Good times with the Owain McLacey

Owain was the first room mate I had in Taiwan.  He was from Cardiff/Scotland and he liked football which was a good omen.  When he first came to look at the apartment he liked the contents of my man fridge.  He also liked what he seen and decided he wanted to move in.  Straight away we got on like a house on fire.  It was like he was destined to come and check out the apartment, and more so look in the all important man fridge.  I still believe the man fridge was the main selling point for Mr.  Lacey.

Owain

Lacey

We would sometimes just hang out on the roof during the week having beers, and man chats about important things, to totally irrelevant things.  It was good fun hanging out on the roof after work drinking a Taiwan beer and watching the city go by.  We would mainly chat about football and our respective clubs positions and what we thought would happen at the weekends.  We would take up the music when it was hot and just sit up there for ages chilling out chatting.  I remember Owain wouldn't go near to the edge, or look because of his fear of heights, but I was always fascinated with going to the edge and looking down to see what people were up to and how small they looked!!

Hanging out on the roof.

We went to places together in Taipei especially on a Saturday, sometimes we would go to a random MRT stop and have a look around like I have already said or other times we would swimming, or just for a walk or for food.  It was good having someone to go swimming, running and to watch the football with.  Even when I would go to 7/11 he would come with me and we would always come back with some beers for the night ha.


The last place I think we went together was Chaing Kai Shek Memorial hall, and I went on his farewell night out which ended quite funny to be honest.  We were going to have a wild night out, but we ended sitting in some tea place, drinking beers and having something to eat.  Then we must of spent an hour looking for the pool room that Josh knew about.  After that we were moaning how we can't really play games.  Well Owain was especially moaning about it more than me, so Josh told us he knew of an internet cafe where we could go and play games and its really cheap.  Plus he said it is open for 24 hours, so in we went Josh got us started and spoke to the women for us then away we went to kick each others ass.....or so we thought.  We didn't manage to play 1 game in an hour because the place were we went had no codes for the electronic arts games.  We had to sign up for them ourselves but that didn't happen.  The one game we did manage to get on we didn't know how to play it at all because it was all in Chinese.  It looked a bit like Age of Empires and I think both me and Owain got killed by what was supposed to be our so called food!!!

At Chaing Kai Shek Memorial Hall.

One of the main good things about living with Owain was we didn't have to set up any rules or schedules we just cleaned up when we needed too, and we normally just mucked in together and got it all done quick sharp so we could go somewhere together on a weekend.  


We decided somewhere to go during the week, most of the time I would just randomly pick an MRT station and ask Owain if he wanted to come with me, but he would normally just say yes and we would hang out together all day.  One of the best days, or should I say the more memorable MRT stops we went to was Neihu park or something like that.  When we got there it seemed totally dull and nothing there to do as we got  there too late to go on any of the hiking trails.....due to the previous nights football night.  (Actually most football nights ended up being football weekends.

Hanging out at Taipei 101.

Then when we were walking down the hill, we heard loads of banging and commotion coming towards us.  I was wondering what the hell it was.  Then we seen what was coming up the hill.  Some big impressive street parade, with people all dressed up in different, weird and fascinating costumes.  I told Owain I really wanted to follow it and get some good snaps, problem was we were on the wrong side of the road.  There was like a little barrier in the middle, and traffic flying in different directions.  Owain decided to just peg it across like a man possed and a scooter nearly smacked right into him, I was more sensible and I waited for a bigger gap knowing I run so slow, the scooter would of knocked me on my arse!

First lines of the parade we seen coming up the hill.

We took loads of pictures and had a fun time pissing about, attempting to chat to the entrants and find out what the parade was about.  It seemed we got to the bottom of it eventually, it was some thing for the elections here in Taiwan.  They were supporting one of the candidates so were having a parade to drum up support for this woman trying to get elected for that area I guess.  I don't really know who she was, or if she was famous or not but it was good seeing the parade I can tell you that, especially when the reason we went there was to go on the hiking trails but we couldn't be arsed when we got there and it seemed like we would of got lost if it turned dark and didn't want to risk it.  This was a good backup though even though it was completely unplanned.

