"Where's Taipei?"

Written August 12, 2012

"We have to go! If there's traffic, we're screwed. Let's go. Let's go. Finish that in the car," my dad said, stress in his voice, as he handed me a paper towel. "Use this. Leave the plate. Let's go."

I had two bites left of my bizarre breakfast of peppered turkey, wrapped in corn tortilla, and oozing with Sriracha. Oozing. I managed to get it down while my dad and stepmom were putting on their shoes. My mouth was on fire as we got into the car - the perfect way to start a day of traveling.

After bidding my family farewell, I went up to the Delta counter to check my backpack. "Taipei? Where's Taipei?," asked the check-in lady. For the rest of my time in the Philadelphia airport, I could not wipe the shit-eating grin off my face. I love going to weird places, and while Taiwan is certainly not the weirdest of weird, I was going somewhere different - somewhere that an airline check-in lady had never heard of!

My trip from Philadelphia to Detroit was rather painless - less than two hours and I was there. I only had a few minutes from gate to gate for my next flight, Detroit to Tokyo, but I made it in time. The flight was on a Boeing 747, a huge plane, with two floors. I happened to get one of the aisles in the back, which only had two seats, instead of three. The girl that sat next to me, Ishi, was a mix of Indian and Scandinavian, and went to high school in Bangkok, where she now calls home. Ishi is studying chemical engineering and binge drinking at Penn State University, my brother's alma mater. Small world! Ishi and I talked for nearly the whole plane ride, except when we were sleeping. We drank beer - I opted for Sapporo and Asahi, over her favorite Heineken - and played King's. If it wasn't for the beer, I probably wouldn't have been able to get so much sleep on the plane! Good life decisions.  Some of the food was super delicious and some was utterly nasty, but that's an improvement over past airline meals. I also managed to read Taiwan's extensive history, perfectly summarized in Lonely Planet. Taiwan should be its own country. Just sayin'

As a student of Japanese, my flight to Tokyo's Narita airport was a little too exciting. Trying to listen in to conversations and understand the overhead announcements was a fun game that I utterly failed at - I got a few words.

Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time for me to explore the airport when we arrived, Ishi and I were both in a rush to get to our gates and bid adieu before bolting. On the flight to Taipei, I sat next to a Japanese couple, but was too afraid of my broken Japanese to strike up conversation, so I watched Ides of March instead. Slightly disappointing movie, but hey... Ryan Gosling.

When I arrived in Tao Yuan International Airport, the closest to Taipei, I quickly went through customs and got my bag. I was pleasantly surprised when I called my friend Tim and he answered. Thank the Buddha, my phone was working! Finding wi-fi, an ATM, and a taxi were surprisingly easy, and before I knew it, I as off to Tim's apartment in Taipei with 3000 New Taiwan Dollars in my pocket. Tim warned me that the driver might not know where his apartment is, and that I'd have to get out somewhere random and call him for help. Surprisingly, however, the taxi driver had a navigation system. I pulled up at Tim's place, paid the taxi driver, and looked down at my watch - it had been exactly 24 hours since I left my house. Whew!

Tim was a little late in coming back from his outing to a night market, so by the time I arrived at his apartment, I had a few minutes to wander around taking pictures of the alleyway. I could already tell I would love Taiwan. 

After greeting Tim with a hug, we headed up to his four bedroom apartment, which far exceeded my expectations for an apartment in Taipei! Very Western. We dropped my bags off, I grabbed my camera, and we headed out.

First stop was the Family Mart, a convenience store like a 7-11, but slightly smaller. I had no idea what drink options were available, but I opted for something that they had a million bottles of - if they have that many, it must be popular, right? The drink tasted like liquid Crispix, an American cereal that my dad always keeps around. It was a bit weird at first, but it grew on me. With liquid Crispix in hand, we went to the MRT (the subway) and made our way to Shida. The subway here is super strict - no eating, drinking, or even gum chewing is allowed or you get a $30 fine. Crazyyyy.

Shida is a happenin' night market, that probably would've been more happenin' had we not gotten there just before it was starting to close, but oh well! We managed to get some drinks at a little stand - I enjoyed some sort of wax gourd deliciousness, at Tim's suggestion, while he drank a boring red tea. We then stopped at a little food stand ran by an adorable and tiny Taiwanese woman with a huge personality and a set of rotting teeth. She served us some seafood egg omelette thing and xiang gu, a soup full of flavor derived from mushroom, pork, basil, and noodles. Hao chi! (Delicious!)

After all that, we headed back for a well deserved sleep.