Saturday was the day we'd been waiting for for months: Taipei Pride. We shoveled in some carbs from the hotel lobby for breakfast, and I watched the World Series. It was fun not only to see the World Series in China, but also to see the Houston Astros kick LA Dodger butt! In the game I watched, they went ahead of LA 2-1 in the series. As of this writing, the series is tied 3-3....we'll see what happens! Around 12 noon, we took the subway to the Pride parade. It was very neat, clean, and orderly. The people queued to get on the train; they had subway tokens instead of tickets, as they do in Shanghai. As soon as we got out of the subway, people were handing us flags and stickers...it was so fun! There were a few vendors here and there selling rainbow things, but no food, which really differed from Minneapolis Pride back home. Things hadn't really started when we got there, so we walked around a bit. We ended up in a large area where a lot of people seem to gather; it got more and more crowded as the time wore on. But people weren't rude or mean. A lot of people wanted to take our picture, and they were happy when we asked to take theirs. We noticed a genuine lack of attitude at this Pride, and we were happy that things seemed very bear-friendly. Eventually, the parade got started. It wasn't much to speak of, but we had a great view, and there were lots of interesting people: Goths, folks decked out in rainbow colors (including me in my tie-dye shirt), puppy players, S/M gear, men dressed as Sailor Moon, a man dressed as an Indian chief with rainbow feathers. Soon, however, we got hungry, and headed back to the subway. Before we left, I took a couple pictures of beautiful temples. I really didn't buy that much at Pride: I think I bought one rainbow scarf and one flag. However, Kerry and I together did manage to collect 23 (YES 23) flags that were given to us. That's enough to give one to each of our gay--and even non-gay--friends. We went back to the hotel and changed, and then went on to a Japanese restaurant nearby: I had sashimi, udon noodles, and tempura. Kerry ordered some meat kabobs as well...delish! Excellent food! And I loved how they said "Welcome" in Japanese to everyone who walked in. (We know they were saying "Welcome" because we asked the waitress.) In the evening, we did a bit more shopping--mostly for gifts--and walking around. The mall under our hotel had T-shirts with Chingrish (Engrish) on them---for about $3 each. We bought a bunch. Overall, we had so much fun that Kerry didn't want to leave!
Here are a few Pride pictures (mostly of me and Kerry...one includes us with a guy dressed as an Indian, another includes a guy fighting for marriage rights in Australia):
The next day, Sunday, we had to leave. Arranging a taxi was no problem. It was so nice to see so little traffic on the road. We talked constantly about how much we wanted to return to Taipei sometime. "Let's come back for Pride," Kerry said. I reminded him how that would be hard to arrange in the future, considering my work schedule. On the flights home, I managed to get two window seats....the first time was because we saw one vacant row (from Taipei to Fuzhou) and Kerry asked the stewardess if we could sit there, and she allowed us to. The second time, I was assigned a window seat...yay! Rice and a chicken wing on the first flight; fruit and water on the second (Fuzhou to Shanghai Hongqiao). Still, it's better than the service we'd get on an American flight! We took a taxi home. As we were walking out of the airport, we were accosted (twice) by men saying, "Taxi! Taxi! Only 350!" We knew better and ignored them. "175! 150!," they shouted, trying to bargain with us. We instead went into the normal queue line for the taxi and ending up paying only 98 RMB for the trip home...not too bad. I managed to finish grading my response papers for the Short Novels class, which I had started on the plane, and even had time to read my critical article. We ordered McDonald's delivery again for dinner....we're still experimenting and trying to find out what we like. I tried a burger with bacon, lettuce, and tomato on it...no cheese. Not bad. I notice even McDonald's food here tastes fresher--it doesn't taste like it's been under a heat lamp for two days. I skipped the fries and had a side of corn, which isn't a USA option. I enjoyed it!
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