Go-Karts Round 2

From my last post about Hooters, I joked about breaking my hip:

I won't joke about that stuff again. I think I got my hip knocked loose on the go-kart track.

Yesterday, some friends and I decided to head back to the go-kart track that we went earlier in the year. Weather was perfect and we had a lot of good racing. Most of the people in the group didn't go with us last time so the first time around I lapped everyone like twice. But by the third session, huge improvement by everyone. I couldn't lap anyone and was even passed a few times.

This is probably why my hip doesn't feel so great today. On the last session of the day, since everyone was more consistent and competitive, we were spending much more time side by side. Coming into the hairpin turn we had three people going for the apex at pretty much the same time. I had a feeling this wasn't going to turn out well.

The first person that reaches the apex loses his rear end and does a 180 spin and comes to a stop in the middle of the corner exit. By that time I've already committed to taking the inside line since I have another car directly to the right of me. I slow down as much as I can but it's too late. BOOM!

Ouch. . . and then I see my friend who took the outside line speed away, waving his hand as to say "Cya!" to the both of us. What a great friend! I know who's gonna get brake checked the next time he's behind me.

I have bruises on my elbow, my ribs, and my hip. My whole upper body is sore and I'll probably walking with a slight limp for at least a week.

But looking forward to the next time we go back.

Chinese New Years (2nd Road Trip)

I went with my other group of friends to Miaoli for some go-karting. The place is a pretty far trek from Taipei, roughly two hours by car, but it's supposed to be the best go-kart track in Taiwan.

I wasn't disappointed.

The track is fairly large, has a fast left hand sweeper, a slightly technical section, uphill/downhill part, a hairpin, and a quick left/right section.

Each session costs $250 NT ($8 USD) and they let us run for about 15 minutes. Normally i think it's 10 minutes but since the weather was freezing there wasn't too many people there, they gave us a little more time.

First you go into a room where they brief you on how to drive and some safety stuff. This is nothing like the US. First thing the employee told us was, if you crash and damage the car, you have to pay them for whatever is broken. Second was that if you crash and injure yourself, well. . . that's your problem.

Then he talked about the flags, green means go, yellow means slow down, checkered means the session is over. Left foot = brake, right foot = gas. He pointed to where the helmets and balaclavas were and that was that. I don't think the whole thing took more than 3-4 minutes and we didn't have to sign waivers or anything. Very unlike the US, where you'd have to watch 3 videos, study a safety manual, tell them who to contact if there's an emergency, sign 10 forms, and give them the results from your most recent physical.

Anyways, we strap on our helmets and go outside. It's freezing and the wind is blowing pretty strong. I'm thinking, gloves would've been a good idea. Oh well. . . too late now.

We get into the cars and wait for the green flag. There's a strong smell of gasoline in the air as the go-kart motors are probably running pretty rich in this abnormally cold weather. After the owner guy sees everyone's in their cars and all the engines are still running, he waves the flag and we're off.

I immediately remember how much fun go-karts are. Everything is so immediate and responsive. You only have to think about going left and kart goes left. You get a great sensation of speed since your derrière is only an inch off the ground and there's no suspension so you feel every little bump, crevice, every imperfection of the track. The go-karts probably only go 60 kph but it feels like 150 kph.

I was both disappointed and a little relieved to see the checkered flag. One one hand, I still hadn't completely figured out how to take turn 9 properly. Also, one of the faster guys just passed me so I wanted to follow him and see what i was doing wrong. On the other hand, my brain/body was telling me I could use a break.

I ended up doing only one more session as my friends were too tired to do anymore laps.

Was a lot of fun. Look forward to going back when it's not so cold.

Oh yeah, here's their website:
http://wuch6011.myweb.hinet.net/

Chinese New Years (Road Trip Day 1)

I can't believe the new years break is already over. . .

Friend's company let him use company car over the break. So we took advantage of it and went to a bunch of places around Taiwan.

First stop was JiouFen (九份). But getting there ended being more fun than actually being there. On the way to JiouFen we got lost, ended up driving longer than anticipated. We pass by a clump of 3-4 seafood restaurants, it's way past lunchtime, stomachs begin to make noises, mouths start to salivate. We think, no worries, we're almost there. . . 10 more minutes and we can eat at JiouFen. 10 minutes later, there's no signs of civilization. Uh oh. . . we need to ask for directions.

Immediately my friend says "That seafood restaurant we passed, they probably know how to get there." My other obviously not-so-hungry friend says "We passed by a convenience store 3 minutes ago, we can ask them for directions. Why go all the way back to the seafood restaurant?" And then my other friend says something like "Yeah, I heard seafood restaurant workers are world renowned for their ability to give road directions." LOL, I'm not sure why we had to give an excuse, other than "we're hungry", to go back to that restaurant but it was pretty funny coming up with them.