Us wei guo ren (foreigners) enjoying the parade.

I vaguely remember having one of the best nights out on the piss with Owain and Josh, I cannot remember much from the night.  I remember we went to a place called PA soul, and being shocked that they qued up in a line for their drinks instead of just piling to the bar.  I only realised this because I piled straight to the bar first, thinking this is simple then I turned around and had about 30 stares looking right at me.  The stare that says there is a line mister, and you have just pushed right to the front you prick!  I was well shocked.  So of I trudged like a defeated wannabe drunk to the back of the line, with droopy eyes thinking this is going to take bloody ages.  Actually it didn't take that long and I got my drink pretty quickly.  I really enjoyed it at PAsoul one of the rooms plays awesome music which doesn't happen so often here in Taipei, and I have been there once more with Anders since Owain left and I enjoyed it again, all because the music was really good inside unlike other places who think there music is cool but its poppy shit.  


I think Owain left with Vivian that night, and I took a taxi back my home, I got of at Xiemen MRT and walked the opposite way from my home because I knew I wanted something from Carrefour but could not remember what for the life of me.  I just thought I would walk there anyway and I might remember, then when I got there I didn't remember so I just walked into Carrefour and walked around looking at things trying to think what I wanted.  Then I decided this is not working I should just come home and sleep because the sun is coming up....then I left Carrefour with everything I went in with, and came out with nothing new or nothing I wanted.  Ha there the joys of a good night when things like that happens.


This set the start of the now famous 'football night.'  Me and Owain would have both our laptops on watching different games, and we would either have a game on the TV, or a game on the TV through the computer.  (Talking about the TV, Owain banged on about getting a TV for weeks since he moved in because I just had a little crappy one, anyway one day I came home from work and Owain had bought a big plasma screen TV) I still have in the apartment to this day so I have to thank Owain for that, it really improved our football night experience.

Football night in full swing.

Football nights have never been the same since Owain moved out, Jen has tried to embrace them and take an interest which was really nice of her, and the next room mate said he was interested but clearly knew nothing about it.  The new room mate doesn't even know what the sport is, and he would probably just tell me how sexy the men in shorts were anyway.  Football nights are still going strong, but its just not the same without watching with Owain, and being surrounded by beer cans.  I still remember the night the guard came in and told us that we had left our door open by accident.  Me and Owain nearly shit ourself.....I must say Owain didn't move like and I was up like a shot seeing what the hell was going down with someone walking into our apartment.


We even google translated someone came to tell us the door was open, and the guard pretty much gestured it was him.  That night was mental though we were up all night drinking and playing on football manager.


I just remembered about when we went out to watch the Newcastle Sunderland derby, and we battered them 5-1 that was amazing, there were about 6 of us stuck in a corner of the bar supporting Newcastle going mental.  The other side of the bar at the brass monkey was all Liverpool fans and they were wondering what the hell was going on.  Then we went and watched a bit of the Bolton Liverpool game, and I remember Owain getting his arse out to moon Fernando Torres and the Liverpool fans, and me blagging a free beer by telling the promotion girls I support Liverpool.  Ha good times that night like.

After one of our football nights out.

Hopefully some day Mr.  Lacey will make it back to Taipei for a nice jolly holiday at some point in the future and we could hang out some more.  Good times were had hanging out with each other on the weekends and it was good watching footy and doing stuff like running and swimming together.  


It really has never been the same with the new flat mates, it even got to a new low this weekend just gone when I couldn't watch the match because of downloading.  I was totally pissed off, it was just stop, start, stop start.  I never had any of that shit with Owain, as football night took all priotry on the weekends.....not no more though.......there are more pressing matters on the new room mates mind.........anyway if he does the same next week I will tell him more forcefully because I won't let him ruin mine and Owains football night tradition that was started while we lived together.  Not a chance in hell.  


