Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Advice
The question is "When should I drink the devil juice, hooch, or ant wine?"
Posted by Red A at 11:17 PM 2 comments
Friday, March 20, 2009
Miniature Golf in Taichung
It's located on Da Dun 7th Street, No. 493 (大墩七街493號) near the amphitheater (近圓滿戶外劇場). They have refreshments, a second floor practice range (real golf) and offer instruction for those not familiar with the concept - and believe me, there are plenty of those. Just like the hypermarts have attendants at the top of the escalators to "remind" the customers that they need to keep moving, I think Steve will need some golf marshals to remind them to walk on the paths and that the little flags have a number on them for a reason.
One round is $100 NT, but for now, Steve is handing out 2-for-1 business cards. He is also very willing to seriously discount groups. He didn't give me an exact number, but I get the feeling that even groups as small as 5 would be cut a deal. Steve wanted me to stress that if you do have a group wanting to play, call him first. He can arrange a better deal for you and ensure you will have time and space to play. Give it a try. I'll be going back this weekend with my niece and looking to improve on my first round score of 29 - which was Karl's score for the front 6.
Telephone: English (that would be Steve) : 0983-109-541
Posted by J-hole at 9:29 AM 4 comments
Thursday, March 19, 2009
ㄅ ㄆ ㄇ ㄈ or Zhuyin Fuhao
The bopomofo (pronounced buh puh muh fuh, for the first four symbols of it) is, like the english alphabet, a phonetic alphabet. That is to say, each character is a sound. In Taiwan, students use the bopomofo to learn how to read traditional Chinese characters. It is also a common way to type traditional chinese characters into a computer keyboard, and is used to look up words in dictionaries. The other main alphabet used for learning mandarin is the pinyin system. The pinyin system, adopted by mainland China in 1958, is just another phonetic alphabet used for sounding out mandarin words. Unlike the bopomofo, however, it uses roman characters to sound out the words. The pinyin system has been adopted by the United Nations and is increasingly the standard system worldwide for transcribing mandarin into a roman alphabet. However, many agree that the bopomofo is much better suited for capturing the phonetic structure of the mandarin language than the pinyin system. The bopomofo consists of 37 symbols, which were derived from Chinese characters. Just like in pinyin, there are 21 initials (consonants which start syllables), and 16 finals (kind of like vowels that end syllables). Pinyin has additional "compound finals", which the bopomofo doesn't feel like it needs because it so accurately captures the sound of Chinese pronunciation.
Listed below are the 37 bopomofo symbols, with approximate english spellings and a link to a practice card. If you are using internet explorer for windows, you should be able to hear a pronunciation of the character when you click on the symbol.
Class on Monday 3/23 4:30 pm and Wednesday 3/25 4:30 pm? Pls. confirm you can make it....... Reservations are required?
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Posted by Esquire Willy at 5:44 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
I GOT CRABS
No, not the ones you get from toilet seats. These were from the beach around Wuci, a little north of Taichung Harbour. Yes, harbour has a "u" in it. A nice place to waste a weekend afternoon, especially with kids and/or some beer.
“Just way too many days off,” he said. “We stayed in Toronto for a week and played three games. I don’t know if you ever stayed in Toronto, but it’s not exactly Las Vegas. To say that we were plucking our eyebrows out one at a time would be an understatement."
Posted by D-Wayne at 9:40 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Parthian Thought
I am off to China again soon, so here is a parting thought, or maybe more of a factoid really...
Posted by Red A at 12:35 AM 0 comments
Friday, March 13, 2009
BIG HOUSE FOR RENT
Nan tun District; 5 floors plus roof top; 10 rooms & 4 bathrooms
Front view w/parking and street view.
1st floor: living room w/add on room and bathroom. 38 sq meter
2nd floor: spare bedroom, master bedroom w/patio and bathroom. 34 sq meter
3rd floor: spare bedroom, master bedroom w/patio and bathroom. 34 sq meter
4th floor: spare bedroom, master bedroom w/patio and bathroom. 34 sq meter
5th floor: sun room, staircase and master bedroom. 34 sq meter
6th floor: roof top view. 25 sq meter
1, 2, 3 or 4 tenants.......
Sublease to friends?
Rent by the floor?
Furnished, unfurnished?
Hassle FREE
Total: 30,000 NT per month.
Close to Costco, Carrefour and 711
The Iron Eagle
Posted by Esquire Willy at 6:36 PM 2 comments