Though it’s been tiring, it’s been a great week: Parties galore (and come to think, I’m getting sick of ’em!)!

Last Friday, I hopped on to Tickle My Fantasy at Anhe Road to say goodbye to party animal, Ito, who’s now moving to greener pastures in Singapore. One of the few notable party characters in Taipei, Ito works hard, drives fast (he has a Porche) and parties a lot.

Be it clubbing or KTV, I think I’ve always seen Ito in a party. Makes me wonder if the dude still works to maintain his lifestyle.

Afterwards, I headed to the teeny-tiny Stoneman bar for some drink and good conversation and later walked to Carnegie’s (in my high heels for that matter) for some late-night dancing! Of course, I also said “Hi!” to my two of my most favorite people, Gordon and Jonathan, and they both made sure I got home safe as it was already 4AM!

Saturday was a super nice day, which was why two friends cancelled on me for wallclimbing. One had to wait till the water heater’s delivered to his house, while the other had to take his wife out ’cause it was such a great day! Regardless, I still went to the Shipai gym and had a ball, also meeting new friends in the process!

Then, I rushed home to shower and dress up as I prepare for my good friend’s Eric’s Spanish house party. But of course, there’s dinner first, and my mates and I dropped by at Carnegie’s, where we treated ourselves to a big slab of NY Strip — for only NT$590!

Served with soft and fluffy mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and red wine sauce, Carnegie’s steaks are one of the best in town, and deserves another visit for sure! Next time, I’ll try their 10 oz. filet mignon for a change… I heard, they’re delish too!

Eric’s party was fun.

There were loads of caipiranhas (vodka, lime, ice and sugar concoction) which made me redder aside from the glass of champagne I had at Carnegie’s, but what made it more fun were the people!

It was great rubbing elbows with Camil who reveled us with his recent snowboarding trip in Korea, Edward who moaned about the lack of intelligent English-speaking women here in Taipei, Brian who just broke up with his girlfriend a week ago, Dave who gave me a brief massage, and a whole lot more! It was a fun time, and I had quite a few intellectual conversations that night. I also got the chance to talk with my close girlfriends, Karen and Mary Anne, whom I haven’t seen for awhile.

Haha, you really can tell a lot about the person by his friends, and as a top manager in one of the leading banks in Taiwan, Eric’s friends are just like him — laidback, intelligent, loves traveling and a whole lot of fun!

Sunday was slower, as I woke up for another of my organization’s activities — an Indian eat-all-you-can lunch — at one of Taipei’s most popular Indian restaurants. Personally, I didn’t find the food to be all that (it was too spicy for comfort), but heck, for NT$400, it wasn’t such a big deal.

Regardless, what made it more fun was me touching base with old friends like Matt, who have just moved to Taipei and is loving his job at a branding company, James, and Rick, who has been in Taiwan for 21 years as a DJ. They’re right, friends are the spice of life and I was happy to meet up again with Matt after two months. Ever since we met, we’ve just connected, and his friendship is one I am sure to treasure.

After the lunch, we decided to go to Sun-Yat-Sen Memorial Hall to try our hand with some kite-flying action. There wasn’t a big breeze, but it was a nice day out, and you can imagine how silly I looked as I was running around the park trying to fly a kite — in heels!

LOL.

But heck, who’s complaining… I did manage to get that stupid thing high up in the air!

And during breaks, I took the time to play catch with friends.

As the sun was going down, we then decided to grab a cup of caffeine at the nearest Starbucks in New York and New York, and made a spur of the moment decision to FINALLY visit the Taipei 101 Observatory at the 88th floor.

I mean, why not?

We’ve been living in Taipei for YEARS, and have yet to trudge up the tallest building in the world!

NT$350 poorer, we were on our way up via the fastest elevator in the world. It only took up exactly 37 seconds to go up 88 floors (Wah!) though it took us 45 seconds to come down.

Anywho, we were greeted with bright twinkling lights as we looked at Taipei’s nightscape. From the north, south, east and west, we had tons of fun guessing which building was which, or which landmark was in which direction.

My fave was the Living Mall and the Miramar ferris wheel, both of which were extra-beautiful at night.

We also got the chance to check out the infamous 6,600-metric ton steel ball which keeps the Taipei 101 stable during earthquakes and typhoons. They said the ball can sway up to 1.5 meters during such events.

Scary… wouldn’t want to be stuck on top of the Taipei 101 during one of these natural disasters…

We also decided to check out the open-aired 92nd floor, which fleeced us out of an additional NT$100 each, an amount which was well-worth it after we found out that we can put our heads between the steel boards, shout and hear the echo traveling around the building!

I felt like screaming in James Cameron-style, “I’m on top of the world!”

And literally, we were!

Finally, it was time to eat. It was already 9PM and we were starving.

So, we made a run to the Salt and Bread Russian Restaurant in the corner of Dunhua and Heping Road, famous for its -20 degrees C vodka ice bar and its delicious desserts.

Though a bit pricey, the food is good. The crab meat soup (NT$420)tasted like lobster bisque but was rich and yummy, while their beef oxtail soup (NT$180) was good enough to share. We also ordered their liver pate with grape and cherry sauce (NT$680) which we thoroughly enjoyed as the meat just melted in your mouth. Too bad the serving was too small for the price, but if you don’t mind the $$$, order this dish!

I personally enjoyed their tender beef kebabs (NT$400) which was served with salad, lamb rice and tomato sauce though I didn’t really like their 9oz.-oxtail stroganoff and mashed potatoes (NT$880) which I felt was a rip-off since it was just full of fat.

I did love their dessert though. 🙂

Forgot the name (something-Valentine), but it was three scoops of ice cream with chocolate on top and heated by flaming vodka sauce. At NT$360, it’s a steal and guys, if you want to take your girls out to a classy dessert place, forget Swensen’s and bring her to Salt and Bread!

Well, that’s that… my wild weekend on top of the world.

Tell you more about Phuket tomorrow!

Ciao!