Since 1974, nuts right? It’s almost 30 years since Transformers were created.

All generations of toys were on display.

Generation 1 toys… not quite as complete as I was hoping for.

Dinobots!

Masterpiece display.

Unicron! My fave toy of the day by far.

Original artwork (this one ended up being used on the back of the G1 boxes I’m pretty sure).

Comic book original artwork.

OG Movie poster on the left, would love to have this for home, or the garage.

Yonas controlling a fighting robot.

Full size Bumblebee.

Mastergrade toys in the gift store on exit (I had no room left!).

The expo was held at the National Science Education Center, like our own Powerhouse Museum it had fun stuff for kids to play with, like this bicycle in the sky race on ropes.

We then checked out the National Palace Museum.

Chinese tourists by the bus load.

We ate an amazing meal (also our most expensive meal all trip at $33/head). This was the Tai Chi double-flavoured Champion Beef Noodle Soup presented in a huge yin yang like bowl, one side was clear broth, the other marinated. SO GOOD!

Tea set, kinda felt like an Asian version of high tea (we had all sorts of teas to drink, all fantastic).

Day #6 was our last day in Taipei. We went out hard the night before and there was no way all of us were going to check out at noon so Charlie and I opted to pay up for another night to have a late checkout (our flights were at 11pm). Despite being hung over I still managed to check out the Transformers Expo, so glad I did as I geeked out hard once I was inside.

We checked out the National Palace Museum afterwards too, but I was way too wasted at that time to take in all the artifacts, and by the time we got the the airport I was running on reserve. I pretty much crashed once we boarded the plane, and woke up in Sydney! So sweet :)

We hit the Taipei Motor Show.

Merry Christmas!

So hot.

Oh noes.

German Fusion Restaurant!

Charlie loves chilli.

Night markets were amazing (especially if you’re adventurous with your food!). Sorry for the crappy iPhone (3gs) pics, time to get a new iPhone me thinks!

Spotted an aquarium too.

A live nautilus!!!

For realz, a blue ring octopus.

My Humps.

Mos Burger, best thing ever at 5AM in the morning.

Charlie posing with a passed out local.

And David too.

Outside our hotel.

Ximending, a cool young people’s hangout. Heaps of fashion shopping (heaps of fakes…), reminded me a little of Shinjuku.

Nicely modified Taxi.

Slammed Merc.

Crazy Engrish everywhere.

Spotted this beasty scooter at a vinyl wrap and airbrush shop.

And this storm trooper SL.

A rip of a rip of a rip. Quick too as Comme have only just released this red T.

Super detailed figurines.

WALD makes it right.

At this stage, with all the food and alcohol consumption, the days just rolled into one another and to me felt like The Hangover Part III. Crazy fun!!!

$3AUD/dish!

Might as well order everything then!

It’s pretty much a haze from here on.

Love my J Press tie (thanks for the heads up Kanye).

Steve and Zi.

Souvenir take-away photos.

Willy and Charlie scrubbed up nice!

Big Chinese banquet.

Zi and Gloria doing the rounds.

Saying goodbyes on the way out.

The reason why we were in Taiwan was to celebrate Zi and Gloria’s wedding. As it was a lunch time wedding I ended up feeling glad I didn’t go out hard the night before. The wedding lasted just 2 hours before they turned all the house lights on and kicked everyone out! Crazy! I’ve been to a fair few weddings now, none have been anything remotely alike (of-course all of them have been lovely experiences) and Zi and Gloria’s wedding was no exception… but it was the shortest wedding I’ve been to!

Day #2 I woke up feeling pretty queasy and was super close to sleeping in, but ended up getting up. First stop was an electronics arcade as Stevey (James Bond) needed a portable external battery. The guys use whatsapp to keep in touch via phone, my phone was too old for the app unfortunately (time to upgrade my 3gs!).

Charging session, so geeky.

Next stop, 101. Spot the 2nd tallest building in the world in the background.

We were just amazed at how wild the locals drive, and praising them for not having accidents and knowing how to brake, but then we spotted this.

Taipei 101 from street level.

For lunch we smashed Din Tai Fung and ordered 60 dumplings + a billion other dishes, all of which only came to $20AUD each. Ridiculous!

We then went up to the top, was a really hazy day unfortunately.

Spot the kite, crazy right?!

Exit through the gift shop. The hand carved coral is nuts, this particular piece is over the top.

Detail.

Joe from AAI picked us up and drove us out to visit AAI HQ.

The car we were driven in.

Mugen CRZ in progress.

This MKII Golf staff car blew my socks off.

It’s even got Buddy club seats in it.

More AAI staff cars.

AAI.

The first thing that greets you, this amazing Le Mans racer.

So wide so low.

Tom’s Racing Corona (?) race car.

The boss’ new hobby to keep him fit.

Buell.

This chaser was awesome.

Inside.

Got intake?

Trophies EVERYWHERE.

A new project they’re working on. Automatic only though for Taiwan, if you want the manual you’ll have to buy the Subaru.

Some Buddy club Honda race cars.

Massive money spent on this FD.

One in you can’t get out. Nuts!

Race cars lying around everywhere you looked.

Even this now neglected EG up high on the mezzanine.

And this fantastic EK.

AII HQ even has it’s own bar.

Staff bike. Ti frame with old school Campy friction gear on it.

Their $20 simulator was crazy and makes our Forza simulator at Zen look piss weak.

Joe then took us out for some traditional Hakka food.

So so good. Hearty and earthy.

All traffic lights have hook turns for scooters (which dominate traffic) and a countdown to green too (wish we had that!).

Day #2 I got up feeling wasted and vomit sick. I skipped the hotel breakfast (a first for me as there’s nothing I love more than hotel buffet breakfasts!) but I still managed to get up and get on with the day. I was feeling much better by the time we got around to lunch time (where we smashed so much Din Tai Fung it was ridiculous), and visiting AAI was great (Zi, David, Charlie and I used to work for AAI/Buddy club Australia), but I didn’t have enough energy to do it all over and hit the clubs once more come night time (OLD MAN!) so I crashed, lame.