Night View of Taipei 101 on New Years Eve

It was officially New Years Eve and I started the day off right by going to workout with my friend Susan. I hadn’t worked in a while because work was taking up a lot of my time. Any chance I get to work out.. I get pretty excited. I think I ran 3 miles, did a little weight lifting, and then did some kicks in one of the studio rooms.

Working out aside, the main event of the night was New Years Eve celebrations. After working out, eating lunch, and going back to change… I rested a little and before you knew it there was not much time left before the countdown. I got showered and got ready for the new year and head out to meet my friends Elaine and Alan.

Crowds of people in the background

Alan ended up having some work meetings so I had to meet him up a little later. On New Years Eve in Taipei there are tons of people on the streets. Exciting atmosphere.. but still reallly crowded! There was NO PLACE to eat! I tried to find a simple restaurant but there was nothing! We ended up waiting for a bit and finally a spot opened up. Whew! After dinner I met up with Sarah, David.. and the crew!

NYE in Taipei

Lasik Terminator Mode

David’s friend had access to some news or office tower building where you could watch the fireworks. We kicked it there for a while but this would not be our final location for the night! As planned I met up Alan at Marquees. This is where I watched the countdown.

I must admit, this years fireworks were AMAZING. It was Taiwan’s 100th yr celebration and they spent twice the money on fireworks this year. I was in Taiwan last year for the fireworks.. and I can’t even compare.. there’s just nothing to say. Fireworks zigged and zagged up and down the 101 building they shot out of every direction.. they were like missiles blowing up everywhere except they formed hearts and didn’t kill anyone… to my knowledge. Anyways, youtube some Taipei 101 fireworks for this year.. I am sure everyone will agree it was pretty amazing.

ROC 101

After the spectacular firework display this is what lit the sky after the smoke settled. Pretty epic.

So at Marquee, I basically ran into every single possible ABC (American Born Chinese) from LA in Taipei. I felt like I was at a club in LA because so many people flew out to visit and spend new years. For those who have been to Taiwan or have an opinion.. what changes do you see in ABC life in Taiwan in the past decade? How has it affected Taipei and what lies ahead for the future? I ended the night at Primo. Lot’s of friends runnin around and met some new friends as well. Did lots of walkin and runnin around on New Years Eve, but it was all worth it! Had a blast and was happy to have spent my new years in Taiwan. This year was already off to a great start!

The rest of my trip in Taiwan was all quite busy and fun. However, it can basically be summed up in 3 categories: Meet ups, Parties, and Martial Arts.

Meet ups!
It’s nice to follow people on “facebook” or “twitter” to stay in touch… but I MUCH PREFER meeting up my friends face to face and just speaking your mind, hearing what they’ve been up to, and just having a nice cup of tea or coffee or boba! haha!

I met up with my mei Sarah and her fam for dinner. I checked out her new place in Xin Bei Tou – far! but it was a really nice place with like a time travel capable bathroom/shower. haha! Got to meet up with Ngan’s fam as well and take them out for dinner! It was cool that they came to check out Taiwan.

Glad I met up with tha Cool Silly homies Tony, Leeway, and Ray at Primo. They always have concerts and events.. plus every time I’m in Taipei it’s usually for a couple of days only.. so it was good we bumped into each other and said wsup. Too bad for Leeway though.. we didn’t get to go workout this time =P haha next time though! Better start training now. haha!

I had a few Beers with my friends Ryan and Vanessa. Last time I was in Taiwan they hooked me up on an affordable place so it was good catching up with them. My coworker AND roommate Andy was also in Taiwan so of course we met up and then aside from a meetup with some new friends who work at the Golden Horse Film Festival, I also had lunch with my family friends, aunts and uncles.. and that’ssss about it!

Kareoking with Andy

Parties
Luxy.
Primo.
Marquee.
Spark.

Check, check, check….. and check.

Party mode Jess and Tim

Martial Arts + death day workout
Muahhaha! This category is good. Now.. one day.. and I don’t know why.. but for some reason.. I ended up doing A LOT of working out. Sometimes I schedule things and don’t think or care about the physical repercussions as long as it fits with my schedule I’ll just stick it in. So one day I had scheduled to go workout with my friend Susan. Okay… no big deal.. just a workout in the morning. I go workout.. run 3 miles, do some lifting, and do a little light shadow kick boxing and flips in an open studio room. We go and grab lunch.

Behold! I had scheduled to meet up with Ngan to go meet up the Guo Ti wushu team right after lunch… so Ngan meets us up at lunch and straight from lunch I go to Linkou to train wushu! We train for about 1-2 hours.. it was a relatively light workout. We mainly went there to say hi.. but nonetheless, we still ended up doing basic kicks, jump kicks, and short sections.

THEN…. I had made a promise to MYSELF that I would visit Taiwan BJJ – an MMA training place in Taiwan. I had already tried to go once before, but they were closed the day after New Years… so this time I was resolved to check it out. I figured if I didn’t go I might never go this trip.. so riiight after wushu.. I ate 9 pieces of sushi at the train station and went directly to practice.

