Xi Men Ding....

In all this time I have never mentioned Xi Men Ding in Taipei. I have to admit it is quite difficult to describe what it is like to a foreigner...I guess you could compare it to Harajuku in Tokyo although that place obviously rocks ten times harder than Xi Men.

So lets start from the begining...Xi Men used to be an older cinema place where young people used to hang out, in fact my mum used to go and watch movies there! cool man...over the years its been changed into a Taiwanese young persons paradise selling everthing from clothing from japan and the u.s. to mini motorbikes to random crap that even camden market would not sell. Its the only place I have ever seen that has restraunts, pool halls, go karting places, cafes, bars, clothing stores, and fitness centres all within 1 minute of each other. Most of these places open at around 12 noon and all of them, escpecuially the clothing stores close between 11-12pm.

Over the past couple of months, well since I first stepped onto Taiwanese soil I have basically always hung out in Xi Men. I think its the atmosphere I like around there, although most people my age think the place is childish and hang out in the 'fashionable' East side of Taipei.

I have experienced many a strange experience there...being chatted up by some shop sales guy in a random clothing store whilst Albert and Anthony laughed at me, talking to an owner of a tiny trainer shop for two hours about Xi men, kicks and cars, being told by a shop guy who works near the L-Bar that he remembers seeing me last December head to toe in A-P-E (Bape for all Taiwanese) and that I had great dress sense and finally of course getting a VIP card at the L-Bar!

Long live Xi Men Ding!

Kryssy, David and Sarah at the Knot of Rope...ladies ladies ladies~~ ahahahaha

Kryssy and Sarah...Kryssy looks pretty tired in this photo however sarah is just being the random girl she is~~

Felix and Edd...man these guys are wierd...and I like that!!

Kryssy and Roland...awwww~~~ note how roland seems to be in a world of his own as usual!

Kathy and Ben outside the Mogul Shamrat...man this was about the fourth photo i took!

Goodbye cold cold weather...hellllooooo hotness~~~

Ahhhh...the time has come to return 'home' to the sunny shores of Taiwan...as a legend once commented "The board is set, the pieces are moving..."

Well my last meal with at least some of my friends happened on Saturday at the Mogul Shamrot which is an interesting small Indian restaurant. Yes we went for what Linda calls "Indish" food. The group consisted of me, Roland, Kryssy, Sarah, Ben and Kathy. We (me, Roland and kryssy) were late upon arrival as the Mr and Mrs Barzegar had been to longleat Safari park the same day where apparently Roland's dad (a complete legend who will have his own special post one day) saw a lion walk past their car and commented "ahhh...majestic"... HAHAHAHA. I personally believe they were late as Roland spent HOURS and HOURS picking what to wear and more importantly doing his hair.
The meal was good, we all had different types of hot hot curry. Mine was a chicken Jalfressi which was too hot for me as I was sweating like crazy?then again I always do as Anthony will testify.

After a rumbling meal and a quick stop at Co op for some chocolate (sarah was desperate for some), we headed to the good old Knot for a drink...the Knot of Rope, where I have spent a many wasted hour in my youth drinking fosters.
In the space of about 2 hours we had made toys from the kinder eggs Kryssy had bought us (thanks darling I will keep my DJ badger who is watering a plant forever!), played table football with these, Sarah (Rah Rah as I now call her) named Roland's no1 mate "Thor" which Kryssy seemed fine with , I took a picture of Sarah?s breasts which she was quite impressed with (dunno why I was bored)I must email that to you sometime!) and Roland had decided to make a comic strip called ?The adventures of Thor and Jeffrey (long story).

On Monday I met up with the Eddmeister and the legend that is Felix and the ever so sweet Kryssy who alas was ill but still made it. Edd produced a slinky which I am sure will provide hours and hours of entertainment for me whilst I am on the plane and Kryssy gave me a Chewbacca candy thingy,cool man! We had some drinks, talked about poo, said weird things in German (well Edd and Felix did), talked about sex,the usual pub banter! Hahaha.

So my final message to my friends take care of each other, less stress more happiness and more importantly keep drinking!

Below are messages of pure love laced with pure hate...more love than hate!

Edd (he is the most important skater guy/non conformist in my life) - Brud keep working hard in your chocolate shop and remember we are now divorced and I get 75% of everything including Homer and Plato,don't want Grizzie she doesn't like me! Don't forget to make the invisible game we always talk about, I want to see progress when I get back, and more importantly...Funkweilig!

Sarah (my darling, now insane drinking Rah Rah girl) - First of all stop drinking! Hahaha?I will miss you darling, take care of yourself and don't get too wild in Cheltenham. Time really changes people right...no doubt... I am so glad that you have moved on in your life so much whilst I was away. If you?re happy then I am happy! Oh yeah?I gotta email you the picture sometime...ahahaha!!

Felix (codename foo) - mate keep up the excellent Japanese, good luck with all your exams and I hope you make it to Japan and have a wicked time!

Roland (my Scottish Brother) - brother, I hope to see you sometime on our home soil for some drinking in 38 degrees weather! Keep studying and working hard these next few months, kick some ass in your exams then come to Taiwan and bum and please try and bring Edd with you!