How did I nearly forget about the night we got drunk watching the football and we then decided it would be a great idea to stick the huge Lionel Messi poster to the wall with super strength sticky tape.  The next day Jen came around and got angry with us saying why the hell did you stick the poster to the wall with tape!  We then said it wont be a problem he will just come off like a good friend.  The problem was Jen was right and he really didn't.  It ripped paper of the wall, and then we ended up going to B and Q to try and get some paint to fix the wall.  We thought we had decided on the best colour to match the wall.  I dropped off the paint with Owain then I went to meet Jen, Owain called me up saying.....I tried to pain the wall, but the colour doesn't match.  Even though the colour didn't match he painted it anyway, and to this day it is still not fixed.  I will have to sort it out eventually but I have time to sort it out.  We still have Messi up covering the wall.  Owain can claim it as his lasting legacy in the apartment.  My new room mate has no clue who he is, and all his little boyfriends keep asking him who it is he says, and he says I dont know ha.

Our football night companion.

I feel like screaming BRING BACK MCLACEY AND SAVE MY FOOTBALL NIGHTS!!!!!

Me and Owain on a night out.

Day at Fulong Beach.

It was another Wednesday, and another day off.  I was meeting up with Anders again as we do every week now, so we had originally just decided to stay at my home, watch some movies in the karaoke room and just chill out around here.  We mainly decided this because the weather had not been nice lately in Taipei.  Then when Anders give me a call he told it is really bloody hot outside and we should go to the beach.  I have wanted to see a beach in Taiwan for ages so I said yeah thats cool and proceeded to get my lazy arse out of bed and get dressed.  

When he came around I was still trying to get my team on football manager their first win on the big screen.  Ever since I have started playing footy manager on the big screen they have shit their pants, but thats a different story altogether.  

Anders knocked on my door, and then we quickly re looked up which way we had to go to get to Fulong Beach.  We found the way, said all we had to do was go to Taipei Station, and take either the express train or the local train to Fulong, and the beach was pretty much right where you get off the train.  I had to make a quick detour to Wellcome to buy some more batteries for the camera and then we could head off.

When we left the building I decided to quickly take out the rubbish, and when we went downstairs to the rubbish disposal area.  (I would normally say wheelie bins, but it's nothing of the sort.) Anders saw some sub woofers and decided I should take them.  I thought it was a good idea, so we picked up the sub woofers and took them back to my apartment to check if they worked.  They did, so now I have 2 sub woofers with nothing for them to plug into.  I have never seen any man get so excited by electrical equipment as Anders does mind you.  Anyway the good thing is, I have 2 new sub woofers so when I do buy something to plug them into I will be able to create a mighty sound!

Then I picked up some dan bing with good old cheese and bacon.  Which is a complete classic combination thats labelled win-win!  Then we went and took the bus to Taipei Main Station.  Then when we walked all the way to the entrance for the train we found out we could not use our easy cards to get out at Fulong Station and needed a ticket.  This meant that we had to go back upstairs to buy a ticket because we couldn't work the machine as all the instructions were in Chinese.  We gave it a try but it was to no avail.  So off we went to the ticket office and when we tried to find out what time the next train was, the woman told us it would be 80 minutes.  We didn't know if she thought we asked how long it takes to get there, or what time it will come though, so we decided it would be best if we went downstairs and just waited it out like men.

We tried to speak to a guy working in the station on the platform what time the train would come and if we were on the correct side.  We were asking again because trains here come all the time so we were a little confused why we had to wait for 80 minutes, we just thought it doesn't make any sense at all.  We were also on the Keelung line and we didn't have a clue if the Keelung line is what we needed.  The Keelung trains kept coming past all the time, but there was no train to Fulong for 80 minutes.

While we were sat there we blabbered away like a couple of old ladies.  I think Anders started feeling the time to drag though because he kept asking me, what time is it now.  Especially when it got round to 2.30.  When the train arrived I got kind of excited about seeing the beach.  I didn't know whether it would be like the rest of the places in Taiwan I have seen which seem very commercialised or if it would be more natural and scenic.  

