Justin Gilmore

So last night, much alcohol flowed. I went out with Chad and had great pizza, then went to an expat bar. We were the last ones there, and the bar girls decided we should get a free drink. Anything. So we ordered Johnny Walker Blue label. That’s like 30 bucks per glass. Free. Delicious.

Then had breakfast at Chad’s nice hotel. Really beats here. Now going to sleep.

I was solicited by my very first prostitute today. She didn’t speak English, but kept showing me a NT$1000 bill and rubbing her chest. It took a second to register, but then I realized that in looking for lunch, I accidentally wondered into the red light district. And shortly later, I was solicited by a second prostitute. I guess I had better get used to it, as Bangkok is next.

On Wednesday, I went to Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world. It started raining today so it was kind of a messy outing. Here’s a shot from the bottom:

The building was designed to resemble bamboo, which is symbolic of prosperity in Chinese culture. There’s 8 sections because the word for 8 sounds like the word for “rich.” (And, for example, the 2008 olympics in Beijing are starting Aug. 8 at 8:08 pm.)

And here’s what I saw when I got to the top:

Yuck, I know. Actually the fog kinda came and went, so i did actually get to see some stuff, but not more than a mile or two.

Taipei is a pretty boring skyline, anyway…just this really tall buidling surrounded by measly 20-story ones, quite unlike Hong Kong.

Bad photo, but this is a mass damper that hangs at about the 91st floor of the building. It’s enormous. It helps minimize the amount of swaying the building does from the wind.

And, mom, you wanted me to look for Louis Vuitton…found it. I don’t think these are in your price range though.

Some miscellaneous items…

–Somehow I managed to hurt my achilles tendon pretty good, so if being white wasn’t enough to make me stand out, surely limping across Taipei has helped.

–Don’t worry, even though it’s raining, the mopeds are in full force. They all wear these funny looking rain suits…I’ll get a photo.

–Walking around the other night, I hear a lively, mechanical tune start playing. Must be the ice cream man, I thought. No…turns out that trash trucks play a song. It was pretty funny.

–Here’s a photo:

Now, notice a couple things. The tallest building in the world has a freakin SONY ad on the side of it. Next, see the signs have no english. Neither do 90% of the other places and 80% of the menus. It’s been interesting. And, most importantly, see the little walk guy? He is animated and walks when you walk, and when the little counter above him gets closer to zero, he starts running. It’s funny.

For today, I’m gonna relax a bit to help my foot get better. Might go see a Chinese movie. Then meeting up with Chad tonight, I believe.

Hope everyone is doing well back in Omaha!

…when you mix 3 Americans (OK, one was born in Liberia but that’s beside the point), one Italian and one Aussie?

Drunk.

I actually managed to sleep til 11 today, so maybe my sleep pattern is finally reset. I’m heading to the 101, even though it’s rainy, but it’s forecast to rain every day this week.

I had breakfast for dinner today, which included fried eggs, Tack that up to another interesting addition to my diet. Also had soy milk, which was like 2 % milk with sugar.

And I am now convinced that there is a ROC satute that says thou shalt have a 7 Eleven within visual distance at all times. So Paul and I took a photo

Went to the National Palace Museum this morning, where I saw a lot of Chinese artifacts, some dating back to before 2500 BC. Lots of Jade and Bronze scultures…And I saw some real Blue Willow type stuff, mom. Here’s the museum:

7 Eleven is a goddamn institution here. (There’s plenty of copies — “Happy Mart,” OK-Mart,” “Super Mart” “insert mart here”) Check this out–Two 7 Elevens across the street from one another, and I swear to god there’s another right around the corner.

Lunch was spicy pork dumplings, which were very good, and 8 of them cost like $US 1.15.

Here’s an ad from the subway. I’ve heard of milk–i drink it on a regular basis. But what the hell is Klim???

Also, let it be known that mopeds pretty much own here. I’ll post a video when I get back of the intersection outside my hostel at rush hour. Seriouly, you’ll see 100-150+ mopeds go each way during each green light. Absolutely insane

Oh, and dad, you asked before what is the difference between a hostel and a hotel. Well, in addition the the reasons I gave you, at a hotel, you usually won’t have some asshole in the room next to you playing really bad japanese music really loud at 2:30 in the morning.

Tonight is Taiwanese breakfast for dinner and tomorrow, I’m going to the Taipei 101–tallest building in the world.

This evening, I spent a good amount of time drinking “Taipei Beer,” which is tasty stuff. A big can is about $1.15

Lots of other stuff is cheap too. A liter of water is less than a dollar. So is a 20 oz of coke/pepsi.

Then went to dinner at a place that didn’t have an English translation of its name. I am now a professional user of chopsticks. It’s not pretty, and it’s not supposed to be.

In addition to the noodles, we had deep-fried shrimp (ok, i only had one) topped with what Paul (accurately) described as the sugary drizzle topping that you put on toaster strudles. Not bad, but very rich.

That’s all for today…Going to go to the National Museum tomorrow. It apparently has the largets collection of Chinese artifacts in the world.

Off to a good start. Began my first morning with a trip to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall,

which also is home to the National Theater and National Music Hall, which are in the photo…

After that, went to the Longshan temple, which was really cool:

And everyone knows that I am very picky when it comes to food, yet i vowed no McDonalds while over here. I decided to go with the “tear off the band-aid” approach to my first real meal here. I went to a mall, found a restaurant in the food court and, since the menu was entirely in Chinese, pointed to a picture that looked pretty harmless…looked like dumplings, perhaps with pork or chicken, i hoped.

But, to my surprise, the balls were filled with octopus. And yes I ate it.

Now time for a nap…jet lag’s a bitch.