WELCOME!

I have been living abroad for 8 years in total. While in Taiwan I've stayed for 1.5 yrs now. Among different trip modes in different country, I always love road trip the most. It is my favorite way to explore a new destination. With the flexibility of the open road, the adaptability to go where you need, when you need, and the opportunity to unearth towns and encounters not unlisted places in any manual trip books - well, what's not to love? Unlike western coast of Taiwan which I have been to (or at least have passed by) 70% of it, the eastern coast of Taiwan remains mystery to me. Never reach out farther than Hualien city. So that's why when my friend asked me for Taiwan's east coast road trip, I was like fuck yeah I am in. DAY 1 We begun our trip on Jan 18 (Sunday) leaving in late afternoon from Zhongli city, Taoyuan county. The weather was a bit shady as opposed to the previously crystal clear sky morning early that day. For this trip I decided to pack garme...

Life throws curveballs. Everyone kens this. We casually throw the term out to people suffering all the time. We realize they subsist and yet are perpetually surprised at when they transpire to us. That is what the curve ball is and in fact as described by good ol’ Webster a curveball is  "a ball that is pitched with a snap of the wrist and a vigorou s downward spin, which causes the ball to drop suddenly and deceptively veer away from home plate." The most intriguing word in this definition is “deceptively”. Even though we know curveballs subsist when they transpire to us we incline to feel apostatized or slighted in a very personal way. That is because the curveball is designed precisely for that purport. You cerebrate you witness it coming one way and BOOM it goes another way. Suddenly you are caught of sentinel and you swing one way and you miss. You are in disbelief. You SWORE you anticipated it, you prepared for it, you swung as hard as you could and you mis...

This dawn, I was quite flabbergast myself to read a sonnet written by one of the greatest geochemists ever lived, Mr Robert Garrels. It is ain't other Sumerian or Aristoteles' types of poems. It is neither John Keats' style of writing. He scribbled his poetry from geo-ish attitude, seeking a vulnerable pathway to articulate his profound anxiety of one thing: phosphorus cycle, something that I would never thought of lay it as fashion of literary art. Eminently an opulent manner of articulating the cycles of phosphorus of Earth. I put some phosphorus into the sea the biomass did swell  but settling down soon overcame and phosphorus went down toward Hell From purgatory soon released  it moved up to the land to make a perfect rose for thee to cary in thy hand But roses wilt and die you know then phosphorus falls on the ground Gobbled up as ferric phosphorus a nasty brown compound The world is moral still you know and Nature's whe...

A short review on Mallik 2002 Gas Hydrate Research Well Program : (The video footage be seen here ) Mallik 2002 drilling was the first fruitful pilot project of gas hydrate research well program. This immense work involved different wide range partnerships from America, Japan, India, Germany, and Canada. The field itself was situated at Canada’s Mackenzie delta with the target was 113m thick of methane hydrate layer, concealed beneath a massive permafrost layer with depth around 890m – 1108m. Various intentions were bestowed under the project, including core sample recovery, borehole logging data, and methane hydrate formation characteristic analysis. But the leading goal was to acquire acquisition data related to production test. The natural condition of the field was one of the biggest challenges prior to the beginning of project. Other than winter season, the area would become wetland. In consequence, the land roads are not accessible during the time. Thus, the program wa...

Malam ini genap menjadi malam ke-48 saya menjadi warga tidak tetap bumi Formosa, sebuah negara yang hobi banget dilanda taifun / tornado. Yoloh sumpah demi apa belum genap dua bulan disini, tapi terhitung udah ada tiga taifun wara wiri di sekitar pulau ini. Kompaknya nih, seluruh taifun ini selalu terjadi pas weekend dong ya, so swit beuds. Alhasil selama 3 minggu itu juga saya nge-gabut maksimal di dorm. Emang sih dulu pertama kali nylungsep di dorm ini dikasi tau 'kalau ada taifun/tornado jangan pergi kemana-mana ya' . And I was like, "The hell, it is only a gust. Why so serious?". Ternyata namanya kisah legenda itu emang banyak hikmahnya. Ibarat endingnya malin kundang dikutuk jadi batu, payung yang baru aja dibeli dari Kerfur seharga 350NTD (sekitar 120ribu rupiah) jebol dengan gemilangnya pada hari dimana taifun kedua eksis. Sumpah gondok banget, secara payung yang jebol itu adalah payung berukuran maha-besar yang biasa dibawa sama mbak mbak seksi buat mayungi...