Alexey Smirnov's blog

Earlier this summer we expected some typhoon to hit Hsinchu. However, nothing happened back then as that typhoon strayed away. But this time we were less lucky. Or maybe more lucky (depends on who you ask), as because of this typhoon our working day was cancelled. In fact, the heavy rain started Wednesday evening at around 8PM, and then it inteisified during the night. So when I woke up at 7AM the next day I found out that there was nobody on the streets. The whole village was sleeping. Then I realized that a warning has been passed, which means everybody stay home.

But I still walked to the office, only to find it totally empty. I spent some time browsing Internet, and then walked back home at around 3PM. There was light rain during the afternoon, but Thursday night a heavy rain began once again. I started to think that it might prevent us from coming us to work today, Friday, but this did not happen (unfortunately). The rain stopped late at nigh, and therefore in the morning everybody could safely come to work.

But even a single extra day of vacation is a good gift from nature. Thank you, Saola. Here is video.

A funny thing happened yesterday. First time during my two years of stay in Taiwan our entire institute has been urgently evacuated. The reason was the upcoming typhoon named Talim. In fact, one severe storm happened about a year ago, but it came from east, so when it reached Hsinchu its strength diminished significantly, and by the way it was weekend, so nobody was evacuated.

This time we were told just before lunch break (noon time) – working day is over, typhoon is coming. Then I checked the Internet – it was still pretty far, so I decided to stay in the office. The typhoon was expected to hit us around 8PM, so I went home around 5PM. And then I spent 3 hours looking out of my window. Hey, where is it? Did anybody see it? There was only light rain, but typhoon I think is something more severe than that. Then I fell alseep.

Nothing. False alarm.

Look at the picture above – the red line is the predicted track based on some computer models. And the white line is the actual path – it strayed away. We are so lucky! In addition, many people had half of a day off. What a nice day it was!

Last Sunday I ran 18km which is less than a half-marathon. The result is rather mediocre – it took me 3 hours and 41 minutes to do that. So why so long? The answer is – it was a run in the mountains. And after few days of rains. As the above image suggests, we were sliding in the mud. It was actually kind of fun, it reminded me of downhill skiing I used to enjoy in Finland so much! So in fact I thought that this way of going down the hill is the Taiwanese equivalent of downhill skiing.

But first things first. On Saturday evening I arrived to JV’s hostel which is located 10 minute walking distance from Taipei 101. Still, this is one of the cheapest places to stay in Taipei costing around 10 USD per night. The price/quality ratio is superb! Of course, I had to spend a night in a room for 10 people, but you know, I really don’t care as I had to wake up 4 AM the next morning.

I left the hostel at around 5 AM and then the rain began! What an unexpected trouble! I thought that our race would get delayed or even cancelled. Luckily, the rain stopped almost immediately. The race is called EzFun. The start/finish line is located just a few kilometers east of Taipei 101. Taipei is a very interesting city: it is surrounded by mountains, so it takes only 10-20 minutes by walking to get from downtown to a nice mountain trail. This run included 4 steep climbs to the height of 300m.

Going up and down, up and down… After 1st climb I felt OK, after 2nd I was a bit tired but it was still OK, after 3rd climb I felt really tired, but I still could run. When we approached the 4th climb, after the previous 15km of climbing, I thought I could climb no more. But… There was no way back. So, I had to climb it no matter what. I had to use every single muscle to get on top of that mountain. Some people actullay used their hands. By looking at those people I reallized that our predecessors were using 4 legs for a good reason – when you have to climb a lot doing so with 4 legs is naturally easier than with only 2 legs.

Overall, I noticed that I could go uphill a lot faster than downhill. The problem was that while going down I was afraid of slipping and tipping over, and I was carrying my iPhone in my back pocket. So I had to choose: arrive at finish line with good result but with smashed iPhone or arrive with a slightly worse result but with your iPhone intact. I chose the latter. There are so many trails on those mountains. Some of them are without any paving, while others have concrete steps or wooden ladders. At each intersection there was an arrow pointing where to go or some staff doing the same.

