The first weekend after returning from Europe we headed off to Taiwan. It’s more than four hours flying time from Kuala Lumpur, but that doesn’t seem such a big deal after the thirteen hour flights to and from London.
First up was the baseball game at the Xinzhuang stadium between the Brothers and the Guardians. It’s the home stadium of the Guardians but baseball for some reason, lists the away team first. We’d booked a hotel just around the corner and so had no more than a short walk to the ballpark. We spotted a few black squirrels scampering around that looked larger than the grey squirrels in the UK.
As we approached the ticket office I was still in two minds as to where to sit. My preference is usually for the free-seating outfield seats, the ‘bleachers’ as they are known in America. It’s mainly because I’m anti-social and want the option of sitting apart from my fellow spectators if they are making a nuisance of themselves. Although I’ve also an aversion to watching a game through a protective net and by sitting far enough away I can get an unobstructed, if somewhat distant, view.
However, it looked like rain was in the air and so I had to consider whether to go for something in the main stand that was undercover. In the end, my preference for being as far away from other people made the bleachers worth the risk and so we paid 250 dollars (six quid) each for outfield seats.
It turned out to be the right decision as the rain held off all evening. In fact, in hindsight, the cloud cover might have been smog rather than a potential downpour. We’d seen a fair bit of industry on the way in, which didn’t surprise me as when I was a kid it seemed as if everything made from plastic had been produced in Taiwan. So, bad for the lungs I suppose, but less need for an umbrella.
As I was unsure as to what refreshments would be available I brought a selection of beers in with me. Some of it was local, but I also played safe with stocks of a couple of Japanese beers. I usually plump for Asahi in these situations but on this occasion I supplemented the ‘Gold Medal’ Taiwan Beer with Kirin and Sapporo instead. I thought the local stuff tasted a little soapy, which I doubt very much is the flavour that they were striving for.
We’d selected our seats well as most of the visiting racket came from the section on the other side of the scoreboard. They had drums, a brass section and a megaphone or two. The singing section for the home fans was up to our left in the covered stand. Far enough away to be of minimal disturbance.
There were a few home fans near to us who piped up later in the game, but it was easy enough for us to shift along a block or two for a different and quieter vantage point.
The Brothers, who were wearing a mismatched grey kit that looked as if the trousers had been washed on a hot setting a lot more frequently than the shirts, took a 9-0 lead. There was a brief fight back from the Guardians that I thought might let them make a game of it, but in the end the Brothers ran out convincing 15-4 winners.
Trail of the Lion King 