Last weekend was just a marathon!

On Saturday, I met up with my friend SC, for an early brunch at the now-famous Diner at Rui-An Road. The last time I was there, it newly-opened and I remember that their prices were good, and the food okay. It lacked the big portion sizes of Carnegies that I adore and guiltily eat.

So imagine my surprise when I saw this outside:

My god, people were practically lining up for hours to get in this place! Unbelievable!

Understandably, the service was slow given that there’s only a few servers in such a small venue, but the food was great! SC and I ordered the breakfast burrito which only cost us an unbelievable NT$180 with refillable coffee or tea, a terrific deal considering the salsa was also “refillable” and the eggs were just the right amount of consistency, though I found the hash browns a tad oily.

“Why don’t they expand?” I asked SC.

“Dunno, I think it’s because they never imagined that their small diner will be just as successful!” SC said. As she lived nearby, she waited in line since 10:00 am just to get the last table when it opened at 10:30 am! My god, it’s even worse than Ding Tai Fong!

It was worth the wait though. Now, I know why tons of expats in Taiwan like the place, though I wouldn’t really trouble myself to wait that long.

After such a filling meal, we then went to Kmall and joined a bunch of people playing some kick-ass lasertag! Yes ladies and gentlemen, lasertag has arrived in lil’ ol’ Taipei thanks to the foreign-catered FreshTreks and it’s located at the 4th floor of KMall.

Here’s the website just in case you’re interested: www.lazertreks.com. Spread the word!!!

That’s Brian Apel, one of the events coordinators, instructing us how the game should be played. 😛 And our fellow competitors/teammates listening slightly intently:

Lasertag’s pretty cool — it’s as exciting as paintball, but with less pain and mess! The guns, or phasers as they call it wasn’t as accurate, but hey, this is Taipei. We were divided into teams of 4 and we played a total of 5 games each I think.

Sheesh, we won EVERY game, but the last — leaving us in 2nd place.

Bummer.

I don’t think my thighs are sore as much as my pride. Aaargh, I hate losing!

The price was a bit expensive at NT$899, but with a handful of adrenalin-pumping games, and eat-all-you-can Western buffet afterwards (with free Taipei beer), it was worth it! I don’t think I’ve sweated as hard or as profusely — and I go to the gym!

Check out the food, it doesn’t look like much but it surely filled us up!

For details (and no, they’re not paying me for this) is as follows:

Cendryn 0919-985-167
www.lazertreks.com

She’s French and speaks English! Yay! Finally, an activity where I don’t need to negotiate in Chinese. 🙂

But wait, there’s more!

After the tiring games and beer, we walked around the area and snacked on the QQ iced store nearby! It was a tad pricey at NT$40, but I liked their taro slices which were chewier than the East District Tapioca Balls (Dong Qu Fen Yuen), though overall, the latter is better.

After THAT, I was supposed to go home, but Top-Climber rung up. He was just done with his boxing tournament and asked me my plans for the rest of the evening.

“I just want to take it slow tonight,” he said. “I’m beat.”

So what did we do after the looooong day?

We caught a movie at Vieshow and watched Tim Allen’s “Wild Hogs,” which my friends have been ecstatically recommended to us:

Maybe we were overexpecting. It was funny, but not “the funniest movie I’ve ever seen in a while,” as my friend Chuck claims. Sure, it generated a few laughs but it was no way comparable to Howard and Kumar to White Castle DVD which left me in stitches.

But the best part was our heart to heart talk after the movie. A few issues had popped up lately and he was great enough to share with me what exactly he thought about them.

Ah, always great to have a best friend like him! 🙂

Sunday

So that was Saturday and I was completely pooped after that whole day of excitement. I also woke up with my thighs ultra-sore. 🙁

I studied a bit, but the clincher was when I headed to the CKS Memorial Hall to watch the London Symphony Orchestra perform!

The London Symphony Orchestra is one of the top 5 orchestras in the world, and was made famous by playing the soundtracks of “Star Wars,” which held sentimental memories for me as
it was my first movie ever. They also played the musical scores of the following films: Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Land Before Time, Braveheart, Harry Potter, among others!

Imagine that! They’re a big part of our cultural experience!

I’ve also met a couple of the musicians and they were of course, British but cool!

The composer was a young 32-year old Daniel Harding but he was fantastic, though the solo pianist Lang Lang was theatrical but okay.

Unfortunately, I don’t know much about music but I do know that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it — the music felt like children frolicking around nature. You can hear the light beats of their small footsteps as they run around and playing. You can hear the rain and thunder in the background as water rushes lightly at first then stronger as the pieces were played.

We had another reprise yesterday at our office’s ground floor, where we heard the woodwind instruments being played. Also met and talked to the famous Maurice Murphy who played the main trumpet for the Star Wars theme!

After 30 years with the London Symphony Orchestra, he is retiring this year and it was his last time to play this piece in public so I was honored. 🙂

Finally, we headed home — but wait, there’s more (see? told you last weekend was a marathon!). My colleague and I went first to the Grand Hyatt Cheers for a last round of drinks.

There, we saw Daniel Harding also having a few drinks on his own, and it was really nice.

It was already 1:40am-ish when I got home and I was beat.

But as a good friend of mine had some issues to talk to me about (BIG sigh), I talked to him for 1.5 hours more thus sleeping at a super late 4:00 am!

So you must imagine how beat I was come Monday. 🙁

Nevertheless, it was worth it!

So there you go! Finally, managed to hand you some updates and share that Taiwan is only boring if make it to be. 🙂

Sheesh, gotta retire with all the fun and socializing and hit the books. Gotta go and meet up with some friends for dinner.

See ya later!