KTV

Last weekend, we went out with a bunch of friends on Saturday night to a KTV to celebrate a friends' birthday.  KTV is what the Taiwanese call Karaoke.  Karaoke is a HUGE thing in Taiwan, and Asia in general.  There are KTV bars on almost every street corner.  The one we went to is called Holiday KTV.  The building itself is like a hotel; fully equipped with a lobby and elevator.  When you get to your floor, you are taken to your room.  The deal is, you rent the room for a certain rate per hour, sing all the songs you want, drink as much as you want, then leave.  The room is very dim, it has a huge leather couch with two tables, a flat screen TV, microphones and speakers, and it's own washroom.  You program all your own songs through a remote, and when your song comes up, it's your turn at the mic.  So, so much fun and so hilarious!  One of my best nights out in Taiwan yet.  Can't wait to take my mom and brother here.  I know after some liquid courage my brother will be all over that microphone.  This night made me miss my friends soo much as many of the songs we sang were oldies (Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Aqua, etc), and I know they would absolutely love doing something like this!!! I'm definitely having my birthday here.  Here are some pictures of our night out:

This is the KTV bar...the entire building is KTV!

This must have been a Backstreet Boys song

Magic

Voice of an angel

This KTV was in Ximen, a place I had heard of but had never been to.  I can't believe I hadn't been there because it was amazing!! It is like Taipei's times square.  There is SO much shopping every where in sight that it's actually overwhelming and you don't know where to start.  I'm going to wait on my next pay and then get down to business in this district.  Here are some pictures of it during the day and at night.  Oh, and the street food there is amazing!

Mark and I are back into a workout routine, and will hopefully stick with it so that we have nice beach bods for Thailand in (less than) 3 months!  We have been eating in more lately since it is late by the time we work out and shower, and it is nice to not have to go find food.  I began a weekly Wednesday pasta/wine night starting yesterday.  It is my thing to look forward to in the middle of the week.  Instead of always looking ahead to the weekend, it's nice to have an evening in the middle of the work week to cook a fab dinner and drink some wine with my guy.  He has no complaints, since pasta is my forté.

Don't worry, we didn't eat all of this!  Leftovers for tonight!

Well, Halloween is approaching, and yes they do celebrate here in Taiwan, so all week I have been doing fun crafts with my kids to decorate our kindergarten area.  Tomorrow is the Halloween party at my school in the morning, then Mark and I will have a Halloween party on Monday at his school (as I teach there as well).  Not really celebrating Halloween as adults, probably just heading to the beach this Saturday so Mark can catch some waves.  Maybe me too..... IF it's not freezing out!  That's all for now.  HAPPY HALLOWEEN to those back home.. enjoy the parties!! xo

Octoberfest

Not sure where to begin with this post, I feel I have much to talk about since my last post.  Where to begin...  Well, I have begun to accumulate pictures of some of the foods we like to eat here in Taiwan, as well as some western food we have just discovered.  Here is some of the food we like to eat!

Deeeelicious fresh sushi 2 minutes from our apartment.  The fish is so fresh, and the prices are quite cheap compared to home.  At home, you would pay around $2.25 for one of these pieces.  Here, you pay about $0.50 each.  Mmm.

This is a typical meal for Mark and I in Taiwan.  These types of restaurants are everywhere.  They are $100nt restaurants, so each dish is $100nt ($3.00 Canadian), with unlimited rice.  We go to one by our place probably twice a week.  Do you see all those fresh shrimp?  Ya.. $3 Canadian for at least 12 shrimp.  Pretty awesome.  The dish in the middle is called mapo tofu, one of our faves.  We usually get a beef with vegetables dish as well.

We have only gone to this place once, but I loved it.  For around $7.00 Canadian for two people, we got chicken, fresh shrimp, noodles or rice and a huge plate of cabbage and greens.  Each person gets a pot of hot soup base and you cook your meat and vegetables in the boiling soup, and then eat it. MMmmmm.  Need to go back here.

The Taiwanese, and I'm sure most of Asia, do NOT let any part of the animal go to waste.  This scene is very typical in Taiwan, and street vendors always are selling every part of the chicken, or cow...or I don't even know what half of the things are.  MMmm chicken feet...EW GROSS.  I don't understand who eats that..but to each their own I guess.

Awww poor little chickens - pre butchering

Fish are EVERYWHERE.