First of all, happy Halloween.

I've always liked Halloween. But I wasn't like, in love with it. I now have a deep appreciation for Halloween. Even in China, they celebrated Halloween. Granted it wasn't huge, but some people dressed up. Some stores were Halloween themed.

In Taiwan, there is NOTHING. Nothing. It's a Halloween vacuum. And it's not until something's gone do you really appreciate it. I am going on record - Halloween is the best holiday. Christmas, Thanksgiving... you're alright. But sit down, it's Halloween's turn. Anywho I was not going to have any of this no Halloween nonsense, so I went out and got a costume. Most of my kids had no knowledge of Halloween, so I couldn't go with something clever. Instead I was an old fashioned vampire. I also went out to the bars with it, with my new Cincinnati area friend Mike. Turns out Mike and I have a lot in common - such as the same taste (or distaste, in the case of Taiwan brand) in beer. The bar we went to gives anyone who shows up in costume a free shot, which was nice. Except, we walk in, and I am the ONLY person dressed up aside from the employees. The manager seemed excited though, and gave me a ghost pepper shot. I do not recommend getting Ghost Pepper anything. I immediately asked for a beer with great urgency, and the lady didn't charge me for it. So, that was nice. Later, the shift changed, and another bartender said "Oh, you're in costume! That means you get a free shot!"

3 free drinks down. This is a good bar.

So all in all it was a pretty great night. Met some new friends, got drunk, all while being a vampire. And then the next morning, it was off to Pingxi.

I've been to Pingxi a few times now. I actually think this was my 4th? But Tiffany had never been. Which, I mean, hey, you never do touristy things in your home town. This time we went to see the Shifen falls, which are about a 20 minute walk from the town. To even see them you have to pay a little over $3 US , which I think is pretty ridiculous. But hey, they're pretty, and I don't think I'm ever going to be back there.

April and I popped up to Danshui for dinner on the weekend (seriously, the garlic corn vendor there is my best friend), and now that brings us to yesterday. First was lunch at a Japanese hot pot, which is much better than a Chinese one IMO. It's not soup, you cook all your food in a sauce. It was delicious and they had cute little bear paw bread to go with it. After that we didn't have anything to do, so Tiffany and I went out to see a tennis game in Taipei Arena. Since it's just the qualifying rounds, it was free to get in. I've never seen a pro tennis game before. I more or less know how tennis is played, but it turns out sitting down is the most complicated part of tennis. We were escorted through a maze of doors and velvet ropes to finally come upon a black curtain in front of a door, like a haunted house. We had to wait until they finished their set, and then could enter. We had to leave our drinks at a specified "drink check" table. Later when we went outside to enjoy some coffee, the door was barred, unbarred, barred, unbarred. I guess people coming in could distract the players? It was deathly quiet inside, like it was a game of golf. Boorrrrriiiiing. Let's get some cheering going on, Happy Gilmore style.