Peace. Love. And Lots of Drinking

This is what happened after the News Update posting.

1:30pm
Bill came home from climbing.
Went out for lunch, packed a towel and light shirts, and went to get the car at Karen's.

3:00pm
Picked up Roberto and Dorion at an MRT (the skytrain/subway system in Taipei) station.
Headed for the Peace Music Festival in Longtan (literally translated into Dragon Pond), which is about 1.5 hours outside of Taipei City.

4:45pm
Stopped by a 7-11 to get Slurpees (Personally, I think the black current one was yucky).
Tired from anticipation. Kind of lost.
Drove around looking at maps and signs. None of us had any idea where the place was. However, Bill, the driver, insisted that he was just "exploring".

Drove through a neighborhood that resembled North American suburban neighborhoods: one-story houses with front yards and fences. Kids riding ther bicycles on the streets around a big park that is located in the center of the neighborhood..... like around 12th and Ontario, y'know?!

5:20pm
Arrived at the Chinese Medicinal Plant Botanical Garden. Got some Peace Money and temp tattoos. One of the organizers told us that long time ago, the English name was directly translated from Chinese as the Drug Plant Recreation Garden (hee hee hee). It's nothing like a typical "garden" because it covers an entire mountain top. The only building is one by the parking lot where visitors can take herbal baths. Aside from a few very realistic-looking statues, there's nothing between the bath house and the top of the mountain.

5:30pm
Took the shuttle bus up and deep into the woods.
There's a temple on the top of the mountain, and the stage is right in front of it. When we arrived, tents were already set around the main stage area (it's a 3-day festival) and people were just chilling out. There were a few food stands and mobile toilets around. All in all, it's very hippish and BC-like.
Got some beer (only with Peace Money) and found a nice flat rock-free patch of grass.





Bill and Roberto chilling out.







Dorion looming.


dusk to midnight
Ben and Brook finally arrived on their motorcycles. When asked if they were lost, both men said, "We weren't lost. We just chose a bad place to start our journey."
"David Chen and the Muddy Basin Ramblers" were on and got almost eveybody on their feet with their fun music and stage presence. Bill and I tried swing dancing, but my two left feet left him uncertain whether to continue or stop. It was a lot of fun dancing and singing to the music.











I stopped taking pictures after dark 'cause nothing looks good under the flash.
At around 7pm, we were told to hold each other's hand and make a big circle. Next thing I knew, we were making waves and the circle started moving inward and outward. It was pretty cool having a huge group of strangers running around hand-in-hand.
Can someone teach me how to put videos on Blogger? I"ve got it on tape.

We left the festival at 1 in the morning and drove back to Taipei.