Ninja Restaurant in Taipei

This was much earlier in the year. I have a whole bunch of travel adventures and various posts that are behind cuz I never got around to posting.. so I might have a few backdated posts coming up.. but anyways, let me finish this one up – This is the conclusion post to my Taiwan Adventures III series.

There’s a themed restaurant in Taiwan called “Ren Zhe” or “Ninja” where all of the decor revolves around the ninja theme. Let me first give my review and then talk about the restaurant.. if you want to just go there and find out all the surprises then you might not want to read the rest of the article. Overall I thought it was a cool restaurant since I like ninjas and all, but let me get started on the specifics..

So the day I decided to go to the Ninja Restaurant allll of my Taiwan based friends started groaning and complaining that it wasn’t worth it. The main complaint I heard was that the food wasn’t that good and it was overpriced. Probably 7 or 8 people told me this.. I didn’t care because it was one of my last days in Taiwan and I wanted to check this place out regardless.

Ninja Sashimi

We got sushi, sashimi, soup, fried rice, beers, and more.. and the bill came out to roughly $20-25 per person. I guess that can be kinda expensive for Taiwan’s prices but overall it was a themed restaurant with games, a show, and sushi which is usually not that cheap anyways.. also I don’t remember the food tasting exceptional, but I also don’t feel like it tasted bad.. it seemed fine so I wasn’t sure why everyone said the food there tasted terrible. Also consider the effort the chef goes through to make ninja star shaped fried rice for you and how many times the cleaning staff gets cut when washing their ninja swords.. hahha..

Ninja Star Fried Rice

As far as the theme goes.. you walk in and a host shows you the way in.. when you get to this waterfall you say some magic ninja words and then the gate opens and you can enter the secret ninja lair. Cmon.. that’s kinda cool.. haha..

Ninja Sword Skewers

Then the biggest surprise for me was that there were ninjaettes that perform a show and then come around the room and play games with the dinner guests. They come around and play dice games / random little games and if you lose you get hit with a fake weapon and if you win you can win a free drink or something for your table.

After all the griping from everyone before I ate at the Ninja restaurant I was really expecting it to be a huge let down. I only went just for the theme but didn’t even know there was a show and games and all this other random stuff. I also might have thought it was more fun because I went in with really low expectations.. that always factors in I guess. If I were to make any suggestions though.. I guess I would make the place MORE ninja-y as in make it even darker either in decor or lighting depending on legal requirements.. and then I would make at least 1 or 2 fabulously delicious namebrand dishes so people would shut it about the “bad” tasting food. I hear there is a hospital themed restaurant by the same owners.. guess I’ll have to check it out next time and give yall a review. =)

Last week I had the fortune of squeezing in 2.5 days in Taiwan! I essentially had 48 hours in Taiwan because the other half days were occupied by actual commute time. My parents happened to be in town so I asked my boss for a few days off. Fortunately he graciously accepted my request…. and so I was off to Taipei! My mom actually won a free tour to Taiwan from some raffle (she tends to win raffles all the time) so my dad bought a ticket and that’s how they ended up in Taiwan.

Madame Tusades hk wax figure

I had just finished a wax figure opening ceremony at Madame Tusades in HK and then was continuing work on a film in Hubei when I found out that they would be in Taipei at the last leg of their tour. Since we were just about to switch filming locations I squeezed in 2-3 days to see my parents in Taiwan.

When I first got there I met up with my sis – Sarah! We’re wushu “bros” and every time I visit Taiwan I always crash with her and kick it with her whole fam (minus Cheryl who is not in Taiwan) so we always laugh that I’m basically part of the family.. with that said… right when I landed I met her up at this HUGE family dinner of hers. Her dad’s cousins who hadn’t seen each other in 30 some years were there.

schang's family dinner

Then we went back to the pad to regroup and figure out the plan for the night. Even though Schang had work the next day she was down to hang out since I was only in town for 2 days. She is awesome. Another person that was awesome was Ngan – my scwa wushu teammate. So Sarah, her cousin, Tim, and Ngan planned to meet up for some karaoke at cash box! We were thinking it could potentially be more fun if we had more people, but it was kinda last minute so we rolled over.

Jerry Liau, Jack Tu, Jackie Chan

Guess what? As we were waiting outside waiting for Ngan some guy walked by me and quickly said.. “alfred” and i turned my head.. and it happened to be Jerry! It was pure chance that I ran into him. The week before we all met up for dinner. He is part of the New Seven Little Fortunes – a tour group that performs with Jackie Chan. I met him through my friend Jack Tu who is on that team and who was also the winner of the BTV show The Disciple. So Jerry was waiting for a few friends as well and we ended up all sharing a room and having a huge group karaoking the night away. haha. We had only planned to stay out till midnight but since everyone started singing we forgot about time and ended staying out till about 3am.

Lunch with Ngan

Even though we went out until 3am I made plans to get breakfast with Ngan the next day. I had to make the most of my 2 days! I met Ngan at 101… but totally got mixed up that Hua Na Wei Xiu aka the Neo19 place was a little ways off.. so we had a little exercise while meeting up for breakfast. Fortunately Ngan is super chill so didn’t mind the mix up too much. We met up at this breakfast place I like to go to for lounging, surfin wifi, and chatting. We chatted over pancakes and milk tea. We had some really great conversation – talked about random things but also some very insightful things. Within a few short minutes Ngan had a very thorough grasp of what I was doing and where I was heading with my goals. It was pretty amazing how quickly she was able to assess my situation. We also talked about personality types and recognized that understanding yourself helps you understand the best decision to make.

Eating Delicious Rice in Taiwan

Since we chatted for so long it became lunch and I HAD to visit this delicious “lu rou fan” (a taiwanese rice dish) mom and pops Taiwanese hole in the wall by where I used to live last year. After lunch I took a few steps and found a hair salon and got my hair cut.. then was off to meet another friend.

Environment Friendly Chopsticks

I’m starting to go green. On set we’ve decided to use our own chopsticks and bowls instead of using the disposable ones. I think this is awesome because for ONE thing.. if you use your own chopsticks and bowls your meal taste better than eating out of a paper bowl with splintered wood chopsticks. Another thing is that it’s more sanitary to use your own utensils. Most importantly though is – if you think about how many paper cups, plates, plastic spoons, wooden chopsticks are used PER DAY for a cast and crew of a few hundred. You easily go through a thousand spoons and plates per week! This goes back to www.storyofstuff.com – I am strongly against the increased consumption of our consumer society. I think we all need to scale back on consumption and I am happy to start with using my own bowls and plates. I know I went off on a tangent there.. but it’s something I get pretty heated about. So anyways, I went shopping for environmental objects with my friend and then she had to run to go teach a dance class.

I also saw this random pic while shopping.

Darth Vader Party

TW Star Tour Team

For dinner I met up with some colleagues I worked with on a star tour! Sarah and D met us up as well. We ate at a “re chao” place that was also more local and a chill hang out spot. Good for having some down home taiwan style food and beer. We hung out for quite some time and eventually ran into Tim and his friends! It shows how small a place Taiwan is because at night I was planning on meeting up with Tim anyways.

Re Chao in TW

We rolled to Tim’s friend’s house and did a little pre-partying and then headed to Luxy. I had no preference on where we were going that night since I was more down to just hang out with everyone… since Tim promotes at Luxy that’s where we ended up. This time I didn’t have to flip over any lasers to get in.. but they had lasers there anyways.

Luxy Lasers

The next day despite staying out late I woke up super early again (sarah had work too so she was up early).. and I spent a good 4 hours on my business. I was up at 7 and before I knew it.. it was 11. I took a shower and all that and by then started getting pretty hungry. I saw Leeway online so I said ‘yo’ lets get some lunch.. and he was like ‘yo’ i want to go workout. So we did both. After we ate and rested for a bit.. he took me to this community gym near his place. I showed him this HIIT Cardio program I’ve been workin on.. while we were warming up on the bicycle machine I said “hey u wanna try this HIIT cardio program? its pretty crazy but u might die.. im not sure though..” and then he looked at me like “what??” then i said “but hey! itll be fun!” so he said okay. Normally I go through 14 drills. Let’s just say we only got to the 4th drill… haha…

I’ll let Leeway give u his feedback himself.. or u can just look at this pic.

Leeway after A Cardio Session

Aside from his death cardio workout we had a really good chat about where we both are in our careers in entertainment. He updated me on his band Cool Silly and the progress he’s made since I left Taiwan in 09. I look forward to more awesome jams from Cool Silly. I also look forward to more clips of Tony holding a gun.

By the time we finished hanging out it was about time to meet up my parents! I took them to Kan Pai because that’s where I celebrated my birthday last year. I thought we could have some beers and chat.. and we did. The meat tasted fattier than last year… maybe it’s because I’ve been eating healthier or maybe it was just more oily this time.

i-baked

After dinner I hung out with my parents a little more at Tong Ling night market and then parted ways for a bit to go check out my friend Ivy’s new cookie store called i-baked. It was kinda late when I got there, but amidst customer’s coming in and out we talked about a lot of business ideas. She also caught me up on what I had been missing out on since 09. Since I had left she finalized her cookie recipes, set up a physical store, and designed all her logos and flyers, and etc. I was pretty happy for her and her accomplishments. I always like seeing people hustling, using their brains, and moving up! She also added fuel to the fire on this idea I’ve been moving forward on. It’s been taking me quite some time, but I think things are coming together. My goal will be to have it ready to roll by the end of this year. (If you know a patent attorney out there, let me know.)

Ivy's dogs at her Cookie Store

The next day was my last day in Taiwan before flying back to Beijing. I woke up and caught up on a little work before heading to Breeze Center (Wei Feng Guang Chang) to meet my parents, uncle jerry, aunt tan, and sarahs dad for lunch. We ate some good Shanghainese food and I was off to the airport. On the way to the airport we did stop by i-baked again since the cookies were so tasty and also since my uncle wanted to talk to Ivy’s partner who is an animal rescue volunteer.

Well that’s it for my 48 hour taiwan trip. It was awfully action packed just the way I like it. There were tons of other people I wanted to meet up with but simply did not have enough hours in the day! I hope I will be back soon!

lights camera action

In the past 3 days I got 3 auditions. I had an audition per day Wed, Thurs, and will be going to one today Friday. I also had an audition last Sat so that makes 4 in the past week! I’m glad that I feel more active progress. This is the area I have been trying to focus more on this past month… and its manifesting!! Of course, now I just need to actually book these gigs. haha! I’ll wait to hear back in the coming days/weeks to see how I did on these 3 auditions.

I also updated my demo reel which I posted in the post before this. It seems fitting that I have it in this post as well since I’m mainly discussing my entertainment endeavors.

Someone told me it was pretty epic.. and I said.. I hope it would be slightly epic since it’s everything I’ve done in the past 6 years or so compressed into 1 minute and 30 seconds. =P

I finally finished reading this acting book that I bought 7 months back. It was a great read. It taught me new things and reminded me of things that I knew. Acting is fascinating because it really lets you learn more about yourself, people in general, and human nature. I feel like the more I delve into acting, the more gates I am unlocking in myself.. freeing myself of limitations, judgments, and fears.

The audition I went to today (Thurs) was some “Unitled Project” which I thought was going to be some glorified extra role, but it ended up being a top secret project at Paramount Studios. I don’t even know what its about, but it would be sweet to land that.

Saturday I will be going back to do adr for Barry Baz pilot project. It was supposed to be done done final 2 weeks ago, but little things keep coming up and these guys want it perfect so I’ll be back one more time on Saturday. After that hopefully this thing will be signed and sealed. It has already been submitted to the LA Pilot Festival. This is the same festival that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia got noticed.

its always sunny in philadelphia

Currently still planning on shooting a short in June and either episode 1 of a web series or just a trailer before I go to China. When I’m not auditioning or practicing I’m going to be doing a lot of writing.

Beijing Night

International Travel
In other news… I booked my flights to China, HK, and Taiwan… so it is OFFICIAL OFFICIAL. (When I say something twice you know it’s official) Here are my official but never permanent travel dates:

Aug 19 LAX -> PEK
Sep 09 PEK -> HKG
Sep 13 HKG -> TPE

Let me know if you will be in ASIA at this time! Even though I only booked flights for Beijing, HK, and Taipei, it doesn’t mean I won’t end up in Thailand, Vietnam, or anywhere else. Hoping to follow up with a few entertainment contacts while I’m in Asia. I am really looking forward to seeing a lot of good friends. I’ll also be training wushu and sanda in Beijing. It should be a really good trip.

The Beijing part of the trip will be covered, but for HK and Taipei, I’m still finding places to live. In Taiwan if anyone is renting a place, let me know!

Martial Arts
I’ve been going to the gym, tricking, doing wushu, or kickboxing at least once a day 7 days a week. I might be adding one or two more private lessons. I feel like it’s going to be awesome.

As far as competitions go, I got quite a few potentially lined up. I might be doing a ton of traveling in the next 2 months (next 4 months if you count all the flying to Asia).

June 12-13 – Tiger Claw KungFuMagazine BASKA tournament in San Jose
June 18-19 – AKA Grands in Kentucky
June 26-27 – Strikeforce Cung Le Fight (as media / to watch) in San Jose
July 09-10 – NASKA US Open – in Flordia
July 30-31 – NASKA US Capitol Classics – Marlyand
Aug 25-30 – Sport Accord Combat Games in Beijing

Looking for New Roommate
This part of my post refers to exactly that – I am looking for a new roommate available to move in starting June 1st. My old roommate is moving out in a week. Please spread the word if anyone needs a room in the Alhambra area. Lots of good Asian food in this area!

Business
Finishing up some ads, negotiated better merchant transaction rates, and set up my shipper account. Focus has been on the entertainment stuff this week. Sales have been steady and the business is much more cleaned up. Little minor to do for the business will be to clean up FAQ on the email response portion, add in “how do shoe sizes run” question and response, switch over to dedicated work email, test run new shipper account.

The adventures of Casual is Cool Silly continue and this time we do some fun stunt challenges outside of Room18 / Lava in Taipei. Also listen to Tony of CoolSilly (http://www.coolsilly.com) as he sings a special impromptu song!

Then we also have some fun at my birthday dinner at Kan Pai restaurant. Delicious meat! I cant repeat this enough.

My actual birthday was on Monday, but we all ate over the weekend. This was my first time spending my birthday abroad in Taiwan. Thanks to all who made it and all who wished me a happy birthday. I want to reiterate that I am very grateful for my friends and family. I am so happy to have met such cool friends in Taiwan. So many people (in taiwan and throughout my life in general) have helped me and been there for me that I cant thank you all enough. I have a good life and am having the time of my life. Thanks for making it awesome everyone who is and has been a part of it.

Prepare for a special leg of the journey as we take a trip down SOUTH to Kaohsiung. Some VERY VERY special things happen here. Look out for the super secret special footage along with an inside look at Taiwan’s National Team Sport Training Facility.

Alfred and Zhang Fei on Zhong Yi Da Ge Da

Channel 10 TV Station

Yesterday I went to the Channel 10 TV station near Kunyang in Taipei. Famous Taiwan TV show host Zhang Fei interviewed me on my achievements on winning the 10th World Wushu Championships on the show “Zhong Yi Da Ge Da”. I’ve seen this guy host many shows even while living in LA. My aunts, uncles, parents, and grandma has had him on their tv back at home in the states. In any case, it was a fun show. I did a wushu performance and interview. There were actresses and singers on the side that comment along with Zhang Fei and Zhang Fei himself makes a bunch of jokes and comments. All in all, interesting show.

Getting my hair did at Channel 10 in Taipei

I got on the show so randomly. I guess it wasn’t completely random, but it just happened all of a sudden. My mom referred me to a contact in Taiwan and I sent over my demo reel and information.. and before I knew it next day I was called in to be on the show.

It airs Saturday at 8pm Taiwan local time, channel 10. If someone can TIVO this for me, that would be awesome!

Xing Guang Da Dao

Channel 10 is the same channel that airs “Xing Guang Da Dao” the Taiwan Idol singing contest show. They are on their 5th season.

HONG KONG DECEMBER 4th-9th

Hong Kong Time First Week of December

Looks like I will be going to Hong Kong because I am unable to stay in Taiwan for longer than 30 days on my US passport.

Hong Kong City

If anyone is around or can show me around in Hong Kong.. or if there are any dope parties.. let me know. I will be there. Still looking for a place to stay – hotel/hostel/crash. Open to all suggestions. Thanks!

My favorite food in Taiwan Dan Bings

Hey guys! I’m here! I made it passed my 14 hour flight and am in Taipei now. I arrived at 6:10am and was able to take the Guo Guang bus to Zhong Guo Zhong Xiao stop and then hop on the MRT to meet up Sarah who is my temporary Taiwan host. Thanks Sarah!

