Taiwan & Singapore round-up

It has been 2 weeks since we were back from Singapore. I have been busy with analysing my experimental data, but I thought I would take a break and post my thoughts on the Taiwan and Singapore visit.

Taiwan
This was the longest time I spend in Taiwan. And as like before, I NEVER really travelled anywhere, and spend most of the time in Academia Sinica lab and Kenting NMMBA. The nice was fruitful. I return from the trip with sequences from my experiment 1. I was nervous that the results would turn out bad and I need to re-do some of the samples. However, it turned out that the sequences are within acceptable range. I have a total of more than 120,000 sequences for 49 samples, which makes for a long of work in the upcoming weeks.

Besides working on my experiment, I managed to make a few important contacts in both NMMBA and Academia Sinica. I hope to be able to develop these contacts into a working relationship. Keeping fingers crossed....

A good thing about this trip was the well-deserved week-long vacation at the end of the three months. Hannah and I toured a few tourist-must-visit locations, and you would have probably read some of her posts. Also, at the same time, it gives Hannah the opportunity to see if she likes the environment in Taiwan - who knows if I or she will get an opportunity to develop our career further there.

Did you notice the Academia Sinica lab is mostly girls!?

Singapore
Singapore was mostly spending time with family. Hannah and I have visited most of the tourist spots during previous visits, so we planned to spend more time with my family on this trip. We helped my mom with the Chinese New Year shoppings, playing and talking with the nephews and just hanging out at home. Again, Hannah will probably give a more detail account of our Singapore trip...

I also took the opportunity to visit a fellow PhD student/ friend in National University of Singapore (NUS), just to check out if there is any possibility of post-doc in Singapore. Singapore has a very "realistic" government and thus most of the science research that are carried out in Singapore has an applied aspect rather than just exploratory science. One of the most prominent research that is going on in the country now is the study of biofilm and wastewater treatment - the universities are starting to pay more attention to the microbial aspect of these issues and according to the "grapevine", more than SGD1 billion has been injected to fund the programs!.. Needs to check this out further!

We also had the time to catch up with friends - Alfred and Cheryl, and god-daughter, Olivia; Linda and Francis. One of the memorable time on this Singapore trip was the post-reunion family dinner. It was a rare occasion that the whole family gathers around the dinner table. It was fun...

In the meantime, we are home, back to the grind!

Disclaimer -  there may be spelling and grammar mistakes.. no time to check... too much data, too little time

New Year lunch

It's the last day of 2013. Dr. Tang bought pizza for the lab. It was an informal and fast lunch because everyone is busy with their work. We also took the opportunity to wish Xue-Ping all the best in her future endeavours. Today is her last day of work. She had helped me so much on and off during these two years... every time I am here in Taiwan for my research, whether is it field or lab work, she is here to give me a hand.

Happy new year everyone.

(Clockwise) Me "with the mask", Wei-Ling, Chia-Ling, Xue-Ping,
Hsing-Ju, Jia-Ho, Pei-Wen, Shan-Hua.

Dr. Tang, Ching-Hung, Beck

Beck, Yu-Ting, Chia-Ling

Xue-Ping

Jia-Ho

Working in the new lab

I have been back from Kenting for a week now, and since been working in the lab at Academia Sinica. I have been working on extracting microbial DNA from the samples I collected in June. It is a LONG and TEDIOUS process. From previous posts, you probably knew that we moved to a new building. And I am the first one to work in the new lab - which means I have to figure out where are all the things (instrument, suppliers, kits etc) are... it was quite an adventure. The new place has a balcony which overlooks the hills, and my colleagues are out there occasionally to enjoy the views. On the other hand, I was too busy to enjoy any views. In fact, I was so busy that I am still working on weekends (both Sat and Sun). The way I see it, I am here to work, and not for vacation, so if I have the chance, I should be working. So, here I am again, on Sunday, and doing gel extractions.

Moving

Dr. Tang's lab is moving to a new building next week. So we have to stop all experiments this week, and start packing. There are boxes and boxes of flask, tubes, instruments etc. everywhere. It is a hiccup in my planned schedule because I was hoping to finish part of my work this week. However, it gives me more time to write my paper and I can continue my experiment next week.

It was the birthday of two lab members this week - Amber and Jin-Hong. There is huge thing in Taiwan now with huge rubber ducks! It seems that every province in Taiwan had borrowed/ bought this huge rubber duck (about 10m high) from Germany. They had placed it in the rivers and ponds of the respective province as tourist attractions. Due to weather and bad management, these ducks have "die" one after another (the rubber duck burst!)... back to the birthday... so for their birthday, their cake was the RUBBER DUCK!.... :)

Apartment in Taipei

As promised, here are some photos of the apartment I am staying in Taipei. It is located right in the institute, and the rent is about NZD300 per month! I have to pay additional NZD50 per month for the rental to exchange for new bed sheet and pillow case. Washing machines and dryer are located in the basement of the building, and it cost about NZD2 per 40mins wash (I think..haven't use it yet).

