Taipei: Day 1, part five

After the temple, we all loaded back into the bus and the driver took us to a Mongolian BBQ restaurant. The buffet was exactly like Chang’s Mongolian Grill, but with less selection (though they did have venison). There was also a boiler thingy on our table that we could dump food into and then pull out what we wanted when it was cooked. Both the boiler and the big cooking surface were heated with burning wood, so the restaurant smelled really good! At the restaurant, I really hit it off with the Korean guys. We talked tech for a little while, and then their boss pulled out a bottle of vodka (I think). They poured me a glass and said “be careful.” I think they thought it might be too strong, but it’s strength and taste was like vodka, so no big. Now I don’t enjoy hard liquor, I’m a beer guy all the way, but I sacrifice in social situations.

We joked around a bit while we ate, and some of the guys were really hitting the sauce hard. Then, one of the guys went to the bar and bought another bottle. They poured me some of that and said “58, be careful.” Ok, now THIS stuff was strong! I’m guessing that 58 meant 58%, but I honestly don’t know if that’s very strong or not. But MAN, this stuff burned! Like Bacardi 151 burned, and they poured me a bunch. My first thought after I tasted it was, “there is no way I can drink this.” But, I downed it little by little, and they were all happy and impressed. The other guys finished the bottle, I can’t imagine how they did it! They weren’t mixing it, just drinking it straight. One of the guys chugged like 2-3 shots worth and I said “Man, you are CRAZY!” and they all laughed and laughed. It was a really fun time!

After dinner, we got back in the bus and headed to Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world! I was really looking forward to this, I mean going to the top of the single tallest building in the whole wide world! Wow! And the elevators are the world’s fastest, going 37.5 mph to get you to the top in less than 40 seconds! But when we got there… it was closed. The tour guide said it was because it was too cloudy, I suspect that we got there too late… I was bummed out, but determined to make it to the top before I left Taiwan.

So, we got back in the bus and the driver dropped us off at our hotels. Antonio (the Korean guy I talked to the most) asked me if I had a business card. I didn’t and he didn’t, so we were a little sad because it would have been cool to stay in touch. I got dropped off before the Koreans did, so I waved and said goodbye. Took the train back to my hotel and realized that I just had one of those days that will stand out forever in my mind. This was an 11 out of 10 kind of day, easily finding itself in the ‘Top 10 Jake’s Vacation Days List.’ I love Taipei.