Hiking

Since the weather was good, we decided to go hiking at Paynetown, which has a hiking trail around Lake Monroe.

DVD to MPEG2 without Re-encoding

I needed to convert DVD to mpeg2 to re-author the video from our engagement ceremony. Somehow the authoring software I had, WinDVD Creator, doesn't process VOB files well, so I had to convert DVD back to mpeg2 first.

After a lot of searching, the followings are the steps I had to go through.

1. VobEdit [VOB to m2v]
- Open the first VOB.
- Demux
- Check "Demux all video streams"
*.m2v will be generated.

2. DGMPGDec (instead of DVD2AVI) [VOB to wav]
- Open all VOBs
- Select audio track (Audio -> Track Number)
- Audio -> Output Method -> Decode AC3 Track to WAV
- Audio -> 48 -> 44.1KHz -> Off
- Save Porject
*.d2v and *.wav will be generated.

3. TMPGEnc [wav to mp2]
- Select *.wav to the Autio Souce
- Check ES (Audio only)
- Load DVD (NTSC).mcf
- Start
*.mp2 will be generated.

4. TMPGEnc [m2v and mp2 to mpg]
- File -> MPEG Tools -> Simple Multiplex
- Type -> MPEG-2 Program (VBR)
- m2v to Video input
- mp2 to Audio input
- Run
*.mpg will be generated.

References
- http://www.digital-digest.com
- http://members.ld.infoseek.co.jp/hp_yamakatsu (in Japanese)

Snow Lion Restaurant

Back to the normal life, we had lunch at Snow Lion Restaurant. This is another Tibetan restaurant in Bloomington.

Flight Delay

The flight from Seattle to Chicago O'hare was delayed for more than one hour because of bad weather in Chicago. I was worried about the connection at Chicago to Indianapolis.

When I arrived Chicago, my next flight was also delayed for two hours, so I didn't miss the flight. After waiting for two hours, the flight was canceled. So, I was assigned to a next flight, which is delayed as well. So I waited another one or two hours at the airport.

Finally, I reached Indianapolis, but my luggage was lost again. I had to wait for a long time in the line for the baggage claim because a lot of luggages were lost. Finally, it was my turn, the person told me that my luggage should come with the next flight. So, I waited another 10 minutes and so, and luckily, my luggage did come out.

It was way passed midnight. There were no shuttles running at this hour. I had to take a shared limousine to go home. When I reached home, it was past 3 am.

Postponed the Flight

The lost luggages were still lost in the morning. On top of that, we had things to do before I could fly back to Indiana. I postponed the flight to tomorrow.

The luggages were arrived in the afternoon.

Back to Seattle

We flew back to Seattle. Since we couldn't get a direct flight from Taipei to Seattle. It was via San Francisco, where we had to go through immigration.

When we reached Seattle late at night. Our luggages didn't come out.

Breakfast in Taiwan

In Taiwan, there are a lot of breakfast places where we can eat cheap and good food. This video clips show how they make bread in a traditional way.

Engagement Ceremony

In Taiwan, there is a tradition to hold an engagement ceremony, which is more or less as important as a real wedding. Engagement ceremonies are held at bride's house. In the morning, a groom and his family visit bride's home with gifts for the ceremony. The beginning of the ceremony is a tea ceremony, in which the bride serves tea to groom's family one by one and each person returns a red envelop, which is a traditional envelope with money in it, in the cup. Then, they exchange rings, like in a western wedding, gloom's family puts a necklace on the bride, and so on.


Today, we had one, but we had it in our own way, a mixture of Taiwanese tradition and western tradition. In the morning, my fiancee got professional makeup and dressed up with the dress we rented from a bridal shop. We went to the cultural center to take pictures. Since I was staying at my fiancee's family place, my fiancee's brother in law took me out to drive around the block before visiting my fiancee's place, pretending that I was from home. We had a ceremony at my fiancee's place. We kept the ring exchange for the wedding, so instead of exchange, I put back the engagement ring, which my fiancee took out before the ceremony, to her finger. Following the ceremony, we had a reception in a restaurant.

Scooters in Taiwan

There are a lot of scooters in Taiwan. Finally, I videotaped it.

By the way, it's my first time to upload video to YouTube.

Taipei 101

We visited Taipei 101, the highest building in the world. This is the only pure sightseeing we did during the 11-day stay in Taiwan.

We asked a taxi driver to stop at the other side of the street in order to take this picture.

We paid around 10 US dollars to go up to the observatory on the 89th floor. The elevator was surprisingly fast. It takes only 39 seconds from the 5th floor to the 89th floor.

This is a scenery from the the observatory.

At night, we took the final high speed train and went back to Kaohsiung.

Starbucks in Taipei

In the morning, I spent time at Starbucks in Taipei while waiting for my company. It's kind of stupid to spent 3 US dollars for a cup of coffee when you can get tapioca milk tea (my favorite) with 60 cents from street. But, I needed the Internet and a place where I can stay forever without worrying about being kicked out.