The time on the train was a bit funny actually, for a certain length of time it was like any other train journey, but then when Anders went for a piss the train stopped.  I don't remember which stop it was but loads of people got on.  I tried to save Anders seat with his bottle of water, but some old woman went in for the kill and decided she was having that seat bottle or not!  I had to whip my hand in there fast and take the bottle, or Anders would of had to drink his water from some old womans arse crack.  At the other side, there was a group of girls/ladies who seemed like they were not Taiwanese.  Me and Anders were trying to guess where they were from for ages by listening to them speaking and trying to hear the language.  "In the end I just asked them, are you speaking Chinese?"  "They said no, were speaking Indonesian."  Which then set of thoughts in my head, and me and Anders ended up discussing whether we think they are foreign brides or cheap labour.  Either way pretty shitty life for whichever one you are if you ask me.

Eventually we made my instant feeling was this place feels really traditional and scenic.  The air felt so fresh too, stepping out the station everything about that place felt fresh and natural.  It looked really small, but it was so nice there, we were hungry though.  I thought this being Taiwan we will be able to get some food on the beach.  Anders disagreed and thought it would be best if we bought something before we hit the beach just in case there was nothing there.  We ended up going to this sausage stand, and bought this sausage thing.  It was a normal sausage, with a rice sausage made to be its bun.  It was mega amazing, and I thought my god that is one of the best sausages I have ever had in Taiwan and what a great idea to have a sausage sandwich with the bun being sausage.  

When the lady was cooking our sausages, I seen that peanut brittle like stuff they have here.  I also seen the ice cream, and I knew it could only mean one thing.  She also made the pancake, peanut, ice cream stuff.  I asked Anders if he had tried before because it is really nice.  He said he had not tried it, so we got some of that too.  

Her food was amazing, that seems to be the thing with Taiwan, the food is either amazing or shit.  No matter if you buy the same kind of food from a different seller it all matters how they cook it.  This one at Fulong though was amazing, and I would recommend her stand to anyone else who goes there.  Her stand is straight opposite the street from the train station.

Her kids were out back eating their dinner when we turned up, and the young lad got utterly excited to see us there, so I tried to speak to him in Chinese and he found it so amazingly hilarious that he just laughed loads every time I spoke to him.  He even got to one point where he fell from his seat laughing and his sister was saying loads of stuff to him in Chinese that I didn't understand.  Then I think he thought I could speak Chinese really well, and he just ended up shouting something at me with his mouth full of his dinner.  He can be forgiven though because I think he only looked about 6 or something like that.

Then we spent a bit of time eating, Anders has some thing where he can't walk and eat.  Its ok though, since I have been standing and eating with him.  Instead of walking along munching my food like its going to run away from me I have really been able to appreciate the taste more.  It seems a lot more pleasant to stand and eat, instead of walk.

When we finished our food we went in search of how to get down to the beach.  We could see the beach was just down the road so we walked down it.  This seemed a pretty logical thing to do.  When we got to the end of the road, however it was a dead end.  We decided to have a quick look around, but it seemed there was no way through so we had to backtrack.  We seen a sign for 'beach park' and decided that must be the way through.  So we headed off that way.  We ended up walking through something that was either a gated community or a hotel complex.  At this point some little girl nearly ran me over on a push bike, I had to move out the way quite sharply.  

When we got down to the beach we realised we were kind of cut off from the main part of the beach by some kind of waterway that was leading to the sea.  Over to our other side though was what looked like an awesome temple from the distance, and also something that looked like it could of been something like a pier area.  We decided then that it would be better to walk over that way while there was still quite a bit of light left in the day, due to the fact both of our cameras can't really handle evening pictures anymore.  I still really like looking inside the temples as well, especially the ones that look awesome from the outside.  I was a bit concerned of it looking awesome though, because the one I seen when we were at the Maokong looked awesome too, but when I looked inside it was shit.  So I was hoping that this one was not like the one on top of the Maokong.  

Fulong Beach.

