Taipei in a day? Bring it on! 7 – 8 July, 2012

I remember an early Calvin and Hobbes comic, in which Calvin is wondering aloud about where babies come from. The ever-resourceful Hobbes decides to check Calvin's shirt-tag. He concludes in the last panel, "You're from Taiwan!" Time to go to the land that made Calvin's t-shirt....

I got up at a semi-reasonable hour the next morning, taking my time because my flight wasn't until 1:50PM. The day I arrived, it had taken me 3 hours to get to the hotel from the time I landed at Narita. I figured I now knew what I was doing a little more, so I gave myself a slightly smaller window for getting back to the airport, but I was sure I still had plenty of time. I took the metro to Ueno station, where I was to switch to the SkyLiner, the express train to the airport that should only take about 45 minutes. To my dismay, in the time it took me to buy my SkyLiner ticket and find the boarding platform, I had just missed a train and would have to wait another 40 minutes for the next one to depart. Express, my ass. This might start to cut it pretty close…

Eventually the train arrived at the station. And then one of the coolest little switcheroos I’d ever seen on a train happened. All the rows of seats turned around automatically. It was really cool just because I didn’t expect it. I just thought that I would end up facing backward on the ride to the airport, but no, they wanted us all to face forward. How thoughtful! I figured I couldn’t be worrying about making my flight on time, because by this time, what’s done is done. I relaxed until we arrived at the airport, at which time I bolted off the train, only to realize I couldn’t find my SkyLiner ticket, which we had to put into the turn-style slot for extra proof of payment. “Oh, shit,” I thought, as I searched my pockets and bag. I finally just went up to the man at the ticket counter and said that I lost my SkyLiner ticket, and he smiled and said to go right ahead, and he let me through. Wow, that was easy! I love the Japanese!

After getting myself a little turned around in the train station area, I finally found my way to the departures hall and was met with a long check-in line for my next flight on Korean Air. I had booked all my intra-trip flights on Korean, because it’s a SkyTeam member, and because I had heard really good things about it. Speedy check-in was not one of those good things. I was kicking myself, because I should have checked in online, but lately, it’s been my experience that you can’t check in for international flights online anyway, so I would succumb to the agitation of waiting and worrying about being late for my flight. I was especially worried that I had ended up in line behind a big group of little old Japanese ladies. No offense to the elderly, but they more often than not take longer to check in. I eventually made it to the desk and got my boarding pass. Then I high-tailed it to the security/passport control line, which now looked impossibly long. “Oh god,” I thought to myself, “I’m going to get this far and miss my flight due to security.” But, thanks to the Japanese and their amazing efficiency, the huge line took no time at all (this isn’t the US, of course), and by the time I got through security, it only took me a grand total of about 30 minutes from when I first got in the check-in line. Thank you, Japan, you never cease to impress me!

I headed down the concourse to my flight, with plenty of breathing room now. I just so happened to pass the Delta 747 that flies to Detroit. I had seen this exact plane many times in the Detroit Airport, in the McNamara terminal when you first reach the gates after security. The big 747 flying to Tokyo is always there. It was kind of cool to see it from the other end, without having actually flown it. Maybe one of these days I’ll take that flight. I’ve got enough Delta miles for a couple round trip business class tickets between the US and Asia anyway…

I had a layover in Seoul, for which I was very excited, because Seoul’s Incheon Airport is repeatedly voted the best airport in the world. And I’d get to decide for myself. Even though it’s not too far between Tokyo and Seoul, we got a wide-bodied plane with individual TV’s on the seats. First great perk of Korean airlines? Getting to start watching movies before take-off. This actually guaranteed that I could finish a whole movie in one short flight if I wanted. The only problem is when the movies get interrupted for announcements. For this flight, they’re announcing in three languages, English, Korean, and Japanese. These tri-lingual announcements would become standard on this trip.

