I had a pretty busy weekend. Hence, this is a long post.
I got back to Taiwan on Thursday afternoon and went to my apartment and then to the office. As you can tell based on the posts below, the weather has done the equivalent of kicking me in the groin since I’ve been back.
So I was glad that I had an AC unit in my room (and a big one in the living room). Then as I was about to go to bed the AC in my room stopped working. This is not happening (it was humid and 92 degrees in my room at that point). Since then I have been sleeping in the other bedroom and turning the big AC unit on to keep that other bedroom coolish. The parts for the AC in my room are on order—I just hope they get here before Wednesday since I have to leave for Cambodia on Thursday and if the parts don’t arrive soon it will be one more week until I can get the thing fixed.
In a terrible twist that must be punishing me for a deed in past life (after all there could be no other explanation), one of the two AC units in my office is also broken and my seat is already in the hottest area of the office.
No matter, on Friday night I decided to go check out a new bar I had heard about (at some point I will have to check out the new weekend after party—last call here is 4am and the after party goes 4am-8am—some day when I can stay out until 8am, which is never). The first bar I walked into was a little local lounge bar. The people there were all regulars, I was the only foreigner, I was by myself, and I immediately felt unwelcome. I had a drink and walked out.
In Taipei there are a lot of all you can drink bars. These places give you a cover (usually no more than $20) and turn you lose until closing time at 4am. Sounds like a great way to lose money, but there are so many of them that someone is making some money off the deal.
So the second place I decided to check out was—unbeknownst to me—was an all you can drink place. When I started talking with the hostess I requested no cover but a single drink and I could stand at the bar then leave. She looked at me like that the most insane thing anyone ever said to her. “You want to stand at the bar and have a drink?” she asked me. “Yes.” “Sorry you can’t do that here.” In lieu of that, I decided to check out a new club in town while simultaneously giving up on the idea of going home early.
The place was called Spark (http://www.spark101.com.tw/) and was a huge upgrade on the place that used to be there. There was also an incredible number of models there. I will be going back. Note: I got home at 4:30am.
The next day I went out and sat by a little secret outdoor pool. I would swim then sit outside for a bit and swim again. A lot of people did the same but during their breaks the guys there would light up. If I ever finish swimming laps then get out and say, “I could really use a smoke now,” then I deserve to be shot on the spot. After I got out for good, it started pouring for about an hour. So I talked with some people there and we laughed at the one lady who stayed in the pool despite the lightening storm overhead (if she got zapped I was not going in after her).
That night (Saturday) I ate dinner with two friends that I had not seen for a long time. It was great to see them. After that I met up with about 8 ND students who are in town to study at a local university for the summer. Along with some of their tutors we all went to a karaoke place (KTV). In Asia karaoke is extremely popular. You rent a private room by the hour with your friends and then order lots of food and lots of drinks (or sometimes they have buffets) and then sing. So after we had enough of that we all took off to a hookah bar until 3am.
Sunday I slept in and then got up for a special party. Taiwan has mandatory military service for males. A friend of mine just had a birthday and next week joins the army for his service term. So he invited about 30 people out to the Danshui harbor and rented a boat for a river cruise party. It was absolutely awesome. I had some good food, met some great people, and I was on a boat
Then as we got off people realized that today was my birthday and I allowed myself to be taken to another round of karaoke—even though I had work today (fun way to spend a b-day). I was the only white person in the karaoke room, and me being me I stayed there way way too late. I got home about 4:30am and then got up for work at 7am. After a lot of coffee this morning I was ok. But tomorrow is going to suck; I can already feel the fatigue coming on.
Still the weekend was fun.
I got back to Taiwan on Thursday afternoon and went to my apartment and then to the office. As you can tell based on the posts below, the weather has done the equivalent of kicking me in the groin since I’ve been back.
So I was glad that I had an AC unit in my room (and a big one in the living room). Then as I was about to go to bed the AC in my room stopped working. This is not happening (it was humid and 92 degrees in my room at that point). Since then I have been sleeping in the other bedroom and turning the big AC unit on to keep that other bedroom coolish. The parts for the AC in my room are on order—I just hope they get here before Wednesday since I have to leave for Cambodia on Thursday and if the parts don’t arrive soon it will be one more week until I can get the thing fixed.
In a terrible twist that must be punishing me for a deed in past life (after all there could be no other explanation), one of the two AC units in my office is also broken and my seat is already in the hottest area of the office.
No matter, on Friday night I decided to go check out a new bar I had heard about (at some point I will have to check out the new weekend after party—last call here is 4am and the after party goes 4am-8am—some day when I can stay out until 8am, which is never). The first bar I walked into was a little local lounge bar. The people there were all regulars, I was the only foreigner, I was by myself, and I immediately felt unwelcome. I had a drink and walked out.
In Taipei there are a lot of all you can drink bars. These places give you a cover (usually no more than $20) and turn you lose until closing time at 4am. Sounds like a great way to lose money, but there are so many of them that someone is making some money off the deal.
So the second place I decided to check out was—unbeknownst to me—was an all you can drink place. When I started talking with the hostess I requested no cover but a single drink and I could stand at the bar then leave. She looked at me like that the most insane thing anyone ever said to her. “You want to stand at the bar and have a drink?” she asked me. “Yes.” “Sorry you can’t do that here.” In lieu of that, I decided to check out a new club in town while simultaneously giving up on the idea of going home early.
The place was called Spark (http://www.spark101.com.tw/) and was a huge upgrade on the place that used to be there. There was also an incredible number of models there. I will be going back. Note: I got home at 4:30am.
The next day I went out and sat by a little secret outdoor pool. I would swim then sit outside for a bit and swim again. A lot of people did the same but during their breaks the guys there would light up. If I ever finish swimming laps then get out and say, “I could really use a smoke now,” then I deserve to be shot on the spot. After I got out for good, it started pouring for about an hour. So I talked with some people there and we laughed at the one lady who stayed in the pool despite the lightening storm overhead (if she got zapped I was not going in after her).
That night (Saturday) I ate dinner with two friends that I had not seen for a long time. It was great to see them. After that I met up with about 8 ND students who are in town to study at a local university for the summer. Along with some of their tutors we all went to a karaoke place (KTV). In Asia karaoke is extremely popular. You rent a private room by the hour with your friends and then order lots of food and lots of drinks (or sometimes they have buffets) and then sing. So after we had enough of that we all took off to a hookah bar until 3am.
Sunday I slept in and then got up for a special party. Taiwan has mandatory military service for males. A friend of mine just had a birthday and next week joins the army for his service term. So he invited about 30 people out to the Danshui harbor and rented a boat for a river cruise party. It was absolutely awesome. I had some good food, met some great people, and I was on a boat
Then as we got off people realized that today was my birthday and I allowed myself to be taken to another round of karaoke—even though I had work today (fun way to spend a b-day). I was the only white person in the karaoke room, and me being me I stayed there way way too late. I got home about 4:30am and then got up for work at 7am. After a lot of coffee this morning I was ok. But tomorrow is going to suck; I can already feel the fatigue coming on.
Still the weekend was fun.
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