We walked up to it first, and from outside it looked really impressive.  Was a good size, and decorated really nicely.  We took some pictures from the outside and took some pictures of the beach.  I swear to god, there was no people on the beach at all.  We seemed to be the only people there, it was a little bit like a small ghost town with the last few remaining survivors heading to the beach to see if they can survive.  Anyway thats not how it really is, and I think people must not be so interested in the beach when it is only slightly warm to them.  As well it was only Wednesday afternoon.  At the same time it felt great to have most of the beach and surrounding area to your self.  Especially with living in Taipei where there are people everywhere you go.  No matter what time of day there are people everywhere so to be somewhere only 1 hour away from Taipei City and to have that much space, fresh air, and beach to your self felt absolutely amazing.

Outside the Temple

We then went in search of the pier, or whatever it was the road led to.  We just ended up walking about the part of the beach where it seemed that they had all the fishing boats.  I swear to god honestly the smell of fish man, it totally stinks.  I know fish does stink.  Everyone knows that!  When your there though, where the fishing boats you still can't help saying, bloody hell fish stink don't they.  That is my only remaining memory of that part of the beach.  The complete stink of the beach.  Anders did mention he thought some of the people in the boats were mafia.  I was not so sure though, I mean what the hell would mafia be doing in a fishing boat, surely they should be out cutting off ears and doing Mafia things.

The fishing boat area.

Looking for a pier.

We then realised there was nothing else to see there.  So we headed back towards the temple, and I decided I wanted to have a look inside.  I am glad I did look inside because it was decorated very impressively.  I love the detail that goes into temples here, compared to churches back home.  I mean we have stained glass windows which still look dull and shitty, but here they seem to have different kind of patterns in the roofs, and all different Buddhas.  They also seem to have hand crafted a lot of the temple too.  The designs of them are marvelous and I never get tired of looking in them, because I find them fascinating. I am not keen on religion but the temples man, there great buildings and I love them.  

I spent a good while inside the temple, taking pictures and looking around.  This temple had 2 floors and you could access both of them.  The floor upstairs didn't let you go all the way outside though which was disappointing.  They only let you head out a certain amount and then they had it fenced off.  Maybe it was not safe, or maybe they just wanted to keep it intact from mongs like me ruining it.  All the same it was such a nice temple, I just wish we had more time to go to the one on the mountain side.

Pictures from inside the temple.

When we came out of the temple, we decided to try and walk across to the main beach through the water that cut us off from the other side.  The problem was we didn't know how deep it was.  We could only see so far ahead with our eyes, and I didn't want to fall into the water because I had my camera, phone, and wallet on me.  That would of been a disaster if we were walking along and then all of a sudden we were in the sea getting taken away in the current.  We went so far and then it started getting deeper and the current was intense.  So we walked back to where we had came from, I felt like some kind of middle age explorer what I have read about in books.  I know it is a different extreme but we can all imagine what it would of been like being an explorer.  

I then came up with the idea that I really wanted to know how deep it was, so I told Anders I was going over in my boxer shorts.  So I got my kit off, down to my boxers and then started to walk across the water, it only went up to my belly but the current was so strong.  It was amazing how fast the water was flying out into the sea, I had to forcibly keep pushing my legs towards the water coming towards me to make sure I stayed standing up, and the sane kept sinking beneath me.  I thought we could make it across with our stuff but Anders was willing to get his boxers dirty ha!

Me and Anders making our way through the water.

We then walked further up, and walked through a much shallower but rockier part of the water.  Anders was wondering if it was every bodies piss or whatever but that we will never know.  We got through but it was so rocky, I kept walking while saying, ah ah ah. 

As we were getting closer to the beach we could see these weird shape boxes getting bigger and bigger as we got closer and closer.  One of the big boxes had a bloody American flag stuck in it.  We did not like that I must say.  All that way and an American flag, surely Americans like to plonk down a maccy dee's and a Starbucks these days not flags.  When we got close enough we could see what the big rectangle blocks were, it turns out they were building big sand sculptors.  I have always wondered how they manage to keep the sand up in those things but now I know, they have it supported underneath.

