Taipei, Taiwan

There are times when being anti-social is a means of self preservation. Left work a little early on Friday to dinner with a friend's landlord's family. Along with the soft shelled crab, stinky tofu, steak and other delicacies there was booze; half the table was drinking watered down whiskey while the rest had beer. Every 5 minutes was a toast which involved lifting the glass and slamming the cup in front of you. We were at the table for 3 hours... and then we went for karaoke.

We barely escaped. Just a little worse for wear, we chilled for a minute at the apartment and then went to Party Room. That was a club full of dudes bopping to aggrorock so we went to Bed II to have a drink and a smoke with the bartender. Closed that place out and then went to Carnegie's, a foreigner joint that featuring dancing on the bar, hookers and people paring up along predetermined ethnic lines.

Ximendeng, an area for everything marketed for teenagers was perhaps a bit much for a location to walk off a hangover. So instead I wandered the halls of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei. The 'Slowtech' exhibit featured digital works that take time and attention to appreciate, which was a fitting contrast for the information overload that is Taipei. Took the train to catch a martial arts show at the Taipei Story House and then visited the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. There are some impressive Taiwanese artists gracing their many walls. I am making it a point to visit museums on my travels. Public art museums are the temples of ideas and expression and moments of quiet reflection in galleries are needed to recharge my batteries.

Went over to 101 afterwards. Saturday was my birthday and I spent a minute staring that the tallest building in the world listening to '3 Feet High and Rising' and thinking of the events of last year: ridiculous, frenetic and transformative. Took the lift up and spent the extra $NT 100 to go to the outdoor deck. The tuned mass damper in that building is aesthetics and engineering combined.

Napped for a bit and then got up at 2 am to met up with an old school party friend of a DJ buddy. Went to this afterhours place called Roxy Vibe that was OK. It had a good party atmosphere, but days travels wore me out and breaking through cultural paradigms in order to start conversation was a bit much. Had some tasty breakfast and then spent the rest of the day dozing.

I puttered around for a while, read a little about Thailand and then met up with another friend of a friend at the Taiwan Beer Bar where the beer is cheap and made in the Brewery next door the same day. Had some easy conversation, tofu, eggplant and greens to go along with the beer. Took the MRT to the bus station and then made it back to Hsinchu where I finished my presentation for this morning. I am too tired to end this entry with something witty.