New Year 2009 (Western)

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I had to go to school on Christmas day, but we did get off of school for the New Year, which was nice. Above I have posted a video of the fireworks shot off of Taipei 101 (formerly?) the tallest building in the world. I was supposed to go to a party that night at a friend's friend's 17th floor apartment, where there was a nice view of 101. She was late, and because of the volume of calls, we couldn't get in contact with each other. I ended up seeing the fireworks from the ground by a nearby MRT station. I'm not sure if I mentioned this previously, but MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) is what they call the subway around here. I have never seen the MRT as crowded as I did that night. On the level above the platforms, it was absolute madness. Imagine the first 50 rows of a general admission concert where the people are trying trying to walk in five directions, and you've got an idea of the difficulty I had tryingg to get around. The fireworks were spectacular, although some people said they were better last year. I did end up going to the party and stayed there till about 5 in the morning, which is not too late considering most bars and clubs in Taipei stay open till 6am.