I’m back in Asia-Pacific region. Yesterday, I was in Korea, and today I am in Taipei.
Because we flew from Korea to Taipei on Saturday, I have Sunday free. So, I sent email to one of my friends in the sales office here, and asked if we could go golfing.
When we landed on Saturday it wasn’t 2:30pm yet, and I told my friend David and we could go to the National Museum of Taipei. There are about a thousand art treasures in the building that goes through 3 floors of exhibits. However, David could only make it through about 1.5 floors before he was done. There is only so much jade, bronze, and old scrolls that David could take before he was ready to go and do something else.
However we still were able to take some photos outside. My biggest disappointment over the trip is that I remembered a tea house the last time I was at the museum. We asked one of the floor guides on where the tea house was located and he directed us to the front of the museum. We saw a cafeteria, but it definitely was not what I remembered. Turned out, once I got back to the hotel and Googled it, the tea house is only accessed through an elevator. So, David never saw the coolest thing about the museum. Oh well, maybe next time.
The next day, we woke up at about 5:20am to meet our friends downstairs. They had rented a car to take us to Miramar golf course.
We arrived and went into a massive club house building. Marble ever where and two big floors. If you look behind me in the photo, you can see some flowers outside the window. They spell out “Nicklaus” because Jack Nicklaus designed the course. Every score card for the place has a picture of Jack Nicklaus on the cover. The symbol of the golf course is a white bear. Now Jack is known as the “Golden Bear” but they must of not had the gold paint ready. So, in Taipei, the golf course symbol looks like a Polar Bear.
I hadn’t had the opportunity to get breakfast, so I picked up the “American Breakfast” for 480 Taiwanese dollars at the club house restaurant. It consisted of a couple of eggs, a big piece of ham, and 2 pieces of toast. It was good and it filled me up.
The golf cart that we took had two caddies, and enough room to carry 4 more people. While the rest of the group wanted to ride, I decided that I was going to be the traditional golfer and walk the course. Luckily we started in the morning, but it was still brutally hot. I believe that it was somewhere in the 90 degree range. it truly would have been unbearable, but there was a healthy breeze for most of the morning. Luckily I was able to borrow a little sunscreen, but clearly not enough for the amount of time I was in the sun. Luckily, I don’t think I really burned. However, I am on the edge.
What boggled me was the Chinese woman that served as caddies. They did a very good job, but the two that we had only had their eyes sticking out of the their outfits. They were covered head to toe, and they were wearing gloves. They faces were almost all covered with a long scarf. They were in the sun all day, and they were going to make sure that they wouldn’t burn.
At hole 9, I was pretty much needing more hydration, and I asked if they had Gatorade. They didn’t but they did have their equivalent, which is called “Pocari Sweat,”and while it is served in Taiwan, it is actually a famous Japanese sports drink. I think it one of those things that they don’t really understand what it means, but they want to use English. I asked for a cup of ice, and they filled up what looked like a paper soup bowl, and I poured the Pocari Sweat into that. It was a bit sweet, and it was wonderful.
David, my friend from the USA, forgot to bring shorts, didn’t have a hat, and didn’t wear sunscreen. He is Korean, and has a little more skin color than I. However, by the end of the day, he definitely was red. I hope he doesn’t blister, because we have customer meetings for the rest of the week.
Overall, I had a pretty good game considering the conditions and the fact that I walked the course in blistering conditions. I scored an even 100, with making sure that I took zero “give-me” strokes. Most of the other guys were a little more liberal, but I still ended up with the best score in the group. I even had one four putt, which I never do. Otherwise, I would have broken 100. There is no Course Rating and no slope, so I can’t enter for my handicap.
After we were done we were driven back to Taipei, and our Taiwan friend that we went golf with (who is actually Japanese American who is on assignment in Taipei) took us out to a noodle house. The other guys got spicy noodles, and I got plain noodles. We also got some intestines (which I tried) and some ribs.
Overall, it was a good day.
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