Day 15-18

I finally got to do one of the things I came to Taiwan to do: exploit their weak dollar and buy shit. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the night market but it was awesome. For about $100 CDN I picked up: 2 pairs of jeans and had them tailored, a t-shirt, a polo for my dad, a messenger bag, and two zip hoodies. Needless to say I won't have to do much shopping for a while.

My dad took me to the computer place again where, on a Saturday, they featured scantily clad women advertising nerdy video cards, quite appropriate eh? So I picked up a USB keyboard, a USB hub and a flash memory stick for my brother. Afterwards we headed home and went out for dinner with my parents' close friends and their family. Chinese family dinners are pretty funny. It always turns out to be a huge drink fest with people "honouring" others, which is effectively making somebody drink. I've known my "uncle" since I can remember, and I've never seen him drink so much and egg others on to drink so much. It's funny too, because he's a doctor.

I spent most of the next day nursing a mild hangover...if it wasn't for Pocari Sweat (Taiwan's equivalent of Gatorade) I'd have stayed in bed all day. I finally got out of my PJs at about 4pm and watched many an episode of Scrubs. My grandpa decided we needed more beer and took me with him to the grocery store to pick up a few tall boys. This leads to today.

Today was THE worst day I've had yet in Taiwan. Hell, it was probably one of the top 3 most boring days I've had in my life. Remember Pokemon Snap? You know, the game on N64 where you ride a boat or something and go around taking pictures of pokemon? Today was a real life version of it featuring my aunt as the boat (car) driver and my dad as Ash Ketchum. I was told we were going to Yilan, a place that is supposed to have great beaches. Honestly, we couldn't have gone further from the beach. After about a 4 hour drive that eerily reminded me of the Sea to Sky Highway we arrived at a dingy little beef noodle restaurant (Hurrah! They're everywhere...). After eating we drove...more...to a place also eerily similar to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. My dad must've taken 200 pictures. God I hate Pokemon Snap. I think we ended up in the middle of Taiwan somewhere.