Overall, the race was very well organized. Except one place where everybody got lost. People in front told me that they spent 10 minutes running up and down trying to find directions but they could not. They asked staff, but they did not know either. They spent another 10 minutes discussing the issue over the phone. Finally, one of the members of staff led the pack in the direction he thought was the right one, but he was mistaken! After another 10 minutes of running around we were able to find the right trail.

We finished this race all covered by mud, from top to bottom. I received my medal and certificate of completion. My iPhone was not damaged and I was able to take a few nice pics along the way, such as this one. I wish I had better camera with me.

I went back to hostel to take shower. I felt really happy that I didn’t fall somewhere off the cliff. I think the organizers and those who participate in such kind of events are really brave (or maybe crazy) people! I amdire them. Good job, guys! This race reminded me of time spent in summer camps during highschool. We also had such sporitng events after which I felt totally exhausted. Today I woke up and reallized that every single muscle hurts.. Ouch, I can barely climb the stairs. But you know – in exchange for this pain I had another great feeling – I feel 15 years younger now.

Without much preparation, I ran another marathon. We left at 4AM from Tsin-Hua univesity on a bus and went to Wanli district, an area on the east coast of Taiwan. It is surprising to me that so many people have passion to running, since to arrive to the start line in time youʼd have to wake up at 2-3 AM in the morning. On Sunday. After a working Saturday (it was so because of the previous holidays).

Anyway, at 6:30 AM several thousands people lined up to run through a very scenic coastline, considered to be the most picturesque area of Taiwan. Gorgeous mountains surround it, and you can always hear the roar of the ocean as you make your way through the marathon. The weather was rather comfortable – around +20 centigrade, foggy which means no direct exposure to sun. I started in a joyful mood in a similar fashion to my previous runs – running fast, trying to build up some advantage for the 2nd half of the race. The route of the marathon includes going on a highway 20km in one direction, turning around, and going back. I noticed in the beginning that we were making our way though some hills, so I reazlied that Iʼd have some tough time coming back. Boy, what an underestimation it was! Another thing that made me worried was the medical help stations every 5km. No other marathon has those. Why would anybody need medical help so often (every 5 km)? I found out why on my way back… It was horrible.

In addition, after we reached 20km a rain began. It was not for very long, and not very severe, but still. The good side is that you donʼt need to use sponges to put some moisture on your head – you are already wet. After the rain the temperature decreased somewhat but it became slippery. So I had to put additional effort on my legs. That is what I believe nearly killed that day. My legs started to hurt at 25km. I had terrible muscle cramps! OK, now you know why there were medical stations at every 5km… I really really needed them!

Despite the pains, I kept enjoying my marathon. Look at these cheerleaders from a local kindergarden. Rain or shine – they will greet you with their warm hands. Also there were some aboriginal music bands. Also, after the rain ended it became less foggy and less cloudy. The day was becoming a rather nice one.

So, with lots of pains in my legs I came to 30km. Here is the medical station. What a relief! I put some spray on my legs, from top to bottom, and immediately the pain was gone. But not for very long. Still, I could not run uphill. I had to walk. What a miserable feeling! There are very long hills in this marathon, they are not steep, but I had trouble even running on a smooth surface. I could only run downhill. At this moment I thought – this is it, no good result today.

Sometimes, winning a race is not finishing it in good time. Winning a marathon means fighting with yourself, with pain, and with the desire to give up. Keeping this in mind, I went on from one medical station to the next. Then I started to notice that many people had similar problems – some of them stayed on the side of the road massaging their legs. Fortunately, my legs were not completely stalled, I could move along at a very low speed, though. Whenever I tried to accelerate, muscle cramps reappeared. But it was still enjoyable, because I was surrounded by a pack of people going at a similar speed, the spirit of camaraderie helped me a lot.

I expected to finish the marathon in 5 hours. Thatʼs what the common wisdom says: if you walk part of the marathon, youʼd finish in 5 hours. But I walked nearly 20 kms, so I was wondering whether I can still make it in under 5 hours or not. When I was approaching finish line my (poor) eyesight played a joke with me. From afar, I saw electric clock: 4:41:00. Not bad, after all, I thought. However, after I got closer I saw: 4:14:30. WOW!!!! I was so excited! How is it possible to walk for such a long time and still finish the marathon in nearly 4 hours? To me it sounds next to impossible. Most likely, after I started to have muscle pains, I got caught in a teleporter.

