooms still even have those squat pots to get a more old school aesthetic feeling, but i like it cuz it seems to preserve the tradition.

We walked along this bridge overlooking a river stream, which apparently is really clean and most certainly gets a lot of attention. Btw, if asians already all look the same, the least is wear something different right? Don’t enhance that stereotype by purposely collectively wearing the exact same colors when taking pictures. gosh they’d be so confusing if they lived in the states.

We finished our trip in Neiwan with Tyler walking way ahead of the car and looking back taking our last photo together, never to realize that there’s something weird with this picture. Can anyone find it? post your answer in your comment and we’ll high five you when we get back in Sept!

Neiwan Out!

Last Saturday, we met up with some friends in Taipei and somehow ended up at this Japanese pork chop restaurant owned by Jay Chou – apparently he’s a mega star here in Taiwan so our expectation was very high.

This is their cheese-filled pork chop. One of their more popular choices. It was alright. I ate it when it was cold so maybe that’s why it didn’t do it for me.

I ordered the miso pork chop because it came highly recommended. Well, if you love miso soup then maybe you’ll like this dish.

Asparagus pork chop. Not much different from the previous dishes. The meat itself is decent and flavorful. Other than that, the food didn’t match the hype.

By the way, this is what we have to look at before and after we ate those pork chops. This little pig is stationed right at the left side of the front door. I’m not sure if this is meant to stir up our appetite or not. Well, it didn’t. Maybe if they killed and fried the pig right there and then. Just kidding people…relax.

We ended the night by going to this bar lounge called the Gamers. True to its name, this place offers a variety of games such as billiards, darts, Wii, and some racing game like the ones you see at Dave & Buster’s. The games are cool but we came here for the “Speacil Cocktails”. Oh man, you gotta love it.

I got up early to catch the 2008 NBA Draft a few days ago and fortunately the ESPN channel here had a live broadcast until the 21st pick then it switched off to some Wimbledon coverage (didn’t even know it started). One thing I missed out here is being able to mindlessly chat about sports with the likes of WonkiTime (new blog alert!) and OneYearinNYC (dude, if I was home, I would’ve definitely went with you to the Nash charity thing) and debate important things such as who should be the first pick: Rose or Beasley. But since I’m not home, this blog will have to do. I know it’s a bit late but here’s my take on the top 10 picks:

#1 – Derrick Rose / Chicago

Last year was Oden or Durant, this year it’s Rose or Beasley. I like Beasley but like most experts out there I’m on the Rose bandwagon. He just seems to have that “it” factor when he’s on the floor. Like Kobe or Wade, you just know they want to win more than anyone else. Besides, he’s darn good on both ends of the floor and will help the Bulls immediately.

#2 – Michael Beasley / Miami

I know Wade was hoping to get his boy Rose but Beasley is not a bad consolation prize. You know he can score and rebound but can he defend in the NBA? I think if he’s willing to put forth the effort, he’s got the talent to become the best player of this draft. Can he be better than Boozer or West? I think so. Better than maybe Amare? Time will tell.

#3 – O.J. Mayo / Memphis (via trade)

Back when I was working for Dime Magazine, we had this kid on our cover hyped as the Next LeBron. Well, it’s safe to say that Mayo is not quite there. It doesn’t mean he won’t be a great player one day. The kid’s got something to prove. He’s hardworking and an excellent defensive player – two things that’ll help you stay off the bench. Lets hope he doesn’t become the Reggie Bush of the NBA.

#4 – Russell Westbrook / Seattle

Watching Westbrook play reminded me of another very explosive and athletic guard back in the early 90’s – Kevin Johnson of the Phoenix Suns. Westbrook doesn’t have the same offensive skills as Johnson but he’s solid on the defensive side and has the speed to match the likes of Parker, Barbosa and Rondo.

#5 – Kevin Love / Minnesota (via trade)

If you want someone who can entertain the crowd at halftime then he’s your man. I don’t know why but I’m just not sold on him. I don’t think his game will translate well in the NBA. He struggled in the tourney when he went up against good defensive teams such as Standford and Memphis. He does have a solid basketball IQ and can shoot from the 3pt range. What he needs is explosiveness to go along with his strength.

#6 – Danilo Gallinari / New York

Sometimes subtraction is addition. I don’t know much about Gallinari except that he’s a very good offensive player that fits well with new coach Mike D’Antoni’s system. What I do know is that the New York Knicks has got better this off-season by simply removing this man from the Garden.

#7 – Eric Gordon / Los Angeles Clippers

I saw him played against Jeffrey Michael Jordan (yes, the son of Michael Jeffrey Jordan) in a high school game over a year ago where he completely dominated on the offensive end. I was thoroughly impressed. He will probably end up being a part-time scorer in the NBA similar to Ben Gordon.

#8 – Joe Alexander / Milwaukee

I don’t get this pick since they just traded for Richard Jefferson who also plays the 3. I would’ve went with a point guard here to help out Mo Williams in the backcourt but that’s just me.

#9 – D.J. Augustin / Charlotte

Kwame Brown. Adam Morrison. And now DJ Augustin. Not exactly the group you want to be associated with if you are Augustin. I thought for sure the Bobcats would draft Brook Lopez here. He would have been the perfect compliment to move Emeka Okafor to the 4th spot. Jordan must really love this kid which doesn’t bode well for Raymond Felton. Also, I hope this French kid (20th pick) works out for Jordan…

#10 – Brook Lopez / New Jersey

Solid pick at the 10th spot by the Nets. They would’ve love to have Danilo Gallinari here but it doesn’t hurt to have a big man with a defensive mindset. The future looks bright for the Nets with Lopez, Harris, Williams (x2), Krstic, and now Yi Jianlian. Their picks of Ryan Anderson (21th) and Chris Douglas-Roberts (40th – a steal if you ask me!) are also solid. Now they just need to replace Vince Carter with LeBron James come 2010 and they’ll be contending for years to come. Too bad they’ll be in Brooklyn by then.