In the seat in front of me, there was a guy who looked to be in his late teens or early twenties, travelling with a woman who I assumed was his mom. He was dressed in a tank top and wore a hat that had to have come from Disneyland Tokyo. It was Stitch, from Lilo & Stitch, where the upper part of his head/jaw created a beanie type of hat, and the rest of the Stitch body hung off the back. He insisted on wearing it through the airport, the plane, and beyond, I am sure. Perhaps he was actually in his early teens but just hit puberty early…

The flight landed in Seoul and it was a bright and sunny afternoon. Flight transfer was quick and easy. It seemed like nearly all the employees working the security checkpoint were female. I just found that observation interesting. I walked to my concourse, and the place was super spacious. The main center hall was lined with big flower pots, and the waiting areas were all actually big enough to seat everybody comfortably. I thought back to O’Hare or Denver, which are so very busy but don’t have very extensive seating areas. The Incheon developers definitely planned ahead on this one. I reached my gate area and bought an iced cappuccino at the nearby Caribou Coffee. The place was so nice; I just wanted to keep walking around. I went and looked out the window at the aircraft and saw that it wasn’t a wide-body. No TV’s on this one. Then I noticed that the tops of some of the jet ways were decorated to look like putting greens. I thought this was hilarious, but I didn’t have my camera with me to take a picture of it (and failed to on successive stops at this airport). I wondered if anyone actually went out and putted on them, but there didn’t seem to be any way to physically access them, so I concluded they had to just be for show.

When boarding the Korean flight, I thought they would at least be more civilized than Aeroflot flights and board people by zone like Delta does. But no, we all just line up and go for it. They do have a separate line for First Class and “Prestige” (Business) Class. SkyTeam Elite people could also supposedly board in that line. I’m Skyteam Elite now, but I had no indication of such on my ticket, nor do I carry around any special card that says so either. Must reach Delta Gold Medallion, so I can be SkyTeam Elite Plus and have no question about it!

Thank you Korean Airlines. Despite not being a wide-body, this aircraft still had individual TV’s. Aeroflot narrow-bodies don’t even have headphone jacks and radio. I love Asia travel! I don’t remember what I watched… I ended up watching so many in-flights movies on this trip. I think I covered most of the recent releases though.

We landed in Taipei and I forgot if this was a place where I was visa-exempt or needed to visit the visa office before hand. I did, however, remember to have my hotel information with me so I could accurately fill out my disembarkation card. I went and talked to the visa people and they said to go right ahead. Booyah! I went through another quick and simple passport control and picked up my luggage. First things first, I had to find an ATM, and I searched all over and couldn’t find one for the life of me. I wondered if I would have to go to the Currency Exchange desk and try to change some of my remaining Yen to try to be able to afford a taxi into the city (no airport trains here). Finally, I found an ATM hidden behind the Currency Exchange. They were trying to coax people into paying for the currency exchange instead of getting the deal from the ATM. I refuse to use a currency exchange desk after getting ripped off by one in the Rome Airport. Plus, I have an international checking account, so my debit card won’t get charged any international ATM fees. Winning.

On my way out the door I was hit with a blast of horrible humidity. That was followed by a taxi driver offering me 100 dollars off my cab fair to the city (but that’s Taiwan dollars; 1 USD = 30 NTD). I took the offer and we sped off toward the city. It was nearly an hour long ride, and it would end up costing me about 40 USD. When the taxi driver arrived where he thought my hotel was, I was rather confused. We were in the middle of a busy shopping area and in front of a convenience store. He was nice enough to show me where he thought it was, down a narrow alley. Sure enough there was a hotel here. I thanked the driver as he jogged backed to his car, not wanting to leave it unattended. I looked at the hotel in front of me, it didn’t have the same name as what I thought I booked, and the lobby looked too nice to be the one for which I paid a pittance. I went in and asked them where to find Taipei Corner, and another nice guy walked me further down the alley unto a little nook behind some clothing stores. There was an elevator, and I was supposed to go up to 4^th floor, but nothing was marked on the info slot for 4^th floor next to the elevator. Hmmmm.

