Taipei Times: How does it feel to have what many would consider to be the best job in the world and are your friends jealous?
Kevin Brauch: It's pretty damn good. It's my lottery win, or that's what I like to say. It is amazing. And after almost four years I still have as much disbelief as everybody else that there is actually a job like this.
My friends hate my guts. Their idea of what I do is that I sit around the hotel pool and drink all day and wherever I go it is sunny and warm and that I get to fly first class.
PHOTO: GAVIN PHIPPS, TAIPEI TIMES
All of that's bullshit, though. Like all jobs it can be hard work at times, and with the exception of the occasional bump up to business or first class, I'm at the back the bus like everyone else most of the time.
TT: You used to present kids' shows on Canadian TV, so how on earth did you get a gig that lets you to travel the world and enjoy the more adult oriented pastime of drinking?
KB: I used to work in Toronto and one day I got a call from a TV company in Calgary. They said they had an adult lifestyle show titled The Thursday Traveler and would I be interested in hosting it. I thought great, The Thursday Traveler, a three-day weekend, how far can you go? I'd be back in time for work on Monday. So I said OK and that I was interested in hosting the show.
Of course, the whole time I'm talking to the station guy I'm calling the show `Thursday Traveler.' The guy on the other end of the phone finally took time to pause and said "I think you heard me wrong, I said the `Thirsty Traveler.' I figured that was even better, so I agreed to do it straight away.
TT: How many countries has the Thirsty Traveler been inebriated in and how many more do you think your liver can take?
KB: Over the past four years we've filmed and I've drunk in 33 countries. I figure that I've got at least another two years before the format runs flat and, or my liver says `no more!' We're going to China and Tasmania this year and are talking about India and Egypt and we're planning to do Spain. I'd love to checkout Iceland, though. They're pretty rabid drinkers, especially during the winter months. And I've heard that the girls are cute there as well.
TT: Have there been times when you've been too drunk to go in front of the camera?
KB: I've gotten legless, but it's not been of my own accord. It's been because of the hospitality I'm shown by the guests. At Korean BBQ in Seoul I was drinking beer and soju. It was my first insight into Korean hospitality and believe me it was a mess. They're vicious drinkers and I say that with all respect
TT: Has there ever been an occasion where you have had to say no to a drink?
KB: To date, I've never refused a drink, but I came pretty close once. We were at this famous restaurant just outside of Moscow to shoot an introduction to the vodka episode and before we could begin filming the owner wanted to drink with us to get a feel for what and who we were.
So he got out his own homemade flavored vodkas. Christ, they were awful. He's got a great restaurant that looks beautiful and has amazing food, but he had the shitiest vodka I have ever drunk.
I drank ten shots on a Saturday morning before I'd started filming. Then I had to go through the tasting session with the guest. By noon I'd had more 15 shots, which is closing in on alcohol poisoning. I recovered, but it was a long day, and in the evening when we had to go out for dinner I nursed one beer.
TT: What and where was the foulest concoction you've ever had to consume?
KB: Germany. I'm not knocking the Germans, I mean I have German ancestors, but, God, they make some awful schnapps and all in the name of digestion.
They say that appetizers open up the pallet, but when they make this stuff out of roots from the forest floor, add spices and some bark for flavor then let it sit for six weeks it's just vile. It makes Jagermeister taste like candy.
TT: When you're not drinking for work what's your poison and how do you unwind?
KB: I'm a bit of a beer and wine guy. Call it self-preservation kicking in, but when I'm not working I go home to clean up a bit.
I go to the gym to workout and watch soccer on television. I enjoy wine and beer with a meal. It's the thing to do. I don't know why anybody would ruin a good meal with a coke. I just don't understand that. But ideally, and if I had the choice I'd love to be in Jamaica drinking rum and cold Red Stripes and enjoying the hospitality of the locals, if you know what I mean.
April 28 to May 4 During the Japanese colonial era, a city’s “first” high school typically served Japanese students, while Taiwanese attended the “second” high school. Only in Taichung was this reversed. That’s because when Taichung First High School opened its doors on May 1, 1915 to serve Taiwanese students who were previously barred from secondary education, it was the only high school in town. Former principal Hideo Azukisawa threatened to quit when the government in 1922 attempted to transfer the “first” designation to a new local high school for Japanese students, leading to this unusual situation. Prior to the Taichung First
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) hatched a bold plan to charge forward and seize the initiative when he held a protest in front of the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office. Though risky, because illegal, its success would help tackle at least six problems facing both himself and the KMT. What he did not see coming was Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (將萬安) tripping him up out of the gate. In spite of Chu being the most consequential and successful KMT chairman since the early 2010s — arguably saving the party from financial ruin and restoring its electoral viability —
The Ministry of Education last month proposed a nationwide ban on mobile devices in schools, aiming to curb concerns over student phone addiction. Under the revised regulation, which will take effect in August, teachers and schools will be required to collect mobile devices — including phones, laptops and wearables devices — for safekeeping during school hours, unless they are being used for educational purposes. For Chang Fong-ching (張鳳琴), the ban will have a positive impact. “It’s a good move,” says the professor in the department of
Toward the outside edge of Taichung City, in Wufeng District (霧峰去), sits a sprawling collection of single-story buildings with tiled roofs belonging to the Wufeng Lin (霧峰林家) family, who rose to prominence through success in military, commercial, and artistic endeavors in the 19th century. Most of these buildings have brick walls and tiled roofs in the traditional reddish-brown color, but in the middle is one incongruous property with bright white walls and a black tiled roof: Yipu Garden (頤圃). Purists may scoff at the Japanese-style exterior and its radical departure from the Fujianese architectural style of the surrounding buildings. However, the property
RSS