EVIAN BY CHRISTIAN LACROIX

To celebrate Jane's and my birthdays, we had a great lunch at Robin's Teppan of Grand Formosa Regent Taipei. After having the luxurious teppanyaki, we enjoyed coffee and dessert at Robin's Lounge and found this interesting display; the evian 2008 limited edition bottle designed by a famous French fashion designer - Christian Lacroix. Though a wall full of designed Evian bottles looks stylish, the big sign of evian makes it very commercial indeed.

BONUS OF BUSINESS TRIPS

I've taken 10 times of business trips to Japan in about 2 and half years. Friends envy me and think I must be familiar with Tokyo. In fact, I only know airport, hotel, office and JR Shinjuku Station well.

But there is a bonus for business trip; the delicious Japanese cuisine. Recently, we went to a restaurant named "Hokkaido". This restaurant is located on 44 floor of i-Land Building in West Shinjuku and gives a nice view of Tokyo. But most important is the great food; the varieties of Hokkaido style dishes; no matter sea food or shabu shabu.

DO YOU LIKE TO HAVE A GOLD BRICK?

Have you ever seen and touched a 220Kg gold brick? Here is a REAL 220Kg gold brick displayed at Museum of Gold at Gold Ecological Park in Taiwan. It is really amazing to see such a HUGH gold brick. Of course you will be amazing again when you know how much it costs.

220Kg equals to 7760 ounces, and 1 ounce of gold costs NT$27118, about US$903. So this gold brick costs about 7 millions US dollars! Do you want to have it? No problem, if you can lift it with 2 fingers, then you can bring it home.

MY SPECIAL TRAVEL MATES

(the strike bezel of Surefire E2D)

Being a frequent traveler, I have some special travel mates. I may not need them every trips, but I feel comfortable and confident when I travel with them.

My special travel mates are:

• Pocket Smoke-Escaping Mask: We stay at high level floor of hotel frequently when we travel, so this travel mate can help us escape from smoke which is the main killer in a fire. It is very compact and easy to carry, but I wish I will never need to open the pack.
• Swiss Army knife: a wonderful multi-purpose tool which I don't need to say much about it. Just pick one with 10-15 functions, don't carry a heavy one; unless you go camping for a long time!
• Surefire flashlight: a small and powerful flashlight gives you not only a clear view in the dark, but also some defense power. My E2D Executive Defender powered by 2 CR123 batteries, has an output of 60 lumen (bright enough to momentarily blind) and 75 minute run time. More than that, it comes with a strike bezel for use as a pain compliance and control tool.

These are my special travel mates, what is yours?