Mr. Fuping's local pub, 'Oldie Goodie'
i thought i would insert a (hopefully) humorous post before we got onto the heavy, gruesome material. this post will also help ratify my earlier claim that there would be attempts at 'character sketches' in this blog. so, Colin and i moved into our little flat in Taipei in September 2005 and have overstayed our one year contract by quite a long time. this doesn't bother our landlord, although nothing much bothers Mr.Fuping.
Mr. Fuping is upwards of 60 years old and is a charmer and a fast-talker through and through. He has the flinted eyes of a hardened businessman and i wouldn't want to go head-to-head with him in any negotiation. He has a sharp wit in his second language, english, so i can only imagine what verbal tricks he can perform in chinese. a short, square man who dresses like a beach-bum, drinks like a sailor and rides around on a beaten-up bicycle. he is retired and therefore just out to have a good time. life is short and he must enjoy it to the fullest and apparently, the best way of enjoying life to the fullest is to drink like a madman.
Mr.Fuping is always looking for an angle, a good overseas business opportunity. he was convinced that colin was going to help him break into the 'bakery equipment market' in south africa (NOT colin's 'thing' at all!). it took him almost a year to give up. but he still enjoys our company. Mr. Fuping is young at heart so loves hanging around with young people, especially if they enjoy drinking.
he is also incredibly sexist and totally ignored me; leaving me to talk to his wife (Amy) the first night we had dinner with them. that is, until he realised that i was keeping up with his and colin's 'down downs'. in chinese you say gan bei and you have to down your drink. most taiwanese women are excluded from this ritual and i think are quite happy to be. but for the men it is a very important relationship strengthener. once i had proved i could drink with the men, i gained his respect and attention. we have been invited to drinking nights at his 'local', oldie goodie several times. of course, he knows everybody, including the band that sings songs i remember from my childhood, the beatles, rolling stones etc. Mr. Fuping always drinks johnnie walker black label and has his own bottle that is kept at the bar for him. every time he drinks from it, the date and 'water level' are marked on the bottle. everytime we go, we have to finish a bottle with him.
one night we brought a south african red wine for him to taste, especially because he always pays for all our drinks and food on these oldie goodie nights. the wine got poured into proper wine glasses and 'okay, now we gan bei!' i refused, i just couldn't DOWN an entire glass of good red wine. Mr. Fuping didn't pour another whiskey for me that night, i had upset his sense of drinking propriety. but all was forgotten as we helped him outside to his bicycle and decided that he should leave his bicycle by our flat and take a taxi home. 'good friends don't let friends drive drunk'. later that week i received a phone call 'aah susy, do you know where i left my bicycle?' yes, I remembered, but he had no idea!
the reason i have added Mr. Fuping to the story is that both my mother and father met him. he took my mother, colin and i out for amazing peking duck and ordered faaar too much food, as any good taiwanese host would. and he was particuarly impressed with my mother's drinking prowess. now he could see where i got my 'skillz' from. my mom did particularly well as Mr. Fuping had brought a famous taiwanese liquor, kao liang, which tastes like petrol. he also took my dad on a drinking binge where my dad arrived back at 3am drunk out of his mind. my father had left saying Mr. Fuping will just have to accept NO as an answer by 12am, he just didn't know that you can never say no to Mr. Fuping.
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