It is less than 5 mins walk to the lab, and the location is quiet as well. There are lots of shops around, and restaurants in the institute are not too expensive (about NZD3.5 for dinner) as well.

Excuse the poor quality of the photos. I am taking pictures using my iphone, which my sister gave to me...it is her older 3S version... even my nephews have 4S versions. However, I am very pleased with this phone, having been using a non-smart phone for years...this is a new experience :) The nicer, better quality photos will have to wait until Hannah comes with the better camera.

Living / dining room

Bedroom... single bed..so it will be slightly more cozy when
Hannah arrives :)

Refrigerator

Even has a microwave and water heater

Spotted crane hunting in the artificial pond / reserve
on the way to the lab

Back in Taiwan

Back to my lab and field work in Taiwan. I have been here since Oct 27, but trying to catch up with what I left behind the last time, thus did not have much time to write until now. I will be here until end of January 2014, and then will be going to Singapore for a couple of weeks (for Chinese New Year) before heading back to Auckland.

The goals for this trip is :
- finish all the microbial DNA samples for experiment 1, and send it for sequencing
- conduct experiment 2 (lab manipulation flow-temperature) and part of experiment 3 (field manipulation flow-temperature)
- extract microbial DNA samples for experiment 2 and experiment 3, and send it for sequencing

Hannah is joining me in Taiwan on January 1st, 2004! We know that it is a luxury when our budget is so tight. However, I knew that it is going to be tough for both of us when I am going to be away for 3 months (especially through Christmas, New Year and our wedding anniversary!). Therefore, I convinced her that we should try to get her on this trip, and we would save more when the school starts next year. Also, we feel that it is a good time to visit my parents for Chinese New Year as well.

I am trying to get as much done as possible before Hannah reaches Taiwan. I was (secretly, hopefully) hoping that I can get the last week off from work so that I can tour around Taiwan with Hannah. Believe it or not, this is my third trip, and I have only been around the research institute and my field site! Not much touring around the rest of Taiwan.

This time I am staying in the hostel in Academia Sinica. The place is SO MUCH better than the last one (I will try to put up some photos soon) and the rent is cheap as well. Accommodation is paid using the research funds, but I need as much funds as possible for all the stuffs that I need to work on.

Busy, busy...

Taiwan research trip June 2013

Lunch -

Stewed fatty pork

Rice, fatty pork, egg, tofu, vegetables

Cost NZD 4 (NT 80)

Stewed fatty pork

 Dinner -
Drumstick rice
NZD 3.75 (NT 65)

Drumstick rice

And of course, Taiwanese snack -

Salty seasoned chicken

Cost NZD 5 (NT 100)

Salty seasoned chicken

Coral mucus microbial community PCR/DNA test

:)

:D

Taiwan research trip June 2013

I went out to the Raohe St. Night Market with my colleagues. It was very crowed, and warm. There are food stalls everywhere! There are stalls selling clothes, jewellery etc, and even puppies and kittens! I was even at a stall pondering should I buy an Er-hu...maybe next time :)

Raohe St. Night Market

Dinner -
Herbal pork ribs soup (a bit like Bak-ku-teh)
Cost NZD 3.5 (NT 70)

Herbal pork ribs soup

Had a cup of bubble tea, as always! :)

Bubble tea!

There is a shop which features traditional beauty "cosmetics"! Woman are using a string to remove hair follicles on the face. A dying art!

Dessert -
Mango ice
Cost NZD 5 (NT 100)

Mango ice

Colleagues

Enjoying pork ribs with colleagues

Taiwan research trip June 2013

Have been busy in the lab, thus not been trying anything special. Just want something cheap and fast to eat every lunch and dinner. Found this great place for dinner this evening.

Dinner -
Chicken chop rice
Rice, chicken chop, egg, braised tofu, vegetables
Cost NZD 2.5 (NT 50)

Chicken chop rice

Taiwan research trip June 2013

If you are a tea lover, you will know that Taiwan is also famous for its tea. There are very expensive tea   for sale in speciality shops. And there is also Taiwan Bubble Tea! I love Taiwan bubble tea - and here, you will find at least one shop selling bubble tea in every block! There are so many varieties - tea with milk, tea with milk with jelly, green tea, etc. If you can think of any combination, they can make it up!