…

Anyway, the 2008 NBA Draft & draftees felt a bit nondescript. Maybe it’s because I’m overseas and didn’t get all hyped up by the media. In any case, this post took way too long. I’m tired of blogging already and it’s only been 3 posts. Nonetheless, keep a look out for more updates this week. We got plenty of materials but just need some time to convert & upload all the photos and videos. Thank you for your patience.

Things have been moving rather quickly since we got here. Well, at least it seems like it has. We met some new friends and re-connected with some old ones. It’s good to have some locals to show you around and hang with. We’ll definitely start posting more interesting stuff once we get some family business taken care of. Andy is currently in the Kaohsiung region (Southern Taiwan) to visit his grandma & co. and should return this afternoon before we head out to Taipei tonite. And I just got back from Net Li (a town somewhere in Taiwan…) visiting my grandpa. I didn’t know he came back (from L.A.) to Taiwan so it was great to see him. Net Li has been home to my parents and grandparents and probably great grandparents, and who knows how far back it goes (I guess my grandpa does). My brother and I had spent a good chunk of our childhood here which not only seems distant now but quite foreign as well. This is the second time I’ve visited here in the span of four years. No one really lives here anymore. It feels a bit desolate…and extremely hot! I couldn’t sleep at all despite having the only sorta-working AC in the house. I don’t know how my grandpa does it. He’s a remarkable man.

Anyway, thanks for everyone’s feedback to the first post. We’ll try to hit up all those places if time and our wallet allows. But we’ll definitely try and check out the few recommended places to ball. I haven’t ball in more than a week and it’s making me squirm. I need it. I need it bad. Feel free to keep sending us suggestions if you got them. Let me end this post by testing out some of these fancy blogging features to bring some colors to this site. Someone has complained that this whole black & white thing is boring…

Andy foolishly mentioned The Medallion to Jackie Chan and BANG!!!… Seriously though, is there anyone currently alive that’s as “world famous” or more so than the Drunken Master himself? I can only think of these three names: Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson and Muhammed Ali. hmm maybe George W. Bush…

..

Here’s our takeoff from JFK Airport. It’s only a minute long but it took me forever to upload it to Youtube. The original file was way too big. I needed to compress it which required me to download a video converter. What a pain…the video is not even all that interesting but please watch it to the very end. Thank you.

ps. if anyone has any tips on uploading videos and photos to a blog such as this please divulge.

Hey everyone back home!

While you’re all slaving away working your 9-5 jobs, exasperated at the person who last left the coffee pot unbrewed, tyler and I are having a grand time out here in taiwan: a life filled with hours of facebook scramble, tetris, facebook stalking =), gmail, xanga, youtube. (haha if you ask me..sounds exactly like what we do normally back home, with the exception that ESPN is not on 24/7).

In any case my five fingered friends (x2), our trip to asia was better than i had imagined. Things were perfect until this guy we met sitting next to us, whose name i will remain anonymous as i don’t want him reading this and being embarrassed (friggin jerry.) —> Tips for Jerry iff he’s still in search for that special someone:
1.) do your very best to learn to stop snoring. and don’t give me that “oh its just heavy breathing!”
2.) dont EVER double layer your socks as that just accumulates more toe jam. for a solid 20 minutes we were inhaling/choking simultaenously.

Our flight (Japan Air) left from JFK at 130 pm, and we got here around 10pm. Other than it being a super long flight, the food wasn’t so bad. Sadly, they didn’t have sushi..but im sure no sushi can beat ANY sushi rolled from UYEES, as UYEES only makes the best sushi from their freshest ingredients….good gosh i absolutely <3 their service!!! -_-
—–> we had chicken teriyaki.

Other than smooth sailing in the sky until Japan for our layover of three hours to Taipei, nothing new or exciting from our end. BUTTTTT to top off this post, i decided to share a disgusting story for you people to hear. i was changing my contacts to glasses in the restroom, and whiletrying to put my contact case back into my ziplock bag, i accidentally dropped it into the toilet…and not sure if you guys know..but that suction hole in the bathrooms are really small… i had to fish that out with my hands.

Till next time, take care of your family. and each other.

If you haven’t heard by now, me and DJ Frow. Back aka Mr. ILoveSundaes are embarking on some kind of a trip to Asia – a trip of MEGA proportions if you will. Our first stop is Taiwan which happens to be the birthplace of me, bubble tea and Chien-Ming Wang (two of which are beloved by the people of Taiwan) who unfortunately is sidelined with a sprained right foot. Hopefully, he’ll return to help the Yankees clinch the division by the time we get back to the States.

So, we have arrived safe and sound after a surprisingly-not-so-terrible 17-hour flight. I’ll post more on our trip here later including a run-in with a celebrity. Today, we’ll be hitting up the city of Taipei to run some errands and walk around like tourists. We don’t really have much of an itinerary for this trip partly because we just want to wing it as we go but mostly because we were just too lazy. This is where the interactive portion of the blog comes in. If you have been to Asia or know anyone that has, please help us answer the following question in the comments section of this post.

In the cities of Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo, where are some great:

• places to eat?
• places to checkout and visit?
• places to to demonstrate our incredible basketball skills?

Anyway, we thank you in advance for your participation. Along with this trip, this post also marks the beginning of another endeavor – my attempt in joining the blogosphere. Writing is definitely not my forte by any stretch. In fact, I suck. So yeah help a brother out. Comments, suggestions…or grammar tips are all welcomed.

That’s all for now. Hopefully, this won’t be the last post.