Location: Taipei, Taiwan

I have no idea where to begin writing because this day felt so disjointed. Oh and also I’ve been awake for like 20 hours so my brain is only halfway functional. The plane ride was uneventful, save a certain young lady in the row ahead of me who decided that an airplane was the right time to eat crunchy fried fish out of a bag. The smell was almost enough to make me double check there was a sick bag in my seat pocket.

Twelve hours later we were touching down in Taipei! I started seeing signs in Mandarin from the plane window and had a bit of a panic. Getting anything done is going to be So. Much. Effort. I did manage to get through customs okay (they took my fingerprints), picked up my bag (thank god it made it) and headed towards the bus platform.

I started the process of buying a bus ticket and realized that if you stand a respectful human distance from the person in front of you, someone else will come along and just fill that space. So cuddle up in line I guess? After a few people squeezed in front of me, a really helpful employee guided me through buying a ticket and swept me on to what I hoped was the right bus… and I was off. I did have another small panic when I realized I didn’t know what the bus stop names were because I can’t read mandarin and nobody on the bus spoke English, so I ended up getting off pretty early just to be safe.

Well ‘safe’ meant I walked for 35 minutes through crazy crowded streets and then empty dim alleyways to make it to Meander Taipei Hostel. The walk was like a dream. I simultaneously felt like I had jumped into the past as well as the future. Shiny little tech shops shared walls with back alley laundromats and second hand industrial kitchen shops. Patterns straight out of the 90’s dominated everywhere I looked. Hundreds and hundreds of motorbikes squealed by, seeming to be the dominant mode of transportation. Smells of every kind wafted from the shops (not all good) as I passed by all manner of food- absolutely none of which I recognized except for rice. Literally just rice.

Mouth hanging open. Head angled up. Sweaty from the humidity. Eyes a little wild from lack of sleep. Yeah that was me.

Pauline recommended this hostel awhile back, and I am so excited about it. The people are so friendly, there’s double USB plug-ins in the bed cubbies, and private shower rooms. This is hostel luxury. I was so haggard but it was only 6pm and I refused to sleep just yet. I unpacked a few things and was trying to figure out where to go for dinner when Eyal, a guy in my room, asked if I wanted to go to the night market!

It turned out to be the perfect distraction from my tiredness. Eyal is from Israel, and has been travelling around Asia trying to learn Mandarin, which proved to be very helpful as he explained the subway system, a few key words and some do’s and don’ts in Taiwan. I got a reusable train pass (one subway ride is $0.32 CAD) and we made our way to Ningxia Night Market. He said there is a closer market but that it’s super touristy and full of Americanized food, so I was happy to try something a little more local.

It was overwhelming and I had absolutely no idea what anything was that I was eating. I had some kind of meat and onion skewer, a whole giant shrimp (people just ate it head and all), and then some kind of rice dish with what I think might have been pork? I feel like I’m going to be constantly confused about what I’m eating. It was tasty though so I’m gonna try not to think about it too hard and just try as much as I can.

We stopped at a stall on the way home and grabbed iced white gourd oolong teas and happily sipped away as we walked and talked on the way home. It was so nice to have someone to tag along with for my first outing, as it would have been very confusing otherwise. Eyal leaves tomorrow so I’m pretty grateful he spent his last evening easing me in to such an overwhelming culture.

I’m excited to see what tomorrow brings, but I’m about to pass out sitting up.

Stay tuned!

Sav

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New People:

• Eyal – Israel