Sunday, November 25, 2007

Random Events/ Birthday party

So yesterday was a lot of fun. I was walking around near my apartment and found a great place to eat some shui jiao (dumplings) and a good mian (noodle) shop. After stuffing my self to the brim I decided to explore the streets some more. As I was walking a heard some music playing and it sounded relatively close so I started to head towards the noise. It turns out that there was a Taiwan band festival going on all day. Entrance to the festival was free so I headed on in to take a listen. It was so much fun. We had a great view of the Taipei 101 (tallest building in the world) in the back groud and the music was bucuo (pretty good). I got there right as a Chinese punk band was finishing up there set and really liked their music. It was a change of pace from the normal chinese pop music on the radio, which consists of mostly love songs. At the end of their set the band members explained that they were poor musicians but they were having a great time playing music, the crowd seemed to take sympathy with them because tons of people starting throwing 10 yuan coins onto the stage. It was so darn funny to see the band dodging money while trying to play there last song. I was going to take some pictures of the event and the Taipei 101 when I realized that I had left my camera battery charging at home.

On my way back to my apartment I got a phone call from my friend inviting me to a birthday lunch on Sunday (today) and I decided to join. So today I took the MRT to meet all of them for lunch. First of all the food was absolutely wonderful. The restaurant was a mix of Chinese and Italian cuisine so there were a lot of rice/noodle dishes filled with chicken, shrimp, and other various meats and vegetables. It was interesting to be an outsider at this kind of nice meal because everyone was taking pictures, like every 10 seconds. My friend explained to me that when the go out for a nice meal they like to take pictures of every single dish they order, that way they can remember what they all had and share pictures with others of the whole experience. Not only were a lot of pictures taken people where playing video games at the meal??? I guess I just don't get it yet. I thought the picture taking was a little silly, but then I ended up getting carried away with it as well. It was interesting to see a more chinese style birthday party, normally my friends and I will eat somewhere and then have a few drinks together either at a bar or a house party. But here in Taiwan people that drink are in the minority. So they go and have a nice meal, and afterwards everyone just goes home.

My way home gave me my first taste of MRT madness. I had be warned that it is not wise to travel on the Mass Rail Transit system between the hours of 4-6 and I found out why. There were people everywhere. The tram cars were packed to the brim. I seriously could not even move an inch in the train. Even while being a bit uncomfortable during my tram ride I still marveled at the efficiency of such a system. The MRT must move thousands upon thousands of people per day in a fast efficient and cheap way. Why oh why doesn't Milwaukee have such a device.

Tomorrow I get to go back to the Post Office and get my ATM card, they don't have debit cards here. That should be a lot of fun, at least this time I know how to say ATM card, and I don't need to do something as daunting as opening the savings account. Thats all for now. Enjoy some pictures of the fine cuisine, and of course a picture of taking pictures of food.:

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Again, I love the pictures and the experience. We'll miss you at our gathering today, so at least you got to celebrate someone's birthday!

Milwaukee isn't big enough for a rail system yet. By the time it is, what they do build will be out of date like everything else. No one thinks ahead around here, they think behind. In other words, "What's good enough for today?" (even though it won't be today when they finish it) as opposed to "What will work best by the time we finish building it?"

As it is, the city is having enough trouble updating the freeway system properly. Building a mass rail system in this city would be a nightmare because they couldn't just design it and start building 6 months or a year later, it would take officials 2 years to decide whether or not something is a valid idea and then another 2 deciding if they should implement it... You get the idea. I'm also wondering if less people there own autos than over here because of the way their economy is set up.... Where it's more affordable to ride mass transit than own a vehicle.

I can't wait to see what you discover next!

Anonymous said...

Good blog, could I get some noodles with that...

Curious tradition, the pics of food, but then...seeing YOUR pictures of food always makes me yearn to taste. Desire is a good emotion, keeps one aware.

Yeah, mass transit always comes up around here, but I think too many people gotta have their "box" (car). We rode a commuter train to Oconomowoc on it's last run...stop was down the block from our house...saw the potential but the subsidy ran out. When gas hits $5, it'll be the subject of buzz.

Cool image of band and the raining cash...if I'm paying attention, the money was roughly about 30 cents..so like quarters from heaven...could add up.

So which person in group photos is your friend. how about a nice pic of her. How many numbers are in your cell phone, is the text in Chinese characters? - Dad

Deb Gill-Dorgan said...

Interesting party custom. I think I will take some pictures of our food today at the 'Fall Birthday Gill Gathering' so you can share that with your friends! Why don't people drink? Are they just smarter than we are??

1gshow said...

thats sweet i would so fit in there! i take pictures of EVERYTHING!

Anonymous said...

We missed you at our wonderful family celebration but good you were happily partying somewhere at the same time---give or take a day.

Anonymous said...

Good for people to know.