Karaoke OK

After an afternoon of KTV(karaoke) with some of the Chinese teachers from my main school, Franklin American School - during which time I earbashed them with my abhorrent renditions of Westlife songs - I headed off to another pre-CNY dinner, this time in Houli.

After another banquet - not so much shrimp this time - it was hard to ignore the presence of the KTV machine in the corner.

One by one they made the short walk from their tables to the stage to fulfil the right of every Taiwanese citizen. The one that holds a mantle higher than any other.

The right to sing.

It started as a trickle, but before long the bus driver, my fellow teachers and even my boss had done the deed to the polite applause of the captive audience.

The shame of my afternoons peformance still ringing in my ears, I roped in Stefan(Canadian) to join me for a version of '500 miles', the old Proclaimers classic.

As soon as the first bars eeked through the venues speakers we knew we were in trouble - it was a different song!
Some old retro chestnut that may have entertained my old man in his younger years but was a foreign to us as half the dishes that had landed on our table! Unperturbed we battled on, in between fits of laughter. And then one of the bus drivers strolled up to the stage, pressed the review button and we had to start all over again!
Our second bite of the cherry gave us ample opportunity to throw in our own Michael Buble and Elvis touches that were probably lost on most of this crowd.

Afterwards, my head hurt so much from laughing so hard.

A really fun evening.

Pictured Teacher Ann and Teacher Vanessa belt it out.