Man fishing and a random boat.

Fulong Beach and the weird blocks on the beach.

We didn't stay long on the beach, just had a quick look around, and then we headed back towards the station.  I was a little hungry so I got another one of them awesome sausages.  I thought I might as well seeing as I might not be back here for a while.  The woman kept trying to sell us other things.  I normally hate it when people do that but I can tolerate it more in small towns like that where they must not get much business compared to big cities.

When we were heading to our train station, their was some little old woman, really struggling to get down the stairs with a lady to help her.  I decided to give them a hand and help her down the stairs, I think any normal person would help.  They seemed ok, they were Americans and just wanted to know which way to go, I can understand why she wanted to know which way to go, because the old woman looked exhausted bless her.

With a stroke of luck to, the train that arrived to take us back home was the express train meaning we would get back to Taipei City much quicker than we would on the local train.  When we got back to the station we had some confusion again because when we went to buzz through the ticket sensor it went mental.  Then we had to go over to the booth, and see what the problem was.  The guy wrote down some number we had to pay again and I thought he wrote we had to pay another 300NT dollars.  I thought i'm not having that we have already paid.  

Turns out the problem was that we took the local train there, and the express back and had to make up the difference of 16NT dollars.  Which is something like 30 pence.

Then when I got back to xiemen there were loads of girls dressed up like zombies walking around making it feel a little bit cool and creepy at the same time, so I got a few pictures of that, headed to subway bought a sub of the day and went home after having an exciting day, and a full belly.

Zombies in Xiemen.

No doubt there will be another new adventure next Wednesday.

On a quick side note, I always seem to think you could make loads of money in places like Fulong Beach here in Taiwan.  At the same time, I think thats part of the attraction that there beauty is left mainly to nature and it hasn't really been tampered with that much outside of the cities.  

3D Trick Art @ Taipei Science Centre, and afternoon tea with Joy's family. (Jia)

We seen other peoples pictures from the 3D Trick Art Exhibition online, and deciding that we wanted to go.  We arranged to meet Joy and her little sister a week before we actually went, but we originally had planned to go there in the afternoon.  Joy then called Jen when we were on our way there, and said there is a 3 hour wait so we ended up just buying tickets and going 1 week later than we had planned to.


So another week rolled by and it was a Sunday again, we had arranged to meet Joy and her sisters earlier this time, at 9am.  Needless to say I think I had the latest night staying up all night to watch football but I was the first one there waiting outside of Shilin MRT station for Jen.  When she called me to say she would not be there for a while, I decided to go outside and get some breakfast.  I got one of those Chinese Pizza things from near Shilin MRT there so damn nice, and I wish I could one around here in Xiemen.  I ordered in Chinese and tried to have a small conversation to practice my Chinese even though I still felt like I was half asleep and really tired.  


Then as I was sitting waiting at Shilin eating my breakfast Jen called me and told me to walk back to the MRT exit so she could find me easy enough, I told her there was no point because where I was sat I would be able to see her easy enough, and where I am is on the way to the bus stop but she was having none of it.  That meant I had to get of my fat lazy arse and go and stand and wait by the exit.


When she arrived we walked along to the bus stops, which were the same as the ones I used to stand at when I stayed at Olivia's when I arrived here in Taiwan so I knew where we were headed for those little bad lads.  When we got there Jen scouted out which busses we should take, looking at the Chinese and everything but it was me who seen the sign for the bus.  Happy days, I thought I was amazing because I had found the right bus stop, but Jen just yelled, I know!  I am seeing if there is any others!  Wonderful eh?  And there was me trying to help out, I know what I have to do next time, just chill and wait.  As it happens when we looked down the road the bus we needed turned up straight away.  


When we got there we went inside, and I thought it would of been a quick flash the tickets and in job, well it seems I have never learned.  The reason I say that is because you have to bloody que for every kind of attraction and exhibition like this in Taiwan, and especially Taipei because there is that  many bloody people.  Not only did we have to que, but we had to que for bloody hours.