Cost is around NZD 2 - NZD 3.75 (NT 40 - NT 65) per large cup

Mango, green tea with aloe vera

Milk tea with bubble and red beans

Dinner -
Stinking tofu steamboat
Rice, assorted seafood (mussels, prawn, fish cake etc.), tofu, duck blood, pig blood, vegetables, rice noodles
NZD 5 (NT 100)

They even have a facebook page!
Third mom's stinking tofu steamboat

Stinking tofu steamboat

Taiwan research trip June 2013 - RNA failure!

It had been a frustrating three days in the lab! I was trying to extract the RNA from the coral tissue since I was back in Taipei. However, every time I tested the integrity of the sample RNA (after a whole day's work on extraction!), it failed. The results were that the RNA had degraded! After three long, frustrating days to troubleshoot what went wrong, we came to the conclusion - it was the method which we used to remove the coral tissue that degraded the RNA! As a result, all the samples which I had done in Kenting (which I used the same coral tissue removal method) could not be used to analyse the heat shock protein (hsp) in the coral RNA... Well.. that sucks!

I was worried that this might happen, thus, I had decided that I need another physiological marker for coral stress indicator - the photosynthetic yield from the DivingPAM. The data from the DivingPAM looked fine (keeping fingers crossed) so far (I only finished half the data analyses). However, in terms of Experiment 1, the failure to be able to run qPCR on the coral RNA hsp meant that I would not have any molecular bioindicator for coral stress :(

Not the end of the World (keep telling myself that). I still have results. Now, just have to move on to do other stuffs - microbe DNA extraction, HPLC etc. Next, I will have to ask around to find a sure-proof way of coral tissue removal in the field to ensure the integrity of RNA.

I guess that's what experiments are about!... RNA!  >=(

I splurged on dinner to make myself feel better...
Dinner -
Beef noodle soup, side-dishes (no idea what they were!...recommendation from the shop)
Cost NZD 6 (NT 120)

Beef noodle soup

Side dishes

Taiwan research trip June 2013

Had dinner with Shan-Hua. We had a great talk about our research, school, politics, family etc. I bought her dinner for all the help she gave me all these time.

Dinner
Rice, chicken, vegetables, egg, sausgaes, tofu, vegetables etc
Cost NZD 12.35 (NT 247)

Dinner with Shan-Hua

Taiwan research trip June 2013 - Back in Taipei

Arrived safety in Taipei with the liquid nitrogen :) I had lunch on the train and it was a bit expensive, but I was hungry from all the carrying!

Lunch -
Train lunch box
Rice, tomato sauce chicken, carrot, tofu, vegetables
Cost NZD 6 (NT 120)

Train lunch box

Had dinner with one of my colleagues (Yi-Lung) in one of the noodle store near the lab.

Dinner -
Thick sauce noodle
Cost NZD 3 (NT 60)

Thick sauce noodle

Taiwan research trip June 2013

The flat I am currently staying is completely different from the last time I was here. It was due to that it is summer here, and the accommodation in the institute are all already booked. So I am staying in a place that looks like the one Michael Westen is staying in in Mexico (Burn Notice New Season)! Here are the pics:

This is the flat.. My room is on the roof (NOT PENTHOUSE!)

The street view

When you enter the door of the building,
there is a stairway at the end of the dark corridor

The short walkway to my room..
the metal door at the end of the walkway

My room....

Taiwan research trip June 2013

Today is Dragon Boat Festival, and the lab is closed. I took the opportunity to go and watch the dragon boat race. It was an EXTREMELY warm day - 33 degC by 11am in the morning!

Breakfast  -
Vegetable pancake (DELICIOUS!) and soya drink
Cost NZD 2.25 (NT45)

Vegetable pancake and soya drink

Lunch -
Soy chicken rice with vegetables
Cost NZD 3.25 (NT 65)

Soy chicken with vegetables

Dinner -
Packed lunch box
Rice, pork chop, egg, cabbage, spicy picked vegetable, sausage, red and green capsicum
Cost NZD 3.25 (NT 65)

Packed lunch box

Taiwan research trip June 2013

Preparing all the necessary items for the field on Thursday - scuba gear,, molecular expendables, diving PAM, and liquid nitrogen!

All instruments tested, packed and ready to go!

Pouring liquid nitrogen...
somehow everyone avoids him!

Taiwan research trip June 2013

Dinner -
Formosa Chang Lunch Box
Rice, cabbage, bak-choy, beef, egg, tofu, picked vegetables, luncheon meat
Cost NZD3.00 (NT60)

Formosa Chang Lunch Box

The lunch box is slightly smaller than the one I had yesterday (in fact it wasn't...found out later the hard way!). I bought another cold noodle from the 7-Eleven.

Jumbo cold noodles (7-eleven)
Noodle, sesame peanut sauce, oil, cucumber pieces
Cost NZD 2.25 (NT45).

Jumbo cold noodles (7-eleven)

Jumbo cold noodles (7-eleven)