Saturday 23 August 2008

Riding the pooch and eatin' outta 'the can.'


Walking down the streets off of Ximen Station with my students, I quickly realized that this area seemed to cater particularly to the teenage/college-age people. I asked my student, Irene, and sure enough, Ximen is considered to be one of the hippest and trendiest parts of Taipei. We walked through an alley of five different 'off-the-street' tattoo parlors. So I stopped and check it out...then I got one. Ok, I am soooo kidding. Do you think I would get a tattoo in a place where I don't speak the language and couldn't tell them what I wanted?? You're crazy. :) Anyway, as we walked down one of the many crowded streets, I saw a man coming from the opposite direction, leading a humongous dog that looked like it was part Great Dane and part Rottweiler. It was huge! But it had, what looked like a big silver can strapped to its face like a muzzle. As he got closer, Anna pointed to the dog and the man saw her surprise of its size. Unexpectedly, the man stopped. "You want ride it?" he asked Anna in broken English. What?? RIDE the dog?? No thanks. We believe in treating animals a little better than that!
So what happens when your students take you to the hippest, and most trendy part of Taipei? They take you to "The Modern Toilet" restaurant of course! Talk about hilarious! Picture opportunities left and right at this place! First of all, the tables are bathtubs with big sheets of glass over them, the chairs are toilets, each designed a different way, and the decor around the place is just...unbelievable. The wallpaper boarder that is at chair level is of animated piles of poop that are dancing, playing instruments, holding a star, etc and then on the ends of the border is a stick figure of a man taking a dump! Classy. In the room next to us, there was a mural of a men's room and an ANGRY pile of poop in front of a urinal! Then...comes our meal. You get an entree, a drink, and dessert with your meal. My meal (delicious by the way) was a hot-plate of Thai coconut chicken...that was served in a huge yellow toilet! My drink...was sweetened green tea in a urinal. My dessert...was a swirled portion of chocolate and vanilla ice-cream in a squatter toilet. Can I say, "memory in a 'can'?" haha! Man, I love puns. Wow, that was lame. OH! And to cover my serving of rice with my meal, was a ceramic swirling mountain of poop lid!! Why, oh WHY do we not have this restaurant in the States???

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