At this time it was just me and Jen in the que, but then she seen Joy and her sisters.  She shouted at them and then helped them jump the que to come and stand with us.  I don't really condone que jumping but we were supposed to be going together, and it wouldn't be right to enter the exhibition 1 hour before them so I guess it was ok that we let them get in line.  Otherwise me and Jen would of seen nearly everything inside and Joy and her sisters would be just beginning.  The problem is I think after the 3 hour wait to get inside everyones feet were killing and people were starting to get sick of waiting which is a good job we didn't have to wait any longer otherwise I think there would of been some killing going on down the front of the que.

Part of the 3 hour long que to get inside.

So once we got inside I was quite disappointed to see more ques to take photos with the different pictures.  The first one we qued to get our picture taken with was a chair.  This chair picture was drawn on the corner of the wall, and I don't how they managed to get the effect to work but if people pretended to sit on the chair while their friends took a picture the chair looked completely real. The que to get to each picture was not actually that long and before I knew I was pretending to sit on a chair that really was just a picture.  The effect looks great though, I really liked the chair picture.  

Sitting on a chair, that looks very real.

I thought the chair was really awesome, but not every picture in the exhibit was that awesome.  It was a mixture between the excellent, and poor.  With no real middle this proved a small problem inside because it was obvious the ones that people thought were excellent everyone was queing for and the ones people didn't like so much no one was really milling around those.


After the chair, I went to the very next picture, mainly because I wondered why people were taking pictures through a very tiny pin hole.  When I got closer I seen the exact reason for this, because when you looked through the pin hole, the picture at the other side looked like a candle, on a table with its reflection showing on the table.  If people pretended to sit on the other end of the table it looked like they were sat at a candle lit table.  I really liked this one, and the effect the small hole makes on your camera kind of gives it a little spying effect.  That your peering through some little peep hole or something to see what the occupant is doing inside....anyway less babbling and let me just show you the picture.

Jen sitting at a candle lit table.

Right next to this picture, there was another awesome exhibit.  There was a room done out a the same on both sides.  One side however was reversed to the other side, making look like a mirror effect.  The key thing in this one was there was no mirror, what they had done is they got the people to pretend to be at either side of the mirror, making it look like the person who was looking into the mirror saw something completely different to their self.


I thought this was such a simple idea, but the different poses and stuff people were pulling inside were great fun to see and I wanted to try and get some pictures in here too.  While I was queing for it though, Jen came a long and stole my camera because she had forgot hers.  I was thinking bloody hell I hope she comes back in time before I get to take some pictures of this one though, because it would be shit if I qued and got right to the very front then had to let other people go before me because Jen was taking pictures too.  In the back of my mind though, I had a feeling she would keep an eye on the que and be back when she needed to be.


While Joy, her sisters and Jen were wondering around they took pictures in different parts of the exhibition that they liked.  Took pictures pretending to be captured, pictures with clocks etc etc.  Anyway none of them were really amazing to see some just ok, but I did really like the clock.  When you looked at it even for ages it still looked like a real clock, and then when you got closer you realised it was just a picture on the wall. 

Joy with the clock

Then they seen that I was right near the front of the que and they came back just in time for me to take some photos, and them to be my models.

Top picture, Joy's little sisters, bottom picture, Jen and Joy.  I love this idea of the mirror effect

I loved the idea behind this mirror effect, it seems so simple but I guess not everyone would think about it.  The final effect in the picture is pretty cool.  Its really funny to see how people pose and try and match each others pose to really get a good mirror effect.


This is the first thing that came to Jens mind when I told her to do something quick:

Jens first thought for an 'action pose'

Yes thats right folks, she really did give me the finger.  So I did the gentleman like thing and give her the finger back ha!


The second last main part that we walked past was like an animal area.  First I seen a big massive giraffe this one looked brilliant because it really did look look like its head was coming out of the wall. The que was quite big for this though, but when I was waiting I seen one that really amused me.  People were putting the heads in what looked like the pouch of a kangaroo to show that they were the kangaroos baby.  Now that I was firmly in the mood and enjoying the exhibition I decided I wanted my head as a baby kangaroo.  If I was a baby kangaroo I would look good I tell you, feast your eyes on this sexy kangaroo:

Yes I would make a sexy baby kangaroo.

