Chili packets to Die for, and DON'T TAP!

Man, I heard a freaky incident that happened just a few weeks ago.

In Atlanta, a man got stabbed to death in front of his wife and small daughter because the man in the car behind him got frustrated with him tapping on his brakes.

Well, now, I've got another story to add to the list: Wendy's worker got shot because the customer wanted more chili packets.

From the AP here:

A manager at a fast-food restaurant was shot several times in the arm early Tuesday trying to protect the chili sauce, authorities said.

A man in the Wendy’s drive-through argued with an employee because he wanted more of the condiment, police said. The worker told the customer that restaurant policy prohibited a customer from getting more than three packets.

The man insisted on 10, reports said. The employee complied, but police said the customer wanted even more.

The manager came out to speak to the man, said Miami-Dade police spokesman Mary Walter. The customer then shot the manager, who was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

Wow... chili packets are important...

Nose Job Technology

ok... believe it or not, this aberration on this man's nose is intentional. No, his goal is not to become crazy hideous. This man needed to have the tip of his nose reconstructed. The surgeon's solution was to cut a flap of his forehead and attach it to the nose. The flap needed to stay attached to the forehead so the blood vessels fed the new skin attached to it.

Now, this man actually looks normal once again, and nobody would have guessed that he had ever been cut up....

pretty amazing what humans are capable of...

Man gets $100-300/day by sitting

So, this made me smile today... not the pic... read below...

A man who lives in the San Francisco bay area thought up an ingenious way to make some money.
He was tired of sitting in heavy traffic during rush hour while all the vehicles in the carpool lane zoomed by. Well, instead of deciding to carpool with a coworker, he decided that he was going to be a professional commute helper.

What does a commute helper do? He holds a sign up offering to sit in your car so you can avoid rush hour traffic. Then, he keeps hitching rides back and forth during rush hour as the customer happily zooms by in the carpool lane!

Pretty funny indeed...

Doing it Again

Man, I wish I had traveled Taiwan differently... If I were to do it again, I would take my boyfriend and go and stay a lot longer than a little more than one week... We wouldn't only visit Taipei; we'd go to the beach, natural hot springs, mountains and a rural village... so much to see...

(sigh) I miss being in Asia... work is so boring in comparison...

Night Market Photos

Here are some pics of a night market that I went to ... Towards the end of the trip, we went to a way better night market (forgot my camera that day), one that was much larger, had tons of clothes and shoes and things like snake alley and this tattoo road. Snake alley is not normal ... and is mainly for shock value. A lot of tourists will go to touch massive snakes and take snake bile, blood, or poison shots... Of course, I did not partake... a little too crazy for me.

Inside a grabber machine... a bunch of stuffed pika toys.
More "grabber machines"
A bunch of random cute stuff on sale. There were a lot of cute pigs for some reason there. In Taiwan, the males are not ashamed to carry adorable items also.
A bunch of tiny turtles...
A bunch of real tiny turtles... not really sure what these are used for... selling as pets... or what?
These are the CUTEST!!! Unfortunately, I'm never good at these games... so wasn't going to shell out 6 bucks to play this... Actually, wait... I've actually never played a "grabber machine," since I have such a strong aversion to gambling especially when I feel like I'm bound to lose... Of course, I don't care if others gamble...
Kid sized games... so cute.
People getting their ears cleaned by using the candle vacuum process... I don't know how sanitary this is...
Fresh shrimp to be made into shrimp skewers... I could never eat something that I've seen alive at one point... Don't get me wrong, I'm a meat eater... I'm just a cowardly meat eater...
Game stands

Square Watermelons and Prawn Pringles

Traveling to another country is so great for so many reasons... but one of the best things about it is that even the little everyday stuff can be so different!

We went to a grocery store and these were a few items that we saw.The infamous square watermelons! I forgot to look at the pricing... arr... These crazy cute little toys that are so miniature that they are rendered useless ... although this would be a treasure trove for a doll house maker... DAMN... I just realized that I once saw that there was a huge market for this stuff on ebay... should have bought some!
Pringles that are tiger prawn, sea salt or thai flavored... they had the ones that you find in the US also...

Ok... don't get me wrong, even though Taiwanese people are much skinnier, they eat A LOT for all meals... but it looks like chips are practiced much less... Ok... so if you look closely... These grapes are super expensive. The bottom bunch is labeled 900 TWD, whereas the top one is 2400 TWD... AND 33.26 TWD= 1 USD... you do the math...
And, no, they aren't super huge grapes... they looked pretty normal too... and I bet the one on the bottom even has seeds!

I don't think that grapes are usually this expensive. This was located inside an expensive SOGO grocery, and the fact that they're Japanese may play a role... Are Japanese grapes really that delicious? I don't know... I feel so deprived. All I can do is take a picture... :(

Weird Beauty Products

There is a LOT of makeup and skincare items in Taiwan... It's so weird... They have flawless white white skin (personally, I don't like crazy pale pale) but then you look at their teeth and it's like, "whoa. Didn't see that comming.."
In the US, they have so many teeth whitening things, and it seems like in Asia, they don't care at all.

Anyway, there are quite a few useless products that I found in Taiwan for "beautifying" oneself.

This last picture isn't mine, but I saw it there... unfortunately, the sales lady told me to put away my camera before I could snap a pic of it.

Tweezers with a magnifying glass... I can't imagine it helps that much... I may be wrong.

Curlers for your bottom lashes...

For grooming your eyebrows into the perfect shape.

Different cheek templates for blush styles


This is for shaping the face.... to make the face smaller... weird...

Differences between Taiwan and US

oh... wow... that trip was refreshing!
It's so nice to be in a new setting for a change.

The ride was long... but it wasn't as bad as I anticipated. Time shift was actually handled pretty easily by me. In fact last night, when I got back, I went to bed at around 10 PM and woke up at 7.

Oh... the kitty missed me so much, and it was so wonderful to be back with my sexy boyfriend and cuddly Bebe.

So, let's start with the differences between US airports and Asian airports. On my domestic flight to SFO, they didn't feed me a meal... This would never happen in Asia... Anything over 1 hour is almost guaranteed with a hot meal. YUM! Like my 2 hour flight from Nagoya to Taipei!

The flight attendants are quite different too. American ones can be male or female and the age range is broad. But, the Asian airlines discriminate. They are always young slim well manicured and make-uped ladies.

The bathrooms at the airports were about the same, but I noticed one thing... American women don't know how to flush! It was the 4th stall that I visited until I finally found a flushed toilet... gross... I think it's not because the women don't want to clean up after themselves; I think they just don't want to touch the lever or button.

Ah... this trip can't be summed up in one post... I will post more as I go on the next few days.