Travel Diary
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Saturday, Jan 02, 2010
I felt like I had slept in until 10 or 11, but it was only 9 am when I arose. I got a little writing done before Terry and I went out to pick up breakfast. I will admit that even McDonald's looked tempting as we walked by it. To be honest, I wanted what we had the prior morning: scrambled eggs and toast. But the foods we bought were tasty and did have eggs and rice. One item was just that--egg wrapped in rice. We got some pastries too. Heading home, I wanted a good coffee. Starbucks was available, but seemed overpriced, so we tried Ichiro. It was good. The caramel macchiato tastes like a caramel macchiato. They got that down.
The afternoon break was quick as we were soon headed out to a paper museum. Several train stops were needed until we reached another part of town. From there, we entered a museum focusing on the history of paper in Taiwan. The exhibits were informative and interesting. Soon, a tour began. The tour was nice and probably would have been nicer if I had understood any of it (it was all in Chinese). Still, they demonstrated the process of making paper from recycled paper. That was fun to see. Brianna even served as a volunteer and got to keep the sample she made. Again, it was very informative, and if you're ever in Taipei, it's worth checking out. It's also very cheap ($3 USD).
After the paper tour, Terry and I headed into the electronics market, while the girls stayed behind for more paper activities. The electronics area is like Fry's on acid. Shops selling everything from cameras to televisions to computer motherboards are everywhere, with a huge multi-story building devoted just to electronics. We browsed a while. I bought nothing, though the new Canon 7D certainly was tempting.
Not knowing where the girls were at and being too cold to wait, we headed back to the train and then home. I was dead tired. But alas, I didn't sleep.
We kicked back for a while until the girls came home. They brought a peeking duck meal, which was very tasty. The kids had McDonalds (I didn't judge). I had a beer and then a few shots (they didn't judge). No use wasting time; it was a party night.
When the babysitter arrived, we headed out. The trains were crowded and we went over to the 101 Area. Since we weren't entering until 11 pm, we looked for some food.
The weather was poor and rain was falling. I was thankful to have brought along an umbrella.
Lesly got a Starbuck's coffee, but I wanted beer. I finally picked one up at a 7/11, but wondered where to drink it. We circled around a bit, and then grabbed some food at an Irish Potato place, where Terry bought fries and a few more beers (Corona). I drank that beer and was too full for my can of beer which I bought 10 minutes prior. Ironic that I worked so hard to get it and only drank about 1/5 of the can.
Finally, it was club time. They carded us upon entering. I had no idea that would be necessary. The drinking age is 18, and I figured I'd at least look that. But they wanted a card; I showed my ATM. They asked my name. I answered. It did the trick.
Inside, it was crazy.
The music was pounding. It was quite dark, but with spinning colored lights all around. We had a booth in a prime location and met the others. I forget most of the names (actually, with the loud music, I probably never heard the names to begin with). But I remember, Annie, Lisa, and Aerial.
After some drinks, we danced for a spell. The floor was roomy around 11 pm, but that changed fast. At 11:30 pm, we danced again and the floor was jam packed. We could barely move. It was actually easier to dance back in the booth. Inside there, we drank, took photos, watched the emcee and stage girls, and had a great time. I must say, I can't remember when I had so much fun at a club. It was definitely the best memory of Taipei so far.
While the drinking was heavy, I paced myself well. Towards the end, I even diluted my rum and coke (or whatever the drink was). I didn't want a hangover. The night went on until past 2 am when we left. That seemed too early, since I was ready to stay for a couple more hours, but we were getting tired, and, more importantly, the loud music was probably damaging my ears. It wasn't just loud, it was deafening. The bass would shake your clothing; it was so powerful. I'm amazed some people do this every night. I expect you'll someday recognize them as the ones with hearing aids in their mid-30s. It just doesn't seem smart. But for every once in a while, it's a blast!
We grabbed a taxi home and crashed pretty fast. It was our second late night partying, but a fun one indeed. My savvy drinking skills paid off; no hangover. Life is good.