I went up to the 4^th floor, and I reached a hallway that was definitely hotel rooms, but there was no reception desk to be found. I wished that my booking information had been a little more detailed. This was starting to get ridiculous. I didn’t want to have to use my phone. I had already succumbed to using it some in Japan, and I know I will be feeling the charges later. I went up to the 5^th floor, just for grins, and sure enough, there was a reception desk up there. “Great!” I thought, and gave them my name. They didn’t have any of my booking information. They asked if I was looking for Taipei Corner and they said that I have to call them if I want to check in. They are not a “real hotel.” Ok, so I was going to have to make a phone call now. I called the number on my booking confirmation and a nice lady answered and told me which room was mine, and that it was unlocked, and that someone would be around to collect the payment at some later time. Wow, that was kind of ridiculous. My room was indeed unlocked, and it turned out to be the roomiest thing I had all vacation. Queen sized bed, full dresser, fridge, desk, and my own bathroom, like a freakin’ normal American hotel. Not to mention air conditioned well. That would be great in this humidity. I then realized I had no wi-fi access. Damn. I just might have to use the stupid mobile web device on my phone. That’ll cost me. Reason number 20934825 to just get a good smart phone.

I only had a short time here, so I had to make it count. And it was Saturday night, so I really had to make it count. I went out to get some dinner and explore the area around my hotel. This area, called Ximen, seemed like the Times Square of Taipei. There was a big Jumbo screen on one of the buildings, surrounded by giant billboard advertisements for coming movies and things. There was a random model of large Yamaha scooter (there’s lots of scooter-riding in this country, like much of Southeast Asia). And the crowds were huge. Most of the stuff around there was just shopping, but there was also a big McDonalds and a 4-story KFC. I went and got myself a McFlurry. While waiting in line, there seemed to be an unusually dense amount of sexily dressed girls going to the upstairs section without ordering anything. Apparently this is where the wild youths hang out or something like that. But by the time I got to the front of the line and received my order the hoard of sexy girls had already come downstairs and left. Oh well, it seemed that there were plenty of well-dressed, good-looking people out tonight anyway. It was a Saturday night after all.

Giant Scooter

I walked around with my McFlurry to do a little people-watching as I ate, and for several moments I was sure I saw a girl from college who had lived in the dorm room next me. She was from Taiwan, so it would actually make some sense to see her around here. The resemblance was impeccable, but then again, I had seen a lot of doppelgangers of my Asian friends and didn't want to make the mistake of thinking she was someone else. I walked past her a couple times and at one point she turned and looked right at me. Since she didn't take notice, I figured she couldn't be the girl, but I looked her up on Facebook on my slow phone immediately and asked if it was her. It wasn't. Too bad. It would have been nice to see a familiar face in this country. There were a few street performers doing their thing, so I watched their shows for awhile. One man, from Japan, was very skilled at handling rods and balls. That’s about the only way I can describe it… He was able to hold and move these different items in such a way that they looked like they were floating in mid-air. He was the best at this that I had ever seen. Unfortunately, he didn't have that interested of a crowd. I stayed for two of his shows, so I tipped generously. Then I watched an artist create beautiful stenciled spray paint paintings in a matter of minutes. It would take less than 10 minutes to do each painting and he sold them for only 100 NTD each. He could have gotten more for them. If I had had a nice means of packing, I would have bought one as well.

He didn't wear any sort of mask but worked with spray paints constantly. He seemed sane enough...

