Running Around On Saturday

Saturday was a busy day for running around, mostly to places we've already been before, but a slow day for pictures. After a filling breakfast in the hotel restaurant, and a bunch of rude people from mainland China who constantly cut in line at the buffet and talked at excessive volumes, we went back to the Jade and Flower Market to get some pieces for a game a dreamed up several nights ago. Since I dreamed it here in Taiwan, I want it to have a Chinese theme, so I bought a bunch of old style Chinese money to use as scoring points and blocking stones. Last night we picked up some Chinese zodiac figures to use as pawns.

Afterward we stopped in at a Starbucks on the corner for drinks and to rest a bit. I took this photo on the third floor of the Starbucks.

After Starbucks we went back to Sogo because Cher had given us $1000NT in Sogo Cash (about $33US). Chunnan bought a very nice tea cup, saucer, and strainer set. After that we went to a little shop to have noodle and wonton soup then headed downtown to the Taipei 101 exhibit halls for the big Taiwan Consumer Electronics Show. The pic above is the crowd at the entrance.

And the pic here is the crowd inside. If anything, it was more crowded that the Taiwan Retail Trade Show we went to last week. It took some serious pushing and shoving to get through some areas as compu-geek boys of all ages swarmed the scantily clad demo-girls at every booth to snap pics of babes they can only dream about and teamed around the stalls with the latest offerings from every computer and electronics vendor on the planet. I picked up a cool blue-laser mouse from Microsoft that's supposed to be especially good on weird surfaces. So far it's working great on the polished marble desk top here at the hotel where the Apple mouse we had been using was sluggish and jerky.

In honor of my friend and business partner, Allen, I waited in a long line to get a 5 minute glimpse at Sony's new 3D Projection TV system that they're releasing next year. Allen, the 3D was great...not holographic yet, but as good as the theaters in a darkened room. When that shark swam right toward me I wanted to reach out and run my hands along it's flanks.

After a couple of hours fighting the crowds we retreated back to the hotel to rest and begin packing our bags. Surprisingly, we managed to get all the tea, souvenirs, and swag into the luggage and still find room for our clothes. We went to Mom's for dinner then stopped by Cher's cafe for a quick hello as they were in the middle of the dinner rush, then headed out to the Sogo area to find the one Starbucks that sells the tea Chunnan likes.

Since there were so few pics today, I'll give you a few giggles with some funny Taiwanglish.

At the temples we visited back at the start of the trip we found this informative sign and map listing all the temples and a few more points of interest. One of those was the Tea Pavilion for Belaxation. We spend 10 minutes just laughing our asses off at that one and for the rest of the vacation we've been asking each other if we were belaxed or if a certain place was belaxing enough for us. Very funny.

After the very belaxing trip to The Chateau I was feeling in a particularly surly mood at the return to crowded and noisy Taipei. We made a quick stop at Shu-Mins office building and I saw this sign in a door way. I'm sure it was meant to be something like Do Not Enter...but Be Impassible helped me focus on the teaming city around me and I decided I would be impassible to bad feelings and let them bounce off of me. Helped me get ito a better frame of mind for the rest of that day.

I'm guessing they had conflicting translation dictionaries at the Butterfly Valley Resort because on the 2nd floor they had a Fire Hydranp...

...and on the 1st floor they had a Fire Hydrand.

I told Chunnan that when he was ready to retire and move back to Taiwan I would come along and start a consulting business hiring out my services as an English translator to make sure the signs and menus and posters all had proper English words. Of course, I'd email Fred on everything so he could proof read my work...my English is terrible! :-)