While I had my head in the kangaroo, a big group of mainly girls and one fat lad....were saying hao ke ai (how cute in Chinese.)  Anyway Jen told me mr fat lad was saying how sad and stupid I was.....I think he was just jealous because they were saying how cute I was.  Yes I know I am not thin, by any means but trust me folks this lad was fat.....like super huge fat and maybe the only reason he was criticising me is he was jealous I could still fit in the small gap to walk in to the putting my head in the kangaroo part, or he was jealous I still done these kind of things while being some kind of fat.  Either way MR. Fat Man if you see my blog and know who you are I don't give a shit what you think, lighten up and have some fun.


By this time, Jen, Joy and there sisters were next for the giraffe so I was thinking bloody hell what can I do that would look good to the giraffe, so I thought I know I will kiss it, yes kiss it.  I didn't know how it would look on the picture but what the hell like I said by this time I was having a lot of fun with the different pictures and how good they looked.

Me kissing the giraffe, Jen stroking it.

The other best picture for the animal part of the exhibition was the huge giant gorilla, with a spoon.  It looked like it had its mouth open and you could sit on the spoon and look like he was about to eat you.  People were making all different kinds of imaginative poses.  I wanted to go in there and make it look like I was having a massive struggle with the gorilla so that it would not eat me.  I really loved this picture, I thought it was definitely one of the best there.

Top Picture, one of Joys sisters looking happy to be eaten, bottom picture, me struggling to stay alive, this gorilla obviously has a big appetite. 

The last exhibit we qued for pictures with was the head in the box.  This used the old trick of cutting a hole in the table behind and using mirrors underneath the table and around to hide the fact that our legs would of normally been shown out.  I think this one looks hillarous too, like we have only a head in a box on a table.  Its a good idea but I think when people originally see the picture they think, bloody hell how have they done that.  Then when you actually think about it for a little bit it becomes quite obvious how its done.  The picture however still plays, and tricks with your mind.


We all took turns with our head in the box, I must say if your a big lad its quite a small hole.  I banged my head on the way out and everyone thought it was amusing even me.  These things happen in life I guess, and my head is used to it from time to time so its ok don't worry about that.

All of us taking turns with our head in the box.  Let me know who you think is the best.

After we all had our heads in the box it was pretty much time to leave because Joys parents had invited us to go and have afternoon tea with them at some fancy hotel called the Ambassador.  At first I thought this was going to be a bit crappy like afternoon tea in England where to just sit and sip tea and eat cakes.  


When we arrived at the place the hotel just looked like any other building in Taiwan.  Like most buildings in Taiwan it looked a bit drab, and not very inviting from the outside.  Once we got inside that opinion quickly changes because it was so fancy and designed wonderfully inside it felt amazing.  Then on we marched to the afternoon tea.  It was more like a fancy buffet.  The food they had there was excellent.  They had quite a few different options of meats, fish, salads and rice dishes, as well as this they had a nice selection of delicious fruit and cakes.  They also had fruit juices, teas, and every bodies favourite end to a meal, ice cream!  It really was lovely there and I totally enjoyed a lot even though Jen thinks it is not worth the money I had a wondeful time eating there and Joys family seemed really nice and friendly.  

The lobby area in the hotel.

Jen and Joy in the hotel.

The meal together was a wonderful end to a truly great day out.  Only thing that put a little downer on the whole day was the queing at the beginning to get inside the exhibition its self.  This can be expected with anything that is kind of cool in Taipei though because there are so many people here, I just don't know what time the people at the front of the que got there because we arrived at 10, so I still believe they would of qued for 3 hours too!!!!






I just want to add some more pictures from the 3D art:

The houses on the street were the same picture and An an, got really excited to show me it.  Was great though when you moved from side to side it actually looked like the houses were moving.