The last performer I watched was a British guy who was absolutely drenched in sweat from already doing shows throughout the day. By this time, it was getting to be very late, and this was his last show of the night. His big shtick was including a lot of volunteers from the crowd in his show, as together they all performed one dangerous, awesome stunt. I can’t tell you what it is because it will ruin it. He claimed that no one else in all of Asia did this trick. I was impressed by an English speaker’s ability to put on a full, interesting street show here. The Taiwanese, like the Japanese, have also found it a necessity to know English. Now I’m just getting spoiled on this trip! After the show, as he was packing up, I decided to have a chat with this guy and find out his story and maybe a few good things about Taipei. I kind of had a plan for what to see tomorrow, but maybe he knew something I didn’t. I also needed some advice for what to do on this here Saturday night. He was very talkative and friendly and even gave me his Skype name so we could compare notes on life and stuff. He loved to travel the world and he basically stays in a particular country doing street shows long enough for his free no-visa time runs out before going on to the next country. For him in Taiwan, that meant 90 days. But he already managed to get a girlfriend there and everything. Good for him. He suggested, if I have an international driver’s license (which I do), to rent a scooter and see the city that way. I was too worried about screwing up on the rules of the road here, and I decided that would be something to do if I came back. It seemed to be the way to go, though. Guys were picking up girls on their scooters and they’d ride off together into oblivion. I finally asked the bloke where I could find some good night clubs in this town and he said I’d have to go to New Taiwan for that. We were pretty much in Old Taiwan. He suggested taking the subway to Fuxing Station. After our conversation, I put all my non-essentials in the hotel room, changed my shirt, and headed for the subway.

When I bought my ticket for the subway, I was surprised to be presented with plastic tokens instead of the typical card. I took them to the turnstiles and was confused for awhile, because there was no slot to put the tokens in. I stood off to the side for a few minutes waiting for someone else with a token to show how it was done. It turns out that you just touch the token to the sensor and it registers. Then at your disembarking station there will be a slot in the turnstile to deposit your used token. I guess it cuts down on paper usage. 

The subway would only be operating for less than an hour longer, so I needed to get where I was going and stay there. I looked on the subway map, and I mistakenly chose to go to Fuzhong instead of Fuxing, because I can’t listen correctly, and I don’t know Mandarin. It seemed like an okay destination. There were a lot of young people dressed to go out, waiting on the platform with me. I figured, if anything, I could just kind of follow the main crowd and see where they end up. Most of the most attractive people disembarked in the two stops before Fuzhong, and I wondered if I had made an error, but there was a significant number who got off at Fuzhong as well, and I just kind of wandered along with the group. Many of them ended up at a place that could have been a club or a karaoke bar. It was some sort of youth hangout. It turns out it was a karaoke bar. I didn’t feel like doing karaoke by myself. That’s always something I’ve enjoyed in the drunken company of good friends. I kept walking for a bit, and then by chance, I found myself in a night market, an event for which Taiwan is well-known. This was good, because I had planned on going to a night market on the next night, but I could get it out of the way tonight. There were a lot of interesting and exotic-looking foods, but I was worried about my digestion working properly afterward, especially if I wanted to drink this evening, so I bought a sausage-on-a-stick, which was pretty good, and then a smoothie that turned out to be made from straight watermelon. I walked around a bit more, through the clothing section of the market and then wound my way back through the food. Then I decided that I really needed to find a night club.

I found a taxi and tried to communicate to him that I wanted a place to get my drink and my dance on. The taxi drivers in Taipei seem to be the only people who don’t know any English, so it was a little difficult, but we concluded that I needed to get to the Taipei 101 (the former world’s tallest building, that kind of resembles a Christmas tree), and there was a good club near there. So off we went, in search of that good Taipei time.

The taxi dropped me off in front of a place that was definitely a club, and I strode in, ready to hear the worst from the bouncers. It turned out to be about a 30 USD cover, but that included any 3 drinks I wanted, so it wasn’t too bad of a deal for a trendy club. I entered and the place was full of glass and neon. I went straight to the bar, of course, and decided to lay it on strong in the beginning with a long island. I did a walk-around of the whole club. There were two main rooms, both of which had bars in the center. The second, bigger room had a sunken center bar and dance floor area, so you could walk around the edge and survey the dance and drinking scene from above. After I went back for another drink, I see the only other white guy in the club. Usually I would avoid white people on this trip (still not sure what my reasoning is), but when it came to handling a nightclub in a new country, I needed an ethnic ally. It turns out he’s from Italy but his design firm has an office in Taipei. He never really explained what type of design he was in, but I guess the mysteriousness was somewhat endearing. His hair was starting to gray a little, but he overall still seemed pretty youthful, so I’d guess he was in his late 30’s or early 40’s. Sure, he was much older than what the typical crowd here looked, but he was an Italian and a “designer,” so he had to know what was going on, right? We became quick friends and he decided it would be better to tell the girls that I was from New York and I worked for Ralph Lauren. “They don’t care about oil here,” he said. “They’re all about the fashion.” I could see that. The girls had dressed so well everywhere I went already. It turned out that they wore that stuff during the day, too. It wasn’t just “going out” attire. Everything was very silky and flowing. I really liked their style.