When I lived in the US and in Finland I used to see various animals in residence neighborhoods. In the US there were lots of squirrels and raccoons, in Finland – squirrels (but different kind) and rabbits. In Taiwan there are no squirrels (probably too hot due to their fur). There are some snakes, but not too many. But yesterday I saw a frog. What a surprise. It was pretty late at night, around 11PM, when I walked out of the office. It was sitting near our office’s door. This frog jumped a few leaps and then stared at me. I picked up my camera and started shooting pics (Instagram with filters makes night-time picture taking possible even with iPhone). The frog was not afraid of me. It stayed at same spot for a couple of minutes, then moved to another spot, and stayed again. It had a rather philosophical look. It seemed to me that it was contemplating some important philosophical idea, such as: to be or not to be?

In the end of every year our cloud center (CCMA) goes for a 3-day trip to some beautiful place in Taiwan. This year we went to Hualien, a mountain area on the eastern coast of Taiwan.

We left ITRI on Saturday morning. During the few previous days it was raining, so I was afraid that weʼd have to spend all our time in the hotel. But the weather during the weekend was sunny and pretty warm, so we had lots of opportunities for outdoors activities, and this is exactly what we did. Initially, the organizers of our trip planned that we go to Sea world on Sunday morning. But many of us were in this kind of park before, so we did not want to go there. Instead, we decided to go hiking. Hualien is an area where two tectonic plates collide, thus it has high mountains and in general a
rather hilly terrain.

But first things first. Riding to Hualien was a lot of fun. We stopped at some shops that were selling liquor, cakes, and fruit tea, and we made a stop for a lunch at Yilan. Finally, we arrived to Farglory hotel located on top of a mountain near the seashore. If you look on the one side, you will see the ocean. If you look on the other side, you will see Hualien beneath your feet. It is such a wonderful location, albeit a rather remote one. Apparently, people use it as an escape from the bustling city life.

Many people got up early in the morning to use a rare opportunity to take nice pics. Photography is one of the most popular hobbies in Taiwan. Many people carry along expensive equipment in order to get a few really nice shots. For some reason, the cheap camera industry did not really take off here. People are looking for quality and they are willing to spend lots of money trying to achieve it.

But me and Paul went on our regular morning jog. We did not realize that the hotel was located on such a tall mountain. When we were riding the bus to the hotel on the previous night, the ride was rather smooth and quick. Or maybe this was because we were singing karaoke songs. I was in a good mood, so I sang several songs: Words donʼt come easy, Yesterday, and something else. So, we spent maybe 15 minutes running downhill. Only after that did we realize that weʼd have to climb back on top! What a tough morning jog it was!

Then people went to Sea world, and we went hiking. Actually, we rented a small bus and a tour guide who brought us to some interesting places. He told us that up to a dozen power plants have been built which took advantage of the mountain streams. They run from as high as 800m above the ground, so the gravitation makes it possible to convert the mountain streams into real energy, enough to power the whole city of Hualien! That mountain area is also known for aboriginal culture. They make many beautiful things, for example wooden furniture from Hinoki, a special kind of cypress tree. It smells so beautifully. I actually bought a small wooden vase carved from Hinoki.

Other than that, I kept on taking panoramic pictures. The weather was nice, and the views were breathtaking, so everybody really liked that tour. The tour guide showed us some stones whose shape or color remind a human face, a giant bird, a hand, etc. Try to spot them in the following images. Use your imagination.

Then we went back to Hualien. According to our plan, we moved to another hotel called the Promised Land. This hotel was also very impressive. I should say that in this trip hotels was the things that impressed me the most. Apparently, we stayed in some high-end hotels. I was told that Presidential suite in one of these hotels costs 2000 USD/night. The Promised land hotel is comprised of several dozen 2-storied cottages. They are connected by a network of water channels with motor boats running along. This creates such an unusual and romantic environment, as if you are in Venice!

