Sunday, October 21, 2007

Taiwan Blogger's Shindig in Hukou

On Saturday night, a bunch of the prominent Taiwan bloggers got together at MJ's place in Hukou. It was an excellent opportunity to get to know some the folks that have a knack for capturing life here on the island. MJ, (check out his blog here) was gracious enough to host this get-together of characters. His home is just a stones throw from an excellent Thai restaurant, where most of the action took place. The party was a lot of fun and went off without a hitch. The conversation and food were top-notch. Despite coming from all parts of the planet, it's remarkable how much the group has in common.

I will attempt to tell the story of the evening through the following photos:

Early in the evening the drinks were going fast. It was great to get a chance to pick the brains of my fellow bloggers.

Carrie (check out her blog: My Several Worlds) and MJ. I believe MJ was espousing the virtues of the Taiwanese rum that was the preferred drink of the evening.

The much anticipated barbecue. It didn't disappoint.

My cutie pie enjoyed the Thai-style barbecue. Shao-hui's cooking nearly brought tears to my eyes...great stuff.

A close-up of the various dishes that were served. The food didn't stand a chance in this group...we did some serious eating.

Carrie and Micheal (Michael's blog can be found here: The Taiwan Chronicles). Michael & I spent a good bit of time comparing war stories. He is also a former Peace Corps Volunteer and was born in Cleveland...small world. He gave me some excellent advice regarding higher education here in Taiwan. Essentially, he said I would be crazy not to get my Master's degree from one of the universities in Taipei...more on that in future posts.

That's Andres, of the one-and-only Andres in Taiwan blog, on the left. In the foreground, with his back to the camera, is David. David has a great blog, check it out at David on Formosa.

John, Carrie's future husband and good buddy of mine. He is damn near 7 feet tall so you can imagine what kinda of looks he gets here in the land of short people.

Later in the evening we made our way inside to take part in some karaoke.

Todd, sitting to the left of Catherine, also has an excellent blog...his photos are killer. Check his blog out at The Daily Bubble Tea.



Michael was making the moves on my girl!...lol I had to step in and put an end to that! After we got home, Catherine told me that Michael was a very interesting guy and his Chinese was impeccable...what a lady killer!...lol.

What a great time. Again, thank you MJ. I certainly hope we can do this again in the near future. I know that Catherine and I will be heading back that way to visit MJ. It would be worth the trip just to dine at Shao-hui's.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

David - it was nice to meet you and Catherine, I look forward to seeing you two again at the next meet-up.

David said...

Hey Todd,

Same here. It was great to put a face/voice to your blog. I hope we can do that sort of thing again soon. I will keep an eye on your blog.

-david

Andre said...

david... it was a real pleasure to meet you and catherine. hopefully we can get together again soon so we can practice our spanish!

Anonymous said...

Hi david,
You surely had loads of fun :)
I read most of the blogs by u guys. Great stuff. Wish you have more fun like this n keep blogging

Anonymous said...

Hey David,

As usual, we had tons of fun with you and Catherine. Seeing you is always a blast. I love the commentary by the way and your pictures are top-notch. See you on Saturday at the wedding.

David said...

Thanks Ashish. We did have a blast. I think we may be doing it again in the next few months, at least I hope we do.

I checked out your blog...good stuff. Keep it up and your English will improve quickly.

-david

David said...

Hey Carrie,
I'm glad you like the pics. I think the one of John is great...he couldn't look more relaxed...lol. I think we made some great new friends on Saturday.

See you next Saturday!
-David

Anonymous said...

I really hope so David. Thanks for checking out my blog. There is much to learn from fellow Taiwan bloggers :)

Anonymous said...

welcome to Taiwan,
and hopefully enjoy the taiwanese culture,
http://blog.sina.com.tw/888mlb/article.php?pbgid=48151&entryid=576225