London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down

I left Taiwan on Thursday for London to visit some friends for the weekend before trekking to Glasgow on Sunday for the next Uncle Coopers project. It was strange to transition to a country where the language is drastically different from Chinese; I actually had trouble understanding English! I was ecstatic when the plane landed and I hopped on the tube as quickly as I could, and yes, I did "mind the gap". I'm staying with my friend, James, whom I met in a hostel in Rome three years ago, near the Kilburn station in NW London. After catching up a bit, I was really hoping to get some rest, but nope, I was wide awake by 3:30AM. The jetlag continues…

After finishing up work on Friday, I met up with Xiuxiu, a primary school friend from China who currently lives in London. This was such a treat because we've only seen each other three times in the last 18 years. It's still like two 4th graders hanging out, except our conversations are more grownup now (sorta). After hours of catching up, we window-shopped around Covent Garden, which was very busy on a Friday night, then had dinner in Chinatown. Chinatown is still festively decorated for the Chinese New Year and being there helped me get through my Taiwan withdrawal.

I'm feeling homesick, but not quite ready to leave…such issues. I also wish I could get some quality sleep.

Last day in Taiwan

We left sunny Tainan and took the Taiwan High Speed Rail back to Taipei for more work. After, my Taiwanese coworker took me to a temple to pray. I had the bad spirits removed from my body, and the positive energies that I lost brought back...this sure doesn't happen everyday!

For dinner, I tried pizza with mashed potatoes as a topping. I imagined it to be very strange but it was actually quite tasty.

The hectic travels and the jetlag have taken a toll on my body, so I went for a massage. It was the most pain I've ever felt but it was well worth it.

I learned something neat today. 97 is the current year in Taiwan as the first year was 1911, the year Taiwan became the Republic of China. 2008 - 1911 = 97. This format is even used on official documents. Today's date would be Feb. 27, 97. How neat?

I had such a great time here, loved the work and experienced as much of the culture as I could. The Taiwanese are some of the friendliest people I have ever met, LOVE, LOVE them! I will miss the food, especially since I won't be able to afford any when I get to the UK tomorrow! For my last night, I'm going to get some much needed rest.

From Taipei, 再見, goodbye!

Tainan, continued

Tainan is known for its xiao chi, or snacks. It is an absolute food heaven. My coworkers and I went to one of the busiest night markets for dinner. There were snacks, jewelry, clothing, carnival games, you name it. By the way, in addition to tasty foods, snacks include all kinds of animal feet, head, eyes, tongue, ass and the list goes on. It was hard, but I had to turn down pig's head and rice cake with duck blood. Yes, I said duck blood.

At the night market, we played darts, caught goldfish with thin paper nets, and I played a round of shooters. In the photo, I'm three for three! My coworker joked that they'd better do as I say, because I seem to be pretty good with guns.

We also went to the Chikan Tower, a temple built during the Dutch colonial times.

My circadian rhythm is completely out of wack and my body is tired.

Tainan, Taiwan

I don't plan to write about work, but let me just say that working for Uncle Coopers in my line of work puts you in some pretty interesting situations! I would also like to add that, even though I don't plan to write about work, I am working very hard over here.

Today, we traveled via the Taiwan High Speed Rail to Tainan where more work awaits us. At 208 mph, this thing got us to 185 miles south of Taipei in less than two hours. The weather in Tainan is sunny and 70s, I cannot complain.

As we waited for a taxi after work, I heard the familiar music of an ice cream truck. As I looked in excitement, I found that it was actually a garbage truck. Then, one by one, people came out of their houses with bags and bags of trash...pretty interesting way to collect trash.

We had hot pot for dinner. Look at the size of this sucker! It's for one person! It took ages to eat since we pretty much had to wait for the food to cook, but it was a lot of fun getting to know my coworkers from Taiwan and Hong Kong. We're 中港台，all Chinese but very different people.

The hectic travel schedule, work, and the eating is making me TUUUUUUURD! I'm going to bed.

Taipei, Taiwan

What a long trip this was...after a 14-hour flight to Narita (and I'm NOT happy with the Japanese after watching a documentary on their 1937 massacre of Nanking), a 40-minute taxi ride with a meter that beeped every 15 seconds, I made it to the Taipei Westin at 10:30PM on Saturday...it took 25 hours door to door. I was wide awake since it was 9:30AM DC time, but this wasn't a problem a couple of Tylenol PM tablets couldn't solve.

I woke up on Sunday feeling refreshed, but to a gloomy day. Breakfast consisted of some western crap and congee and pickles (I might have had two servings), and really, that was all I needed to feel settled in.

After my meetings today, I decided to explore the city. I'd envisioned Taipei to be posh, but it isn't so. The buildings are old and some are very rundown, and the view from (my very fancy) hotel room isn't very scenic. There are about 23 million people in Taiwan, and possibly 100 billion cars and motorcyles on the roads. The people here are very friendly, especially those in customer service. Sometimes their courteousness is overwhelming and I almost want to say, "Dude, I'm really not that important!" I had dinner with the client at a popular dumpling place, a northern Chinese specialty, um, like, totally my cup of tea! After dinner, we went to Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper in the world until it was overtaken by the Burj Dubai in 2007. Taipei 101 has 101 floors, hence the name, and it measures 1,670.60 ft. It has the world's fastest elevator, built by Toshiba, that goes up 89 floors in 37 seconds. We went up to the observatory on the 89th floor, and let me tell ya, Taipei looks a lot better at night!

My time in Taipei is very limited so I don't get to see much else. I was really hoping to see the National Palace Museum or the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall...hmmm, I wonder how the communists who raised me would feel about that.

2008 Travels

You know me, I blog when I leave the country. This time, I decided to create a blog for the whole year instead one blog for each location. I figure, it's still early in the year, who knows where I'll be in, say, April.

This blogs begins with Taiwan. Uncle Coopers has shipped me overseas for a project in Taipei and Tainan, and this time, with a whole week of notice! I, of course, gladly accepted the opportunity. After this project, I will be going to Glasgow, Scotland for another...I know, tough life I have...

Please travel along with me and I hope you will enjoy the blog.