How much do you lot know about Taiwan? Not a lot I bet. probably just that it was where everything was made when we were growing up, and it was all crap plastic junk. I was the same before I found myself here back in 97 and ended up staying a couple of years - I had a bike, a job, a flat, a girl, the works. A few years later back in London I met my wife, a Taiwanese girl who'd been in UK since she was 15 in the mid 80s. we've been married since 2000 so I've been here loads of times and I love the place.
The people are awesome friendly and have their own weird style and relaxed attitudes to life that come from living in a totally capitalistic society where many rules are flexible despite the ever present sabre rattling threats from backward communist mainland China. When I lived here it was normal to not wear helmets or seat belts, there were no such things as building regulations or traffic rules, so most streets would have an eclectic mix of structures ranging from ancient stylised temples through horrible concrete briezeblock monstrosities to huge fibreglass Godzilla heads or space aliens towering overhead. That was normal because in Taiwan anything goes. Headlights could be white, red, purple or green, as could brake lights (not too sure how safe that one was).
The food is great once you know what's what, the weather is mostly excellent, ie you get proper hot sun, and proper rain where it pis_ses down stair-rods for 36h, and in between it's mostly nice if a bit humid. It's an island (originally called Formosa by the Portugese, meaning beautiful island i think) so it has all that good stuff going on, with great seafood and (if you look) also beaches with sand and surf, and tint islands that are unspoilt with flying fish, and all that jazz. the women are very lovely if you can get past that irritating "oooh, hee hee hee i'm so cute and babyish, oopsy tee hee hee!" nonsense. mostly they have awesome fabbo bodies with none of the usual English girl thing of growing enormous fat ****s as soon as they reach 25. the downside is they usually have very little body fat, so no tits to speak of, but sometimes you find exceptions
ahem.
I used to enjoy myself playing loads a pinball in those days at the local supermarkets like Toms World, i can definitely remember enjoying Tommy, TAF, GnR, Twister, STTNG, and i think JP or at least there was definitely a dinosaur one. plus i could go to at least three other places and play pin, i remember the entire top floor of a huge skyscraper was just an enormous arcade and about a quarter of it was fll of pinball machines (admittedly mostly deserted while the locals sat down to smoke and play fighting games, or card games, or driving games. this is before all those dance games and gopher bashers and redemption shi_te ones all came through).
anyway. i'm out here again on me hols so since i'm mostly bored and mostly drunk i thought i'd share some pictures from a trip to the supermarket today.
nowadays when something is labelled 'made in Taiwan' it usually means it's top quality (not available to actual Taiwanese) and well made. unlike 'made in UK' which now means it's totally plastic bollock-junk
i dunno, i think it could be a liver
chicken feet are everywhere. i'm not a fan
loads of good stuff here in last night's dinner. various tofu dishes, some fried pork, peanuts, bamboo..... yum yum
durian opened up
no idea
types of fish
beer
another durian shot. tastes a bit soapy for me
i love this stuff - fish, peanuts and tofu with chili. not sure if this supermarket version has all the ingredints in it or not
possibly the most delicious thing in the world is fresh bamboo shoot. every morning they cut this stuff, and it tastes like heaven after getting rid of the outside tough stuff. texture is like water chestnuts, taste is like ambrosia from the nipples of a goddess
they also sell scooters in this supermarket
want a chicken? black or white?
the bath at my mum-in-law's place is pretty small, but the tape makes it look like it has it's own helipad
squid
trotters. one for you northerners
tripe. no, really
a fish
more durian
dragon fruit. these are lovely but tricky - some have white lesh, and soe have deep purple flesh.
prawns
my little boy Dylan
no idea
could be anything
various seafood
aubergines
more squid
a lot nicer than it looks. this is some shredded bamboo with tofu and is probably the tastiest thing you never tried
The people are awesome friendly and have their own weird style and relaxed attitudes to life that come from living in a totally capitalistic society where many rules are flexible despite the ever present sabre rattling threats from backward communist mainland China. When I lived here it was normal to not wear helmets or seat belts, there were no such things as building regulations or traffic rules, so most streets would have an eclectic mix of structures ranging from ancient stylised temples through horrible concrete briezeblock monstrosities to huge fibreglass Godzilla heads or space aliens towering overhead. That was normal because in Taiwan anything goes. Headlights could be white, red, purple or green, as could brake lights (not too sure how safe that one was).
The food is great once you know what's what, the weather is mostly excellent, ie you get proper hot sun, and proper rain where it pis_ses down stair-rods for 36h, and in between it's mostly nice if a bit humid. It's an island (originally called Formosa by the Portugese, meaning beautiful island i think) so it has all that good stuff going on, with great seafood and (if you look) also beaches with sand and surf, and tint islands that are unspoilt with flying fish, and all that jazz. the women are very lovely if you can get past that irritating "oooh, hee hee hee i'm so cute and babyish, oopsy tee hee hee!" nonsense. mostly they have awesome fabbo bodies with none of the usual English girl thing of growing enormous fat ****s as soon as they reach 25. the downside is they usually have very little body fat, so no tits to speak of, but sometimes you find exceptions
ahem.I used to enjoy myself playing loads a pinball in those days at the local supermarkets like Toms World, i can definitely remember enjoying Tommy, TAF, GnR, Twister, STTNG, and i think JP or at least there was definitely a dinosaur one. plus i could go to at least three other places and play pin, i remember the entire top floor of a huge skyscraper was just an enormous arcade and about a quarter of it was fll of pinball machines (admittedly mostly deserted while the locals sat down to smoke and play fighting games, or card games, or driving games. this is before all those dance games and gopher bashers and redemption shi_te ones all came through).
anyway. i'm out here again on me hols so since i'm mostly bored and mostly drunk i thought i'd share some pictures from a trip to the supermarket today.
nowadays when something is labelled 'made in Taiwan' it usually means it's top quality (not available to actual Taiwanese) and well made. unlike 'made in UK' which now means it's totally plastic bollock-junk
i dunno, i think it could be a liver
chicken feet are everywhere. i'm not a fan
loads of good stuff here in last night's dinner. various tofu dishes, some fried pork, peanuts, bamboo..... yum yum
durian opened up
no idea
types of fish
beer
another durian shot. tastes a bit soapy for me
i love this stuff - fish, peanuts and tofu with chili. not sure if this supermarket version has all the ingredints in it or not
possibly the most delicious thing in the world is fresh bamboo shoot. every morning they cut this stuff, and it tastes like heaven after getting rid of the outside tough stuff. texture is like water chestnuts, taste is like ambrosia from the nipples of a goddess
they also sell scooters in this supermarket
want a chicken? black or white?
the bath at my mum-in-law's place is pretty small, but the tape makes it look like it has it's own helipad
squid
trotters. one for you northerners
tripe. no, really
a fish
more durian
dragon fruit. these are lovely but tricky - some have white lesh, and soe have deep purple flesh.
prawns
my little boy Dylan
no idea
could be anything
various seafood
aubergines
more squid
a lot nicer than it looks. this is some shredded bamboo with tofu and is probably the tastiest thing you never tried
