alright, so things didn't go as planned as mentioned in the previous entry cause of various reasons but all in all for the past four days of holidays, i must say i'm really just darn soaking up the whole chinese new year atmosphere here.

imagine this. having a reunion dinner at alvin's house, 4 steamboats to feed nearly three quarters of the camp as well as the customary blackjack and mahjong tables all nicely displayed just waiting for mata to catch only. of course the mata here also at home drinking beer and gambling la, no time to come and catch us. so after a nice dinner and watching neo defeat that man in black (it's the matrix i'm talking about, just a fyi thing?) we all proceeded outside to the backyard and guess what. we set off firecrackers and fireworks. you heard them right! that thing that goes pop in chinatown that you watch on the telly and everybody in singapore goes WAAAAAH... ya that thing, we set it off. hahah. and that thing that goes boom boom boom in they sky with a lot a lot of colours that you watch at explanade and everybody there goes WAAAAAH... ya that thing, we set it off too. best part was, we ALL set it off. just grab a firework and a lighted cigarette (just a btw thing, i don't smoke) and WHEEEEE. off it goes into the sky. watching it at esplanade during the national day parade was one thing, but watching it go off in the backyard just less than a hundred metres above us that was one hell of an experience. hahah. couldn't get enough of it, so we played for an hour or so i think, we lost track. i've got videos though. heh. mahjong and blackjack all the way after that, the wives club went back with their respective husbands leaving the single bachelors to play. confessions- i played mahjong la. haha. but it was a small bet and let's just say that though i was the won the most, it wasn't that big a deal anyway.

first day of the new year was spent in bunk cause of the previous night's dinner. did i mention that before we could finish the things inside the steamboat, we already started pouring new things inside to the extent that half the time we don't know whether the food in our mouth is cooked or absolutely raw? anway, it was a painful experience but nevertheless, managed to get my ass out to renjie's place for another... make a guess.. steamboat. and more, curry. wow. perfect combination for an already upset stomach. but it was good clean fun, it was after all a celebration with the green people, so gambling is always involved just that that night's money making wasn't as huge as a win of 60,000NT for some people, rather, that ONE person. all thanks to the kids.

found my ass in taipei yesterday to see what i could find but there wasn't much to see. not exactly a wasted trip cause after all i was with good company so that in itself was good. so here's the main point. i was supposed to go to tainan this morning, but considering that we woke up late at 11plus it was useless to go there and come back by nightfall. we didn't want to stay overnight there as well, felt it was also useless. nevermind. in the end having nowhere to go we got psychoed by combatant guardsman medic jeremy chia and his sidekicks to go to yangmingshan to guess what? see flower. okay loh, never mind la. go la, could be fun. wrong. moment we stepped out of the bus at the mountains, numb ears and frozen cheeks was what we could feel, or rather could not feel. so jacob philip and myself went downhill while the other three went to bash their way through the greens just to appreciate flowers at a temperature of less than 5degrees. oh, did i mention it was raining quite a bit as well? what did you expect, we're the people in green.

to cut the long story short, we then wanted to go tainan tomorrow morning but realised that the last train back on a saturday/ evening was at 1930 or something. NO TIME! so scrapped the idea for now, pushed it till summer probably. oh well, it was all good fun. as for tomorrow, it's off to renjie's house for mahjong then to staff low's place for.. urgh. steamboat. haha. after all, chinese new year's meant to be spent with your family and to me, these people are family to me at least for my time here. hahha.

PS: it's friggin cold now. 8degrees in camp, where i am now, without considering the wind of course; 5degrees in ximending, taipei, 12pm. and less than 5degrees, nearing zero probably at yangmingshan. welcome to chinese new year in taiwan. fantastic isn't it?