Day 4 - Sat - Taipei

Today was fairly action-packed, I think because even though kids are in school on Saturday and a fair amount of people work, there are twice as many people out and about. And for my kids that read this, here they go to school every day from 7 to 5, and on Saturday. During the week, if the parents have money, they then go to 'cram school' which is like club sports to us but they go to school to compete in academics. Another 4 hours at night.

Which is why the Chinese are taking over the world.

Today started off with the cheese and bacon quesadilla thing. I thought I would probably lose weight here, but I am actually eating worse than when I am home. We then went to the Day Market in DaJia, which is exactly like I would have pictured an outdoor market. Tons of people everywhere, and they are selling everything from t-shirts to duck heads. I am also acquiring a taste for iced coffee, which I have occasionally at home but they drink here instead of soda. And bubble tea, which is tea which big tapioca balls floating in it. I am still not clear on the concept.

We then took the train up to Taipei; the only notable thing was me, Jen, her overnight bag, my suitcase, carry on, and shoulder bag all on her scooter to the train station.

When we got to Taipei, we of course didn't have a plan. So we went to the first hotel we saw, and it was nice but really tiny. There is about 2 feet of space around the bed. We then set off on a tour of the city, and saw a few parks and memorials and other touristy stuff. Then off to the Night Market, which was hugely crazy. Like the day market in DaJia, but about a hundred times bigger with people just packed in. Imagine maybe 5 city blocks of narrow streets, with stands set up in front of the stores to further narrow the streets. Then throw in people packed in like a bar; then throw in the periodic idiots that decide they need to go through the market on scooters. Again, you can get almost anything, though at the night market the food seems more meant to be consumed on the spot than taken home.

Next we met Jen's friends Katherine and Liam at a happy hour sorta thing, there is just a huge outdoor patio with like a 100 tables and maybe 10 bars in a circle around it. Somehow they decide which bar is going to wait on you and drinks show up. And many did. But they were both very fun....

Then we were off to the clubs, the first of which was very gay. There are several gay boys in Jen's circle of friends (and a few that don't know they're gay). I was just happy I got alittle play, more that I would ever get in a straight club, I had a few of the boys give me a smile. And I'm not like that, but if I was, there was some very cute little boys in there. There is a very fine line between the boys and girls here, even the straight boys are very fem and pay more attention to their hair and clothes than the girls. but that's another topic entirely.

So then we try to go to another club to meet some of Jen's friends, and the taxi driver doesn't of course know any english and just assumes we are gay, and drops us off at another gay club. We finally get where we were going, and oddly the gay friends were at the straight club. But long story short, a good time with no major drama. Though one of jen's female friends was apparently in a bar fight at the place right before the last place. But considering most of the girls here are built like mary kate/ashley, I'm guessing it was probably with a dude and she still took him down. It was, at the least, good people watching. They played some really crappy american songs, that I don't even know the words to, and the taiwanese would know every word. And I noticed that even the really dorky American boys would get alot of play from the local girls, which is why I am guessing they were here....