In the evening I went on to explore the neighbourhood. As with the previous hotel, it was located away from the city, but not on the mountains. I spent about an hour walking though rice fields before I reached some kind of town. I did not realize that in Taiwan there are places where you cannot see any house while walking for almost an hour. It reminded me of Finland, the county of thousands of lakes, where the closest city to the capital Helsinki is actually located in Estonia. That is, the distances between Finnish cities are really huge, you can spend days if you try to walk between them. Anyway, we only spent 1 night in this hotel. Still, I used the opportunity for a morning photo session. Below are the pictures. There are beautiful statues near each cottage. It is obvious, that people have invested a lot into quality here. Everything looks so polished, that sometimes I had a feeling I was in a different world. I wonder how much it costs to build such an awesomeness.

On Monday morning we originally planned to go to Taroko National Park. But the rain began on Monday morning. Our departure from the hotel was delayed, and trip to Taroko was not going to be pleasant or long one. So I decided to join Paul who was going back to Hsinchu by train. We took the express train and after riding for 3 hours were back in Hsinchu. So I was able to get home at around 2PM. I wanted to go to office to write some programs, but a heavy rain started, so I had to spend the evening at home. I was sleeping in my bed after such a wonderful trip. I was really impressed by these hotels and of course by the beauty of mountains.

As new people are coming to our center almost every day, I get lots of opportunity to travel. Together we are travelling to various places, either shops or nature, or even some computer exhibitions. The weather is getting hotter and hotter every day, as expected. Nowadays it is around 32 centigrade all day long. And there was no rain during the whole week, only today we had a thunderstorm.

A couple of weeks ago I took my colleague, a Stony Brook graduate student Dilip to a bike tour around Hsinchu. There were lots of small hills in the first part of the trip, so that certainly posed a challenge to us, software engineers, people who spend so much time in their offices. But then there was a flat ride through downtown Hsinchu. We went to a night market (during day time) and ate some delicious local food. Even though we both enjoyed this trip we still did not go there again, because there are so many other trips that we want to make (and we also want to take some rest at home!)

One day I found out that a computer expo was happening in Taipei in the beginning of June. It is called Computex, and it is the second-largest computer expo in the world, next only to CeBit. Many interns got interested in this expo, so we went there on June 2. Another reason I needed to go to Taipei on that day was because Michael, a new employee of my company was arriving on that day. So in the evening I went to the airport to pick him up.

The exhibition was taking place at two main sites: Nangang exhibition hall at east of Taipei, and International convention center near Taipei 101. We went to Nagang first because it contained some software booths. But overall I can say that Computex is still largely a hardware expo. But still, it is quite interesting, and you can get lots of gifts in exchange for a business card. This business card was indeed an issue as it turned out that it was necessary to present one in order to get an entrance badge. None of us had an ITRI business card, so we were seemingly in trouble. However, one guy got his IIT student card, so our whole group of 5 people decided to use it! The guys who were issuing the badges had spent nearly 10 minutes trying to find out who we are, but when we told them that we all just came from India only to attend this wonderful expo they gave us badges and we did not have to pay anything.

Later in the afternoon we went to Taipei 101 area to attend CEO keynote speeches. A number of CEOs from famous companies such as Intel and ARM gave 30 minute speeches describing their companies and their vision on the future of computing. The level of talks was that for general audience, but still they were lots of fun to listen to. I only spent 1 hour there because then I needed to go to airport. I went to bus station and took a bus which was riding for a whole hour. It arrived to Terminal 1, but then I found out that Michael was arriving to Terminal 2. I had to run to another terminal, because by the time I got to Terminal 1 the plane already landed. Luckily, I was on time. Then we went back to Hsinchu on high speed train. It was very eventful day and so much fun is going on!

I enjoy biking in Taiwan. The nature is very scenic – lots of small hills and country side, still with opportunities to get a refreshment in a local shop here and there. It is a perfect environment for a one-day tour. The outside temperature is around 15 centigrade here in January which makes a bike trip convenient. In other time of the year the temperature requires that you carry lots of water supply with you.

So I decided to make several bike trips in January. First, I went to the neighbouring hills, a district called Beipou. Climbing on top of the hills is a challenge. Often, I had to get off the bike and walk. Going downward is quite risky, I always had to push breaks. In other words, riding the hills takes a lot of skill, otherwise you have to do it slowly in order not to have an accident.