Emily (the original nutta herself) - wasup Emily Lowe, what happened to your no show eh!?...my fault actually as my email thingyme dooda messed up, sorry!! Hahaha...I hope you take care of yourself these couple of months darling!

Kathy and Ben ? Take care of each other and Ben?not too much drinking at gigs just cause its £1 a pint at the pub next door!

?finally?

Kryssy (Mrs Barzegar) - darling take care of yourself and Roland, don't worry about what the future holds, you will be fine?and I must apologise for my random ramblings on Edd's birthday! Hahaha...quality stuff!

Thats it people, I am off to the land of night market steaks, no 117 at Jamaica, Ktv, Inhouse and most importantly...7-11! Time will drift past us so quickly that it will seem like none of us ever said goodbye, take care all of you?


"I will remember you, will you remember me? Don?t let your life, Pass you by, Weep not for the memories?"

- Sarah Mclachlan

Taiwan and the u.k.

"Get away from seeing time. Give up the future and the past. That brings you to the moment." - Anon

Well its that time again people, time to go back, I feel numb, its like being constantly uprooted. It may sound like I am unhappy or moaning, I am not, this is just how I feel.

I am happy...man...a life with too many conflicting emotions tires me at times. I know what I want, I know what I need and in my heart I know how I feel. Life does my head in sometimes.

Taiwan and the u.k. two worlds apart, two hugely conflicting cultures...

...the U.K.; where my parents, my family, my friends are...

...Taiwan; where I feel settled and 'happy'...where I will be when my darling returns...

I can never choose between the two, but I will have to one day...

Chavettes...nuff said darlin~~

Ode to the CHAVS....

The chav...British, burberry cap, kappa trackie bottoms, white reeboks, gold chains hanging out and Nickelson t shirts...hahaha...

For those of you who have no idea what I am on about the Chav is....


[From www.chavworld.co.uk]

'chav' (slang) - a young person, often without a high level of education, who follows a particular fashion; Chavs usually wear designer labels including the chav favourite 'Burberry', and if they?re girls, very short skirts, large hoop earrings and stilettos.

Chavs see branded baseball caps as a status symbol and wear them at every opportunity. Normally found hanging around shopping centres.

Also known as Townies, Kevs, Hood Rats, Charvers, Steeks, Stigs, Bazzas, Yarcos, Ratboys, Chorer, Skangers, Scutters, Janners, Kappa Slappers, Scallies, and Spides. Also known as Neds in Scotland, knackers & skangers in Ireland, and Guidos in the USA


So there we were, Sarah and I at what we now know as Chav heaven (Weston Super mare) and oh man...there was a whole nother level of Chav there...oh yes they were wearing the fake LV cap instead of a burberry one...and don't even get me started about the Chavettes hanging around that place...

Check this post written by a non too happy person in regards to Weston...


Weston Super-Mare
POSTEDON Thursday, April 07 @ 11:09:36 CDT by Dogville666

Dogville666 _WRITES "Seaside 'holiday town' hellhole.

Favourite hangouts include the seafront, the pier and the abundance of huge amusement arcades (especially the one at the end of the pier).

My God! I knew that Weston was a town that had to be seen for its chaviness, and oh boy, was I scared!

This is a place ruled by chavs. Imagine a place where any semblance of intelligence and taste has left to go on to pastures new many years ago, and you have an idea of what it is like to be in Weston. I went there last weekend (mid March), and I can honestly say, I have never seen anything like it.

You step off the bus near the main shopping area, and you notice a quite a nasty, thick atmosphere (I kid you not) of total wrongness! The pedestrian area looks delapidated, as if soon it will fall down. The seafront....Oh my God, NEVER have I seen so many rudeboys driving round and round and round on the same one-way street (get a fucking life!) The pier, now that was SCARY. It seems that the people milling around are so fucked that their genepool would never ever get above the stage of cretin, and just to add insult to injury, what is at the end of the pier, but a huge, and I mean HUGE chavvy amusement arcade, even complete with dodgem cars! From the end of the pier, one can marvel at the sound of 'modded' cars with their stupid new exhausts which actually have the effect of making it sound like the engine is totally fucked!

All this, and on a Sunday afternoon in March! God only knows what nighmares await on a Friday or Saturday night in July or August when you have all the scallies down as well, more likely than not, breeding more and more of the little herberts who will see the light of day by the following April or May, yuck!

So there you have it. An example of what a place is like if left totally to the chavs! Makes Benidorm look classy!"

CLASSIC!

My main Bruv and Foot Soldier himself...wear your ICECREAMS, wear your BBC, keep your iced out teeth nice and clean...forget your roots and screw the essence...hahaha!

Welcome to Taiwan, please have your passports and documents ready for inspection at the desk...

"A supershopper is a highly irrational consumer who will never buy just because something is the lowest price... A supershopper will purchase groceries at the supermarket based on decisions regarding the packaging graphics [...well at least that's what I do]. A supershopper will pay exorbitant prices for a pair of Bape sneakers. A supershopper might live in squalid housing conditions but regularly shop at Balenciaga. Not surprisingly, a supershopper usually has huge credit card debts and is close to bankruptcy by the age of 30."

- Wayne Berkowitz (creater of superfuture)

ahhhh yes...I can't wait to get back to my life in Taiwan...hahaha...