A Happy New Year

Headlines: Miss X had her second scooter lesson... and didn't crash :)
Also in the news: Andy and Rachel came back this week, so we decided to have a surpise party at NZ Kate's flat in Changhua. Now I know from experience that in planning a surprise party, the party has to be more appealing than the place the victims think they goig to. So i sympathised with them when they didn't arrive at a restaurant for a big meal. I think they enjoyed themselves; Andy brought some take out to ease the pain.
As it was another 3 day weekend; i was woken early on Saturday morning by Pas, who wanted his sleeping bag back to go camping in the mountains. I, on the other hand was content to stay in bed, away from the dull grey day outside.
I had just about surfaced and was enjoying a good read when there was a loud bang and the power went out. It's amazing how little you can do in a blackout. No reading, no TV, no cooking, no emailing.. i stumbled upstairs and played the guitar in the darkness hoping it would come back on... but no. I was starting to get claustrophobic, so i rode into town to stretch my legs and met Nick. We had planned to go to Taipei the next day for the fireworks at 101. However, everyone including Nick was feeling a little run down. Bloody weather! Still we planned to meet at 10:30 at the station.
That night was possibly the worst night's sleep ever; no sleeping bag and finally coming down with the cold everyone else had been spreading. I came to at 10 and for ten minutes thought about getting up. I couldn't leave Nick on his own on NYE.
I rolled down the hill and discovered that Katie (US) was going anyway. I bought my first water bottle of the day and settled in the comfy UBUS seats.
We got to the Big Dumping (Taipei) at 2ish. Nick was eager to see the Paper Museum (we had visions of the Simpsons Box Factory tour): so we started walking in that vague direction, hopeful to pass a noodle vendor. We didn't. We did pass a Subber (no rip off of Subway at all). The sandwiches were good, but the rules were a bit strict: no dogs, no food or drink and no cameras!
Soon after we reached the Paper Museum, to Nick's horror and distress, they were closed on the weekends! What museum wouldn't be? I guess it was New Year. tomake htings worse, someone had left a pile of cement sand on the path for the unsuspecting to stumble over. It's still on my shoes!


We decided to jump on the MRT and tube to Sun Yat Sen Memorial (the founder of China). It was a beautiful building. There were art collections on every floor; and in the main hall there was a large statue of Yat Sen with two guards in front of him. I assumed the guards were statues too, but apparently they were real. Towards the end of our visit, we witnissed the changing of the guard (all two of them). Here the military pride themselves on taking as long as possible to walk to destinations. Their marching reminding me somehow of Kermit the Frog. What was impressive though, was their ability to spin a rifle in one hand in unison with the flick a wrist.
When we stepped into the grounds we realised that this would be a great place to watch the fireworks that night: with 101 towering in front of us.
It was still early, so we made for 101 itself. Nick was unimpressed that of the 96 floors, only 6 of them were open to the public. We tried getting higher via the stairwell, but no use. i had a premonition of the New Year celebrations being cancelled over a security threat in Taipei 101 in the form of 3 westerners.
By the time we'd found the exits, it was dinner time. A curry on the other side of town with Samantha, the dog, Tai, his brother Weylin, NZ Kate, her friend Kristen, her friends Morgen and Bret and their friends Jovi and Al.
The food was fantastic.
After the meal we parted company. Bret, Nick, Katie and I were the only ones crazy enough to want to experience the madness below 101.
We tried the tube, but it was heaving, and nobody was moving anywhere; so we walked the hour or so to 101. The nearer we got the crazier it became. Traffic was practically at a standstill and people poured forward through whatever street space they could find.

We got to the Sun Yen Sat Grounds and fought our way to a good viewpoint... despite using pick-axes and being roped together, at 11pm, we became dragged apart by the crowds. I spent the turn of New Year with a bunch of strangers. Oddly, once people had found a good view they sat without instruction in neat rows across the grass.
The fireworks were spectacular but a little short lived. By 12:15, the million Taipei residents had left for home, down the chaotic roads.

We rang the others and managed to track them down;near Christines house. Nick and I had planned to find an all night club to dance away in to avoid the cost of a hotel... but an even better offer presented itself in the form of Christine's couch; and walking around for over almost 7 hours... by 3am we were out for the count.
The next morning at lunchtime, everyone met up again at a really nice restaurant; where I spent almost 8 pounds! on a lunch to start the new year in style: soup, house salad, endless coffee, steak with mushroom sauce and 2 puddings. It dawned on me that i was the only English person there after Sam and dog got lost in the taxi.
Nick had invited a Taiwanese flatmate friend of his friend from college to lunch. She offered to show us round the nicer side of Taipei before we left. She took us to Central Park: it was an odd sensation. In 8 months I'd not been in a park: yet here was flat ground, kept lawn, and blossoming trees; there were even people playing boules. It could have been any park in Hull, Hyde or Halifax.
From there we popped into the Taipei mosque to satisfy Nicks architectural curiosity, before walking down the cultural fusion of a market street to the bus station. There were children laughing in a playground, smells of Chinese dumplings and fresh cakes from the endless street-invading food vendors, a man playing blues tunes on his trumpet and neon lights in Chinese characters crying out to be seen.