"Party like it's 19... hold up, it is!"

New Year's Eve, like I said in my previous blog, was a cold day. It's not that it was really that much colder than the winters in Vancouver, but it was unexpected arrival of the cold front. The current of cold air swept from Northern China, and brought a drop in temperature of 10+ degrees Celsius overnight. Now, normally I wouldn't complain about yesterday's 4.8 degrees Celsius temperatures... but when houses don't have insulation nor heating, you can bet I was happy to wear my thin sweat pants under my regular pants when leaving the house. Wish I had brought some winter clothes.

Anyway... let's talk about New Year's. I was hesitant to want to return to Taipei for the New Year's celebration - what, with it being to-the-bone chilly, with me still struggling to get over a cold, and with the long bus ride in busier-than-usual rushhour traffic. But I did go, it was chilly (still is), and my cold is worse, but I'm glad I did.

There were two outdoor concerts in Taipei that evening, 10 mins walking distance from each other. The Taiwanese were out in the masses, with in the range of 200,000 out to enjoy the celebrations. Myself, TC, and BH went to one concert, and left after 10 minutes to get a better view of Taipei 101 (the world's tallest building), which would make its opening debut. The second concert was better, in my opinion, with 'the musical stylings of' Machi, Stephanie Sun, and "500" (五佰). It was cool to be out in a New York Times Square environment. Large screens synced up the crowds into a countdown from 60 seconds. Then, at the last 10 seconds, the entirely-lite 101 building turned off its lights, from the bottom up, one section per second. When the clock struck, the 508m building exploded outwards in a fantastic display of fireworks. Then the upper levels continued with a few more outward explosions while some more common fireworks lit up the sky behind. It was a great site, and a nice way to bring in the new year. We even had a few bottles of Bacardi Triple Black -- and without a bottle opener (they weren't twist offs), there are a few scrapes on painted pillars.

But like the Symphony of Fire / Celebration of Lights events in Vancouver, leading 200,000 people away from one place makes for some massive congestion. MRT stations jammed packed, hordes of jaywalkers, and so on.

At the end of the night, the only regret I had was forgetting to bring my camera. Well, guess I'll have to do it all again next year!