Taipei was two great Mexicans, 5 night markets, being surprised at everything, Taipei 101 - the (second) tallest building in the world - being able to read but not speak, new piercings, a visit to the city of Jiufen, and welcoming Jason B. to the country.
The view from the top of the mountain next to Jiufen
Tainan was two great Frenchies, a Peruvian, a super goofy Taiwanese girl, all put in a blender creating a multi-lingual dinner in English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, and probably some Taiwanese. Tainan was also hookah smoking, the happiest and most generous man in all of Taiwan, the second most delicious pineapple I have ever eaten (arguably the first, actually), lots of cool old temples, amazing dumplings and noodles.
Then - Kaosiung and Kenting - saying goodbye to Jason, a silly but delicious lunch, the experience of being in Cancun in East Asia but also in Southeast Asia, a Catholic hostel, lots of hilarious Taiwanese schoolchildren, the beach, getting sunburned, reading, swimming, saying hello to Jason and his parents, a delicious meal of Chinese food, and "sleeping" on the beach.
When we woke up on the beach Hannah and I saw our first of three sunrises in four days. Leaving Kenting involved a nap in a hotel lobby, the most terrible of terrible bus rides, deciding to go to Alishan National Forest, a train ride, and getting hassled by some taxi drivers.
Going to and being in Alishan involved an amazing Taiwanese couple that spoke great English, a really beautiful bus ride, looking for the hotel, finding the hotel, delicious vegetables, an amazing Taiwanese man giving us tea, going to bed early, waking up at 3am, a train ride up the mountain to view the sunrise over Yushan (the tallest mountain in East Asia) (and our second sunrise our of three in four days), and a beautiful hike through the forest back to the town. The sunrise was for sure a highlight of the trip.
From there we returned to Taipei, but not before hanging out for a few hours in Taichung, the most boring city in Taiwan, drinking bubble tea and seeing a huge Buddha. Our return to Taipei was met by the Mexicans again, followed by a well-deserved night's sleep, sleeping in, meeting up with Jason K. and his friend Eli, a silly lunch, more bubble tea, the most amazing museum in the world filled with all of China's treasures, probably the best dumplings of my life, another delicious meal with Jason B. and his parents (this time in Shanghai), wandering around the river, things coming full circle, attempting to stay up all night and almost succeeding, problematically going to the airport and getting to the gate (damn swine flu), and returning to Japan.
When we got back to the country we decided to keep the travel going and went to Kobe on our way back to Kyoto. This trip was one of my favorite travel experiences maybe ever. There were some bad points but nearly every day had only great points. Now I have little more than 2 days to completely pack my life in Japan and move to my friend's house before going to the farm. This will probably be my last entry until after my adventures for the next month - working on an organic farm in Hokkaido, hanging out with my brother in 3 SE Asian nations, and three days alone in Tokyo.
Also - if you are reading this and know anything at all about Taiwan's economy, please comment! I wondered a lot about it the whole time I was there.
1 comment:
why does travel lend itself to superlatives, long-term living abroad to comparatives, and staying home to bare adjectives? i think that was rhetorical.
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