Taipei 101, the world’s tallest building, is where locals go to celebrate New Year’s in Taiwan. About 400,000 people jammed the area to watch the 3-minute fireworks display sponsored by Sony. Definitely a more impressive show than what Paris mustered last year.

I avoided the mayhem at Taipei’s Xinyi district and watched the fireworks instead at a bar called Velvet Underground, where I celebrated 2007 with J and her friends with a glass of Champagne in hand. But it wasn’t as easy as it seemed.

I’m not sure if it was the bar or a cultural thing, but the bartender looked surprised when I ordered a bottle of Champagne at a quarter to midnight. They had only one stocked in the cooler and were a bit slow to bring us the flûtes, which were in a separate storage room. It wasn’t until I explained that we were going to toast after midnight that she hurried up.

When 2007 came, my lips merely grazed the air although I was in very good company. My excuse was that I was celebrating New Year’s in a different country with an eclectic group of people (7 nationalities) I didn’t know very well. I guess I needed that night a girl wearing a “Kiss me” T-shirt to share my fluency in French.