Kaohsiung was nice. Humid. About 30 degrees Celsius, or close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Too hot when the air wasn’t moving, but with a slight breeze, the evenings especially, were perfect.

Scooters EVERYWHERE. Everyone has a scooter. Often times, a family of four with teenagers will have four scooters.

Twin towers. I don’t know what they’re called, but they’re famous and are popular with the tourists.

Walking around in a night market in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Smelled really awful (turned out the “aged tofu” was the culprit), but had a lively atmosphere.  They sold everything from weird street foods (almost all deep-fried) to nail clippers.

Eunmi and Ashley posing inside a huge tiger’s mouth. We showed up right when they were closing the interior, so I can’t tell you about what’s in there.

That’s Chris (from Ireland), Charlotte (native Taiwanese), Ashley (Korean living in Taiwan), and Eunmi (holding a Taiwan Beer).

Here are those nail clippers I was talking about. I have never seen more than 4 different types of nail clippers in one place before seeing this. Never thought I’d have a picture of nail clippers on this blog.

Some sore of addictive chew that all the taxi drivers in Taiwan keep in their mouth all day. The taxi driver that drove us the 2 hour drive from Kaohsiung to Kenting had one in his mouth at every moment. When he was taking one out of his mouth with one hand, the other had was reaching for another from his bag. His teeth were black and half-deteriorated. All of his taxi driver buddies he was waving at also had black teeth when they smiled back at him.

This is a photo of me and Ryu Seung Beom, 류승범, a famous actor in Korea. I had no idea who he was until another of Eunmi’s friends at the party mentioned him. He was a really nice guy and very polite. Recently, Ryu Seung-Beom was cast for the movie “29 Years” with Korean actress Kim Ah-joong.

This party was a small get-together with some of Eunmi’s friends, and friends of theirs. Lots of models. Some of the girls must’ve been over 6′ tall. Everybody was dressed down a little bit, but trendy (particular emphasis on trendy). It seemed like everyone there had their own unique style.

I don’t know if Belvedere Vodka sponsored the event, but that’s all they served and there wasn’t any sort of cost associated with the event unless you bought the host Fhifan’s book, Slow Recipe.

It was a rare occasion in that there wasn’t a single other foreigner present at this party.

This is Lee Berre,이베르, a designer on the left, me, Eunmi, and Ashley. Lee Berre is a prominent architect in Korea.

This is Jimin, 지민, Eunmi’s best friend from high school. Her nickname is 쥐, which means “mouse” in Korean. She was really nice and seemed to love her humongous camera. I named this picture “mouse,” so, if you Google “mouse,” this photo might come up. Ha ha.

This is me, Fhifan, and Eunmi. He was the host of the party. Fhifan is Korean, but was born in Japan, just finishing his book titled, Slow Recipe. His book is about his personal journeys and development into modeling. He is a fashion model in Korea and Japan, as well as a DJ, and now an author.

This is me and Eunmi with “Mouse’s” boyfriend, Kim Won Sun, 김원선, a famous graphic designer in Korea. Also a really nice guy. Basically, everyone I met at this party was really nice. I’m trying to use bigger and fancier words than “really,” “nice,” and “very,” but it’s a  struggle for me. English, after all, is a second language for me.

This is Eunmi with her friend Varkjiwon,박지원. He is some sort of stylist or designer, and works with “Mouse’s” boyfriend.

Exterior of the venue called onFriday in Gangnam. Everyone migrated outside since it was such a nice night out and the weather continued to cooperate.

DJ at the party. Solid house music.

Entrance to Club Eden in Gangnam, Seoul.

This is my favorite club in Seoul. It’s located in the basement of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Gangnam, Seoul. Lots of gorgeous people, all dressed up, trying to out-do one  another. I’d say it’s the most popular club in Korea right now. One of Eunmi’s friends who came with us wanted to buy a table for us that night, but all the tables were sold out.

Amazing lights, and fantastic sound. The music is pretty good – usually house music, but once in a while they’ll bring in other acts. Last week, they brought in Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas to perform there.

