20091014_GBC Taipei_Technical Visit 2

So, today gotta arrive the NTUST 30min for the 2nd technical trip to Yilan city. But, most ppl were late and it didnt make any difference if I arrived at the usual time or not.

Well, 3 buses; 1 for english the others for chinese. I was in the english bus and it was only half full and the Cally guys were all absent for their assignments. Anyway, the journey started with a 1hr maybe, trip. We passed by the tunnel called Snow Mount Tunnel which contains a background story very similar to the tunnel in Toyama of Japan. It was planned for 5 years but took 15 years to complete in the end, and bla3.

And ya, it was RAINING dizzily though all the day and we were all informed that it rained like 300days out of 365 days in Yilan city??!!!! What?!

Anyway, soon we got to the Yilan County Hall and a Japanese architect was there to explain to us about the green building with green roof even though the concept of green roof wasnt there yet during the design of the blocks of building. I must tell that even though I am not good at architecture but the green roof in this city hall is really awesome!!!!!!!!!!

And then we have lunch nearby and then continued our journey to the place called something Cultural. We received a nice presentation of the architect and then were brought around to have a look at the place and the buildings until the rain got a little bit heavier we reached a wonderful place. We each got a top as the souvenir and I volunteered to try to play it as well there! And then it was free time and I walked around to get some souvenirs for friends in Japan.

Well, later the dinner in Hill-top restaurant and then it was time to say Goodbye!

Really nice one, even though it was kind of tiring at certain part of the programs, I still wanna participate more and more conference!!!!!!!! Other than enjoying, of coz, it enlightens me!

20091012-13_Green Building Conference In Taipei

20091012
After yesterday technical visit, the real stuff came today, the presentations!
n ya, mine fell on this day too!

So I was just in time in the morning and simply found myself a seat quite close to the front. Only by tomorrow that I noticed that I could have sat more front coz the organising committee had prepared seats for participants from overseas. Well, wateva, I liked the seat anyway. So, keynote speeches from those famous ones and then lunch time in a good restaurant of NTUST and then the parallel session of paper presentation started. Mine was in session B and in the 2nd part after the coffee break.

Well, kind of nervous, and ya, as usual, what i have planned to speak for was all gone nowhere in my brain and i went directly to my presentation. Well, 15min and I finished it soon after the 1st ring. Well, again, could have done better, and I wish if there is next time, hope i can do it again in NZ!!! I wanna do better! During the Q&A, I think I did better than my presentation. After that, wow, I can relax now!

Then later after all session finished, we got up to the bus again for the network dinner in Taipei World Trade Center (i think thats the place). So, nice food come with some chinese traditional performance! Cool!

This day, met Kobayashi sensei who is also the friend to Yashiro sensei, both of them were under i think Uchida sensei last time. Also, got to know a chinese female professor in finance called Janet, who was sitting at the same table during the network dinner. And ya, I got enlightened by her of the comparison between builidngs and some investment to the building, and things related to cost-benefit analysis!!! Thanks!!!

Again, got back to the hostel as late as yesterday... however, since my presentation was over, i felt i could rest better ;)


20091013
So, I took my time and walked at my own pace all the way to NTUST and even had breakfast in NTU. And then I went to the big conference hall (yesterday I was presenting in a smaller conference hall), well, that was a better place and it must have been a better feeling to present in a bigger hall, i guess so.

So, listened to the final session of the paper presentation and then went for the lunch in NTUST restaurant again. There met Dr. Lin Hsien-Te whom somebody told me that he presented a good research!! And Chong, a Taiwanese student studying in Toudai as well, under Matsumura sensei who was also there for that day only. And after the lunch, it was the last session of keynote speeches again.

Then when everything finished and it was time for dinner at some far places, I saw Tam was outside sitting and looking sick and ya she was not feeling well. Anyway, there again, met Jeffrey Lee, who was friend with Maeda sensei (i think so, Mae or Maeda) and maybe the lecturer to Angeline who was an exchange student to California Polytechnic Pomona before. We talked for a short while and then departed to YangMingShan for dinner! Nice place!

1st, I was guided to sit with Matsumura sensei, Prof Wu & his wife, Mr Chiang, etc but later I switched over to other table where most of the Taiwanese students were at.

Today, it was luck that I could get off at the front of the GongGuang station and that was why I could get back to the hostel earlier!!!

20091011_GBC Taipei_Technical Visit 1

So long time and there had been nth much to write for and now there are quite alot to go for.
So, better get it done before the time fades away those memory.
Anyway, this is my 1st debut :D to present in a conference!

20091010
The flight was at night around 7pm, so i left the dorm at around 3pm, all the way was quite OK except that I tried to use other route, which kind of suffered myself because there wasnt escalator to use and I had to lift up my luggage all the way up and down.

So the flight was on time and there I flew and had a nice sleep. Arrived at TaoYuan Airport at around 10pm there. Took the Evergreen bus and off to the hostel. It took me some time to get to the hostel. Anyway, even though had to walk a little more, considering the cheap price and the convenience nearby, the hostel was acceptable. There met some other ppl like Nic from Singapore, here for some practical training, Chris and Andrew studying Chinese language here, Mikhela for vacation..... others too but too bad, due to the busy schedule of the conference and other activities, couldnt find time to hang out with them for the whole trip.

After unpacking and this and that, sleep! Worried about the way to NTUST, gotta wake up earlier for the 1st day to ensure everything go smooth!


20091011
1st day of the conference: Technical Visit (FuAn Memorial Bldg, BeiTou Library & 101 Tower)

Got to the National Taiwan University Science & Technology (NTUST) earlier because I didnt get lost on the way there. Surprisingly, the National Taiwan University (NTU) is located just opposite to this NTUST and in fact I walked within NTU to get to the NTUST everyday there.

There, got to know Prof Cheng Cheng-Li, 8 exchange students from Pomona, California (Nicole, Tam, Kenny, Lang, Cindy, Marrie, Josh & Melissa) and Alfred (hey! He is actually a Malaysian, and ya Chinese but looks like Malay :p). Soon, we departed for the technical visit.

For the Memorial Bldg, it was raining dizzily during the visit (it had been like that for most of the days i was in Taipei!) when it kind of turned bright during the visit to the library. Both are interesting and inspiring! And the rained came again when we visited the 101 Tower and the cloud blocked most of the view for most of the time. Well, the lunch was buffet and the dinner was a buffet after the opening ceremony in NTUST, before the 101 Tower but after the library visit.

The other ppl I got to know were Mr Cheng Chilin (another Cheng from Taiwan GBC i guess,... no, he is a board member of WGBC), Angelica (A Columbian studying in Atlanta and a LEED AP), Prof Wu (in fact the professor to the 8 CA students), etc.

Well after everything including visiting some NTUST archi students, walked around GongGuang station and had a light supper with Melissa & Tam, and back to hostel tired like a walking corpse.