Every time I begin to visit a US military facility I feel that spring has come. Yesterday I went to Camp Zama for US Army Cherry Blossom Festival as this year’s first visit to US military bases. It was a little cold but fine. Cherries were almost at their full bloom and looked the most beautiful. There were plenty of people coming the venue.
Here’s the video recorded by a camcorder of my cell phone at Camp Zama yesterday and you can see what went on there.
This is yesterday’s lunch eaten at a food court Camp Zama Bowling Center because I didn’t want to wait for many hours in line in front of the PX to get Anthony’s Pizza 🙁
I’ve bought an iPhone. I ordered it from a broker in Hong Kong who got it at Apple Store Hong Kong, because the iPhone sold in Hong Kong is locked to no particular mobile carriers. In Japan, you can buy an iPhone at a Softbank cell phone shop but they sell only the iPhone locked to Softbank. Softbank does offer international roaming service, but if you go out of Japan and use it with a Softbank SIM card in a foreign country they will charge tremendously high international roaming charges to your bill (It costs as high as hundreds of thousand Yen per day! Crazy!). That’s why I’ve got an unlocked iPhone so that I can freely replace a SIM card into that issued at the country I’m in when I travel abroad.
When I put a black SIM card issued by Softbank for iPhone use into the iPhone I had bought and turned it on, it recognized the SIM card and the phone number recorded in it activated. When I plugged it into my MacBook Pro, it downloaded music, photos and data via iTunes.
Of course it recognizes either a Softbank SIM card or NTT DoCoMo’s one because it’s SIM-lock-free.
I think the iPhone matches to my MacBook Pro more than any other mobile devices like Blackberry or Nokia cell phones. More than that, there are more applications for iPhone released from both Japan and other countries so it is easier to use even in Japan.
From now on the devices I use on a regular basis would be:
iPhone with Softbank for web browsing and researches
Nokia N82 with Softbank for talking
Blackberry Bold 9000 with NTT DoCoMo for mailing
Galapagosian NTT DoCoMo N906iL my employer makes me keep for emergency contact
Advice: when you use an iPhone with Softbank, you need a special SIM card designed only for iPhone (the Black SIM Card), NOT a normal SIM card for other Softbank cell phones (the Silver SIM Card). If you put a Silver SIM Card into an iPhone, you’ll have extremely high packet communications charges. To get a Black SIM Card you’ll have to buy one locked iPhone from a Softbank shop because they won’t solely issue a Black SIM Card without selling any iPhone. You may want to keep it unpacked so that you can resell it to anybody else.
On the last day, I gave up sightseeing in the downtown because I had not so much time, then I went straight to the airport from the hotel.
What I ate at the airport until the flight to Japan:
Luroufan, xiaolongbao and roasted duck.
See you again, Taiwan!
Note: all photos taken in Taiwan are uploaded on Flickr.
I stayed at Novotel Hotel near Taipei International Airport for this trip. I took this hotel online on Expedia.co.jp. It was super gorgeous, with a clean and modern room and a wide bed with two pillows.
You can see an airplane taking off from the guest room window because this hotel is located right beside a runway.
One problem: as it’s very close to an airport, when a plane takes off at midnight its roaring sound will wake you up 🙁 It’s recommended to avoid staying near an airport.
The Shizilin building in Ximending is a complex of cell phone shops, arcade game shops and a movie theater. The first floor of it has plenty of shops selling cell phones, cell phone accessories, cameras, electric devices etc., like Sincere Podium in Hong Kong. The staff doesn’t understand English, though.
I got Nokia 6120 classic at a shop in the building, just for NT$5000. When I looked into my wallet I found enough money I can afford to buy it. It supports HSDPA.
When it comes to cell phones in Taiwan of these days, I found that Nokia wasn’t dominant. I saw not so many people used Nokia handsets. Instead, Sony Ericsson, LG, Samsung seem to be popular among Taiwan’s people. Among them, Samsung’s Anycall brand handsets were seen in many places.
Taipei International Airport looked as if it had been a major airport in Japan. Signs looked almost as same as those in a Japanese airport, except that they were written in traditional Chinese characters.
If you go to the bus stop on the first floor of the airport you can catch a route 705 bus to HSR Taoyuan Station, costing just NT$30 (almost 1USD). It’s too cheap!
There were no other passengers but me in the big double-decked bus.
This is TAIPEI 101, which HAD BEEN world’s tallest building until Burj Khalifa was built in Dubai. It was closed to general people but employees of its tenants.
It’s Shilin Night Market, one of Taipei’s famous night markets crowded for thousands of people from around. At stores of both sides of the main street clothes and wallets were sold for cheaper prices than at department stores. If you get on a branch road you have stinking stalls selling foods.
I got chicken rice at one of the stall. It tasted nice, although stalls around there stank.