Finally, I arrived to Baoshan, a small town. I had a coffee break there. Then I went in the direction of Hsinchu. Soon I arrived to the downtown and from there went to Zhubei, another town with small hills. It turned out that there is a park located at those hills, so I got off my bike and had a long walk. The following images were taken from those hills.

On the next weekend I went to Hsinchu scenic coastline area, a 17km bike path made along the sea shore. It is very scenic indeed. There are a number of things to enjoy. To start with, there are a number of buildings that local people say were built in Russian style. Well, in Russia we donʼt have such buildings, so I have been laughing for a while after I found out that these buildings are called Russian.

Anyway, there are many other attractions along the way. For example, there are a few bridges, each of which is built in its own unique style. Well, there are several similar bridges next to each other, so below I will show only distinct types.

Also, there a many sculptures along the way, including owls, fishes, lobsters, etc. Riding in this area is a lot of fun! Also, this path is quite easy because there are virtually no hills. And in January there are not that many people, I guess most of them were preparing for the coming Chinese New Year. So you can enjoy the ride and the views without interruption. It is certainly worth seeing!

A few days ago I made another trip to Taipei. I had two destinations: a hot spring in a district called Xinbeitou and Taipei Flora Exposition. The former destination used to have a number of unusual things. First, there was a public bath which has been transformed into a museum. Second, this district was red-light district of Taipei, but now it is probably not the case anymore.

Getting to Xinbeitou is a lot of fun. First, you take a subway to a station on the outskirts of Taipei. Then you transfer to another subway branch. Riding on that train is quite different from a usual subway trip. The train is painted in unusual colors, there are big TV screens inside each car, and there are many tourist guides along the way. It seems that Xinbeitou is a popular tourist destination.

After attending the museum I went to a public hot spring. It is located outdoors and is open for both men and women. There are a number of pools with either hot or cold water. The temperature of water in the hottest pool is 45 degrees centigrade. When I was in Finland I attended many saunas, so it is not easy to surprise me with any kind of hotness. However, this hot spring is certainly a unique experience. To begin with, it is not easy to get into water which temperature is 45C. Then, once you are in the water, you cannot move easily, otherwise your skin will have burning feeling. So you have to sit down calmly. It is recommended that you spend 3-5 minutes in such posture. Then you can proceed to freezingly cold water, your body will not notice that the water is cold for a couple of minutes. After sitting in hot water your skin will become red and soft. It is a very unusual feeling. Attending a hot spring in Taipei is a must-do experience.

Then I went to Taipei Flora Expo. It occupies a large area and contains a number of interesting buildings that were built for this exposition. And of course, lots and lots of flowers. I have never seen so many flowers! In Expo Dome you can see an amazing agriculture exhibition. It describes what grows on Taiwan, what kind of industry is built around this, for example what kind of tea they make in Taiwan, how the chicken eggs are sorted, and so on. Lots of interesting information. This resembles a Soviet-era exhibition called Peopleʼs Achievements Exhibition whose aim was to show the ordinary Soviet people have achieved a lot of success. Obviously, Taiwan is not USSR, and this is why it is amazing that such a small country (compared to USSR) was able to organize such a large-scale exhibition. It impresses visitors by the variety of exhibition items and overall creates a feeling that Taiwanese dream of prosperity has come true.

There is another interesting building called EkoARK. It is an eco-friendly building that was constructed from plastic bottles. Inside there is a stage where various performances are taking place. As the area of the Flora Expo is quite big, shuttle buses are running frequently from one end to another. Of course, they are free. This is another coincidence with Soviet-era exhibition in which nearly free and convenient public transportation was presented as an important achievement of Soviet government.

To summarize, I had a feeling that I was in my childhood, in a prosperous Moscow of 1980s with so much fun for little children. Taipei Flora expo offers lots of opportunities for grown-up people, for example shopping. Tera-forming is a new trend which is dedicated to improving limited area of a cubicle in the office. At this exhibition one can find companies offering such tera-forming solutions. Also, there are lots of small shops and cafetaria so everybody can have lots of fun.

