Anyways, we have been taking our time in Kaohsiung as leisurely (some might say, lazy) as possible. Life is kind of like being in Japan again, especially when we are hanging out with a friend we’ve met in Japan. We’ve had some really fun times and met some really cool people…

Then just today we realized we’d been here for 4 days and done very little to show for it. Oops. We leave Kaohsiung on Weds, but haven’t planned for the rest of the trip… and eek, Vietnam is next week!

When we arrived the club was PACKED. Thankfully, a friend of a friend let us in for free and got us a VIP table. That definitely made the night.

There were sexy go-go dancers for us to oogle, but other than that, very few females in the club on this particular day. However, of the females that WERE there, about half of them had some article of clothing off by the end of the night. I’ve never seen so much butt-cheek in my life outside of a beach or pool. Though, honestly, we Asians know that most Asian girls aren’t really sporting big backsides so it really wasn’t buttcheek as much as….thigh? Annnyyyways, if it wasn’t that, then girls were taking off their tops and dancing around in bras. Not the sort of thing I have EVER seen in a club in Japan (let alone dancing), or hell in America even. But then again, Taiwan is not Japan despite my odd tendency to think it is.

The next point of amusement was Kevin’s stalker. While Hugh and I were dancing, he told me some girl was staring at him. Like a non-moving ghost through an undulating crowd. Later, after we came back from a bathroom break the same girl was sitting on the couch trying to talk to Kevin. Imagine this girl: a face like a 15 year old. Her long crimped hair, in messy, uneven pigtails. She’s wearing a miniskirt that says Budweiser down the sides, a black bra, and a hoodie zipped to just above the navel. Her eyes have that unmistakable glassiness that only a psycho can have. She doesn’t really look like a lolita, but the way she pouts purposefully and shamelessly makes you think of an adult trying to do a grotesque impersonation of a child.

And so, the girl sat next to Kevin for about 1 hr… making pouty faces, puppy dog eyes, at one point she started french kissing the air. It was WEIRD…and hilarious…and sad. Even after we repeatedly asked her nicely that he wasn’t interested. Even after a Taiwanese guy told her more rudely to piss off. Even after Kevin pretended to introduce her to his fake fiancee…she just sat on the floor, chin on the couch, staring up at poor Kev. Eventually she pouted as far as her lower lip would go and stomped off. I saw her later listlessly dancing with a Taiwanese guy, eyes staring at some spot on the wall. I have no idea what was going on in her head, but anyone who can sit while 6 people gesture at her and go “wtf is going on?” probably isn’t thinking clearly.

We left the club around 4 am, had breakfast and McDonald’s (the Taiwanese places weren’t open yet, unfortunately) and stumbled home around 5am…the first time I’ve done that in a non-video gaming context for years.

I feel like a kid again.

Now, let me preface this by saying that I have drank Starbucks in America approximately 3 times in my life. However, as any expat will tell you there are certain things that you just sometimes miss. Western food has something about it (fat and cholesterol) that tastes like home to me; so just as my Asian-born friends constantly sought out authentic Chinese food in Los Angeles, we seek the same thing. Except for us it’s so much easier: Authentic America = Fast Food. Whatta world.

Anyways, we were also struck by how kind the people of Taiwan were. At the train station we couldn’t figure out why the turnstile wouldn’t take our tickets. In Japan, we would have had businessmen try and shove their way through, climbing over our baggage and what have you. In Hong Kong, people would have gristled and sighed loudly about our stupidity. However, a young business-type just politely said, “Sir, you need to turn the ticket this way,” while demonstrating the proper way to insert said ticket. Amazing.

We then arrived in Kaohsiung and met up with our friend Kevin (who we know from Japan) who took us to one of the many food-stall nightmarkets, a specialty in Taiwan. I had something called a danbin which is like a wrap with all sorts of random stuff in it. Very tasty. And Hugh got to try pearl milk tea (aka boba aka tapioca) the way it was meant to be drank (since it was invented in Taiwan).

All in all, very good start to our 2 weeks in Taiwan.