I won the lottery!

Well, kinda. When you walk into a store and buy something, even if you don't want the receipt, the clerk will insist you take it. I asked a Taiwanese friend why and he said every receipt is a lottery ticket. But why? The plot thickens...

My receipts. I didn't notice how many of them were from 7-11 until now.

The government wants to encourage businesses to report all earnings. So to do that, they instituted this scheme where the receipts which businesses print out will be part of a national lottery. That way customers will have a vested interest in getting a printed receipt of their transaction.

The list of winning numbers and the prizes to be had

The 'lottery' runs every two months, and depending on how many numbers on the ticket match the winning numbers, you could win between NT$200 (currently about US$6 or €4.6) and, if you win the 'grand prize', NT$2mn (about US$59,000 or €44,650). Not bad.

Can you spot the winning number?

Well, I just won 200NT. But it was worth saving all those receipts, right?

Weekend

Some friends of mine who are part of the THC (Taiwan Hip-Hop Crew) were performing on Friday night at a bar called Bliss. The crowd was half Taiwanese, half waiguren (foreigner) and the high point of the night was when it got so loud and people were dancing so much that the police had to come to tell us to quiet down.

On Saturday I went to see Tizzy Bac, a Taiwanese band, play a free concert at the National Palace museum. Though the band was tight, it was a bit too poppy for my taste. After that my Taiwanese friend Evena took me with some of her friends through a tour of Shilin market, which by my count is the biggest night market in Taipei. She brought us to eat fried chicken steak, a specialty here.

On Sunday I went to see the movie "Watchmen" at the brand-spanking new Miramar mall in Dazhi, an upscale neighborhood. That movie theater is so amazingly big, you really feel like you are in the movie itself.

Shilin night market, the biggest one in Taipei.

Food...

food...,

And more food.

Great name for a hair salon (I wonder if they have some kind of undercover operation going on.)