So, the Ralph Lauren bit actually worked with a couple girls we spoke to at the bar, and I got some free tequila shots out of it. But eventually those girls left and I was now starting to feel the booze, so we headed to the dance floor. By this time (2 to 3 AM), there was an excessive amount of awkward guys standing around the edge of the dance floor, looking in. I did not want to be one of those guys. Nor did my Italian friend (I never learned his name, so I will now refer to him as Italy). We stood on the outside long enough to survey the scene, and then I followed Italy into the dancing crowd and we started breaking it down next to a good sized group of girls. One of the girls kept looking shyly over at me and giggling, so I returned with some shy, sheepish smiles, and this went on long enough for me to decide to get into that group of girls, at which point Italy left me. Luckily, a series of several American songs to which I knew the lyrics (some Katy Perry, Taio Cruz, and Party Rock Anthem) played, and the girls were amused that I was singing along so well. And once I started shuffling to Party Rock Anthem, they had gotten it in their heads that I must know the “official” specific dances to these songs, because it seems that in Asia you should know the official dance for each song. So before I knew what was happening, the girls had surrounded me, and guys also joined in the spectating, and I enjoyed the attention. A couple of the girls kept touching my head while I danced, and I’m not sure why. I kept trying to dance with that shy girl who I originally had looked at, but she was so shy that she got all giggly every time I got close to her, so I stayed in the center of the group. It got to the point that some guys even came up to me and asked if they could “join my group.” This was my  group now!

Italy came back and was all impressed by my new command of the group, but, like so many crazy nights when you try to get in on the action with a bunch of silly girls, they all decided to leave en masse. Sad panda. Not to be disappointed, Italy and I had a couple more shots and went back to the dance floor. I decided it was time to dance alone for a bit, and I stood up on a raised platform and started to shake my booty in the best way I know how. This actually got a few girls looking at me, but they happened to already have guys attaching themselves to them like parasites, so whatever sexy eye contact I could give them was futile. I was drunk enough by this point that getting girls didn’t matter so much anymore, and I just enjoyed myself. Italy danced along for awhile, too, having concluded there were no more females worth chasing tonight. We left the club at the same time and he gave me his card, which just said BDSM Global and had an email address. I saw BDSM and all I could think of was Bondage, Domination, Sadism, and Masochism. Could that be the “designing” that this guy was involved in? Certainly he wouldn’t have gone for this kind of a club crowd… I tried to look up the company later, but my searches only got me porn hits. I haven’t checked since.

I fell asleep in the taxi on the way back to the hotel and the driver had to wake me up. I trudged up to my super air-conditioned room and promptly passed out on the bed. I planned on getting up early to start my whirlwind tour of Taipei, but we knew that wasn’t going to happen….

I awoke the next day at around noon. My room had no windows, and once I had turned off the lights, there was no way I was waking up any other way than when my body decided it was time. I immediately headed out to do the activity I meant to start off with in the cool early morning: riding the Maokong Gondola. This is a Taipei must-do. I took the metro all the way to the end of the line, near the foot of the mountains, and there was the Taipei Zoo. It looked intriguing, because it seemed to run right into the jungle behind it. More of a “natural” rain forest feel, I guess. I decided I would stop by and check it out later. It was only a couple USD to enter, anyway.