My favorite aspect of the club is the fact that it’s not the typical meat market vibe. Everyone is well-dressed, and well-behaved. Not as many inebriated party-goers as most other clubs in Seoul. That might have something to do with their drink prices.

Mixed drinks range between 15,000 to 20,000 won. Domestic Korean beers are about 10,000 won.

Cover is expensive – ranging between 30,000 to 40,000 for entry. One of Eunmi’s good friends is some sort of promoter or manager for the club so we never have to wait or pay.

In my opinion, Club Eden offers the best overall club experience in Seoul – but you have to go there expecting to pay a lot of money, or else the drink prices will annoy you all night long.

You can see how great the lights are in this video.

Bouncer at a night club in Singapore zapping Eunmi with a Swine Flu temperature reading gun. Pump was the name of this bar. They had a pretty good cover band playing.

I was the next victim of the Swine Flu Gun.

Singapore is known for having some of the best chili crab in Singapore.  Jumbo was strongly recommended and revered as one of the better seafood restaurants in Singapore. This restaurant is known for having some of the best chili crab town.  Eunmi had been talking about chili crab in Singapore for a month, so this portion of the trip was unavoidable.

Eunmi has finally reached the promiseland. She was concentrating on the menue as if she had to make a mid-crisis decision. I was not allowed to talk during this time.

Snapshot of the pot of gold. We ate way too much.

Eunmi in bliss.  The little brown things on the white plate were fried baby squid. I thought I ordered calamari. They tasted more like fried grasshoppers.

View of a harbor in Singapore at night.

The crane-looking structures on the right are part of one of those bunjee-launch things that you find at fairs and carnivals.

With a name like that, how can you resist?

Two “screaming multiple orgasms.”

Alcohol is really expensive in Singapore. Almost outrageous. These two drinks were $20 USD each. And that was a weekday night in a bar, not a night club.

Lang Kwai Fong is the famous nightlife district in Hong Kong. It is said that 65% of Lan Kwai Fong is owned by one individual, Allen Zeman, a German-Canadian – also Jewish, who in 1983 opened the first Western restaurant in the area. A year later in 1984 after he opened California Restaurant, he bought the entire block. Today, he is known as the Father of Lan Kwai Fong.

That’s me drinking a beer inside a Starbucks Coffee in Lan Kwai Fong. It was the only place I could find with WIFI for my iPhone. Just a little tip – you can use the internet there for up to 20 minutes for free without buying anything.

A  sample of the international crowd of Hong Kong in Lan Kwai Fong.

More crowds. As you can see, the streets have a steep grade. The hilly streets can be tiring if you walk around a lot, but it adds a lot of character to this area.

Looking down one of the main streets of Lan Kwai Fong.

Busy street in Lan Kwai Fong. It can get really crowded on the weekends despite the streets being closed off to vehicles. Lan Kwai Fong received notoriety New Year’s 1992 when 21 people died here from being overcrowded.

We finally ended up at Yumla, a very small bar tucked away from the main streets of Lan Kwai Fong recommended by my friend Daniel. It turned out to be the highlight of the night with a great local crowd and good house music.

We had to walk down some alleys to get there.

Local hang out spot for food after the bars. Lots of noodles.

Everyone that showed up made my night a very special one for me including Clayton, JP, Jenny, Joanne, Deborah, Lucy, Brad, Jason, Bruce,  Sam, Nana, Dustin and fiance Seung Yeon, Ashley, Brad, Heather, Diana, Esther, and all of the great staff at Funky Dunky!

Proof that it was a good time? Two people that came to the party missed work the following day!!!

The first video below is a birthday cheer with sparklers….

The video below is one of my favorites. Three minutes into the video is when the real action begins.

At 3:40 into the video, he actually lights his hand on fire to light the drink!
Fun, yes, that is his English nickname, is throwing some crazy moves with fire everywhere as he prepares a tough drink for me. You can hear Dina on the mic getting the entire bar involved while Fun is working his magic. At the end of the video, Fun takes over the camera to film me take the brutal shot.  Usually when someone downs an entire drink in one shot, Koreans chant “one shot!, one shot!, one shot!”