taiwan

TAIPEI
Last week Eug and I were in Taipei visiting his family. His dad’s side is pretty nuts. They have this stuffed rooster and every time someone claps or there’s just a lot of noise the thing goes off with a loud cok cokuhh!! So more than few times, when things were getting very animated, the addition of the rooster felt a little like we were in a looney bin. Pretty funny. Eug’s mother’s side of the family is a little more normal.

We stayed with his aunt who’s probably almost 70. She’s got crazy amounts of energy. She still rides on her motorbike and has recently injured her foot in an accident. One of many, we were told.

It got very cold while we were there and yet most times, the car window’s were ¼ of the way down. One thing I still haven’t found an answer for.

We ate a lot. I loved the food. The street food is awesome. Thus, most our pics are of food. I hate the stinky tofu though and don’t think I will ever acquire a taste for it. We smelled it on Saturday in hong kong. The stench seems to have followed me back. I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from either, sneaky little bastard.

All in all, we had a really good time. Eug and I like Taipei more than HK. People there just nicer. No one looked at us like we were nuts. People were helpful. The food is better. At least the everyday food is. love the streetfood. Taipei feels bigger. In the sense that there’s a bit more beyond just LKF and shopping. The neighborhoods vary more. And it isn’t littered with beauty stores and diet before and after ads. There are areas that are more like the east village or LES, with local designers. And there are just more divey-type places where you can just chill and drink and have some good food with your buddies. I mean, I guess what it comes down to is Taipei is not crazy a expat haven like HK.

see the rest of the pics here: http://www.flickr.com/gp/36755245@N00/6t98Z1





















NYE
With a belly full of yummy food, Sam, Eug and I started our night off by being shoved into an overcrowded subway heading to Taipei 101 to watch the fireworks. Don’t know what were thinking. This was like Time Square Asia. Madhouse. Thank god for our pocket bottles of whiskey. We decided to stroll away from the crowd in search of a bar and a television set, taking sips along the way to warm ourselves up. At last, we found an empty Japanese restaurant and spent the countdown with the employees and their little firework popper things. Pak and Ning joined us after where they found us waving madly out the window and wishing passers-by a happy new year. Most stared at us confused for the first few seconds and then broke out into a big smile and actually waved back. A few ignored us, but oh well!
here are photos from sam's camera.