16/04/09
I landed in Taipei yesterday, after a day's worth of preparation and travel. The leaving part of this journey was relatively uneventful. In the morning, I did my usual 7-11 run for ramen noodles and Coke Zero, saying hi to the Sev. Girls. They made some comment about my peculiar attire in Thai, as I was decked out for travel & hiking--an atypical raiment. After munching on my morning meal in the staff room & printing off some maps along with some other documents, I grabbed my things & jumped into a taxi at 9:30, destined for the airport.
Songkran is amazing for me not because of the water fights, or the flowery shirts or the general party atmosphere that comes along with the festival. No, the best part of Songkran is the fact that there literally is an absence of vehicles on the roads! I managed to get to the airport in a little over 30 minutes. After my checking in & emigration paperwork, I had ninety minutes before my flight took off.... If it was going to take off on time.
My flight to Taipei was delayed for some unknown reason. We passengers sat in the departure gate for an extra half-hour before the announcement to board was made. However, the delay in departure really didn't effect our arrival time very much: I still landed in Taipei at about 5 pm, and I exited the plane in a groggy state of mind, inadvertently forgetting my hat at my seat. I only discovered the missing chapeau from my noggin when I went through the "fever scanner" at the Taipei airport, when they had infrared scanners checking for body temperature extremes. A sign mentioned that you should remove your hat while going through, and I noticed at that point that my hat was already removed... Alas, once on the other side of the health screen, I couldn't return to the plane.
Leaving the airport was remarkable: Taiwanese people are amongst the most helpful people I have ever met! I read the same statement in my Lonely Planet, but I didn't really think much of it until I was looking at thee airbus route map, trying to figure out which route I was supposed to take to get to the Taipei Hostel downtown. Within 40 seconds of me standing there, an elderly gentleman came up & asked me in rough English where I was going. I showed him the map & address I printed from the internet and he, after some reading, pointed to #33 and beckoned for me to follow him to the counter. After exchanging some Mandarin with the counter clerk, I was 90 Taiwanese dollars (about $3) poorer and one bus ticket richer.
After getting off of the bus downtown, I followed my map & the directions to the hostel--but not without grabbing the attention of a lady who was walking in front of me, who said, "Come, follow me: I live right close to there." (I guess a white guy with luggage and a back pack really spells 'international hostel' quite clearly. Ha!)
Taiwan has a program wherein travellers between the age of 15 & 30 are allowed to borrow a mobile phone from the government for up to 30 days--it's part of their youth travel initiative--and it just so happens that the Youth Hub, where these devices are lent out, was on the same block as the hostel: literally less than a minute's walk away. Among other close things of interest are the MRT station (apparently one of the world's best systems), about five 7-11s (just like Thailand!) and the Taiwan national headquarters for McDonald's, which also happens to have a flagship restaurant in the first two floors. Turns out that Taiwanese McDonald's is cheaper than Thailand's--perhaps the only instance of this happening. Everything else, so far, seems to be from twice up to four times as expensive as the comparable item in BKK.
Today, my plans are to go see Beitou & the national park there, which has a feature called Di-Re Valley (which translates to Hell Valley), owing to the geothermal activity in that area. There's also a mountain peak & some hot springs at the park, which is within walking distance from one of the MRT stations. Sweet.
I can see Taipei 101 by looking east down the street from the corner where McDonald's is located. It's not as impressive as I thought it would be--but perhaps when they say it's the tallest building in the world, they really mean the tallest office building. The CN tower would make 101 look like a shoebox.
Well, now it's time for me to plan the rest of my day. Peace.
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