Taipei itinerary

Day 1:  

The airport was crowded but soooo quiet and peaceful.  Arrived at hotel and drop off bags and stuff at the front desk.  Go straight to the shuttle.  The driving is crazy, people weave in and out of traffic, scooters go right between big trucks and scrape the sides.  There are no turning laws, you just turn when you feel like, from where you feel like, whether you block traffic or not.  If you are a pedestrian, watch out!  If you get in someone’s way they will not slow down but they will be courteous enough to blare their horn at you.  

We are driven to the National Taipei University, where we wait outside, exhausted, in the thick, warm air of Taipei, waiting for Peter, the Communications professor who will be our host.  When he arrives, we are directed to get onto one of the public buses that we have seen driving around.  They are very tall, like tour buses, and have fancy curtains in all of the windows.  VERY nice, for public transportation. We thought we were already at the University but apparently there is another campus.  We are all grimy and tired, and feel terrible that we are being introduced to people this way.  

We get to the University, a beautiful, large new campus, and are escorted to a classroom where we are to sit in on a lecture on Nonverbal communication.  We are asked to stand up and introduce ourselves in the microphone, which is so embarrassing considering our condition.  Our translators in the class, other students, are sooo sweet.  Mine were Ettie and Howard.  Ettie asked if she could take a picture with me. Soo cute! 

The bathroom was an adventure to say the least.  There is no toilet paper in Taipei, you have to carry it around with you in little pouches that look like Kleenex pouches.  It is sold everywhere.  The toilet is in the floor and I had a fun time trying to figure out what to do.  

We are then taken on a tour of the University and to the President’s Office where we are presented with gifts.  We eat lunch in a cafeteria, and a very nice student helps me find something vegetarian.  It is Bao, a kind of rice bun with bamboo and mushrooms inside.  I can’t stand the food here.  Thank God there is a Starbucks on the first floor of our hotel.  

We then go to the annual play that the Communications Department puts on.  We were expecting a little thrown-together production, but it was actually excellent, and had I not been jetlagged and exhausted, I would have enjoyed it.  The actors were amazing, even though they are speaking a second language, English.  The play was called Communicating Doors.  Very racy.  

Our hosts were so gracious, patient, welcoming, and kind.  We take the bus and then the sky train back to the hotel and decide to shower and go explore.   Everything in the bathroom is covered with plastic, and I soon discover why.  There are no shower curtains, and the water pressure can be compared with that of a firehose.  When you turn it on it sprays EVERYWHERE.  Its one of those showerheads on a hose that you can take off, only there is no place to hang it, so when you need a free hand you have to put it down and it flys around the bathroom like when you let go of a hose.  I was laughing hysterically and the entire bathroom was soaked, wall to wall, by the time I was done. 

We end up at a restaurant where no one speaks English and the menu is all in Mandarin.  I opt not to order anyting but Taiwan beer.  It cost $4 U.S, but it was HUGE.  and very good.  We got nice and drunk and loud.  We staggered home through the brigtly lit alleyways, lined with parked scooters and boutiques, restaurants and street vendors.  Amy peed in a fishpond.  (she was really drunk, she wouldn’t do that normally).  Simone and I chastised her the next day.  Poor fish! 

Day 2: National Palace Museum: Amazing, we saw some relics as old as 8,000 years!

                                                  at the museum:

Taiwanese Television station: watched the taping of a very strange show, we could not quite figure out what was going on, but it was fun.

Night Market:Dazzling, Bright Lights, Throngs of People, Unfamiliar Smells assaulting my senses., Everything under the sun for sale, Every part of animals cooked and for sale from hundreds of tiny, unsanitary looking carts, Like nothing I’ve ever experienced.

Day 3:

Taipei 101: Tallest building in the world.

Day4: on to Thailand!