I made a big mistake

Trip Start Jul 05, 2008
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Trip End Aug 30, 2008

Flag of Taiwan  ,
Saturday, July 5, 2008

Two years in Taiwan and I finally made my way to Taipei. I was expecting an enlarged version of Kaohsiung. I found another world. It was completely different than where I live in Taiwan. Much more cosmopolitan. No roaving packs of wild dogs or creepy betel-nut chewing guys. Wide boulevards and the sidewalks, oh the sidewalks, I could rave for days about the sidewalks (we don't have them here). If I lived in Taipei I could've ran for a life time on those sidewalks. And in Taipei there were other races.... brown. black. white. everything in between. For the first time in two years my little diversity loving soul got to hear different languages.
So, the report.
I took the HSR (high speed rail) from Kaohsiung to Taipei after work on Friday. What an amazing train, 300 km/hr, from one end of the country to another in 1.5 hours. Got into town around midnight, went straight to the hotel I was sharing with random other Taiwanese swimmers (I was in town for a swim meet). Got up super early for the race (1st place for the 50m and 100m, whee!). Afterwards the day was mine. I took the MRT straight to the Taipei 101 (world's tallest building). Nice ritzy department store inside, I bought a new wallet to replace the duct-taped abomination I've been carrying around. I took the elevator (world's fastest!) to the top, where I was blessed with free ice cream (I have new braces... ow). It was expensive to go up there and kind of one of those "well I can say I did THAT" things. Then I went to see the Sun-Yat Sen Memorial Hall. Basically he is like the Godfather of all that is modern Chinese society. I went to see the very beautiful Chiang Kai Shek Memorial too... he was the guy who stood up to Chairman Mao, obviously failed, and fled to Taiwan with all his loyal buddies and lots of ancient Chinese artifacts. He was instrumental in creating the political quagmire that Taiwan is currently in (is it China? is it Taiwan? Nobody knows!). His party remained after he died and executed around 30,000 Taiwanese people. Anyways the memorial was nonetheless beautiful.
AND... Taipei has an amazing subway system. There are like 6 lines or something going everywhere like a spiderweb. Trains come every minute and a half. The ripple effect of this is amazing, far more pedestrians walking around than K-Town. This also means far fewer scooters on the road and no nasty fumes.

In summary Taipei was awesome. I loved it, much more cosmopolitan and almost instantly felt like home. If I could do Taiwan all over again I would certainly go to Taipei. Silly Tara, moving to Kaohsiung where there are only 1.3 million people... what was I thinking? ;)

News:
China visa GRANTED!
Taiwanese phone/internet DISCONNECTED!
Tuberculosis Test NEGATIVE!
"Lung Markings" INCREASING! (thanks, pollution)
Apartment and all belongings TOTALLY UN-PACKED!
Countdown to departure TWO DAYS!

hahhhh.......
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