A Night Out With Chris & Yana

Catherine & I went out to dinner with my buddy Chris and his girlfriend Yana Saturday night. We were hankering for some western-style vittles so we headed over to The Outback Steakhouse. I think the food is overpriced but tasty. Big honking steaks are not typical fare here, so the meal was a nice break from the soup and fish diet that's prevalent in Taiwan. We have not had many chances to spend time with other couples, so it was fun to chat with Chris and Yana. I think Catherine liked being able to freely speak Chinese with Chris. His Chinese is remarkably good considering he is a California-born white boy. I currently have a handle on about 6 words in Chinese....lol.

After dinner, we decided to head over to Jingme, a neighborhood in the city. The night market is a good one according to Chris. We never made it to the night market. Instead, Chris led us to a little mountain set in this part of the city. He convinced us to hike up about a million steps in order to take in a great view of the city. It was nearing midnight at this point and the humidity was pretty bad, so I was less-than-thrilled with the idea of a late-night climb. After moaning and groaning a bit we made our way to the top. The trek proved to be worth it. Atop the mountain was a lovely Buddhist temple and a killer view of Taipei at night. It was really peaceful up there and gave me an opportunity to take some nice pictures.

Across the street from the restaurant. This is near the entrance to the Taipei sports arena. The arena is playing host to the 2009 Deaf Olympics and this is the add promoting the event.

On the way up the mountain we saw many small shrines.

Catherine posing for a pic at the top. She is as cute as a button!

In the temple. Chris and Catherine trying to decipher some of the writing on the walls.

Chris doing some snooping around. The detail in the artwork is remarkable. Notice the sweat stain on his shirt...it was REALLY humid that night.

Catherine was showing us the proper protocol when worshiping in the temple.

I love the use of color. When you walk into one of the temples it's almost dizzying. It's hard to see everything.

A view of Taipei from above. Not terribly clear. I need to figure out how to take better photos at night. I'm going to sit down with the instruction manual and see what the deal is.