I have visited Yehliu Geo Park, a scenic area on the east coast of Taiwan. It was formed after volcanic eruption many years ago. The stones of various shapes are located there. The most surprising thing is how this place affects your perception of scale. For example a small stone can have lots of details so that you want to zoom in more and more. Some huge stones can only make sense if seen from far away. In this case they look like gigantic animals or vegetables.

As usual, I arrived to Taipei on a high-speed train. Then I walked to the bus station conveniently located near the train station. Actually, there is a huge underground shopping mall. Obviously, the price of land is pretty high in Taipei, this is why every construction here has a number of underground floors. You can spend hour walking under the ground. Another interesting thing is that regional buses in Taipei have numbers in addition to their final destination. When I was in Finland the long-distance buses were only marked by their final destination, for example this bus is going to Jyvaskyla. For a foreigner it is a lot easier if buses had numbers and so this is how it is done here. My colleagues told me that bus 1815 goes to Yehliu, so I was able to find it easily. It takes 1 hour to go there by bus.

Yehliu is a city on a seashore. Lots of fishmen are located there and the smell of fish penetrates this town. There are lots of restaurants that have aquariums in front of them. You can order any fish or crab and they will cook it for you. The process is represented in the following gallery:

Yehliu includes a number of tourist attractions. There is Ocean World, a place where dolphins and sea lions perform, as well as human swimmers and jumpers. On that day I did not have time to go there but I visited it during my next visit to Yehliu. The Geo park itself is quite big and there are a number of activities that you can enjoy. You can look at various stones as well as do some hiking on the hills. They are not very big but some nice views are available at their top. Finally, there is a huge market where you can buy some delicious sea food as well as souvenirs:

I spent most of my time walking in the geo park. Here is a brief tour:

• 
  Mushroom rocks As the name suggests, they have shape of a mushroom. The mushroom rocks can be divided into three types according to the difference appearances as manifested on the head and neck of the rock: “Thin-neck rock”,” thick-neck rock” and “neckless rock”.
  The mushroom rocks may turn into various kinds of shapes in a progressive manner as they are chronically eroded by wind, sun and rain. They may involve into neckless rock, thick rock, thin rock and even the broken-end rock eventually. The top of the thin rock may fall apart if the neck of the rock contains incomplete sands and thud accelerating the formation of broken-end rock.
• 
  Ginger rock. Since the rock layer contains irregular concretions within, the harder concretions may raise above the ground while the softer ones may descend downward as erosion imposes upon the rock. The surface of the hard concretion may become rough and uneven as it is exposed to the atmosphere and having direct contact with the wind and the sea. The interlacing patterns as shown on the surface of ginger rock are the result of crust extrusion occurred underground. These patterns as shown are called “joints” in Geology. They get the name “Ginger Rock” because of their rough surface and the beige tint as appeared.
• 
  Candle rock.
  A round shape concretion containing lime is formed on the central top of the rock and being surrounding by circular grooves, just like a candle tray.
  The formation process of candle shaped rock can be divided into three phases:

  The formation of candle light: The candle light refers to the ball-shape concretion contained within the rock layer; it is small in size. As the said concretion is harder than its adjacent sandstone and is more durable for sea erosion, it eventually raises above the ground when its surrounding sandstone being worn away by seawater.
  The formation of groove: As the seawater flows around the concretions, a circle of groove is formed since the sandstone that surrounds the concretion is being worn away by seawater.
  The formation of candle tray: The seawater flows along the circle of rock that surrounds outside the concretions, a rock formed in a shape of candle tray is developed as a result of sea erosion occurred chronically.

• 
  Ice-cream rock.

• 
  Honeycomb rock. Honeycomb Weathering
  Owing to the differential erosion caused by weathering, the surface of rock turns into the shape of honeycomb or window lattice. The flat, level rocks are spreading across the land and covered with holes of different sizes. They are just like tiny windows on the ground.
• 
  Giant sealion. You can only see these figures if you climb a hill next to the geo park. Watch the scale – the people appear so small in the background.
• 
  The landmark of Yehliu Geo park – a stone called Queen’s head.

Here are panoramic views of Yehliu Geo Park: