Is Friendster Getting Revamped?
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On October 7, 2009
On October 5, Friendster invited a few bloggers for lunch to meet with Ben Dunn, VP Philippines and Global Head of Brand Experience.
Mr. Dunn asked us feedback about friendster and why some people stopped using it.
We shared our thoughts about the service one by one. What really came out was friendster lost its edge mainly because they stopped innovating/improving after a while that other services like facebook, multiply took that chance and penetrated the online networking world.
It is really good to know that Friendster is reaching out to get our opinion. I am glad that whatever plans Friendster has, I hope they get to improve their service.
We were treated to Fish & Co.. By the way, I ordered my favorite fish & chips.
Here are what we shared to Ben (I also gathered feedback from friends):
- Reasons why we stopped using friendster
- Suggestions
If you do have suggestions, please do post it here 🙂 I’m pretty sure, Friendster guys will appreciate your comments.
Here’s a picture of the group:
If you have a friendster account, you can add me up here.
饒河街觀光夜市 (Raohe St. Night Market)
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On October 5, 2009
饒河街觀光夜市 (Raohe St. Night Market)
Raohe Street near Songshan Railway Station
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For my aunt’s last minute shopping, we went to 饒河街觀光夜市 (Raohe St. Night Market).
饒河街觀光夜市 (Raohe St. Night Market) was the very 1st night market in Taiwan. It was established 1987 when the street was reconstructed.
The street is 600 meters long so you can imagine how many hours we stayed at the place. After a few hours, we even stopped over a massage place! hahaha that’s how tiring it was 😛
The Owl is the night market’s mascot because street vendors only work at night. That’s basically when owls are active right? If you look closely, you could see the logo on the entrance of the place.
As expected, like with all the night markets in Taiwan, you would see lots of people (lots! lots!), food (snaks galore!) & shops (shop the night away) It will take you hours just to be able browse through all of them!
饒河街觀光夜市 (Raohe St. Night Market) was where I bought a luggage 🙂
Here are the rest of the pictures.
The Ugly Truth Movie Review
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On October 5, 2009
I was able to watch this last saturday and I must say that I enjoyed the movie. Well, one big factor was Gerard Butler! I just love him (especially after watching him in “300”).
It’s a romantic story about a local tv show producer, Abby, and a man named Mike, who is host of a segment, “Ugly Truth”. Abby, after coming from a disastrous date, just so happened to watch Mike on TV. She ended up calling him, and arguing with him over the air regarding their thoughts on relationships.
The next day, the station owner hired mike so he could help save Abby’s show from being cancelled. They hated each other.
Finally, Abby met the man of his dreams. She and Mike reached an agreement. The agreement is, Mike will teach Abby how to get the man of his dreams. If he is successful, Abby will work with him. Otherwise, Mike will quite the show.
It worked! Let me share with you what Mike taught Abby, girls might find this useful (hehe!):
- Don’t Criticize
- Laugh a Lot!
- Guys love to visualize – so look your best!
- Don’t talk about your problems
- Guys love long-haired girls
Somehow, Abby realized that the guy of her dreams learned to love her because of pretentions (religiously following Mike’s lessons). So they broke up. In the end, Mike and Abby fell in love with each other. How? You have to watch it! I don’t want to give too much spoilers (thought I kinda shared the whole story already :P)
Great lesson taught here. Yes, there are effective ways to get the man of your dreams but will you be happy by pretending to be that perfect girl?
My Rating for The Ugly Truth: 4 out of 5 stars.
Dozo Izakaya Dining Bar
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On October 5, 2009
Dozo Izakaya Dining Bar
No. 102, GuangFu S. Rd., Daan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106
886 (02) 2778-1135
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A very expensive Japanese restaurant but delicious.
Mom treated us there. I especially liked the look of the place. It’s so cool, bar-looking, classy-looking place 🙂 I think the targeted audience here are businessmen and young people. Service is great as well. The place was jam-packed & the food was yummy! My aunt was going back to the states the next day so it was kinda like our last dinner together at Taiwan. hayyy thinking about it, I miss my mom and aunt already.
Anyway, here are what we ordered:
- Grilled Squid with Seven Flavored Powder (220NT)
Dozo Bar has a promo wherein we’ll be able to get their main dish of the day at 50% off. That day, it’s their grilled squid! I actually saw 90% of the customers ordering this hahaha. Well, 50% for a yummy dish! It’s super spicy though but nevertheless, my favorite dish from all the ones we ordered.
- Assorted Grilled Skewer (340NT)
A skewer sampler. Wasn’t able to take note of the variants but it’s just grilled beef, pork, chicken. The white one is just plain weird, we don’t know what it is, it just tasted out of this world 😛
- Salt-Grilled Imported Japanese Mackerel (260NT)
I’m not really fond of fish which still has fish bones so I didn’t enjoy this much.
- Deep-Fried Homemade Tofu with Peanut (120NT)
Different twist to the usual tofu dishes Japanese restaurants serve. You must try this when you go to Dozo bar. I’m just a tofu lover and it’s a nice thing to know that peanuts do go well together with tofu! yum!
- Assorted Vegetable Tempura (160NT)
- Lemon Smoothie (130NT)
one proof that a restaurant is expensive is the price of their drinks! This drink is delicious but the it’s just too pricey.
- Peach Milk Smoothie (180NT)
- Coke (80NT)
what an expensive cola drink!!
- Skewered Grilled Mushroom with Soy Sauce & Cheese (80NT)
Though expensive, I think if they open here in Manila, they’ll be successful. Best to open in Greenbelt area 🙂
Rest of the pictures here.
Computer & Electronic Stores at Taipei
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On October 3, 2009
I’m a techie by heart. When I arrived at Taiwan, one of the things I wanted to ask was where can I shop for electronic products? Are they cheap/affordable?
me w/ å…‰è¯æ•¸ä½æ–°å¤©åœ° (Guanghua Digital Plaza) mascot! cute cute cute!
When asked about electronics, two stores come to mind to people who live in Taiwan:
- å…‰è¯æ•¸ä½æ–°å¤©åœ° (Guanghua Digital Plaza)
No. 8, Sec. 3, Civic Blvd., Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei City 100, Taiwan
臺北市市民大é“三段8號
This place is amazing!!! Would you believe a whole building full of computer & electronic shops? Total paradise for people like us!!!
It even has its own guide book! That’s how big the place is! There are 6 floors & 1 basement floor.
– basement for parking
– 1st floor for demo of electronic products (showroom)
– 2nd to 5th floors are where the electronic stalls are located
– 6th floor is for office space & maintenance station
You’ll find any gadgets/electronic/computer products here. It’s just overwhelming. It took us 3 hours just to look around the place. You can find softwares, computers, laptops, computer parts (memory, hard drive, etc), gaming consoles, games, mobile phones and lots, lots, lots more stuff!
Pictures I took when I roamed around the store can be found here.
- Nova å°åŒ—店 (Nova Computer Arcade)
å°åŒ—市100館å‰è·¯2號
886 (02) 2381-4833
We dropped by Nova at night when they were about to close. We arrived at around 9pm and they are already closing by 9:30pm. So most of the stores are already preparing to close.
But still I had a glance of what Nova has. It’s a haven for people who love technology. Over 130 booths/shops that sells mobile phones, computers, digital cameras, components, gaming consoles, etc.
The location is very good as well as it is just across the å°åŒ—車站 (Taipei Main Station).
å…‰è¯æ•¸ä½æ–°å¤©åœ° (Guanghua Digital Plaza) is memorable for me coz it was there where I bought my PS3! And the building wowed me so much! The prices are the same for both stores though. So you can take your pick.
Other products are still more expensive compared to Singapore & US. But there are some items that are cheaper in Taiwan like PS3, iPhone & some computer parts.