First impressions

Alan and I are only waking up to our third morning in Taipei but there is already so much to write about. Our plane ride over was not as difficult as imagined. The first leg (13 hours) from Atlanta to Tokyo sped by with the help of the individual TV screens where you can watch all sorts of movies, tv shows, play games etc. The Tokyo airport was amusing! We had a quick bite to eat of baked rice balls and miso soup. The second leg of the trip from Tokyo to Taipei was exhausting. We both fell asleep-hard-and took another even more tiring bus ride 45 minutes into Taipei.

We booked a room at the Rainbow Hotel beforehand (the name doesn't mean the same thing it would in the states...other options we had were Good Friends Hotel and Cosmos Hotel, so the name is a bad translation to say the least). Rainbow Hotel is located right in the bustling shopping district of Ximending. Trendy young students and everything you might want to buy or eat or drink can be found in this area. Alan and I wandered around and all we could say is that everything is so CUTE here! I will post pictures because there isn't a way to even describe the cuteness of things to be bought in Taiwan.

Our first night of sleep Alan woke me up at 3am and tried to convince me that the sun was about to come up and we needed to wake up! Needless to say our time clocks are off. The next day we walked all over Taipei and came back to the Rainbow for a quick break before dinner and both passed out until 10:30pm. Convinced we needed to still eat dinner and experience more of Taipei, we went to the Shilin Night Market district. We ate an interesting dinner at a Clay Pot "all you can eat" restaurant with a friendly waiter that tried to talk about wrestling (very big here) with Alan. The clay pot restaurant has a buffet of all different types of vegetables, sea urchins and tofu. You pick what you want and they cook it up in your own clay pot.

Everyone has been very friendly here as well. Not overly invasive friendliness, but if we need help or ask a question, everyone has been willing to help and never seem frustrated to speak English to us. The only time I felt nervous is when Alan left me for 10 minutes to use a bathroom in McDonalds. Standing on the street alone I got a lot of stares. The young people don't seem to notice or care but it was the older people who would walk by me and stop right in front of me and stare! It was quite uncomfortable but something I guess I will have to get used to as much as possible.

We spent yesterday in Danshui, a "suburb" of Taipei city on the river. There is a boardwalk with more cute stuff to buy. We took a ferry to the Fisherman's Wharf which was sort of a waste of time and money because it was freezing and nothing was open! Lonely planet describes it as a "nice area lined with coffee shops and cafes." I guess you have to take Lonely Planet's suggestions with a grain of salt or maybe we just went the wrong time of day.

More to come...

Bayly