When I'm using my computer, a middle-aged man said something in Chinese. I assume that he asked something about my computer or the Internet connection, but of course, I didn't understand. I told him that I didn't speak Chinese in Chinese, but somehow he got interested in me and started conversation. My Chinese were so bad and basic, but he was so persistent to me a lot of question, such as where I was from, why I was in Taipei, who I was with, how long I was staying in Taiwan, what I do in the US, about Tokyo and Taipei... I think the "conversation" lasted almost 30 minutes.

Taiwan High Speed Rail

We went to Taipei by Taiwan High Speed Rail, which is sometimes called Taiwan Shinkansen because it's based on the Shinkansen technology.


In Taipei, we met a friend who I got to know in Seattle in 1999 when I was studying in University of Washington as an exchange student. It was the first time to meet her after seven years!

Night Market

We went to a night market nearby and played some traditional games.

Toilet Restaurant

This is the restaurant we had dinner today. It's in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

This is the entrance of the restaurant.

This is the inside of the restaurant.

This is the dish I had.

This is the dessert.

Chinese 101

We went shopping. While adults were negotiating price in Chinese, which I don't speak, a niece of my friend (5, 6 grade) and I were left out. So, we started a "conversation."

Most of the conversation was like this. (Everything is in Chinese.)

Pattern 1
Niece: <a sentence>
Niece: Do you understand?
Niece: You don't understand.
Me: I don't understand.

Pattern 2
Niece: This is a <noun>.
Niece: Do you know that.
Niece: You don't know.
Me: I don't know.

Sometimes, she said something I can understand with my very poor Chinese knowledge. Then, I say either "I understand" or "I know." Then, she became very happy and replied with even longer and complicated Chinese sentences.

Anyway, we had fun like this for a long time. I feel like if I spent a week with her, my Chinese would be improved a lot.

Arrived in Taiwan

Via Taipei international airport, we arrived in Kaohsiung. This is my second visit to Taiwan. Last time was almost seven years ago (August 2000).

The first thing I noticed is that it was host! I felt like it was already summer. I was wearing a jacket that is thin for the weather in Indiana this time, but Taiwan was hotter than I expected. The first thing we did is to buy short pants and sandals.

Like other Taiwanese, we went shopping by scooter. It's also the first time in seven years. The last time I rode a scooter, which is also my first time in my life, is when I visited Taiwan seven years ago.

To Taiwan

The flight was at 2 in the morning. We fell asleep right after it landed.

All of their flight attendants look the same because they have the similar hairstyle and makeups. Their services are very good, compared to the service of American airlines.

To Seattle

The flight to Seattle is at 8:15 am. To get to Indianapolis airport, I need to take a shuttle at 4:50 am. For that, I need to get up at 3:30 to 4 am. But, today I need to forward the clock for one hour for the daylight saving time that starts three weeks earlier from this year. If I go to bed now, I can sleep for only two hours?

This was what I was thinking around 1:30 am, and I decided not to sleep. Instead, I slept on the shuttle, on the first airplane, and the first half of the second flight. The connection from the first flight to the second flight was very smooth because the first flight was delayed a little, so I didn't have to worry about falling asleep while waiting for the second flight.

But because of the smooth connection, my luggage didn't show up at the Sea-Tac airport. I had to be in a long line to report for a lost luggage.

While waiting for the first flight and for the second half of the second flight, I was reading books I bought a couple of days ago. I can read Japanese books much faster. I finished the first book and the half of the second book.

Skiing under Hot Weather

I went skiing to Paoli Peaks with a couple of friends. We were planning to go to skiing from last year, but we had been procrastinating until the last weekend for Paoli Peaks. A good thing is that we could ski for a whole day with the half day price.

It was hot. Today's highest temperature was 63 degree. I only wore T-shirt under my ski ware, but I kept sweating. I saw several people skiing/snow boarding just with T-shirts.

Although it was really a small place, but we had a good time there.

Mandalay Restaurant

We had lunch at a new restaurant, Mandalay. It was Burma cuisine. The dishes were somewhat like a mixture of Chinese and Indiana.

YesAsia.com

Japanese books I ordered at YesAsia.com arrived today. It was $6.99 each with free shipping because I bought more than $20 this time. It's kind of expensive when the original price is 540 yen each, but this was the best deal I found. Of course I can buy from amazon.co.jp with the original price, but they charge 2700 yen plus 300 yen a book to ship to the US. And it's more expensive ($7.60) from kinokuniya.com and they don't have any free shipping.

Backache

A tendon from my left solder to my back hurts from this morning. I'm guessing it's due to the laying pose when I use my laptop on the bed. I need to stop using the laptop on the bed.

Repulsion

This week's movie was Repulsion by Roman Polanski.

Snow

I thought it was almost spring, but it snowed again.

Chow Bar

This week's Friday lunch was Chinese buffet at Chow Bar.