Summer has arrived, and so have the pool parties. Rain or shine it seems, pool party season is going strong. Here is your summer 2014 guide to keeping cool in a pool with bottles, beats and bikinis.
Frog in the Sock
Frog in the Sock has earned a reputation as being the king of pool parties. They hold them frequently and their efforts have been rewarded this year with a stellar new venue: Road Castle Water Theme Park (洛德城堡), a huge complex complete with water slides and multiple pools.
Photo courtesy of Lorenzo Pierucci
Frog in the Sock thinks music is paramount, so many of your favorite DJs will be playing. They’ve also got bands on the line up, as well as several entries on the calendar labeled as surprises. This week they team up with Boom events, who are well known from their crazy shenanigans at Luxy on Friday nights.
Even though they’ve been rained out for the last few weeks, the show has gone on and they even manage to make an early rise tempting by offering free beer between noon and 2pm. There are drinking and swimming contests that offer even more take-home freebies. But don’t get the wrong idea, organizers have said that they’ve managed to straddle the line between family fun and being able to let loose in an adult fashion.
Tomorrow marks Frog in the Sock’s fifth pool party this year, which runs from noon until 8pm at the Road Castle Water Theme Park (洛德城堡), Lane 160, Tingzhou Rd, Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市汀洲路三段160巷). Parties happen every other weekend, with the next slew on July 12, July 27, Aug. 2, Aug. 24, Aug. 30 and Sept. 13. Admission is NT$300.
Photo courtesy of Duncan Longden
Liquid Lifestyle
Liquid Lifestyle is keeping it classy for their remaining three pool parties this summer, including tomorrow. They have once again secured the ritzy pool at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, which already attracted over 600 scantily clad yet stylish swimmers for this year’s kick off. People are behaved here but it’s not at all stiff.
Hot dog eating contest
Unlike previous parties, DJs will run the gamut from hip-hop, funk, house, EDM and even a special collaboration tomorrow between DJ and jazz musicians. They will also be celebrating Independence Day and true to American form, there will be a hot dog eating contest.
Oasis is tomorrow from 12pm to 7pm at the Grand Hyatt Taipei, 2 Song Shou Road, Taipei City (信義區松壽路2號). The remaining two parties happen July 26 and Aug. 16. Tickets are available at the door only and are NT$300 for women and NT$500 for men before 1pm; NT$700 after. All admissions include a drink. For more information, call 0917-840-519.
Sun-kissed dj music fest
Meanwhile, WET deck of the W Hotel is open to the public on Sunday afternoons — but only when the sun is shining (call ahead if raining). This year it’s called the Sun-Kissed DJ Music Festival and the musical focus is on 10 new and talented Taiwanese DJs.
As it’s the W, the focus is as much on fashion and design as it is music, so expect everything to be cutting edge and beautiful. If you don’t mind spending a little extra and are after something with a more laid back atmosphere, Sundays will be best spent poolside at the W Hotel.
The Sun-Kissed DJ Music Festival, every sunny Sunday until Aug. 31 from 3pm to 8pm at the W Hotel, 10, Zhongxiao E Rd Sec 5, Taipei City (台北市信義區忠孝東路五段10號). Admission is NT$800 and includes a summer cocktail. For more information, call (02) 7703-8887.
Exceptions to the rule are sometimes revealing. For a brief few years, there was an emerging ideological split between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that appeared to be pushing the DPP in a direction that would be considered more liberal, and the KMT more conservative. In the previous column, “The KMT-DPP’s bureaucrat-led developmental state” (Dec. 11, page 12), we examined how Taiwan’s democratic system developed, and how both the two main parties largely accepted a similar consensus on how Taiwan should be run domestically and did not split along the left-right lines more familiar in
As I finally slid into the warm embrace of the hot, clifftop pool, it was a serene moment of reflection. The sound of the river reflected off the cave walls, the white of our camping lights reflected off the dark, shimmering surface of the water, and I reflected on how fortunate I was to be here. After all, the beautiful walk through narrow canyons that had brought us here had been inaccessible for five years — and will be again soon. The day had started at the Huisun Forest Area (惠蓀林場), at the end of Nantou County Route 80, north and east
Specialty sandwiches loaded with the contents of an entire charcuterie board, overflowing with sauces, creams and all manner of creative add-ons, is perhaps one of the biggest global food trends of this year. From London to New York, lines form down the block for mortadella, burrata, pistachio and more stuffed between slices of fresh sourdough, rye or focaccia. To try the trend in Taipei, Munchies Mafia is for sure the spot — could this be the best sandwich in town? Carlos from Spain and Sergio from Mexico opened this spot just seven months ago. The two met working in the
This month the government ordered a one-year block of Xiaohongshu (小紅書) or Rednote, a Chinese social media platform with more than 3 million users in Taiwan. The government pointed to widespread fraud activity on the platform, along with cybersecurity failures. Officials said that they had reached out to the company and asked it to change. However, they received no response. The pro-China parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), immediately swung into action, denouncing the ban as an attack on free speech. This “free speech” claim was then echoed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC),
RSS