I boarded one of the gondola cars with 3 other Taiwanese guys, who all sat kind of awkwardly and quietly during most of the ride. Why such silence? Was I scary? Or just so really, really, ridiculously good-looking that they didn’t know what to say. Yeah, I’m sure that was it. I just admired the view as the gondola swept us up and over beautiful steep green hillsides, where the tree canopy was so thick, you couldn’t tell where the ground stopped and the trees began.

Maokong Gondola

There were multiple stations that it was possible to disembark at, but I decided to stay on until the highest one. I did, however, miss exploring this gem:

Yeah, should've stopped for this one...

But it still looked amazing, even from the gondola. We eventually reached the Maokong Station at the top, and I went in search of some pretty temples. This area up here is famous for all its teahouses. You can even find the Taipei Tea Promotion Center up here. Perhaps it was blasphemous that I didn’t stop for tea, but I was on a mission to see, not do, right now. And I did see this:

Tianen Temple

I also had an okay view of the Taipei valley, but, like Tokyo, the haze did not cooperate all that well. The Taipei 101 tower just dominates everything, though.

Taipei 101 on top right

There were a lot of big butterflies flying around up there, and a lot of loud little Taiwanese children getting excited by the butterflies. After not-so-long, I decided I’d had enough. The zoo looked promising from the gondola ride, so I decided to go there next.

Fail of the day: One of the tea houses was playing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” really loudly.

I rode the gondola back down, this time with a family with several kids. By virtue of heading downhill, it felt slightly more thrilling than the uphill ride. When we disembarked at the bottom, I followed signs to something called “Dancing Waters,” curious as to what it might be. A came across a nice fountain dancing to music, like the Bellagio in Las Vegas, but much smaller. It was still really pretty, though.

Dancing waters

I made my way over to the zoo. The sun plus humidity was horrendous; I wasn’t sure how long I wanted to stay outside. I had sunscreen with me, but my sunglasses had broken earlier and just the glare was really bothering me. I wasn’t used to such direct sunlight! I did what I could to walk in the shade of buildings, feeling like such an arctic n00b. I bought a ticket for the zoo and went in. It was crawling with families with loud little kids. This is the problem with being out on a weekend. I checked out the Formosan section of the zoo first, because that was entirely wildlife native to Taiwan, which I hoped would be different than typical zoo denizens. As usually happens when it’s really hot and humid, most of the mammals could not be found outside their shelters. The only clearly present animals were a Formosan black bear and a bunch of pink-butted macaques.

Formosan Macaques

I headed to the insect house to get myself thoroughly creeped out, as will often happen when you enter a dimly lit room and look at creepy crawly things. Again, even many of the insects were hard to find. I was okay with that. They did have a nice butterfly room, where all the butterflies are free to move about. Unfortunately there was a screaming little girl there that disturbed the tranquility of the butterfly-watching. I've found that Taiwanese children are not nearly as well-behaved as Japanese children. Another point for Japan! I saw more instances of little children screaming and wreaking havoc in public places here than I usually see anywhere else in the same time span.

At least the butterflies were pretty.

Butter Butter Butterflies!

I left the insect house and thought it was about time to call it quits with the zoo, but not without seeing the koalas! Not too far from the entrance was the koala house. And it sure was crowded. I don’t know who doesn't like koalas. If you are one of those rare koala-haters, shame on you! The poor guys were kept behind glass, in their solitary eucalyptus trees in individual enclosures. The first one I saw just kind of stared out at us with a frightened, deer-in-head-lights look on his face. I felt bad for the guy, and I realized I didn't like zoos so much. I decided it was time to leave. I stopped to buy a drink at the zoo’s 7-11, and to my amazement and utter joy, it had slurpees! Praise the lord! I don’t even remember what flavor I bought, but it was delicious.

I headed back to the metro, slurpee in hand, only to be told that drinks weren’t allowed on the trains. There was no way I was giving up this precious drink, soI downed that slurpee faster than I’d ever downed any slushy type of drink before. I suffered a dramatic brain freeze in the process, but they did let me on the train.

