Taipei

Back from Taipei. Was there from Fri- Sun for Westlife. I am not sure what I feel about Taipei. On one hand, it's pretty damn rundown. The airport is shabbier than Bangkok's! I would have thought it would be a wee bit more modern, probably not as much as HK of coz but I certainly didn't expect it to be so rundown!

On the other hand, it was delightful to be able to speak Mandarin! And Taiwanese Mandarin sounds so much nicer than funny HKie accented ones or loud Mainland Chinese ones.... But the level of comprehension for English is definitely lower than HK, not that I minded terribly coz apparently my Mandarin ain't too bad! Went shopping with Merv where he bought his bloody Edwin jeans and while explaining to the shop owner what we wanted/didn't want, the shop owner said he thought we were locals but overseas educated coz we were jabbering with each other in English! Bwahahahhaha! Merv's Mandarin has also improved and I taught him how to say his hotel's name in Mandarin! Heh heh! And whenever we took a cab or ordered food, I'm the one reading the address/food menus. Go me! :P

There isn't much to see nor buy in Taipei but then again I reckon that's coz I didn't do my research on where to go. We went to the famous Xi Men Ding which is a popular shopping area (Merv bought his jeans there) and the Shi Lin Night Market where it was so bloody crowded! And I thought this sort of crowd can only possibly exist in HK! I didn't buy anything but we managed to eat the fried chicken thing (shiok! super kiam!!) and Taiwanese sausages as well their version of 'orh luah'.

Yeah oh so I met bloody Westlife for the 4th (or was it 5th) time again. Felt quite useless the first two days coz my boss was there doing the work (i.e. SCHMOOZING with the band *cue roll eyes*) and she left on Sunday where there was actual 'work' to be done i.e. regional interviews. So I worked the whole weekend and here I am back in the office again. I've got tons of bitching to do about this trip but I should get back to my emails! I'm so sleepy! I want my weekend!