[quote=“Baas Babelaas”]In my first or second year in Taiwan, down Chungle-side, two opposing crews of roughnecks were walking towards each other on the street outside some club. About 30 or so on each side.
I thought I should play UN Peacekeeper and walked in the middle of the two crews and told em “bats down fellas, nuffink a chat can’t sort out”. One of the bigger thugs picked me up by my belt and tossed me to the side. Thereafter they went at it, bats, chains, knives and all.
I have a thug to thank for my life.
And I still don’t know why I try to stop fights…
Anyways, my These days I’d watch, or walk away.[/quote]
We Taichungalists used to roll pretty hard. Midnight Kabaddi fights. Coke smuggled in shampoo bottles. Pigpen brawls, spilling in to Soundgarden all nighters. Pills over the counter at Bobo. The utter mess of a crew heading to Taipei or down to the Ding.
I used to live right inside Hsimending, near the movie theater. Once the MRT closes it turns into quite a different place. All the people lying on the ground bopping their heads, begging for money get up and go home. It’s dead quiet in the streets. Perfect spot for the gangsters I guess. Taipei is weird like that. Millions of people around, but places like CKS memorial and Ximen go super quiet at night.
[quote]We Taichungalists used to roll pretty hard. Midnight Kabaddi fights. Coke smuggled in shampoo bottles. Pigpen brawls, spilling in to Soundgarden all nighters. Pills over the counter at Bobo. The utter mess of a crew heading to Taipei or down to the Ding.
We lived large. We paid for it.[/quote]
Indeed! Saw quite few guys getting worked over by groups of guys, a gangster firing off his new 9mm into the ceiling of a night club. Housemate’s gangster buddy knifed some dude with the dude’s own knife after he tried to attack said gangster. Young Canadian men drinking beer outside Liquid Lounge
I think the Chungle has calmed down. Seemed so when I visited twice last year.
I think if something had happened that turned the punks focus on us, we would have been erm…fine. But in this isolated case only. They would have quickly discovered that they had brought flimsy aluminum bats to a hockey stick fight. Hell, we could have armoured ourselves in helmets, gauntlets and shoulder pads in about 10 seconds before wading in.
And we had Jessie. They don’t want to meet Jessie in beserker mode.
Pray, tell more about him in beserker mode… I had a friend in SA who played ice hockey and he was as tough as nails.[/quote]
Beserker or beerserker?
Pray, tell more about him in beserker mode… I had a friend in SA who played ice hockey and he was as tough as nails.[/quote]
Jessie has the hardest slapshot in the league. He is a renaissance man. I’ve yet to see a better guitarist on the 'wan and I know lots of them. Jessie plays rugby, is a highly qualified medical responder and a former member of IATSE. He is best friends with the 'wan’s heavyweight MMA champ Anders. Jessie is much larger than Anders.
Jessie is one of the kindest guys around. But he does see red from time to time. To whit:
The scariest moment of Tuesday night for me came when, mere seconds before the fight erupted, the conversation had come around to the “You Can Play” campaign currently being run by Brian Burke and NHL players. If you aren’t familiar with it yet, it’s the pro sports equivalent of the “It Gets Better” campaign outta Hollyweird. Of course, I had to mention Wendall Clarke as the most famous “gaythlete” in the NHL. Jessie turned red, focused on me and barked “Wendall’s not gay!!!” I thought I was dead.
Thankfully, a fight broke out.
Here’s Jessie and I playing hockey together. He’s in the orange.
Has gang violence calmed down, in general? I’ll be in Taiwan again in April, and I don’t really see the presence on the streets, but I do know it’s kept out of public view mostly.
I skipped hooking up with my Chungle gangster buddy last October, even though he’s pretty mild (money collection) and old-skool (he’s in his 50s). Thought I might see him this time though, over hotpot.
It can get a bit heated up here in NanKan, too. Just the other day I was almost forced to raise my voice to some fellow who was about to push in while queueing at the bank. In the end my wife’s noticable tutting and a seriously arched eyebrow from me was enough to make the oik think twice.
Not sure if I agree. If it’s a battle between rival gangs then they’re probably the bottom-of-the-totem-pole gangster kids (who are effectively Human Shields and Slaves, but at least get their asses kicked if they fuck up and cause trouble for the bigger guys), if it’s a random brawl then they’re the same type of kids who make up the Biaochezu.
But I wouldn’t agree that worse stuff happens in the UK and the US daily. In the UK at least there are random acts of violence but these type of gang fights are pretty rare - it’s usually one-on-one (or small group on small group) or small-group on random-passerby :neutral: The only massive brawls I’ve heard of are drunken ones where everybody’s drunk (and possibly don’t know each other).
You also have to factor in the fact that the guys watching are different. If there’s a drunken bar fight and there’s ONE Asian guy, I’m sorry but they’re likely to spot him at some point and go ‘Hey! Let’s beat up the Asian guy!’ purely because he’s different (i.e. new sport). This was effectively the other way round (white guys at an Asian fight). So worth being a little worried about (though if it’s a gang fight, they’ll try not to involve outside people so you’re pretty safe).
Well yes, the thugs in England don’t have money or influence. They have dogs, drug habits and an inability to stay out of prison.
The glorification of gangsters is nothing short of asshattery.
There are gangs of twats with nothing better to do than get caught up in a perpetual cycle of self destruction the world over. I met ex-pats in Taiwan who were convinced, and still are, that the whole island was run by gangsters. I met other groups of ex-pats who thought gangsters were things you see in black and white movies. The point is that they both saw what they wanted, and lived their narratives accordingly. Are there gangsters in Taiwan? Yes, if you want there to be. No, if you don’t. Think about that for a moment. It’s not shoving your head in the sand stuff, it’s about seeing what you want to see.
The island is both overrun and barren of gangsters. ILLUSION, the choice is yours.
[quote=“superking”]
There are gangs of twats with nothing better to do than get caught up in a perpetual cycle of self destruction the world over. I met ex-pats in Taiwan who were convinced, and still are, that the whole island was run by gangsters. [/quote]
Effectively it pretty much is, but unless you owe them money it’s not a problem (and even then they’re mostly fairly reasonable, I think). If you get involved in certain businesses (fishing comes to mind) you make new friends very quickly. They’re kind of like semi-legitimate businessmen pulling the strings, not like the snakeheads in China.
im not sure how its done up there, but down here each one of those little fuckers, some we teach, have family. And it doesn’t matter how stupid little Li was, the family will defend him. and most of these kids have equally fucked up parents, who also have friends.
I have never had cable in Taiwan, I think this is why. I do often wonder though why cops are slow to get to it when there are cameras all about. at least pretend, for the camera.
The police feel somethings are best left UNSEEN . In many cases, unless there is a death, they dont get involved and the underworld sorts itself out. The police generally know from ears on the street what happened (after the fact of course). But action? Thats certainly optional and dependent on the particular situ.
These days I’d watch, or walk away.[/quote]
