Lost in Time

Whenever I get to far behind in blogging I like to do a quick photo entry...as I forget what's actually happened in the last 2 weeks, so I use snaps to trigger my memory. Here we go again...


The ultimate team is brewing their own beer and I took part in the bottling process. It was actually quite a lot of fun (side note: Chinese people love to say the word 'actually' - am I picking up this habit already?).


I also went to Taoranting after reading about it on Emily's food blog. Four of us enjoyed a Beijing Kao Ya (Peking Duck) with bean sprout side dish and the soup.
Taoranting (陶然停)
2F, 86 Fuxing North Road
(02) 2718-1975
From the Nanjing E Rd MRT, cross to the opposite corner (SW corner) and walk south on Fuxing. Past the 7-11 on the right.


This is one of the best known places in Taipei for one of my favorite dishes. However, I thought the duck came out a bit oily. On our way out, another customer told us about another place - where the chef was trained by the same guy as this chef. I'll have to try that one next time (For anyone in CT hankering for some duck, refer to my older post about the best place to go: CT Duck).

I stopped at home to drop the duck soup off (it was much too much for just 4 people). While there, the lights were having more problems than usual and the power ended up going out. The guys figured out the problem with my cousin. We have since had somebody check it out and power is now a lot more consistent. I used to have to wait 10 seconds before the bathroom light would turn on. Now it goes on in just 2 or 3 seconds.

I also enjoyed my first KTV experience in Taipei. Karaoke in a private room with unlimited low quality food. At first we had mostly expats in the room and belted out some English songs. Then more and more Chinese people came in - there's definitely a difference in taste. I think the Chinese people with us really liked the slow cheesy songs. Luckily there is a big red kill button on the machine so you can end a song immediately if it's terrible.


After a Sunday practice I went to Banciao to see Vita's father play in a jazz festival. The MCs spoke Mandarin and Taiwanese and they would joke about how there were 5000 people in the crowd (the more people, the more money they get it - the whole thing was free for us - government sponsored).


On Thursday, Hanna was in town, so I met up with her and Tina. We went back to Jame's Kitchen, but this time the big one. The food was delicious.



Afterwards, I went to City Jungle near the Jiantan MRT (Shilin Night Market) to meet the rest of my ultimate team for some bowling. I had an amazing night - on the score board you can see that Craig scored 152. What you can't see is that later on I finished the game with a 161. I won all 3 rounds that I played - the next two beating out the next runner up by one point! It was a good night. Afterwards we went upstairs to ride the mechanical bull. This time, the bull won. I was flung off like a rag doll every 5 seconds. It was really different from the manual bull we used to ride in college on Severance Green. Afterwards the bull runner gave us a demo and gave us tips on technique. Apparently, you are supposed to do exactly the opposite of everything that I did. Instead of keeping a stiff arm and tight grip, keep it loose, relaxed and straight. Instead of leaning forward trying to hang on for dear life, keep your back slightly curved back. And instead of letting the bull swivel your head around any which way it wants, try to keep it steady and rotate your torso in short movements to minimize your dizziness. Next time.