Now I was going to see the Chiang Kai Shek memorial. They’re talking of removing it, because he is such a controversial figure in this country, but it is an impressive site.  After getting a little lost on the way out of the subway (again, I blame non-north map orientation) I reached the area, which turned out to be gorgeous. Along with the memorial, there was an entire park, complete with the colorful and super ornate National Concert Hall and National Theater Hall. Pictures can describe the area better than words. I’ve decided that that a fair a comparison of Japanese architecture to Taiwanese architecture would be like comparing European Renaissance architecture to the super ornate and flashy Baroque style. The Japanese stuff was beautiful but simple, but the Taiwanese stuff was so colorful and intricate. Enough description, here’s what I’m talking about:

National Concert Hall

National Theater Hall

Gate to the park

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial (Inaccessible statue inside)

View from the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial

Proof I was there!

The steps to the memorial hall were roped off, so I couldn't go see the actual statue of Chiang Kai Shek.

After that, I headed to 228 Memorial Park, commemorating the great massacre of February 28^th, 1947 that kicked off the time period known as the White Terror in Taiwan. The park had a lot of little monuments, in addition to the main 228 Memorial. There was a playground that had pull-up bars, and I got the urge to go get a quick workout, but there was a little girl playing on them and I figured the humidity would make my already-sweaty hands far too slippery to do an effective amount.

228 Memorial

At the northern edge of the park sits the Taiwan Provincial Museum. I didn’t go in, but I sure did look at it. I hear that it’s got a nice collection, but it’s no British Museum. Pshh… Haha, not many places can boast the collections that the British Museum can. I don’t think it’s fair to even make such a comparison. Hilarious, but unfair. Especially when, out in front of the museum, there are statues of cows (ok, maybe buffalo) instead of lions.

Yeah, definitely a cow...

Were I staying longer, I might have gone inside. Story of my vacation.

Oh, and the office of the president was nearby.

Office of the President

My last stop of the day was the Temple of Confuscius. Again, this was another super ornate site. It also had a garden with colorful statues.

Confuscius Garden

 And here’s part of the actual temple.

Confuscius Temple

Nearby, I heard Bruno Mars’s “I Think I’m Gonna Marry You” playing loudly. I followed the sound to an area of the temple where I would've guessed there was some sort of wedding event happening, if not for the fact that nobody was dressed up. There were signs that said Taipei Love, so maybe it was just some sort of public love celebration???

Taipei Love?

I enjoy the song “I Think I’m Gonna Marry You.” It’s got that proper sappy sound to make me think about love and all that mushy stuff. I just think it’s so ironic that a sappy marriage song (sappy enough to be featured in a Glee wedding) might actually be condemning marriage on some level. Bruno Mars says over and over, “It’s a beautiful night… Looking for something dumb to do. Hey baby, I think I’m gonna marry you.” In my opinion, it’s commentary on some people’s intent to rush into marriage, for no other reason than just to do it (and also because it happens to be a beautiful night). But most lovers of the song seem to dismiss all lyrics but those pertaining to the actual marriage. Or maybe I'm full of shit. That's also been known to happen.

Or maybe marriage just scares me. That, too. Nearly every day now, I’m seeing someone new getting engaged or married on Facebook. It’s an epidemic, I tell you! I’m not ready for that commitment yet. I’ve still got a lot of freedom to cherish and experience.

I was going to have to get up very early the next morning (for real, this time!) to get to the airport. So I decided it would be best just to take an evening nap and then get up and walk around again. If anything, there might be some new street performers out tonight.

I passed out quickly back in the hotel room, and I was awakened several hours later by a knock on my door. It was a couple guys who had come to collect my payment. I was beginning to think nobody would show up, and I tried to remember if I had actually paid online when I booked. But I had no internet and didn’t want to go through the hassle of checking on my phone. Alas, I did have to pay, and I did not have enough cash on me to do so. Luckily, the guys were nice enough to go find an ATM with me. After all, I seemed to be the only reason they were even there. I paid them and they offered me a cigarette. When I politely declined, one of them asked, “Oh, did you quit?” like it was assumed that I should be a smoker at some point in my life. No, I enjoy some hookah every now and then, but that’s about it.

