New Year 2011

Happy New Year and Xinliang Kwai La! (also happy new year in Chinese).

This is my third New Year's day in Taiwan and this year I actually got to go out and do what I planned to do. It didn't go off without any hitches of course, but that's part of what New Year's Eve is all about I think.
My only requirement for this year was that I wanted to see the fireworks at Taipei 101 (second tallest building in the world, but still first in many people's minds).
My first year here I had been heading into the city to meet some friends and things happened and I never made it. Read about it here if you're curious.
The second year I was sick and didn't leave my apartment.
This year I had a couple different friends suggest things to do, but nothing was followed up on or just didn't pan out. Finally I got a hold of Taryn who had invited me to something she was invited to, and we agreed to meet up with Zac, Matt and Adam and go to the party together. The plan was I would meet Zac, Matt and Adam in one place at 9, because Adam had to work until some ridiculous late hour and then we would go together to meet Taryn at another location because she had a class that went until 9:30 (another ridiculous hour on a holiday).
I got home from work at around 5, because I don't have to work until a ridiculous hour on a holiday, and chill out for a bit. I then get a text from Zac asking if we should meet up at 9 so I give him a call and we work things out and I find out that Matt and Adam aren't going because Adam is sick. I'm sad to hear this, but the rest of us are still on.
I head out a little early so I can stop at the Carrefour and pick up some champagne (sparkling wine if you're a purist).

(you can't tell from the picture, but I've drunk about half of the bottle)


Zac and I meet up and hop on the MRT to meet Taryn. We check the time and he notices that we have a fair amount of time to work with and should be able to make it to his friends place on time for the fireworks. He then says, "famous last words."
As many of you know, going somewhere in a big city during a major holiday can be quite a cluster fuck.
We meet up with Taryn and hop in a cab. Half an hour later the cab driver basically kicks us out because the road we need is blocked off. He gives us directions and tells us it's only a half hour walk. If we don't get lost. Zac's famous last words are coming back to bite us in the butt.
We head off and things seem to be going pretty well. I notice that despite all the walking I do Zac and Taryn are faster than I am and I have trouble keeping up. I must make it a point to start exercising more and stop being so lazy.
Anyway, we seem to be in the right area, but then we start getting turned around and lost. Zac keeps calling his friend and asking for directions and Taryn asks the guys directing traffic. The traffic guys send us back down the hill. (by the way we're walking up and down hills, because Zac's friend lives in the foothills, which is actually really close to Taipei 101). We even get in a cab and the cab driver tells us we're right where we need to be and kicks us out. We were not where we wanted to be, by the way.
Zac calls his friend one more time and we find him waiting for us to take us to his place without getting lost again. He lives in a six floor walk-up. We got to his place at 10 to 12. It took us an hour and a half to find the place. It was all worth it though because George (Zac's friend) lives in a rooftop apartment and has a clear, beautiful view of Taipei 101. We got to watch the fireworks and meet new people and finally relax for a while.
I took video of the fireworks, but my camera didn't do a great job of capturing them so go to YouTube if you'd like to see the fireworks.