Taipei, Taiwan

Red Bull and vodka is evil. Not only does it taste funky, but it leaves me completely cracked out the next day or two. The boys and I rolled into Taipei on the bus and put our stuff in a HI hostel. ODed on more greasy street food at the Shilin night market and then head over to room 18 for clubbing. How come I travel across the world and all I catch is east coast hip hop? DJ Kool of 'Let Me Clear My Throat' fame (he did that routine twice) was spinning for the well heeled Taiwanese party set. Cool club, but it was hard to start conversations since all I really convey is hello.

Spent the next day wandering around the in the heat looking at parts of old town. I love the dehumanizing scale of civic architecture; it is all about oppressive size. There was some sort of football festival about the gear up at the Chiang Kai-shek memorial and after the prerequisite amount of touristy stuff I went to Da'an park to stumble into Canada day festivities.

Being a white westerner in Taiwan is like that Gershwin song. The basic necessities of life are cheap in Taiwan and one can still have a ridiculously good time. Lots of backpackers looking to teach conversational English and save a little cash before going back to Thailand or wherever. People don't take themselves too seriously and folks I talked to readily admit they little direction or idea of what to do with their life. The honesty is refreshing.

We went back to the Shilin night market where this time I was a little more discriminating with my food selection. Cabbed it over to Taipei 101 area and caught the MC Hotdog concert in the huge warehouse concert hall. He was like dying in my sleep, didn't feel it... though as bikini parties go, this was pretty silly good. Roc Radia dropped a party set afterwards (again with the east coast!?) and then caught the after parties at Plush and the Partyroom. Lost part of my tooth at Plush. Fun, but I seriously have to learn Mandarin if I want to explore the local scene. Back to the backpackers hostel at dusk.

I'm kicking it cubicle supastar style right now and have a presentation I need to get together by Friday. I am getting used to the gig, the food and being surrounded by a language I don't understand, but do feel the occasional pang of homesickness. Ok, gotta get some stuff done before lunch. I do hope it is Chinese again...