Gold-medal tour leader Ken Worker: From the dot-com bubble to the boozy bus, a slightly tipsy life

By the time he reached 36, with no special skills to speak of, an empty wallet, and a long stretch of irregular living that made his body protest again and again, a teacher with supernatural powers predicted: "If you don't change, I'm afraid you won't live past 40." At the very start of the interview, the middle-aged Ken Worker (real name Wu Jianyi) candidly recounted the darkest chapter of his life.

Ken Worker becoming the well-known travel expert he is today could be said to have stemmed from this chapter of his history. Like a storyteller, he recounted the sorrows and joys, the bitterness and sweetness of life during the interview. The middle-aged Ken Worker said: "Whether by good fortune or bad, I eventually became the person I am today."

Family ran a guest house hosting American and Japanese guests; loved foreign cultures from childhood

When he was a child, his grandfather ran a guest house in Taipei's Shuangcheng Street and Tianmu, both catering to American military business. From his father to his aunts and uncles, the whole family was involved in running it, and Ken Worker grew up in just such a large family working in the tourism service industry.

The US broke off diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, and American troops withdrew from Taiwan. But Japan's economy began to take off, and the number of travelers coming to Taiwan also increased. Ken Worker's father taught himself Japanese and changed the guest house sign to ホテル, doing business with Japanese guests.

Because of this upbringing, Ken Worker grew up listening to Western music and reading Japanese comics. On top of that, the calendars the airlines gave out always featured the spectacular scenery of various countries. Absorbing all this foreign culture, Ken Worker also developed endless curiosity about the face of the world.

First trip abroad brought deep culture shock; vowed to travel the whole world

In 1981, Ken Worker first stepped out of the country - his father, taking advantage of the window before he entered "military-eligible travel restriction," arranged for the whole family to travel to Japan and Korea. Ken Worker recalled: "That was an era when you still had to wear a garland and take a commemorative photo when leaving and returning." The government had opened up overseas sightseeing only two years earlier, and he got his first taste of seeing the world with his own eyes.

Most people recalling their first trip abroad probably remember only "fun" and "novelty," but the two-week Japan-Korea trip was a thorough cultural baptism for Ken Worker. The 15-year-old boy had all five senses wide open, his heart full of excitement. Standing before the US Navy aircraft carrier Midway docked at Japan's Yokosuka military port, he silently vowed to the Pacific: "In the future, I will travel the whole world."

Catching the wind of the times and becoming an MV director

Harboring the dream of traveling the world yet facing the restless depression of being unable to go abroad, Ken Worker suffered from "post-travel culture shock syndrome" and spent a miserable, gloomy high school period. He moved between several schools and finally entered Fu-Hsin Trade and Arts School. Although he wanted to become a manga artist or animator, he felt he lacked both the drawing skill and the perseverance. Still, over the next few years, he rode the wind of the times all the way, accumulating the causes and conditions for what came later.

Wang Zhicheng (the poet Lu Hanxiu), his Chinese literature teacher at Fu-Hsin Trade and Arts School, encouraged students to recite poetry in Taiwanese. Ken Worker, who had always been steeped in foreign cultures, only then had the chance to examine his own identification with Taiwan. He watched LD (note) at the "Solar System" and received the baptism of the French New Wave; he also personally attended the historic scene of Chen Sheng, Lo Ta-yu, Li Shouquan and others making their "debut" at the since-burned-down Chung Hwa Stadium. Before Lin Qiang released "Keep Going Forward," Ken Worker had already been left dumbstruck by his performance at a National Taiwan Academy of Arts campus concert.

After being discharged from the military, Ken Worker went to work at an advertising production company. That was an era when Taiwanese commercials were just beginning to undergo a qualitative change. Ken Worker met many talented partners in the workplace. His first business trip abroad was to Singapore to shoot the MRT, providing simulated footage for Taiwan's then-unfinished rapid transit system.

MTV became popular starting in the 1990s, and advertising companies also tried their hand at shooting music videos. Ken Worker's first directorial work was singer Guo Zi's "About Parting"; Li Zongsheng's "Song of Ordinary People" and Zhao Chuan's "Always on my mind" were also MVs he shot. At the same time, at the invitation of a director friend, he appeared completely nude in Na Ying's "Conquer."

The heavier the luggage, the lighter the soul

The life of shooting films and drawing storyboards looked glamorous, but work and life still could not avoid setbacks. When life hit hard times, the desire to travel would surge powerfully to the surface.

By then it was exactly 10 years since his father first took him abroad, and Ken Worker could finally continue writing the chapter of "traveling the whole world." After visiting France and Switzerland and experiencing the flavor of Europe, just two weeks after returning to Taiwan, Ken Worker set off again for North America, immersing himself in different scenery. On the return trip he deliberately chose to transfer in Tokyo, and even climbed Mount Fuji with friends, fulfilling a certain "symbolic meaning" of traveling in Japan.

Ken Worker felt he drew a lot of energy from traveling. He bought many CDs and magazines, and also collected quite a few maps. His luggage grew heavier and heavier, but his soul grew lighter and lighter. "I remember when I came back from Europe, my sister told me she had never seen me in such good spirits!" He even discovered that when he could not travel, just looking at foreign travel books or scenery films could bring him comfort.

Rising to the peak of life thanks to the internet, yet also boarding the "runaway train"

The experience he accumulated at the production company gave Ken Worker the chance to shoot promotional videos for the Institute for Information Industry's internet services. Because shooting films required doing a lot of homework, he gained abundant internet knowledge. "I suddenly discovered that the online world was full of hope," he said. In 1995, dial-up internet was still the norm, with SeedNet and Hinet as the mainstream. The world faced the Y2K bug on one side, while on the other, because of dot-coms (.com), millionaires were popping up out of nowhere.

Ken Worker said that at the time many people were enthusiastic about internet investment, and many organizations invited him to write columns or to draft proposals to raise funds. Later he opened a personal news station on the "Ming Daily" and wrote more than two thousand "internet trend" articles in all. He also teamed up with several online writers to form the "Internet Workers' Front." The online alias Ken Worker was born precisely in that stage.

"That was a dark yet vibrant era." What was vibrant was thought. To write articles, Ken Worker read desperately and went to English websites to find material, writing his views on the internet industry and the stories of how American internet companies rose to prominence. His storyteller qualities were cultivated right then.

In mid-2000, the dot-com bubble burst, and Ken Worker, who still harbored dreams of an internet startup, fell to rock bottom overnight. "I myself had once held forth grandly about the new internet economy, touting a beautiful future," yet the gold he had once gripped in his hand turned to foam in an instant, leaving his hands wet, his face dirty, and his whole body wounded.