So we get to the restaurant and have our fill of crabs, clams, sashimi, etc. The lady at the front tells us the directions. And off we go. . . Except, when we walk out of the restaurant, it immediately feels like a typhoon hit us. Wind blowing our umbrellas inside out, rain flying sideways. We head for the parking lot and it feels like a war movie. We have our umbrellas out, not over our heads but pointed straight in front of us, held very low with us crouching behind it like we're dodging bullets. Since we can't see anything in front we end up bumping in to parked cars and trees and almost tripping over stuff, all accompanied by screams and laughter. After what seemed like a mile long trek, we finally get inside the nice and dry car.

10 minute drive later, we end up at JiouFen. Nothing eventful, just a bunch of small really narrow streets and a bunch of old interesting looking stores selling random crap. Supposedly the view is really good, but since the weather was so bad, we couldn't see anything. Our clothes were drenched from the constant rain and it got really cold really fast. So it was a easy decision to leave after a little over an hour of walking around.

Next stop was perfect for our situation. . . hot spring at BeiTou (北投). Taiwan has lots and lots of hot springs. They are typically separated into public pools (one area for men, one area for women) and private rooms. In the public pools you are required to be completely naked. We were almost going to do that and split the guys and the girls up but luckily we found a place that had a private room that could accommodate the five of us. And surprisingly not too expensive, it was $200 NT per person for 40 minutes. . . but upstairs is a restaurant. If you order $400 NT worth of food per person, you get 40 minutes in hot spring for free. (That's only $12.50 USD!) So that's what we did, we were expecting mediocre food since it wasn't really a "real" restaurant but surprisingly the food was really good, real restaurant or not.

After we finish our food, we go downstairs to our private room and jump into the tubs. If you've never gone to hot spring before, it's just like taking a bath. Except the water smells funny and you smell worse coming out of it than you did going in. The minerals and everything in the water are supposed to be great for your body but I can't tell. The only thing I notice afterwards is the smell. It took me two showers to completely get rid of the smell. Anyways, we were supposed to be in there for 40 minutes . . . but it ended up being 2 hours! So the lady tells me her boss is going to yell at her for letting us stay for so long. I'm thinking, how is that our fault? We had no idea, there's no clock in the room, and nobody had a a watch on, and it's too steamy to take out the cell phones.

So I was like. . . "talk to the hand bitch!"



Just kidding, all i said was "oops, 不好意思"

Xing Nian Kuai Le

It's Chinese New Years, i'm off for a whole week! Feels so nice. Most of the family together, lots of great food.

I spent Saturday morning at my family's ancestral home in the countryside. I think that's what you call it. It's kinda like a little private temple for my family's ancestors. I think most(?) of the family gathers there and brings some food as offerings, light some incense and bow a few times, light some firecrackers, and burn a bunch of fake money.

The point of burning the fake money is that it will go to the heavens and our ancestors will be able to use it. But I always think to myself, what if it's causing massive inflation. . . because everyone burns stacks and stacks of fake money. I imagine one of my ancestors in some old style chinese clothing going "When will they STOP with the money already!?! A freakin' taco costs like 20,000 fake pieces of money now!"


Those things on the right are where we burn the money. Most of my relatives have left by this time.

This is the original house, which is right next door. My ancestors actually lived there a long time ago. Amazingly an old man still lives there, the taxi you see in front is owned by him. A few of my relatives and I were watching him having a heated argument, lots and lots of hand gestures, except we knew nobody else was in that house with him. Yeah, i forgot to mention, he's certifiably crazy.

5 day weekend almost over

5 day weekend almost over. :( I didn't really do much except sleep a lot and watch a movie and protest against the president.

On Friday I saw World Trade Center: The Movie. It was basically two guys stuck in a hole, talking to each other. For a movie about two guys stuck in a hole, it's really very good. . . but I prefer movies where the scenery changes more often.

I just came back from the "protesting", I'm not really against the president. . . I just didn't want to do my assignments for class and it was a nice day outside.

Here's a picture and blurb from the Associated Press:

Thousands of anti-corruption protesters shouting slogans march outside the Presidential Office on Taiwan's National Day, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006, in Taipei, Taiwan. Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian spoke Tuesday, as tens of thousands of red-clad protesters gathered in the broad boulevard outside the Presidential Office building, demanding that he step down over a series of alleged corruption scandals.(AP Photo)

The atmosphere is more like a carnival than a protest. Everyone is all smiling and taking pictures of each other wearing all red and with their thumbs down. Some people bring their kids all dressed in red. . . i saw a few babies in red also. Even dogs were dressed in red. I guess even the dogs hate Chen Shui-bian.