It’s my first time at Taiwan BJJ and today happens to be a Muay Thai class. Everyone comes in pumped after renewing their new years resolutions. They also all seem pretty serious when it comes to kick boxing.. in other words I think it was a good class.. people weren’t there to do some light cardio kick boxing stuff. The instructor is kind enough to let me sample a class… so we start warming up and doing drills. No one knew or cared that I had come from 2 other workouts already… then to top it off this is no light workout. We started doing jump rope and cardio drills where you go for 3 minutes at a time. I was pretty much dying from the start. Then we switched into doing some Thai clinching drills followed by pad work and finished up by doing some more high intensity conditioning. Whew!

I think if I had been more in shape overall (gettin fat from no working out on the job) and hadn’t run around the whole day working out I would’ve still been tired… but in alright condition. Instead though!!!!…. the next 3 days I pretty much couldn’t walk normally and had a hard time doing anything that required movement. I also had a major pain in my foot so I was limping and sore. (Somehow magically Sarah’s dad had some light device that apparently healed my foot, but that’s another story).

As if that day of 3x workouts wasn’t enough.. I had one last martial arts session in Taiwan. My friend and MMA promoter Holly took me to her friend’s BJJ school near bei tou. We joined in on a more beginner BJJ class.. did some more conditioning and BJJ basics. I still came out learning some good stuff. I was in much pain though still.. haha!

after mma workout at sarahs new house

If only this picture could express how sore I was.. haha! We did do some hot spring therapy and Sarah’s dad used this crazy light to help me heal my gimp foot. I don’t know for certain if it healed my foot, but the next day after I got some rest, I felt significantly better.

Alright.. well stay tuned for the conclusion of Taiwan Adventures III: Ninja Battle

Daniel Wu, Alfred Hsing, Pat Lee

Maggie and Alfred at Diesel Party

Alive Not Dead at Racks in LKF

Well its been a while since I actually posted a blog entry with my thoughts in writing. My latest entries have been filled with video blogs of my random and fun adventures in Taiwan. I’ve actually been without a stable internet connection for the past week or two. In Hong Kong I only had the lobby internet and since I moved in to my new place in Taipei, I was also internet-less for a few days. I just got a wireless card from http://www.ivideo.com.tw/rent_memory/video_detail.asp?film_id=39545 yesterday so now I can finally go online at home. Yay!

Let me first give a shout out to Pat / rottendoubt for inviting me to a cool party at the W hotel in Hong Kong and introducing me to a lot of other artists on Alive Not Dead. I had a good time and not just because it was open bar. =P

Seriously though, with the amount of “going out” I’ve been doing in each country bouncing back and forth from Taiwan to Hong Kong to Macau to Hong Kong to Taiwan… its a wonder that I am still alive… not dead literally. Don’t get me wrong.. I am having a GREAT time, but my body has needed to rest/recover from Day 1 upon arriving in Asia. I mean after all prior to arriving in Taiwan I flew from LA to SF to Toronto finishing world games then back to SF before flying to Taipei… so my body was already pretty tired.. then the first day I arrived Sarah took me clubbing at Primo – and since then it has been non-stop.

However! My partying has not been in vain. I have met some really cool friends and had really memorable experiences that you can’t put a price on. Also I met an agent through randomly going out. The agency is called Evert agency – www.evert.com.tw – Has anyone heard of it? If so, what are your thoughts as far as their capability in the tv and movie area? I would like to be referred to a few more agencies so I can see what they are all like. Evert just sent me out to an open casting for a 7-11 commercial. It was my first experience auditioning in Taiwan. I think the casting guy was cool with me, but I could use more practice nailing the feeling he wanted faster. I am going in for headshots on Friday. So far the agency has been cool and quick with things, but I haven’t signed anything and just want to learn the ropes out here first.

One thing I do notice out in Asia is that casting is a lot “easier” in some ways. I don’t mean that it’s necessarily easy to get work, but I just noticed that the day I went in to talk to the agency, the next day they were able to send me to an audition.. the reason being.. its Taiwan so more than 90% of commercials/work are FOR asians whereas in the US asian males most likely only audition for roles that specifically mention “Asian Male” or possibly “Mixed Ethnicity” which is far less roles out of the total possible. Anyways, it will be interesting to see how it goes out here this month.

JC Stunt Team Victy Wong

Meanwhile, while I was in HK I met up with Jackie Chan stunt team member Victy Wong who mentioned he would be interested in having me teach wushu for an action/martial arts/stunts school he is opening up for kids and actors. Of course these were just talks and I was just in HK for a week so we will be in touch and playing it by ear. I also met Daniel Wu and also ran into Jackie Chan’s son at Racks.. apparently I hear he is out partying in Taiwan quite often as well.

As a means to clear my own thoughts I came up with my GOALS for the acting/entertainment world.

1) Star or Co-star in:
1 HK gangster feature film
1 Chinese Wu Xia Period feature film
1 Hollywood action blockbuster
1 National Commercial

2) Demo for or work with Jackie Chan in a film
3) Host a Travel Channel show

Those are my clear cut goals. If I achieve that I would be pretty happy with my acting/entertainment career.
…and if you are curious why I want to be in those specific types of movies, it’s because I love action and those are the movies I grew up loving. I want to be a part of the movies that inspired me in so many ways and contribute to paving new paths in those movies to keep inspiring others.

I think I’ve also decided I would like to give Asia a shot and live here for a while, but first before I do that I really need to get my ass in gear and set up my businesses properly in the US. When I get back in January, it’s purely hard work and focus.

That’s it for now, time to eat. I’ll be uploading more taiwan and hong kong adventures soon!