I had some complications at the airport with immigration because I am staying here for 2 months and I was planning on using my Taiwan passport, but since I don’t have citizenship I still had to have a visa with my Taiwan passport in order to stay for more than 30 days. In the end I had to use my US passport and NOW.. I have to either get an extension visa or leave the country within 30 days and then come back.

LEAVE THE COUNTRY? Yes, if this happens I will be coming to Hong Kong around December 3rd. Mark your calendars. I will let you know if I book a flight to HK or not. Either way, I feel like its a good thing if I’m “forced” to come to Hong Kong, that could be a sign and either way it would be plain fun.

Yesterday was Day Zero because I just got here and it wasn’t a full day. (Plus I just watched “Lelouch vi Britannia – CODE GEASS” – some of you may get this if you’ve seen it) On my first day here the first thing I did was get my FAVORITE food – “dan bing.” It’s an egg breakfast food. SOoooo good. I also bumped into someone from UCLA within my first 2 hours of being in Taiwan at the dan bing place. It was very coincidental! I just happened to be wearing a UCLA wushu shirt. Also two of the friends who were eating at the dan bing place happened to be on the same flight as me.

On day zero I ate with Sarahs family and family friends. I met her cousin Yingling. We dropped by to visit Coach Zhang Shi Bo at the Taipei sport school. I bought a metro card. For lunch Ying’s mom made some food and this one dish with peanut butter sauce was delicious! At night we had Japanese food and also met Sarah’s other friend David who picked us up to go to dinner. The Japanese food was good and we had really fruity tasting cabernet sauvignon merlot from Chile.

WHY AM I IN TAIWAN?
A lot of people have asked me why I am going to Taiwan. I want to answer this on my blog to clear my own thoughts, set some goals, and answer why I am here.

1) It’s a vacation – I just finished World Games and have been practicing a lot for Team Trials, Worlds, etc. This is a much needed vacation as well as a recharger to get me rested up mentally to prepare to start up my own business hardcore when I get back to the states.

2) Explore work/entertainment opportunities in Taipei – I want to do acting and action films so why not explore those opportunities in a place that I love… Taiwan. Aside from Hong Kong, I want to see if I can get any acting or film work while I’m here. If I am not able to get such work in the short 2 months that I am here, at least I hope to meet some cool people who can point me in the right direction next time I come back for longer.

3) Decide if I want to live here longer – I have always wanted to live in Asia for a year. This trip I plan on gathering information like “where will I live?”, “how much does housing cost?”, “what work can i get?”, “what legal procedures do I have to go through?”, and most importantly “do I like it enough to stay for a year?”
Additionally, meet more people so that I’m not a loner if I do move here. haha

4) Improve my Chinese – This trip I want to step up my reading and writing game. By nature of being here and using chinese, I think my speaking ability will improve, but mainly I want to be able to read things a lot easier and be able to take my chinese speaking ability up to a business capable level. 2 months may not be enough, but I can definitely take my chinese ability to the next level beyond the average ABC.

5) Gather information for my business – I want to find a source for different types of teas and tea tin manufacturers while I am here. Taiwan is quite well known for high quality tea. Also, if there are any fabric supplier or clothing manufacturers I have a pattern already made that I need mass produced so I want to find a place that I can do that in an affordable manner. In the end clothing, I feel might be still done in China, but definitely the tea and tea tin sources I could look into while here.
Also, should look to see if there is a market for vitamins as I have a supplement brand that is going to be big on the horizon.

6) Practice martial arts in general – Even though I may be taking a break from competitive wushu it doesn’t mean I am done with martial arts. While I am here, hopefully I can practice some sparring, learn other weapons in that I don’t usually use in wushu, and learn some tai chi. Taiwan’s tai chi is first class even in comparison to China. Since I’ve started learning Tai Chi, I figure I might as well see if I can improve it while I am here.

6) Miscellaneous – Spend my birthday and new years abroad! Have a blast. Meet up with a whole bunch of various friends that will be coming here. Learn great spots to party and to eat. Watch the Taipei 101 building ignite on New Years. Visit old friends that are in Taiwan.

To Do:
1) find housing for a few friends who plan on coming for a week
2) find tea sources
3) find apt costs/living locations
4) take an acting class
5) learn tai chi
6) improve reading ability
7) explore film industry / drop by film festival
figure out legal process to live here for a year (citizenship / work visa)