Listen up America - you're doing wine tasting wrong. (And thanks to the NSA, America is listening!)

Taipei's Wine and Gourmet Convention was near the 101, and was only $500 ($17 US) to get in. Did I mention it was all you can drink and eat? Granted the food selection wasn't fantastic, just some breads, cheeses, and assorted meats on toothpicks. Still, I consumed a boatload of wine and got thoroughly drunk. Since it's a tasting and not a boozing, this was initially not an easy thing to do. I was getting frustrated by the meager, 1/5th of a shot samples they were giving out. All of that changed when I found Ukranian guy.

Ukranian guy was about to become my best friend. I tried his wine, which admittedly was a pretty good wine - though I'm hardly qualified to say what was good and what was not. Still, I liked it. Then he asked me if I would like to sample some vodka. Well, of course! So he pours a shot of vodka, which was fine, but not really exceptional. I think he could tell from my reaction I was unimpressed, so he says "Wait, wait." and turns around.

He opens up his backpack, pulls out another bottle with a label I cannot understand - however it looks like it was made on a home inkjet printer. He puts it down on the table, gets a 2nd shot glass, and says, and I swear this is true, "Da, I drink with you.", in the most stereotypical accent imaginable.

Several shots later, I find my friends and we head out to dinner. I was not terribly hungry after all the samples, but dinner is dinner. Initially everything was normal. Getting to the MRT, going to the other station. However, after coming off the MRT the vodka began to make its presence known. Much of the night was a blur after that, but I did manage to get one good picture at dinner. So you could say I had a good time.


Of special note is that on the way home, I noticed that suddenly, two new MRT stations had appeared. One of those, Danfeng, is closer to my home than the other one I had been going to. So I thought, well hey, I might as well take the new one. And amazingly despite never having been to this station before, I did make it home. I thought I may have imagined that station being a product of drunken stupor, but it turns out the yellow line randomly got two stations added to it.

I don't know how, but the next morning I did not have a hangover and was going to go to Yingge with Tiffany. Yingge is a city just a bit away from Taipei, and is the pottery capital of the country. While yes this sounds boring, the reason I wanted to go is they have a thing where you can make your own... whatever. I have expressed my dissatisfaction with my clearance rack, overly adorable coffee mug, so I wanted a proper one. So off we went via the train, and I got to try pottery having literally, 0 minutes of experience under my belt. After sculpting it you can put on some fine details, which I was incredibly terrible at. After looking at Tiffany like a lost puppy dog, she took my crazy scratches and made them look pretty "Oh, it's just like doing makeup!" Shut up, this cup will be for manly drinks. I actually did the Chinese writing (go me!). That's my Chinese name, 向陽, which means "Towards the sun".

The rest of Yingge is kind of cool, but not overly exceptional. I did find an Indian guy selling samosas (woo!), and a lady making dragonfruit smoothies. Dragonfruit here, I am surprised to learn, is a very rich purple color. This makes your smoothie more appropriate for signaling traffic than drinking, but it tasted good nonetheless. There was also a giant Iron Man statue, so that was interesting as well.

I guess Yingge is pretty cool after all.