In more or less chronological order here are selected, concise highlights of my 5 weeks back home.

• Actually, the first one begins on the bus ride to the airport. The Fei Gou bus driver refused to unlock the bathroom door and told me to wait until we got to the Ching Shui Lu stop. I did. He still refused and told me to go outside, hurry up and piss. I asked the attendant at the stop to talk to him and his wife, who was riding shotgun. Turns out, I got back on and he still hadn't unlocked it. Had to wait till we got to the airport. Well, I'd been liquoring up before I boarded and still needed to go. In the end, I used my Reebok lockpick, did my business and got off the bus. No problems on the way back.
• I did my best to make sure no U.S. beef made its way to Taiwan and harm anyone. It was 15 days till I ate anything but steak or Mexican. Oh, and that cow? It was born 5 years before the ban on feeding cattle protein or bone meal made from cattle or ruminants was put in place, and was taken out of the for-consumption herd as soon as these measures were instituted. Tests from 67 cattle in the same herd came back negative. Time to buy your MSG in bulk, get a sledgehammer and borrow Dee Snider's vampire teeth if your gonna be wanting to eat steak here nowadays.

That's pretty much all of them that won't have pictures to accompany them (once I go and pay the bills). My vacation was as low-key as I could make it. Good to be back and see my friends, not so great to be back and not be able to go to the store at 3am, get a steak a grill it. Same for Mexican. I'll be a little down for a while, so come by and offer my a frosty, adult beverage. I'll accept.

P.S. - More than 7,100 underage Mexican immigrants have been deported this year. Them Mexican generals better hope ol' Kinky don't pull off the election.