Back at the hotel room, I packed and watched TV until it was time to leave at about 4AM. All the movie channels were in English with subtitles, so I could actually watch them. I forget what I did watch, though. I had a phone number for a taxi service that I had gotten online, and it was supposed to be for English-speakers. I called it but was told that the number was disconnected. Great. I hoped that at 4AM on a Monday morning there would still be taxis out on the street, or else I could ask someone at another hotel that actually had a receptionist to call for me. Luckily, there were multiple taxis sitting out by Ximen, hoping for some business. I hoped not to get screwed, pricewise for just randomly hailing a guy, but the cost ended up being the same that I had paid for the ride over here. And this guy took a more scenic route to the airport along the coastline, whereas the other guy took me through an endless highway construction project. I reached the airport with plenty of time to spare and checked in for my flight, which was operated by China Airlines. Again, I would have a layover in Seoul. I bought a nice universal plug adaptor, because I didn’t have anything yet for Hong Kong, where they use UK-style outlets. I also got breakfast at a nice sit-down restaurant. Living the high life, oh yeah.

Our gate waiting area had a massive piece of artwork made out of various semiconductors and motherboard parts. It was a giant sign saying “Made in Taiwan,” but you had to look closely to realize all the little things that it was made from. It was really impressive. I thought about Micron back home, and how they would never have that much spare product to throw away. They do too much testing and such.

I still was not awarded any preferential treatment on this flight, and I was starting to wonder if I’d ever nab a SkyTeam flight besides maybe Delta that would be willing to upgrade me. I forgive these Asian occurrences, because I’m sure there are folks here who are far better travelled than me, but I’m going to start getting suspicious if Aeroflot continually screws me over. Luckily, the China Airlines economy class was the most luxurious yet. In addition to the personal TV screens and USB port, each seat back also had a coat hanger and a mirror. I think the coat hanger is kind of annoying, because one’s coat would get in the way of the tray table, but it’s the thought that counts. I think the seats were also a bit roomier than other flights. I think it would be fun to be a member of their frequent flyer program, just because it’s referred to as Dynasty Miles. I want to be a member of the dynasty! But alas, this will probably be my only China Air flight for awhile. I will stick to earning Delta miles off of everyone else’s services. Just need to get to SkyTeam Elite Plus!!!

I arrived in Seoul with a couple hours to spare before my next flight. I decided to really try to explore the airport a bit, and find out why it’s ranked so high. Most of it seems to be its spaciousness that minimizes the crowded feeling of such a busy airport, along with its extensive collection of high-end stores, all duty-free. Everybody’s all over the duty-free thing but me. I’ve bought one bottle of tequila duty free and that’s it. I’ve seen some people (especially the Russians, who suffer from immense import duties on most foreign products) buying up to the absolute limit’s worth of duty-free items. I just can never find something I truly want that isn’t still expensive. And I don’t want to lug around bottles of liquor. Maybe I don’t look hard enough to find things I might like. Also true, because I just avoid those stores entirely.

There’s a quieter upstairs area of the terminal with a free internet area, some cafés, a self-playing grand piano, a small art gallery, complementary showers, a children’s play area, and a massage center. I gravitate toward the massage center. I’ve never had a professional massage, and why not get my first while in Asia? It turned out there was too long of a wait at the massage center, so I sulked off to my gate to wait for my flight. It would still be another hour before boarding, so I laid across a few chairs and dozed off.

I awoke to my name being called. I had slept right up through boarding, and it was last call. I was the straggler. This was a first, if you don’t count some of my maneuvers during short layovers in the past when I had to sprint across terminals to make connections at the last minute. I had never been nearly late for a flight for falling asleep. Luckily, they were nice about it, and to my delight, I had next to me the only empty seat on the entire flight. Again, winning.

Next stop, Hong Kong!